La Romana

We had a fantastic vacation at Catalonia Royal La Romana. The hotel is one hour from Punta Cana airport and it is part of a complex of two hotels. This one is for adults only, but you have access to the family one. The beach is beautiful with white sand, turquoise water and no seaweed. You can have all your meals in ‘a la carte' restaurants or you can choose buffet breakfast in Thalassa restaurant. Two days per week you can also have buffet dinner at the same venue. The buffets were fantastic with a huge and high-quality variety. ‘A la carte' restaurants were fine as well. If you want, also you can eat at the restaurants of the other hotel. Entertainment was good with a lot of activities such salsa/bachata/Zumba lessons, yoga, stretching, bingo, etc. The hotel is very modern with big rooms and it is very well maintained. This is one of the best hotels in the Bayahibe area and it is highly recommended.

We stayed here 5 years ago and returned October 2019. Check in: quick and easy kudos to Guerara and front desk staff for great service Room: we booked Privelege. Rooms are remodelled and extremely clean, everything you need and more! you get extra A la cartes, BEACH: 5 star! Water semi calm for snorkeling, amazing beach sunsets, and great for long walks. The only downfall: The privelege is special section on beach BUT it was behind the Elite Travellers Club. and was only a small section with better beach chairs. This is my one complaint: When we were here 5 years ago, privelege was the VIP. Not anymore, you need to upgrade to The other adults only section or buy the vacation club package. FYI. Pool: have a beautiful large pool. It is under construction at the time, should be open by peak season. Food: plenty of options, food and a la cartes great. Staff: SUPER friendly. The best staff in Bayahibe. We are beach people so the segregation on the beach was the deal breaker. That being said, we upgraded the second day to adults only resort. I will have another review of that property. You will be fine at this property, we just wanted a few more perks for the VIP.

First of all, I got debilitating food poisoning after eating at a seafood restaurant here, so that's that. Also, we had asked for honeymoon accommodation, which included a bottle of wine, appetizer platter, fresh fruit, early check in, etc. But we had to wait around for hours for our rooms. And when we finally got to the room, it had none of the honeymoon items, and had two beds. We were promised a new room with honeymoon items with a king bed the day after. Next day arrived, we did get a new room. And instead of the honeymoon goodies that was promised, we got: two plastic cups of orange juice, two plastic cups of what tasted like gogurt, three store bought croissants, and a plate - a PLATE of jam with a cling wrap. It was a shoddiest hodgepodge of things, what a joke. So honeymooners, beware. Front staff seem lazy, determined not to help the customers. The crew are friendly enough and working hard to restore the damages to the ground after the hurricane. It's loud at all hours of day and night with booming music and loud group activities by the pool.

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.

Hotel was very nice, friendly staff. very good service.

Let me start by saying, we had an amazing week! This is one of the typical Dominican Resort, not too fancy like the newer hotels. We were a group of 4 adults, 2 couples. The staff treated us well, A la Cartes were great. Suites are spacious. Grounds immaculate. BEACH: The Best part of the hotel! One of the best beaches for snorkeling, swimming. Stay to the left of the pier. The right of the pier restaurant has lots of coral, should bring water shoes. I spent the week between my floating device and snorkeling. The most amazing sunsets you will see over the Caribbean. ADULTS CLUB Definately worth the upgrade, you get the VIP lounge which is air conditioned, better liquor, snacks all day and awesome coffee bar. The Adults Club restaurant served meals for breakfast and lunch. Special section on beach, upgraded rooms, premium wifi throughout resort. The Basic Resort: Buffet: Like any other buffet, you have your grilling stations, fruit, salads. This does get monotonous but there is nothing wrong with the food. Service was hit and miss. Don't be shy serving yourself if the restaurant is full. The A La cartes were all wonderful. The Japanese and Brazilian were our favorites. Service was great. Room: We had a top floor beachfront suite. Spacious, lots of water pressure. Our whirlpool soaker tub wouldn't hold water in it as the plug was broken. Only a minor issue. Recreation: The foam party was a blast. There is a disco onsite that goes until 2am. There was Zumba, step classes, and aquafit. Dance lessons, beach volleyball, bocce ball, lots of activities. Grounds: Beautifully kept, main pool is large and very nice. There are no elevators and lots of walking. The VIP pool is quiet and a nice place to relax. Dominicus Beach is definately one of my favorite areas. I have also stayed at the Catalonia and the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace. Would I return? YES but only at a certain price point.

Traveled as couple from Canada, Toronto. Our vacation was very smooth and enjoyable. Hotel has some older patts and brand new buildings too. Viva beach is more vibrant and lively, much bigger part of the resort with many options for food/ drinks and many activities all day long. Spectacular beach !!! Pallace side is more regimented, smaller side with newer buildings a little smaller beach but if you stay in Pallace you can use all facilities of Beach side. Thank you Nordine for awesome room upgrade - it made the vacation spectacular ! We had the best vacation while celebrating our wedding anniversary ... thanks again N... Pavol and Martina from Toronto

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.