Great last minute getaway to Punta Cana

The 7-day aĺl inclusive stay at this resort was exactly what we were looking for and our agent perfectly arranged it all. The room was simple, clean and comfortable. The food at the buffet is much the same everyday and somewhat bland as not many seasonings are used but condiments are readily available to jazz it up a bit. The wait staff were fantastic as they met our needs and wants in every way. The à-la-carte restaurants offered good specialty menus and impeccable service. We never felt r [... read more]ushed nor neglected. Although it states formal/casual collared shirt, long pants and closed shoe for men at the à-la-cartes, the staff does not enforce it. The beach is clean; one of the nicest and safest we've ever been to. A few vendors (maybe 3 over the course of 7 days) did come up to us on the beach trying to sell their wares, but they moved on when we politely said 'no gracias'. Never once had a problem getting lounge chairs at the beach. Different story for the pool loungers though - they are taken up very early with towels or other items to claim them and often times are not in use. The check-in and check-out process went smoothly. My spouse was ill when we arrived at the resort around the noon hour. I approached reception and explained our situation. The young gentleman checked us in, made a few calls and had a concierge bring us and our luggage up to our suite immediately. No issues whatsoever. There is no free WiFi anywhere on this resort. We opted to have it during our stay, however, it is very expensive and not very reliable. Smoking is permitted EVERYWHERE on this resort. Unfortunately, due to health issues and allergies, we were very limited or not able to experience much of the nightly entertainment in the theatre, seldom enjoyed sharing beverages at the bars nor sitting in the lounge areas without being overwhelmed with cigarette and cigar smoke. The worse was at the Casino so we only attended there once for a maximum of 5 minutes. Sadly, we would could not return to this resort unless they can accommodate both smokers and non-smokers by restricting smoking to designated areas only like many other resorts in the Caribbean. Other than the smoking issues, we incredibly enjoyed our vacation and we are extremely thankful to our Trip Central Rep, Kevin Dupuis for recommending this resort and arranging everything for us in such short notice. Yes, we will call Kevin again when the travel bug hits.

Very nice resort

The hotel was a little dated. It needs some on going repair which would be more preventative. The front desk people pretend they don't know english until you wiggle american money around. We waited from 1:00 to past 4:00 for our room. They gave us an upgrade because of the screw up, but it shouldnt have happened in the first place in my mind. Other then the sign in nightmare we did have a great time !!! The gift shop was a complete scam. They had things marked up 3 - 4x (in usd) what w [... read more]e could buy them for at home. The excursions too were extremely expensive. So, just make sure you bring lots of money :)

Beach and Pool awesome

The beaches and pool awesome. Grounds were good but now comes the bad the food always cold and undercooked. Drinks watered down probably to around me 10 percent I wish we would have brought a hydrometer to test just out of curiosity. The staff not so good as I'm not a 20 year old woman with nice breasts. All the woman staff were professional

Excellent resort

Great place, very clean beautiful grounds and the beach is just as amazing, I would say even better than Varadero beaches. Really clean, wide and long. Pools are amazing, the main pool bar beach is more crowded, active, noisier with music. The other big pool (other side) is quiet, more family type, great pool bar on grounds. Lots of pergollas for shade, simply beautiful. A waterpark for kids is also a very nice attribute. My 3 dissapointments: 1) the 7:00 AM cleaning lady!! we didn't have "clea [... read more]n room" signs, had to request those, but would get stollen from our door?? 2) The wine, the white was drinkable but not the red was horrible, last, the beach pool bar, we have to stand in line (like in school), it's ok but only one waiter, would get long. Asides that, all was perfect.

