JOIA Bavaro by Iberostar: Amazing Holidays

The resort was kept very clean . Staff were very friendly and always there to help with anything you wanted or needed. This was by far the best resort I have stayed in so far traveling south. Food was especially good no matter which restaurant you went to and serviced excellent as well. Most all the staff spoke good english.

Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Disappointing!

Easily 80% of the resort got sick--vomitting and diarhhea. The resort tried to blame it on the "canadians who brought it down" but people were sick the week before march break. Don't know if it was food prep or storage or the water or ice but some think it came from the buffet, some got sick after eating in restaurants. But it was bad. Eveyrone you spoke to had whole parties out for 1-2 days. Aside from that, don't get the family suite with the king bed unless you have little children. Our [... read more] two teenagers couldn't sleep on the pull out because the mattress was so thin the frame of the sofa was digging into their back. We got moved to another room with two doubles the second night but it was by the delivery road. Not great they had a bed to sleep in even though my husband and I were crowded. The hotel offered to move us closer to the beach so we thought, "why not"? But they they lost our luggage and brought someone else's to our room. It took several trips to the front desk before they found it. Frustrating because the switchborad doens't speak English and only select front desk staff speak English. We also found that hardly any servers spoke English and at one point we had to have 4 different people come to the table before someone could answer a simple question. With about 98% of the resort being English speaking guests the hotel should endeavour to teach their staff some of the basics of English. The website info was misleading because some of the activities and events were only for Ultimate Club members, which there seemed to be a big push to join. If you weren't an Ultimate Club member you could do the daily activities but things like the evening beach party were for specific people only. The nightly shows were ok. Same entertainers so it got a big boring after a couple nights. Because of the #of families with young kids the disco was empty and the entertainment in the plaza was poorly attended. The meals were mediocre except for the Japanese restaurant, which was amazing. The Jambalya on beach was also very good. The buffet was extensive but be prepared for kids running all over the place grabbing at everything. Breakfast buffet was good. If you want to get a beach/pool chair plan to be down by 6:30 to claim your spot, especially if you want shade. By 7 or 7:30 everything is gone. People turn in their towels for new ones, take the new ones to their rooms, and go down early to claim a spot. Have never had to do that before and it was crazy. Only our first room had robes and slippers. We never saw them in the other two rooms. The stocked bar is actually a stocked fridge with pop and water and it was hard to get water refills. The bathroom fans in all 3 rooms didn't work and two out of the three rooms had burnt out bulbs, which again, took several calls to the front desk to get replaced. The beach was nice and you could walk for miles. The line up at the beach bar is really long and they were inefficient. The pool bar had faster service and the fresh/healthy bar was really good for non-alcoholic. We heard from people at other hotels that no one got sick so I would say if you have your heart set on this area, choose another hotel. Also, be aware that this is the sunrise side of the island, not the sunset. And the waves were very high and strong so no resort had any water activities going. We did a catamaran tour for snorkelling and a sand bar but it wasn't great and there wasn't much to see. The coral reef was a let down and the sand bar wasn't the one we had friends go to but ours was more just shallow water off the shore. All in all that was a let down and was very unorganized and what should have been 4 hours took up our whole day. That was organized through our westjet rep. I wouldn't go back to this resort and wouldn't recommend it so if you decide to go you take your chances.

Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Not happy at all

The resort itself is beautiful, a nice setting but unfortunately quite neglected. The check in was horrible. I had paid for a family suite and they wanted to downgrade me. Then they ask were we wanted to stay and then gave us the complete opposite. The room was not prepared properly. we called and went to the front desk 3 times. WE finally got sheets for the children but no mattress. They offered to change the rooms but then decided there was nothing available. There was a constant high pitch [... read more] sound from the thermostat. The bathroom ceiling was leaking. They just came to wipe it but did not fix it. We tried to get a Japanese restaurant reservation, which was impossible. We booked a reservation for the Mediterranean but they cancelled it one hour before since they overbooked it. Then they promised us a beach supper, which they just changed to a mexican restaurent which was so noisy with a band that you had to scream. So, we also left there without eating. The people there were not friendly. The waterslides were partially closed and the ones open, were not the safest. We were looking to a nice family vacation but in all honesty, it was very disappointing.

