Sanctuary Cap Cana

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.

Leah Matanovic

My husband and I just returned from this beautiful resort for our honeymoon. I would highly recommend this resort to anyone, it was very beautiful. Very relaxing, not a party resort. Service is incredible , food is amazing highly recommended the steakhouse. Rooms were clean and beautiful. Great options for pools, beach was a bit smaller but still lots of room for people to sit. Lots of seaweed but people were still able to swim. The resort offers activities to do all day which was super nice. We met so many other younger couples also on their honeymoon so that was fun. Overall an amazing resort and I’d love to come back!

Teresa Stephens

Sanctuary Cap Cana was a fantastic experience! The service was truly exemplary, with staff going above and beyond to make our stay special. The grounds and setting were absolutely beautiful—well-maintained, peaceful, and offering the perfect mix of relaxation and fun. If you’re looking for quiet, you can find it, but the main pool area also had plenty of energy with fun activities. Best of all, no long lines, which made everything feel more exclusive and enjoyable. The food was another highlight, with a nice variety of restaurants to choose from. A great bonus was Sanctuary Town just across the street, offering even more dining options for extra variety. Our room itself was pretty average, but the gorgeous view made up for it. The beach wasn’t large, but it was private and peaceful, which we really appreciated. Overall, Sanctuary Cap Cana delivers a luxurious and well-rounded experience—great service, beautiful surroundings, delicious food, and the perfect balance of relaxation and entertainment!

Rajeev

Stayed here for 1 week in January 2025. The resort is adults only and relatively small which yields a more relaxing and peaceful atmosphere. The architecture of the resort buildings adds to the atmosphere. There were always places to sit and relax and take in the ocean views. The rooms also were nice, with even the most basic rooms having ocean views and balcony. The food at the sit down restaurants was pretty good (there are 2 that do not require a reservation and 2 that do require a reservation). The food at the buffet was not good, but the other restaurants made up for it. The beach is very small and the water is not great, there is a significant amount of seaweed in the water which makes swimming or walking in the water unpleasant. There is a bigger beach adjacent to the resort that is a combination of a public beach and beaches for other neighboring resorts which is nice to walk on, but also has significant amount of seaweed in the water. Sanctuary's pools are nice and we did most of our swimming in the pools. Since the resort is on the east side of the island, there are great sunrise views over the ocean. Overall because of the small size of the resort, the atmosphere was peaceful and relaxing; however, there were not as many activities/things to do as the other resorts.