first of all the trip itself was good because we made it good...my concerns were that the last 2 hours of my trip i spent fighting with the "manager"-joel. he charged us for the use of the internet when we didnt use the internet...we asked for proof that we used the internet and he said he did not have to show us it and when we said were goin to leave without paying he threatened us. he said " try leaving and see what is goin to happen to you" we were disgusted and we were forced to pay for it because our bus was leaving for the airport. writing this gets me angry and we almost got into a brawl with them. every single employee at the front desk was rude and they raised there voices at us
second when we got to the room there was no converter, the bed was broken on the left side, the toilet was broken, there was no towels...when we asked to come fix these things not one thing was fixed
thirdly they allow locals to come in the resort on the weekends and it ruins your trip because everywhere u go it is packed and good luck finding a seat to eat
if we didnt party hard this trip would have sucked i would not recommend it because of the problem we had with the manager

simple the best beach that i have been before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111


REALLY, the animation, the restaurants (except the mexican), the pool, the citizens.

I LOVE DOMINICAN PEOPLE.

My husband and I (both 30 years old) stayed at the Barcelo Dominican Beach from May 31 - June 7, 2008. We booked through WestJet vacations and paid $1169 per person (taxes in) for the trip. The hotel transfer was an additional $20 per person via the website. The tourist card ($10 on entry) and departure tax ($20) was included in the WestJet vacation package.

The hotel is a 20 minute bus ride from the airport. When we first checked in, we were given room 2403 (Block 2, 4th floor), which is right by the front desk. There is a $20 deposit fee to use the safety box. You get this money back at the end of your trip as long as you return the key. Block 2 and 3 are in the same building and right behind the main entertainment area so it gets quite noisy for the shows from 9pm-11pm daily. I would suggest anything in block 5 and up if you want less noise during those hours. In the first 2 days we were moved to 4 different rooms because of various problems (original room's safety box was broken, then we asked to be moved to a more quiet section, then the new room they gave us wasn't made up and when no one came after 4 hours we went to the reception desk where they upgraded us to a Tropical Junior Suite for the all the inconvenience). This made all the moving around worth it. We had a jacuzzi in the room with a king sized bed and we were 10 steps away from the beach!

FOOD:
There is only one main restaurant for buffet. The food was mediocre and the selection is small (compared to other resorts we have been to). The food was bascially the same day after day. The Bahia (Brazilian) restaurant offers a "mini" buffet selection during lunch time. There is a third buffet restaurant but it is in the Vera Club section (Italian folks) and I'm not even sure if we were allowed there, although we did not try.

The a la carte restaurants:
You make reservations at the front podium in the main buffet area. The only seating times available are 6pm or 8pm but if you show up after 9:30pm at any of the restaurants they will just seat you. There was no limit on the amount of reservations you were allowed. We made our reservations each day at 11am for the same evening with no problems.

Japanese restaurant - There is a grill at every table so the cook makes the food in front of you. They cook up beef, chicken, seafood, cut up veggies and fried rice. Each of the meats are cooked separately then combined with the veggies and then soy sauce is put on top. The food comes out all tasting the same - just salty. The dessert that is served is the same ones that come from the main buffet. I could have done without this meal.

Brazilian - I would recommend this. The food was simple but really good. The meat on the skewers were delicious.

Mexican - This was okay. Most of the items were deep fried. I loved the chips and gucamole.

Italian - This was good. The best part of the meal was the appetizers: meats, cheese, and the bread!! I ordered filet mignon with a grape sauce but what I got was more of a salsbury steak with gravy.

24 hour snack bar - All they ever had was pizza and popcorn. I saw hot dogs once or twice. They don't have a menu posted so you have no idea what is even offered. We ordered hamburgers once but the meat looked pink even after it was cooked twice.

Le Cafe - Great!! They have fantastic frappucinos - topped with whipped cream and drizzled in chocolate sauce...mmmm!


MISC

Beach - Ocean/beach itself is beautiful. Resort does not take care of its beach though. There was garbage (straws, cigarette butts, cups, broken glass) all over the place. No garbage cans to be seen around the beach. I never saw anyone walking around picking up garbage either.

Massages - Massage huts all over the resort. These are outdoor and in the open but there is a semi private hut near the 24 hour snack bar. They charge $30 an hour and it is worth it. We tipped $5 per person. The resort spa is separate building and they charge a lot more.

Things to bring (aside from the obvious) - Antibacterial hand soap for your room, spray air freshner, an alarm clock (or just a clock as they do no have them in any of the rooms), Cortizone (for heat rashes), Benadryl (to stop the itching from heat rash...lol), face cloths (we got these one day and never saw them again). We brought mosquito repellant and After Bite but did not see a real need to use this. We did however get some anti-Malaria pills from our doctor as there have been some outbreaks in the Punta Cana area this year.

Tipping - We tipped the maids $2 each day, $2 at the a la carte restaurants, and $2 per bag to the bell boys as they dragged our suitcases up 4 floors when we first got there. We did not frequent the bars so did not tip when we went up for the odd drink.

Over-all the trip was okay but a little disappointing. We did not go on vacation to party and get drunk all the time. It was more to relax, enjoy the beach, and have some decent food. Personally I would not go back to a Barcelo resort. I have found that the Occidental Grand and Bahia Principe chains to be much better. We normally go around this time every year and pay about $1500....so I guess you get what you pay for!

This place was absolute paradise! The staff was amazing and very friendly. We had an amazing time. I would definitely recommend this resort.