Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Rating: 3.0 Pearls

La Romana, Dominican Republic

Beach volleyball

There are a few families here and there -- but above all, Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach is a young European party resort. Thumping dance music can be heard nightly, even from inside the oceanfront bungalow rooms. The bass-heavy songs drift over from the main bar, La Placita, where a live band plays to young Italians salsa-dancing in sexy skirts and heels. By day, they move to salsa-dancing in string bikinis by the pool and enthusiastic games of beach volleyball.

Like its sister property, the slightly more upscale 330-room Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace, this Viva is noticeably sexier than most resorts in the D.R. You’re likely to spot young Italians salsa-dancing in string bikinis (the Viva Wyndham is an Italian company, and about 80 percent of its guests are Italian). Dominicus Beach attracts younger couples, and the Palace is a bit quieter and pulls in more families. A long, winding footpath connects both resorts and leads to the center of the action -- Dominicus Beach’s central bar, La Placita. Here, guests take a break from the beach with all-day cappuccinos.

The beach is a visual stunner -- 1,500 feet of white sand dotted with coral-rock formations. Guests at Dominicus Beach can book an oceanfront bungalow, the only rooms in the Viva Wyndham property directly on the beach (Dominicus Palace has rooms near the beach, but none right on it). The extensive shoreline is home to four restaurants, three pools, and a gigantic trapeze -- almost all of which is on the resort's property, making it a more popular hangout.

Staff at Viva Mexico

Generally, the service here is smooth and efficient -- quick check-in, help with bags, and in-room requests like extra water arrive within minutes. At La Terraza buffet, waiters routinely fill coffee cups or water glasses, but the self-service soda machines are a smart addition.

However, English-speaking guests might find it a little tricky to communicate with the staff. As it’s an Italian resort, most staff members are fluent in Italian, but a bit less proficient in English. Though this didn’t dramatically affect the quality of service during my stay, the guest-services receptionist couldn’t say much about the activities and amenities available.

View on a Larger Map

Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach is just east of Bayahibe, in an area called Dominicus Americanus. The area is home to five other all-inclusives, a small shopping plaza with arts and crafts stores, a cigar bar, banks, and car-rental offices -- nothing else.

While there’s not much in the town of Bayahibe itself, it’s a good outpost for access to the beaches, caves, and dive sites of Parque Nacional del Este, and the beaches are calm and beautiful. For dining outside the resort, it’s a 40-minute taxi ride (about $50, one way) to the beautiful Altos de Chavon, a series of shops and restaurants inside an exact replica of a 16th century Italian village. There’s not much to see in La Romana, but an excursion to Altos de Chavon is a must. I recommend a patio table at La Piazzetta for dinner, though it’ll cost a minimum of roughly $60 per person for dinner (depending on many drinks are ordered).

Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach is 90 minutes from Punta Cana International Airport, and about two hours from Santo Domingo’s Airport. Both taxi rides should cost between $100 and $120 one way.

The beach

The beach is visually stunning, and the resort clears the main swimming area of most coral rocks. Also, the water is so clear that you can see the seabed, so it’s easy to navigate around the occasional rock. Only the far-right area near La Roca Grill and the canopy beds is unsuitable for swimming. That’s when the beach turns into all-rock with no sand.

The resort is located in Bayahibe, which is situated directly on the calmer, clearer Caribbean Sea, rather than the Atlantic Ocean, as is the case in Punta Cana.The sand here is powdery soft, and a coral rock formation helps keep the waves calm so parents don’t have to worry about young swimmers. Plus, like most resorts, there’s a lifeguard on duty during the high season (from mid-December to mid-April).

Beyond the beach, there’s a paved pedestrian walkway that stretches the length of both Viva resorts, and makes for a very pleasant stroll or morning jog.

There are no local peddlers or vendors on the Wyndham’s beach, unlike at the Juan Dolio resorts Barcelo Capella and Costa Coral Caribe. The hotel does not allow for out-of-resort promotions on the beach, and they are sticklers with keeping to this rule. Security does all they can to keep that business off resort grounds. Guests will be able to walk the full resort beach strip and not get ambushed by a man selling cigars or hand-carved masks -- making it much easier to relax here than at other resorts.

