Bonjour à tous,

J’arrive de mon séjour formule tout inclus au Catalonia Gran Dominicus et je dois vous avouer que j’ai été séduit par ce complexe ainsi que le personnel qui y travaillait. Le service que nous avons reçu tout au long de notre séjour a été très courtois. Les employés de l’hôtel nous offrent un service personnalisé dans notre propre langue grâce à la couleur de nos bracelets. (violet – espagnol ; vert – italien; beige – français; gris – allemand, etc.) Les serveurs et barmaids sont très chaleureux et avenants. On ne manque jamais de rien avec eux, bien au contraire, on en a toujours à profusion.

Pour ce qui est de l’hôtel en général, je vous dirais que j’ai été charmé par la maturité et la beauté de la végétation. Il y a des palmiers, des arbres exotiques et des fleurs partout, de la réception jusqu’au balcon de votre chambre. Cette végétation crée une ambiance privée entre chacun des bâtiments comprenant les chambres à coucher. De plus, de petits chemins de pavés se font un trajet au travers de la végétation et réunissent tous les bâtiments les uns aux autres. C’est également la première plage que je vois avec des palmiers sur le sable blanc à ce point près de l’eau. On peut s’asseoir près de la mer des Caraïbes tout en ayant un peu d’ombre offert par ces arbres exotiques ou des palapas.

La chambre était numéro 1 en général. Très spacieuse avec un beau balcon pour profiter de la vue et écouter le chant des oiseaux tous les matins. Votre chambre comprend une télévision, un téléphone, un petit coffre-fort, un frigidaire avec bouteilles d’eau ainsi qu’un air climatisé pour ceux et celles qui s’ennuient un peu de la température du Canada. Par contre, si vous aimez vous levez tôt pour réserver vos places sur la plage, je vous conseil d’apporter votre réveille-matin car il n’y en a aucun dans la chambre ni d’horloge. Il n’y a pas non plus de cafetière dans la chambre à coucher, mais je vous conseille d’aller au « Merenguero », bar principal du site, ils y font de très bons cafés. Pour ce qui est des lits, ils sont d’une bonne grandeur, confortables et propres.

Les restaurants au Catalonia Gran Dominicus sont supers. La nourriture est très bonne et très diversifiée. Vous y retrouverez du steak house, mexicain, républicain, japonais et plusieurs autres. Vous en avez pour tous les goûts. Toute la nourriture est préparée selon des normes sanitaires très strictes et tout est préparé avec de l’eau potable. Il y a 5 restaurants sur le site dont 2 sans réservation. Le restaurant principal se nomme « El Taino » et il s’agit d’un type buffet ouvert le matin, midi et soir. Le second restaurant ouvert le midi et soir se nomme « El Patio ». Ce dernier est de type italien et on y sert principalement des pâtes et de la pizza à en faire jalouser la concurrence. Pour ce qui est du steak house et du mexicain, ils sont très bons aussi, mais malheureusement sont offerts qu’une fois semaine sous réservation. Le dernier restaurant est de type langoustine et il est payant, environ 35$-40$ par personne, mais il ne nous a pas été recommandé alors je ne pourrais pas vous dire ce qu’il en est.

Pour ceux qui aiment visiter ou tout simplement se dégourdir les jambes, il y a un grand choix d’activités possibles à faire que ce soit des safaris, des excursions en voiture dans les villages ou des excursions en « speed boat » jusqu’à Saona, une île paradisiaque là où le sable est d’un blanc pur et l’eau d’un turquoise inimaginable. Si vous ne voulez pas quitter le site du Gran Dominicus, il y a un groupe d’animateurs sur place avec lesquelles il est impossible de s’ennuyer. Musique, danses, chants, spectacles et amusements sont au rendez-vous, c’est garanti. Ce qui est bien aussi c’est que si vous voulez seulement rester tranquille et profiter du soleil, les animateurs n’insistent pas et respectent vos désirs.

Pour terminer, cet hôtel a été un vrai havre de repos pour moi. Surtout profitez de l’eau turquoise, transparente et chaude de la mer des Caraïbes et en soirée il est très plaisant d’aller faire un petit tour au Casino Dominicus. Une navette passe tous les 15 minutes à l’hôtel et vous conduit à ce casino qui est à 4 minutes de l’hôtel.

Ah oui j’oubliais, pour ce qui est du temps dominicain, ajouter toujours 15 minutes. C’est-à-dire, par exemple si l’ouverture du restaurant est pour 19h30, ils ouvrent les portes à 19h45. Les premiers jours ont restent surpris, mais on s’y habitue rapidement.

Bon voyage à tous!

Just returned and would like add a few quick notes. We were two couples (age 40-60) We booked thru a local travel agent and paid $664 plus $335 taxes for a total of $999 each. This includes the $20.00 Dominican airport exit tax which is not always included.

We flew Montreal direct to La Romana which is only 20 mins from the resort. (Recommended) We met people who had landed in Santo Domingo which is 2 hrs. away and found that it was a long bus ride.

Check-in was uneventful altho we were told to leave our bags by the bus and they would be brought to our room. Assuming they would be left IN the room we headed for supper and the bar only to return 2-3 hours later to find them sitting outside our room. Weren't too happy but everything was there.

Room was fine - good size - king size bed but no clock or coffee maker. Bathroom also good, shower only but that's ok. Nice TV with remote. Frig is stocked with 2 bottles of water daily.

