Dominican Republic

Excellent. Staff very friendly. Butlers excellent. Servers very attentive. Food good. Beautiful and clean.

Amazing location, amazing facilities with amazing staff. This was my first visit to the DR. After staying at the Mirage I don't think I could ever go anywhere else in the DR. Took a walk down the beach in both directions and felt certain that the Mirage was the best looking resort from both a beach location and from what I could see of the outdoor beach set up and the buildings. Our butler Fernando checked in with us regularly, and the bartenders and restaurant staff remember you. Shout out to Juan at the swim up bar!

Great Hotel. Staff was extremely friendly and there was someone always around to answer any questions. Pools were clean and beautiful to look at. Food was great, even at the buffet. My agent, Melissa Shah, knew I wanted to relax but my partner might want to party. Her recommending staying at Dreams but having access to Breathless was the perfect solution.

The resort was beautiful but the downfall was nobody spoke English at all or very little which made communication difficult and costly. We went to the meats restaurant and made to believe the meal we ordering was included in the all inclusive and when we checked out we were charged $186.00 US for it. Not impressed. All in all we had a great time but would never go back.

This all-inclusive resort is absolutely fabulous! The grounds are gorgeous with staff constantly working on its beauty. The Junior Swim-Up Suites are large and beautiful with tons of storage space. The jacuzzi in the room is a nice touch as well. We loved the fact that we could open our patio doors to a concrete patio with two chairs and a table and right below on the grassy area were cushioned loungers which were a few steps from the pool. The food and drinks were abundant!

Our personal experience was strong overall and we had a good time. I wouldn't however be likely to visit this resort again. Standard room was small, bathroom is tiny. A/C was great though! Would look closer at Diamond club room upgrade if visiting in future. Beach/ocean had a lot of seaweed and was not comfortably swimmable due to winds and high waves. Pools were generally well maintained. Playing the towel game is required as there is a very limited number umbrellas. Afterhours options are non-existent..Sport bar turns in to a tiny club with ridiculously loud music..like 20min = hearing damage loud. WARNING -Strong Travel Membership sales component! Sneaky tactics used with pressured sales pitches. Do not say 'yes' or put your name/info on anything after leaving the front desk, this includes the 'concierge' at your room complex ground floor.. unless you want a sales agent to sit for breakfast with you and your SO to waste 90-120min of your vacation attempting to sell you a $20grand USD travel membership with a 13% interest rate on the portion you finance after paying the required $8000 amount to your CC on the spot. They do give you a $100 voucher for spa or excursion to sit through the torture and say NO at the end tho.. so.. yeah we used that voucher for a very fun happy hour booze cruise LOL.

