Viva Wyndham Tangerine - San Felipe de Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 

My husband and I stayed at this resort last February, 2008. We were only there a couple of hours before we got on the phone with our travel agent asking to be moved to another hotel. I will say we've stayed at numerous all inclusive resorts previously, but none as bad as this place. We really liked the prior all inclusives. The food at the Viva was not even edible, and I am not a picky eater, hec I even like cafeteria and airline food. I believe in getting what you pay for and that is not what we experienced at the Viva Wyndham. I didn't write this review sooner because I wanted to wait until the "fight was over" with the Wyndham and we received the refund they told us we would when we checked out after one day of what was suppose to be a 8 night stay. Like all the other AI's in the Dominican they have this rule that you can only eat once at the ala carte restaurants. Of course, their website does not tell you this, whcih I find is very misleading and a gross misrepresentation. There was only one ala carte restaurant at this hotel which meant you were stuck eating the buffet the entire time, 3 meals a day for 8 nights/9 days. Although I was really hungry the food was so bad I hardly ate anything. To make matters worse, we only got 2 - 8 oz bottles of water in the room per day. If we wanted more water than that we were told we had to pay for it, which is not my idea of an AI plan. Considering there were 2 people staying in the room and you have to drink it and brush your teeth with it 2 times a day that does not leave you any water to drink. They told us we could go downt to the water coolers at the bar and fill up our bottles there. How ridiculous!! The staff were very rude and unfriendly which surprised me. I have stayed at other all inclusives and usually the staff are very friendly. I"m not one fo those people who treats the staff like peasants either and I'm fluent in Spanish after living in S. America for two years. Even speaking in Spanish to them they were very rude. They seemed bothered if you asked them for a drink. The front desk staff was also very rude at check-in. Our supposed ocean view room was facing the ocean but you couldn't see the ocean through the palm trees unless you bent down and peered your neck over, and then you could see a very tiny sliver. Again, misleading and not what we paid for at this hotel. Our room was near the show area and the one night we stayed there the show and music didn't wrap up until between 11:30 - 12:00 a.m. When you get up at 2:00 a.m. the night prior it makes for a long day. The only reason we stayed here is because the travel agent with whom we booked our vacation took their contract away from the Sun Village a week prior to our departure. Gee, it's no wonder this place was available on short notice..... We chose this place over the Gran Ventana because it supposedly had boogie boarding. The water is so busy with kite surfers that no one else was in the water because you'd risk being run over and killed, and we were told usually there are even more kite surfers and that it was a slow day. Also, just because there are waves does not make them good for boogie boarding. I took out a boogie board the next day prior to our departure and those are not boogie baording waves. The only nice thing about the hotel was this stray dog on the beach. He was very sweet and friendly. Would I return to this hotel? NO WAY! Would I return to the Dominican Republic. No. Before I went to the DR I heard many people say they didn't like it. I went with an open mind and thought those people were just picky. Frankly, Mexico could teach the DR a lot about tourism. Interestingly enough, almost everyone else we met at the airport and in the shuttle to the airport also said they would never return to the DR. I'm not sure why the place is still so popular. No photos to share because we got the hec out of dodge as soon as we could which was 22 hours after check in and we did not want any memories of the place. So, in short save yourselves and spend your money wisely rather than staying at this horrible place.