Good resort with some needed improvements

Overall, we had a great week celebrating a 60th birthday! Bad: The check-in. Even though we had an infant and a 9 yr old with us, it took over 5 hours to get our room: We arrived at 2PM and asked to have our room side-by-side as we had reserved 2 rooms. We were told our rooms would be ready by 3:30 PM and this seemed reasonable. However, after 5 hours of waiting, we got rooms in the same building but on 2 different floors and one of the rooms had not yet been cleaned. Let's say we lost our [... read more] first day of vacation and started it with a sour taste. Rooms. Rooms are in much need of love. We had two bathrooms; in one the shower did not work and in the other, the bathroom. The beds are old and not very comfortable. But we are not the type to spend much time in our room so we enjoyed the good weather and the beach. Good: Service is amazing! Beach is absolutely breathtaking Food is very good Grounds are beautiful and well kept At the price we paid for Punta Cana, we would go back to this hotel.

A wonderful, amazing resort

I thought the resort had much to offer, there was a party area when I wanted to be entertained and then there was a quiet pool area were I could relax and enjoy myself. I thought the resort was big enough that you could walk around and enjoy the sites and the building and the pools areas and beach, the beach bar was close enough to get to.. Able to get into the restaurants and they had amazing food. I enjoyed the entertainment every night and it was something different each evening. My room was [... read more] wonderful with a fantastic ocean view, and I could enjoy looking from my balcony. I would go again and enjoy myself.

Great value for the money

this hotel has the best beach front in Punta Cana lots of areas to sit in the sun and shade with plenty of lounges. Pool had a goof vibe and kept everyone happy involved as many as possible. Bubble day was great. Restaurants were fine not spectacular, buffet was good some repeats. Had a great vacatin

Nice hotel

Very nice/clean/friendly! Food was good. Drinks good (however they don't have o.j. just tang??) so hope you don't want a screwdriver. Evening shows were sub par. Confusion with the staff getting us there. They took us to the wrong hotel and didn't know where our's was. Found out that it also happened to several other people. Overall I would give it an 8/10 for value.

Great place

This is our second stay here in the same year. The food was great the service was awesome. The beach is by far my favourite place. This time around our room was above the buffet which was a little loud with the dishes rattling at 5am but the view somewhat made up for it. Always a good time thank you occidental caribe see you again soon

Resort not great for kids

The resort was nice, great beach and kept clean. The service was good if tips were. The draw back for us was there really was no organized activities to keep children entertained. I selected this resort because there was lots of sports areas and a rock wall and game room. The rock wall was not managed the whole week and the game room was closed half the week for renovations

Better than expected !

Stayed @ the Barcelo Punta Cana from Oct22-29th My wife and I went there for a family wedding. We have been to Punta Cana many times and usually stay @ 5 star resorts.This resort was listed at 3-1/2 to 4 star so my exoectations were not high ! We were pleasantly surprised as the hotel turned out to be better than we expected.The rooms while on the small size are well kept with a very comfortable bed. The beach and pool areas were very good and the grounds beautiful and well kept. The food  [... read more]in the buffet was O.K. but a little on the bland side ( more spices required )abd sevice needed was sadly lacking. The a la carte restaurants were pretty good and had good meals at the French, Japanese & Italian retaurants. One complaint I had read about before going was that check in was very slow and that turned out to be true. They need to improve in that regard ! The service overall was O.K. and I would recommend trying to learn a couple of Spanish words, goes a long way to getting better service. Most of the staffs English is @ a minimum though we did meet some who were quite fluent. The hotel did an excellent job for the wedding day and a fun day was had by all as we danced under the stars on the beach after the ceremony & meal !! Wanted to mention that this resort is being taken over by the Occidental chain in December, so there was a lot of renovations being done on rooms/hotel. The noise bothered some people but you have to appreciate the improvements they are making. I would recommend this hotel for people not requiring 4-5 star treatment but a nice getaway !

