Well- If you only speak English - it's difficult. This resort is truly European - most people speak Spanish, French or German. The front staff spoke English but forget asking for help from the maid or people walking the grounds.

Room was poor - air conditioning not working after the 3rd day someone finally came. The frig didn't work. I found out if you slip a $20 bill to the front staff you'll get what you need.We had 3 adults and 1 child in the room ( my son is 15 and considered an adult) but was expected to sleep on a small love seat that folded down to a so called bed. They charge him for an adult but he was given the child's bracelet and could not participate in adult programs - teen disco you must be 16.

We could only schedule 2 restaurants that we wanted and got "stuck" with Mexican for the 3rd.

We have been to several Iberostar All-Inclusive and this is the worst. If you want a great place - go to Iberastar Riveria Maya in Mexico.

As we pulled onto the driveway I noticed that each tree didn’t have a palm out of place, the grass was immaculate and the gardens bloomed with Caribbean colour. After a 9 hour flight from the UK, followed by a 40 minute coach drive this was my cue that we had reached the Iberostar Domincana, it was a Thursday the 3rd July 2008.

The staff on reception quickly checked us in, we were able to fill out the customer information form once we got to our rooms which we just returned that evening (we hired a safe too for $2 per day). This was a great idea as we would have been stood in reception for a long time waiting for all the form filling to be done.

The group of guests were then split up and shown to their rooms. The Iberostar is split up into two large hotels, the Dominicana and the Punta Cana guests can share each others facilities. The layout is practically symmetrical so once you figure out your way round one you should easily get to grips with where everything else is…well maybe.

We were allocated two rooms in the “Bungalow” style buildings which are located in-between the Domincana and the Bavaro (this is also a sister hotel which you can walk around but you unable to use their facilities). Reception telephoned soon after we got there to ask if everything was OK, we asked if there was anyway we could get a room with a king size bed but they advised we had been given a room upgrade to the suite and they only have the two queen-sized beds. After briefly remembering something in the brochure describing these rooms at an additional cost we quickly thanked them for the room and promptly pushed the two queen-sized beds together.

The room was very spacious with cupboard space at the side of the front door, marble style tiled bathroom with bath, WC and bidet – oh errrr! Two queen-sized beds as mentioned, a step down into the “living area” with TV, sofa beds and mini bar. Then a balcony with a lovely view of the gardens, built in comfy seats and also a washing line to hang your bikini on. I only have a few small faults with the room, it smelled a bit strange…a bit like sprouts. It was similar outside of the rooms and I put it down to the drains and a lot of hot dry weather, the smell came and went and we left it at that. The air conditioning wasn’t particularly cold, although we had a friend in the room downstairs and his room was practically artic (through choice that is). Just one more thing, I filled in the form for the maintenance person to fix the balcony light and the card was placed back in our room and the light was never fixed. I wasn’t too fussed about this as it would only attract more mosquitoes and I was doing a fine job at the on my own! Other than that the room was fine, if anything wasn’t bearable I would have asked to change rooms but didn’t find this necessary.

On the first full day we generally attend our welcome meeting and then go find guest services to book the A La Carte restaurants. I normally take my diary then I can keep track of these bookings plus any excursions booked over the two weeks. We visited each of the restaurants and here is what I thought:

Mexican Restaurant – “Maria Bonita”. This is located in-between the buffet restaurants of the Dominicana and Punta Cana. It was traditional Mexican food as you might expect, the food was OK but we thought that as it was a later booking at 9pm the food appeared to have been kept warm until this time so we didn’t really enjoy it.

Tropical Restaurant – “La Marimba”. This is the Dominicana beach/pool front buffet during the day but transforms itself into a seafood restaurant by night. We all enjoyed our meals, each choosing something different: tuna steaks, grouper and salmon.

Star Rock Café – This is an American themed diner situated in the shopping complex. A reservation isn’t required here and we easily found a seat. The nachos that were brought to our table went down a treat but we were not too impressed again with the main meals. I would recommend the Star Rock to families with kids who are quote happy with a cheeseburger and chips. It’s good for adults too but I would probably just go for drinks and a snack.

Steak House Restaurant – “La Cana”. This is the snack/buffet restaurant on the Punta Cana side in the day. Some of the tables are sat on the sand which I think makes the place that extra bit special. I had sirloin steak with my favourite A1 sauce (which costs a fortune in the UK), and the whole meal did not disappoint. This is my favorite restaurant of the holiday.

