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Dominican Republic Hotel, Resort & Villa
VIVA DOMINICUS BEACH RESORT 01/21/2003
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
Club Viva Dominicus BEACH- Bayahibe Bill Frazier WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS
Jan. 2003
The following is an update by Bill
I just returned from vacationing at the Viva Dominicus Beach Resort located in Bayahibe, La romana Dominican Republic and as I wrote in my April 2002 review, It just keeps getting better. This being our third visit to Viva Dominicus. My wife and I arrived on a flight into Santo Domingo International Airport on Sunday Jan 5, 2003 from Boston . Our flight was one hour late arriving and we were concerned that we would miss our transportation, which was to be provided by Rafael Silva from RS <http://www.taxirs.homestead.com/>. Our concerns were quickly dismissed as soon as we went outside of the customs area and was greeted by Raphael Silva and his cousin from TAXISRS , both wearing big smiles and holding up a card up our name on it. What a relief! Raphael provides us with dependable safe transportation every time we vacation in the D.R. The cost from Santo Domingo Airport one way to the Viva Dominicus Beach Resort cost us $80. And that is the total price for the taxi no matter whether we had one passenger or four its still $80. Each way. Along the ride we noticed a few car rental places and couldn't help wonder what tourist would even consider driving on their own vehicle. Not that it is unsafe but when we saw how many motorbikes and scooters drive the streets, some with five people on board, all driving in different directions on both sides of the road we were thankful we hired a taxi. We arrived at the Viva an hour and forty five minutes later and were greeted by Barbara Gugligh from Guest services who spoke English very well and did an exceptional job in welcoming us to the Viva.. Shortly after checking in we were given an ice cold welcome punch cocktail and escorted to our room. The resort was full when we arrived so the place was jumping. We arrived at four thirty PM, which is the time the daily afternoon meringue lessons st! art at the plaza The music made us feel like joining in, but first things first , we had to settle in to our room and meringue later. The weather was great during our stay mostly sunny in the mid 80's with an occasional late night shower to keep green the tropical vegetation palm and coconut trees. One look at the beautiful beach and you will know why they call this the Viva Beach Resort.we enjoyed the beach from morning to night. Each day the beach was enjoyed by an assortment of familys including children, parents, grandparents, teen agers, young single adults and married couples all enjoying the warm water, fine sandy white beach and daily beach activities. Children 4 to 12 stay and eat for free, so there were quite a few families. The food at the buffet was the best of all this trip , with daily fish dishes of poached grouper sea bass and even an eighteen inch diameter piece of fresh swordfish. A Daily pasta station served el dante pasta with marinara or alfredo, and your choice of add ins to the sauce/gravy. We also enjoyed some of the best fresh baked breads at the buffet that I have ever tried Also offered were specially prepared roasted suckling pig, lamb chops, and roast beef, Vegetables including fresh broccoli, carrots, squash, potatoes a large salad assortment and an endless supply of deserts including ice cream. You wont be disappointed by the buffet. We also ate dinners at the Mexican restaurant, Italian restaurant, Oriental restaurant and at the Grill restaurant. Our favorite was the buffet which was open daily for breakfast and lunch as well as dinner which was served from 7pm till 10pm . Our late night snacks were at the Pizza restaurant where there were always three different types of pizza. This vacation we decided to try a few of the new daily excursions to the area, which we booked at the guest services desk in the resort. The first was a trip by horseback up to the source of the resort areas fresh water supply and to visit a cenote, (cave with crystal clear water ) Our horse ride be! gan just a short ways outside the front gates of the Viva at a stable named El Coral. We rode , trotted and galloped for about an hour along the ocean thru the fishing village of bayahibe and up into the countryside for 5 or 6 miles where we came across a small fenced in pumping station. A single 12 inch above the ground blue water pipe extended out of the pump station which led up to the source. I was told that this was where the water for the several resorts originated , from deep underground fresh water rivers . Pumped up into the pipe and carried away to a water tank for use by the resorts. The water is not filtered which is why you are told not to drink the tap water and to use the bottled water provided by the resorts. Just 5 minutes from this area was an underground cave which led down about 60 feet to a cenote where we cooled off with a swim in the crystal clear water. We then proceeded to ride back to the coral, 1 hour. This was a very interesting and different excursion that both my wife and I enjoyed. The second new excursion that we took was the speedboat excursion which were run out of Bayahibe. The speedboat rental company picked us up at the resort beach in a 20 foot taxi speed boat and brought us to the starting area in bayahibe where we were instructed and assigned our speedboats. These were 2 seater boats with 30 horsepower honda motors. Typical to the speedboats used on the jungle excursion in Cancun. We opened the throttle and sped away out along the coast of the national park out to a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. We swam and snorkeled there for 30 minutes and then continued the trip by cruising thru the mangroves before speeding our way back to Bayahibe up over and thru the waves. Lots of fun! My only suggestion to the speedboat co. manager was to bring along a boat ladder to help get back into the boats. The only other excursion that we went on was the sunset cruise aboard a catamaran. This is a trip we have done before and really enloy. This year they changed to a smaller ca! tamaran instead of the wider tri maran that we went on last April. We still danced drank rum and enjoyed the red sunset very much. Our nights activities after involved Dinner started at the pool Plaza area where music was played by a D.J. before the evening show started. Lots of people enjoyed dancing during this time along with the D.J. This stopped nightly at 9:45pm when the show began. We thought it would be an improvement to the resort if they continued the D.J. music for the people that did not want to attend the evening show. On nights that we were not interested in attending the show we usually strolled over to the Viva Dominicus Palace for a change of scenery. They didn't have entertainment at the Palace Bar . Perhaps this would be a good place to provide a D.J. during the one hour shows presented at the Beach Resort. This would not interfere with the egos of the show entertainers and would be a pleasant added activity. Since my last review I have received many inquiries regarding safety in the Dominican Republic Most asked about the proximity of the Viva to Hati and I assure them that Hati was another country seperated from the D.R.and far away. I have never had a problem or felt unsafe on any of my visits to the D.R My wife and I as well as my children have all felt the same . The only caution that I would advise is to travel as you would in your own communities. When you travel to cities in your own countries , there are areas that you don't visit because of safety. The same is true with the D.R. This is why we enjoy the Viva beach Resort in the small fishing area of Bayahibe. In ending I would like to extend my gratitude and Sincere appreciation to Mr. Marcello Cutri , Angie Diaz , and Barbara Gugligh of the Viva Resorts in Bayahibe for making our vacation enjoyable in every way. Thank You.
