Our family vacation at Royalton Bavaro Resort (review)

In order to help us get through the cold Canadian winter, we usually go away to an all-inclusive resort each winter season. In the past we have been to Azul resorts and loved them, and we were thinking of trying something new this time around.

I reached out to a travel agent and told her we wanted a resort comparable to Azul – good food, good amenities, modern, with great service and a great kids club. She then recommended that we check out the (fairly new, built in 2017) Royalton Bavaro resort in Punta Cana Dominican. One of the biggest draws was that it’s about a 30 min. drive from the airport. Here’s my review of our experience there.

Accommodations

As a family of 5, spacious accommodations were important for us. We initially booked a suite room. It’s basically two rooms in one, with the main room having a small kitchenette / bar area, dining room table, and a living room / pull out couch. A door opens up to a separate bedroom and full bathroom. This room is extremely spacious! However… upon arrival we asked to see if we could get a swim-out room instead. Since they weren’t at capacity during our stay, they were able to accommodate us. This type of room is called a Luxury Junior suite. It’s one long room that has two queen size beds and a pull-out couch. However, we didn’t really need much room. The only time we spent in the room was to sleep in. The rest of the time we were in our balcony or in the swim-out pool. We used it so often, that it was the right decision for us. I would totally book this same room for our next visit.

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Food

This is a big one for me. Ever since we stayed at Azul resort 5 years ago, we have become used to expecting great food at resorts. Azul is all about a-la-carte meals and everything always tastes so delicious there. While Royalton food was good, and it does have 6 a-la-carte restaurants to choose from, it wasn’t comparable to Azul. I should mention that we didn’t eat at two of the restaurants; the Brazilian (Rio Rodizio) and (Hunter) steakhouse restaurants since we were trying to stick to our vegetarian diet as much as possible.

It took me a few days to figure out how to find the food that I liked and it turned out that the buffet was the best option for me for lunch and dinner as it had the most vegan options (both grilled vegetables, and salad variety including raw veggies and beans). For dinner, we usually went to the Italian restaurant – Grazie. There’s plenty of pasta and pizza options that were a hit with both the adults and kids. Just a warning that while the kids meals come out almost immediately, the adult meals tend to come out MUCH LATER, so your kids may grow tired and bored by the time you actually get your meal.

The breakfast buffet has a ton of variety and 3 grilling stations to make your eggs. There’s also a drink station that makes smoothies and near the fruits you can find a variety of pre-made healthy juices. However, there’s also lots of sweet options that are enticing for the kids. Namely, the donuts wall! Their kid-friendly options include crepes, french-toast, and small pancakes. They also have bagels and cream cheese, and a variety of cereals. John highly recommends slicing up their bread loafs as it’s super fresh and delicious.

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TIP: While not well known, another option for food is ordering room service. There is no menu, but you can typically ask for anything that you feel like and they will tell you if it’s available or not or what an alternative option might be.

While you don’t have to make reservations at the restaurants (they are first come, first serve), you will need reservations for the teppanyaki table (Zen restaurant). It was fun and a great meal but you will need to line up for it at 8am by the coffee bar. However, you can come and eat at this restaurant (sushi and Japanese style) any time without reservations. Score restaurant by the main lobby offers pub-style food with TV’s for viewing sports games. The kids enjoyed playing pool table there but the food wasn’t amazing (they do serve Poutine though). By the infinity pool near the beach, there is a food truck that serves hot dogs, burgers and french fries daily (open before the lunch buffet). There is also a rotating menu for daily specials like fish tacos and chicken gyros. You can also grab ‘take-out’ pizza from Grazie for lunch and bring it pool side. The other restaurant for dinner is Oceanside which offers seafood options. If you’re a Diamond Club member you can also have your breakfast here.

Lastly (but I would say most importantly), there’s a cafe lounge by the main lobby. Here you can order a variety of different coffees, teas and get both soft-serve and gelato ice-cream. They also fill up their case with a variety of pastries & small sandwiches throughout the day. My personal favourites were the chocolate dipped strawberries.

