We went to hotel and first couple days the staff was awful and mad pissy about Chang over they wouldn't even want talk or say hi last two days we were more happy with sever and food we have had. The resort overall the very clean. Rooms are great and beds very hard. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Bad sever
Under construction well we where there
Letting market in resort bug ppl maybe find one place put all so ever concert there not making ppl bad and bugging or don't let in at all
The weak points
Sever
Under construction
Bed are awful
0 0
Certified
Not as advertised
Jamie Mchattie, North Battleford, SK
2019-01-11
The resort has potential to be beautiful but the beach and waterfront have been destroyed and altered. There was vast construction done without informing the guests. Resort wide power outtage for over 5 hours and no communication from staff as to what was going on. Time share people who sit right beside the check in and try and fool you with a welcome breakfast speal. Overall dissatisfied. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Beautifully laid out, nice pools and the spa was great.
The weak points
Service was slow. The beach was packed down sand and the waterfront had these huge plastic things all over to try and break the tide nevermind they were doing construction in the water building a huge dock. Housekeeping lacked and no beer in fridge.
0 0
Certified
Review on Sunscspe
Thomas Mchattie, North Battleford, SK
2019-01-11
All in all our visit there was not the best. The beaches were un swimable, very dirty water and smelly. The rooms were not cleaned until very late in the day some days not at all. Found and killed a couple cockroaches. Airline company did not inform us about the construction on the beach and in the resort itself so we had to listen to that for 4 days straight. We would not ever go back there. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Pools were very nice, walkways and resort surrounding were nice.
The weak points
Horrible beach, room cleanliness.
0 0
Certified
Sunscape review
Sammg, London, ON
2018-11-21
Ill start with the positives The resort is very clean the staff did a good job making sure the public bathrooms were clean and the beach and pool areas. The entertainment team was also very good.Our travel agent from transat was very helpful. And we enjoyed the excursions. The negative unfortunately outweigh the positives. I will not be going back to this resort. The staff at the resturants were unattentive probably due to being understaffed. Every morning we had to beg for drinks, ie coffee. Most mornings when we went to breakfast we couldn't find a table to sit at because it was so busy, when we did find a table we had to ask around for cutlery. The variety of food was not good, and when we went to the resturants for dinner the wait were super super long. One night we were at the resturants from start to finish for close to three hours. There were a lot of vendors on the beach so we avoided the beach most of the vacation. Apparently on weekends they open the doors to locals so on the weekend the place was PACKED! we couldn't find a chair to sit at near the pool. Resturants were even longer waits. And very noisy at night. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
0 0
Solid 3.5 stars at least
Andy Farrer, Oshawa, ON
2018-03-02
The staff are great did not run into one who was not smiling and eager to please. The rooms are cleaned each day however the minibar can be hit and miss, One call and they are there quickly. Had 1 room issue and the response was quick and friendly. Had a friend with a room issue and I went to front desk and they quickly moved them all done in 30 minutes. The entertainment crew are great especially Pokemon and Willy Wonka kept me laughing every time I saw them. If you want top shelf beverages will have to upgrade to sunclub as the booze at the regular bars is not great but passable, heck your on holidays.The restaurants were good enough portions are small though the buffet is good enough with enough choices for everyone. This resort is a great bang for your buck when booking in the lower 3.5-4 star places and in my opinion you can't go wrong for the price. Take local transit to mall just say Jumbo it is 1 dollar U.S. each way and the prices are reasonable especially alcohol at Jumbo. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Clean bright rooms..many bars and pools so can always find a chair. Food for the most part good enough, something for everyone Staff are great!
