La Romana

Wonderful week in a beautiful, newly renovated adults only resort. It is the first time that I would like to return to the same resort for a second vacation, that is how fantastic it was. The staff were so attentive and pleasant, tips were appreciated but not necessary for great service. The food was very good, the drinks even better!

If you like lukewarm foods served at the buffet this is the place for you. If you like having to call 3 times to get a noisy toilet tank refill repaired stay here (it was quieter but still leaking when we left) If you like a room that does not have hot water you will get one here. Dirty toilets at pool ?....you got it!! As for rainy day activities, if English language TV that shows nothing but old NFL and MLB games and horse racing is for you, you'll love this place. If reading is your thing, a few old books and magazines that obviously were left by previous guests are available at the towel hut. Management has thoughtfully saved these and placed them in the huts. Those are your rainy day options. They would have to pay us to come back and even if they were to offer we might not want to waste our vacation time - 'nuff said. "Recommended for" is required for the review but does not include a "Not Recommended" option so we ticked "Shopping" but we do not actually recommend that. Overall not worth the money or time.

Generally, this resort was okay. The rooms were very clean and nice. Water pressure and toilets were never good. The cleaning ladies were great though. Drinks from the bar were hit or miss. They are very understaffed so we often had to wait about 5-15 mins for a drink. The taste (and sometimes ingredients) of the drinks varied from each bartender heavily. As well, the sweetener in their coconut milk (for example, this coconut milk is used in pina coladas) is a laxative. There was one day I had 2 pina coladas and I suffered for about 3 days with stomach aches and having to use the bathroom often. I heard other guests having this issue as well (there was always a line for the ladies restrooms). The buffet food was hit or miss as well. Some foods were great and others were not good at all. The snack bars had very bland food. In general, the resort was always clean. They kept the beach and sidewalks very clean. The beach was absolutely gorgeous. Very clear water and that beautiful turquoise colour of the healthy ocean. Very salty, however, which was to be expected of course. There were lots of crabs and hermit crabs which were fun to see (most of my pictures from the vacation were of crabs). There were a few geckos. Quest services were awful. For reservations for the restaurants, you had to make them through guest services. There was only ever 2 staff working and they were slow. We always had to wait about 20 mins just to make a reservation. Front desk usually had 1 or 2 staff who were slow as well. There was very few staff that spoke English. We did 2 excursions. One to scape park and one to Casa de Campo/Catalina Island. We were very excited for scape park as me and my boyfriend are very into nature/animals. To start off, the hotel staff that we booked the excursion with was unclear about where got picked up. He told us to wait in the lobby. But after waiting a while we saw the bus just outside the resort (near security) and it passed right by. We went out of the resort and talked to the security guard. He said the bus will come back but you have to wait here. So turns out we don't get picked up in the lobby but outside the resort. We arrived at scape park and it seemed very small and mostly zip lining (which we told the staff we booked with that my boyfriend is afraid of heights). We were disappointed for about half of the day. Then we met up with a fellow Canadian group of 3. One of them wanted to do zip lining and the other 2 didn't. So I went zip lining with the guy who wanted to zip line and my boyfriend went the other 2. They discovered a whole other area of the park! Turned out it is a lot bigger but the map is misleading and unclear. So by the time we finished zip lining and the other 3 discovered the other side of the park it was time to leave. So it turned into a great day but we wished we understood the layout of the park better. As well the staff we booked the excursion told us to bring runners. Most of the park is water/swimming related. He should have told us to bring water shoes... The second excursion was Catalina Island. To start off, we went outside of the resort to security and they told us our ride came 15 minutes ago (8:10) but our ticket said our pick up time was at 8:25. So we decided to hope and wait. Our ride didn't come after waiting 30 mins. We contacted the staff we booked with and he was very confused and decided to call us a cab. We later learned that everyone else for this excursion was messed up because the company decided to change the meeting point last minute. After that huge issue the whole excursion was great! The sights and the staff were great! There was also a private photographer that basically did a photoshoot with me and my boyfriend so we decided to purchase the pictures. We paid 60USD for pictures of snorkeling and everything else. Turned out to be about 200 pictures that he sent us and they were all great! Pricey, but worth it. Rides to and from the airport went very smoothly.

Overall, we were very pleased. We went with our 5-month old son and needed to go somewhere appropriate for him (ability to go back to room often and quickly). This all-inclusive was great and our son was a hit with staff and other vacationers. The food was okay - it was what I'd expect and there was a lot of choice. I did find some of the other vacationers really pushy at the buffets. There were always shady places to sit at the pool and beach - though at the beach the best spots were always taken. Tips: Drink the mojitos!! The espresso machine in the "steak house" has the best coffee.

Stayed a week in January 2017 and cannot honestly think of anything I could complain about except I should have stayed longer!!The resort is clean, well kept, good food, great people ,great entertainment and super beach! The Saona Exclusive tour was fantastic and the Crazy Wheels tour of the countryside will never be forgotten.

The resort is tops in service, cleanliness, gracious/polite staff. It has a variety of entertainment to keep the young, the mid & the seniors busy all through the day & night. The resort certainly is a good place for all ages.

