Secrets Playa Esmeralda Resort & Spa Review

Secrets Playa Esmeralda DR
Stayed: Aug 8–15, 2025

This is a brand-new all-inclusive resort in Miches, Dominican Republic, only open for a few weeks before our visit. We booked through Air Canada Vacations, which included transportation both ways.

Arrival & Check-In:
Pickup at the airport was confusing, no clear signage, no one calling your name, and a bit of a scramble to figure out where to go. Transport was via mini bus, about an hour and a half from Punta Cana airport, with one stop to drop passengers at another resort.

At Secrets, we were greeted with sparkling drinks and wet towels, a nice touch. Check-in was smooth, and we were taken by golf cart to our room (5319). The room was decent with a king bed and balcony, but not spotless: drawers still had items left from the previous guest, dirt on the bathroom wall, and an uncomfortable mattress with a strange lump in the middle, surprising for a brand-new build.

Pros:
• Great adult-only pool areas with drink service, some quiet, some lively with games and a swim-up bar.
• Long, clean beach with no sargassum.
• Volleyball by the beach, fun and active.
• Very good gym with modern equipment (though limited for hardcore gym-goers).
• Coco Cafe: 24-hour café with excellent coffee and desserts.
• Piano bar with live saxophone or piano, great atmosphere, and great alcoholic drinks.
• Sports bar that turns into a nightclub after 11 pm with a DJ taking requests.
• Room service for food available (expect ~90 minutes).
• Mostly friendly, helpful staff, especially if you speak English. Shoutout to “Adrian” at the pool area, outstanding service.
• Best meal: flank steak at the Sea Side Grill. Surprisingly better than the Preferred Lounge’s New York strip.
• Sea bass and risotto were solid choices at the Preferred and Mediterranean restaurants.

Cons:
• Housekeeping missed the mark: sand left on the floor, bottled water and tissues not replenished sometimes.
• Resort app was useless for food/service orders and inaccurate about restaurant openings.
• Market Café (buffet) was great for lunch, always fresh, but never open for dinner. Only buffet option at night was on the Dreams side, food was terrible, like reheated leftovers.
• The “steakhouse” was the worst: 90 minutes to get our food, and the NY Angus steak was undercooked, bland, and barely edible.
• Italian restaurant was another disappointment, long wait for food to arrive, and we ended up leaving mid-meal for the Dreams buffet.
• Drinks at swim-up bars and restaurants were weak and odd-tasting. The rum and cokes were so bad I stuck to Presidente beer (“Dominican water”).
• Service in some dinner restaurants was unfriendly, no smiles, servers disappearing mid-meal, or random switches in staff, leaving things awkward.
• Preferred area pool and dining didn’t feel any more “special” than the regular areas.

Overall:
The resort has potential once it works out the kinks, but food was the biggest letdown. Lunch at Market Café was the only consistently enjoyable meal. Dinners were hit-or-miss, mostly miss. After a week, the food situation became tiring. Could you stay longer than 7 days and still enjoy the pools, beach, and entertainment? Absolutely. But dining needs serious improvement before this place can compete with other Secrets resorts.