Iberostar Selection Hacienda Dominicus

Overall, we were very pleased. We went with our 5-month old son and needed to go somewhere appropriate for him (ability to go back to room often and quickly). This all-inclusive was great and our son was a hit with staff and other vacationers.

The food was okay - it was what I'd expect and there was a lot of choice. I did find some of the other vacationers really pushy at the buffets.

There were always shady places to sit at the pool and beach - though at the beach the best spots were always taken.

Tips: Drink the mojitos!! The espresso machine in the "steak house" has the best coffee. [Details]

We stay at Hacienda Dominicus from Sep.23 to Sep30/20013.
Negatives:
For 4 1/2stars resort in Dominican Republic we expected more. The reception was no help at all, especially the check in. We arrived 11:30 at the hotel, and our room was ready for 4:00pm. this spoiled our firs day.
We went to 3 a la card restaurants: Colonial, Steak house and Geisha restaurant - the best we like the steak house. We found the waiters in the Geisha and Colonial restaurants are not very friendly. The food at the buffet is good but not a lot of choices, maybe because of the season that we went, but we expected more.
Also the staff over all don't speak a lot of English.
Positives:
Beautiful nature and garden, the beach is amassing! The resort layout is good and you are close to everything. The animation team is great! If you are going to relax and spend some family time for sure this resort is a good choice. [Details]

Great Hotel! Good food, good entertainment. Extremely clean! There was one annoying feature. They still played Christmas music in the buffet area until January 4th. [Details]

Overal good experience, great beach! With slight improvements the hotel could be truly great. [Details]

Overall excellent. Well worth the price. [Details]

Husbands thoughts. mostly good. Very clean everywhere. Well laid out. Great showers other than no hot water three mornings. The staff are all excellent. The bartenders will make any drink you want, no fuss. The beach is warm and calm. You have to be at the beach before 7 am to get a good spot. Sand is difficult to walk on. my biggest complaint is the food. It is tasty but the serving areas at the buffets are too cramped and not well laid out. My preference is still Punta Cana.

Wife Thoughts
All staff were pleasant and helpful; washrooms in all areas of the resort were cleaned thoroughly; our room was also well taken care of throughout the week; the warm and gentle rolling waves ensured a wonderful swimming experience.
For me the overriding issue is the warm water and swimming - LaRomana is the way to go! [Details]

Just returned from one week at IHD. Flew into LaRomana and airport transfer was efficient 25min. On return it took us a lot longer as tour operator Hola stopped at more hotels and we were first picked up, took over 55 min. to get to the airport. New express road looks great for those who are travelling from further airports.

Upon arrival our room was ready. We arranged for the safety deposit box at $2 US/day. We were in building #6, top floor overlooking back of resort. Very private and view OK. First time at this Iberostar resort. As others have noted, guests seem majority Russian and German and mainly older with a few families. The big draw at this resort is the beach. The majority of activities are based at the beach and most people stay there for a good part of the day. The sunbed/palapas are an ongoing issue. We made it to the beach each morning around 7am and most were already taken. For someone with fair skin, it was really hard to enjoy the beach without shade. The fact that you had to get up so early was a bit of a damper on our stay. One evening the hotel tried to address the sunbed issue and a notice was left at every room saying that sunbed reserving was not allowed and towels would be removed, but when we went the next morning, nothing had changed, and although there were more security personnel on the beach the next day, nothing was being removed or people being addressed for "reserving" palapas or beds. The sand is like brown sugar, sticky and granular. Quite a drop off to get in and out of the water for those who may have mobility issues and coral, rocks in some areas quite sharp. That said we were able to swim without the use of water shoes, although we did see at least 3 people with cut feet during our holiday. The water is nice and warm and very calm, great for a relaxing swim. Much calmer than Punta Cana and Puerto Plata. Sea Kayaks, sailboats available free to take out from the dive shop and calm enough to enjoy. Right hand side of the beach there is a local market area, we did not venture down, but many did. No sales people on the beach itself which was very nice, you could read and not be bothered by locals. No parasailing at this location. Quite a few people were fishing from the lighthouse rock area and catching fish which the hotel chefs prepared. Snorkeling around the rocks by the lighthouse was also popular, people brought their own masks and fins. Lighthouse bar very popular during the day. Several times during the week special paella cookouts and also a bbq one day. Star friends are busy at the beach, music, activities, but easy to relax and no pressure to join in. Lots of excursions were available to book, including catamaran trips, dolphin cove, pirate ship adventure, but we were there to relax and did not go off resort.

