Dreams Dominicus La Romana

This was our 2nd trip to this resort, previously the Hilton, and very little has changed. The rooms are comfy, amenities are great, it never feels crowded and the food is consistently good. The staff is always friendly and accommodating. Especially Dior, the waitress at the preferred section of the beach. Had a fantastic massage at the spa thanks to Antonia. Sad to leave but will definitely be back.

My husband and I just left from our stay for our honeymoon! I’ll get the negatives out of the way first so we can end on a high note. Overall, we had a really enjoyable experience, the cons were not impactful enough to influence our overall experience, just some things to note if you go in the future and some things that contributed to my 4/5 star rating. Cons: * The pool is not heated, the ocean was actually warmer than the pool. I only really went fully into the pool like twice bc it was so cold. * The room could’ve been cleaner. We had to ask them to come clean the floors again when we arrived. * Our room was also insanely humid. Like any paper we had in our room was damp to the touch, that’s how moist it was. Not sure if there’s really anything they can do about it as it’s just the way the weather is there (maybe invest in dehumidifiers lol), but it did slightly take away from our stay. We wound up taking the quilt off the bed and sleeping just under the sheet which was a lot more comfortable. * Dinner on the Dreams side took incredibly long one of the nights we went: Over an hour wait for the food at the grill after we didn’t feel like waiting the hour just to be seated at the italian place. It was weird, there was staff everywhere but somehow also nowhere. I accidentally spilled my drink and nobody came to help us clean it up. They did eventually bring us new napkins and me a new drink, though. They also brought us more bread while we were waiting. We did go back to the Italian place another night and made sure to arrive right at 6 when they opened, we got seated right away and it was delicious. * The desserts are extremely mid. Most of the ones I tried were either dry or just tasted weird or like nothing at all. As someone who loves sweet treats, this was a little disappointing, but the other food being really good mostly made up for it. * The designated smoking areas are like right in the middle of the walkways, so you basically have to walk through cigarette smoke if there’s people there when you’re going to and from the pool areas. * We had one negative, although indirect, experience with the staff…it was raining and we were protected under one of the umbrella shelters on the beach, but about 5 staff members were talking really loudly right behind us and a bunch of other guests and even yelling to others across the way. It went on for about a half hour and was really frustrating as we were trying to relax. We would’ve left but didn’t want to walk in the rain. Eventually they relocated and it was much more peaceful. * This really wasn’t a huge deal and didn’t bother my husband at all but I think it would’ve been nice…as we were walking past all the rooms the first day we noticed some doors with banners with things like “happy anniversary” or “honeymoon” on them. We didn’t have one on ours even though we told them it was our honeymoon, but I also think they gave us the room as soon as it was available, so I hoped they would put one up the next day. There was a little piece of paper in the room that said “enjoy your honeymoon” but with the wrong name on it. After a day or two with still nothing on our door (and walking past the other doors and getting slightly jealous), I made a call to ask them to give us one. So the next day we come back to our room and we had a sign on our door…it said “happy birthday”. We told two separate people, one of the room service people and someone who brought us a “birthday gift” (some macarons and chocolate covered strawberries, which we gladly enjoyed) and asked them to fix it, they said they would and they never did. I know it’s like a tiny silly thing but I thought the idea was really cute and a nice way to make our honeymoon a little extra special/stand out from any other regular trip, so I was pretty disappointed. I’m sure if I had been more persistent about it they would’ve fixed it eventually but at that point there was only one day left and it wasn’t really worth it. * Also not something huge, but thought it was worth nothing: they advertise sustainability, which is amazing, but they don’t always practice it. The sign in the bathroom says to leave the towels you want replaced on the floor but they take all of them anyway, and the one that bothered me the most is they replace open water bottles even if they’re not empty. Multiple times we had water bottles disappear that were still half full. Pros: * The entire staff at the resort is incredibly friendly and kind. * The beach is GORGEOUS: Soft sand and beautiful warm water. * The property is beautiful and very well taken care of. Doesn’t have great rainwater drainage (it rained pretty consistently the last two days we were there ☹️), but the staff was on top of it with squeegees and mops. * The hot tub is great, especially for those cloudy days. It is on the preferred only section on the Secrets side, we saw one on the Dreams side but not sure if it was preferred only as well. * In the preferred pool and beach sections there are sunscreen and aloe dispensers for guests to use, which is very nice if you forget or run out. * That being said, preferred is 100% worth it. At one point we were at the (non-preferred) infinity pool but then a loud DJ started on the beach along with a grill with a lot of smoke that was blowing our way so we went over to the preferred pool and it was so much better. It’s overall much quieter and more relaxing. You can also go to one of the restaurants (Mare) for breakfast and lunch as preferred guests which was a nice change of pace from the buffet and the food was delicious. There’s also a preferred only lounge that is always stocked with small bites. * The buffet has a ton of great and delicious options. Lines can get long when it’s busy. * All the food is delicious (besides the desserts). We didn’t have one meal we disliked. * Highly recommend making a reservation for the hibachi at Sakura when you arrive. It’s the only one you need a reservation for and it’s so fun and the food was amazing. We did it on New Year’s Eve and it was wonderful. * A few great activities are offered throughout the day. We did the bingo and the canvas painting and had a really great time at both. The painting was nice as it was raining pretty much all day that day so it gave us something else to do besides chilling in our room. Plus we have a nice handmade souvenir to take home. Bingo was fun and they gave out tshirts and hats as prizes. I will say we kind of wished there were more activities, especially on the rainy days when there really wasn’t much to do. But the ones we went to we enjoyed. Neither a pro nor a con, just an interesting point to add: * The resort nestles right up to the public beach. There’s not really anything roped off, just guards that stand there and ask for your room number when you come and go. Because of this, the village of Bayahibe is an easy walk away if you want to explore and it was incredibly close to our Saona Island excursion (which btw was the highlight of our trip, it was so amazing. I posted a separate review of it on the tour company’s Google profile). We literally walked back afterwards while some people said they had a 2 hour ride to get there! Overall, this was an interesting change of pace as the few all-inclusives we’d been to before were pretty secluded. We very much enjoyed our stay, but the few things listed in the cons prevented it from being a 5/5 star experience.

Located beside public beach which is not good. Other stuff is average. Many restrictions for guests who are non preferred club members

The activities were all so fun. Maria, Yuliana, and Esteban were all so nice and easy to get along with. I highly recommend the property. The food and drink options were plentiful. The preferred Club lounge is worth it.

The food was subpar in all but 2 facilities. Noor, and Mare were the exception. The buffet was horrible, food cold or warm at best. Italian restuarant was absolutely horrible. Food, service all terrible. For a resort in the islands it is amazing that most all the seafood was over cooked. Especially the shrimp. Was very disappointed in trying to be upsold almost everything. Having paid the price for preferred club being upsold on good meals is ridiculous. Will never stay here again and will not recommend that anyone that I know does