Solid 3 star Hotel

Check in is a very slow process. Better at late arrivals. I would like to clarify the “Blocks” of the hotel. “Blocks” are sections, but all connected through 1 horseshoe shaped building. Wheelchair accessible. Although some elevators didn’t work, others did, So you can still get everywhere. Hotel has a great friendly staff. Very clean rooms and public washrooms throughout the resort. Our room was perfect, (Block 6/ 2nd floor) balcony facing the pool, pool bar and ocean,  [... read more]although others in our party weren’t so lucky. Some had mold in their room, some had broken shower heads, and some were placed on construction floors. Block 3 is above the buffet dining room, so quite noisy early mornings (6 am) preparing for breakfast. Food is ok, a little bland, but ok. Beef is quite tough! Stick to chicken, pork, and pasta. Breakfast was always amazing!!! Fantastic chocolate croissants, omelets, pancakes, French toast and fresh fruit. A la carte restaurants are not all opened daily, so try to go to the French, Japanese and Italian Restaurants. You are able to make your reservations daily. Reservation office opens at 7 am. Weekends the resort is opened to the locals, so it gets very busy! Try to stay away from The buffet on weekend dinners. Crazy busy!!! Drinks are not so great. House wine is absolutely AWFUL!!! Wine drinkers beware!!! You can purchase a decent bottle of wine ($40) No real juice other than cranberry juice. Orange, pineapple and fruit juices are a sort of powdered tang. Don’t expect to have yummy chill blended tropical drinks. They do serve Pina Coladas but from a pre-made mix slush machine. Cappuccinos are amazing!!! Very, very good!!! Pools are clean and well maintained. Doesn’t really have an adult pool, but the one without the swim up pool bar is quieter and more relaxing than the other. Beach is very nice with lots of lounge chairs available in the sun or the shade. We were here for a friend’s wedding. (54 guests) They did a fantastic job with all wedding preps, although most were at extra costs to the bride and groom. All in all, the resort is a good and solid 3 star. If you get a good deal on your trip, (around $1000) you will be happy, just don’t pay extra to upgrade because then you will be disappointed. Upgrades aren’t any better than regular. Some in our group paid almost ($1500.) and had the same as we did. But if you want a clean, friendly, and safe vacation at a reasonable price, then this is a great one. If you are looking for a 5 star, get pampered all week, white glove treatment, well, don’t come here.

Great resort

I found the resort very clean and well maintain.Service was very good from wait staff to house cleaning. they had lots of activities for every age. The beaches are the best I have see. Food was good not great but very good.

Great views!!

The staff was very friendly. The food was okkay. The views are amazing. Only sad part was the hotel was in the middle of renovations and change of owners and it was felt in service from the front desk and in the cleanliness of the rooms

Great vacation.

If we would have wi fi everytime as well, it would have been perfect. We've missed the communication with our friends from other resorts, other than that, it was a great vacation and we'll remember it.

Love love love!

This was my boyfriend and I first vacation...staying on a budget and trying to find somewhere nice all at the same time was difficult however we came across Barcelo PC. Amazing food, wonderful staff, clean room/resort and the beach was breathtaking...We had an amazing experience with the staff and the al carte restaurants. Definitely would return. Thank you Trip Central for finding us such an amazing package!

Great time

Resort was fantastic! One of the cleanest resorts I've been to. Beach was big and clean and there was something for everyone from sports to relaxing to a fantastic pool bar. The food was great as well with so many options! Only complaint was that the staff spoke very little English so there was sometimes a communication barrier. Other than that, no complaints!

Great resort

I loved the resort... Lots for everyone to do...casino, beach that goes for miles, parasailing, trapeze, rock climbing, pool.. Great food... People were very friendly...maids did a great job in the room and always added extra coffee and tools for us to use

Great value for the dollar

The beach is fantastic, soft sand clear water very little seaweed. The resort is kept clean, food was hit and miss until you find the good locations to eat. The premium alcohol is sometimes kept out of sight but just ask and you will receive. This is an excellent resort I would definitely return.

Loved this resort!

Cleanest beach on the strip. Multiple dining options for restaurants and buffets at every meal. Friendly/helful staff, I don't think I passed someone that didn't say hello. Consistent room service. I had a great time.