Just returned from the Catalonia Bavaro, really enjoyed our stay. For what we paid, it was total value for money. We've travelled to many different places around the world and have never got so much for our money.
We dined at all of the a la carte restaurants twice, the t-bone steak in the steak house was fantastic, the lamb and salmon in the italian were great, the japanese was an experience and the food was really good too, and the mexican was also really good. Although the food on the buffet was similar each night, there was so much to choose from, you could still have a completely different meal each night. The freshly made pasta sauces, where you choose your own ingredients, were gorgeous! At each meal time there were chefs cooking fresh food for you, at breakfast it was bacon, eggs, omelettes and pancakes, then at lunch and dinner there were pizzas, meat, seafood and lots of other things being prepared freshly in front of you.
You can never be bored at this resort as there is something to do from morning until evening, whether it was a volleyball tournament or a painting lesson, all organised by the activities staff, as well as all the water sports also on offer. But, at the same time if you want to lay back and relax, you can easily do this too! The activities staff are super-human, they do all these activities all day long in the heat, and then go on to put on the show at night and then the disco after that. It was nice to see that they made sure the few single people had a dance partner and they included them in the festivities, and the male staff were very gentlemanly and knew how to treat a lady!
The staff were all incredibly friendly and welcoming, and they work very hard, for very long hours.
We always felt very safe and never even saw or heard of any petty crime, which does sometimes happen in European resorts.
The rooms were really big by European standards, and very clean. The air-conditioning and free mini-bar were very handy in the heat! Anything we asked for came in Caribbean time, but it did come!
We did a free golf lesson one day, which was very good but it was maybe a little bit too hot to be doing that kind of thing! The golf course was beautiful and very well looked after. Golf clubs are available for hire at the resort.
I would highly recommend this resort to anyone, but remember you're going to the Caribbean, so chill!!

The Catalonia was a nice break, but the resort needs a break of its own. The rooms are almost in the need of a total remodel. The bathroom and the patio were the best aspects, but the hotel must not believe in hot water. Thankfully my room had just warm water, but my friends in another room was always cold. Also, we did not get any wash cloths until I asked for them and they only showed up that one day. One day we did not recieve any towel or hand towel, so I called guest relations and it took them about an hour to bring some to the room. The beadspeads were nasty. I never used one. They are the orginial from when the hotel opened.
The pool is great, but it is so large that it is difficult for the resort to keep it clean. An abundance of hair, bugs, and slim floated on the surface of the water. The beach is the best part of the Catalonia.
Dinning was good, but I am not a picky eater. My friends could only eat hot dogs and hambugers at the buffet, but the restaurants were okay. There is little variety although the buffets have different themes each nigh. Overall, I was glad to come home and eat some real food!
The staff was friendly, but most could not speak English. Do not expect to feel like you are some one special at this resort. There is no pampering like there should be at a four star hotel. I would rate it as a two.
Finally, I would not come back to the Catalonia even if I could go for free. There are many nicer hotels that are around the same price as the Catalonia in Punta Cana.

This was our first time to Punta Cana, found the beach to be spectacular along with the temperature and weather for mid June.
I would rate this hotel category a 4 to 4 ½ star without the sophistication of superiors buildings, rooms or furniture.
Check-in was fast, but getting to your room may get you into a sweat. We had building 18 by the beach and took quite a long time to get there carrying the luggage. I would recommend to wait for the hotel to taxi you over to the room.
The hotel grounds are manicured daily and include different types of tropical trees and birds. Strolling around the hotel grounds would give you a sensation of relaxation while admiring it.
The hotel rooms are spacious and furnished with simplicity. The bathroom shower was very small but manageable.
We found the food at the buffet to be tasty with a good variety.
The four restaurants the hotel has were nothing special, the food was ok and the ambiance a bit dull. The service personnel seemed over polite in performing their job (probably due to management).
The downside of this hotel for us was the isolation from the other hotels or cities. There is no where else to go unless you get personal transportation or go on excursions. Walking the beach away from the hotel is also not recommended as there are no other hotels.
Overall, the week long vacation at the Catalonia was very enjoyable.

This was my first time booking an entire trip through Expedia.com and I have to say I was pleased. All of the vouchers you need to print out went over very smoothly (apart from a parking voucher, which turned out to be for a park n' ride that we didn't park in; a $144 mistake!).
Most of the next comments echo what other reviewers have mentioned already, so I guess I'd just like to reiterate.

