Our family vacation in Punta Cana: Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe Resort

A distant memory now, but last month my family and I spent a week at Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe resort in Punta Cana Dominican. Every winter we try to go on a family getaway down south to soak in some sun before the cold (and typically) harsh weather. Last year we went to Azul Five in Mexico and just loved our experience there. We would have gone back but thought it would be nice to experience a new country. After several recommendations from close friends (who enjoy similar travel destinations and amenities as we do), we decided to book at Barcelo. As it happened, those same friends had booked their family trip around the same time so we enjoyed some overlapping days with them. Here’s my review of our experience:

Resort / Rooms

While large in size, the resort felt much smaller than other resorts where we’ve stayed. It also didn’t feel too busy even though it was pretty full. The resort has some older rooms that make it a bit of a hike to get to the main pool and beach area and to the main lobby, restaurants and buffets. However, we stayed in the newer rooms (building 5) that were located within a few minutes walk of all amenities including the kids pool.We stayed in a family junior suite which had two separate rooms, each with its own bathroom. This was perfect for our family of five.  

We had a nice, wide balcony that came with a Jacuzzi hot tub that was perfect for bathing the kids! Nice to have amenities included bathrobes and slippers for both adults and kids and a stocked fridge that included milk, juice-boxes for the kids, a variety of pop cans and beer.  They also leave big bottles of water and individual-size bags of cereal, peanuts and granola mix for snacking.

Pools

The hotel has an adult-only pool (separate from the adult-only section of the resort), a pool with a swim-up bar, a “sports” pool for playing water games, another deep pool and two shallow kids pools. One kids pool is across from the buffet and is small in size.

The other kids pool, separate from the main pool areas, was larger and came with its own bar area that was perfect for kids. They do a great job catering to kids here compared to the other pool bars where the servers are more focused on adults and had no clue how to create creative drinks for kids.

There is another “water slide” pool area on the resort but you need to pay an entrance fee, except for your first day at the resort. It’s $15 per person but I believe there’s a coupon that they give you at check-in that you can use and then it’s only $10 per person. This pool, known as the pirate ship, includes a wave pool and several large slides. Note: there is no bar or towel service at this pool.

Food

This is probably one of the highlights of the resort. For breakfast and lunch, you can enjoy a great buffet full of amazing creations. There are tons of great options for those who want to eat a light or healthy breakfast. The desserts are bountiful and besides looking amazing, they taste great too!

While you could eat at the buffet for dinner too, you shouldn’t, there are 9 restaurants on the premise including: Japanese (teppanyaki style or sit-down sushi), Mexican, Italian, Steak-house, Spanish and Seafood.  There is also a French restaurant, but it costs extra (we didn’t try it), and a sports buffet-style restaurant that is open 24 hours/day (parents, take note). Another well kept secret is that there is an additional restaurant at the golf course that we tried for lunch one day. It’s quieter than most other restaurants so if you need to get away from the crowds, go there!

 

Kids-Club

The kids-club at first glance seems like a great addition for the resort. It included two ball pits (one for bigger kids and one for infants), LOTS of screens for playing video games, a TV screen for movies and a big fenced playground surrounded by sand. We liked escaping here when we needed to get out of the sun for a few hours or for a change of scenery. If you want to, you can drop off your kids (ages 3+) from 9 AM through midnight for free of charge. We did so for one night while enjoying an adult-only dinner and I have to say I wouldn’t recommend it. The staff barely paid any attention to the kids or offered them anything to drink. We also didn’t feel that the staff was ensuring that the kids are safe (there was some bullying going on when our kids were there). We did hire a babysitter to the room (for $15 an hour) for our youngest son and that worked okay except she didn’t speak any English so it was hard communicating with her.

 

Other Amenities

The resort had some other cool amenities including commercial golf simulators, lazer tag, and a pretty cool golf course that my husband and his buddies enjoyed for a morning (at an additional cost).

There are several shops located in the main lobby area and near the golf club. While there is nightly entertainment, we didn’t go to any as we were usually eating dinner during the early show (around 7PM) or in bed by the late show (around 10PM). We did hear them rehearse throughout the day, and they sounded great. The auditorium for the performances is huge to accommodate large crowds. Water activities like kayaking and windsurfing are included. However, there is a great activity desk on the beach where you can get a soccer ball, volleyball or play ping-pong along with other great activities / games. There is also a shuffle board, bocce ball and a large chess board there too.

Of course I have to mention the great beach. The water wasn’t very deep and wasn’t rough at all so our boys could enjoy making sandcastles and playing in the shallow water.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this resort to families but with the caveat that the service here isn’t great. It seemed like the staff felt like they were doing us a favour most of the time when we requested anything. Regardless, we had a great time and at the end, we wished we could have stayed longer. For some reason, a 7-day trip never seems enough for me. I’m already planning our trip for next year. Any recommendations?