The trapeze

There are ample activities, like darts, boccie ball, Spanish lessons, and bingo, plus some racy adult games like the beachside "Love Game" (also called "Kama Sutra"), in which couples form several suggestive positions and race to break a balloon (this may be a bit much at 10 a.m.). Given that most of the guests are Italian, the resort imports several entertainment staff members from Italy, in addition to the Dominican team.

There are four pools on the Viva Wyndham property, two at the Beach side of the resort, two at the Palace side of the resort (though all guests have access to the features at both resorts). The Dominicus Beach pool near La Roca Grill is definitely the best-looking one, beautiful and clean with billowing white canopy beds sandwiched between it and the rocky shore. Away from the swimming part of the beach and most guests, the atmosphere here is very quiet and serene -- even with the addition of a kiddie pool.

Other pools were not as well-maintained as the La Roca Grill pool. During my stay, the pool by La Placita bar had leaves and debris floating in it. While it was situated in a much more populated area -- smack in the center of the resort next to the main bar (La Placita) and en route to the lobby -- no one was actually in this less-clean pool.

The tennis courts, which are in slightly shabby shape, can be booked for use. There is a soccer field adjacent to the tennis courts. Unlike most resorts, there’s also a climbing wall available for Spiderman activity in the beach section of the resort.

The well-equipped fitness center offers a good amount of brand-name cardio machines in addition to the usual weight benches: five LifeFitness stair-steppers, three treadmills (one of them Precor), and five bikes. There are also showers, exercise mats, and a free sauna. The tennis courts, which were in slightly shabby shape, can be booked for use, but they were empty for most of my visit. There is a soccer field adjacent to the tennis courts. A climbing wall is available for adults and children over 16.

The Metamorphosis Spa, a popular chain at many resorts in the D.R., has an impressive variety of massages, hydro baths, pedicures, body treatments, facials, and waxing. But some of the staff members are too inexperienced and ill-equipped to handle the more involved services. During my pedicure, a staff member sliced open my toe with the exposed edge of a disposable razor, then had to douse it with rubbing alcohol (no Band-Aids or other antiseptic were available).

Unique to the Viva Wyndham, free trapeze lessons are available, run by real-life circus performers. I gave the trapeze a try and felt immediately safe among the muscle-bound staffers, who first trained me on the ground, then sent me up with my feet in the air, then encouraged me to give it another try when I was on solid ground again.

The kids club

Dominicus Beach is home to more young partying couples than extended families (families generally prefer the Beach’s sister, the Palace resort). Still, the resort boasts plenty of family-friendly features. Superior rooms can accommodate cribs (available for free upon request), and three of the four room types have the option of two queen-size beds or one king-size bed.

Baby sitting services can be provided to guests, at an extra charge.

The beach’s especially calm waters are excellent for kids. Also, unlike most resorts, there’s a lifeguard on the beach during peak swimming hours.

A supervised mini-club for kids 4-12 years old is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There’s a sand playground with wooden and plastic jungle gyms.

From the brick-oven pizza fired up every night to the little sandwiches and cakes served at the beach bar to the fresh cinnamon and sugar donuts served at breakfast -- kids are likely to see something they would like to eat.

Parents with young children and strollers will find Viva Wyndham Beach and Palace easy to navigate, with well-paved pedestrian footpaths. Most of the rooms, however, are in three-story buildings, and there are no elevators. Therefore, parents might want to request a room on the first floor or reserve a bungalow.

An evening performance

I saw more participation in group activities and evening events here than at any other resort. Attractive young couples in Speedos and bikinis jumped up to join in merengue lessons at noon and salsa at 6 p.m. A daily circle of enthusiastic water-aerobics participants gathered near the beach entrance.

At a well-attended theater performance, the impressively costumed animation team did their own play on the movie Moulin Rouge, complete with the staff’s own Christina Aguilera and Lil’ Kim performing “Lady Marmalade”. Every night after the theater, the crowd moved into themed dancing fiestas by La Placita bar.

