My experience in the Dominican Republic

[rezadue]

Over the Christmas holidays the in laws and my wife and daughter took a vacation in Punta Cana and chose to stay at the Barcelo resorts since they had their own course on site and we could play for free. The following is my impression during my stay. I know others have been there and have had varying degrees of satisfaction, but this is my experience only:


Flights:
We took a package with Transat. However, the flights were operated by Canjet. Going there the flight was delayed by an hour two days ahead of time, but noone called to let us know. Coming back, even though the flight was supposed to be at 12:00 they asked us to check out at 7:15 and we were picked up at 8:15 am, getting to the airport by 9:00. We stood in line until approximately 11:00am before we got our boarding passes even though we were the third people in line!

The staff at the airport spent most of the morning chatting and talking on their cell phones rather than work. Once we got to the departure lounge we sat with no one telling us about any delays until 2:30 pm. Evey time I asked someone, they said they would look into the departture time and would let people know. That never came! One airport person tried to tell me that board times on your ticket were "suggested times" not scheduled times. That really made me mad!!!

The departure lounge did not have a place to exchange currency and they did not accept Canadian dollars. On the flight back the attendant wanted to charge me 2 dollars for wanting to drinkl a whole can of Coke instead of getting a cupfull! - So the flights get an F.

Hotel/Resort:
We stayed for 1 week in the Bavaro Beach ersort. For those of you who are not familiar with the resort, you have 5 resorts into one. Bacelo Bavaro Caribe Beach, Barcelo Beach, Barcelo Casino, Barcelo golf and Barcelo premium which are all in one big compound. Anyone who stays at any of the first 4 resorts can freely use the facilities, bars and restaurants of the 4 resorts. This is good because you get a large number of restaurants and bars even though they are all basically the same. However, the premium resort can only be accessed by the premium resort residents.

There is a Steak; seafood and a mexican themed restaurant and there is a disco ;and as I mentioned a casino. So all and all it is not bad. I was very unimpressed with our rooms though as TV reception was almost non existent, the phones had so much static you could not hear the person at the front desk and the air conditioners had an awefully loud noise which kept us up more than it helped cool our rooms down. There were also little critters in our room! Not so impressive for a 4* hotel.

The childrens play structure had rotten and broken wood pieces with rusty nails hanging out of the spasly populated railing (10feet of the ground) - I would only give the resort a D.

Service/Staff:
Maybe I was spoiled by the awesome staff at the resort I stayed at the previous year (Paradisus Varadero in Cuba); but I was not happy at all about the service. Most of the people who worked there either did not speak English or French, or pretended not to understand you. When you asked them a question they just answered with Spanish. When you asked them in Spanish (my brother in law speaks some) they were just snooty in their response. Almost all of the staff were unfriendly and unhelpful no matter how nice or polite were were. We got more response out of them when we ordered them to do something - which I was not comfortable with.

Their favorite term was "NO" which they said often and with ease. Most time they did not even wait for us to even finish our sentence. No one went ourt of their way to be helpful. As an example they day we checked in we got there at 2:45pm. We were told we have 15 minutes to check in before they stopped serving us lunch. But they did not try to process us through the check in fast so we could eat. We hurried to the dining lounge just as they were removing everything; and were were told they ran out of beer!!!! Even though right next door in the Cabanas and right next door in the other restaurants they had tons of beer!!!! I asked for juice for my 2 year old only to be told NO. when were were in Cuba, most of the staff spoke multiple languages and were very friendly and polite and helpful. the staff at Barcelo got an F. If I could give them a lower mark I would!

Golf:
This was probably the lone and only saving grace of the whole trip. For a one week stay at the resport each person I entitiled to 3 "Free" round of golf. But you can easily go and play everyday. I got 5 rounds in. So did my brother in law. The only catch is that before 2:00 pm you must rent a cart which is $50 U.S.D. They do give you a cooler full of ice and water and beer though! After 2:00pm you can walk the course but it is long and there is some walking between some holes and quite hot! So that may not be the best option.

The course itself is pretty good with soft fairways and greens. First cut is not grass though. It is something else and then you have a rough that can not only eat balls, it can eat people too. It is really really dense. The course workers do approch you to sell you 20 balls for $10 U.S.D. from time to time. We bargained them to $3. Howevey they now know about Titleist balls and none of the bags had any of those. Most were Top flites but my bag had one Callaway in it.

There is plenty of security guards at the course and the course is fun and challenging to play. As for the overall shape of the course it certainly was better than a place like Irish Hills and much softer. It went a bit brownish by the end of our stay as they don't frequently water the course. The greens were all in good shape except for 1 which had some raggedy spots. I would give me golf experience a sold B.

Overall: If not for the golf, I would have been very unhappy with my trip. Golf was the only thing that made it worthwhile.

I hope this helps others who may be looking at this resort at a destination.

Reza

[John]

Well after reading that i don't think i would ever consider vacationing there, golf or no golf!

[rezadue]

John,

Other people have noted better quality. There were other Canadians who had been there multiple times and they mentioned that the service was not up to par this year.

You may have better luck.

BTW, I was told that I would have to wake up very early in the morning to book good tee times, but the resort was very quiet in the week before christmas and I had no problems booking premium tee times in the afternoon for the following day.

