Michès Playa Esmeralda Dominican Republic

I stayed at Club Med Miches as a guest and was also performing as a musician, and I have to say, the staff were awesome—super friendly and helpful. Big thanks to the technical team for making my shows so smooth and stress-free. Special shoutout to DJ Alejandro for stepping in during some key moments, like saving my instrument from the rain! You guys were amazing, and I’m sure we’ll cross paths again soon.

Positives: GREAT sports team! Thank you Miguel, Gabrielle and the chief of sports -- I can't remember his name. He was wonderful!

Teen Club: Mostly French speaking kids (head's up for American families)

Food: Lunch at the CocoPlum is really nice -- would not recommend for supper. The Buffet is really great too.

Rooms: beautiful! By far the nicest Club Med rooms I've seen!

Quiet Pool/Swim up bar: WONDERFUL.

Negatives -- communication via reception needs improvement. We went to Cancun last year and it was very easy to communicate via What's App. Every day we received an update on the day... we actually heard from the Club BEFORE our trip to get organized. It was really hard communicating with this reception. For example, we had a group of 14 -- we needed a table reserved every night for dinner. The restaurant staff told us this needed to be done through reception. Every night we asked for a reservation... every day we showed up to the restaurant and there was no reservation for us.

Our group became ill on the trip (a few other families also had the stomach bug). We needed cleaning supplies and fresh sheets in the middle of the night. Reception said there was no housekeeping available, and that they do not give cleaning supplies out to guests. We had a dirty/unsanitary room all night. We asked for housekeeping to please come first thing in the morning. (Reception said housekeeping began at 9 AM and we would be the first on the list). Housekeeping did not arrive until 3 PM.

Another negative -- bartenders asking my teenaged daughters if they had boyfriends. The reception agent asking my 40-something sister if she had a boyfriend. Yuck.

Still love Club Med so much -- and will continue to enjoy these great vacations with our family -- but wanted to point out these areas that need improvement.

We had a brilliant family holiday at Miches. We were there from 18-28 December with a lot of rain for the first six days. The sun came out just in time for Christmas!

Many people are mentioning the water issues. The build of the resort is not great and the rain caused a lot of issues with flooding as mentioned by others. Our room did not flood - when it rained very hard on the day we arrived, the toilet and sinks were not draining - so we just avoided using them until the rain stopped and then it was fine about 30min after the rain stopped. Flip flops were our main footwear on the wet days. Rain on holiday is never ideal, but the staff did their best to make it fun and you can see everyone was working hard to solve the issues.

Michelle at reception was very welcoming when my Mum arrived alone and even remembered Mum’s name later in our stay.

The food was excellent with a lot of variety in the ten days we were there. The excellent food is one of our reasons for choosing club med. I didn't expect it to be as good as our experience at La Palmyre but Miches far exceeded expectations andwas as good if not better. Head chef Julio could not have been more helpful with my husbands celiac disease. The Christmas Eve feast was one of the best meals we have had and the presentation of the food was as exciting as the eating! Far more than your usual buffet. We enjoyed some cocktails and loved the drama that Ahmet brought to his cocktails and serving of champagne.

We took advantage of all the activities on offer, the other major reason we choose club med. The fitness classes standard was high and you get a good workout at every class. There was so much to choose from. Jacqueline’s fitness classes were excellent, she makes sure you are doing it correctly and her classes are fun and hard. I went back stronger than I arrived! Miguel was an excellent tennis coach, my husband really enjoyed his group lessons. Aqua in the sea was really fun and I enjoyed the yoga classes in a beautiful setting. There just wasn’t enough time to do everything! My eight year old son enjoyed the pool, beach, trapeze and archery.

Christmas at the resort was amazing. Loads of surprises that I won’t give away here. Our family were unsure about having Christmas away from home - but this trip convinced us all that it can be just as good, if not better!

The chef de village, Theo was always around. His energy is amazing, especially at the White Party.

We loved our DR club med experience. If you want Ritz service, this may not be for you. Totally agree with the reviewer that you need to go with the flow at times. If you want five star food, constant high quality activities for all and fun staff, this is perfect for you. While we might not return to this resort, we remain fans of club med and all that it offers and have many happy memories. I’ve already done a photo book for the family. I would also love to know where Theo is next working as he does a great job managing the resort he was given and the team were fantastic!

Thank you to the Miches team and wishing you a dry rest of season! 😉