The weak points
Mini Bar refill hit and miss. Beach is ok geotubes are a bit of an eyesore but to the left and right of these is great beach and swimming
0 0
Certified
Great Trip
shipoopi, Barrie, ON
2017-03-19
This place was great. While not perfect, Joanna and Freddy made it a six star out of 5 for us. Food was great. The ala cartes were a bit slow but worth the wait for the most part. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Joanna and Freddy
The weak points
Beach is eroding and the bars close too early
0 0
Quite disappointed
Yvonne Young, York, ON
2017-02-21
Would not rate this a 4 star, more like a 3. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
The people are very friendly. The staff is the best part of this resort
The weak points
Food not so good, drinks not so good, entertainment very amateurish, not anywhere comfortable to sit after dinner to enjoy a drink, very loud in the lobby with bean bag chairs, awful !!
0 0
Certified
The best vacation ever
Rick and Ginette, Gatineau, QC
2017-02-15
My husband and I spend one week at sunscape and everything and every one was exceptional.We have nothing but good memories and we are planning to return next year. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
0 0
Certified
Well Worth it!
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Paul The Rock God, vancouver, Br
2015-02-20
There was lots to do at the resort. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The food was good. The beach was excellent. Only issue was internet in room didn't work well. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Great location. Nightly variety show was great. Staff was helpful and friendly. Specialty restaurants were good.
The weak points
Internet in room wasn't good. Booked 2 bed room, but only 1 bed when we showed up. They fixed it quickly by giving us another bed. No karaoke or live band to dance to at night.
0 0
Certified
Nous y reviendrons
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Michel Monette
2015-01-21
Que ce soit l'attention du personnel, la suite, les restos à la carte, le buffet, le café, les bars, la plage et même les clients, tout a été comme sur des roulettes. Nous sommes revenus enchantés de notre séjour avec quelques kilos à perdre (le seul mauvais côté à mentionner). Notre coup de coeur : le restaurant La Dolce Vita suivi de près par Don Quijote. Nous avons bien aimé les autres, mais ces deux-là nous ont fait vibrer. Je n'aurai aucune hésitation à recommander cet hôtel. Certaines employées se sont aussi démarquées : à l'accueil au buffet : Esperanza Clarisa Luz au buffet : Belkys avec son grand sourire à Le café : Julia Diaz au restaurant Dolce Vita : l'hôtesse Mariluz au restaurant Don Quijote : l'hôtesse Gladys [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Restaurants à la carte, le personnel, la propreté des lieux, tranquillité lorsque désirée
The weak points
Beaucoup de fumeurs
0 0
Certified
Somewhat as Expected
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Just happy to be away, Lumsden, SK
2015-01-02
To start I have to say the hotel isn't horrible. I booked for the price and expected to be disappointed about a few things as I was going to a third world country.
The Hotel for the most part is tired and needs some fixing. For example our room could use a new air conditioner that doesn't sound like one is trying to start a tractor from the 1930's when it cuts in. Hard to get a decent night sleep when one gets woken up every time it cuts in. Toilets needed duel flushing after use, the tub either has the finish worn off or needs the film scrubbed off. Our door was sketchy as the bottom inch and top inch seemed to be missing or removed for fit. However, for the most part the room was clean and the bed comfortable.
The food was good and in some instances excellent and there was a decent variety, we never went hungry.
The staff were hit an miss. Some were fabulous (a server in the Mexican restaurant and one in the main buffet went above and beyond) others didn't seem to understand a lick of English (or didn't care hard to know). Those not having to interact with the patrons weren't an issue but I found most of the bar staff and waitresses couldn't pour a simple Rum and Diet coke and that was disappointing.
The common parts of the hotel in some instances needed cleaning or fixing. There were hallway walls with food or drink or something on them that needed a cleaning. The beach bathroom on the women's side was disgusting on a daily basis. Needed cleaning more often (hourly) and it would have been fine. And the pool always had garbage floating on the bottom (more a product of rude patrons but that's the service industry and the hotel has to work to keep up to that). The grounds seemed to have lots of crew and there were always guys working on it and the look of them reflected that.
The beach honestly could have been beautiful but the week we were there had a huge seaweed issue and cleaning didn't begin early enough. A bobcat and truck cleaning up at night would have significantly sped up the process, as it was the clean up started days to late and it was all manual labour using wheelbarrows (if work had been at night as well and started as the seaweed materialized the manual process might have just done the job).
