Sunscape Dominicus La Romana

Just come back from a lovely 11 days at the Sunscape Dominicus La Romana resort - family of 5 with children aged from 7 to 15. Overall this was a lovely place - beaches are pristine but are a little packed with sun lounges. We stayed in 2 x connecting Sun Club rooms and found them both to be spacious, comfortable and well stock at the mini bar. We definitely utilised the Sun Club element of this being renewed daily. We only used the buffet once in the evening - for 10 other nights we ate at all the restaurants. Slightly unusual how you don't have to book (indeed you don't even get a wristband for the holiday) but we find this to our advantage by getting out to eat before 7pm - after 7.15pm ish the queues start to form. The food was delightful at all the restaurants we ate at. The buffet breakfasts were good at both the main one (Windows) and the Sun Club only one - no complaints here on either. The pool was a bit of a let down. a) it doesn't look very tropical or inviting - pretty standard and b) the yellowing element is real - do not take light or your best swimsuits. They try to clean it but it persists all day every day. Really strange they haven't fixed this (happens in both main pool and Sun Club pools). The entire pool complex needs an update and guess there's reluctance to do this. Sun beds - issue getting one - if you're after 7.30am by the pool there's no chance. They claim to check for beds that aren't utilised for a couple of hours but it's simply not true - we regularly saw beds vacant for 5-6 hours. As there's no cards for the towels either, we were certain people are putting down towels both at the beach and pool to keep options open. As mentioned the beach is beautiful - few boulders in the sea but nothing off putting. It does look crowded with the volume of beds. Staff were very friendly throughout - certainly no complaints here. Bars all very well stock and helpful. Ask for branded spirits and they serve it to you. Pool bar doesn't look that appealing - again part of the overall looking pool area. Grounds around the hotel all beautifully kept. The coffee shop is a real plus here - basically a Starbucks / Costa on site and it's all part of the AI which was great. Flies and wasps were everywhere - but we went in their tropical summer so we expected it. Overall for us gets a 3.5 / 5.

We had a good holiday at Sunscape Dominicus La Romana, though there’s definitely room for improvement. First, I want to sincerely thank two amazing maintenance workers — Cristian and Mavin. They were quick to respond whenever we had issues with the shower or hot tub. Their helpful attitude really stood out and made a difference during our stay. However, the Sun club pool, both the adult and family sections, was often not well maintained. It was disappointing to see that staff seemed disinterested, occasionally cleaning only certain parts of the pool while leaving others dirty. At times, we even noticed unsanitary items like used plasters and hygiene products in the water, which made swimming quite unpleasant. Another issue was tray and dish collection. On three occasions, we called after ordering food, and no one came to collect our trays — sometimes not until the next morning, when housekeeping finally cleaned up. This isn’t the level of service you’d expect from a resort of this caliber. That said, we did enjoy our excursions and loved exploring the beautiful surroundings. The food was average overall, with limited variety. One staff member who truly stood out was Ismalby, one of the bar attendants — friendly, professional, and always went above and beyond. In summary, while the resort has potential and we made some great memories, there are some key areas that need attention to provide a better guest experience.

There are some parts of the experience that can use some improvement. I suspect management knows what they are and trying to make changes. Overall we had a great experience. The grounds are beautiful and amenities were consistent with the price point. Our butler, Elba, is literally the most amazing asset the resort has to offer. Her attention to detail and genuine kindness made the trip memorable. You can tell she understands what it means to make guests feel like familia. Can’t say enough good things about her.

5 of 5 !!! Service amazing , Customer service awesome , always taking care of everything.The food good but I wish they can have more options.kid friendly, they have a lot activities for the kids .Alba the person assigned to help us she’s really nice helping us in everything .

