I’ve spent a lot of time in the Dominican Republic. Having friends that live in Casa de Campo in La Romana, I’ve grown to really love the place. That said, I decided to check out a dating site dedicated to connecting others with Dominicans. The site is called Dominican Cupid and it’s definitely one that you need to know about if you’re into this ethnicity. Here’s a rundown of everything that I learned about the network and why it might be the one for you.
My Review of Dominican Cupid
While some people are content to enter the local hookup pool in their backyard, there are others who’d prefer to look a little further abroad. This can be for any number of reasons, ranging from just wanting to spice up their love lives, to wanting to meet someone with similar cultural values.
Today, I’m going to be sharing what I know about DominicanCupid.com, a dating site dedicated to helping women from countries in the Dominican Republic meet men abroad. The website boasts over 400,000 members globally, which for such a specialized site is no small accomplishment. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s find out if Dominican Cupid has the romance you’re looking for!
Design & First Looks
When you first drop into Dominican Cupid, you’ll enjoy a clean, streamlined design. The site keeps things modern with a simple blue & white layout, with navigation links being obvious & easy to find.
These links all seem to work as intended, with no unwanted redirects occurring. There is quite a bit of advertising on the site, but that gets cleared up if you sign up for a membership.
Signup Process
Getting signed up on the site is quick & painless, requiring just a few minutes of time. You’ll enter info like your name, age, & location along with some contact info and a chosen password.
Following in the footsteps of popular dating apps like Tinder, Dominican Cupid also offers the ability to sync up with your Facebook page, making signup even easier.
My one beef with the site’s signup process is that it doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of identity verification, which tends to lead to a higher number of fake profiles. More on that later.
Profile Creation
If you’re looking at a paying member on Dominican Cupid, you’ll see a “verified badge” on their profile. While I’m certainly not judging those users who choose to keep a free profile, it’s often true that paying members tend to be a little more serious with their intentions.
Reaching Out
Something I felt important to point out is that, just like most other international dating sites out there, Dominican Cupid has its share of so-called “gold diggers.”
But that shouldn’t stop you from checking this site out. Even considering these sorts of people, there seems to be an abundance of real women looking for men living outside of the Dominican Republic. Don’t tap out.
Something I did appreciate was that users have the option to block other members if they’re not enjoying the interactions being had. This option can be found on any member profile, on the left-hand side, and gives users direct control over who’s interacting with them.
Who’s Online?
Taking a look at the numbers, it seems like a lot of the users on Dominican Cupid are based in either the United States, Germany, or the Dominican Republic. Most of these people tend to be native to their own countries. However, there’s a small percentage of people who are ex-pats & are looking to date someone from their country of birth, as well.
Female profiles on Dominican Cupid tend to fall between the ages of 25 to 35 (sometimes a little older), while men skew a bit older, landing between 35 to 50. What this makes me assume is that a decent amount of users here are younger women looking for older men. While not necessarily an issue, it seems like a fact worth pointing out.
Spam Profiles
There also seems to be a fair number of fake profiles on Dominican Cupid, but again, this is an issue shared by many other dating sites and shouldn’t make you shy away from giving this one its fair shake. The fakers are usually short on photos, and any pictures they do have tend to be sexually provocative. Read the bios, keep your eyes peeled, and you should be just fine.
Messaging
Here’s where the fine print comes into play, specifically with messaging. At first glance, it looks as if messaging paying members on Dominican Cupid is free. However, they never come out and say that messages are free, only that the ability to “contact” members is.
The truth is that unless you’ve got a gold or platinum membership, your only option for interacting with other users is by sending “hearts,” which is like a flirt or a poke. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but I can’t help but wish that they’d have been a bit more straightforward about what free users are capable of.
Pricing
If you’re just looking to start a profile, take a look at the possible partners you’re matching with, or reach out to paying members of the site, you can do this without spending a dime. However, the site offers two tiers of membership that open up some pretty important site options.
If you decide to go for Gold, you’ll get:
– Communication with all members, paying or not
– Live messenger chat
– Elimination of ads & spam
– Anonymous browsing
In addition to Gold, you can also go the extra mile & get a Platinum membership. The includes everything found under Gold, along with:
– Better profile search rankings
– Additional search functions
– Use of DC’s custom matching algorithms
– Free bi-lingual message translations
New users can choose from 1, 3, or 12 months of service depending on what they’re looking to get into. One month of Gold is $29.98, while 12 months of Platinum is $149.99, with discounts for larger plans.
These membership plans are billed as one lump sum, so be prepared to pay a high price for access if you decide to take the plunge.
Special Features
While not the most unique feature out there, Dominicancupid.com offers several chatrooms on their site. These are a great way to casually mingle with potential mates, especially considering the long-distance nature of things.
If you’re a paying member, the website offers its own translation service that they claim can allow “instantaneous translation” during live chats. With a lot of people on the site coming from completely different cultures & backgrounds, this is honestly a game-changer.
My Final Thoughts
While certainly not for everyone, Dominican Cupid offers a legitimate opportunity to find love outside of your home country. With multiple chat options and pricing that falls well within the realm of reasonable, there’s a lot of decent content here for users to explore.
In the future, I think the site would be wise to allow both men & women from the D.R. to participate, as it would almost immediately expand their userbase. Along with this, they could stand to update their security features.
At the end of the day, Dominicancupid.com provides a solid chance for finding international love. It’s definitely worth a shot if you’re looking for something more serious than a traditional hookup. However, if you’re like me and you are not looking to settle down, then this might not be the one. If you’re willing to travel a bit further south, then I might suggest checking out Costa Rica, specifically Jaco Beach for a weekend getaway. Plan a bachelor party or something there and kill two birds with one stone. Thank me later.