The entertainment staff seemed excellent and there were an abundance of them however, not something we participated in.
So overall for the price I paid I wasn't totally disappointed. One needs to remember where they are and the price they are paying. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Location, size, food
The weak points
Public bathrooms, beach upkeep, some aspects of the room
0 0
Certified
Ok but not great
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Tony D, Oakville, ON
2014-12-09
Walking in I was impressed with the lobby and decor. Got to room and it was decent except for bathroom. Very Small, rundown and no Water pressure in shower. Only plus was view of ocean from balcony. We paid for a VIP room but it should have been RIP. Buffet was big but food was poor Quality, especially the grilled Meats - fatty and grisly. Couldn't get a good piece of beef if your life depended on it. The Pool was nice when not over run by local day trippers that swarmed the swim up bar and monopolized wait staff. One Kid there was so drunk he puked all over the walkway as we were walking to the beach at 2:00 PM. I do not recommend this resort nor will I ever go back. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
The beach and view of ocean from room. Housekeeping and guest service staff was good.
The weak points
Bathroom, over run with young locals, buffet, internet access, spa overpriced and the bathroom was so bad I am going to mention it again.
0 0
Certified
Awesome vacation!
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Kumars, Toronto, ON
2014-08-03
Had an awesome time at the resort. We had the best ever view of the sunrise and sunset overlooking the beach from our 3rd floor bedroom in building 7 facing the beach. Staff at the front desk and the restaurants were very cordial, helpful and friendly. Food was great. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Great beach view. Well maintained resort. Great staff very helpful. Food was great. Will visit again.
The weak points
Smokers everywhere very irritating for non smokers
0 0
Certified
Our first down south experience
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Kenneth Bennett, Lr. Sackville, NS
2014-05-06
This was our first southern and all inclusive trip and we never had a bad moment for the whole week. The resort was spotless and the workers were exceptional. The food was great with an amazing selection. If we ever have a chance to go again this is where we will go. Ty :) [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
No complaints :)
The weak points
None
0 0
Certified
Beautiful Beach ,,,, But
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Cottreau's, Yarmouth, NS
2014-04-29
This is a great size Resort ,, not to big can find everything in one day ,,, the food is just ok at the buffet ,, ala carts are better ,, Asian one was really good and lots of fun ,, Italian was also yummy ,, a few gift shops on the resort ,, Lobby gift shop is more pricey then the other ones on the grounds ,, ATM machine in the Lobby always running out of money and only gives out pesos ... the beach is super clean and no rocks and very pretty . the coffee shop was great ,, cute dogs on the beach ,, grab an extra hot dog or hamburger ,, they are super friendly ,, lot of security on the beach ,, felt safe the whole time .. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
the beach and grounds are beautiful ,, awesome coffee shop ,, close to the Airport ,, house keeping is awesome always clean and fridge filled with pop and water
The weak points
entertainment is no good ,,, same every night ,, staff is not friendly ,, ala carts are good ,,, had Ipad and shoes stolen ,, which we believe it was from other tourist ,, If you decide to go parasailing its a all day thing for 15 mins up in the air ,,
0 0
Certified
Under-rated
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Murray Robinson, Yarmouth, NS
2014-04-29
We had a bit of problem with checkin due to the communication barrier. Once checked in our room was very nice and clean beach view room on ground floor which we requested. The beach, resort, a la cartes and housekeeping I would rate at least a 4 star, the communication and entertainment are the negatives here. We enjoyed our stay very much, great value :) [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Beach, a la cartes, resort cleanliness and location
The weak points
Communication/reception and entertainment
0 0
Certified
Barcelo Dominican Beach
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Robert, Ottawa, ON
2014-04-14
Had some issues on arrival as room in block 1 was poor ie. very in need of refreshing, patio door didn't lock on our first floor unit. They tried to fix but couldnt't, moved us to another room that had no AC. Next day we upgraded, at a cost of $200 to Junior Suite in Block 6, which was very good and close to Beach. Food was ptetty good, a la carte restaurants very good. Apart from first night, we were pleased with the overall value of the vacation [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Excellent beaches, junior suites and better highly recommended. After upgrading, our 7 day vacation was less than $2000 for 2 people, as a last minute booking. Would not pay much more than that for this resort
The weak points
Regular rooms would not be recommended,upgraded rooms are fine.
