This was our first trip to Punta Cana and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I will get right to the point, and having visited the Mayan Riviera several times, will be making the inevitable comparisons.
_____________________________________________
BEACH - What more can you say about the beach in Punta Cana? Absolutely amazing! The only issue was the overaggressive vendors along the way. You have to be very firm so they will let you walk by in peace.Snorkeling wasn't that great as the reef is quite a way out as compared to the Yucatan coast, but the swimming was good.

9.5/10
EDGE - Punta Cana
_____________________________________________
RESORT GROUNDS - This hotel used to be an OCEAN resort and the BARCELO chain has done a great job with grounds upkeep. It is not a large resort so walking anywhere was no issue at all. It is quite nice to look at both day and night and holds its 4 Star rating quite nicely.

7.5/10
EDGE - Bahia Principe and Palladium in Mexico
_____________________________________________
ROOMS - We stayed in Bloque 100, one of the newer parts, which was quite nice. The room was nothing outstanding, but very clean, A/C very cool and the maid service good. Not that it matters that much but the TV was good as well (After being on the beach from early morning to late afternoon, I like to go back to a cool room and check CNN and have a little siesta before dinner).

7/10
EDGE - Grand Sirenis in Mexico
_____________________________________________
FOOD (Buffet) - Food quality and setting is very important to me at a resort and the Barcelo did not disappoint. The food was excellent at the Buffet for all meals.

8.5/10
EDGE - Tie with Barcelo Punta Cana and Palladium Mexico

_____________________________________________
FOOD (Ala Carte) - Very good
Mexican - 8/10
Brazillian - 8/10
Spanish - 8.5/10 (Favorite)
Japanese - 7/10
EDGE - Tie Barcelo DR, Sirenis Mexico, Palladium Mexico

_____________________________________________
OFF RESORT/SHOPPING - We always like to visit some places off-resort and get a taste of the locals way of life. We rode the public transport from Punta Cana to a city called Higuey. It was quite an eye opener actually as the poverty was quite overwhelming, especially when 5 year old girls on the street would constantly be tugging at you with their hands out, but was still an interesting experience.

4/10
EDGE - Mexico by far, NO COMPARISON

_____________________________________________
PEOPLE/SERVICE - I guess the only issues we had with the DR was the restaurant servers and local shop salesmen on the beach. They were a little too overbearing and manipulative, a stark contrast with the Mexican people. I think alot of people mistake "extremely friendly and happy people" with manipulation and dare I say "A little bit of laziness". This is not to say we didn't meet some great Dominican people (Luis, the horseback ride guy, was a real gem). He actually took a day out of his work to accompany us to his hometown of Higuey on the local bus. He showed us around the city and made us feel quite safe in a town that would not be advisable to visit on your own. We gave him 600 pesos ($20) for his time and he actually tried to give some back (That definitely is not a common trait of the others we had met there) THANKS LUIS!
Front desk was staff was acceptable and reasonably helpful with no language issues at all.

5/10 (Luis 10/10)
EDGE - Again, Mexicans by a landslide
_____________________________________________
POOL - OK, nothing special.

6.5/10
EDGE - Grand Palladium Colonial Mexico

Overall we had a really great vacation and will definitely return to Punta Cana one day, and would not hesitate to return to the Barcelo as well. One more thing I have to say is "I LOVE" the Punta Cana Airport and it's proximity to the resorts (only 25 minutes to the Barcelo).

My stay at the Barcelo Dominican Beach overall was very nice. The people were friendly, the food was good, but I did have some concerns which I did let the hotel know about at the end of my stay.

The Barcelo Dominican Beach is a good size hotel. It is divided into two hotels formerly "The Ocean Spa Resort" and "Ocean Cana Resort". I stayed in the Ocean Spa section. There were many French Canadians, and the Ocean Cana section seemed to house many vacationers from France and Italy. Not too many english speaking folks, and when I did run into someone speaking english the comments were "Thank God you speak English!, Are we in Europe?".

The rooms are clean and comfortable, with a kind of douvet padding over the mattress, which made you feel like you were sleeping on a cloud. I stayed in Block 7 close to the beach. The only problem I had was that my room wasn't cleaned the entire week I was there. I never noticed the mirrors clean, counter or floors cleaned. The maid only made my bed and emptied the garbage. I always had to go to the cart myself to grab 4-5 bottles of water as she never seemed to restock my fridge. I am a very tidy person so maybe the maid felt she didn't need to clean for one person. Towel service was ok. Take your own face cloth if you like one.

The resort is very nice overall with pretty gardens, a resident peacock couple which roam closest to the main dining buffet which backs on to a beautiful, as the call it "lake" with and bridge and gazzebo in the centre. Many nights you could hear them calling out and people would look up into the rafters trying to find them.

