We really wanted to love Dreams Dominicus La Romana. We’ve stayed at Dreams La Romana and Secrets La Romana previously, so perhaps our expectations were set a little too high, but unfortunately, this resort just didn’t live up to those experiences.
Overall, the hotel itself was OK, but for us it was nowhere near the standard of Dreams La Romana down the coast. There were certainly some positives, but also quite a few things that really let it down. For that reason, we gave it 3/5.
The food was probably our biggest disappointment.
At best, it was mediocre. We tried most of the restaurants during our stay and ended up returning to Bordeaux five times simply because, for us, it was the best of the bunch — although even that wasn't anything particularly special. At least we never had any stomach upsets. This is mainly down to our personal hygiene routine of taking our own hand sanitizer in small bottles and applying it as we're about to eat. You should see what people itch and scratch before using those serving spoons!
At Seaside Grill, we ordered steak medium-well and were served something that was closer to blue. The T-bone was so thin that they could've posted it to us under the door if we'd ordered it on room service. Needless to say, we didn't go back.
Himitsu was, quite honestly, the worst Asian food we have ever tasted. Portofino wasn't much better, with poor-quality meat. The manager even brought the chef to our table to show him. The preferred breakfast and lunch options were considerably better than the World Café buffet, and after upgrading to Preferred Club for the final few days, we discovered that Flying Fish was probably the best food we had during the entire stay.
The World Café service was another major issue. On one occasion, we had finished our starters and mains and were actually getting up to get dessert before the drinks we'd ordered finally arrived. There were only around five tables occupied at the time, as we deliberately ate at the restaurants as they opened to avoid the rush. Unfortunately, staff seemed more interested in standing around chatting in the corner than looking after guests.
The resort being advertised as peaceful and relaxing was another disappointment.
We'd be quietly chilling around the Quiet Pool, only for the peace to be shattered by extremely loud entertainment — whether it was a screeching singer, a saxophonist more annoying than Epic Sax Guy or the Temu Lindsey Stirling who seemed determined to perform on his Electric Crazy Violin at full volume.
We upgraded to Preferred partly to gain access to the Preferred pool, only to discover that it is situated right next to a children's play pool. So much for peace and quiet!
The main beach was another problem. Sun loungers were packed in incredibly tightly beneath the limited shaded areas. You might get an hour or two in the shade, but as the sun moved, you had to get up and hunt around for another shaded spot or retreat back to the pool.
One positive for Preferred guests is that there are now TWO dedicated Preferred beaches — the original one by the Preferred bar and Playa Nueva, towards the beach shops and Bali Beds. Both were considerably quieter than the main beach, and we could generally find somewhere in the shade. This was another reason we upgraded, and in hindsight we wish we'd done it much earlier in our stay.
Unfortunately, the beach service was poor compared with our experiences at Dreams La Romana and Secrets La Romana. The same applies to snorkelling from the beach. Any noticeable breeze stirs up the sand around the artificial reef and the visibility becomes so poor that you can barely see your own hand in front of your face.
The attitude of the staff was very mixed.
This was probably one of the strangest aspects of the resort. The World Café staff generally appeared miserable, uninterested and very slow. The male bar staff, on the other hand, were energetic, friendly and competent. Some of the female bar staff seemed as though they really didn't want to be there — and even tipping didn't always produce a smile.
The staff in the Preferred areas were a completely different story. They were attentive, friendly, provided good service and genuinely seemed to enjoy looking after their guests.
We only upgraded for the last few days of our two-week stay, and honestly, we wished we'd done it sooner.
There were some good points.
Our room itself was perfectly adequate and housekeeping did a good job. We also enjoyed the Preferred extras, including the bottle of rum, chocolate treats and beach bag. The Bali Bed was another highlight and made for a really enjoyable day which we put down to having our own space and not being sat on, nudged or annoyed by other beachgoers. You know who you are Mr WhistleAllDay!
There was one fairly serious issue with the room, though. During the evening rainstorms, water came through the roof and onto the bedside table. We ended up moving the table because the phone and electrical sockets were directly underneath it — not something you really want when you've got water pouring down from the ceiling! We reported it to maintenance immediately, but unfortunately nobody ever came to repair it during our stay.
The nightly entertainment deserves a mention too.
It's clear that the entertainment team put a lot of effort into their shows, but the actual productions were, in our opinion, very amateurish and tacky. Also, there was never enough seating provided to accommodate everyone who wished to see the shows, leaving people to stand for over an hour.
The circus show was a good example. One performer spent around 20 minutes spinning on a frame. Then four performers came out with skipping ropes, and we thought, OK, this could be going somewhere finally. They walked out, waved the ropes from side to side once... and walked off again. They didn't actually skip!
The Desires nightclub was horrendous. 11:30pm, two other people in there, no bar staff, and music so ridiculously loud that it physically hurt to sit in there for more than 2 minutes.
Again, Dreams La Romana wins hands down for entertainment.
We've documented quite a lot of our trip on AndynKatie YT, and watching everything back while editing has actually reinforced how mixed our experience was — there were some genuinely great moments, but also a lot of things that fell short of what we'd expected. I've tried to show the resort off in a good light though. I'm sure people can read between the lines.
The biggest disappointment is that this was supposed to be our honeymoon, and we spent around £6,000 on the holiday. We really wanted it to be something special.
Maybe our expectations were simply too high after our previous experiences at Dreams La Romana and Secrets La Romana. We certainly tried to make the best of it, and there were things we enjoyed, particularly the Preferred areas, Bali Bed and some of the staff.
But ultimately, too many things fell short for us.
Dreams Dominicus is OK, but based on our experience, we'd choose Dreams La Romana or Secrets La Romana without hesitation.
Andy & Katie
Andy C2026-09-02
