TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Very peaceful resort and would return. some staff could be a bit more nice, but overall great experience, good food, drinks, and clean!!

Barceló Bavaro Palace Review Group of 6 ages 8-49. Used Renny Travel for transportation to/from airport and had no issues. It’s a 25-30 minute ride from airport. We were Premium and had two panoramic ocean front suites, building 6. I called ahead to make sure we would be in the same building and that request was fulfilled. I also called ahead and requested to make dinner reservations before we arrived and were told that we had to do this at check in, but that “it wouldn’t be a problem because they hold table reservations for premium”. I was disappointed at check in as we were only able to get reservations for 3 of the 5 nights and not at the times we would have preferred. Premium check in was probably faster than other but still took a while. Having the room key on the bracelets was nice and we were able to access both our rooms. Rooms: Rooms were nice and housekeeping does a great job cleaning. We didn’t have the privacy issues with the bathrooms that I had read about - maybe because of the type of room we had. Shower and toilet have frosted glass and there are doors that close off the bathroom from the bedroom. The 2nd bathroom off the living area was nice for the kids sleeping in that area. There are no washcloths so pack those if that is important for you. Leave a note (in Spanish) for the housekeeper with a tip if you want extra water, beer, towels, etc. The refrigerator in the room does not keep drinks cold. Bring a yeti and fill with ice for cold drinks. One of our rooms was on the ground floor and they had a terrible issue with mosquitos - lots of bites. Our room on the 2nd floor had no mosquitos. Food: The Miramar buffet was awful. Breakfast at premium lounge was what we preferred. Sports Bar was edible, but not much better than the buffet. Room service meals were decent - club sandwiches and spaghetti were good for the picky kids. Lunch at Hole 19 was also okay. Dinners were Hole 19, La Dolce Vita, and Kyoto hibachi. Hole 19 and La Dolce were pretty good - about half of our group liked them. Kyoto was a hit - sushi, hot appetizers, and hibachi grilled food all very good. Overall service in restaurants was very good. We were all pretty excited to see fast food in the airport though. We missed our ranch dressing, diet coke, iced tea and other American foods. Kids: We are from the Midwest and like our snacks and had kids so I packed large bags of snacks and ziplocks to divide and take them to the pool each day. Microwave popcorn was a hit - there are microwaves in the rooms. Bring a floatie and pool toys. Kids loved swimming in the pool and ocean. Our whole group enjoyed the Pirates Island water park and there is a bar nearby. Pool: I got up early the first morning to save pool chairs but didn’t need to. They are generally available if you don’t care where you sit. Bring towel clips. We are brought a couple towels of our own but that probably wasn’t needed. They did have some fun activities at the pool with the swim up bar like aerobics and a pool party. Activities: We had planned to golf but it was so hot the first couple days then rained the last couple of days. We did try mini-golf, neat little course but it is concrete. Older kids did paddle board and kayaking, also snorkeling. We did bowling and the arcade - extra charges for this but was fun. The gals did facials and manicures at the spa - booked the day before. Good service at the spa. We didn’t do the hydrotherapy. Since it rained we did the escape room - it is $30 per person but we all enjoyed it and they did allow us extra time to “escape” since we didn’t solve it within an hour. We went to the Circus show one night and all ages enjoyed it. Adults enjoyed the casino - it is small with limited games but not smoky and $10 minimums at tables was nice. The piano bar outside the casino was fun. Bars: The Carey bar is nice and good drinks. Pool bars - they get busy but bring tips for faster service. They will fill your large cups if you want. There are plenty of bars and none with really long wait times. Overall: It is a large resort with lots of people but never felt crowded. Certainly the food was an issue but we expected this. Don’t let it ruin your vacation. I had read reviews that staff was not friendly - that was not our experience. Most staff was friendly and helpful. They do love when you try to speak Spanish. We spent about $20-30 per day on tips - not counting restaurants where we tipped more. We didn’t use the tram. It was a bit of walking but we didn’t mind. All walkways are covered which is nice since it was pouring rain a couple of days. Not sure we would come back to this resort or the DR, but glad we experienced it. We only vacation every 3-5 years so there are other places we want to see. If we vacationed more often, we would probably come back.

The A/C doesn’t work in any facility so you have to eat or drink as fast as you can and go away. The quality of the food is average the service staff do the best they can.The pool areas looks good, nice beach, well located close to Punta Cana Downtown and many places to go.

Everthing about this resort was excellent. Went for vacation with friends. Spa was on point.... food was great, rooms very clean friendly staff

My 1st time in the Dominican Republic, couldnt choose a better hotel. Loved how big it was, the food, staff.