We recently stayed at this resort and had an amazing experience. Everything from start to finish exceeded our expectations.
The resort itself was beautiful, with great decor and a really relaxing, well thought out atmosphere. The vibe throughout the property was exactly what we were looking for, laid-back but still polished.
The beach was a highlight for us, clean, well maintained, and a perfect place to unwind. We also really enjoyed the food, with plenty of options and consistently good [... read more]quality across the board. We loved all the sit down food restaurants for all 3 meals of the day.
Overall, we were very happy with our stay and wouldn’t hesitate to come back. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a great getaway.
Resort is smaller than most. Making it easy to navigate and not much walking distance between venues. It's also older than most but is in fantastic shape. The grounds are well cared for. Our room was a fully renovated, "Premium Deluxe". Pools are great. The Beach is not. Although posted reserving lounge chairs is not permitted, you have to be at either by 8am to reserve your lounge chair or you could be out of luck to find a spot with any shade. The food/drink were definitely the star of the sho[... read more]w for the price point. Ala Cartes, Snack Bar, Buffets and Bars were all very good. The resort has a 'no smoking' policy anywhere on the property which we also appreciated. We would return to this resort without hesitation.
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Private -
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Catalonia Playa Maroma: Great resort
This is one of the best resorts we have been to regarding food and service. We opted for the Privilege upgrade which allowed us a-la-carte meals for all breakfasts, lunches (at BLoved restaurant) and dinners, and a room near the beach/pool/a-la-carte restaurants. I would definitely recommend this option. The wait service at BLoved is first class!
The beach is excellent. Nice soft sand and plenty of shade under the palm trees. No problem getting a lounger. Unfortunately, we were unable t[... read more]o swim in the ocean during the middle six days of our 10-day visit due to an early infestation of sargassum. The resort did their best to remove the seaweed (working all day removing dump trucks full of the stuff) but they have no control over Mother Nature. This resulted in the pool area being pretty busy but we were still able to get a lounger.
We had breakfast at the buffet (which is beside the main lobby) a few times and found the food to be quite good there too.
The resort is (essentially) located in the jungle which they have done a good job of preserving. Lots of wildlife such as coatis (which "own" the place), spider monkeys, etc. The animals don't bother you but don't leave any food in an unattended beach/pool bag or the coatis will help themselves.
We didn't attend any shows, so I can't comment on that. The tennis/pickle ball facility looked great, but I wasn't able to "hook up" with any players. It would be nice if the resort offered a "partner find" list.
Overall, a very nice resort which we would certainly return to.
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Catalonia Bavaro Resort: Relaxing Tropical Resort with Beautiful Grounds, Great Service, and Minor Drawbacks
Gorgeous, lush tropical grounds that are beautifully maintained, with plenty of shade and trees taller than the buildings.
Our renovated room had fully functioning A/C, two queen-size beds, and a garden view. It was conveniently located right next to both the beach and the pool. Housekeeping service was excellent throughout our stay.
The buffet could feel a bit repetitive, but the wide variety of options made it easy to switch things up daily. It was especially nice having a buffet close t[... read more]o the beach. The à la carte restaurants were good, and the service across the resort was consistently good. That said, the buffet could benefit from more staff, as tables weren’t always cleared promptly during busy times.
We didn’t try room service, so we can’t comment on that, but we really enjoyed the coffee shop.
The entertainment team did a great job, and the pool was clean and appeared quite new.
As for the beach, there is some seaweed in April, but staff clear it early each morning, so there’s very little during the day. Otherwise, the beach is clean and free of trash. The PURE Chill-Out Bar on the beach (reserved for Privileged guests) serves premium brands, and the drinks there were excellent.
Overall, the staff were friendly and helpful. We had a minor issue with the safe (our mistake), which was resolved quickly. The phone line in our room wasn’t working, but since we were in the lobby daily, it wasn’t a major inconvenience—we simply used our cell phone when needed. We also didn’t receive beach towels in our room as part of the Privileged package, but it was easy enough to get them from the towel kiosk.
The only downside is that the resort isn’t within walking distance of local shops, so you’re limited to what’s available on-site at resort prices.
That said, if we return to Punta Cana, we would likely choose this resort again.
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Moni -
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Catalonia Riviera Maya: Beautiful @
The Resort itself was breathtaking! Our room was perfect! Rm # 5024. Unfortunately there wasn't much of a beach area for walking, but the walk to the Marina and all it's attractions made up for it. First time at a resort where the food at the buffet was the same pretty much each day. Thankfully all was very tasty. Did notice however that it was more centered to family's than adult couples. Note: the Lobby Bar should really have more live entertainment as that's the only place to go afterwar[... read more]ds when everything is closed to mingle with people. Plus, bartenders at the lobby bar definitely have an attitude when it comes to the last half hour of closing. That was what we did not appreciate. Did not like the " lights out" feeling after 11:00pm. Not everyone wants to do the Disco.