Nutshell-Weather, was awesome. Beach and water, were amazing, warm, and clear. Sargassum, was non-existent. Sand, was soft and fine. Usually a little windy in afternoons, which is why kite-surfers can be seen down the beach to the west. Food, very very gooood. Days were Windy mostly but not a joy-killer at all...just too windy to take one of the several small catamarans they have (didn't see one out the whole week...strong winds, shallow reefs, and large waves beyond I suppose) Note- staff at front desk and guest services speak English very well... But everywhere else, not so much..very limited.. Beach and water - The multitude of small reefs keep the waves from shore, but the water can have reduced visibility for snorkelling when windy and wavy. Snorkelling was surprisingly good if you are adventurous...the leftmost and rightmost parts of the enclosed swim areas have the best stuff to see...you swim around whatever reef they have and simply cross under the floating line when needed...the further from shore and swimmers, the better the reef and fish....no boat traffic/dangers due to shallowness of reefs.. I'd say bring your own gear.. no need for water shoes, as the water is clear and you can watch your step to ensure you're walking on sandy bottom and not reefy/rocky parts. Food - Amazing. Being Celiac (although not as sensitive as some), I asked a wandering chef and showed a laminated (spanish) card I had printed and he showed me around pointing out what not to eat...but most glutinous food was easy to spot (deep fried, breads, thick sauces etc...) I had no troubles selecting and eating a variety of delicious foods at every (buffet) meal...they have gluten free breads at every buffet, wrapped individually (mini-croissants, baguettes, other..) My only gripe was desserts...only gluten free options at buffet were jello (actually was good) and ice cream (soft and soupy), but I'd load up on FRUITS !! A la carte Restaurants- The French- was really good (gluten free options for me) even dessert . The Fish/seafood- restaurant was disappointing as all I could have was the Steak (quite good!). All other option had gluten or a mix of shellfish which I also avoid. My wife loves seafood and has no dietary restrictions and she wouldn't return...nor our 2 girls. The Brazilian- restaurant was good...lots of gluten free options too and dessert...meat is served on a skewer which is actually a sword, with different servers coming to you and cutting away (from their swords) as much as you desire...so you can sample every meat... Overall vibe - People and staff are very friendly.. but if you don't speak Spanish, you basically come last. Especially at the pool bar and certain other bars...you could be next to be served aaaand a Spanish speaking person waltzes up , then another...and you get your drink when they'r gone...even little kids at the large pool bar would clamber and splash and annoy the bartenders, maybe they'd serve them just to get rid of them..?...if you are a parent of kids under 14, please tell them to vacate the bar area if not ordering... Do yourself a favor, learn like 10 key Spanish phrases like how to say "wait your turn, like I have been", or any other important info you'd like to share such as being Celiac. Fun, activities, sports, entertainment team is great. Not a party resort due to lots of families and kids. We have 2, ages 13 & 17 yet lots of small kids mostly in main pool and bar... We opt for beach when on vaca. Despite signs saying No Reserving, get to beach chairs by 8am to drop your stuff and towels to reserve...earlier if you want a palapa near the water... Excursions- Ask tons of questions before paying. We did El Lĩmon water fall, monkeys, zip lining in a day, and did a half day snorkel boat tour. We'll, the falls had a mud/land slide moments before we were to jump in the water. The left side had rocks and mud come crashing down and the water remained muddy likely for hours...no swimming after this...my wife helped one of the 2ppl slightly injured..could have been deadly had more people been gathered to the left in the water. Zip lines were very fun, but we fealt rushed and monkeys were veeerry cute (be sure they weren't fed recently, or they'll likely just stay in the giant mango tree...there are only 7 squirrel monkeys but they all came down and crawled on us) Snorkelling- well, we survived... Boat brought us about 30min out and east of resort...first stop was a nice cove with beach, but snorkelling was shit...just below Vin Diesel's place...calm and no waves.. 2nd spot- in large waves we were told to jump out and swim twd the large waves breaking over a reef (we were in the boat about 300m from shore), so there we were, 25-30ft of water, fighting waves to get closer to the reef. Boat capn had troubles and disappeared for 10 min before we spotted him...then the last spot was nicer, still waves yet smaller and manageable. The 4 of us are strong swimmers...a family with younger less experienced members would likely have perished...Capn spoke little to no English or French...had 50yr old gear (good thing we had our own), and life jackets...what are those?? He had 2, I think, in the boat, but they seemed like they came from the Titanic... don't laugh, I'm being serious... Oh, security was waiting at the beach for us upon getting off the boat (about a 20footer with small canopy), to escort us to guest services, who basically reprimanded us for going on an excursion with an outside provider, but i showed her our receipt and explained we'd gone through it all with the A.trnsat rep positioned at the resort daily...and she seemed confused confused...her concern was for safety which I completely agree with, yet we had no idea we'd reserved "outside of the resort".? Had we been injured or died, I think no one would have known, so keep that in mind... Conclusion- Did we have fun?? Of course!!. Would we return? Of course!! But knowing all this now, would greatly impact how we'd proceed with same excursions...ex- opt to walk the 3km trail to get to Falls as they brought us on horses with personal guides walking the horse for us... asking for tips (again no French or English)..The trail has horse shit but I'd walk around it next time and I'd jump in at the smaller (beautiful) falls along this trail; as they claimed we couldn't go with the horses...the path is beautiful...walking would have been better... The end of the trail had like 200 steps to hike down anyway..then back up...ya definitely just go on your own, pay the entrance fee and walk like we saw others doing... Lastly- being celiac, they have 0, Zero gluten free beer... Not even 1 option. So I stuck with regular drinks...which are good... Oh, the room... Well, A/C was weak yet we were comfortable... Bed a little hard but we slept well...we spent sleeping hours in the room and don't really care about how lavish it could be...bar fridge stocked everyday with what you drink...had 3 mosquitos buzzing around at night BUT none outside at all, day or evening... Would we return?? yes!! Especially knowing what we know now ... Just wanted to avoid sargassum Would I go on excursions...not the ones we did...maybe the quad/buggy mud run others went on.. snorkelling I'd definitely do again BUT I'd research best places and providers and ensure to ask exactly how they proceed .. our half day was supposed to include turtles and manatees...they didn't.. otherwise I'd walk east or west along the beach and investigate the plethora of reefs accessible from shore...or take a taxi from resort to an area know for great shore snorkelling...but I'd be happy exploring around the resort again.

We got a room where the toilet and bathroom were in poor condition. The walls and tiles in the toilet were old, cracked, and dirty, with dirty door frames, stains on the walls, and visible old dust. We asked the cleaning lady twice to clean these specific areas, but they never did it properly. The bathroom also looked quite unpleasant — covered in old stains and limescale from hard water. The shower holder was torn out of the wall, and the faucet and shower head were dirty. The sink area near the mirror was very scratched and outdated, which made it unpleasant to look at or touch. There was also an electrical issue — the power went out once, and the switch panel and outlets on one side of the bed didn't work. In addition, there were no batteries in the devices that needed them (the air conditioner remote, the scale). The air conditioner also worked strangely — it constantly blew the same cold air, and the temperature didn't change even when we adjusted it. It was hard to sleep without it because of the heat, but with it on it was too cold, as it blew directly on the face. We also tried to change rooms, but when the staff showed us another one, it was in the same condition as the first.

I loved this hotel. My room was amazing always kept clean, the view from my room was breathtaking. The landscaping was so lush so much green well kept and beautiful always. I did not like my bed much because I cannot sleep on firm beds as my back doesn't like it. The staff amazing from Alberto, Christian and Francisco the bartenders and waiters they made my stay extra special. My cleaning lady was soo sweet and kind she was a slightly older lady but I forgot her name. The food was delicious I enjoyed so many variations of foods from fruits, vegetables, meats and desserts. The meat were always very well done and tasty juicy and packed with flavour. The desserts were truly amazing most were made with extra love and detail. Nothing that I have ever tasted before. As for the entertainment crew they are okay but I feel at night they need an actual dance performance show for adults to enjoy not just the guests entertaining ourselves all the time. The disco is beautifully set up but the DJ plays weird songs most times hence why no one wants to stick around to dance so then it's most of the time dead in there.

Last time we were at this resort was 3 years ago and we stayed at premium level oceanfront. Staff seem to take preference if you speak Spanish and seemed bothered that we did not speak Spanish. I would say ratio would be 50/50. Was the first time we saw cockroaches at Barcelo Bavaro.