We visited this all inclusive resort Feb 4th thry Feb 10th 2012 which was booked through Cheap Caribbean.com. Overall my wife and I had a great time. We read the reviews on this website before we left home which helped to guide us through the good, bad, and ugly.

The Good:

Great weather all week and the entire staff is very friendly and customer service oriented. We paid the extra to have the private shuttle ride from the Puerta Plata airport to the resort which paid off in the end. We beat the lines at the check in desk and only took us 10 minutes or so to check in and be on our way. I recommend doing this. Plenty of places to eat here. You can eat at the Cofresi or next door at the Tropical. Both have a buffet restaurant and food is ok. Keep in mind it is a buffett so not 4 star quality. Go to the Tropical side and eat there though. We were given reservations at 3 different restaurants when we checked in. For the other few nights we got on line by 8:45am in the main lobby and got our name on a wait list for Brazilian, Mexican, and Fish. No problem getting in with this wait list. By 4pm each day we had the envelope under our door with specified time and reservation. Be aware though, if you do not get on this line prior to 9am daily, you will eat buffet everyday. All the other places to eat here besides the 2 buffets require a reservation to eat unless you are a member of the resort.
Pools are fine, clean, and plenty of places to sit and lay out. Folks claim their spot early with towels and bags though. So if you want an umbrella lounge chair and table, be out at the pool by 9 or 9:30 timeframe. Beach was nice as well. This resort is on the Atlantic Ocean side not Caribbean so not clear crystal water like other islands. There is plenty to do here. Do not rely on your ipod, smartphone etc though. Wireless internet only in the main lobby and they do have 3 computers in an internet room but cost is $8 ab hour to use them. Relax, drink and tan (RDT)! Forget about your ipads and smartphones this is a vacation. No issues ith drinks either. Easy to get beer or cocktails and drinks were strong. Not top shelf but who cares when you sit pool or beachside and drink.

Bad: Watch out for the guys wearing white golf shirts. Their job is to get you to the sales office and buy in to the Lifestyles vacation club. This is how they get paid. We knew this going in and went over on day 2 and were done with the sales pitch in 17 minutes and they took us back over to our area and we were done. Our white golf shirt guy left us alone the rest of the week. This is how they get paid, so play the game go over and see how the rich live and be done within 20 minutes. The rooms are very basic with 2 double beds. The air conditioner worked fine, had hot and warm water and cable tv with NY NBC, ABC, and CBS. We watched the super bowl from here with no problem. Be aware of mosquitos and possibility of bed bugs! I got a few bites on my body during the night and so did my wife, pretty sure from bed bugs. Bring bed bug spray to use on the beds. Bring toilet paper and butt wipes as maids sometimes come late or forget to replenish. I raided their carts of towels and TP to have a supply. Your ´superior¨room isnt superior. We managed and didnt spend too much time their anyway. The vendors are easy to barter with, dont show them your $$$ and walk away if you dont like the price, they will deal. The Cofresi does have a few gift shops and water etc is cheap. USA bottled water was $1 a bottle which was great. Do not drink the water from your room! And go easy on the pina coladas as coconut is a natural laxitive. We had no stomach issues the entire week we were here.

i just returned from a trip to lifestyles. I was booked through interval internation on an exchange to Royal Suites.

when i got there i was told i was not in royal suites they were full to go over to residence suites ( the lower end ones) and they tried to paun off a 2 bed one bath less expensive unit on me saying it was similar. Well I do not know if it was similar or not becuase I was never able to see the Royal Suites unit.

I refused that unit and they put me in a 2 bed 2 bath unit at Crown Suites in the top unit. It was nice but I still do not know if it was nicer or not.

The condo was adequate but not quite what I am used to, but you are in a 3rd world country with lower building standards.

I heard horror story after horror storey about the newest section which is called Confesi and more of a hotel set up. Apparently this development was financed by investors mainly from Canada and went bankrupt before lifestyle bought it and finished the project. Apparently there are constant problems with the hotel rooms so if it is anything like that i would advise to stay away although the pools are spectacular there.