The pool is quite large at this resort. There is a swim up bar. Pool is kept very clean. In the centre is a whirl pool tub, but this is not heated, just a pool with jets. The pool has a walk in section which is nice. We didn't spend any time sitting around the pool, but it seemed to be quieter around the pool than at most resorts. Towels are available one per guest with a towel card given at arrival. Towel must be exchanged back for the card at check out, otherwise a fee is charged for lost towels. Lots of ceramic walkways, so care should be taken when walking from pool to bar/beach with wet feet, very slippery. Bars and restaurants are centrally located near the beach and pool, so no need at lunch time to head up to the main buffet unless you want to.

Restaurants: Main buffet was OK. We had one really nice meal on an Italian theme night. The food seemed a little bit different this night, otherwise the buffet was typical and kind of boring. The age group of this resort also meant that the buffet was very busy at times and quickly devastated. I have never seen people load up there plates with so much food at one time, thus a new selection of items was quickly diminished. I also noted a lot of people filling up ziploc bags with food for later consumption? Not sure if they were taking it to the beach or where.
We tried the Colonial restaurant, and I was disappointed as this was the gourmet restaurant. Having stayed at other Iberostar properties, the gourmet restaurants were always quite special. The steak house offered a bit more variety - steak, chicken, pork chops and we ate there twice during our stay. Make note that you line up at the blue #4 building to make your restaurant reservations (8am-2pm daily) and this can take a bit of time. Also we found that early sittings were almost always booked up and we were offered 9pm onward time slots which is later than we prefer. All restaurants are non smoking.

Grounds: loved the tropical feel of the resort. Gorgeous pond through the centre of the resort housed many varieties of birds, ducks, flamingos, swans, herons. There is a flock of at least a dozen peacocks roaming the property. The pond also has at least one turtle. The flowers/trees surrounding the pond are gorgeous and loved the park benches and street lamps along the side for viewing. Nice gazebo at one end, but no seating inside. Also a section of pergolas at one end with couches and chairs for relaxing. There were the most number of fountains and water ways we had ever seen at any other iberostar resort. Some lights were being put up for Christmas decoration, but the resort is slow to put them up. As the week progressed we saw a Christmas tree decorated, nativity scene display put up, some smaller trees and table decor set up. Not as much decoration as we have seen at either Punta Cana or Puerto Plata Iberostar resorts.

We did use internet one day - $3 US for 2 hours. This is a one time sign on for 2 hours from start of sign in. This is different from what we experienced at other iberostar resorts, where you could use the 2 hours up throughout your stay, which is handy if you are just quickly checking emails. The browsers were outdated on the computers and we were not able to access our gmail or hotmail with much success as the webbrowsers were no longer supported. So updating of equipment to make use of internet more effective would be good. I saw a sign saying they rent out netbooks, but we didn't bother.