0 0
Certified
Wonderful holiday!
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
H & T, Guelph, ON
2014-04-13
After reading some of the negative reviews before we left I was scared!! But what a beautiful place, meticulous grounds. Very hard working people from Yoel at front desk, to the staff in the buffet/restaurants and our cleaning woman. Pools are awesome very clean. Beach is gorgeous only complaint was the cigarette butts and that's more a complaint to the ignorant people that couldn't walk 5 steps to the garbage. Rooms are ok a little shabby, moved to building 5 oceanview room and so worth it! Clean, just a little dated but we didn't spend much time in the room. Definitely try the restaurants...the Mexican, Japanese & our fave the Spanish. So worth booking get there early in morning or book the day in advance! Another tip...you have to get up and 'save' a lounger at the beach or pool. If not you won't ever get one. There were days we walked by tons of empty 'reserved'seats at the beach and pool. We would go to this resort again! The iced coffee at the cafe is to die for. Met some friendly people! & you couldn't beat the gorgeous weather! [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
The pool, the beach, the weather. Hard working staff. Clean!
The weak points
Room dated. Ask for block 5! Avoid 99.
0 0
Certified
Nice Enough!
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Wayne A Stovell, Fraserville, ON
2014-02-28
More staff is needed at the front desk who speak English. Only one of the 4 when we checked in could. I would have thought that would be important. We were staying in the farthest building from the main lobby and the beach which was fine with us. It was pretty quiet there. However, getting off the bus from the airport and checking in, we had to walk to our building. We weren't offered the shuttle that we later saw buzzing around. Little annoyances that should have been attended to and fixed either took days or weren't fixed at all. There idea of fixing is offering to move you to another room. That doesn't help the next people who are booked into that room. We asked politely for at least 5 days to 1)fix the phone 2)fix the air conditioner 3)fix the leak in the bathroom ceiling from the broken air conditioner, 4)fix the leak in the toilet just wasting water. 5) fix the volume on the TV as there wasn't any. We just wanted to watch the Olympics. We always saw maintenance folks scurrying around being busy but we couldn't figure out what the big deal was about fixing simple things that should be fixed. Now having said all that, the grounds on the property were very well maintained and looked after. Perhaps more raking on the beach like other resorts did would help with the appearance. The food was good overall. The a la cartes were quite good and the buffets gave you a pretty good selection of choices. The Le Café was really good if you don't drink alcohol at all and love coffee. A great selection of drinks were offered there. We did 3 tours through the resort which were really good. Santo Domingo bus tour, Barvaro Runners tour into the mountains,ask for Sammy and Lindo! and Power Adventures for snorkeling and fun. Around the pools and beach it was hard to find lounge chairs if you didn't get down there before 8am. And a number of chairs were broken. Why not fix them or get rid of them? There certainly weren't enough of them. We enjoyed ourselves but the room concerns were annoying. Whats wrong with just trying to stay on top of things that need attention? [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Nice beach, pools clean, food and drink good. Smiley faces on most staff
Good security on the beach and on the grounds.
NO SNOW!!!
The weak points
Customer service weren't very helpful fixing and looking after room problems. Maybe they were just having a "bad day!"