The theater performance runs fairly long, because the MC and staff translate the introduction and opening dialogue into Italian, Spanish, German, and then English. But it was nice to see this thoughtful attempt to accommodate all guests.

Once a week, the staff actually transports guests off the property to a local club -- and pays for the transportation. For those who want to stay on the premises, there’s always the local Discotecque La Locura, open every night from 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

La Terraza buffet

Food at Viva Wyndham was head and shoulders above the quality found at most D.R. resorts, with a phenomenal selection of dishes made fresh whenever possible -- from the doughnuts fried every morning to the just-grilled fish to the from-scratch pizzas pulled out of the wood-burning oven.

Guests have access to seven restaurants, including five à la cartes. The central buffet, La Terraza, is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and keeps fairly good hours -- open from 7-11 a.m. for breakfast. The best food is at La Pizzeria, an all-night pizzeria that serves pizza from a wood-burning stove. Viva Café, the Mediterranean à la carte, is a stunning set-up of white Balinese beds and open-air seating along the beach. Viva Mexico, in a plaza adjoining the all-night pizzeria, offers every diner Tequila Sunrises. My dishes -- a nacho appetizer and a beef fajita entrée -- weren’t exceptional, but they did arrive hot and quickly.

The La Placita snack bar (directly adjacent to the La Placita bar) has pizza and hand-size sandwiches for kids and hungry adults to munch on till dinner (open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.).

Wine selection at Viva Mexico

An extensive binder of cocktails rests on most bar tables at Viva Wyndham, allowing guests to flip through and examine the options. The usual list of margaritas and daiquiris are supplemented by more grandiose, punch-based cocktails like the Mai Tai, Planter's Punch, and Singapore Sling. There’s also an impressive range of college-kid staples like Long Island Iced Teas and Fuzzy Navels, as well as classics like Salty Dogs, Manhattans, and Cosmos. Granted, some cocktails are better executed than others -- the margarita was fine, but the Tequila Sunrise tasted artificially sweet.

All bars make drinks with generic-brand liquor, except for the lobby bar at Dominicus Palace. From a smoked-glass shelf, the bartender here pulled off Jose Cuervo and other mid-range booze to make the margaritas and one excellent caipirinha. This is by far the best bar, even though the bartender didn't have a blender and thus was restricted to only making shaken drinks. A whole afternoon can easily be whiled away here, ordering up cocktails to be enjoyed on the extravagant wood-framed Empress bed.

Dominican and Italian culture does share one love, and that is of coffee. I found a well-equipped espresso machine at nearly every bar I passed.

The Oceanfront Bungalow

Dominicus Beach offers four types of rooms: standard rooms, superior rooms, garden bungalows, and oceanfront bungalows. All rooms are constructed along the shoreline, rather than stretching back from the beach like many of the newer resorts. This means that all rooms are generally only a minute or two from the beach. The standard and superior rooms all face the interior garden (though they all have full-size tubs in their bathrooms). The bungalows are thatched-roof structures made of coral stone, and come with either an ocean or garden view (but no bathtubs, just showers). For a $10-$15 upgrade, the oceanfront bungalows are well worth it. They're right on the beach, so guests can walk out their door and into the sand in seconds, and fall asleep to the sound of the waves. Though there might be a bit of noise when the resort hosts beachside entertainment, the soft salsa music is rarely an issue.

From the inside, the bungalows don’t look too different from a typical hotel room. Each has a large, satellite-equipped TV with very good reception on a decent number of English-speaking channels -- including CNN and BBC -- but no Pay-Per-View or other movie options.

The king-size bed is pretty firm, but comfortable enough. The blanket is a more substantial fleece than the thin throws at many other resorts.

In my bungalow, there was some mildew in the shower, but the bathroom was otherwise clean. All rooms come with a coffeemaker, Viva-brand toiletries, and a one-liter bottle of water. Bathroom ventilation comes from a small window, which means you can hear everyone that walks by the room (and they can hear you too).