Review: Club Med Miches All Inclusive Resort, Dominican Republic

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Club Med Miches Playa Esmeralda

We booked an all inclusive 10 day sunny holiday at Club Med’s 5 star Exclusive Collection Resort 3 months ago.

The weather seems to be excellent in January in the Dominican Republic.

Let’s see how ‘chef de village’ Youssef and his sidekick Luca run Club Med Miches!

Here is how it went and what we honestly think of this all inclusive resort.

We paid for our stay at Club Med Miches and didn’t get or ask anything in return for this review.

Flight

To get to Club Med Miches Playa Esmeralda we flew from Brussel to Punta Cana and back in business class with the brand new company Air Belgium on their Airbus A330neo.

You can watch our video here.

Our review about both flights is coming soon, working on it!

Video

We made a little video of our stay in Club Med Miches.

You can watch it here:

Bus transfer

After a 10 hour flight we landed at Punta Cana International Airport around 3pm.

We stepped off the plane and got into a bus to bring us to the passport control terminal.

Quite a few planes just landed by the looks of it, the amount of tourists queuing was staggering.

After having our passports checked 40 minutes later, we made our way to the baggage claim area to find that our luggage had already arrived.

Once outside a Club Med representative was waiting for us.

She crossed our names off a list, asked if we had vaccination certificates but didn’t really check them. She then took us to another staff member who attached luggage tags with our room numbers to our suitcases.

He took us to a minibus, loaded our luggage in the back and handed us cooled bottles of water. We waited for another 30 minutes for 4 other Club Med Miches clients to arrive.

The drive to Club Med Miches took about 70 minutes, quite speedy considering that the drive back to the airport was 20 minutes longer. Our driver clearly had to be somewhere else afterwards.

That and the long winding roads made that one of us got carsick and had to get out of the minibus as soon as we got to the resort’s gate.

Arrival

Once we arrived at the resort, we were greeted by a Club Med GO who sat us down in the reception area. She offered us a cool hand towel and a cold glass of champagne, juice or soft drink.

(A member of the entertainment staff is called a G.O., which stands for ‘gentil organisateur‘ or something like ‘kind staff member‘ in French. The guests staying at a Club Med resort are called G.M., ‘gentil membre‘ or ‘kind member’.)

While we sip our drinks and sit back the GO gives us plenty of information about the resort, the mobile app, the facilities and services.

We are each given Club Med bracelets with a digital tag to open your room door and make purchases in the spa or boutique shop.

The staff member tells us that our room is ready, she takes us to the entrance where a golf shuttle is waiting for us.

We only have to point out which luggage is ours, the driver loads them into the back of the shuttle and drives us to our room.

Room 328

The shuttle takes us to room 328.

It is located in the quiet adults only Emerald Jungle near the zen pool.

We booked a deluxe room with private balcony.

The accommodation in the Emerald Jungle is grouped into buildings of 4 rooms.

Our room is one story up, next to room 329. Room 326 and 327 are on ground floor level.

The driver carries our luggage up the stairs and places them right in front of our door.

Watch our video from 4:58 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how our room and balcony at Club Med Miches look like exactly.

Bedroom

We open the room door with our bracelet at first glance our room looks large, spacious and very quiet.

The double bed is quite large. It consists of twin mattresses covered with a large sheet but the gap is not really a nuisance.

The duvet and pillows are of an excellent quality.

In the room are also a sofa, coffee table, chair, desk, tablet, TV, Santo Domingo coffee machine and Palais des Thés tea corner, kettle, bottled water (for free) and minibar with soft drinks and juice (for free).

On each side of the bed is a USB socket.

All the other sockets in the room are type B, 110-127 V, compatible with type A as well.

In a small hallway are built in spacious wardrobes, one of which contains a large safe that you simply open and close using your Club Med bracelet, and an ironing board iron, fluffy bathrobes and slippers.

The door to the toilet is also located in that same hallway.

The room has airconditioning and a fan that keep it refreshingly cool inside.

