When it is time to go on a family vacation, parents have a lot to consider. They want to make sure that there will be plenty for the children to see and do, but there should also be some fun times for adults to enjoy. The Nickelodeon Hotel is an excellent option because it has plenty of features to entertain every member of the family.
What Is the Nickelodeon Hotel?
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The Nickelodeon Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, is a family-friendly hotel that uses the theme of the popular children's cable channel. This theme is carried out in a variety of ways, including the use of well-known characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer to entertain guests.
Product Specs
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The Nickelodeon Hotel offers unique hotel rooms such as swim-up suites, meals with Nickelodeon characters, indoor playgrounds, multiple water parks, and more. Just about any family can choose the room, suite or block or rooms to suit their whole group perfectly.
Pricing
Room prices at the Nickelodeon Hotel vary. For example, the most modest room, the Pad Suite, ran about $370 per night on a random weekday, whereas the Connoisseur Pineapple Villa is a big step up at as bit over $5,000 per night. This range allows you to tailor your vacation at this hotel to your budget as well as your family's desire for fun.
How It Compares
We picked a few similar hotels and resorts in the area to see how they compare.
Nickelodeon Hotel
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Convenience
The Nickelodeon Hotel ranks highly in terms of convenience. This hotel has just about everything you could need right on site, including entertainment and activities for the children, restaurants and bars, sports facilities, and spas. For families with babies and toddlers, the staff will even provide items such as baby food, strollers, cribs, and bottle warmers.
Facilities
The Nickelodeon Hotel appears to be a kid's dream come true. There is a water park where you can do everything from taking a ride on water-based thrill rides to floating down the Lazy River, and you maybe even get slimed with Nickelodeon's iconic green slime.
Kids can also hang out in the Just Kidding area, where there is a two-story slide that dumps you out into a giant ball pit. This area has other playful opportunities, including structured activities such as science experiments. Guests can also enjoy a sports hub where families can play tennis or basketball, try a game of chess with a giant chess set, and more. The Nickelodeon also has family dance parties and other musical activities at night.
As for accommodations, the basic "flat suite" includes a master suite with separate living and dining areas, plus a private balcony. Accommodations increase in swankiness from there. You can get a room with direct access to the pool, a plunge pool right in your room, or your own villa. You can even live in a pineapple!
Services
The Nickelodeon Hotel has a variety of restaurants and bars, including an "adults only" restaurant. Families can choose to eat at an outer-space-themed restaurant; eat Asian, Italian or Mediterranean food; stop at a kid-friendly, fast-food restaurant or a food truck; or choose still another option. In-room dining is available 24 hours a day. Character visits are certain to make the whole vacation more exciting. You never know when a Nickelodeon character may show up at Character Central or the Just Kidding area. You might see SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Dora, Boots, Chase & Marshal from Paw Patrol, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Cosmo & Wanda from the Fairly OddParents. If you want to make sure to have an encounter with a Nickelodeon character, you can sign your family up for a character breakfast.
You may even want to get slimed! You can purchase a private sliming experience for your family, get slimed with a whole bunch of other people at the water park every day at 3:00 p.m., or enter the Slime Lottery. In the Slime Lottery, a family is picked each day to get slimed. The family can then have their photo taken while slimy. The Nickelodeon Hotel is the only hotel where you can do that!
The Nickelodeon Hotel also has a full-service spa where guests can enjoy massages, health and beauty treatments, an herbal steam room, a dry sauna, chromo-therapy showers, bubble beds, and a whirlpool. Adults can also enjoy romantic experiences without the children. Nickelodeon Hotels will host your wedding, create the perfect honeymoon, or help you celebrate your anniversary. But for those who do bring their kids and still want some alone time, Nickelodeon Hotel offers babysitting services in their Just Kidding area.
Overall Experience
an't beat the Nickelodeon Hotel. There is something for everyone.
Pros
Cons
Hard Rock Hotel
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While not specifically created for children, the Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana offers a family-friendly experience.
Price $$$
On a random weekday, the Signature Family Suite was around $830 per night. Like some other aspects of this hotel's accommodations, the prices suggest an adult adventure and stay to us more than they do a kid-friendly one.
Convenience
Everything you want can be found on site. The Hard Rock Hotel has 13 pools, 13 restaurants, 23 bars, a golf course, a spa and fitness center, and more.
Facilities
This hotel has a children's pool with water slides, a mini-golf course, a rock-climbing wall, and an arcade to keep families busy. For adults, there is also a rock-themed spa and a music lab.