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Beautiful Resort (at first Glance)

Grand Bahia Aquamarine is part of a massive resort complex divided by what you were willing to pay for your holiday. Each hotel has all the amenities you need and there is a very good tram that takes you to the beach or a’la cart restaurants. The grounds and buildings are immaculate. The rooms are dated but well maintained. Housekeeping staff are great during the week. Part time people on the weekends don’t pay as much attention to detail. There was never a concern with cleanliness although [... read more] I did take wipes and do the phone, remote, handles etc for my own piece of mind. The biggest weakness overall is the staff. Service in the buffet was inconsistent with the weekends almost non existent. There is very little enthusiasm for their position except for the lobby bar fellows who made every night fun. I had a Baileys mug for coffee as their cups are so short. It looked like a specialty resort mug so I believe it was taken to the kitchen. I started asking for help getting it back but after 5 days all I got was nods and smiles but no one did anything. My last day was ruined when a guest services person told me it was my fault the mug went missing because I didn’t keep it in the safe. Then he said since I didn’t see the girl take it so I probably made up the whole story. It spoiled my last day to be treated so rudely. Don’t take anything you can’t afford to lose. Safes are small, made for passports. Apparently anything not in the safe is fair game, That incident and the lack lustre staff means we won’t rush back but your experience may be better. It certainly has the potential to.

Catalonia Bavaro Resort: Very nice

The Resort was very clean. Food was good Service was good but had to call a couple of times to get our room cleaned. The only thing we didn’t like was the very very loud boom boom “noise”. Music coming from the Pearl beach public pool / Restaurant building. I am not sure if it was part of this resort but they would blast the so called Music from noon until 7 pm and one night until 1 am. You also can hear this noise on the beach. We were in Building 15. And I am sure all the buildings o [... read more]n this side could hear the noise. If we wanted to have nap in our room or the beach the Boom Boom was very annoying.

Dreams Cap Cana Resort and Spa: beautiful resort

Beautiful hotel, staff incredible, cleanliness 100%, good food. downside....... restaurants not all open. Hotel was only at 30% capacity, so to save costs, restaurants werent readily available most nights.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Good value but.....

We've now been to Barcelo Bavaro Beach all adults at least half a dozen times and have noticed there's still some catching up to do since COVID. Some of the rooms are getting tired with A/C problems, very heavy sliding doors to your balcony, no USB charging ports, limited electrical outlets but they are kept very clean. The pool is brilliant with easy access and is not very crowded except the same old problem of people reserving chairs early in the morning and then hustling off to the beach to  [... read more]reserve more chairs. The beach is wonderful with plenty of space so you're not crowded in. The food choices means everyone can find something they like however, the Dominican's for some reason like (or don't realize) near raw potatoes. They often offer roasted in various sauces but the potatoes just aren't cooked as we know it. And french fries? Same thing. Under-cooked, floppy and generally barely warm. There was always fresh cooked fish, roasted chicken, hammy's & dogs, pizza, pasta station, breakfast omelet station, crepe station etc. No-one goes hungry at this resort. Covid is no longer a going concern and only a few servers and cooks wore masks. One problem we had concerned my wife who is handicapped with MS. Although I did notify the resort prior that she could NOT climb into a bathtub fitted shower, we had to wait two days until their very limited (5 rooms out of ~600!) handicapped rooms became available. If you are handicapped and need a sit-in-the-shower, make sure you notify them well in advance. This concerns me and will undoubtedly become more and more an issue as the majority of the WORLD is now over 65. Help me and others if you can by noticing and advising the chains of their impending situation. As I told the manager, a non-handicapped person can use a handicapped room but it doesn't work the other way around. As long as you don't expect this 4-5 star resort to treat you like a seven star, I would and have recommended this resort to many of our friends.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Always a good stay

My husband and I have been to this resort 10 times and always have a great stay. He loves the golf and I enjoy the spa. The grounds are well kept, the rooms clean and the beach is amazing. The only complaint I have that has become more of an issue as time goes by is being able to get dinner reservations at a decent time. We tried to book our a la cartes they day we arrived for the week and had a difficult time getting anything before 8pm or anything being available at all. The buffet has a good  [... read more]variety but I did find that serving utensils were sometimes missing or people were using the same utensil for multiple dishes. Due to food allergies and sensitivity I started using my own utensils from the table. The staff work very hard to keep things running smoothly. This year we travelled during US spring break and will definitely make sure we do not travel during that time again.

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Great resort and golf course!

