Barcelo Bavaro Palace

By • A great vacation

Overall Rating: 10   Location [10] • Room [10] • Service [10] • Value [10]

I really loved the resort.

The check in was pretty fast. And the place was always clean. The location was beautiful, with clear beaches and lots of vegetation. The mosquitos were really not a problem until the last two days, because there was alaways a nice breeze. And even yet, they were mostly just fruit flies.

They pool is great, and if you go with a family the banana boats are always fun. They also give you the option of going on various excrusions.

As for the food, in my opinion it was great. The spanish restaurant was nice, and so was the seafood one too. The mexican one was also good but there is always a line to get in. If you are at the palace, you have acess to all 5 resorts. And all of their restaurants, bars, ect.
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By All-Caribbean User from Weehawken, NJ • Don't waste your money here!

Overall Rating: 4   Location [6] • Room [6] • Service [2] • Value [4]

My husband & I travel to the Caribbean at least once a year. This was by far the worst vacation we ever had! We have never experienced such rude, inept, slow service in our lives! The staff at not just the Palace, but all Barcelo resorts in Punta Cana went out of their way to make us feel totally unwelcome and were simply down-right rude! This, despite the fact that we continuosly tipped, smiled, and attempted to make pleasant conversation. One evening at dinner, I attempted to pour my own water, so as not to disturb the waitress. She came running over to me, yelling in spanish while grabbing the bottle from my hand. Then she said something to the porter, including the words "las animales" in her tirade! I responded politely that I hope she wasn't calling us animals. Her reply was that she was calling the porter an animal. You figure it out! We also noticed an obvious different attitude toward the Spanish-speaking tourists. The food was awful! My husband was sick to his stomach one day after lunch. Thank God for the $8.00 U.S. bag of potato chips! On a more positive note, the beach & ocean was gorgeous and the pool was nice too, though not much shade is provided on the beach and no shade at all at the pool. It was a real disappointing vacation considering the price we paid!
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By jjrwgarcia from Miramar, Florida USA • Great Family Vacation

Overall Rating: 10   Location [10] • Room [10] • Service [8] • Value [10]

The palace was wonderful. The staff was super friendly. Most spoke English but the majority only spoke Spanish which is to be expected in a Spanish Speaking Country. We made our complete resservations including air and transfer with MK Tours. We left Miami on time on a Falcon Air flight at 8:00 AM on June 11th, 2005. We were served complete breakfast on board. We arrived two hours later and were greeting by two ladies dressed in traditional Dominican attire. They possed for a picture with us. (This picture is taken of everyone arriving at the Punta Cana Airport and sold to you at the airport on your departure date for $7 USD.) Our next step was to purchase a $10 Tourist Card per traveler. Then we picked up our suit cases and proceded to the MK TOUR booth where we were directed to the MK Tour A/C bus that tooks us for a 20 minute ride to our hotel. When we arrived to the PALACE our suit cases were unloaded and we were directed to the main lobby where we recieved our wrist bands which identified us as PALACE guest. It was about noon and our rooms were not going to be ready until 2:30. We then went to the buffet to eat lunch. After luch we changed into our bathing suits we had in our travel on and enjoyed the pool until our rooms were ready. During our week stay we ate at every possible resturant. We learned that the food in the buffet is the same as in the sit down resturant and there is not wait time. We travel with 14 people including four children. The kids seemed to fall asleep before eating when we ate at the sit down places for dinner. After 2 days we began eating dinner at the buffet and trying the different resturants for lunch. The food was great! My only wish is that the pizza take out was in all of the hotels. We had to go to the Beach Hotel to get the take awat pizza. It was yummy, but we had to leave the PALACE to get it. Everything was super clean throughout the resort (sort of like Disney) I loved the fact you could go to the grill sttion at the buffet and get your meats, poultry and fish cooked to order. Tip: Bring lots of one dollar bills for tipping. Bring sun lotions and inflateables from home they cost a lot in the hotel. Verizon wirless cellphones work. You can shop for gifts at the little flea market located by the Pina Resturant, but haggle. Take 75% off any price they give you!
As far as a good value for your money this is. The total cost of airfare, transfers, and hotel stay for two children and two adults was $3800.00 including taxes and tips. Also if you go in the summertime with MK Tours you get invited to a concert at he convention center whci normally cost $50.00 USD per person!
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By All-Caribbean User from Chicago and Boston • Beware of bad food and service

Overall Rating: 6   Location [8] • Room [6] • Service [4] • Value [6]

	Beautiful beach
	Horrible food, drink and service

Went to the Palace with a group of 4 in March 2005. The hotel itself and beach are beautiful. However, the cons listed above made our trip almost unbearable.

The food was the worst we have ever experienced. Our group was rather adventuresome in trying new things, but we were disappointed one meal after the next. We survived on fruits (which often were not ripe) and the occasional acceptable side dish. Most things were heavily fried, very little flavor. Breads were soggy, meats overcooked, flies sitting on the buffets.