Myself and a friend stayed at the Wyndham Tangerine for 2 weeks in May. Before I get started, I want to warn all girls to stay away from the scuba diving instructor. Two girls that we became friends with had taken a scuba lesson and while ‘helping’ one of them he kept rubbing part of his anatomy against her then repeatedly trying to excuse himself. A few days later he called the other girl to his cubicle where he had exposed himself and was committing a lewd act. A few days after that he tried to fondle one of the girls hair while she was sunbathing, my friend yelled at him to stop and he turned verbally aggressive. We told one of the reps and wrote complaints on our feedback forms, but obviously we have no way of knowing how seriously they take the allegations. OK on with the review! Firstly, you need US$10 for a visa that you pay for on arrival, but you no longer need to pay to leave the country!! US$ can be used anywhere instead of Dominican Pesos and are preferred! PLUGS if from the UK you need the North American travel adaptors. There are no drink making facilities in the rooms so take a travel kettle and supplies! Also if you are a decaf person take a supply, they have never heard of it!! As people have said don’t be put off by the front of the hotel on arrival, the grounds are immaculate (apart from the front of our first room!) and very pretty! I was prepared for the possible problems with the accommodation based on other peoples reviews. Fortunately, we weren’t near the kitchens, nightclub, street or sewage smells and the air conditioning was fantastic. But our ‘delux’ room was still lacking…the wall behind the shower had damp and all the paint was peeling off, the fridge didn’t work, the bathroom door didn’t shut, we should have had a bath as well, but there wasn’t one, one of the doors to the showers was hanging off, the spindles at the front of the veranda were missing, the veranda looked onto drains, didn’t get any sunlight and people marched passed it using it as a shortcut, it was very dingy in the room (it was supposed to be seaview!). Oh and last but not least the TV didn’t work. My friend looked at the TV aerial and noticed the wires had fallen out so she took it apart and poked them back in!! Eventually we had loads of channels and a handful in English. We decided not to ask for a different room in case we got stuck with one of the other ones in an unfortunate location. The food seemed OK at first….3days into the holiday I got a very upset tummy and felt very ill. I used a whole box of Imodium which had no effect what-so-ever! I hoped it was a passing thing and most people we spoke to had had one or two days, or at worst 5, and were fine. Unfortunately, for me there was no let up! After 4 days I went to the onsite Doctor, there is a 24hr medical service which you have to pay for if you require a consultation. I didn’t require a consultation I just wanted something to stop me sprinting to the loo. I was sent to the chemist (just outside the resort across the road to the left) and was given the name of some tablets, cost $17. My friend went with me and that was an experience in itself, we were accosted unrelentingly by guys driving up on their scooters asking us to get on!!!! And we only had to go about 20meters! The advice is walk along the beach to go anywhere further than the chemist and at night get a taxi! There is also a small supermarket just before the chemist which is cheaper then the onsite rip off shop! I had a second trip to the doctor who prescribed more of the same which was useless. I didn’t start to feel better until the last two days of the holiday! The second week of the holiday we had storms in the afternoon/evening which is fine because it still doesn’t cool down that much, the problem was the electricity went off every day, sometimes for a short while and other times for much longer, which was quite a relief sometimes coz the constant blare of Dominican music by the pool goes off. We were told by an employee that the hotel has 3 aging generators and gradually they kept breaking down ‘till eventually all 3 go off at the same time. We lost all power in our room, no light, no shower and no electricity! We harassed guest services and reception and eventually we were told the whole block had lost power and they couldn’t get it back so we were moved, to a much nicer room (with bath!). The staff in general are quite friendly, but its extremely annoying being constantly harassed to join in activities a)when you aren’t feeling well and don’t want to move and b)I was on holiday to relax, I didn’t come to play games! Jose behind the bar insisted on speaking to my friend’s chest and making slimy comments. OK some good points. Watching the crazy kite surfers, although there was one guy that insisted on zooming up and down the waters edge terrorising any swimmers who dared to go in, fortunately the kite surfers only came out in the afternoon when the wind picked up! The sea was fantastic it was warm and exhilarating being pummelled by the waves, if only for a few days of the holiday. The beach sellers are a bit of a pain, but if you are forceful, say no and ignore they get the message. Some sensible person on here suggested taking a thermos mug with lid, it’s a great idea if you intend to stay on the beach we trekked to the bar, handed them over, had them filled and they stayed cold and sand free! Oh word of warning, stay off the beach at night little annoying bitey things jump up and munch your ankles and legs. Plus word spread round that Dominicans are a bit feisty and an English girl had been dancing with a local boy at one of the organised beach partys when his girlfriend appeared and attacked her. The grounds as I’ve said were first class. There is a little pond with about 5 turtles in it, one of the smaller ones is vicious and tries to attack the others, we named him Osama Bin Turtle. On one occasion he latched on to the tail of one of the larger ones, my friend nearly had to jump in and save him! The Italian restaurant was nicer than the buffet or the Mexican. Supposedly, you are only allowed to eat in the Mexican and Italian restaurants once per week. However, having made a few friends when we made a booking we made it for 4 or 6 as did the others and we managed to eat in there several times a week! Week two, while it was raining, we discovered that there was a poole table, table tennis, football table and internet facilities on the second floor of the main complex! The swimming pool has a 5 foot deep section a 3foot section and a shallow area blocked off for littlies it was also very clean (we witnessed it being cleaned and chlorinated) and very pleasant to cool off in. The Jacuzzi along side is not roasting hot, so it was nice to sit in it with a cool drink!