My husband and I just got married and went to the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon. We bought the Living Social deal. Immediately upon arrival at the Viva Wyndham Tangerine, we were greeted by our "concierge." He showed us around the property while we waited 20 minutes for our room to get ready. He told us we were VIP and showed us the "VIP area" which was a small area in the corner of the property with a wooden table and chairs. The VIP part was we got to use white, cheap cushions on the wooden chairs. Wow. He then said they had something special for us the next day. We would get free breakfast and lunch if we went to their other resort. Basically he was trying to push their sister property on us. We agreed to go at 8:00 am the next morning to get him to stop pushing it. We cancelled later on.
Next we were shown to our room. According to our living social voucher, we were supposed to have an ocean view room. That is not what we got. Our room overlooked the pool with no view of the ocean in sight. The room was extremely small. There were cracks all over the walls and the ceiling. The sheets and blankets were stained brown and yellow with holes all in them. The air conditioning unit was hanging out of the ceiling. There was a small 17 inch tube tv with fuzzy channels. The bathroom was extremely small. There was a stand up shower that was 3 feet by 3 feet.
We asked to switch rooms. They told us they could have one ready for us in 3 hours. While we waited, we went to the spa and got a massage. This was the only positive experience of the trip.
We then ate at the buffet. There were 2 restaurants on the property (1 Italian and 1 Mexican) but they only take day of reservations and they must be made before 3:00 pm. Since we arrived at 3:15, we couldn't make a reservation.
The buffet was well below standard. The only edible items were the pizza and the pasta station, which were bland and not much to them. There was a station where a chef was making beef kabobs. We watched him take the tongs sitting on the tray with the raw, uncooked meat and pick up a cooked kabob and serve it to a guest. This was our last straw.
The alcohol was a disappointment as well. There was only one beer served which was a light beer called El Presidente. It was watered down and not good. The wine wasn't any better. The white wine was very watered down and the red wine was very bitter tasting.
After an unsatisfactory meal, we were taken to our new room, which was exactly 2 rooms down from our old one. It was exactly the same except instead of a king bed we had 2 queen beds. There were no cracks on the walls and the sheets were not stained. We did have a slight view of the ocean, seen behind the pool. However, there were bugs crawling all over the wooden dresser by the TV and the white, sheer curtains covering the balcony door were brown and had holes in them.
Shortly after checking out our new room, we opened our door to find a maintenance man, who we had not called sitting by our door. He and a maid came into our room and went into the bathroom. They did not speak or understand English so they couldn't explain why they were there. The man took out tools and began fixing the door handle to the bathroom which apparently was jammed. The previous guests must have requested this fix.
That evening we went down to the front desk where we found a man guarding the front entrance with a shot gun. This was very alarming. Although he was there to protect us, it was terrifying to think that a shot gun and guard was needed at this resort. His presence confirms that the "resort" was in an unsafe area.
The next morning around 8:00 am , we were awakened by a loud pounding on our door. When we didn't answer someone unlocked our door and came in!! When we jumped out of bed, they were gone. I opened the door but did not see anyone there. There were no maids or maid carts around. We decided right then we were leaving.
We had to go to the front desk to purchase a card so we could use the computers in their computer center. We bought a card for one hour but when we opened it and entered the code, it said it was good for only 30 minutes. The code would not work on any of the computers. We then went back to the front desk and got a new card. Again, it was only for 30 minutes and not the 60 minutes we paid for. We were able to login on one computer but could not access the internet. The computers were very old and the computer center smelled badly, much like the other areas of the resort. We never got on the interne so the front desk reimbursed us but in pesos.
While dealing with this, my husband got cornered by the concierge from the day before. He hounded my husband as to why we did not go to the other property and tried to convince us to go. He was very pushy and unrelenting. We said we didn't want to go but he kept on.
The property as a whole was older and worn down. The buildings were cracked and needed repairs. The flowers and plants were very nice and welcoming. The pool was nice, although we didn't get to enjoy it. There was also a small jacuzzi that looked nice. The women at the front desk were very pleasant and tried to be accomodating. However, it's hard to be accomodating when the resort has so little to offer.
Our reservation was for 6 nights, but we stayed only 1 night. It was worth the extra money we paid to change our flight so we did not have to stay one more minute in that place. We do not recommend this resort to anyone.

