Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe - All Inclusive

We stayed at the Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe for 8 days in March. The resort itself is beautiful and very clean. Much attention was paid to small details like table settings and decor. We stayed in a junior suite with a nice patio and ocean view. Every suite includes its own private outdoor hot tub, which was a nice touch. The beach was gorgeous, the water clear and warm. The sand soft and white. We found the service to be very hit or miss. For example, upon arrival our room wasn't ready, and there seemed to be a bit of a language barrier at the front desk. No one was able to tell us where to leave our luggage, find bathrooms or when to come back. When we did finally get the keys, no one showed us to our room, and we had to schlep our own luggage on the trek across the grounds. Only to find the cleaning crew still there. They were however extremely friendly and served us beer while we waited on the patio for them to finish. On the other hand, we made friends with some great bartenders who remembered our names and favorite drinks and took great care of us. Bring small bills for tipping, as getting change is often a challenge, and tips go a long way toward good service. We found the food to be less than stellar. Breakfast and lunch were buffet-only and not very high quality. Dinner included a selection of sit down restaurants, but the "reservation" system was strange and we often ended up eating at 10pm or being shut out all together and forced to go to the buffet. The food at the sit-down restaurants was better, but still very hit or miss with quality. We often found the menu descriptions (which to be fair, were offered in 4 languages) to be misleading or incorrect. We booked a snorkeling trip through the hotel, which was great. Just the two of us and a guide who dropped us off in a small boat. Well worth the $35 per person. The bottom line - if you're not a picky eater (and don't mind buffets) - the resort is well worth the money.

My family (me and my wife, 3-year old daughter, and mother-in-law) stayed in one of the family suites with 2 bedrooms. PROS: *Check-in was seamless and our room was ready on time. The 2 bedroom suite is perfect for families. We did suffer a slight bug issue initially due to the previous room occupants having left food out openly in the room, however, the hotel resolved the problem quickly. The gym facilities are great. *The pools and beaches are clean, the bars are well-staffed and friendly. The breakfast and lunch buffets are good and serve primarily traditional dominican cuisine. *The kid's Barcy waterpark was fun for my daughter and was full of children ages 2 to 10. Kid's also had a minidisco party at the theater every night at 8pm where they danced and exercised with clowns and dancers. *There was also a great adult nightlife. The theater holds 1300 people and runs 7 different singing and dancing performances at 10pm throughout the week - definitely the best performances in Punta Cana. The casino is ok and the dealers are good. The disco club opens at 11pm and is full by midnight. Latin music was played from 11pm to midnight with contemporary club music played after that until 3am. The sports bar is open 24 hours. There is always somewhere to get a drink or something to eat. Cons: *Dinner is a major disappointment. The dinner buffets are fine, just like breakfast and lunch, however the sitdown dinner restaurants were mediocre for the most part. In order to make a reservation (they are in fact needed), the complete dinner party must show up at 6pm (a reservation line will begin to grow) and the complete dinner party must be dressed appropriately for dinner (shoes, pants or dresses, shirts with collars -- absolutely no shorts, flip flops, or beachwear) at the time of making the reservation even though your reservation may not be until 9pm. If any one in your party is inappropritely dressed the entire party will be unable to make a reservation. This rule effectively cuts off your beach time at 5pm. Sometimes, at 6pm you are able to sit down right away for dinner but this is not reliable and most people would choose to eat later. Based on my experience, the restaurants should be ranked as follows: (1=Best, 6=Worst) 1. Spanish Restaurant (La Fuente) was very good 2. Mexican Restaurant (Mexico Lindo) was very good 3. French Restaurant (La Comedie) was average 4. Japanese Restaurant (Kyoto) was average 5. Steakhouse (unnamed) was below average 6. Italian Restaurant (La Dolce Vita) was awful The most popular restaurants are the French and Spanish which fill up first and have the longest rservation lines. *Service is spotty after they have taken your money up front as an all-inclusive. In my opinion, once the resort has your money, they aren't interested in solving your problems. Our next room neighbors checked out and left their alarm clock on snooze which beeped loudly for 12 hours keeping my daughter from being able to get to sleep. I complained in person to guest services 3 times but they didn't write the room number down and I was ignored. I had to force a maid to come to the room with the promise of a $5 tip to turn off the alarm. Suggestion: *Learn key spanish phrases so that you can order your food the way you like it, order your favorite drinks, or deal with guest services as the resort struggles to find enough english speaking employees. *Use bug spray or repellant. The mosquitoes feast on small children, especially in the hotel room while they are sleeping. I saw many infants and toddlers covered in bug bites. This is not a resort problem, but simply a geographic one as Punta Cana borders the jungle. *Tip bartenders $1 at the first drink and they will come to you first later on when the lines are long. *Claim your pool/beach chairs and lay out your towels and sunscreen before you go to breakfast, otherwise you won't be able to find chairs later. *Exchange your dirty beach towe...

Beautiful facility with a great beach. Room was very good, clean and updated, and the staff was cordial. This all inclusive had average food. There were 2 small problems. Check in was a nightmare. It took over an hour, and there must have been an overbooking, as many seemed upset. Also, they could do a better job in communicating the facilities they had. You were basically on your own to find them

The hotel accomodations were superb! The junior suite was awesome and the room service was excellent! The oceanfront views, access to drinks, friendliness of the staff was great!

THE ROOM AND SERVICE LIVED UP TO ALL EXPECTATIONS. EVERYTHING WAS CLEAN AND MODERN. THE FOOD AT THE BUFFET WAS ALWAYS WELL COOKED, FRESH AND PROVIDED MUCH VARIETY. THE FOOD AND SERVICE AT THE SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS IS ALL THAT MARRED THIS OTHERWISE PERFECT VACATION. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE OCEANFRONT ROOM AND ALL THE AMENITIES THAT GO WITH THE UPGRADE.

Enjoyed the beach, did the excursions, relaxed.

this was the best hotel from my very rich traveler experiance.food,beachs,pools,service.very nice and perfect place.only check in is problematic,but is some internet problems with the main barcelo in barcelona

check in was slow, most staff didnt speak english but was very nice and accomidating. Rooms were great and newly renovated.Golf courses were in good shape would definitly go back again.

We wanted to just relax beach side and enjoy our stay. The pool and beach were both lovely. However, the food was lacking overall. The only option for breakfast and lunch was buffet. The buffet was over crowded and not very good. Then at night we were told we would not need reservations, but we would show up to restaurants and we were turned away saying they were over booked. The nightly restaurants were terribly managed!

Great room, good food, hotel is two months old, some flaws in the hotel design, overall excellent