Reza

[gbower]

I have been there three times and would go back in a flash. We always got checked in with no problem and when the flights are late you always, whereever I've gone, have to checkout early. They leave plenty of extra time to get to the airport as the lines are long checking in and you have to realize you are in the DR. Our last trip we were delayed and at our breifing when we arrived they told us that if there was it would be posted and it was so they picked us up a couple of hours later. We have always stayed at the Casino right on the golf course and the rooms have been fine. I've never worried about the TV as we haven't been in the rooms that much so watching television wasn't a concern. Again you're in the DR. As far as service we have been extremely pleased. One instance my wife had set the safe combination and must have set a wrong number and couldn't remember. I went to the front desk and mentioned it and within five minutes of getting back to the room the manager was there with his safe breaking in computer and fixed us up fine. One problem I have found is if you're cheap and don't tip some of the people you can wait around for a while. At the bars a small tip goes a long ways. In the room for extra drinks in the fridge a small tip goes a long ways. I've seen a lot of people treat the hotel people like crap and that just doesn't work in my books.
As far as the flights I usually fly AC and have not had a problem. I've gone twice late in the AC travel time and have caught the last flight back from PC and it's kind of neat as they fly down empty to pick up people and twice we left over an hour early for the trip back. They did this as everyone was at the airport early and checked in and were more than willing to board early.

Just my $.02 worth and again I'd go back any time.

[LobWedge]

I have been there three times and would go back in a flash. We always got checked in with no problem and when the flights are late you always, whereever I've gone, have to checkout early. They leave plenty of extra time to get to the airport as the lines are long checking in and you have to realize you are in the DR. Our last trip we were delayed and at our breifing when we arrived they told us that if there was it would be posted and it was so they picked us up a couple of hours later. We have always stayed at the Casino right on the golf course and the rooms have been fine. I've never worried about the TV as we haven't been in the rooms that much so watching television wasn't a concern. Again you're in the DR. As far as service we have been extremely pleased. One instance my wife had set the safe combination and must have set a wrong number and couldn't remember. I went to the front desk and mentioned it and within five minutes of getting back to the room the manager was there with his safe breaking in computer and fixed us up fine. One problem I have found is if you're cheap and don't tip some of the people you can wait around for a while. At the bars a small tip goes a long ways. In the room for extra drinks in the fridge a small tip goes a long ways. I've seen a lot of people treat the hotel people like crap and that just doesn't work in my books.
As far as the flights I usually fly AC and have not had a problem. I've gone twice late in the AC travel time and have caught the last flight back from PC and it's kind of neat as they fly down empty to pick up people and twice we left over an hour early for the trip back. They did this as everyone was at the airport early and checked in and were more than willing to board early.

Just my $.02 worth and again I'd go back any time.

Where did you stay? I'm heading to Punta Cana on Saturday (no golf unfortunately ). We're staying at the Iberostar Bavaro Beach. 95% of the reviews I've read online say it's a great place. I can't wait to get some R & R in the sun.

[gbower]

I stayed the same place as rezadue, the Barcelo Bavaro Resort. I think any of the places on the Bavaro beach are good. It's a great beach that you can walk for quite a while on the nice white sand. The reef out about a mile keeps the beach very calm which is nice. Enjoy and have a good holiday. We decided on a month in Florida this year and although it's cool right now down here it's absolutely perfect golf weather. Had another good game today.

[LobWedge]

I stayed the same place as rezadue, the Barcelo Bavaro Resort. I think any of the places on the Bavaro beach are good. It's a great beach that you can walk for quite a while on the nice white sand. The reef out about a mile keeps the beach very calm which is nice. Enjoy and have a good holiday. We decided on a month in Florida this year and although it's cool right now down here it's absolutely perfect golf weather. Had another good game today.

Thanks.

[rezadue]

As I mentioned before this is my personal experience and others have had varying degrees of satisfaction.

As for being cheap, I used to be in the service industry myself and know how to treat servers and bartenders and such.

As I mentioned other people who stayed at the same resort said it was not up to its usual par.

And as for flights, when a flight is suppposed to leave at 12:00 and it does not leave until 2:30 and no explanation is given or announcement made and then you are told boarding times are "suggested times" !!!! I am sorry that is plain ignorant.

Just because you are in the DR is not a good enough excuse for my experience from above. Cuba was orders of magnitude better.

[jeffc]

We were in Punta Cana 4 years ago. Stayed at the Paradisus. Fantastic resort, everything was great. Awesome rooms, no issues with the staff, flights, etc. Food was great, drinks were even better. Beach was fantastic and the pool was massive. No golf though, just chilled at the resort for a week. Never even left to go on a tour or anything.

Was in Cuba as well 2 years ago, Veradero at the Sandals Royal Hicacos. Another amazing resort. Well worth the trip there.

[sharkhark]

Where did you stay? I'm heading to Punta Cana on Saturday (no golf unfortunately ). We're staying at the Iberostar Bavaro Beach. 95% of the reviews I've read online say it's a great place. I can't wait to get some R & R in the sun.

I find it very rare to get a bad experience thru iberostar. Many of my trips have been with them, and are excellent.

I didn't enjoy DR when I went, too isolated, I like a town to go into, and you are very aware of just how poor the people are.
Not hidden like other countries, kids jumping up to hang on bus on way to resort as bus speeds away, beggin for money.
Broke my heart.

But iberostar, especially in punta cana should be good. Nice beautiful water.

[SIMMER]

I will be staying at Grand Paradise Bavaro Beach. All I expect out of this trip is nice weather and have nothing stolen from me.