My son (22) and I recently experienced a great weekend at the Wyndham in Cabarete.

There is plenty to do in the area, and being in an affordable, all inclusive resort, offering great excursion within the resort (making it trustworthy), we had a time like no other... zip lining at the Monkey Jungle, 27 Waterfalls, walking distance to restaurants, beach bars and more.

The staff becomes like family, always there to help.

What more can I say... we will return with more family and friends.

I'm an old friend of this hotel, recently I brought 2 friends with me. To sell some more friends of how much of a fun time they'll have. (So next time we'll go with even more people). They had such a great time, that they said they would wish to move out there for a year.

It's best not to be shy and to make friends with the animation staff so they could show you around town.

This time around I brought a hookah with me, they allowed it. The people of the hotel who run it are really cool. Especially Diego, who allows it.

Here's an idea, they should have some hookah around. A lot of people were asking me where I got it and next thing you know we had a circle of people hanging out with us. lol

I've been coming here since 2005, since I was 20. Like I said, make it YOUR trip. Don't expect a trip to come to you. You got to make it happen, bring over some liquor bottles, hookah, be the life of the party. Make friends and you'll have a blast.

The place is small compared to other resorts, but it's perfect that way. You interact with people more

Short story put, my friends recruited more friends to go back again. This time we'll be rolling with even more people.

Remember to hit up onnos and all the other beach bars Cabarete has to offer. Everybody knows each other there so it's safe. But like I said, ask one of the members of the animation staff to bring you the first time so you can get a feel.

I purchased this deal through Living Social vacation and it was just an ORDINARY experience.

We arrived at the airport and was immediately taken to our transportation company, Turinter, that was a plus. Check in time was 3:00 PM and we arrived at the hotel approximately 1:30 PM but we were allowed to have lunch while the concierge stowed our baggage until 3:00 PM.

The exterior facade is beautiful and clean, the grounds are beautifully and lovingly manicured to perfection. There is a turtle pond and two swimming pools. The hotel is located on the beach and we had a spectacular view and could hear the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

The buildings are three storied apartment styled structures arranged in a courtyard style with an elevator as well as stairs for access to the rooms.

Free WIFI was available in the several common areas which was a plus although internet access in the internet room was available for a fee.

The room we were in was moderately furnished and decorated in a Caribbean theme; We had a few hiccups, the TV was not working properly and the air conditioner leaked. I would also suggest that the hotel add a garbage can to the room, there was only one and that was in the bathroom.

The bathroom had beautiful salmon pink tiles on the bottom half and floor tan tiles on the top half. There was a circular shower stall and HALLELUJAH !! a bidette, who would have thought; I have never seen one in all my travels. The lighting in the bathroom and in the room in general was very dim, bathrooms definitely need bright lighting, especially over the sink. There was also very little vanity space to put your personal items.

What I HATED was that there was no designated smoking area so if you were allergic to smoke or just hated it you could spend the whole day moving to try avoid the smokers.

There was a buffet food dining room where food was served at designated times and outside of those hours pizza and hot dog were available. I must say the best food was the pizza which was consistently good. It was baked in a wood burning oven and baked on site, Excellent !!!. While we were there from Tuesday to Saturday the meals went from hohum to bad only improving on Friday. Presentation is everything was definitely not a watch word for the kitchen staff. I know it was an all inclusive but the quality of the food was very poor. What saved me was most days there was a different stewed bean dish prepared Dominican Style. The cook was definitely heavy handed with the salt and the watered down juices were heavily sugared. I ended up making my own limeade daily with the fresh limes. I was also disappointed at not being offered much traditional Dominican dishes.

The daily activities were interesting both by the pool side and the exercise classes. The gym was a small room sauna style ...real hot !! but had the basic machines. It was a little irritating to sit by the beach as vendors were allowed to ply their wares and was sometimes too persistent, thankfully they were not allowed to enter the complex.

Security was very tight especially at nights where the officers were armed. I felt very comfortable walking through the plant covered walkways at nights.

On a whole the staff was very friendly and accommodating.

There was no in house information about the hotel or the daily activities and was advised to watch channel 94. Not very helpful.

Overall, I think the facility was clean, staff accommodating and was a good deal for my money. I do think that they need to work on the quality and presentation of the food.