The entire room was cleaned well every single day, and that almost always before noon. On days when a lot of people are leaving and arriving, it might be a little later in the afternoon.

Towels are changed daily (if you put them on the floor), bed sheets changed every 2 days, water restocked daily.

With the coffee machine come 8 coffee capsules, those were always replaced as well each time you would drink a cup of coffee. Great!

A tablet is used instead of a phone.

If you need information or help, call the pre saved numbers for the reception, restaurant, doctor’s office or the emergency number that is on standby 24/7.

Bathroom

The bathroom is darker due to the blueish tiles and frosted window.

It contains a vanity with 2 sinks, a bathtub, walkin shower and next to it a large bathtub with hand shower.

Fragrant Cinq Mondes bath and body products are provided.

You can also find bathroom amenities such as cotton pads, sewing kit, manicure set, soap bars and cotton buds near the sinks. In the shower and bath area a shower cap, bath salt and bath sponge.

Underneath the vanity is a hair dryer.

The problem we had with the bathroom is that the walk in shower was not practical at all. It is located just near the bathtub, with no separation.

Taking a shower makes the entire bathroom slippery and wet, bathtub included. The bathroom door had clearly seen better days and was hard to close because of the expanded wood and moisture. Club Med Miches opened only a couple of years ago.

Furthermore, the entire bathroom is very small compared to the very large bedroom, and it feels like it is disproportionate.

Our overall impression is that the design of the room is not well thought out.

Balcony

Our private balcony contains a half broken and wobbly table with 2 chairs.

It has partial views on the tree top zen oasis palapa where relaxing yoga classes are given.

Emerald Jungle is a quiet area peaceful.

The constant rustling of palm trees in the wind and singing birds is so calming.

Here you can often spot local birds such as the Hispaniolan woodpecker, lizard cuckoo and humming birds. Lizards are everywhere, and at night small frogs will appear on the outside walls as well.

Mosquitos

Also present in your room: a mosquito repellent spray.

Are there loads of mosquitos?

We were here in Club Med Miches in January and from time to time we would be attacked by them, especially when sitting outside having pre dinner drinks at the main bar. Some nights you would feel them, other nights we would not see any.

Every evening at 6pm when it starts to go dark the entire Club Med Miches resort is sprayed with mosquito repellent by a staff member driving around in a small van leaving a trail of thick white smoke.

This is repeated in the morning.

We kept our door and windows closed as much as possible and only had one mosquito in our room during our stay.

You can always bring extra electric repellent devices, doors stay wide open when your room is being cleaned so you can never be sure.

Deluxe room services

With our Emerald Jungle deluxe room come a couple of extra free services.

Breakfast Room Service

You can order breakfast in your deluxe room through the Club Med app.

Last time in Club Med Seychelles we did the same but never saw breakfast arrive, due to a technical error in the app. Let’s see if ordering breakfast works here at Club Med Miches.

The choice is quite large: bread, pastries, coffee, tea, juices, fruits, eggs, bacon, hash browns, tomatoes, yogurt, granola, marmalade and such.

We place our order before midnight for the next morning, delivery between 8 and 8:30am.

At 8:45am, thinking we will get just the exact situation as in Club Med Seychelles, we get ready to go to the breakfast buffet restaurant since our order hasn’t turned up. As we open our door, a young lady is about to knock on our door holding a tray with our food.

She puts everything on our (wobbly) balcony table, apologises for the leaky coffee pot, removes the metal cloches that sit on top of our plates and repeats our order. She realises that some things are missing (bacon, tomato and hash browns on one of the plates) and offers to get it for us, which we decline because that would take ages again.

Anyway we sit down and can only conclude that our cooked breakfast is stone cold.

Poached eggs cooked perfectly but ice cold, fried eggs cold, same goes for the bacon and tomato.

The hash browns are not even cooked at all and the grated potato even looks a bit greyish, dry and old.

The ‘vegetables’ are raw and dried out shredded cabbage and sliced mushrooms from a tin. A sorry slice of dry cucumber and orange placed on top of it to make up for everything.