Oriental Restaurant – “La Pagoda”. The pagoda is located outside the main entrance of the Punta Cana and is air conditioned hurrah! I don’t know if it has recently been refurbished but it looks quite new. Inside the restaurant is decorated in an Oriental theme as was of similar standard to those at the Iberostar Paraiso Maya in Mexico. We were invited to each sushi from the buffet, followed by soup I ordered Thai green curry for the main and we would help ourselves to cakes, fruit, cheese and biscuits etc. I enjoyed the Oriental restaurant the only downside was that there was no music playing, they had speakers though. I asked the waiter and he said no there wasn’t any but then walked around singing and encouraging the waitresses to do likewise to make up for this. Well can’t blame them for not trying.

International Restaurant – “La Sibila”. This is located next to the Dominicana buffet and is also air conditioned although it wasn’t very good as it was roasting in there. After realizing we had only been given the menu to read what order they would be served in (yes you eat it all!), we prepared ourselves for this feast. 1. Salmon with shrimps. 2. Soup. 3. Ratatouille. 4. Lobster. 5. Chocolate treats. The food was delicious and I have eventually tried lobster now, which I probably would have been too afraid to order normally. I did notice from the surrounding tables that there was a kids menu available if needed.

The buffet restaurants around the hotel for meals at all other times of day are faultless. They are clean, plentiful have a wide variety of choice. One morning I was offered a glass of champagne, I ate the usual eggs, bacon, mashed potato? Beans, French toast drank a coffee and then went back for a chocolate doughnut! OK well maybe I didn’t do all of the above on the same morning….but it was definitely all on offer.

We got to know two waiters Victor and Raphael; they couldn’t do enough for us so we made sure they were tipped at the end of our stay.

On a different note the Casino was great fun if you enjoy throwing your money away. The dealers pull out the most amazing hands, one after the other, wow such luck hmmm! I did enjoy the poker slot machine game which I won about £15 on but probably fed it back during the course of two weeks.

The entertainment team - these guys work more or less around the clock. From the pool in the morning, to the show at night and then kicking on after to the disco to do another show. You cannot complain about the evening shows, they are doing everything they can with what resources they have and that’s all you can ask for. I remember seeing one of the show girls walk out from the back of stage hitch up her sequined dress and ride off into the sunset on her push bike complete with feathers and full stage make up…perhaps she was going to the disco? Do they sleep? They can get a bit annoying with the “What’s your name and where you from” business but if you look like you want to be left alone then they will and that’s fair enough.

I have to cut this one short now as I’ve waffled on for far too long. I have been to Iberostars in Cuba and Mexico and the Iberostar Dominicana is a great all round hotel with something for everyone. Plus if you can’t find anything you like to eat in the buffet restaurant then don’t bother going away again as some people are just too hard to please! Adios my fellow TripAdvsiors. x

Lets start with the bad, the room smelt foul most of the time but even though we were moved to another room it still smelt on/off we complained at the size of the beds they are barley 4ft wide and we had our daughter so there was no way we could sleep 2 adults in one of these we did complain immediatly and got a kingsize and single placed in our room instead. The rooms were kept clean and mini bar stocked up. The food was nice and plenty of choice but I did spent 2 nights in hospital with sickness and diarreah this was unfortunate but I guess its difficult to keep food hot and cold for long times even though they seemed to try.
The entertainment was good and the Star Freinds made this hotel what it is, Romeo, Mickey Mouse and Leo are the best and without them this would of been a very dull holiday indeed, they get you involved if you want to and theres always something going on. We did go on the Thomas Cook trip to Catalina Island that cost £150 for the 3 of us, don't go on it a waste of money in the 12 hrs we spent 7 and half hours on the coach getting fed up and bored. We did have a 26 hr delay and we ended up staying an extra night where they put up in the Bavaro side in a seafront bungalow, these rooms are much better but again beds far too small, they are the smallest double beds I have ever seen in a hotel. All in all this was a fabulous holiday and dispite a few hick ups we have a wonderfull time.

Went to this resort in January of 2008 for 7 nights with a group of 38 people and absolutely loved it. We have always been partial to Aruba but now it is a tie! The staff at the Dominicana was the best at any resort we have ever stayed at, rooms were nice, grounds were beautiful, plenty to do, unbelievably gorgeous beach with white sand and turquoise water...would go back tomorrow without hesitation!