Close enough from Punta Cana airport. Booking for restaurants was a bit difficult. Checking in & out took long time juts like any other resorts… Golf checking in for early morning took extra long as some redundancies of process.

Occidental Punta Cana: Excellent Resport

The grounds, food, etc. were all very good. It was very difficult to communicate with staff due to lack of English. Even for recreation everything was only in Spanish. Having said that, the staff tried to understand, we google to translate and they were all so very friendly. As a diabetic, it was disappointing to see that they did not have any sharpes containers available in the main lobby washrooms. We had an amazing time overall.

Iberostar Selection Bavaro Suites: I would not stay at Iberostar again.

The beach, pool and grounds were all great and well maintained, but the rooms were disappointing and needed a lot of maintenance. Out of four rooms, two had ground floor patio doors that didn't lock. The cleanliness of the rooms was poor. Despite asking the maids each day to change the sheets they completely ignored this request and the floors were never swept which meant the sand you continually drag in from the beach even though you try not to accumulates on your floor and in your bed. One o [... read more]f our group actually took the sheets off the bed and bundled them up. Their sheets were changed but the maids were put out that they had to do this. The maids did change the towels but didn't clean the sink, which again accumulated sand through the week. Many of the ice and water machines around the property were broken. You are provided with water bottles to fill at the machines for filtered water, but I'm not sure the bottles are cleaned between guests which may be the cause of the stomach issues half of us had. Communication with staff was challenging at times which could be expected, but the process of trying to book one of the specialty restaurants should be made a bit easier. The flood was good and varied and the hostess of the main buffet was awesome and took care of our party of 12 very well. All in all, great beach but I would not stay at any Iberostar again.

Occidental Punta Cana: Beautiful resort

The resort itself is beautiful, well landscaped and clean. The rooms are clean and the minibar was stocked with water and pop (no beer for except for 1 day) the beds were comfortable and the air conditioning worked well in our room. There was a decent sized balcony with a patio table and chairs as well as a clothes drying rack. The pool bar(only 1) has a weird waterfall you have to walk under to get a drink so be prepared to try and cover your drink on the way out so recycled pool water doesn’ [... read more]t fall in it. The buffet was great, lots of options for everyone. We tried the steakhouse a la carte and was not impressed. It was a very long wait for service and the steak was over cooked. The Asian restaurant was amazing. The bar could use more drink options and the blended drinks were mostly melted since they don’t use blenders, just the machines that spin the liquid around to freeze. I would definitely avoid early March since we were greeted with about 100 American kids on spring break that took over the bar causing extremely long waits and liked to return to their rooms around 3/4am crashing and screaming and slamming doors. The beach is nice was very windy most of the week so we spent most of our time around the pool. If booking water excursion check the wind before booking we were driven about 20 minutes away to board a catamaran that essentially drove back and forth along the beach since the waves were too rough to cross so we didn’t get to do the snorkeling portion of the trip. There is some shopping nearby within walking distance and there are some vendors that will come and setup around the main grounds of the hotel. The vendors can be pushy and make sure to haggle with them to get a better price. All in all we enjoyed the resort but probably wouldn’t return.

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Great time

This was our first time in Bahia Principe Grand Bávaro! We were really surprised to see how beautiful this resort was. We liked our room, which was right by the pool and walking distance to the beach and to the lobby. Food was great, service was excellent, staff - very friendly and attentive. One thing about the beach ,- it was quite crowded, Beds were very close to each other and IT was a problem to find an umbrella or palapa. Otherwise everything was great, we’ll definitely come back

Barcelo Bavaro Palace: Great resort

Huge property, well maintained. Went during March break, so was very busy. Food was great, lots of options. Pool, bars, beach, everything was fantastic. Staff were very helpful. Rooms were good, but layout a bit strange. Open washroom/shower might take a bit of getting used to. Hot tub on patio was a great treat.

