Costa Caribe Coral Hotel & Resort Rating: 3.0 Pearls

La Romana, Dominican Republic

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Drinks at the Bohio Bar

This 15-year-old resort provides a high-boozing atmosphere -- including a 24-hour sports bar -- for those who want to enjoy the D.R. without dropping megabucks on Punta Cana five-stars. Rooms are pretty old, some might even say disgusting, but Costa Caribe is still a decent value.

Those looking for a quiet, remote escape, however, should head elsewhere. In between '80s hit singles, the resounding theme song of the entertainment team, the Chocolate Friends, is blasted from the speakers near the beach bar throughout the day. (After the first night, I could sing the refrain, "Oh Oh Oh Chocolatay Chocolotay!" in my sleep.)

On weekends, locals fill up the disco and ramp up the party, and at the à la cartes, tables for two are more often occupied by groups of singles than romantic couples. While Costa Caribe does have its slower and less-occupied weeks -- I was there during one of them -- most guests are still here to party.

The resort is not laid out in the most appealing fashion -- Juan Dolio Avenue runs down the center, with half of the rooms on the beach side, and half of the rooms on the other. The parking lot is basically in the middle (but at least it's small enough so that everything is just a short walk away).

Servers at Santa Fe Grill

The service at Costa Caribe is extremely attentive, professional, and friendly. Dishes were cleared from my table at the à la carte restaurants and buffets just a few minutes after I finished; my requests for soda without ice were honored (even when servers brought soda with ice by accident, they would take it back).

Housekeeping leaves two one-liter bottles of water in each room every day. I wish the staff scrubbed my bathtub a little better, but maybe that's more a need for renovation than anything. The toilets, which appeared newer, were all uniformly clean.

The bartenders here are particularly friendly -- one called to me from a few yards away to offer me his special punch. The next time I saw him, my question about what was in one Slushee machine had him making me two extra drinks.

When I inquired about what to do in the area, the concierge whipped open a whole binder full of half-day and day-long excursions in the area -- to nearby Santo Domingo, to Catalina and Saona Island. He suggested Saona, mentioning that he had been on the trip himself and very much enjoyed it.

Check-in was immediate -- I actually arrived three hours early, but only had to wait 15 minutes and my room was ready.

I can count on just two fingers the times that service lagged -- once, when it took about 10 minutes to get a Sprite, and a second time, when it took an hour for an extra bottled water to be brought up to my room.

View on a Larger Map

Costa Caribe Coral is located on Juan Dolio Beach, 30 minutes ($60 by taxi) east of Santo Domingo, the bustling capital of the D.R.

Due to a recent push from the Dominican government, a few more resorts are springing up along Juan Dolio’s beach, as are a scattering of souvenir gift shops that line Juan Dolio Avenue, just outside the resort. Popular activities nearby include ATV tours to San Pedro de Macoris, a sugar cane plantation just five minutes away and birthplace to a number of famous Dominican baseball players, such as Sammy Sosa. A plaza located a block from the resort is utilized by both the locals and resort guests for its cheap Wi-Fi ($2 an hour), pharmacy, and outdoor café.

Watersports at the beach

Costa Caribe Coral doesn't boast the greatest beach -- the quick jump in water from blue to dark signifies the encroaching plant life that lines the sea floor. But a manmade barrier does block the biggest waves -- making this a very safe beach for little children. The shallow stretch of water is clean and clear with a sandy white shoreline.

There are more than enough lounge chairs, but bathrooms near the beach are hard to come by. Most guests have to use the water, or head to the toilet in the fitness center, which is off the beach and past the beach bar.

Windsurfing, kayaking, paddle boating, and sailing are free for an hour each, via the Sea Pro diving center. (A small $5 insurance fee is charged for the equipment to cover any possible damages.) The on-site diving center also offers the full gamut of water sports for additional cost: diving certification, dives for beginners or experienced divers, banana boat trips, snorkeling, waterskiing, and boat rides. The center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Standard King Room

This 535-room resort offers standard guest rooms (with king or double beds) and suites with an additional living room space, marble bath, and Jacuzzi on the balcony. There are three types of guest rooms, differing only by view. The cheapest of the three, the standard guest room, faces the garden or the pool. The guest room-plus has the best views, overlooking the ocean. The most expensive, the deluxe room, doesn’t have an ocean view -- it also just faces the garden or pool -- but it’s bigger than the standard or the guest room-plus. Guest quarters are actually split into two separate sections, one on the beach and one further back, across Juan Dolio Avenue, the main thoroughfare connecting this resort to the rest of villas and resorts in the area.