The ate at the Japanese restaurant, which is great. Also at the Italian, the ambiance is nice and Mexican, which is alright, it's like eating at Taco Bell. All were very good overall. The service by the waiters, they are all very attentive and meals were timely served. To eat at the Seafood restaurant you have to pay an extra $40.00 USD which I didn't want to pay extra for. The Japanese and Spanish restaurants are definitely worth going to. It is best to book a restaurant of your choice at 9am, and they will only let you book 2 restaurants on one given time. I ate mostly at the main buffet restaurant which the menu was always plentiful. Loved the breakfasts! Crepes, french toast, eggs, bacon wasn't so good, bread was nice, buns of all sorts, and fruit galore, loved the mango......mango shakes were nice too. Not that I drink a lot of coffee but I heard the cafe called "Le Cafe" had wonderful coffee, latte's etc.

As for the beach, it is beautiful. The only problem there was that there weren't enough garbages on the beach. I was always stepping on straws, napkins and stirafoam plates, cigarette butts and platic cups were always left around by other travellers and then flying around due to the wind so I found myself picking up garbage a lot of the time as I walked to/from the beach to get drinks or go to the bathroom. I did see twice during the week that a couple of resort crew did walk around and pick up garbage by hand, but still you should be accountable for your own mess!

Entertainment was good by the beach crew and most of the nightly entertainment was by the same people. I wouldn't call it great but you got a good laugh now and then. The entertainment I experienced last year the the LTI Beach Resort was fantastic, almost like Las Vegas style shows. It was kind of disappointing at the Barcelo Dominican Beach.

Beach activites - same things every day, bocce ball, pool/beach aerobics, crazy games, volleyball. If you want to keep active, you got it. If you want to relax, you can. I wanted to go on the hobby cat sailer but very, very disappointed as you have to pay for someone to take you, unless you know how to do it yourself. One day I was quoted $35.00 us/hr, two days later $45.00/hr. What's up with that? Taking $200.00 USD didn't take me very far for the week so be prepared to bring a bit more.

The best part of my trip is I went on the Saona Island tour, where you get bused 1.5 hrs to Bahayhibe and then jet boats shuttle you over to the catamaran which then takes a 1.5 -2hr catamaran ride to Saona Island for a Dominican Lunch and beach time and the Jet Boating you to a natural lagoon where there are so many star fish (take a picture with a starfish) and have about 45min. to swim and drink and then get Jet Boated back to where you started. We saw wild dophins on the way back which was great! Cost - $85.00 USD - worth it and would do it again.

As a former Travel Agent with 19yrs previous experience I have been many places and and stayed at many resorts. I love Punta Cana and I will continue to travel there in the future. Last year I stayed at the LTI Beach Resort and had a fabulous time. Probably better there than Dominican Beach but I always like to experience different hotels. This was my 3rd time to Punta Cana as a single traveller.

As far as the travel advisories, I took all the precautions. I had the hepatitis shots 2mths before I left - cost $165.00 CAD. My doctor prescribed "Dukoral" and I took the 2 doses two weeks before I left for my vacation, which if you don't know it, it's for the "Travellers Diarreha" and I still had the runs which started my 4th day there - cost about $25.00 CAD. I took the malaria pills which cost me $88.00 CAD, which I probably won't take the next time. I did however get bitten by sand fleas, around the 4th day of my vacation. I did see other people with the same bites. Not mosquitos. I had "Skin so Soft" by Avon, which is known to ward off mosquitos and I have had much success in other caribbean destinations. I also had "Off" with deet. But that did fend off the sand fleas.

Overall, I enjoyed my holiday. Don't take all the traveller reviews too hard because it can make you crazy and then you don't know which hotel you want to stay at. Just choose one you like and make the best of your holiday as not everything is perfect no matter if you stay at a 5 Star or 3.5 Star which the Barcelo Dominican Beach was rated 3.5 - 4 Star. You'll have a great time but that's because, You will make it Great!

Happy Travelling!

Was very worried about going as read many bad reviews but i think the people that write bad reviews are just very picky. The things they complained about were unseen by me and the people i went with. Just got back from the hotel went from 16th-30th April and really didnt want to come home. There was 5 of us from 7years old to 40. Food was fine the rooms were fine. Pools and beach were amazing. Weather was very nice. I think the people who live on this island are the friendliest people you will ever meet. The shows are very good and entertainment staff are the best. Beach party was one of the best parts of holiday went on til 3am and had a bonfire. Disco was very good was on every night and was good for the teenagers. Went on the safari trip if you get the chance then go as it is very good. Alot of spanish and french people but was not a problem for us as there were a few english and alot of canadians. Do not be worried about going here dont listen to the bad reviews its not true. This hotel is great value for money and all of us did not want to go could of easily stayed for another 2 weeks.
Hopefully going back to this hotel soon, cannot wait.