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Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Great first resort!
First resort vacation for the two of us and we had a lovely time! Great location - close to the airport, but it felt tucked away. Grateful we went for the adult-only option, but also had access to the full resort. Beach was great with lots of beautiful trees, though it was sometimes tough to find a spot with so many people saving chairs. Staff were friendly & helpful, particularly Hansel who coordinated activities. Room was nice, and felt comfortable rather than a sterile grey/white copy of so[... read more]mething you could find anywhere. Food was fine, but not worth a return trip. And, when they said they had 'archery', they meant a single bow that we lined up to shoot a couple of times. Great to be able to kayak out on the ocean!
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Ivannka -
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Catalonia Royal Tulum: Disappointed
The nature surrounding the hotel is probably the only aspect that fully meets expectations. The property truly feels like a jungle: monkeys, coatis, capybaras, and squirrels freely move around the grounds. The walk to the pool and lobby feels like a stroll through a natural park, which is definitely one of the strongest points of the resort.
We stayed in a Privileged Club room in the “renovated” section. In reality, the renovation feels very basic and cosmetic, and it does not address some un[... read more]derlying issues. In our bathroom, there was visible mold on the mirror, weak water pressure in the shower, and an unpleasant sewage-like smell, which may be related to plumbing issues. For a hotel positioned at this level, this was disappointing.
Service, however, is largely driven by the staff, who genuinely try their best. Reception, beach service, and housekeeping teams work very well. Special mention goes to the reception staff and the main restaurant team. Room cleaning was also consistently good, and there are no complaints regarding the staff themselves.
At the same time, it felt like the hotel may be operating with a reduced number of employees, especially during the low season, which seems to affect overall efficiency and service flow.
The beach is another strong point — it is beautiful, clean, and seaweed is regularly removed, which keeps it in excellent condition.
The main drawback is the food. In our experience, it does not meet the standards of a higher-category resort and feels closer to a 3-star level. Breakfast lacks some expected premium items such as smoked salmon, and meat dishes and steaks were of low quality and not well prepared. After speaking with other guests, this impression appears to be quite common.
Overall, the hotel markets itself as a premium property, but in reality, it feels more like a mid-range resort. The nature and parts of the service are strong, but the room quality and food significantly lower the overall experience.
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Suzy Q -
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Catalonia Playa Maroma: Excellent resort
Very nice rooms excellent service.
Food was good & close to the beach.
Staff were courteous 4 speciality restaurants nice pool, little coffee bar with special drinks & deserts.Some nights entertainment in lobby. The shows were spectacular
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Private -
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Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Amazing Resort
We had a great holiday at the Catalonia Royal Bavaro. Had great food and a variety of food choice. The staff were always friendly and very helpful. The pools and beach were great. They did a great job cleaning the seaweed off the beach every morning
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Slava -
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Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Never Going Back
Our stay at Catalonia was… an experience. Let’s call it “character building.”
Check-in took a solid 50+ minutes, highlighted by one staff member that looked lost, that was on a never-ending radio call. Meanwhile, we just stood there… (there were 3 people in a line up)
The service was a mixed bag: most waiters stared like we personally ruined their day, but shoutout to the two absolute legends who actually smiled and helped us --- true MVPs.
The room had a strong “vintage humidity” vibe.[... read more] No ventilation, musty bedding, and even our clothes joined the scent club by day two. The toilet was backed up as we arrived (1am) - the plumber showed up the next day to fix it. The soaker tub stopper was leaking water so you couldn't fill up the tub with water. All could have been checked and fixed before our arrival.
Day one, we got an 8AM wake-up call (after arriving past midnight) from guest services, who then proceeded to WhatsApp-bomb us and eventually escort us *surprise!* to a sales pitch disguised as lunch. Nothing says “vacation” like being held hostage over a travelers club presentation.
The scenery? 50/50. Half beautiful, half “let’s go back to the room… oh wait.”
Would we come back? - Never.
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Sahar -
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Catalonia Yucatan: Amazing
We had a wonderful stay at this resort. Everything was excellent — the property was very clean, well-maintained, and beautifully organized. The staff were incredibly friendly, welcoming, and always helpful, which made our experience even more enjoyable. ?
The activities were especially great — very fun, well planned, and offered something for everyone. We really loved that part of the trip and it made our stay more exciting. ?
If there’s one area that could be improved, it would be the buf[... read more]fet. The food was good, but the options were quite repetitive and didn’t change much from day to day. A bit more variety would make the experience even better.
Overall, we had an amazing time and would definitely recommend this resort. ?✨
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Private -
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Catalonia Royal Tulum: Resort was pleasant but not amazing
Booked with Sunwing, operated by WestJet. Non-smoking resort.
