Sanctuary Cap Cana | Monarch Villa Oceanfront and Castle Junior Suite Swim Out Tour

[@JoshAllford]

This was one of the best room overview videos i've ever seen. Great work on the production value here.

[@WiththeNovaks]

Thank you so much! We put a lot of work into our videos so that means a lot!

[@JoshAllford]

​@@WiththeNovaks You can tell you put a ton of work into it with the animations on the maps etc. Knowing where rooms are relative to the resort property is just huge so thanks again. My wife and I currently have the monarch oceanfront booked and we have a few questions (since you seem to be replying): 1. Do you think the villas facing "out" vs facing "in" are better given your experience? I noticed yours was on the private side. How did it look for the ones facing inwards? 2. How swimmable was the beach? Is it super rocky? Pretty much the only hesitation we have with this trip is that we've heard countless reports that the beach is "just ok". We're fine with seaweed and fine with not being able to walk miles on it, but we want to be able to post up and get service on the beach before we decide to swim (again in the beach). 3. I haven't seen a lot of details on the options for stocking your room / fridge (if any) with booze. Can you provide any insight on that? 4. Any info you can give on the food would be appreciated. We're no strangers to all inclusive resorts so we're familiar with the general quality level. But I've heard a lot of iffy reports. Anything you could share would be great. Hopefully we end up going and not finding another place but right now this is looking like a winner. I truly appreciate all of your responses!

[@WiththeNovaks]

@@JoshAllford We’d love to answer your questions the best we can. 1. Private or public beach: Our villa was actually facing the public beach towards the outside (left side on video map) of the resort, the inward beach (right side on video map) is the resort’s private beach. We personally liked the outward facing the public beach because during our stay there was hardly anyone on that beach so it was very private for a public beach. The inward resort private beach is nice too, but it definitely had more people there. A. Resort’s Private Beach: • More people • A lot of lounging areas • Snack bar, drink bar and main pool near by • Drink service that come to your lounging area (make sure to tip) B. Public Beach: • Little to no people • No lounging areas, sit on towel in sand • Only drink service is texting your butler, they will bring drinks to you on the public beach but it’s obviously not as quick as being on the private beach. We’d actually just go buy our own drinks while we are out and about then take them to the beach ourselves. Your butler can also stock your fridge in advance so we took our beers out to that beach as well. If you run out, they will restock and it’s just a few steps to your villa. 2. Swimmable beaches: A. Resort’s Private Beach: It was rocky in a lot of the areas, one of us actually cut the bottom of our foot walking into the water. Also a lot of seaweed. B. Public Beach: Didn’t seem rocky to us at all (at least the area of it we swam in, can’t speak for the entire beach) however there was a lot of seaweed. Once past the seaweed in the shallow end, the water is clear and great to swim in. 3. Stocking room/fridge: The Monarch Oceanfront has butler service and a cleaning crew that come through daily to stock your fridge, however it’s a mini fridge and only holds a couple waters, sodas and beer. If you are like us and want more than four beers a day you can let your butler know to bring more (you communicate with them through WhatsApp, so if you don’t have the app go ahead and download it before your trip). Our butler caught on quick and started bringing extra water and beer for us everyday. You can also ask for champagne if you prefer that. Liquor you will need to order from the bar or buy yourself while you’re out. 4. Thoughts on food: A. Restaurants: • Most times we had lunch and dinner at the resort, we thought it was really good, especially the Dominican food, but if you decide to order American style food then I wouldn’t expect it to taste as good as it does in the states. B. Room Service: • We usually ordered room service for breakfast (and ate on the back deck), which was great, especially the Dominican breakfast which we ordered most mornings. Late night snack/dinner room service options were okay. Naturally, with room service, it’s not freshly made which is why these were sub par. • Also, if you enjoy coffee like us, I’d order two coffees each as the coffee size is very small. We hope you and your wife enjoy the Monarch Oceanfront Villa if that’s the resort you decide to go with. In the meantime if you have any additional questions about the resort, feel free to reach out. Thanks for watching!

[@joycelynjosey-harris2684]

you did an amazing job. This helped soooo much! Thank you

[@WiththeNovaks]

Thank you so much! We are glad it helped you!

[@neckbone4941]

Thanks for sharing!!

[@kayladeveau2984]

I Have been looking for this type of descriptive video for a year now! We are going on our honeymoon next year, and were so unsure which room option to choose. Thank you!!!

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey Kayla, Of course! We are glad this video was helpful for you. Back when we were looking, we had no luck finding anything on the Monarch Villa Oceanfront and very little on the Castle Junior Suite Swim Out. We decided to video both and put this together in hope of helping others who are thinking of staying at Sanctuary Cap Cana. Thank you for watching!

[@kayladeveau2984]

@@WiththeNovaks I am an EXTREMELY light sleeper. I get so much anxiety booking resorts because I'm always worried about hearing sounds of loud music from bars, or people next door. This completely sold me on the monarch villa (and this public beach side). Thank you again 💓

[@WiththeNovaks]

@@kayladeveau2984 glad this helped! You both will definitely enjoy the oceanfront Villa, we miss it!