0 0
Certified
Great hotel & staff
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Dorothy Dubchak, Gimli, MB
2014-02-17
this hotel was very courteous, friendly & helpful. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
great staff
The weak points
internet wifi was minimum at best unless in the hotel lobby, inconvenienced by this
0 0
Certified
Barcelo Dominican Beach Jan-Feb 2014
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Marilyn Papp, London, ON
2014-02-05
Resort was very well groomed, rooms were clean, Buffets were excellent and one night even had sushi! Excellent sporting activities available. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Pools, lots of activities, never a line up at buffet as they have two, food excellent. Security on beach.
The weak points
No drink menu at bars, a la carte restaurants over rated, should not be handed a wine menu with prices when you are at an all inclusive resort, lobster dinner is an extra cost :(, front desk staff not very enthusiastic.
0 0
Certified
Punta Cana experience
Previously BARCELO DOMINICAN BEACH for this review
Laurie Ellen Bradley, Ingleheart, ON
2014-01-24
Rooms were comfortable, food was good with lots of variety, alacarte restaurants excellent. Staff friendly . Free bus transportation to shopping malls. Wonderful time . [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Good food , pleasant staff, nice weather , nice beach, relaxing vacation
The weak points
None
0 0
Certified
Amazing time in Dominican Republic
Olesya Fedorova, Toronto, ON
2013-11-03
Hotel was good enough to have amazing vacation.Rooms need some renovation but if you spend most time on the beach as I did it's not so important. Food was good in all restaurants except Brazilian. Beach is nice and clean. A lot of activities during the day. If you travel as group that would be perfect place to go. I had only positive moments in this hotel. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Location is good. Territory of hotel is very nice.
The weak points
Service could be faster.
0 0
Certified
Great vacation
Pierre Brabant, St Bernardin, ON
2013-04-20
Barcelo Dominican Beach We had a great vacation and given that this was truly a last minute decision it made it an even better decision. No dissapointment whatsoever! [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Very clean, relatively modern, restaurants were definately beyond expectations in terms of the quality of food. Could not beat this for the price. Always plenty of chairs at the beach.Overall a great place and based on that, I would certainly go back.
The weak points
the beach could be a little cleaner (ex:plastic wrappers in the watera few times)but this was not a huge deal.
0 0
Certified
Great resort
Alanna, Winnipeg, MB
2013-04-06
I loved it. Clean and a great size. Very tropical feeling. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Good sized resort eith tons of things to do in every corner of the resort. Friendly staff everywhere.
The weak points
Food selection could have been better.
0 0
Certified
Np!
Cynthia Schweitzer, Belleville, ON
2013-04-03
Great experience in Punta Cana, DR, in gen'l, and at this hotel. Some Montezuma's Revenge, but finding that a norm in most tropical places I have traveled anyways - Thailand, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, etc. Hotel was not nearly as bad as several posters on Trip Advisor stated so was a huge relief. Food was pretty good actually, and the most seafood offered at any AI I have been to thus far. Went to get away and relax, read on the beach, swim, sun and be with family and eat god food and be pampered and felt that the hotel enabled me to reach said goals. Was cool seeing and meeting ppl from all over and vicariously peeking into their cultures. Dominicans were totally awesome and friendly and did their best - for the most part - to make us feel welcome. I think they put up with a lot of shit from rude guests and I give them kudos for that. Wished the room was cleaned more thoroughly and timely and that we didn't have to ask for stuff all the time, though. Housekeeping seemed to always forget something or other and we got the inevitable *5 minoot* for everything which is like a Jamaican *soon come* that rarely ever does lol....Had to follow up with requests more than once if it meant something to us.
Overall, though, I'd say it was a fantastic spot and the staff worked hard to ensure that guests were comfortable and certainly, felt welcomed, and departed DR with a positive view of the place and its ppl.
Never ever found 5 stars worth the rating in any part of the world and only just left with disgruntled feelings and a lighter wallet so have taken a different tack these days for trips. Thus, I'd say a good hotel and a great destination worthy of a fine rating and kind words.
Beautiful, clean, white, warm and inviting beaches and water. The main reason for this trip, for me.
Nice, friendly, always smiling, helpful staff - for the most part. Some exceptions, but few and very, very far between. Room, food pretty good.
