We just got back from a wonderful honeymoon in the Dominican Republic – staying at the Victoria Golf & Beach Resort, Playa Dorada, Puerto Plata. This was booked through Thomas Cook.

FLIGHTS
It was a 9-hour flight from London Gatwick. Thomas Cook have recently improved their planes slightly and have increased the seat pitch to match that of Virgin/BA/etc. However, there’s still just something lacking in their service. For one, you have to pay for any drinks outside of tea/coffee offered after meals. Two, the ‘entertainment’ offered is minimal compared with other transatlantic flights I’ve taken and fairly low quality. Our flight out had interactive movies/TV but the flight home was the pre-programmed kind where you can’t stop & start. Also, even though you have more legroom, the seats are VERY narrow. I’m not super-slim, no, but I’m not wide either and I felt squashed the entire time – especially my shoulders! The whole plane just feels small and cramped. The attendants generally made the best of it and provided a decent service, but I guess they can only do so much with a budget airline.

Upon arrival, there was a Thomas Cook rep standing right outside, just as we were told. It was really easy to find the coach transfer, as they have everyone sorted by what hotel they’re staying in. Kindly, they also provided some bottle water, since we landed in the middle of a hot Dominican afternoon! On the way in, the rep gave some tips over the PA but they were same stuff you find in TC’s literature about the DR.

LOCATION
The Victoria was the 2nd stop on the coach from the airport. Only us & another couple got off, so lucky there was no queue to check into our room. We knew we had wanted to upgrade when we got there, and the receptionist/manager was very helpful in changing our room. It take some time while he organised payment & stuff, but they were really nice and let us freshen up in our original room while our new suite was being prepared. 30 minutes later we were escorted to the honeymoon suite!

ROOM
We did catch a glimpse at one of the regular rooms, like I said above, so I hope my review of the hotel is still objective. The rooms were clean and well-laid out. The mini-fridges (part of all-inclusive) are stocked daily & if you leave a nice note + tip for the maid, she will put in whatever you ask for!(for instance, I asked for “mucho agua” and got 6 bottles everyday!)

As for the honeymoon suite specifically, here are the additional items the room offered: suite-set up of 2 wicker chairs + mini table, much larger and better-decorated bathroom with luxurious walk-in double shower with ‘rain’ style of shower head, significantly larger terrace with 2 sun loungers (instead of plastic chairs) and private Jacuzzi/spa bath, super king-sized 4 poster bed (I think the regular rooms were about a king sized bed), mini kitchenette with sink (regular rooms just had the coffee maker on a shelf somewhere). All rooms offer the mini-fridge, TV with cable channels, telephone, walk-in closet with shelves, hanging rail, iron and luggage rack.

I know it’s common in a lot of hotels, but I didn’t like that the air conditioning would turn off when the terrace door was open. Our door was very heavy and sticky and a bit difficult to close. One night, our A/C stopped working completely, but a guy came instantly to fix it and after fiddling for a few minutes, it was fine.

PUBLIC SPACES
The Victoria is immacutely kept. The grounds are stunning and all the spaces are very, very clean. Every morning we’d see tons of employees sweeping and cleaning constantly. They really do keep a very high standard, so you won’t be disappointed.

The ‘main’ pool is a bit boring and was never very busy. The adults-only pool is much nicer and has a waterfall feature and private little pool attached to it (like a Jacuzzi but not hot). It’s very popular, so get your towels down early. The only drawback is it’s adjacent to the golf course and I actually got hit by a stray ball! I’m sure this rarely happens, so don’t let it put you off (only gave me a small bruise). The bar will keep you supplied with cocktails all day long and it's a very peaceful place to lay.

FOOD
The main dining room is your traditional all-inclusive hotel buffet. The food isn’t super-awesome cordon bleu, no, but it’s perfectly fine too. Some meals were better than others. For lunch/dinner, there is always some sort of roasted/cooked meat from the ‘carvery’ (ham, roast beef, baked fish, etc.). For lunch there was always hamburgers & hot dogs offered if you didn’t like the dishes served. The service provided during meals was very attentive and pleasant. We did use the pizzeria one night as a nice alternative (again, nothing special, but perfectly serviceable). The best food is at the á la carte restaurant which much be pre-booked by 3pm on the day. The ‘free’ food offered is absolutely delicious and presented with flair & those who want can purchase nicer dinners like steak and lobster. We didn’t pay an extra penny and still received immaculate service by the waiters. The “Tex-Mex” (not really…) restaurant on the beach is nice as well. They offered sandwiches, burgers, chips and tacos but are only open for lunch.

BEACH
The beach really is about 10 minutes away, but you will need to take the free shuttle the first time you go, as it can be hard to find if you don’t know where you are going. The hotel’s beach is private so no invasion by outsiders. The only “invasion” is the incessant beach vendors that sometimes come by every few minutes. Just pretend to sleep and they won’t generally bother you! Usually a simple no will make them go away, but be careful of the more persistent. Some do have some really good deals, so don’t be afraid to barter (we got a bracelet down from 500 pesos to 200 just by pretending to not have enough money). This might be a bit obvious, but the cigar sellers are NOT selling real Cohibas – nice cigars, just not authentic! There are lots of umbrellas if you need some shade and a hotel employee will put out loungers for you. There's also kayaking offered for free and other water sports for a price - the booth is on the Victoria's patch of beach, so it's convenient if you want to water-ski, windsurf, etc.