The rooms are large, nicely air-conditioned, and adequate, but they’re definitely showing their age. The door connecting my room to the next room's balcony had a crack in the bottom that ran almost halfway up the door, the light fixtures have faded to a gray cream, and a metal bottle opener attached to the bathroom wall was rusted over. Most noticeable was the Honeywell AC/heat unit to the left of the bed, which had rusted vents. The bathrooms have a bit of mildew in the showerhead. Also, in most rooms, the dull cream-color grout around the bathtub has worn away in spots, so the original tile's edge was starting to become exposed. But none of these cleanliness issues really seemed to overwhelm any of the guests.

The décor helped to counterbalance some of the worn furniture and appliances, but the rooms do look pretty dated. The white curtains framing the glass doors, the butter-yellow walls, and the colorful, stylized posters of Dominican beach scenes give a light, airy feel to the room. Clay shades painted in green and brick-red stripes help diffuse the harsh light of the energy-efficient bulbs.

Room location is everything at Costa Caribe. Almost all of the resort's activities take place in the main complex; it is also where the beach and two of the three pools are located. I would suggest trying to book a room here or ask to change rooms if placed in the casino division across the street. Although the second division has the pasta bar and is still only minutes from the beach in this compact resort, it does feel a bit isolated and cut off from the action. But, in the main section, expect to hear stereo speakers blasting all day long at the pool. The S-complex, still in the main complex but a little to the left of the blasting speaker, may be a quieter bet.

Mini-bars are only available upon request, but two liter bottles of water and coffeemakers are provided every day by housekeeping. Rooms come with cable-equipped Phillips TVs, but the reception can be a bit spotty. Safes are located in every room, but the price is $3.50/day to use it -- and a $50 charge will be added to the bill if the key is lost.

ATV Rentals at the Sports Facilities

Costa Caribe has three small, kidney-shaped pools: the main pool next to the beach bar, Bohio; the quieter pool just beside the main pool; and the pool for guests who are in the second complex. The main pool sees the most action, due to its proximity to the only beach bar. But the pool on the casino side is actually the most picturesque, framed with bushes of budding tropical flowers. There are no slides or swim-up bars -- there are in-pool barstools, but no bartender service from there. All pools are well-kept, but a sign at night actually wards off guests from entering because that's when they treat them with chemicals. So much for night swimming.

The hotel supposedly offers three Jacuzzis, but only the one at the spa was operational during my stay, and it cost extra to use it.

A gym is located in the same building as the air-conditioned sales offices that proffer Costa Caribe time-shares. More money was clearly spent on the offices than on the gym, which is more of a nod to a gym, with cardio equipment limited to five old exercise bikes and free weights with peeling metallic veneer. Just two high-powered fans cool the room -- there’s no air conditioning.

Other than the gym, the second complex houses most of the sports facilities: three clay tennis courts, a basketball court, a small soccer field, and a nine-hole mini-golf course. Tennis equipment and putters can be borrowed from a small stand next to the tennis courts.

Bicycles can be rented for an hour at no cost, but the bikes too are pretty old and most are too big for children. An ATV tour through the nearby sugarcane fields of San Pedro de Macoris is also available at additional cost ($50 for two hours). There's also horseback riding ($24 for two hours), mostly on the beach.

The new full-service InSense Spa (open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) offers haircuts, extensions, facials, waxing, makeup, manicures, and massages. But the main emphasis is on body treatments. It offers 10 different options here, from the $77 Dip-In Drops with a Cranapple-Sugar exfoliation mix to a $125 chocolate body wrap. Seven massages range from the classic Swedish and deep-tissue offerings to a 30-minute acupressure service. Special services for brides or couples are also available.

An Internet center is next to the centrally located Garden Bar. The two computers there looked admittedly pretty worn down, and service runs $10 for the first hour plus $5 for an additional hour. (A cheaper option is the Internet café in the plaza just down the street -- it's only $2 an hour there.) The Wi-Fi is free in the lobby for those who have a wireless laptop, and the connection is fantastic. But I had difficulty finding an outlet for my computer.