The weak points
My kids said the internet access was extremely limited and sometimes didn't work at all.
On rainy days, we wanted to take Spanish lessons, but could never find them/they weren't offering them, though the activity board listed them daily at 10am.
safe no worries about personal properties being stolen on the beach oe hotel rooms
The weak points
more english spoken by staffc
0 0
Certified
Barcelo domican beach, Punta Cana
Sonia, Markham, ON
2013-03-28
We had lots of fun. Very nice big hotel. In future I would go back again. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Very happy staff service with smile.
The weak points
Neeed to add some vegetarion dish. Like nacho chips, Trotila roti, maxican salsa on buffet Manu
0 0
Certified
Young crowd but no spirit!
Canadina Traveler, North York, ON
2013-02-27
Eventhough this hotel was not the intendend resort when i purchased my tickets(long story short we went to the wrong resort still a Barcelo!) i didn't switch hotels when i arrived just so i don't waste 3 days of my vacation in front of the customer service desk! the food, pools, and beach was as expected from Punta Cana. however what strike me the first few hours of my arrival was how all the staff were down, not motivated and not happy. you could tell they didn't care too much about clients. they didn't smile at all the bell boys and people working in the lobby did not seem to care when i told them that i've arrive at 1PM and had not had a room until 6PM!)i was told they're over booked and i can get a VIP room for $240 per night for 4 of us. this is after i've spent $4500 for the all inclusive trip for 7 days! finally the room i got which was 15 minutes walk to the main lobby was without functioning phone, tv, toilet flush, no shampoo or soap! the ceiling in the bathroom was leaking so all floor and towels were wet! i didn't even have a phone to call in for help! room are outdated, stinky and not cleaned properly. there was no room service menu in the room in case the kids need anything at night! the so called A La Carte restaurants -which you had to line up at 7AM in the lobby to book a day in advance-were closed one or 2 nights a week so if you're there 5-7 days you are definitly going to miss out. the food was only good at the Spanish restaurant. the drink choices were very limited; you had the chice to purchase from the manu that extended beyond beer and Rum&Coke for $$ i thought the staff at times were rude asking for tip for anything they did and expecting it even at the beach where people don't carry their wallet or money. the only great thing was the beach. eventhough it wasn't on Bavaro Beach it felt like one. it was just a mess! the hotel was falling apart! the staff was unhappy and rude! but hey! they were over booked and there were lots of yonge ppl if that means anything to you....i would not recommand this hotel. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
close to airport, great beach
The weak points
cleanness, depresing staff, weak nightly entertainment, old and outdated rooms/bathrooms
0 0
Certified
Nice, but quiet
Pauly D., Vaughan, ON
2013-02-21
Very good place. Clean, good food, nice beach. Can get quiet at night, more activities after dinner would help. Line-ups at all bars and the bartenders could be friendlier. Otherwise, the staff were agreeable. [Details]
Room
Quality - Price
Front desk & Reception
Beaches
Location
Bathroom
Staff / Crew
Cleanliness
Business Services
Food & Restaurants
The strong points
Good food and very clean.
The weak points
Bar and front desk could be friendlier. The disco was the only thing to do at night and the music is the same all the time. They need an alternative with current tunes and maybe some romantic songs to slow dance.
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Write up
Not as advertised
Review on Sunscspe
Sunscape review
The resort is very clean the staff did a good job making sure the public bathrooms were clean and the beach and pool areas. The entertainment team was also very good.Our travel agent from transat was very helpful. And we enjoyed the excursions.
