On just returning from what was meant to be the best day of any mothers life, i just thought i should warn anyone thinking of getting married or even just holidaying in this hell hole of a resort.
we went here for my sons wedding, the dream wedding everyone dreams of, white sand blue seas, oh yes lovely only to have it become our worst nightmare which is what happened to us from the day we booked it really, let me explain roughly.
My son and his fiance scanned many brouchures and decided to go with First Choice as their wedding package was the best by far and what they said about the resort it was worth the money.HaHa what a joke,all the wedding package that is in the brouchure no longer exists in Dominican Republic, infact it hasnt dont since before 2007, so everything the couple paid extra for they never got, ie chose of wedding cake, chose of flowers, chose of wedding date, they could only choose the colours and give 3 dates they would like but werent told of the actual date till they got there.
Was given the wrong email address if they needed to get hold of their wedding co-ordinator by First Choice.
The wedding parties flight tickets were lost in the post and 2 days before we flew the tickets were still not available and i have to pay to have them to be couriered to the shop,even then there was problems at check in which took 3 people and 2 check in desks to sort out all through the fault of First Choice.So do not believe their wedding brouchure at all,
also if you have or do book a wedding with this dreadful company please please do not use the solicitor they advise you to as when he done the couples translation he failed to legalise it thus causing the couple major problems and the loss of the original legal documents, ie birth certs which we are in the prossess of trying to get back with a big fight again through the fault of First Choice.
Now for the resort, if you have money that you can afford to waste then by all means go here, but otherwise dont go, its states in the brochure All Inclusive, never in a million years, the only food you can get throughout the day is pizza unless you want to fight the locals for the bread rolls and a slice of cake.
The brouchure also states its a four star, i would give it one what the other 3 are for god knows.The rooms are damp dull and dark.At the weekend be prepared to go out of your resort to one of the other hotels as you wont get a sunbed and the only way youll eat is by qeueing for ages or having what is left over.
the brochure says five hotels, this is true but you can only use three.
The carib is not equipped for weddings or large parties, it took us an hour to check in as they had not resrved the right number of rooms and could not understand english well enough to comprehend.
my son and his fiance had nothing but trouble due to the fact that they never saw a wedding co-ordinator for 6 days even though they were told they would see one on the day of arrival, but the annoying part was when they were seen it was by an office girl from the wedding office who had never done a wedding.
The hotel was putting things on their bill that should of been free due to the wedding package but that didnt exist.
They never got their honeymoon suite on arrival and the basket of fruit was just chooped up fruit from the buffet on a dinner plate wrapped in clingfilm, (wow thanks caribelast of the big spenders).
I could go on but i think you should have a rough idea now what this place is really like, so please to all you mothers and fathers whose daughters or sons are thinking of getting married here please sway them to somewhere else as i would not like anyone to go through what my son and his new wife went through along with the rest of their families as in one way or oanother we were all affected by this nightmare.
Thank you for taking the time to read this

The food was horrible (very few things on the menu were mediocre at best). The rooms had a moldy odor and were rundown. I've stayed at 4-star hotels many times before, and this IS NOT one of them. I suggest look elsewhere!

Don't stay here the service was the pits. When we arrived our lock was broken, took three days to fix it. Would not put us in a another room, claimed they were all booked. Booked thru Apple Vacations and they were no help at all. Never Again.

We just got back from Barcelo Bavaro Caribe Beach in Punta Cana. We have stayed @ the Barcelo Maya 6 times on the Mayan Riv.. It was always wonderful.
The Punta Cana facility has the worst service, condescending attitudes of the workers, no beer, flat beer, no coke,no ability to speak English, NO service, can't get change, cold food, not enough food,POOR room servicing,etc., not to mention the rudeness of the other guests - Horrible considering the beauty of the facility & great beach - We will NOT EVER go back to this Resort!
The ONLY restaurant worth eating at is the Mexican one, run by Jorge Rodriguez & Sonja Valdez - two TREASURES to their corp. & they should be Commended for the service THEY & ONLY they provided us - Promote them to management & FIRE the rest of the staff!
Also, the Thimble Jelly Fish are TERRIBLE in April - I'm STILL scratching!
We are VERY unhappy with where we spent $3000.00!
Very disappointed,
Jess & Nancy room 7332, 4/5 to 4/14, 2008