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APRIL 2002 REVIEW
This was my second vacation at the viva dominicus beach resort in bayahebi in the dominican republic. each time gets better!my wife and i flew from boston thru newark new jersey to santo domingo on april 9.2002. we were greeted by raphael from taxies are us <http://www.geocities.com/rasilm/My_page> (our pre arranged transportation) who greeted us with a sign saying"bill frazier" and a warm smile. raphael spoke very good english and communicated well with us during the ride from santo domingo airport to the viva dominicus.it was an an hour and a half ride but it seemed much shorter especially since we were sightseeing along the way. we even stopped for to wait for a 40 car freight train t0 pass in front of us and each car was brimming full to the rim with sugar cane on its way to the processing factory. interesting. raphael dropped us off at the resort and told us he would call us the day before we were to be picked up for the return trip. he did this and was prompt and courteous. i would recommend his service to anyone who asked. we were pleasantly greeted at the reception desk at the viva dominicus and promptly given our room keys , room safe lock, towel cards, a brief introduction to the resort map and led to our bungalow by the porter . the resort has an international buffet which served us great food at all meals . breakfast had all kinds of egg omlets, or fried eggs anyway you wanted, as well as poached and scrambled. several types of german sausage, bacon, ham, a variety of delecious breads cheeses, fruits and cereals. at lunch there also was a good variety of fresh meats, and fish, and vegetables. my favorite was the poached salmon that they served daily. the salmon was about eighteen inches long and was presented on a tray along with tongs to pull off tender and moist chunks of fillet. it was excellent! at dinners you have your choice of buffet or any one of the four al la carte restaurants. mexican, italian, grill,and japanese. plus they had a pizza restaurant that se! rved an unbelievable good pizza up until 2am. being from boston , we have eaten pizza from bostons famous italian north end pizzerias , and the viva pizza was just as tasty. which didn't surprise me after eating their breads and pasta sauce (gravy) at the buffet. in order to eat in the al a carte restaurants reservations are required. which you must make at 8am up until 10am each day at the guest services desk. remember that you must get there early. the restaurants have limited seatings and fill up fast.. ( this was never a problem for us) we ate at all the restaurants. our favorites were mexican, japanese, italian, in that order. the grill resteraunt was not on our favorites list and we would pass on it next time. every day was full of activities at the beach and by the pool for all who wanted to participate. or just watch. water arobics in the ocean, games on the beach,or merengue lessons by the pool. we enjoyed the merengue lessons twice daily. as well as the lively music at the pool area/ bar all day. each night there were shows in the amphitheater which were a blend of dance ,music and incredibly talented performers who also worked as the resort staff during the day. the resort has its guest wear wrist bands which also indicate your language. this was good because most of the guests are either italian, german, french or spanish speaking. so when we wore our english speaking wristbands (pink) the resort staff went out of their way to speak with you at every chance. this made a more friendly atmosphere which we appreciated. plus at lunch we were joined by a young man named "lee" who was part of the resort staff . lee was from england and during lunch he told us about how he came to the viva dominicus and was engaged to one of the staff dancers. lee told us he was an entertainer also and invited us to the show next door at the dominicus palace lounge area. we mad3e it a point to see his short singing performance and was pleasantly surprised by his talent and singing ability. he had everyone up dancing! when he sang and the guests loved him! all in english. too bad he was only alowed to play a couple of short sets. i think that if the resort did more of this type of entertainment there would be more usa guests at this resort. the resort has its own excursions which you can book at the guest services desk. like boat trips to the islands of catalina or saona. or 4 wheel atv trips thru mud and water. ( guys love it! ) our favorite was the sunset cruise on a 66 foot catamaran sailboat. complete with videos, dancing and rum. and in my case a beer water and rum shower. since it was my birthday i got the full treatment. they gave me a bottle of dominican rum to take home too. lol the captain and his mate (and i mean mate literally) like wife, ran the whole excursion.(including my birthday gift) they have ran charters thruoput the carribean and told us that the dominican people are the best they have worked with. ( most friendly) this is a must do trip! you wont regret it. the sunset was spectacular aboard the sailboat. the beach at the viva dominicus is one of the best beaches in the carribean. powdery white sand, blue turquise water, calm waters that you can swim in and be able to walk out a good distance in . plus,if you're a people watcher,there are plenty of people to entertain you! all sexes, sizes, nationalities, ages and shapes. ( i am a beach person. ) we really enjoyed our stay at viva dominicus and gladly recommend the viva dominicus. if you go please ask for lee to entertain more often! he is great!my gratitude to yokasta, the reservations manager at the viva dominicus beach for introducing us to the resort three years ago and who again did an outstanding job arranging for our reservation requests. which i will write more about in an upcoming editorial of conde naste.
Bill Frazier
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