The negative unfortunately outweigh the positives. I will not be going back to this resort. The staff at the resturants were unattentive probably due to being understaffed. Every morning we had to beg for drinks, ie coffee. Most mornings when we went to breakfast we couldn't find a table to sit at because it was so busy, when we did find a table we had to ask around for cutlery. The variety of food was not good, and when we went to the resturants for dinner the wait were super super long. One night we were at the resturants from start to finish for close to three hours. There were a lot of vendors on the beach so we avoided the beach most of the vacation. Apparently on weekends they open the doors to locals so on the weekend the place was PACKED! we couldn't find a chair to sit at near the pool. Resturants were even longer waits. And very noisy at night. [Details]
Solid 3.5 stars at least
Take local transit to mall just say Jumbo it is 1 dollar U.S. each way and the prices are reasonable especially alcohol at Jumbo. [Details]
Great Trip
Quite disappointed
The best vacation ever
Well Worth it!
Nous y reviendrons
Notre coup de coeur : le restaurant La Dolce Vita suivi de près par Don Quijote. Nous avons bien aimé les autres, mais ces deux-là nous ont fait vibrer.
Je n'aurai aucune hésitation à recommander cet hôtel.
Certaines employées se sont aussi démarquées :
à l'accueil au buffet : Esperanza Clarisa Luz
au buffet : Belkys avec son grand sourire
à Le café : Julia Diaz
au restaurant Dolce Vita : l'hôtesse Mariluz
au restaurant Don Quijote : l'hôtesse Gladys [Details]
Somewhat as Expected
The Hotel for the most part is tired and needs some fixing. For example our room could use a new air conditioner that doesn't sound like one is trying to start a tractor from the 1930's when it cuts in. Hard to get a decent night sleep when one gets woken up every time it cuts in. Toilets needed duel flushing after use, the tub either has the finish worn off or needs the film scrubbed off. Our door was sketchy as the bottom inch and top inch seemed to be missing or removed for fit. However, for the most part the room was clean and the bed comfortable.
The food was good and in some instances excellent and there was a decent variety, we never went hungry.
The staff were hit an miss. Some were fabulous (a server in the Mexican restaurant and one in the main buffet went above and beyond) others didn't seem to understand a lick of English (or didn't care hard to know). Those not having to interact with the patrons weren't an issue but I found most of the bar staff and waitresses couldn't pour a simple Rum and Diet coke and that was disappointing.
The common parts of the hotel in some instances needed cleaning or fixing. There were hallway walls with food or drink or something on them that needed a cleaning. The beach bathroom on the women's side was disgusting on a daily basis. Needed cleaning more often (hourly) and it would have been fine. And the pool always had garbage floating on the bottom (more a product of rude patrons but that's the service industry and the hotel has to work to keep up to that). The grounds seemed to have lots of crew and there were always guys working on it and the look of them reflected that.
The beach honestly could have been beautiful but the week we were there had a huge seaweed issue and cleaning didn't begin early enough. A bobcat and truck cleaning up at night would have significantly sped up the process, as it was the clean up started days to late and it was all manual labour using wheelbarrows (if work had been at night as well and started as the seaweed materialized the manual process might have just done the job).
The entertainment staff seemed excellent and there were an abundance of them however, not something we participated in.
So overall for the price I paid I wasn't totally disappointed. One needs to remember where they are and the price they are paying. [Details]
Ok but not great
Awesome vacation!
Our first down south experience
Beautiful Beach ,,,, But
Under-rated
Barcelo Dominican Beach
Wonderful holiday!
Nice Enough!
We were staying in the farthest building from the main lobby and the beach which was fine with us. It was pretty quiet there. However, getting off the bus from the airport and checking in, we had to walk to our building. We weren't offered the shuttle that we later saw buzzing around.
Little annoyances that should have been attended to and fixed either took days or weren't fixed at all. There idea of fixing is offering to move you to another room. That doesn't help the next people who are booked into that room.
We asked politely for at least 5 days to 1)fix the phone 2)fix the air conditioner 3)fix the leak in the bathroom ceiling from the broken air conditioner, 4)fix the leak in the toilet just wasting water. 5) fix the volume on the TV as there wasn't any. We just wanted to watch the Olympics. We always saw maintenance folks scurrying around being busy but we couldn't figure out what the big deal was about fixing simple things that should be fixed.
