We visited Catalonia Gran Domincus December 2007 two adults and two 11 year olds.
We had an excellent holiday on all accounts. Though we heard little if any English all week (it's a resort frequented by Europeans primarily Spanish and Italians) it provided even more of a sense of getaway and the language challenges easily overcome with a little French and perseverance. The staff is very helpful in finding someone to communicate in English if required.
The rooms were very clean and tidy, lots of hot water, towels and the A/C worked perfectly. The gardens and the beach immaculately kept and lovely to walk through.
The food was equally pleasing from a variety of daily homecooked pastas and wood-oven made to order pizzas daily in al fresco Pasta/Pizza Bar restaurant to a wide good tasting variety of food choices on the main buffet in the other dining room.
The two a la carte dining rooms which guests are allowed to visit on two occasions during the week were average and we preferred the other two dining rooms.
There was a snack shack on the beach where you could sit down and dine on finger foods or salads, burgers and hot dogs or fruit all day long if you didn't want to get out of your swimsuit and leave the beach.
Towel serice was excellent and orderly.
Though there was a daycare-program for young children up to about 6 years of age , the older kids had no program to attend so my 11 year olds entertained themselves which wasnt' too hard to do there. The pool was an amazing massive compilation of about 5 pools in one, very big and at various levels of depth. There are a lot of lawn chairs about the pool to hang out on all day. The main bar close to the pool is always staffed by friendly and attentive staff. It provides a lovely area to sit and read and sip an expresso or cocktail The quality of the wine and beer is excellent, wine being European, Spanish in fact and beer Presidente. Snacks are out at the pool side bar for most of the day too from cake to cookies to sandwiches if you want.
The entertainment in the evenings was quite good though from a rendition of Grease to Top 40 hits by the very hard working young staff members. The internet cafe provided a link to the outside world if' that was your wish for a modest fee.
We would willingly and happily go back to Gran Dominicus Catalonia DR for a holiday. It was very low-key place which provided a quiet holiday if you wanted and had a outdoor disco that ran well into the wee hours of the morning if that was your style. Roving resort photographers took excellent snaps of guests and sold them at a very reasonable price. Not a ton of bells and whistles at this resort like some of the bigger and newer ones out there but lots of opportunity to sit back relax and enjoy the tropical sun and surf.
One of my children has special medical needs and the staff was always helpful no that front and accomodating to make sure her medical needs were met. Overall the staff was spectacular in terms of attentiveness and friendliness.
We took a beautiful catamaran trip to a nearby Island for about 90 dollars a person. It was worth every penny. And I would recommend it to people with children over the age of 7 years.

Just returned from celebrating new years at the Gran Domenicus. It was simply one of the best all inclusive we have been to. We normally travel with a group of 15-20 ppl with children ranging from 8 years- 18 years. Teen have as much fun as the smaller kids as the animators entertain every age.
If you wanted quiet you could find it. If you wanted fun and activity it went on everyday for hours. The animators involved the guests in such a way that it seemed so natural and they made you want to get up and dance.

The beach was spectacular. White sand, clean sparkling warm water. I did not use the pool once the water was too amazing.

The food was good, there was a good variety and theme nights made the buffets interesting. The pizza/pasta place made one of the best pizza's I have had outside of Italy. 90% of the guests were Italian during the new years period and therefore the first language spoken was italian. French , Spanish and English was also spoken.Tasty Apperitivos (cocktails & ordevs) were served nightly, and fruit was passed around on the beach to guests.

The rooms were ok,but taking into consideration that you spend little time there it didn't matter.

The entertainment was fun to watch and get involved in. Like I stated earlier the animation team worked hard to get guests involved but didn't make it look like they were working. It rained one day during our stay and the team kept activities going so that you didn't spend the day in your room!

Our group was very pleased with our visit. One of our gourp is a travel agent and plans to reccomend this resort to his clients. I highly reccomend it.

We just had a great and relaxing time at Catalonia. We were a party of 5 adults and 4 children. The beach is great and the waves are much fun. The pool is awsome especially for kids. It has a slope entry and kids of all ages love it. The grounds are beautiful and well taken care of. The food is good (you have to eat at the Pizza restaurant at least once - the pizza is great) and they have several restaurants that take reservations, for a change of pace. It is primarily Europeans and has a wonderful atmosphere. Most everyone speaks several languages and can help out whenever there is a problem. Do remember this is the Dominican Republic, a spanish speaking country, so of course not everyone is fluent in English, and visitors should not expect that. Needless to say, we are excited to go back.

Hello,

Well like alot of people i decided it was time to take a vacation and booked last min, Reading all the reviews i could find on this hotel told me this was my last resort of places to go and thus was the only place i could book haha

But i was very pleased with this resort. here is a quick rundown

1. This is an Italian resort and thus most people speak Italian the next would be french and then spanish and then finaly english ( but the staff do know english even though it may be hard for them to understand all the words )

2. This is a family resort or a couple's resort ( as a single i had an awesome time but this is not the resort if your looking to pick up people or a date )

3. The rooms are nice and the beach is amazing if you have ny issues they will address the issues

4. entertainment is awesome even though they dont do it in english

Overall great resort and i hope it stays being non-american as then the atmosphere will be awesome this place is ment to be relaxing and fun for the family and couples and thats what it was as a single i met alot of couples and alot of non-english people who spoke it pretty good so you can converse with them

Enjoy,