The fruit platter is nice though: freshly sliced pineapple, papaya and strawberries and grapes. It looks fresh and appealing.

We try to tuck into our breakfast but abort that mission quite fast. Let’s get some fresh and hot food from the breakfast buffet restaurant instead.

You might think, why in the world would you expect to get perfectly warm cooked breakfast in a large resort like this? Who knows when those eggs were cooked. You are right, we ordered this to put it to the test because we found it hard to believe.

In Club Med Seychelles the choice of breakfast (that never showed up) was much smaller: bread, cheese, charcuterie, fruits coffee and tea and yogurt.

Nothing cooked or warm, perhaps this is something Club Med Miches should consider as well.

Minibar

The minibar with non-alcoholic drinks is free and refilled upon request.

It contains Perrier sparkling water, Sprite, Fanta, regular coke, diet coke and 2 fruit juices.

You can put in your request on the Club Med app or ask the reception. The app tells you when your request is completed, however it would take a few days and an extra request before getting a refill.

Turn down service

A turn down service is provided and happens between dinner and bedtime.

Here in Club Med Miches it happened every single night (contrary to Club Med Seychelles).

Your bed is made before going to sleep, towels on each side of the bed with your slippers placed on it, water bottles and a glass on each bedside table.

Towels left on the floor are being replaced again.

Excellent service, the Spanish speaking cleaning ladies are very polite and friendly as well.

Beach towels

The extra services also include beach towels in the room.

Those towels are not provided (anymore). As you check in the GO will tell you that taking beach towels in and out your room is highly advised against. The sand flees in Club Med Miches also love the beach and pool area, you don’t want to bring in those little buggers into your room.

Laundry

You can have your clothes washed at an extra cost.

Laundromats are also available.

Mobile app

You can download the My Club Med app and log in using your booking reference and family name.

The app gives you access to an overview of the activities, services and facilities in Club Med Miches such as sports, daily program, dress code theme and more information about the resort itself.

It also gives you an overview of each restaurant and bar and its specific opening hours.

You can also request extra room services: have your mini bar restocked, a request for extra towels, water, soap and so on.

A handy tool that seemed to work much better than in Club Med Seychelles.

Wifi

The wifi reception throughout the Club Med Miches resort and beaches is quite good but not super fast.

You can buy premium wifi if you need a faster connection.

Reception area

The reception area is spacious and airy.

It is a cool and refreshing place as well, underneath that dark thatched roof.

This is where you sit down when you arrive and where a GO will give you all the information you need. Here you can also activate your wristband by linking it to a creditcard.

The staff behind the reception desk speaks both French, English and very often Spanish as well.

Watch our video from 0:44 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how the reception area in Club Med Miches looks like.

Boutique

On the same level right next to the reception is the boutique.

It contains 2 large rooms: a boutique with a large collection of clothing, accessoires, toys, sunscreen etc. and in the room next to it a souvenir shop with local colourful artefacts.

You can pay here with your bracelet, whatever you spend will be charged on your credit card at the end of your stay.

Excursions

Interested in excursions and other activities?

The excursion staff is happy to tell you all about the available day trips.

The excursion office is a bit further from the boutique, at the foot the stairs to go up to the buffet restaurant.

A boat trip to go see whales, quad rides, electric bike rides, sunset horseback riding, the columpio swing at Moñtana Redonda, a langouste dinner on the water and so much more.

Quite a lot of excursions and activities to chose from, but the prices are extremely high though.

We didn’t do any excursions during our stay in Club Med Miches.

Pools

There are 4 pools at Club Med Miches.

The main pool with a family pool attached to it near the reception area, an adults only zen pool in the Emerald Jungle and a separate Perla kids pool for families staying in the family friendly Perla area.

The main pool near the coffee shop and Cayuco bar is the heart of Club Med Miches.

It is where the ambiance is: the daily aqua gym at 11:30am, followed by crazy signs and a little music, pre lunch bites, cocktails, games in the afternoon, dance lessons, beach volley etc.

There are plenty of sun beds, loungers, umbrellas and cozy Bali beds around the olympic pool.