One of the pluses was that the resort was only 15-20 min. from the Punta Cana Airport. Some of the others were up to 45min to an hour away.
The hotel and grounds are very very nice. I was impressed. It is a fairly big place (to walk from our room, which was close to the beach, to the lobby/dining areas took about 5-10 minutes) with many little hotel buildings. Everyday there are so many groundskeepers and cleaning staff, most who greet you with a smile and a "Hola."
I was also pleasantly surprised with our room. A good size with nice amenities. Yes, the shower is small, and in the same room as the toilet. But you get a nice big round bathtub in the other washroom as well. The balcony is great! The one bad thing was the bed. Very hard!!!
I really enjoyed the beach area. They did a great job making that look nice. Lot's of palm trees, lots of lounge chairs, lots of white sand. The ocean water is somewhat clear, but they do need to remove seaweed every morning to make this possible. Not a big deal.
WARNING!!!: There were many Europeans there during our stay, which seems to be the time Europeans travel more. Having traveled to places like Australia, Bali an Thailand, I'm used to seeing women sunbathing with their tops off. But I'm sure most Americans are NOT. If you have kids, you may want to take note of this.
The pool area is probably one of the main focal points of the resort. I liked the beach better cuz it was more relaxing, but the pool area is great. Nice big bar area, half you can walk up to and the other half you can swim up to. Latin music playing loudly all day long with cheerful bartenders. The pool itself is really big, going off in different directions. Getting a shaded spot is tough on both the beach and pool, but I didn't want shade.

Food: In all honesty, I enjoyed the buffet the best. There are so many choices to pick from and it was pretty good, in my opinion. Fresh fruit, lots of cold salads, omelette stations, stations where they cook chicken or steak for you, pizza, pasta, rice, potato and vegetable dishes. Sadly I only went to breakfast once and really enjoyed the breakfast.
The 'fine dining' restaurants were a little annoying. While the idea is great, they fall well short of what they aim for. They rotate which nights certain ones are even open. You have to go to this customer service desk and pick which nights you want to eat and at what times. They stress closed shoes and pants for guys, which to me was stupid.
We only made it to the American, Japanese and Mexican restaurants. I think I liked the Mexican the best. Japanese was second and the American was just.... sad. The French one was closed when we were there. I heard good things about the Italian one which we failed to get to.
Oh, and the snack bar by the pool is good. It does the job. The pizzas are really good! The roasted chicken is good too. They also have hot dogs, french fries and tortilla chips with cheese sauce

There are plenty of activities to try to get involved with and the Animation team are pretty good at it. They work LONG hours everyday and have so much energy. I played a good 2 on 2 volleyball game one afternoon with one of the Animation team guys and 2 European guys.
I definitely would have taken advantage of the tennis courts and basketball court, but relaxing was just too good! There are also 2 pool tables and a ping pong table near the lobby bar.

We went to the Disco one night. It's pretty cool inside there, and I can imagine during Spring Break time it's nuts. There's a big dance floor in the middle with bar table seating around.

I think this resort is somewhere between 3 and a half and 4 stars. If it wasn't for the restaurant food, I'd give it 4. But food is an important part of vacation and sadly, it just wasn't up to par. But the grounds are wonderful, the pool is fun and the beach is great!

I'd really recommend this place for couples who are traveling with groups of friends. I wouldn't say it was the most romantic place I've been to, but it works fine for a week getaway I suppose. But if friends were with, I think it would be a blast.

Tours: We took 2 tours. Saona Island($85 pp) and Santo Domingo ($70 pp).
I have to say I was very disappointed with Saona Island after reading so many good reviews. They take you to some very cool spots on the speed boats where the water is ELECTRIC blue and teal and green. But the island itself did nothing for me. The rainy season definitely meant the mosquitoes were out and no joke, I had 5-10 bites on my back while going up to get something to drink once. You are fine in the sun on the beach, but when you have to go into the trees where the food/drink is, be careful. I'm sure it's fine in the dry season.
We really enjoyed Santo Domingo. I am fascinated seeing other cities and cultures so this trip was great. It's a very long day though.... We left the resort at 6:25 and didn't get back until 8:30. It's over 3 hours to get to Santo Domingo from Punta Cana, but the tour guide does a pretty good job talking about a lot of things most of the way. You also have to put up with a lot of people coming up to you trying to sell things. But I'm used to this and it's not a problem. You just have to be comfortable saying "No, Gracias."