TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

We have been here for fifth time,but this year it was a complete disappointment.The hygiene in the main restaurant in particular is catastrophik.The dishes are dirty,most of the guests have severe stomach problems.Nothing is replenished in the dining room,no one checks anything.It is a great pity,because the hotel is in a state of disrepair place.Unfortunately,this is currently not a Viva chain,but a no name 2-3 star hotel in Tunis.

Second visit to this hotel. Although we stayed at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace we had access to the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach hotel as well, and the two hotels form quite a large resort with different characteristics and styles. The hotel has a great location directly on the beach and the grounds are lush and filled with palm trees and tropical vegetation. Despite the issues with catering and the restaurant I wouldn't hesitate to go back to this hotel. The Palace hotel has a lagoon with quite a few birds, fish and terrapins and there are some very large iguanas also. Feeding the birds and the fish was something a lot of people enjoyed, and the hotel has put up some information boards about the different species there. Some of the rooms have been refurbished since our last visit and our room was bright, clean and reasonably quiet. Some more drawers would have been useful for clothes, and a table lamp would have been preferable to the very bright overhead lighting. Beds were comfortable and the room had air conditioning. The main buffet restaurant at the Palace hotel was adequate and offered a good range of dishes but it would help if the different dishes were labelled so you knew what they were, or, if there were labels, that they accurately said what the dish was. There were occasions when there seemed to be few waiting staff with only 1 waiter trying to clear dishes, clean and lay tables. There were also times when there were no tables laid and a lack of any crockery, glassware and cutlery. This seems to be a recurring problem here. The a la carte restaurants were much much better organised and we ate in several of them. The food in the a la carte restaurants was consistently good. An advantage of being in the Palace hotel is that you gain access to all of the a la carte restaurants, as well as the buffet restaurants in the Beach hotel. The 'La Roca' restaurant at the Beach hotel was very good. There is also a small very popular coffee bar at the Palace hotel that serves freshly brewed coffee, pastries and treats. There are several bars around the resort including some 'health conscious' bars serving juices and smoothies. The drinks were good quality although sometimes very sweet, and they offered a daily cocktail. There were some country themed evenings at some of the bars and special evening parties. The entertainment programme was good, with a live singer or occasional acts in the Palace hotel, but the majority of the evening productions were in the large theatre at the Beach hotel with productions of 'The Lion King', a Michael Jackson show and some great dance acts. The activities during the day were varied and included various fitness lessons, aqua gym, yoga and other activities, including dance lessons. The animation team were very enthusiastic and good at keeping guests entertained and engaged, and I must mention Stefano and Matteo from Italy and Maria from Spain. The beach and gardens were always kept clean and tidy and there were plenty of sunbeds available. You have easy access to the public beach next to the hotel so walking along the beach was possible. Outside of the hotel there is the small resort of Dominicus with some shops, restaurants and bars. It is also possible to walk to Bayahibe, a slightly larger local town with shops, bars and restaurants and a number of boats that set off from here to Saona Island.

I will NEVER come back here. In fact, I am here and I wish I could leave. I just recently prepaid my membership ahead, yes, I’m a member, and I wish I could get that money back. Yesterday, it took us nine hours to get towels because housekeeping had left us zero towels. After multiple phone calls, visits to the desk, visits to the member desk, it still took nine hours. If you only speak English, Do not come here. There is a very real language barrier. Also I’m tired of my membership not meaning anything as I see people who are not members cut in front of me in line, access member only areas, etc. etc. And if you are not a smoker, they cater to smokers here, including letting them smoke in non-smoking areas. When I finally thankfully leave this place, I will be asking to cancel and refund my membership.

We are members, brought another couple expecting the same way we felt seven years ago! Shocker! We all got sick on the small portion food The toilets do not flush well, the grounds are immaculate, however, not the same, stay by the pool by the rooms, much quieter and little less kids, the pool is by Atlantis and the outdoor buffet. The bathrooms were disgusting, toilets did not flush cleaning the bathrooms was a joke, the bathrooms by the other pool where it’s quiet our handicap and not being used were immaculate and cleaned off and seems like a small thing to complain about but when you’re sick, the bathroom is your friendbring Pepto it seems to me that they cater to Europeans and Americans. Don’t have the iron stomach that they do however I won’t go back to this location been here plenty of times and it’s changed.

Second visit here. Staff is 5 star, infrastructure is tired in the non-renovated wings. Hence 3 stars. We had a Superior Ocean View room, bottom floor, walk out and close to the beach we like and the beach walkway. All good location wise. The AC and bathroom vent fans are permanently on, non adjustable which is fine as the tropical damp must be exhausted from the room. If you need “ no AC noise at all ” to sleep ( we are fine with it ) this will not work for you. Weeping rust and water from the room above - continuous on the shower wall. Smoking - not as bad as last time, but this resort is heavily marketed to Europeans, so second hand smoke is inevitable, even in beach sections marked no smoking. Check the wind direction before selecting your beach or bar chairs. The Buffet - this has increased in quality and variety, and you would be happy there every meal. Again great staff, and chef presence watching. Based on observation I assess there is an Italian Pasta chef and sous chefs working and teaching local staff, and name brand imported pasta was used. We ate more pasta and pizza than usual as a result. Restaurants - we ate at all but the Viva Cafe and they were fine, great staff. Your plates will arrive quickly as you are on a ‘gentle timeline’. We tended to dine early-ish ( more later ) at the tail end of the US/CDN with kids and before the busy civilized dine late Europeans ??. Wine list is pricey, no surprise, but oenophiles go for it. Happy with house red and white for free. We did not wear T shirts in the restaurants but many did, no issue getting in. Scuba Diving - the staff is superb, we dove A LOT, so we never saw a cabaret show ( in bed too early ). Good dive variety, well run, excellent famil dives if you have not been in a while ( mandatory if last dive more than a year ago, but you can do a reef vice the pool if you want !) Airport Transfer - from Punta Cana 140 USD round trip on your check out bill. Good peace of mind. Nice drivers. Tipping - there are no tip jars anywhere, and you could never tip without issue. However, if you do, even slightly,you may see a difference. We are Members, so there is more table service, but for what it is worth, here is what we have settled upon. Breakfast buffet, but served coffees an d water, 2 USD. Lunch buffet, but served several drinks 5 USD, same for Buffet self serve dinner, odd time 10 USD . Restaurant 10 USD - 20 USD for exceptional. Airport driver 20 USD, hotel porter 10 USD ( we have Diving gear :). Odd time for coffee orders 1 USD. Bring lots of small bills, ones and fives. Pharmacy - right outside the resort, open 24 hours.