Resorts in Dominican Republic

"My family and I just came home from a 6 night vacation stay. Let me start with the positives. The resort is very beautiful. From the time you walk into the restaurants and even the way they have the Blvd shopping area set up. The servers at the Mareas restaurant are the best. They are Super friendly and can't wait to make your dinner a success. Great Job staff. Also, the UNIQUE staff is very friendly. The BAD. The SERVICE!!!! The staff at this hotel are not friendly!!! Anytime I walked into the spa, check in, restaurants or bars people just are not friendly. Our check in with Oscar was horrible. He had no personality and even became rude. We had 2 rooms booked and I asked if the rooms could be together and he said "what did you book, if you didn't book them that way then you can't. We'll see". Before I arrived at the hotel I asked them if they could bring some balloons or flowers to our room before my wife's birthday and they said that would definitely take care of it. When I spoke to the concierge about it they told me they would take care of it (after showing them their email response to me). After checking in and going to our rooms at 4pm (check in is 3pm) we arrived at the hotel at 11am. There was nothing special in our room. Sad!!! Later I go to the spa and ask about a couples massage for my wife's birthday later in the week. The 2 young girls at the desk greet me with her head down and says how can I help you. As I try to book the messages I start to ask questions so "

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"Will stay here again."

"This resort is beautiful. The views are stunning. However, we have stayed at 2 other all inclusive resorts previously and this was far different than those experiences. Barceló Barvaro Palace boasts it is an all inclusive resort with many restaurants, bars, rooms with mini bars included, etc. The only restaurants that you could go to without reservations for dinner were buffets. The Sports bar had a buffet with a terrible stench and awful food. It was the restaurant which was open 24/7. We got reservations the second day and had terrible times for the restaurants, 9:00, 10:15, 10:15. The mini bar in our room had two liter size water bottles for 4 people, 2 cokes, 1 sprite, 2 small presidente beers, and a club soda daily. We had exactly 4 bath towels, 4 hand towels. We did have robes and slippers. We learned while watching the nightly show that the resort had two levels of all inclusive. Regular and Premium. Premium was the ocean view, probably alcohol in the room, etc. A butler to assist with making reservations to get into the almost impossible to get into restaurants. We had regular all inclusive and were not going to spend an additional $200 plus more per day. The food at most of the restaurants was not good. It was disappointing for the money we spent. The ocean was amazing. The pools were beautiful. My daughter loved volleyball and my son enjoyed the casino, but did not win. The weather was 83 degrees, sunny, and beautiul. "

"Overall very nice experience. Dinner reservations require planning at least 2 or 3 days ahead, otherwise you’re stuck with the buffets. Noticed that even if reservations were full they would be half empty. There’s different levels of access, so be aware of that. The staff is extremely friendly and accommodating. The door of my balcony couldn’t lock, however, I did feel safe enough not to press the issue. If that is something that concerns you, make sure to ask staff or bring something of your own to secure the door. When they came to clean our rooms they only really made up the beds, trash and other things strewn about the room would remain untouched. Don’t expect them to clean up after you. They have events, but I found they were mostly catered to families with kids, which I didn’t really mind, just something to keep in the back of your head as you plan for a trip here. The WiFi would randomly kick you off which was annoying, but when it worked it was pretty good. I recommend buying the premium WiFi, even if you’re staying for less than 7 days. The food left something to be desired, but the one restaurant I was able to book, Samsara, was something I would eat again. I would come back to this resort, but I’m sure there’s better options out there. "

"excellent "

"Great staff. Family friendly. Breakfast and lunch choices are limited. Dinners were great. We would return. "

"Resort was nice but a little dated. They constantly tried to get us to join their premiere program for discounts to be able to avoid using Expedia."

"It was a nice place to visit and the staff was great. Needs some maintenance but overall a good trip. "