The sand is golden and soft and the water was very calm. The beach can get windy at times, but this never bothered us. Be really careful of the sun, as it’s a lot more intense than you might think! I grew up in a hot and sunny climate and still got really sunburned.

STAFF
Generally very friendly. Always say hi as you are passing and very quick with offering drinks/clearing plates/etc. Anytime we needed something, they were always prompt and courteous. Their English is generally good, so I don’t know what people complain about.

EXTRAS
There’s a little gift shop on the hotel premises that sells essentials like sunscreen and potato chips. The other little shop has daily newspapers and magazines. The prices are a tiny bit higher than the nearby shopping plaza, but not much more. There’s a small internet center that offers computers for 700 pesos per 30 minutes. I think there’s free Wifi in the lobby.

Entertainment is pretty mainstream and low-key. We rarely participated and weren’t really interested. The staff do try, but it’s a hard job as the Victoria is never very full and the type of people staying aren’t too interested in that sort of thing. We purposefully picked this hotel because it is peaceful…so if you want raucous entertainment, go somewhere else. We made our fun. Conveniently, if you upgrade to the junior or honeymoon suites, you get privileges at their sister hotel, the Gran Ventana. The GV is generally much livelier and so you can easily go there for your evening entertainment.

The weather actually wasn't as hot as I was expecting (90F, average), but the sun is INTENSE. It only rained one afternoon the week we stayed.

OVERALL
An absolutely exceptional hotel that provided a wonderful holiday. Like other reviewers have said, the Victoria is a quiet, adult-oriented hotel. I think being attached to a golf course keeps it that way. We never had anything to complain about and the staff work hard for you. We tipped where necessary (porter, maid and table-service in the á la carte restaurant) but received excellent service in EVERY part of the hotel. It’s conveniently located both near the airport (15 minute drive) and 5 minutes from its private beach section. Also, the Playa Dorada shopping plaza (with cash points, cinema, food, gifts, excursion-booking, etc.) is about 5-10 minutes away. We would go back to this hotel most definitely, the next time we are looking at a Caribbean holiday. Excellent value for money. All those booking with TC, our rep was on-site at least every other day and EXTREMELY helpful. For times he wasn’t around, we got our questions answered at hotel reception.

(P.S. If you upgrade, it’s definitely worth going to the Gran Ventana for time to time. We would’ve been perfectly happy had we not upgraded, but it was nice to have the chance to visit somewhere. The GV is much bigger and so the meals do offer a bit more selection & choice. Also, their pool is HUGE with a swim-up bar under a large canopy, so is useful when you want to swim but not get any sun.)

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions – I can’t praise the Victoria or Playa Dorada enough.

I can't say enough positive things about this lovely little resort. We have visited the DR many times and have stayed in many, many places on all the coasts and the Victoria was definitely one of our best experiences. Because it is small, the service is more personal and people seem to really care about how you feel. You are greeted warmly by everyone - tip or not - although I really encourage leaving a small tip: means a lot to them and little to us! The grounds are spotless! It has the feel of a more graceful age about it.

The food was good with enough variety that most people's taste should be accommodated. The beach is fine although the water is somewhat cloudy right in front of the hotel. Plenty of chairs and shade. But if you walk to the left a little ways, you come to some beautiful clear pockets where the reef comes in close and the swimming and even some beginners snorkeling is good.

We upgraded to a junior suite which gave us access to the Sister hotel , the Gran Ventana, which seems nice but is more your typical big hotel. You can eat in either if you upgrade.

This hotel is not action packed. If you have children who must be entertained to have a good time or teens, there are no organized activities for them. Seems to me though that a pool, a beach kayaking, para sailing, snorkeling etc would keep most reasonable youngsters happy. There is a Plaza within an easy walk with and Casinos and Discos nearby.

We would definitely return again.

This was my first time in the dominican republic and i have to say i had a fantastic time, i couldnt have asked for a better resort, if you want a relaxing holiday then for me this is the place to go. although there isn't a great deal to do in the playa dorado resort itself(hemminways is good but pretty relaxed place and coco bongo was a good night out ) you pretty much rely on what is provided in terms of enertainment at the resort, and at the Victoria golf and beach resort, the enetertainment was good, there was a different theme each night, from magic shows to a great michael jackson show and other dance shows, and the now infamous comedy show that the animation team put on! The animation team quite simply made our holiday great, they were all such fun and provided laughs a plenty all the time, if ya make a bit of time for them and get to know them they are all great guys.
As for the rest of the hotel it was good ,the rooms were big and cleaned every day although we had some confusion over getting fresh beach towels,everyday we got fresh room towels everyday ,and the most of the time the fidge was restocked.
I read some previous reports about bad security at the hotel we had no issues at all here in fact one day the we forgot to lock our safe and suitcases before we went out, the maid came and cleaned the room no one touched a thing.
the food was really good at all the restaurants although i would recommend getting to the buffet close to opening times as that is when the food is best in there.
the beach is good but victoria only has a small portion of the beach so could be quite busy in peak season
overall i would wholeheartedly recommend the victoria golf and beach resort great hotel great staff good food good times.
And just a last word for the animation team alex,eddie,he-man,jonny,winston, thank you for a great time, there is one night we all had that myself and my fiance will never forget thanks guys
mr nick and miss heidi!

was 1st visit to dominican and was not let down . .

the hotel was immaculate . . the staff were extremely helpful and happy . they never stopped smiling . . the entertainment staff were a riot not laughed so much ever . . cant wait to go back . . best holiday have ever had . . thankyou to everyone at the victoria x