I would have liked to give this resort 4.5 but it doesn't deserve 5 stars so Im going with 4.

This was my 5th all-inclusive vacation to the Caribbean and I have written 2 other reviews so far. My first 4 trips were to 5* resorts and this was my first 4* .Also this was my first time to the Dominican Republic and I have heard a lot of mixed opinions on the country. Thankfully I have nothing but good things to say (well maybe one or 2 minor quibbles).

We booked online with itravel2000 for the 3rd time in a row because they always have great add-ons such as free hotel stays, gift cards etc. I had a real problem with them this time around but this review isn’t about them. Our flight left at 6am and it was about 3 hours and 45 minutes to the Santo Domingo airport. This was pretty much my only complaint as the drive from the airport to the hotel was close to 2 hours away and there is an airport IN La Romana. Luckily there were only 4 of us going to the resort so we got a small private van that drove us without a stop. To anyone thinking about renting a car in this country….think again! I never truly felt safe the whole ride as there seems to be no rules of the road. When you are close to another car you honk your horn, which seems to be about it.

Check in was quick and easy as there were only the 4 of us and we were brought a welcome drink right away which was a nice touch. You are given a towel card for each guest, which you exchange for a towel on the beach. Lose either one and you are out 20 dollars. You are also given a remote control for the TV (don’t lose this either!) and a room key that is an actual metal key on a wallet-sized wooden keychain. Our bags were taken to our rooms which were about a 2 minute walk away. You can walk from the main lobby to the beach in about 5 minutes so walking is never an issue. When we first walked through the door of our room we were under whelmed to say the least. The toilet is in a room by itself which is about the size of a closet and if you close the door it gets hot fast. There was no bathtub, just a shower with room for one person. The room was pretty plain but we did get a big king size bed. There was a big TV with a good 80 channels; you can even get all-English CBS in primetime, CNN and a few others. Although most of the channels are in Spanish there was always something good to watch before you go to sleep at night. There was a mini-fridge that was only stocked with two 500ml bottles of water each day. We gave the maid a dollar on the first day and she brought us three bottles the rest of the week. So where was the pop, beer and chips? We called to the front desk and were told you had to pay for each beer or pop that you ordered. I don’t know if this is how it works for 4 star resorts but I was a bit upset because I really needed a drink. The good news is that there is a store right outside of the front gates that sells beer, liquor, pop and snacks as well as souvenirs. The prices are better than at the resort. We had no hot water and when someone came to fix the problem they said it would just take awhile. Which it did. Leave the tap running for about 5 minutes if you don’t have any hot water and then you will be fine. There are balconies on the second floor but the first floor just has a patio area. There are 2 chairs but no table on them. Its nice to sit outside and people watch, too bad you have to supply your own drinks. There is an in-room safe that is free of charge so make sure you use it!

This resort used to only cater to Italians and you still get that sense when you are there. *Here is something everyone should know. When you check in they give you a colour coded bracelet that corresponds to your first language. Green is for Italian and you will see 90% of the guests with these. It is also the second language spoken by all of the staff so you might want to learn Spanish or Italian if you want to communicate properly. Silver is for English, Beige for French and I believe Yellow for German. The rest Im not sure of but you wont see too many. On Saturday you will see a lot of blue or purple which represents the locals or Spanish speaking people. They are allowed to spend the day there on the weekends. The colour of your bracelet determines who can serve you drinks so you might want to hide it when you are at the bar if you speak English as some bartenders aren’t very fluent and don’t seem to want to try. The service was still good it is just a language barrier.

There are 2 Buffet Restaurants. One serves your everyday buffet foods and the other is an Italian consisting of Pizza and Pasta. The pizza was amazing and is cooked in a real oven over hot coals. There were always 5-10 different types available and also a good 10 choices of pasta which was all very, very good. The regular buffet served more so to Italian tastes as well although there were some Dominican foods available as well. There was always lots of fresh breads, salads, cereals and meats. You serve yourself at these including drinks. There is wine, beer, sodas and water that you get yourself unless you want to wait forever for a waiter. There were 2 a-la-carte restaurants that were both very good with great service and food. You are only allowed to order one starter though which I found odd as there were soup sections and then hot and cold starters as well. One was a Mexican restaurant while the other was an American Steakhouse. They are both in the same building, close to the beach. I wont go into what we ate but I will tell you that there wasn’t a single thing that I ate that I didn’t like. This was the best food overall that I have had at an all-inclusive. There was only one bar that served alcohol. The drinks are all local brands I didn’t even see premium drinks that you could pay for except in the Cigar shop, where you can order drinks and pay for them but why bother? There are lots of tables around the bar and someone will come take your order if you are feeling lazy, but you should probably tip them. There is also a snack bar right on the beach that has fruit, salads, nachos and either deep fried fish or chicken. You can also order Rotisserie chicken that is very, very good, steak on a bun, hamburgers or hotdogs. It’s a great place to eat when you want a change or just to look out at the amazing scenery. You can also order a lobster dinner for $40US from 7:30-10:30 at a candle-lit table on the beach. It is actually langouste or something and not lobster though (no claws). We didn’t do this nor did we see anyone else do so. The washrooms are few and far between so get to know where each one is as soon as possible.

