Food Safety Report - Buffet, Punta Cana La Altagracia

Punta Cana, 23000 La Altagracia, Dominican Republic

My family and I booked a trip with Apple Vacations and It was by far the worst experience that I’ve ever had. There was a lot of back and forth about the payments and they sent threats to cancel the reservations after we had already paid in full. We spent hours on the phone with customer service and they would provide an email as the only source of communication.

We all paid the travel insurance after being explained that we would get our money back if we were to cancel; however, when I called to CANCEL, due to a family emergency, I was told that I would receive a credit. Why would I want a credit if I paid for the cancellation insurance.

Apple Vacations advertises “all inclusive” but as soon as we arrived to the airport in Miami, the begging began. The employees told us that if we paid “a tip to the men wearing blue shirts” they would attend us.

While enroute to the resort, I felt like I was going to get robbed. When we arrived to the resort, the drivers requested a tip. The front desk attendant initially told us that the rooms were all full so we couldn’t have adjoining rooms. When we told them that we would give them a tip, they gave us rooms on the same floor.

We waited in the lobby for hours with no air conditioning and I felt very unsafe. We were provided a luggage tag and told to leave our luggage in the middle a full lobby because the rooms weren’t ready.

For lunch, we were directed to a “buffet” the food was out in the open, full of flies. Everything tasted like rubber and had no flavor. There was nothing to do in the hotel besides eat the disgusting food and go to the dirty pool or beach. We were told by employees not to leave the resort because there was a possibility of getting robbed by men in scooters.

The rooms were disgusting and dirty. The floors were sticky, the towels and linens were musky and stained. There were no trash bags, the water bottles that were left in the mini fridge were open and had black mold. The AC was not functioning and there were mold stains on the roof. The water was not potable.

The housekeepers demanded a tip and we provided them with money because we were afraid that they had access to our room and would steal our things.

All 15 of my family members and I got food poisoning and we are still suffering from the stress that we endured during this horrific “family vacation”.

We were told that the check out is at 11am and our transportation would pick us up at 2pm and our flight was at 530. We waited in the lobby with no AC for hours since we were denied the late checkout. We were afraid of being late to the airport, since it said to be there 3 hours before departure. Once again we were told that they would be able to do something if we provided a tip, so we did to the driver and employee that set up the pick up.

I don’t recommend Apple Vacations to anyone and I rate you a 0 out of 10. I will never go to Punta Cana again because of this experience. | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea, Vomiting