Worst Vacation First some shared info in general that I always try to share at the beginning of my reports. Use a certified travel agent. They are your first recourse when something goes wrong and they will advocate for you with the carrier. USE YOUR ROOM SAFE. At all times. Do not leave your room unless you have cash or other valuables locked in the safe or on your person. Many of the reasons people report bad experiences is due to bad service or theft. The hotel will not take any responsibility or replace what you claim was stolen. Don't drink the water while in the Dominican Republic. Don't even brush your teeth with it. It is not potable at all on the resorts. Chances are if you hear of people getting seriously ill they drank the water. The sites and carriers don't advertise the fact. If you go to your orientation once you get there they do tell you. So don't skip your orientation. If you arrange your stay yourself, i.e. don't use a carrier, I'm strictly talking all-inclusives here, use some common sense. They give you bottled water not just as a courtesy but out of necessity. Drink the bottled water until you learn the lay of the land. If you go off resort and aren't sure then drink Coke or beer. The only all-inclusive I stayed at that I didn't have to drink bottled was in Panama. But be careful. Don't flush the toilet paper. Throw it in the trash. They are not connected to city water and it clogs up the plumbing. Do tip. This is a poor country. The people work hard and make way less than anyone in Canada makes for sure. It doesn't always equal better service but at least we are helping these people out. Be polite, a Hola or Buenos dias, tardes or noches goes a lot way. So does por favor and gracias. Everyone should travel with manners. Arrival: Arrival was quick as there was only four arriving. But we were greeted with neither a cool towel or drink. Room: The basic room is what they call a Studio. It had neither a patio nor a balcony. It's an enclosed hotel room with a kitchenette. Bathroom with tub but no stopper in case you want to have a bath. A free safe, a TV, wall A/C. Just very basic. Basic wouldn't be so bad if they actually cleaned it. The bath tub had never seen a sponge and cleanser, it was black. A dead bug sat on the floor of my bathroom all week. The fixtures were not made to shine. The shower head was clogged and could have used some CLR. Most egregious was that the shower liner was black with mould. In short it was kind of disgusting. There was spilled nail polish on the floor, wall and door when I got there and no effort had been made to clean it up. Don't the cleaners have supervisors or heads of housekeeping that check their work? I'd be embarrassed to charge for a room that was this dirty. The minibar was supposed to have water, soft drinks and beer. There was only 2 bottles of water. As well there were supposed to be 2 beach towels in the room. There were not. After my orientation when I mentioned these things, that changed. But c'mon they had 4-5 hours to get the room ready and create a good impression. The food is horrible and repetitive. The fruit juices were never cold. It was never hot. They don't have proper chafing dishes to keep things hot and as it is open air there are a lot of flies, etc. There is also no ice cream. The desserts were not cold and melting. They do pizza very well and on my last day there they had incredible fried chicken. But nothing is labelled in English so it is hard to tell if it is not obvious what you are eating. Saturday night they had a fish night and nothing was labelled. I had no idea what I was eating. If I had had an allergy to shell fish I would have been in trouble. They have nothing really guaranteed gluten free. They have one a la carte which only seats 20 people above the lobby. You have to be at reception at 7am to book it. The one night I went it was Chef's surprise. It's a 3 course meal. It was ok, although the menu had very bad English translations and the steak was grisly. We didn't get a steak knife. And still had paper napkins. They used to have a coffee shop but the shop front was empty. I have never had to buy snacks at a resort before but I did at this one. The service in the restaurant is slow to non-existent. It was hard to even get your water glass refilled. One day after about ½ hour I went up and filled my own water glass. They didn't like that so much. They spend most of their time taking away your dishes. I suppose because I was a solo traveller they felt I wasn't worth their time. The grounds themselves are kept nice. As I travelled there in July there was never any problem finding a seat at the beach or by the pool which was nice. But there are so many flies, mosquitos and small almost invisible flies that are there to bite you! I came back with so many bites! The bar, unlike many AIs, did not have a specialty drink. Some of them have their own cocktails. When I asked the bartender if they had a special drink he didn't understand me or pretended not to know so I ordered a pina colada. They didn't seem to have any activities. There was a water activity pool for kids with a slide etc. but it looked pretty decrepit. No animation crews. At night they had a sax player around the one bar outside of the open air buffet. There were excursions you could book and I did book one but it was to Soana Island which is a tourist trap really. However I did have 3 problems that they were able to resolve. First problem, I had no hot water in my shower for a couple of days. At first I thought it was just the time of day and they ran out, then I thought I had to let it run for awhile. Nothing worked, so I mentioned it to the front desk and it was fixed by next day. Second problem is that Canadians like to use wash cloths. I know it's mostly a North American and West European thing. Anyway I had to ask for them a couple of times. The second time I Googled the Spanish translation, wrote the maid a note and got 3 the next day. Third problem was that one day my A/C just quit. I called and they sent someone right away but they could not fix it. The front desk person told me that a specialist would be there the next day at 9am to fix it. And it happened. It was fixed. Another strong point is that they have free WiFi on the beach, by the pool, the buffet and the lobby. Departure: Departure was uneventful and smooth. Although for some reason I was on a flight that flew in and out of the Punta Cana International Airport. It left later in the day. On the morning of my departure I was eating breakfast and had not packed and a man came from the hotel and told me my bus was at the front. I almost had a heart attack. I thought that maybe my flight had been changed and no one told me, although I had checked the book in the lobby the day before. So I told him I was flying out later and he put the rep on the phone. I told her that I was leaving later and she realized I was on the other flight. Nothing gets your heart started faster than thinking you only have 10 minutes to pack! At any rate I will not be going back. It was pretty much the most miserable vacation I've had. As a solo traveller there was absolutely nothing for me.