Sanctuary Cap Cana

Emily Harrison

5 stars all around, although the rooms were disappointing. More on that later. Let’s start with the stuff that has made a long lasting impact Spent 10 nights here for our honeymoon and had an absolute blast! Our butler, JT was amazing and we were sad to leave him. All I wanted to do was lay by the pool and have amazing views and good food and drinks and this is definitely the place for that. Every day, we had our perfect spot set up by the most perfect person we met the whole trip FELIX!!!!! (Pictured below) Yall when I tell you meeting Felix (EL GATO) was the highlight of our trip I really mean it. We ended up really getting to know Felix and I looked forward to seeing his face every morning and chatting with him. He has an amazing story and he’s absolutely hilarious. We actually got emotional leaving Felix! He treated us so well and he made every day just perfect for us. Literally want to come back just to see him again!!!! Other amazing wait staff include Omar by the pool, he took fantastic care of us and always remembered us the next days and just was a delight. Victor, one of the servers, is just the most sweet and precious people on this earth and he’s HILARIOUS. We loved getting to see victor at the Wok restaurant and then again at breakfast, he is a true gem. Love you Victor!!!! I cannot say enough good stuff about the food, it was all incredibly delicious and always something you’d want to have. My only complaint is that the sanctuary town is not open for lunch, so lunch options are really limited which is a bummer. The Beach area is small but not too bad, and the views from there are still pretty. We just didn’t spend tons of time at the beach. The destination bar has great drinks, and the main pool bar is always exciting and the bartenders are great there. One negative is that the ladies in the “love” bar are not very friendly, and often are pretty standoffish so I didn’t particularly love that it’s the main bar. The rooms were pretty, but I didn’t feel like they were ever very clean. I also got bit by something in the middle of the night which swelled up and blistered which was not great but I guess that can happen anywhere. It just felt like housekeeping didn’t do much to actually clean. Also, the curtains controlled with the remote rarely worked and you had to open them manually which was kind of a pain. Overall, I would still love to come back and spend time here again. It’s the perfect mix of relaxing + sometimes rowdy but there’s tons of space to find whatever you need.

Daniela Carela

Beautiful Setting, But Major Letdowns: I had my wedding at Sanctuary Cap Cana this past March, and while the grounds and architecture are stunning, the overall experience was disappointing. The location in Cap Cana is known for luxury and safety, but we experienced theft—several guests had items go missing from their rooms, with little accountability from the resort. This was shocking and unacceptable for such a high-end property. Rooms cleanliness and maintenance issues were not promptly addressed. Dining was average, and service often slow—likely due to multiple weddings being booked at once. Unexpected fees like $10 room service delivery charges and costs for to-go boxes felt out of place for a resort that starts at $700 per night. The Wedding Experience: While the resort was disappointing overall, the wedding events themselves—including the ceremony, reception, and welcome party—were beautifully executed thanks to my amazing coordinator. With 71 guests, mostly everything went smoothly. However, our included post-wedding beach dinner fell short. We were seated in a secluded section of the Blue Marlin restaurant rather than on the beach. Despite pre-selecting a Caribbean menu, the staff was unprepared and offered substitutions without notice. We later saw beach tables set for another bride, which felt intentionally exclusionary, especially after dealing with a morning spent addressing missing money from my guests’ rooms. Major Issues – Missing Money & Security Concerns: Three guests reported a total of $3,200 missing from their rooms. Management was dismissive and unhelpful so we decided to make a police report. A police report revealed similar past complaints, and online reviews confirmed this pattern. Another guest had $60 stolen, and a third had designer glasses go missing from a locked safe—staff denied responsibility. These incidents raised serious concerns about safety and accountability. Privacy Violations by Housekeeping: Multiple guests experienced staff entering rooms despite "Do Not Disturb" signs—once during a nap and another time while someone was showering. This breach of privacy occurred on the colonial side, where the resort also unnecessarily enters rooms twice daily for turndown service—even on check-in day. Service: Service was hit-or-miss. While some staff, like our butler Samuel, were great, overall hospitality was mediocre for a “luxury” resort. Overall: Sanctuary Cap Cana did not meet expectations. While the wedding was lovely, the lack of empathy from management, ongoing safety issues, and poor service made for a stressful, disheartening stay. I would not recommend this resort for weddings or vacations.

Brett Coker

Our second visit here, first time as a Marriott property and we booked an all-inclusive stay using points. Very disappointed. First off, the overall property is beautiful, the castle is especially awesome! Also, most of the meals including the buffets were very good. And that's the extent of the positives. They were holding a large meeting on the property which made our all-inclusive visit only a partially-inclusive visit and here's why: --only one of the four days was our room cleaned (not enough staff due to occupancy levels) --the main pool loungers with umbrellas were all taken (by towels, not people) by 7am so no loungers unless you want to bake --Blue Marlin restaurant closed for dinner for private event --Blue Marlin fully booked for lunch due to private event --Bars booked for private event --Sanctuary town areas closed for private events --Buffets very crowded to due large group (200 people, it was rumored) Two other issues: the dichotomy of service was shocking! For example, the check-in lady was horrible (pregnant but still should be able to provide basic customer service) but our butler, Alexander, was great! He brought us towels when housekeeping couldn't. Some servers were great while some were surly. Weird! Like some employees attended the Marriott customer skills training and some played hookey. Secondly, the guest rooms were small and the balconies were worthless they were so small. We emailed Sanctuary management with our concerns and their response was, in essence, "sorry, not sorry". Last point, we moved from Sanctuary Punta Cana to Excellence El Carmen and had a large room, Excellence Club Level, swim out for the same price as Sanctuary's dinky room. Sanctuary is a beautiful property but that's all they have going for them. We will never be going back, especially with so many other better options for a lot less money in DR and Mexico.

Stephanie Hudson

I'm amending my review as they've attempted to correct any issues we had in the stay. I think that they probably need to do a bit more of an intensive training with concierge and some of the staff at some of the restaurants front of house In communication with guests. I speak Spanish and English so there should have been no problem. I would ask the concierge moving forward to go over every specifics regarding anything that you book including restaurants. We were greeted by a lackluster, miserable concierge who did nothing to accommodate our stay. She didn't go over protocol for the spa to arrive early for the cold and hot plunge. We arrived and they were shocked we didn't know to arrive 1 hour early. She couldn't be bothered to attempt to get us reservation at the Asian restaurant. We made reservations at the Italian restaurant only to find out our last night after we dressed up two of the gentleman could not be served because they were wearing dress shorts. I'm fine with a dress code. The concierge should have communicated this and we wouldn't have bothered. We all get dressed up only to be turned away with no apology on their pi$$ poor employee. In this economy, to finally be able to afford an all inclusive vacation and to not be served is insulting. Domingo at the front desk tried his best and Cristian with food beverage did everything to try to correct any issues we had. We appreciate their efforts. Really made a difference. I just think they need to work on communication with guests on what is required with reservations, what the hotel has to offer, hard copy map of property for guests and more enthusiasm from the concierge.

Amanda Martin

Close to the airport, absolutely delicious food. The rooms were very subpar compared to other resorts that I stayed at, particularly in Mexico. I did not care much for the staff. The people that “welcomed you” to the resort were very unfriendly. But once you made it past them, everyone else was great. The bartenders were a blast. The pools were beautiful. They were cold… They were not heated. Just helpful to note in case you were expecting heated pools. You absolutely must try the spa if you come here. It is incredible! I have the best massage I’ve ever had in my life from the Massage Therapist named Lady. And it’s absolutely beautiful! We went on a girls trip and we were silly hats and I had a really great time here. I would probably try someplace new next time around.