I've read some mix reviews of the hotel and simply shook off the bad reviews as people expecting great quality and forgeting they are going to (dare I say) a 3rd world country, but the negitive remarks about the hotel stand true.

Fristly I'd like to say, my boyfriend (25) and I (23) traveled with sunwing this time. I have to start off by saying sunwing was the best flight I've been on and will never take Skyservice again. The prices were the same and they not only give you a meal on the flight but a movie, champain, wine, free ear phones and a blanket and pillow if you need it.

Our hotel room was located in the older part of the resort which was fine with both of us. The rooms are very basic (motel style) but we found them very out dated and rundown. Our toilet leaked everytime you'd flush and the hot water for showers was not hot at all. Our first night we woke up to two busses that parked themselves right outside our room at 8am. I woke up thinking there was some kind of construction going on because our room was vibrating! The busses sat ourside motor running for over an hour.

That afternoon we went to reception and asked to be moved. We told them about the leaking toilet and the busses. The toilet we were told would be fixed that day but for our room change we were told to come back tomorrow, and tomorrow ended up turning into another day and another. So we arrived Thursday and ended up getting our room moved on Sunday, with the toilet still leaking; we were moved close to the beach on the newer side of the resort. The room was a bit bigger but not much different from our previous room. We were greeted with an air conditioner that didnt work then when they did get it up and running (waited 3 hours) it leaked from the bathroom ceiling onto the floor so much we had to use towels to soak up the water and leave our sandles on (personal swimming pool) and of course the toilet, which you had to hold the handle down to flush and then make sure it was streight again or it would keep running.

Besides the room, the resort grounds were very well kept, service was nice but right off the men are much nicer then the women. We found many of the men would go out of their way to do something for us even if it was just coming up to us with special drinks they made when we never asked for anything. There are enough restaurants to eat at a different place every night. I'm not sure if its listed on the website but the sea food restaurant is an extra $40, which to us wasn't worth it considering all the other restaurants. Mexican I found was the best and my boyfriend agreed. We found all the restaurants to be great, minus the brazilian which really was not anything special just pieces of meet brought to you that was not seasoned or anything (dont waste your dinner on this one). The pools were very clean and never crowded. The drinks were great and they could whip you up just about anything. There is a cafe by the main lobby that I suggest everyone try. I read in someones review that they loved the place and it ended up becoming a nightly stop for us.

There are two gift shops on the resort but be ready to spend some cash! If you can buy it in the gift shop I suggest you get it there because the airport is much more expensive. I bought a small bag of coffee at the hotel for $1.50 and at the air port the same size bag and same coffee was $7.50! The other thing I didnt enjoy was the locals that always tried to sell you something. I know I know it happens everywhere (besides Cuba) but the locals are able to walk across the beach and most will come up to you and try to sell you something.

The beach, it was beautiful! It was never over crowded and there were always plenty of empty chairs to lay on. I have to add that the topless women were about 1 in every 3 (if you have little ones coming with you). The water is sectioned off because there are many boats and other water toys that drive by very close to the swimmers, which I actually thought was pretty stupid and not sure why they wouldnt make the boats pass by further away from the beach. Because of this there waere usually pieces of seaweed and other things floating around. They also have a guy walking around carrying a small monkey or bird that you can take pictures with but you'll have to pay for them as they wouldnt let me take any with my own camera. Smallest pic which is I think was a size bigger than a regular sized photo was $11.

We took a trip on ATV's about 4 hours long between two people it came to $110. It was great and we got completely covered in mud! About half way through your ride they take you to a beach that is not owned by anyone (beautiful view) where you get a bottle of water and can jump in and clean yourself off. I suggest sandles or runners your planning not to use again. Of course there are locals there to sell something and everything. You ride a bit more and come to a cave with spring water which you can jump in again (great place). Then finally they take you back. I recomend this one, it was a lot of fun (back was killing me for 3 days afterwards)! The ATVs have 5 gears so you'll have to learn these first if you dont know standard.

I'll have to say we did have a good time but wont be going back to this resort simply because the only thing that I could really say I enjoyed was the food. The resort is rated a 4* and we went in expecting a 4* (still keeping in mind it is Dominican and not Canada). I'd have to say myself and boyfriend wouldnt give it no more than a 3*. We booked last minute at about $890 tax included and I really dont think it was worth paying that much for a 3*. If you have questions about the hotel or want to see pictures go ahead and email me [--].