Received emails from Sunwing, travel docs and QR code for transfer from Sunwing but check-in was done via the WestJet app. Easy. Sunwing also sends links to pay the entry fee but only a few days before. I like to have everything ready so I would have liked it to be sent sooner.
The Cancun airport is a mess. Took over an hour to get our luggage, they changed carousels on us without updating the boards, we knew from the murmurs occ[... read more]urring.
The hotel transfer was a disorganized mess. Waited in one huge line just to be told to wait in another smaller line. Finally one of the reps got us on a bus. Was very I organized. Total airport time - 3hours. We still had a 1.5hour ride to the hotel.
Hotel check-in was nice. Fresh juice, cold towel.
Hotel check-out was shady. Had to pay the environmental fee which they advised when we arrived but they did not provide change - even though I paid in pesos and had changed bills a few days before.
Staff are super friendly especially at the beach buffet.
Lots of wild life running around, across the paths, in the tress.
Room was on the 3rd floor so lots of steps and no elevator. Room was clean, lots of towels, including beach towels. Fridge packed with drinks and snacks. Bottles of water a plenty. Being in building 1, room was loud to traffic noise and can hear wild life from the door. Also looks a bit dated but not grungy or stuffy.
Pool was nice. Too warm on some days but clean. Activities ar the pool.
Beach was soft sand and clean. Lots of chairs available. Water was rough because it was windy that week but when it was not windy water was clearer and wavy. There was beach beverage service, they came by often. There was some sargassum but the hotel staff was constantly ensuring it was cleaned off the beach.
Food/restaurants. The food at the beach restaurant is good for both breakfast and dinner. It closes at 3pm and you have to make a reservation for one of the specialty restaurants for dinner. There are 6 of them but if you don’t like the food there is only the 24hr room service.
Entertainment was good. There is an information sheet in the lobby of your building. The list does not say if the event is taking place in the lobby or by the pool.
Bars are at the lobby and pool. The bar at the pool changes hours. Sometimes it closes at 9pm other times 2am but no listing as to when that is.
There are 6 buildings to total. The exclusive club members get building 6 which is by the beach. There are staff that ask often to join the Exclusive club and take part in an hour timeshare like discussion.
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Private -
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Catalonia Riviera Maya: Amazing resort!!
Loved our stay at the Catalonia Riviera Maya. March 2026. 2 adults and 2 older teens.
The family suite worked out well. Spacious enough for the 4 of us. The room was very clean and the housekeeping service was great. We had the Privileged package which gave us access to a smaller separate pool, a dedicated beach chair area and a dedicated bar. We spent most of our time at the Privileged pool but did use other areas of the resort for activities (volleyball etc ). Finding chairs at the pool was[... read more] never an issue and the practice of reserving chairs with towels didn’t have much of an impact as it was clearly posted not to do so. The food options were great. The buffet had a nice variety, lots of fresh fruit and veggies and regional dishes. I loved that it wasn’t centered around North American style fried foods. The A La Carte restaurants that we ate at were some of the best all inclusive A La Carte meals that we have ever had.
The drinks were top notch. All made to order in a blender, not from slush machines.
Being in the gated community of Puerto Aventuras made this better than the average all inclusive because we could leave the resort to walk around town and always felt safe doing so. The ability to walk 10 minutes and play a round of golf was a bonus. We rented a golf cart to explore the town which was fun.
I would recommend this as a family friendly place. Not big on night life but that suited us.
The shows were phenomenal. Very well done. Not too cheesy. Some very talented people in them.
We would return to this resort and highly recommended it.
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Magdalena -
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Catalonia Grand Costa Mujeres: Beautiful resort
Absolutely gorgeous suite we had! The entire resort is immaculate and service is wonderful. We enjoyed the amazing food, beach with plenty of beach chairs, excellent layout for access to everything just steps away. It was very relaxing, white sand and great weather.
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Sadie 6 -
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Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Excellent Resort !
We loved this resort .
very chill and relaxing , just what we wanted for our holiday .
We were lucky enough to book the duplex with our own small pool for the week , the room was comfortable , great bed and bathroom . Our cleaning staff were amazing and friendly . Beach was nice and cleaned every day , lots of palm trees and shade . Water was warm and shallow .Large pools were also great. Food was good , lot's of variety and all the staff in the restaurants made dining a pleasure . Nightly e[... read more]ntertainment was also excellent . The whole resort was super clean and the workers and gardeners were out maintaining the property every day .
Overall we loved our week there and would return . Also resort is only an 18 min. drive from the Airport which is a plus . Thanks to all the staff for an amazing , relaxing week !
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Catalonia Bavaro Resort: Beautiful Resort!
Just got back March 12, 2026.
We upgraded to privilege which is located close to the beach. Large hotel with lots of walking which was fine with us.