In general we had a good stay. Room was clean and met our needs. Food was OK, not great, specialty restaurants not that special. Beach was great, water calm and warm. Pool was refreshing and clean. Grounds very nice. Age of guests, issues with sunbeds, nationalities, probably wouldn't go back, but maybe it was just the week we stayed at the hotel and at other times the age/nationality of guests might be different. The week we stayed majority were seniors 60 , first time we ever saw bingo offered so often and even before the mini disco. [Details]

Positive experience, gym was a little tired. Overall it is a grand hotel and we had looked at it/read about it for a number of years. My opinion is that it requires a little facelift to enhance what it was several years ago. We liked the location, close to the airport which meant you were at the resort withing 15 or 20 minutes. We would return in the future [Details]

pickup at La romana airport was quick checkin fast.Buffet excellent, rooms immaculate, fridge replenished everyday, beaches beautiful, pools clean, staff always helpful, and always an 'Ola' when you passed, grounds beautiful. A la cartes not so special. Food was good but we preferred the buffet. peacocks roaming around - beautiful! [Details]

We had a great time here. Resort exceeded our expectations. Have been to the Dominican 7 times and this hotel was the best! Rooms were clean and quiet. Gardens lush and spotless. Food and choices were exceptional. A la carte restaurants were very good. Beach and ocean great for swimming. Only complaints no free wifi and pool is very cold in january. [Details]

We've been to the Iberostar Costa Dorada at Puerto Plata a few times (about 5). This year we decided to try the Hacienda Dominicus. The resort grounds, pool area, and beach area are even better than that at Costa Dorada.

One thing that wasn't as good at the Hacienda Dominicus as compared to Costa Dorada was the food. The specialty restaurants were just so-so, and the buffet didn't have as many choices as the other Iberostar.

Not a lot of English speaking guests - a lot of French, Germans and Russians. The bar and reception staff spoke reasonable English though.

The only problem with the beach was with people reserving the chairs. I was out on the beach at 8am and every chair in the first three rows was "reserved" with towels. I think people put them out the night before, then show up around 11am to actually sit in them. The hotel should stop this practice.

It was never a problem getting deck chairs at the pool area though.

Everything else was great. We (me, wife and 13 year old daughter) really enjoyed ourselves. [Details]

Resort is spacious with beautiful lush grounds/very clean pool/rooms are a good size and clean/many good food choices including the desserts and the popcorn [Details]

We booked a last minute March Break family vacation to the Dominican Republic. We have two daughters, age 11 and 7. It came down to a decision between Cuba or the Dominican and the issue of the uncertainly of food quality in Cuba made the difference (Mexico was out of the question given all the troubles being reported there recently - although that is still a top destination from our experience). We were hoping to find a 4-5 star resort in Punta Cana, but because we had to wait until the last week and the high demand of March Break, there wasn't anything that met our requirements.

We have stayed at the Iberostar Paraiso on the Mayan Riviera twice and loved it (once at the Maya and the other time at the Lindo). That is truly a 4.5-5 star resort (especially when it first opened - tons of seafood on the menu - lobster, shrimp, high end fish). So when we saw the availability of the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus, we pretty much knew what to expect - reasonable level of overall quality.

And that was pretty much what we got. The only wrinkle was the transportation from the airport to the resort. For some reason the flight from Toronto landed in Punta Cana and the ride was close to 2 hours to where the resort was located on Bayahibe Beach just outside of La Romana. We were expecting the flight to land at the La Romana airport which was about a half hour drive away. It's March Break and no flights into La Romana, go figure.

We found the front desk a little disorganized and slow. There was a check-in area but people were just going up to the entire length of the counter and neglecting to queue. Only one receptionist was working the check-in while a couple of others were just hovering around and didn't seem like they were doing much of anything to help. Once we were served, things were pretty straightforward. One disappointment was that they charge a fee for use of the in-room safe. We've never been charged for using the safe before. This is especially annoying given that when we went to the room, the safe was ready for use (usually process - even described on the front of the safe) and there would have been no way the resort would have known whether you used it or not. My advice is decline the fee at the desk and just use it. If it doesn't work or if they charge you when you leave, then pay it. It was only $US 1/day, but it was the principle of it. I'd rather spend that money tipping the staff.