The beach was a tie for the best I have ever been to (Pesquero in Holguin being the other). The sand is white and there is a bit of a drop when you get closer to the water. The waves get pretty big but there are NO rocks, just soft powdery sand all over the swimming area. The only downside to that is the visibility makes snorkeling next to impossible to do as you can only see a few feet in front of you. If it is ever calm you can swim out to the markers and there are reef balls in the water with fish swimming all over the place. There are some really nice tall palms that make for great pictures and a lighthouse at the next resort over (Iberostar).There are more then enough chairs around but most of them are lined up in rows on the beach and are mostly filled up. If you want shade don’t get in with the herd. As long as you make it down before 9am you will always find chairs in the shade or under pallapas. We usually made it down around 8-830 to reserve a spot then went for breakfast. You can get omelets made for you or bacon cooked at breakfast. They kind of hide the bacon in a corner of the grill but its there! You can go to either of the next-door resorts and pay for water activities there. It is $90 per couple for 15 minutes of Parasailing and I recommend you do it if you haven’t before.You can also do banana boat rides and learn to water-ski. There is an on-site dive shop with pretty good prices but I didn’t have the time. One of the best parts of the beach is that the sunset is actually over the water so you can sit on the beach and watch it each night.

The swimming pool was roped off at 3 different sections giving you 5 different depths. One part is only a foot or so deep. The best part for me was the deep end. This was the only resort I have been to that had a deep end that you could actually dive into (shallow dive as the signs say no-diving). It was 7 ½ feet deep and very welcome! There is also a cold Jacuzzi kind of hidden away by a raised platform that I only found out about late into the stay. There is no pool bar but I actually didn’t miss it at all.

There is a free to play pool table but there are no tips on the sticks and the pool balls are cratered like the moon. You need a lot more luck than skill here. There are some nice gaming tables beside that where you can borrow one of the games they have, or you can borrow some books to read in all kinds of languages. There is a great internet shop where you can get a good deal. 3 bucks for 15 minutes, 5 for 30 and so on. They give you a time code which you can reuse if you remember to log out when you are done. These computers have USB ports so you can upload your pictures, and also they have webcams and headsets meaning you can get flawless video calling if you use Skype or MSN Messenger, Yahoo etc. They are already installed on the computers. 5 dollars for a 30 minute video conference back home was a real treat. There are tennis and basketball courts, a large soccer field (sandy), table tennis, volleyball and bocce ball if you feel the need for some activity.

There are lots of great excursions available but they are booked up fast so do that as soon as you can. We did Crazy Wheels and Saona Catamaran trips. 60 per person for Crazy Wheels is a steal. You spend 2 hours on Dune Buggies and 2 hours on an ATV. You go through sugar cane fields and even sample some. There are drinks and fruit provided. You also go through some villages and to a school to meet the local kids. There are lots of children outside who will beg you for money or your clothes. They would rather do that then go to the free school so try to shoo them away and just say no. We brought the kids a bag full of toys and seeing their faces light up when we gave them away was priceless. If you go on this trip bring some crayons and books, toys, sunglasses, hats,shoes or clothes. Don’t give them money or candy unless it is sugar free. These kids eat enough sugar cane as it is and dental bills aren’t cheap! We also stopped at the Chavon river to a site where they filmed King Kong, Rambo and Apocalypse Now. This was probably my most memorable trip ever. The Saona Island trip was also really good with an open bar on the Catamaran and lots of dancing even when you keep telling yourself you don’t want to. We saw lots of flying fish along the way. Once on Saona Island you are offered a buffet lunch and meats cooked on a barbecue. There was lobster served that we found out you had to pre-pay for. Our tour operator hadn’t mentioned that one to us even though we kept asking him where the best place to get some was. So we ended up with pasta, vegetables, chicken, hot dogs, fish or hamburgers. It was a pretty good lunch. The beach was really nice but so was the one at the resort. Next we headed out in speedboats to a huge sand bar where we saw lots of small fish and star fish as well! Bring a snorkel and mask as well as an underwater camera.

There is the Casino Dominicus just down the road, and it is a 5 minute walk at the most. There is a free shuttle bus that we never did see and just walked it. There are maybe 50 slots and 10 gaming tables. They all take American dollars. I was thinking that the odds were probably really bad and played it safe on the quarter slots. I played one that maxed out at 2 coins (50 cents) a spin and on my second spin I won $50! I cashed out with 59 bucks and that was my short Casino experience. My girlfriend on the other hand lost 20 but I guess I cant complain about the odds! They also have 2 restaurants in there and a big disco that we didn’t check out. Also VIP rooms but Im not a VIP ;)

So would I go back to this resort? Probably not because I want to travel to a new destination each time. Would I recommend it to friends? Absolutely! The beach and pool make it a choice stay alone. Add in the excellent food, great location and adequate rooms and it’s a steal for the 1160 we each paid for the week. One last tip. Your departure tax is more than likely included in your package if you go all-inclusive. They will still try to get $10 at the airport from you either way so make sure you ask your tour operator first, and then be firm and let them know you aren’t paying it a second time.

Overall I was more than impressed with the entire vacation. It was by no means a 5 star resort but they don’t claim to be. With a few room upgrades, adding more washrooms, stocked mini-bars and a few other things, a 5 star rating isn’t far off.