We stayed 7 nights at The Senator and enjoyed every single day. It was beautiful, clean, always had hot water, staff was wonderful and attentive, the sunsets were beautiful. It was also fun to see the huge cruise ships sail into Amber Cove. However, there is a problem with the beach chairs. People go fishing down around 6am and put towels on chairs so as to reserve them. This is for the pool and the beach. It is supposedly not allowed, but is still done. Some people didn’t come down until the afternoon, leaving others without chairs. Now, I’m of the kind that, you’re not here, then I’m using that chair. It’s my vacation too! I made sure to give it back when the people eventually came down, but it is a major inconvenience. Also, this resort shares the beach and bars with Playabachata next door. Which is kinda nice. The area is very safe, but there’s not a lot going on. There are shows at night, but not until 9:30pm. There are no bikes, but playabachata has some water sports. The beach is lovely, and the water is glorious, but not super clear. Not when we were there anyways. I noticed an older crowd and no one was super partying. For us, it was lovely, but certainly not for everyone. Be aware of you fly into Santiago and not POP, you will have to take a cab for 1.5 hours at a cost of $75USD. we talked the cabbie down from $90. Expedia set all of this up, and we were very surprised when we landed and learned we had to pay more and drive a long way to get to Puerto Plata.