Families have the option of staying in a Signature Family Suite, which has a king bed and two smaller beds. It has an XBox360 console with a selection of games and DVDs, a mini-bar with kid-friendly drinks and snacks, kid-sized bathrobes and slippers, a family amenities kit, and a special room service menu for kids.
Services
For parents who want some time away from their kids, the Kids Club keeps little ones entertained with activities of their own. This club has a different theme each day so that kids won't get bored. On any given day, kids might get to have a pool party, do karaoke, take dance lessons, have a talent show, snorkel, go on a treasure hunt, or create balloon art.
At the Hard Rock, kids can even participate in the KIDZ BOP experience, where they can do everything from hanging out in the Pop Star Lounge, to picking out a new wardrobe, to performing on stage.
Overall Experience
There is a lot for kids and adults to do here. The experience here seems to be geared more towards adults, with things to keep children busy separately, rather than toward offering experiences for the whole family to do together.
Pros
Cons
Grand Serenis Punta Cana Resort
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This hotel has its own on-site water park and many other features to explore.
Price $$
On a random weekday, the Family Suite cost around $300 per night.
Convenience
This resort has all the amenities of a small village, including a mini-mart and a medical center. They also have a buffet restaurant and seven themed restaurants.
Facilities
The crown jewel of this resort is its on-site water park. It has tube and toboggan rides, a kamikaze ride, a free fall ride, and a speed slide. For children not quite ready for all of those thrill rides, there is a Pirates of the Caribbean area with tamer water rides and water barrels. The smallest swimmers can hang out in a little pool with sprinklers and animal statues.
This hotel/resort has four pools, including two just for children. Guests can also enjoy a casino, a nightclub, a spa, and facilities for the enjoyment of many land and water sports.
Services
This hotel has a babysitting program for children up to age 12. Guests also have access to a health-and-beauty spa. Room service is available until 11 p.m.
Overall Experience
Although this hotel lacks many of the bells and whistles of the Nickelodeon Hotel and some other family hotels, it still offers a great time for every member of the family.
Pros
Cons
Grand Palladium Bavaro Suites
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This hotel has 13 restaurants, 22 bars, 6 freshwater pools, and several entertainment options for children.
Price $
On a random weekday, the Superior Junior Suite with Family Kit was about $260 per night.
Convenience
The variety of restaurants ensures that you will always find something you want to eat.
Facilities
This hotel boasts a gymnasium and facilities for golf, water polo, aqua gym, mini-golf, table tennis, archery, billiards, soccer, volleyball, badminton, and more sports activities. You can enjoy catamarans, windsurfing, kayaking, and banana boats. Families can opt to stay in the Superior Junior Suite, which includes a tent, games, and a DVD player with DVDs. The room comes with a baby kit or child kit that can be replenished each day with all the things your baby or child may need for that day. Babies get diapers, wipes, baby food jars, powdered milk, sunscreen, a t-shirt, a sippy cup, and snacks. Children ages 3 to 12 get a cap, a t-shirt, a backpack, and snacks. Teenagers 13 and up get only a cap and T-shirt.) Special room service for children is also available.
Services
This is one of the few hotels we've seen that offers babysitting and entertainment for children as young as one-year-olds. Their "Baby Club" offers child care for children from one through three years old, and it includes a nap area. Children between 4 and 12 years old can enjoy the indoor and outdoor play areas at the Mini Club. Kids ages 13 through 19 have their own club with age-appropriate activities, including video games, table games, and computers.
Overall Experience
Although there is no water park or theme park here, the variety of water sports, land sports, and excursions available make up for it.
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
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After reviewing a few of the other options for family hotels, we found that the Nickelodeon Hotel is the one that offers the most complete vacation for families. This hotel is the only one with every single aspect designed specifically for families with children. First of all, their unique rooms offer families a 24/7 entertainment experience. What kid wouldn't be excited at the chance to sleep in SpongeBob's pineapple? For families who can afford to take advantage of it, that is a once in a lifetime experience.
For families with more modest budgets, the basic suites are still fancy enough to provide a fun, relaxing time. Next, the on-site water park is bound to be a thrill for kids, and even adults, of all ages. Many hotels and resorts offer babysitting and children's programming, but the Nickelodeon Hotel is the only one to have a two-story slide that drops into a giant ball pit!
Dance parties, character visits, and unique dining experiences pull the whole experience together. While we love that this hotel is focused on giving families lots of things to do together, we also appreciate that adults have the option of getting away to do their own things, such as visiting the spa, playing sports, or checking out the bars. We recommend the Nickelodeon Hotel as our number-one choice for families.
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