Pools

This is where this resort has a hands-up on Azul. There are so many great pool options at Royalton. There are two main pools I would say. The infinity pool by the beach seems to be the busiest (with a swim up bar). The second main pool is just a few feet behind the infinity pool. This one is where most of the activities run by the staff take place (bingo, foam parties, pool exercises, various pool games, etc…). This one is usually only busy during activity times. There’s also two kid pool areas. One that is shallow with a covering and another that is complete with slides, bucket dumps and various apparatus that shoot out water. Last, but not least, is the lazy river. Probably the kids favourite ‘pool’. The best part is that it’s not deep so Nathan felt super comfortable in here (even without his floaties). You can also find a swim-up bar in here (a fun spot). But watch out, there’s a lot of water falls along the way so you will NOT stay dry.

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Other activities

Other fun activities include:

1. Flowrider – where you can either bodyboard or surf. It’s so much fun for kids and adults alike. I recommend that you show up in the morning as it’s not as busy. They open up at 9:30 (and take a break for lunch between 12-2). The lifeguards are super helpful and nice and if you have a little one, you can ask the lifeguard to go on the board with your child for a safe and fun ride.
2. Mini-golf – Located behind the kids water-slide pool, this is a fun activity for the whole family. It’s first come, first serve, but we never had to wait when we played. Kyle would often go here on his own with a friend he met at the resort.
3. Kids-club – The room has 3 smaller rooms divided into video games, movie and arts and crafts. In the main room there is a foosball table, a large connect 4 game and an air hockey table. My boys didn’t love spending time here because they didn’t like the video games that they had. Whenever we came into the kids club, the staff seemed completely disinterested in doing anything but sitting in the front desk. Personally, I wouldn’t leave my kids here unless they requested that we do. However, another family that we met told us that her son begged her to leave him there. So it really depends. On a few occasions, we did see the staff take the kids down to the pool area for a few activities. Apparently, Max & Ruby characters come for a visit but we never saw them. Outside the kids club area is a large playground, basketball court, and a teen club that has ping-pong, pool tables and tables with chairs. The kids enjoyed spending some time here too.
4. Entertainment – besides the various (mostly family-friendly) activities the staff held around the beach and pool area, there was nightly entertainment as well. For the most part, we never stayed because the kids were exhausted by the time they would start (8pm). One night we watched some of the circus show which was pretty cool. Another night, we watched a dance show, but the boys didn’t like it because of the skimpy outfits and some of the provocative dance moves so we just left early. Also, across from the entertainment stage they have a martini bar that’s great for adults.

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Service

While not terrible, I would say that overall, the service doesn’t compare to that that we’ve experienced in Mexico. I think it mostly has to do with cultural differences. However, I did find that the staff here is a little too pushy and salesy. The resort also operates as a time share and they want to try to get you to buy in on that. We just said that we weren’t interested in meeting with them to talk about it (they said it only takes 20 minutes, but I’m sure it’s longer). They try to rope you in by promising a gift basket. It just wasn’t how we wanted to spend our time there. They also have vendors come in twice a week to sell goods on the resort property. For the most part they are super friendly, but they can be very persistent. It’s something that I’m used to culturally, but if you’re not, just be prepared.

Another thing to note is that the mini-bar in your room is handled by a separate department than the cleaning lady. I found that we had to call the mini-bar department daily to ask them to come and re-fill our fridge. Kind of annoying that they didn’t just do it automatically. So if you’re tipping, make sure to consider tipping both the mini-bar employees as well as the house cleaning staff (and we often tipped if we ordered room service too).

While we didn’t do any excursions, there is plenty of staff onsite to help you with that. Whether it’s through your travel company (i.e. Air Canada) or there’s a big Sunwing store by the lobby.

Diamond Club

This is an add-on feature. We didn’t get it (because it wasn’t available to us at the time of booking). However, when you sign up for Diamond Club (additional $500 I believe), you get certain privileges and add-ons which include: accommodation in a specific area of the resort (north, beach side), access to a private part of the beach, including beach cabanas, a pool and bar for diamond club members only. Access to a restaurant in that building and breakfast provided in the Oceanside restaurant (not available to the other guests). You also receive premium beverages, wine stocked in your mini-bar, and access to a sister hotel that has a big water park in it.

Personally, we never felt like we missed out on anything not having it, but we spoke to a family that did have it, and they loved it. If you are thinking of getting it, do it before you arrive. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay for it in US dollars.

Conculsion

Overall, I would definitely return back to this resort. I would give it a 4 out of 5. I feel like the Royalton in Mexico would be AAAAMAZING!! While the food and service could be improved, I love the beach here and the size of the resort is just perfect (not too big, not too small).

I would love to hear from you. If you’ve been here, how would you rate this resort? What are some of the highs & lows from your experience?