The first thing to say in essence, is that if you have any food allergies stay away from this hotel. Arrival Well let’s start at the beginning. After more than an 8 hour flight, navigating a chaotic airport, and more than an hours drive to the resort we arrived. We were hot & tired. Our welcome was cursory. No welcome drink, and a hard sell on the upgrade to sun club from the concierge who couldn’t really speak English. This was really unfortunate because as we learned later getting gluten free food was easier in the Sun club. Food The food was the main issue at this hotel. I am a coeliac. I have a chronic immune condition. I have to eat a gluten free diet. The food labelling in this hotel was either absent (at the buffets) or inaccurate in the restaurants. When arriving at the buffet we were asked if we had any allergies. We were not even sure it was recorded, but suffice to say nothing was done with this information. When I asked for gluten free bread I was given it once, it wasn’t available on other days. Every day I was given the same gluten free muffin. On other Caribbean all-inclusive holidays, the chefs explained what was gluten free on the buffet. Don’t expect this at this hotel. At lunchtime I was given the same grilled chicken and vegetables. We ate in most of the restaurants. Their food unfortunately was poor quality, and there were often queues to get in or you had to make a reservation. On occasion when food was labelled gluten free it wasn’t. In chopsticks, when I asked about a beef dish labelled gluten free I was told wheat noodles were an ingredient. Unfortunately when I found something to eat on the menu when it arrived it was as if someone had spilt a salt cellar in it. It was inedible. I explained this to the waiter & it came back exactly the same. I contracted food poisoning at this hotel. I was ill for 10 days. On my return, I was prescribed antibiotics to deal with the extreme symptoms. No holiday has ever made me this unwell. Service I am not going to mention anyone negatively by name, because this hotel has a serious leadership & management issue. This is not about any single employee, or about a single issue. There are multiple things wrong with this resort. The service in this hotel is highly variable. Room cleaning was good. In the buffet it depended who was serving. There was one really lovely attentive waitress. Some waitresses are not just offhand but actually hostile. When my partner explained about the poor gluten free food to a concierge it took two days for them to prepare a pizza that was frankly inedible. When he then spoke to a manager on duty he admitted that their gluten free offering was not up to scratch. The hotel already knows it’s not good enough in this respect. This hotel should not be advertising that it can cater for anyone on a gluten free diet. Drinks The drinks were served on the beach and around the pool in poor quality paper cups. None of the cocktails we ordered resembled the ingredients we were expecting from their menu. Just a couple of examples for you. The negroni was so strong it was undrinkable. This was atypical though, because, most of the drinks tasted watered down. A pinacolada was so poor, it resembled custard. Room The room might well have had renovated cupboards, but that was about the limit. The wear and tear in our room had clearly predated any 2023 renovation. All the grout in the bathroom and bedroom was dirty. Bedrooms tiles were chipped. The shower also had dirty grouting and the shower drain had clearly sustained a poor repair. The curtains were hanging off the rails, so we maintained the black out with a strategically placed coat hanger. The only way to describe the room is poorly maintained. Mini-bar The mini bar was the poorest I have seen an an all inclusive. It consisted of beer, coke & orange. It is not replenished after the first day. You needed to be in the sun club to get your mini bar replenished, and even then anything beyond the basics was chargeable. Room service Room service was only available through the sun club. Grounds The grounds were extremely well maintained, and a real highlight. In fact the gardens were beautiful with groundsmen working on them constantly. Unfortunately it was often possible to see the mess behind the scenes through open gates, as we walked back to our accommodation. Beach The beach was beautiful. It was peaceful with virtually no aggressive sellers. It was also cleaned. However, if you wanted a bed with shade you needed to be up at 7am putting your towel down. There were also many rocks beneath the water that made getting in and out dangerous. We witnessed and spoke to, numerous guests with grazes on their arms & legs. Water shoes were not the solution as the strong waves pushed you down on the rocks. Entertainment The lobby entertainment was frankly poor. They seem keen on full sets from poor quality saxophonists. The entertainers put a shift in getting people up to dance. Sadly there is very little to recommend this hotel and nothing would persuade me to visit this hotel again.