The buffet's were nice and the restaurants were adequate but not spectacular. Being regular folk and not VIP's we went to the following restaurants.

indoshine - this was the best with an asian flare.
Mexican - very good although margarita's were watered down.
Blue lagoon- nice but the fish was not as fresh as i would have expected it to be
Rodizio- brazillian - if you are used to going to brazillian restaurants in canada or the us you will be dissapointed but the restaurant was very nice.
Italian - great for lunch they make hand made pizza's

Rooms in Crown Suites had a small hot water tank so 1-2 showers (quick ones) were the max before you had to wait 20 minutes for more hot water, we had 4 people so this was a juggling act.

Thew crown suites pool was very secluded and nice if you want privacy that is the one to stay at.

The reviews are right about timeshare salespeople they hang around all the pools and constantly bug you. just give them a firm no thanks.

If you need internet ( there is very little service at the resort) my suggestion is to make a friend with my buddy victor have him take you into town on a tour and take you to the clara or orange store. i went with him he talked to the people at the store i got a air card for my laptop ( 2 weeks unlimited use) and a sim card for my cell with 1100 pesos on it for about $100.00 canadian. you need to have your passport and patience it will take you a while to get it done. We paid the driver 55.00 for the van and victor 65.00 for taking us on a tour of the city it was worth every penny because he spoke spanish to the people at the store.

overall if you are looking for a huge resort with tons of options this place is quite nice just be firm if they try to downgrade you.

By the way our cleaning lady melissa ( gave her 3.00 a day) and carmen at the front desk at residence suites were spectacular. Do not worry about anyone stealing anything from your room if maitenance comes to your door they have to be escorted by security and watched at all times.

My wife and I spent our 45th wedding anniversary there, and we had a wonderful time! The staff were great, especially the servers in the main resturant, and also the bartenders at the pool bar!! The room we had was in building 5, and it was very nice room, but no bathtub.. I understand that some rooms did have bath tubs, so if you want one make sure you request this. The only issue I have with this resort is getting reservations for the differnt resturants that are available. You have to go down to the lobby each morning and stand in line, and then be put on a waiting list, and if you are lucky enough to get a reservation, then they slide it under your door. i think there has to be a better way to handle this. The only other issue I had was the set up of the facility. My wife has a hard time walking any distance, and allot of the activities were located down this large hill to where the nightly shows were held, and this was really tough, not so much getting down there, but getting back up the hill. There were golf carts, but those were for the VIP's... The VIP beach was kind of the same situation, where it was down a flight of stairs (two flights actually), so we didnot go there much, even though that is where all the top brand licquor is served.. The swimming pools were Great!! There are three pools. The water was alittle cold, but we adapted to it.. Overall it was a good experience.... We had Water World included in are trip price, but I didnot care for Water World at all...

After booking through RCI (I am a member) I then read hundreds of reviews on this site.
And I was quite worried.
It was for my honeymoon, and I even told my wife that if the place was as bad as some made it out to be, that we would leave and find another place to stay.
However, I can happily report that it was actually very nice.
Now, do not get the wrong impression, resorts in Puerto Plata are no where as nice as a hotel in the US, or even other Caribbean locations. Do not expect soft sheets and comfortable carpets.
We loved the place. Every morning had an omelet and fresh fruit (after waiting in line from 7:30-8 to reserve a bed at the "VIP Beach"). To be honest, the breakfast did get a bit old over ten days. Then we went to the beach all day. It was great. You just lay out on your bed as waiters bring you drinks and even take lunch orders. A few times we walked to the Italian restaurant for take out pasta or pizza. Then we went back to the room to shower up for dinner.
Because we booked through RCI, we had a much higher all-inclusive price ($82/person/day) but it came with a very nice perk - dinner reservations every night. If we were with CheapCariebbean or a low-tier VIP we would have to stand in line each day before 9am to try and get on the waiting lists. We were not a fan of the Indochine or Dominican restaurants. But loved the Mexican, Seafood (Blue Lagoon), Brazilian, and Indian. The VIP Welcome Party is quite an event, so much food, but not quite as good as some of the restaurants.
We never ate lunch or dinner in the main buffet (Casablanca) but did stop by the Pearl (the buffet in the newly acquired adjacent resort) and were quite impressed by the variety of food.
We avoided the actual ocean & beach, as they were not very nice. And we did not do much at the resort other than lay out all day, every day.
If you are looking for a place to go and soak up the sun while sipping drinks, I HIGHLY recommend it. If you want to snorkel or explore the local areas, this would not be a great place.
If you set your expectations right, you will have a great time. If you think it will be nicer than a cruise, you will probably be disappointed.
My wife and I plan to return within the year.