Reserving a bed by putting a beach towel on it is something that happens, however it is always possible to find a free bed at any time of the day here. The beds are very comfortable.

Green beach towels are available near the pool and plentiful.

Excellent!

Watch our video from 1:13 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how the Club Med Miches main pool area looks like exactly.

Just a word of warning: watch your step when you walk around the pool and the bar area because it can be very slippery. During our stay quite a few people fell and some turned up later that day in a cast or a sling.

And older French gentleman even needed a wheelchair for the rest of his stay.

As much as the cleaning staff is really trying their best and busy cleaning and mopping the floors and outdoor areas all day long, it happened often.

An outdoor shower is in the back of the pool area near the family pool.

Once breakfast is over, the Cayuco bar staff will make sure that you are never thirsty all day long, again excellent drink service with a smile, special thanks to bubbly Elcie!

Cayuco Bar

Near the main pool is the main Cayuco bar.

The bar itself is outdoors, surrounded by plenty of chairs, tables and couches.

Around noon a small table is set up here with a couple of appetizers and snacks such as samosas, nachos, guacamole, olives, cucumber and smoked salmon canapes etc.

You can order just about anything you want, except for premium wines and spirits. Champagne is free as of 6pm and was very good.

The Club Med Miches bar staff is fantastic.

Fast service, very friendly, always happy to talk. Shoutout for excellent barman Iskender who makes the best Bloody Mary.

You can go up to the bar and order your own drinks. Waiters also walk around from table to table to collect empty glasses and will bring you another drink if you like.

The Cayuco bar is where the pre dinner drinks happen and the entertainment. Live music starts at 7pm, and the cover bands are really good. Every night there’s a different setup and theme as well.

Great way to start your evening here! Bring mosquito repellent, some nights are just fine but other nights the mosquitos would be quite active.

Due to the pandemic the shows also happen here, outdoors and not in the theatre behind the bar.

Right before the evening entertainment starts, a station is set up with the cocktail of the day.

Another isle next to it has appetizers and small savory bites that opens from 7pm onwards: cheese, loempias, samosas, guacamole, nachos, vegetable sticks in honey, quiche squares and a couple of bread canapés topped with cream cheese and olive tapenade.

Some evenings there were chicken and beef satay skewers grilled on the spot.

The appetizers were very repetitive and not really great. Room to improvement here.

The cocktail of the day was good though, creative and generous with good ingredients and made on the spot by a GO.

Coffee shop

If you feel a bit peckish in between meals, the coffee shop near the swimming pool and Cayuco bar is the place where you can find a quick bite all day long, from 7am until 6pm.

Here you can get Danish pastries and delicious donuts, excellent coffee and tea, savory ham and cheese sandwiches and soft ice.

We really liked the coffee shop, it’s a nice place to sit in the shade in the morning and have a cup of coffee with a little sweet snack and watch the staff get the swimming pool area ready before everyone arrives.

The coffee shop staff is great as well: they are quick to come and take your order, remove empty cups and clean tables. You can also go in and order inside.

Takeaway coffee is also possible, you will get your drink in a cardboard cup instead of a mug.

Main restaurant

One level up is the buffet restaurant called Cayuco.

The buffet hall is very large and airy, you never had the feeling that there were too many people inside. All around the buffet hall are several dining areas, inside and outside.

What we really liked is the adults only dining area where you can sit inside and outside as well. Make sure to let the staff member who accompanies you to a table know if you want to sit in a quiet area.

One adults only balcony directly faces the Cayuco bar area below where music is played during dinner and that might be quite noisy if you want to have a decent conversation.

There is also an indoor and outdoor family section on the other side of the buffet hall especially for families with babies and small children.

The Cayuco buffet is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Breakfast

What you can find at the breakfast stations.

Fruits, smoothies, all kinds of breads and pastries, yogurts, granola, eggs made to order, pancakes, waffles, French toast, bagels, toast, baked beans, scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausages, etc and cheese, cold cuts, jams, smoked salmon, cream cheese and so on.

Classic continental breakfast staples.