The casino, located across Juan Dolio Avenue from the main complex, offers craps, roulette, slot machines, blackjack and poker. While some guests found the casino "kind of small" -- only two roulette tables were operating when I was there, and there are only about nine clusters of slot kiosks -- it's still a nice addition to the resort. Drinks in the casino are not included in the all-inclusive package.

The Kids' Club

The loud music that blares from the beach speaker until 11 p.m. and the 24-hour sports bar gear this resort toward a young party crowd, instead of families. But kids are welcome.

At the beach, a manmade barrier breaks the bigger waves, making the shallow waters safe for kids.

The Coralin Kid's Club looks like a Caribbean hut for Smurfs. Inside the little one-room house, a staff member supervises over the kid-size pool table, foosball table, and board games. To the right of the house, another multicolored gate surrounds the kiddie swimming pool. I spotted a few kids having a fantastic time with the kid-size basketball nets.

There’s a daily Kid Disco from 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. each night. It's a pretty low-key affair, with Chocolate Friends inviting kids up on stage at the theater to do the hokey-pokey and Mexican hat dance. (Strains of "the hooooooookey hokey pokey" can be heard throughout the main complex.)

Guests can reserve a babysitter though the concierge, although guest services will need some advance notice (the afternoon before is fine). It's $10/hour.

The common areas -- the pools and lounge chairs, in particular -- are very well-cleaned.

Rooms, however, aren’t maintained as well: I noticed faded light fixtures, rusted appliances, and a bathroom that needed a retiling or a Tilex mold-removing overhaul. Still, the rooms are comfortable, and are far from the worst rooms I've visited in the D.R.

Dinner at Rigoletto Pasta Club

Costa Caribe Coral offers one buffet (Ambar) serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner; an all-night snack bar near the beach (Mango's); and three à la cartes open for dinner on opposite days: El Fagon, Santa Fe Grill, and Rigoletto Pasta Bar, serving Dominican, Tex-Mex, and Italian, respectively.

Overall, the food at Costa Caribe Coral is good, but considering the price of the resort, the food is amazing. The buffet, though not the biggest, offers delicious warm croissants, fresh fruit, and a grill station daily. At the Santa Fe Grill, there’s a made-to-order taco and burrito station with fresh cilantro and a tasty black bean filling. The Italian à la carte, the Rigoletto Pasta Bar, offers one of the only make-your-own Caesar salad stations in the D.R. -- with the dressing kept cold on ice.

After a long night (and day) of drinking, Mango’s all-night snack bar hits the spot. Though, with its fluorescent lighting and sad-looking hot dogs, it’s really only appreciated by kids and drunken adults.

Slushee cocktails

I noticed a bit of cheating here -- almost all tropical drinks involve at least a tap from those hard-working Slushee machines. This even included even caipirinha: The bartender muddled up some lime with the end of a Tabasco bottle, then added some of the lemon Slushee mixture and the rum. Costa Caribe's piña colada has its own Slushee machine, although it was a far better mix than other pre-made versions.

The bartenders here are particularly friendly -- one called to me from a few yards away to offer his special: fruit punch, peach juice, triple sec, and rum. The next time I saw him, my question about what was in one Slushee machine had him making me two extra drinks. "How do you like it, regular or heavy?" he said. No watered down drinks here.

Liquor is all generic-brand, except at the casino and at the 24-hour sports bar if guests want to pay extra. Drinks at the casino bar are not included, with well drinks/cocktails running $4-$5.50, and cocktails with premium liquor $7-$8.5. Premium brands include Absolut, Stoli, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray, Johnny Walker Red and Black, and after dinner liqueurs like Tia Maria and Galliano.

The house wine, cocktails, and beer are free, but the wine is pretty bitter. Fortunately, guests at an all-inclusive have limitless drink options -- and I'll re-emphasize that the piña colada mix here is better than others I've tried.

Unlike most resorts, the Costa Caribe has a 24-hour sports bar, located right off the main lobby through two bamboo doors with baseball bats. There’re a few TVs, pool tables, and a poster of Tiger Woods, but there's little to distinguish this as a sports bar. It's more like the bar everyone heads to late at night when the other bars are closed. The bar leads into the discotheque, a green checkered dance floor roped off with bamboo sticks. Fluorescent-lit and fairly empty, it was a little on the bleak side during my visit. But when the locals hit it on the weekends, it could take on a different life entirely.