[@nimit2535]

This resort and location is beautiful, thank you for this review. I didn't realise how secluded this place is. Probably not for those seeking a little more hustle and bustle like some of the other resorts in DR.

[@WiththeNovaks]

The resort is very beautiful. It is secluded, which was more of what we were looking for, but not too far from the Punta Cana area. Agreed, if you are looking for more activities at a walking distance from your resort than this may not be the best option. Thanks for watching!

[@darrengantt]

Thank you for the detailed video! We’re staying in the Tower Terrace suite in January and unfortunately can’t find any videos like yours for detailed descriptions or walk through. Maybe I’ll have to make one while there. 😊

[@WiththeNovaks]

You’re welcome! Oh nice I bet that suite is great. Yea it’s hard to find good videos of their different stays which is why we made this video. You definitely should make a video for that suite!

[@reynavega1458]

This video was super helpful ,Thank you!

[@WiththeNovaks]

We are glad this helped! Of course!

[@Jim-Halp1234]

A year later but how was the food ? Heard mixed things.

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey Jim, Most times we had lunch and dinner at restaurants on the resort, we thought it was really good, especially the Dominican food, but if you decide to order American style food then I wouldn’t expect it to taste as good as it does in the states. We usually ordered room service for breakfast (and ate on the back deck), which was great, especially the Dominican breakfast which we ordered most mornings. Late night snack/dinner room service options were not as enjoyable. Naturally, with room service, it’s not freshly made which is why these were sub par. We hope this helps, thank you for watching!

[@Jim-Halp1234]

@@WiththeNovaks thank you !

[@WiththeNovaks]

@@Jim-Halp1234 of course!

[@kayladeveau2984]

Quick question: For the Villa, are you far away from all the pools and restaurants? Wondering if we need to count on a butler and a golf cart to bring us to the regular section. Thank you!

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey Kayla, the villa is a quick walk from the main lobby, pools and restaurants (you can cut through the property to get to the main area quicker), it’s not bad if you don’t mind walking. If you prefer then we’d suggest having your butler come pick you up. The butlers were always available and picked us up on time if we had dinner reservations. Especially if were going to some of the restaurants such as Wok, as it’s on the opposite end of the resort. We hope this helps. Thank you for watching!

[@SL-zy3ux]

Is it along walk to all the restaurants and main pools?

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey, from the Monarch villas it is a bit of a walk (but not too far) to the restaurants and pools but you can call your butler to pick you up and take you if needed!

[@loganorchard4576]

What time of year did you go, we booked the Monarch Villa for November and just curious.

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey Logan, we went in April. November sounds like a great time too as the sweltering heat will have died down and it’s at the end of hurricane season!

[@Valentinacespedes26]

Is it possible to get a swim out room with lounge chairs and this type of bathroom? I see alot of people with this room but different bathroom.

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey Nadira, unfortunately we do not know the answer to that as we only saw the inside of our suite. If having that style of bathroom and outdoor seating is important we’d recommend calling the resort to clarify. Thank you!

[@Smg10862]

Which room did you prefer

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey Scott, We preferred the Monarch Villa Oceanfront because it was more spacious and our own private villa instead of a hotel room. It was also a bit further from the main resort activities so we liked the peace and quiet aspect of the villa too. Both are great spaces though. Thanks for watching!

[@christophercarozzo5133]

I’ve heard the beach is not good there. But it looks like the public beach is a good place if you want to walk the beach. What did you think?

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey! We enjoyed the beach there, especially the public beach side as there was rarely people on it. It’s a great beach to walk on too! The only thing is the washed up seaweed. At the beginning of our stay we lucked out and there wasn’t a lot washed up on the shore, but towards the end of our trip there was a good amount of seaweed washed up on shore. They have a crew that cleans up the seaweed every morning but they don’t get it all, so on really heavy days there is a good bit on the beach all day.

[@MarioTheCarGuy]

Where did you book your excursion ?

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey Rio, We listed our excursions in the description with links to where we booked them. The “More Recommendations” footage in this video is from Scape Park.

[@kristyc2879]

Hi! How was the transition from staying in one room to another?

[@WiththeNovaks]

Hey! Since both stays have butler service, the butler took all our luggage from the villa to the swim out for us. It was seamless. Thanks for watching!

[@kristyc2879]

@@WiththeNovaks thanks! How did you guys feel about the safety of the public beach at night specifically?

[@WiththeNovaks]

@@kristyc2879 we never felt unsafe. The resort has a high-mast light that shines onto the public beach from the resort so it’s not completely dark outside the villa. Though past the light it gets dark, but still never felt unsafe.

[@kristyc2879]

@@WiththeNovaks thank you!!

[@tulocotech]

Wow 👌 paradise 😍 this is better than México

[@WiththeNovaks]

It is paradise! Funny you say that, we actually just got back from Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We will be making a video soon for our resort there as well.