Now having said all that, the grounds on the property were very well maintained and looked after. Perhaps more raking on the beach like other resorts did would help with the appearance.
The food was good overall. The a la cartes were quite good and the buffets gave you a pretty good selection of choices.
The Le Café was really good if you don't drink alcohol at all and love coffee. A great selection of drinks were offered there.
We did 3 tours through the resort which were really good. Santo Domingo bus tour, Barvaro Runners tour into the mountains,ask for Sammy and Lindo! and Power Adventures for snorkeling and fun.
Around the pools and beach it was hard to find lounge chairs if you didn't get down there before 8am. And a number of chairs were broken. Why not fix them or get rid of them? There certainly weren't enough of them. We enjoyed ourselves but the room concerns were annoying. Whats wrong with just trying to stay on top of things that need attention? [Details]
Great hotel & staff
Barcelo Dominican Beach Jan-Feb 2014
Punta Cana experience
Amazing time in Dominican Republic
Great vacation
We had a great vacation and given that this was truly a last minute decision it made it an even better decision. No dissapointment whatsoever! [Details]
Great resort
Np!
Went to get away and relax, read on the beach, swim, sun and be with family and eat god food and be pampered and felt that the hotel enabled me to reach said goals.
Was cool seeing and meeting ppl from all over and vicariously peeking into their cultures.
Dominicans were totally awesome and friendly and did their best - for the most part - to make us feel welcome. I think they put up with a lot of shit from rude guests and I give them kudos for that.
Wished the room was cleaned more thoroughly and timely and that we didn't have to ask for stuff all the time, though. Housekeeping seemed to always forget something or other and we got the inevitable *5 minoot* for everything which is like a Jamaican *soon come* that rarely ever does lol....Had to follow up with requests more than once if it meant something to us.
Overall, though, I'd say it was a fantastic spot and the staff worked hard to ensure that guests were comfortable and certainly, felt welcomed, and departed DR with a positive view of the place and its ppl.
Never ever found 5 stars worth the rating in any part of the world and only just left with disgruntled feelings and a lighter wallet so have taken a different tack these days for trips. Thus, I'd say a good hotel and a great destination worthy of a fine rating and kind words.
:0) [Details]
Hotel blau
Barcelo domican beach, Punta Cana
Young crowd but no spirit!
the food, pools, and beach was as expected from Punta Cana. however what strike me the first few hours of my arrival was how all the staff were down, not motivated and not happy. you could tell they didn't care too much about clients. they didn't smile at all the bell boys and people working in the lobby did not seem to care when i told them that i've arrive at 1PM and had not had a room until 6PM!)i was told they're over booked and i can get a VIP room for $240 per night for 4 of us. this is after i've spent $4500 for the all inclusive trip for 7 days!
finally the room i got which was 15 minutes walk to the main lobby was without functioning phone, tv, toilet flush, no shampoo or soap! the ceiling in the bathroom was leaking so all floor and towels were wet! i didn't even have a phone to call in for help! room are outdated, stinky and not cleaned properly. there was no room service menu in the room in case the kids need anything at night!
the so called A La Carte restaurants -which you had to line up at 7AM in the lobby to book a day in advance-were closed one or 2 nights a week so if you're there 5-7 days you are definitly going to miss out. the food was only good at the Spanish restaurant.
the drink choices were very limited; you had the chice to purchase from the manu that extended beyond beer and Rum&Coke for $$
i thought the staff at times were rude asking for tip for anything they did and expecting it even at the beach where people don't carry their wallet or money. the only great thing was the beach. eventhough it wasn't on Bavaro Beach it felt like one.
it was just a mess! the hotel was falling apart! the staff was unhappy and rude! but hey! they were over booked and there were lots of yonge ppl if that means anything to you....i would not recommand this hotel. [Details]
Nice, but quiet
Line-ups at all bars and the bartenders could be friendlier. Otherwise, the staff were agreeable. [Details]