And a Dominican breakfast that is served warm: a plate of fried cheese and sausage served over boiled and mashed plantains called mangu – and we loved it.

Definitely something you want to try out.

Watch our video from 9:34 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how the Club Med Miches breakfast looks like.

Lunch

For lunch the stations provide a salad bar, cold starters such as ceviche or tartare, soups, breads, cheese and cold cuts, main dishes with chicken, pork, beef or fish, fried rice, burgers, fries, pizza and pasta. A couple of desserts are also available: fruits, ice cream, cakes and pies.

And usually another Dominican specialty, again worth checking out. The chicken and eggplant stew with moro rice is excellent.

Dinner

For dinner you can expect a similar setup like the one for lunch, but with different types of meat.

Salad bar, cold starters (such as fish tartare, tataki, octopus, gazpacho and carpaccio), a large choice of cheeses, breads, sushi, an Asian stew, soups, burgers, pizza, pasta, several fish fillets fresh from the grill.

And again lovely meats such as lamb chops, beef picanha, roast chicken, rabbit, duck, quail, foie gras, scallops, pork loin, ribs, beef wellington, tacos, risotto, gnocchi, beef bourguignon, fries, roast potatoes, mash and so on.

Watch our video from 12:25 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how a Club Med Miches dinner buffet looks like.

On certain evenings (like the white night on Thursday’s) there’s a special: cheese fondue, mussels and crab.

We post just a couple of pictures of the food here.

However there was way more to eat and to chose from.

Drinks

The house wines are quite good, above average compared to the usual level provided by Club Med.

You can order better bottles of wine at an extra charge.

For the first time in our 50 years-long history of visiting the Club Med, the bottles of house wine were not left on the table. The waiters and waitresses would come over and refill your glass, same for the water and sparkling water.

All in all not a huge problem, as long as the waiting staff is present. The bottles are kept on a separate table, quite a few people would get up and help themselves to more wine when the staff wasn’t nowhere to be seen at times.

Not sure why the wine service here in Club Med Miches works like that.

To cut costs? Perhaps too many opened bottles have to be thrown away at the en of a dinner service? It definitely gives the waiting staff way more work to tend to every table all the time to pour extra wine.

Desserts

The dessert dinner station is great.

You can find an array of pastries and classic patisserie such as Paris-Brest, eclairs and profiteroles, ice cream, macarons, cakes, tarte tatin, lemon meringue, almond coconut pie…

On Thursday evening (the traditional Club Med white night or soirée blanche, which is the highlight happening of the week) there is a chocolate fountain as well.

The dessert station is the only one that seems to be consistent in quality for every single Club Med we have been to.

Club Med’s pastry chefs are always amazing, and that was no different here in Club Med Miches.

Wow!

Watch our video from 14:41 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how the dessert here in Club Med Miches look like.

Our thoughts

Club Med is well known for serving excellent food.

Were we satisfied with the quality and choice of the food here Club Med Miches?

We would say yes, it was definitely far better than the food we had at Club Med Seychelles.

Good, but it wasn’t perfect.

The food let us down a few times, there were a couple of hiccups where we would leave the food practically untouched and go get something else from the buffet.

But what was really the major problem here at the Cayuco buffet is the temperature of the food.

Each station would prepare a couple of plates in advance to make it easier for you to pick up a plate and reduce waiting times. However the hot surfaces to keep your plate and food warm were not hot enough. Often food would be stone cold, and that happened a lot.

Even at the very beginning of a lunch or dinner service, ‘freshly’ cooked fries and pizza were served cold. The equipment to keep food warm clearly didn’t work or not good enough.

We mentioned it several times to supervising sous-chef Julius Cesar who would listen attentively and agree that that was not right. However we never saw any improvement in those 10 days we were there.

Cold food is also a complaint we heard from quite a lot of other customers by the way.

Restaurant staff

And what about the waiting staff?

Breakfast service was again a hit and miss, and very often a bit of a pain to get the drinks you want.