The beach was pretty nice but we found the sand to be different than what you would find in Punta Cana or the Maya Riviera. It's not the sugary white coral material that doesn't get hot even in bright sunlight. This sand does get hot in mid-afternoon. The water was really calm during the week we were there, which was great for my daughters who love playing in the water. The older one is a very good swimmer, but the younger one is just starting to take lessons. The water is pretty shallow and the bottom is mainly sandy with a strip of pebbles. On our section of the beach, there is a rocky outcrop with the signature lighthouse bar on it. Although we didn't go snorkelling, we did see a number of guest snorkelling around the rocks, observing the underwater wildlife.

The most noticeable thing about our resort was the high percentage of Europeans and French Canadians. We were able to identify guests speaking in foreign accents such as British, German, French, Quebecois French (there's a difference), Italian, Spanish, Russian. We estimate that 80% of the guests were from European countries. So you know what that means on the beach -- yes, lots of guys in Speedos and topless women. And yes, many of them don't possess reasonable levels of self-awareness :-)

The service at the resort was generally quite good -- helpful and friendly staff from our cleaning lady to the restaurant and bar staff to the entertainers on the beach and at the pool, as well as those tending other facilities at the resort.

Our room was ok but nothing to rave about. Being an older resort, the decor and facilities are starting to show their age (perhaps an overall renovation should be planned in the next couple of years). Don't get me wrong, the place is still very nice, but you can tell that is isn't a brand new facility. Perhaps we're spoiled by some of the other newer resorts that we've stayed at.

The food is generally good. Not fancy, but very acceptable. There was sufficient variety at each meal to satisfy the varying tastes of my family. Although my wife did have some stomach problems, we don't think it was from eating the food at the resort. Certainly no one else in our family had issues from eating the food. We generally ate at the buffet restaurant for dinner, but did book reservations at the steakhouse and the Japanese "show cooking" (i.e. Teppanyaki) restaurants. Reservations were pretty easy to obtain via the concierge table located at the foyer of each of the 7 guest room buildings. The food at the Japanese restaurant was surprisingly good (we've been to some that were just awful), but unfortunately, the steakhouse was typically disappointing. It's just not possible to get a decent steak at any of these all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. Again, maybe we're just spoiled with all the fine steakhouses in Canada and the US.

The resort has a basketball court, tennis courts, beach volleyball, bocce courts, water volleyball and water polo pool, kids' club, soccer field, and a separate pool for free scuba trials a couple of times each day. Alas, we didn't use any of these facilities. The mission (for me at least) on this trip was to do as little as possible. Mission accomplished. The girls did keep busy playing in the water, whether on the beach or at the pool. The pool was huge and just deep enough for swimming (there is a shallow section for younger kids). The challenge each day is to find chaise lounges at both the beach and the pool that don't get "reserved" by early morning. In fact, some people are up by 6 am to reserve chaise lounges in prime locations under cabanas on the beach. Honest! I'm usually up to go for a morning run around the complex at 6:30 am and many of the lounges are already accounted for with beach towels, books, hats and other personal articles to identify and "reserve" them.

The nightly shows at the theatre were decent. The staff really put in a good effort and take pride in what they perform. The only complain is the amount of smoking that takes place inside the theatre. Even though all the facilities are essentially open air, they are still enclosed under a roof and the smoke lingers.

There are a few shops at the resort, but the selection of goods is limited. There is a small market outside the resort that is within walking distance. But again, more or less the same local fare.

Overall, we were happy with our stay at the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus (and the weather was great, mostly sunny and hot - high 20's all week) with intermittent clouds). We got the usual Iberostar quality that you would expect from this chain and it lived up to most of the claims in reviews for this resort that we checked into -- unlike the last time we were in Punta Cana when we stayed at the Majestic Colonial. In one of the review sites, it rated the Majestic Colonial resort as the highest in Punta Cana. That was totally misleading. It was ok, but no way it was the best. What we found out was that the staff at the resort encourages the guests to submit (positive) comments and ratings when they get home. They even handed out the email address to submit comments. I'm pretty sure the ratings for that resort are "stacked".

For anyone looking for a quiet vacation at a solid 4 star resort, the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus is definitely an option. It caters mainly to couples and families, so don't go there is you're single or group of singles and want to just party all night long and get silly drunk.