Melia Punta Cana Beach Wellness Resort Adults: Loved Melia Punta Cana❤️

We loved this resort! The Level is a must! The resort is adult only but The Level upgrade comes with your own concierge/butler who helps make life simple for you. We loved Jose Minaya❤️ The rooftop patio for pre dinner cocktails was an every night thing with premium liquors. They do need to step up the peanuts and olives but on the 2nd floor you can catch great snacks like cheeses, salami and great guacamole. The Level restaurant Quimera was excellent for dinner and breakfast. Lunches we hi [... read more]t the buffet and had fresh grilled fish, great burgers or fresh made stirfry. The usual challenge of trying to get a shaded hut was our biggest challenge with us having to snag them super early. The resort is immaculate and the grounds are stunning. We stayed in Villa 8 which is lovely and very close to pool and the Quimera building. Entertainment was okay. We did walk next door and played in the small casino and the vibe was slightly more lively with all the families around. Ocean was nice but not on sunset side of island. My biggest complaint will come from the 3 nights of “unexplained” smelly smoke that filled our area of the island (not just our resort). No answers to what it was but 1 night it was horrible. Overall, we would return but will try the other side of the island next time for more Caribbean waters and sunsets.

Melia Caribe Beach Resort: Great Resort!

We asked all rooms to be close to each other and they upgraded us for FREE to Falcons Resort by Melia. The place was just over the top!! Every room is gorgeous suite with more than enough room for everyone. It was amazing!

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Enjoyed our stay

Rooms are very dated but clean. We had key issues all week, eventually decided the issue was the door mechanism not the keys after many recoded keys would not work. This was incredibly annoying as the front desk is a very busy place most of day. Room was beside a service road, had no view, and was noisy with trucks all night long. Had already requested a room change which was a challenge and time consuming so we lived with the noise and the second room was very close to beach which was what we w [... read more]anted. The resort is large and there is lots to do, the trolley system is very good and you never had to wait long for a ride. Entertainment was actually quite decent and performers were often practicing through the day. Lots of little shops and things to do in the Village area. The food was very good in the buffet and the Beach House. The A la cartes were ok, tried the Italian, the Grill and the Teppanyaki. Can’t say enough of the staff, everyone was excellent and did all they could to make your stay the best it could be. I would try this resort again but would be very specific about room selection now knowing the lay out.

Serenade Punta Cana Beach and Spa Resort: Amazing week away!

We loved our week long stay at the Seranade. The resort grounds are beautiful, well kept and clean. The rooms are comfortable and spacious. The swim up suite was so awesome, glad we booked it. The food is delicious. The buffet has a huge variety for all, the al a cartes we’re great. Our favourites were the Cut, the Teppanyaki and the Sushi bar. Wonderful service and staff. An adults only should be opened by June 2023. Looking forward to returning some day.

Caribe Deluxe Princess: Great family resort!

Nicely updated resort that is modern. Great family getaway. Would highly recommend. The highlights: Grounds - very beautiful and well maintained. Enjoyed the walks and seeing variety of wildlife roaming the property. Pools - 3 big pools, each with its own characteristics. The kids pool and the water park with slides was a nice bonus for those with young kids. Beach - deep with lots of seating and shady options. Lots of sandy areas to play volleyball, throw a Frisbee or kick a ball ar [... read more]ound. Room - upgraded to the caribe deluxe suite. We had a 3rd floor room, great view of the pool and a little of the ocean. Extras - enjoyed the coffee and ice cream shops (included). Shutout to Dania, Emilio!! They helped us out with a large group for lunch and dinners. Great service, smile and attitude! Food was good. Lots of options with a variety of fresh salads, fruits. They kept hot dishes coming out regularly. Tried a few restaurants and they were good as well. Just OK or Dislikes: -Sunwing! airline delays, poor communication. -Sports bar had some optional $ attractions like a small bowling alley and video arcade. Not a big fan with these type of extra costs. -Nighttime entertainment was just okay. -Some seaweed although this occurred after a storm. This is outside the hotels control; and they do make an effort to clean up. -Most of the staff don't speak much English.

Ocean Blue and Sand: Amazing resort

I came with my family of 8 pepple of various ages. This resort was well designed when built. There is town square where restaurants, hotel lobby, bowling, coffee bar, ice cream bar, entertainment area was all located. There was 10 buildings, 5 on each side on the resort heading towards the beach. Two huge beautiful pools in the middle. All was easy access. There was carts to drive you in case . The food was amazing. Entertainment crew worked very very hard. The people working on this resort we [... read more]re exceptionally friendly. The beach was very nice, I saw they were trying very hard to restore it from the hurricanes. We enjoyed ourselves there also. The only complaint I have is getting chairs at the pool. People would put towels on the chairs with umbrellas, to reserve the night before. Frustrating, when there are signs all over stating No Reserving. I would go back to this resort and would recommend it highly.