Some mornings everything would go smoothly, other days you would have to ask several times for coffee or a refill. So we would often just sit down for a bite to eat from the buffet and afterwards go to the coffee shop downstairs for a cup of coffee where the service is fast and the coffee is way better.

Lunch was a bit better when it comes to staff, more attentive and less hiccups.

At dinner time we would always sit at the same table in a quiet corner of the adults only balcony area. Which means that the waiters are mainly the same every evening.

We started our holiday helped by a waitress called Carmen and she was great and very attentive and friendly. After a couple of days she was replaced by a giggly shy young man called Aldo who was absolutely amazing. He was swift and efficient, clearing our empty plates fast, stop by for plenty of refills. Always with a large smile and eager to learn a couple of new French words even though we could have easily spoken English with him. An angel!

After the horrendous restaurant service at Club Med Seychelles, we were happy to see that here in Club Med Miches the service was way better.

Not perfect but apart from a few unpleasant moments quite good.

Restaurant manager Birkan was always present (he has a day off on Wednesdays) during service whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Unfortunately we started off on the wrong foot with him when we realised that everyone had reserved a table (something that is normally never done in a buffet restaurant in any Club Med, apparently things have changed a lot) and our party of 4 was only able to sit in a dark corner at a table for 2, the only one that was still available.

After that, Birkan offered to reserve the same table for 4 on the quiet adults only balcony for us for the remainder of or stay. He is all over the place, checkin in on every single table several times during dinner to see if everything is alright, always in for a quick chat. Excellent manager!

Coal and Copper steakhouse

Next to the main restaurant is the steakhouse.

It is open every evening for dinner except on Saturdays and Thursdays.

Reservation is necessary.

The steakhouse is not included, the food here comes at an extra cost.

On the menu: age-dried meats, ribeye, caviar and langouste lobster.

We read on Tripadvisor that the food here is absolutely amazing, but expensive.

We decided not to go and stick to the dinner buffet next door.

Adults only zen pool

A minute walk from our room in the Emerald Jungle is the adults only zen pool.

If you are looking for a quiet space to relax, swim and read under the sun then this is the place for you.

The green pool is perfect for a quick dip to cool off.

In between the palm tree oasis are several sun beds and umbrellas, not a lot so it is sometimes hard to find a place to lay down.

The zen pool is a fantastic place to spend a day though if you want a break from the families and music around the main pool.

Under the thatched roof is a bar, a comfy sitting area in the shade and a separate toilet area for men and women. Green beach towels are available and plentiful.

The pool bar opens at 10am after the staff is done cleaning the swallow droppings in and around the pool and bar. The thatched roof attracts a bunch of these birds that fly over the zen pool all day long.

Here you can get any drink you want, or go for the detox drink of the day. We loved the iced coffee that barman Felix made with a great smile, excellent and refreshing.

Small sandwich and vegetable appetizers are also available from 10:30am until noon.

Great cleaning, pool and bar staff.

This zen pool is a great place to spend your day.

Watch our video from 3:56 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how the Club Med Miches zen pool looks like.

Coco Plum beach lounge & a la carte restaurant

In for a late breakfast?

Then the Club Med Miches Coco Plum beach lounge is the place to go to.

All food and drinks are included here.

It is open for breakfast from 10:30am until 11:30am.

Lunch starts at 12:30pm until 15pm.

Late lunch from 15pm until 17:30pm.

Dinner from 18:30pm onwards, reservation needed.

Late dinner from 22pm until midnight.

The beach lounge restaurant is located along the beach away from the main pool area. It is a spacious and lovely cool place to take a break from sunbathing.

Restaurant manager Ugur runs things here very well.

He or a staff member will guide you to a free table once you step inside.

The waiting staff was overall good and attentive, a few waiters were new here we think, and there was sometimes a kind of lost in translation moment while ordering food.

However all our orders were correct once they got to our table, and quite fast as well. The kitchen staff is clearly well trained by head chef Fouad.

Late breakfast, lunch, late lunch and dinner is a la carte.

Watch our video from 2:10 onwards to get a more detailed idea of how the Coco Plum beach lounge looks like.