Hope this is helpful. [Details]

We visited the Iberostar Hacienda just before Chirstmas 2010 and could not believe how beautiful and well kept the place was. It is not a HUGE resort but it is quite large and never felt overcrowded. The food was excellent and there was always a lot to choose from. The Gourmet and Japanese restaurants were our favourite. The Steakhouse was good but don't sweat not being able to get a reservation. Mexican was pretty good, but the antipasto bar was a bit better than the meal itself.

The buffet always had a lot of selection and the fresh made fruit juices were wonderful with breakfast. The beach was spectacular!!! The lighthouse bar right on the water was always a fun and easily accessible place to grab a drink and to watch the sunset.

Staff was very friendly and there were always people fixing and grooming. The grounds are so beautiful and the lobby will take your breath away!

Believe it or not, on Christmas Eve, they flew Santa to the resort in a red helicopter and landed right on our beach!!! He then spent about a couple of hours giving out gifts to all the children staying at the resort with a great band playing music nearby. The Christmas Eve gala buffet was amazing with all you can eat grilled lobster tails and a sushi bar being the highlights for us.

Drinks were great and abundant, including all premium booze as well!

Despite what the description says on itravel, they DO have TWO tennis courts. I was disappointed because I didn't bring my racquets because I didn't think they had any. They also have a "pro" there who will give you lessons if you like (for free!).

They do have internet access but it is quite expensive at abour $12-15 per day and it as to be used as contiguous time (24 hours) and cannot be used over the course of the week.

The pool was beautiful but we didn't spend any time there because the beach was amazing!

We would absolutely go again and feel it was one of the nicest resorts we've ever been to! [Details]

We really liked the Beach and the Grounds at the hotel. The rooms are not at the level of a 4.5 star hotel and so is not the food, although it is acceptable good. The Beach was kept constantly clean which we really liked. [Details]

We really enjoyed our time at the Iberostar. Nice location, beautiful and well maintained grounds, very clean and good food ( and lots of it ). Warm clear calm water for those of you who are beach people and snorkellers. Lots of chairs poolside and beachside at any time of day. Staff were very friendly and polite and accomodating. We had a problem with our hot water temperature and it was taken care of right away. It seems my benchmark resort is now the Majestic Colonial in Punta Cana and this was one star less. However, good value for what we paid for Christmas week. A welcomed rest with sunshine, snorkelling, drinks and beach. Don't miss the steak house al la carte...we went twice! The beef tenderloin was fabulous. A little tip....double check where you fly in and out of...a 25 minute drive from the airport if you land in La Romana ( which we did ) and a 2 hour drive if you land in Punta Cana! Take a couple of light sweaters and some capris girls...it can cool down at night. This is not Cuba, so lots of food and always replenished and fresh. Overall, a definite 4 star by Canadian standards. [Details]

Nice and helpful staff. Beautiful beach and reef with variety of marine life to see. Great food and atmospehere. [Details]

The hotel is beautiful! Very nice landscaping and decoration! The food is good with a lot of choice. The staff is well trained and privide a good services. We enjoyed beeng there [Details]

We were able to get this vacation at a good price so overal it was above expected.
We arrived later than expected (2am ish)& the front desk was ill prepared for non Spanish. We were given the wrong room but that was good as [Details]

The food is pretty good, a lot a variety, the rooms are nice and clean, lovely ground, the beach is also beautiful, the snorkeling is pretty good. The only negative thing is that at night before the show (dinner), the only place to go is in the lobby and it gets very crowded. We are divers and did not use Dressel Divers (local dive shop), we used one of the local dive shop in Bayahibe, Casa Daniel. We liked diving with them, they picked us up in the morning and brought us back, very professional, and it was a lot cheaper that Dressell Diver. I have also stayed at Dreams La Romana and Oasis Canoa and overall I prefer the Iberostar Hacianda Dominicus and would recommend it. [Details]