We paid extra one night to go to the Spanish restaurant - we asked for reservations at 8:30, they would only give us 9 - said they were full. We showed up and there was only one other table taken in the entire place!

We had several bad experiences with the service as well. We spoke Spanish fluently, yet often were completely ignored after being seated. We had several occasions where we didn't get drinks or menus for over 30 minutes after being seated. A server practically ran me over in the restaurant and then berated me in spanish. To her surprise, I spoke back to her in spanish and she wouldn't even apologize. Check-in was completely random - it took us about 45 minutes, and some others were completely ignored b/c they only spoke english.

We broke down and went to the gift shop - we paid $10 US for a bag of chips - we all laughed that this was the best food we had all week, and took our photos with the bag.

It really is a shame, because the setting is otherwise so beautiful. It seems that they don't care much about the service - I assume this has to do something with being an all-inclusive resort so they know you have already paid for everything. We saw no difference in the service when we tipped, and often times didn't even get a thank you.

I would have a very difficult time recommending this resort - there are other review sites that have reviews very similar to mine - I would check them out because the reviews here on Yahoo travel don't seem to really warn you about these issues.
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By • Beautiful Place

Overall Rating: 10   

	The place was absolutely beautiful.
	none

My Fiance and I just loved the place, it was a beautiful place with great people. It was truly one of our best vacations yet. We can't wait to go back, the resort is very big (a total of 5 hotels) and it all is within walking distance. We have been to other all-inclusive places, but nothing compares to this. We highly recommend it.
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By AnonymousUser6 from Beverley Hills, Ca • Why This Place?!

Overall Rating: 10   

I Have Been Around The World Many Times But There IS Just Something About that place that keeps drawing me back, I dont know quite what it is, But I do KNow that i Loved it and will probably go back many more times. Everything is right there for you and the perfect getaway for a relaxing vacation. If swimming is your thing then there is beautiful beaches on which to relax on of if just sun bathing is then u got that to and then u have a wonderful beachy feel room to end the day in where u can also relax while ejoying the beautiful sunsets of the caribean. 6 Star Hotels dont Happen very often so I think u should see what people are talking about and get out there and see for yourself!
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By AnonymousUser7 from Miami, FL. • A MARVELOUS EXPERIENCE

Overall Rating: 10   

I had a wonderful experience at the Palace. When I first got to the hotel lobby I was not able to believe my eyes. I thought I was dreaming. Well when I got to the rooms I went straight to the balcony; the view was great. I was able to see the pool and the ocean. Then I went to the bathroom area and it was more than what I imagined it was cleaned and it had all of the necessary items anyone would need. The only thing is that we had to wait for the staff to fix the telephone because it was having some problems, but since I had no intentions of making any phone calls it did not bother me. After walking through the hotel it was time for dinner. The buffet is the best of all the places to eat. You have the choice of what type of meat you would like to eat and the chefs would prepare it at the moment. They also have various types of foods including italian. The evening showes are great, I trully recommend the Tropicalisimo. The breakfast buffet is great because you get to choose from a variety of foods. My favorite was ordering a fresh fruit shake. The dominican restaurant is very good if you would like to taste dominican foods. The servants were very attentative and really made us feel at home. The food is very good throughout the hotel. For the snacks I had a fresk baked pizza, it was super I went for the snack at the Barcelo Beach Hotel. I would recomment this hotel to anyone that would like to be treated like royalty. To me it was the best vacation I have ever had at the caribbean. I am already planning my next vacation next year for the Palace.
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By • Bavaro Palace

Overall Rating: 10   

I have visited many All inclusive resorts in Punta Cana and I must say I found the Bavaro Palace to be the very best. I liked the fact that one can get dressed at lunch time and have a fabulous meal in a lovely restaurant; or choose to eat in swim wear right on the beach. Most other all inclusive holidays in the resort are fine for evening meals, but leave a lot to be desired at lunch time. Huddled around a buffet with 800 other people for a slice of Pizza, is not my idea of fun. My 3 children aged 16, 15 and 10 agree that this is the best hotel. The difference between 5 and 4 star is really felt in every aspect, so I say "Go for it".
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By AnonymousUser4 from NY • I will go there again.

Overall Rating: 10   

I just came back from the Palace. The service was excellent (only at the Palace), even with language problem. Food was good; there was so many resturant to choose from, that you cannot try them all in a week of stay. I just got my diving certification from Coral Reef Diving Center; I highly recommend them (ask for Marcello).
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By AnonymousUser2 from Greenbrook , NJ • Wanna have the BEST vacation??

Overall Rating: 10   

Barcelo Bavaro Palace Resort is the best place to go when you wanna go on a vacation and get the best satisfaction you`ll ever need! They have everything!! ITS GREAT!! Go to the Palace resort and you`ll be sure to never regret it!!
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