Here are my thoughts:
Location & Beach: the location is pretty good but a good bus ride away if you wanted to go to Saona Island which is close to La Rowana. The Hotel is close to Punta Cana Airport & it is located on a strip where there are beautiful beaches. The beach at this hotel is very good and it has a sand bar & coral reef that’s [... read more]in front of the hotel but behind the barriers however many ignored the barriers (ropes) and went beyond as you can stand up on the sand bar. Based on what I saw, the water was between knee to waist deep. That particular area had nice turquoise water which was beautiful to see.
Value (price vs quality) & Rooms: the value was good. The suite we had was big, quite nice, clean & located close to the pool and beach. Our suite Rm 718 had 2 showers, a toilet, bidet & 2 sinks which was convenient.The bed was comfy however the pillows were too low for me. Nice touch with the umbrella which we did use, bedroom slippers, safe & laundry bag. Maid service cleaned the rooms daily. There is a Casino on site which we did not use, a games room, kids area and a nightclub where we did go in once however the music was playing way too loud. You were given pool cards which were exchanged for pool towels located by the pool.
Food: I would say you get your money’s worth as there are many places there for food choices. Restaurants - Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Steakhouse (our favourite) & 2 buffet’s (main & by the pool). The buffet had a selection of various foods and it was pretty good, I expected worse. By the pool during the day there is bar-b-q meats with rice & potatoes and close to the kids area there is an area where you can have pizza. By the shopping centre there is a cafe/coffee shop where you can have your choice of tea, coffee, cappuccino and desserts. There is also the theatre where each night there is some event happening.
Services: I would say my biggest pet peeve was the service and I have experienced this in every resort I have stayed in the DR. If DR would place some focus on training some of their staff in learning to speak basic English I do believe that the service reviews would improve greatly. I would say 90% of the staff do not speak or understand English so it is quite frustrating as a guest & I am sure also to the workers. They do not understand what we are requesting or asking majority of the time and it comes across as rude or indifferent but in fact they really do not understand English. In addition, they could improve our impression by smiling a lot more, many do not smile or acknowledge you when you are trying to get their attention. I was impressed by 1 staff member at the service desk who also spoke good English. His name is Jose and I believe he may be a Supervisor as the person I was dealing with called him over and said this was his boss. He is young and wears spectacles. I had a complaint went to see him and he resolved the issue right away. He was calm, professional & even went an extra mile to compensate for the inconvenience by having a small bottle of rum delivered to my room which was impressive. Any activities by the pool area or whenever any staff member was speaking, it was always in Spanish. As a result, we English speaking guests did not know what was happening but tried to figure things out when we shouldn’t have to do that.
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Private -
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Catalonia Grand Costa Mujeres: Never disappoints - 4th visit
This was our fourth visit to the Catalonia, we can’t find better quality or value. The food is high-quality, smoked salmon in the morning, 5th avenue outdoor lunch, great à la cart restaurants for dinner.
A beautiful beach with very little sargasm, plenty of chairs, plenty of palm trees.
large beautiful room in building three, overlooking the pool. A beautiful terrace to enjoy a good book and a drink.
A wonderful entertainment staff offering yoga, Pilates, spinning at 10am. Salsa on the beac[... read more]h at 12 noon. Thank you Lucerno, Alen, Fabrizio.
Nightly shows in the theater, to wrap up a beautiful day.
A wonderful café that also offers Mexican chocolate, a real treat.
Most importantly, a very happy staff, which sets the tone for the entire resort.
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Gord T -
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Catalonia Riviera Maya: Fantastic vacation
Catalonia Riviera Maya was a wonderful spot for a vacation. The grounds were beautiful and well kept. The food in the buffet and a la cartes was great with lots of choices and was fresh and well prepared. The best feature of the resort is the compact size, everything is within easy walking distance. And the staff were friendly and attentive, any minor issues were addressed right away. Overall, a fantastic vacation spot!
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Kergall7 -
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Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Love the Catalonia in Punta Cana
The hotel is very nice. It’s clean and well kept. The staff is friendly and helpful. The beach is perfect. The water is calm and seaweed is cleaned daily. The food is decent and there’s lots of variety. The only downfall is there are not designated smoking areas so people walk around freely and smoke on the grounds, on room patios/balconies, around pools, bars and the beach. As a non smoker it’s very disruptive.
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Private -
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Catalonia Grand Costa Mujeres: Food allergy alert
The resort itself was nice and clean however, if you have any food allergies beware. My husband has a food allergy to mushrooms and even after informing both the hostess and server in 2 different restaurants on the resort he was still given dishes that contained mushrooms. We reported this to guest services who did nothing other than apologize. I told them that this was very serious and a report should be filed as this could potentially be a life threatening mistake but they didn't seem too c[... read more]oncerned. So beware if you are going to this resort and have food allergies.