You may have noticed other reviews talking about the Italian clientele and I think probably 75% of guests are Italian the balance French Quebecers and a few English Canadians. This does create a bit of a problem if you are the type to participate in the "animations" as almost all the patter in in Italian. We didn't really mind as we spent most of our time away from the action. English speakers we met (Mark and Helena) who went to all the shows said they were really good.

2 buffet restaurants - main one is typical buffet food but with a nice Italian slant which breaks the monotony a bit. There is also a separate pizza/pasta buffet which is quite good. A la cartes are ok for a change but nothing special altho my steak at the steakhouse was pretty good. (My buddy's was really bad) Beach snack bar was unimpressive.

Bit of a strange setup in that there is only one bar and it's not that close to the beach. (It's not that far but most places have multiple bars including one ON the beach.) You can serve yourself beer and wine at the beach snack bar but that's it.

The beach is great - nice sand - good waves - no rocks - great scenery. Thay have installed "reef balls" to allow for some not bad snorkelling.

Pool is huge and very underused - but NO SWIM-UP BAR - WHAT?

Side trips - We went with a Canadian guy named Mike who runs a small tour company and took us snorkelling and site seeing by boat. We saw starfish and stingrays. Lunch included. $98.00. Highly recommended, highlight of the trip.

We were at Catalonia Gran Dominicus from March 15-March 22, 2008. We flew Air Transat from Montreal into La Romana with Nolitours. The resort is only about twenty minutes by bus from the airport and this is one of the reasons we chose this location.
Beach – fantastic; great sand, waves for jumping and swimming; you can walk out quite far into the water (more or less at waist and chest level).
Pool – excellent; no second, quiet pool on the property.
Food – very good; main buffet is excellent with an emphasis on Dominican food (which we like), antipasto, pasta, seafood and salads. Fruit and vegetables are plentiful. Outstanding deserts. In the morning, fresh fruit juices are great. Same table wine (white or red) served each day. We didn’t go into the a la carte restaurants; mini-bar is not stocked (not needed for us) except for 2 bottles of water per day. We asked for more each day and received them.
Grounds – fantastic. Vegetation is superb!
Location - We went into Santo Domingo using only local guaguas and large bus on two different days. It took 3 hours each way and involved a few transfers between vans and buses. Inexpensive. We went into Bayahibe and into the little town of Domincus (going on the guaguas públicas (vans). I wouldn’t go back to these small towns because there wasn’t much there.
Languages – a great place to hear various languages. There was a large contingent from Italy and other groups from France and Quebec. This resort is now being actively marketed to Canada and US.
Hint: A new building is going up on the property to the east and it is scheduled to be finished sometime in 2008. They seemed to be increasing the work on it in the mornings. It wasn’t noisy for us but it could get that way. If you’re sensitive to noise, perhaps ask for a room away from the construction with balconies not facing that way. The balconies are large; however, there was a transformer behind our room and it could be heard. We spent most of the time out of the room but it would have been nice to have had a completely silent balcony area. Rooms were large, simply furnished, comfortable and very clean. Everything worked well. We had a fantastic vacation and would recommend this resort to others.

We just returned from this resort and loved it! We booked through Selloffvacations.com using Transat holidays. We had fairly high expectations because of the good reviews and we were not disappointed at all.

Postives:

-the beach was GORGEOUS with plenty of chairs and shaded areas;
-the Italian buffet (so yummy - loved the antipasto and pasta variety - and of course the pizzas)
-the animation team - very good looking, creative, fun and talented
-the pool area and bar configuration: central entertainment area that really encouraged hanging out and having drinks (unlike some huge resorts where people are spread out, this really created a nice atmosphere)
-the chicken at the beach restaurant - yummy
-the location - close to many things to see and do (we went to Altos de Chavon on our own - a little disappointing - and took a tour to Santo Domingo - long day of historical places but well worth the 65$). Didn't get a chance to visit Dominicus or Bayahibe.
-appetizers and cocktails around the pool at 7 - nice touch
-easy to book a la cartes (pretty good too)
-no one hassling you on the beach to buy things
-very clean resort and beach
-easy to get water sports equipment
-the bar and bar staff - excellent variety of drinks plus willingness to make anything you ask for (try a cappucino with ice blended with creme de cacao - beats Starbucks any day!)
-espresso at the bar - very popular for a variety of hot and cold coffee drinks
-sunsets over the water - gorgeous!
-we loved that they didn't use the throw away plastic cups but rather washable plastic ones on the beach and glass ones at the main bar. Much better for the environment and a bit classier too.

Negatives:

-the language barrier: as previously reviewed, things are primarily in Spanish or Italian, with French, then English. If you speak French you'll be ok, if not, it is hard to communicate. We know French so we were ok, but Anglophones we met were having a hard time. Bracelets are according to language spoken which is a great idea.
-breakfast - boring and repetitive. Had to ask for bacon at the egg station and it wasn't cooked well. On the plus side, the juice and yogurt bars were good. MMmmm passion fruit!
-the rooms - a little strange with the shower and toilet but the rooms themselves were very clean and neat


Overall, this was a great resort. This was our first time in La Romana and we will definitely be back. Previously, we had been to Puerto Plata - this was miles better than what we had experienced there. This resort never felt busy despite being full. The arrangement of the villas into blocks with gardens made it feel very peaceful. We ate and drank well and enjoyed the beach and facilities. I would definitely recommend this place.