Cabarete Beach

The property is beautiful . Wonderful landscape. The air conditioning was hard to control so it was a little cold in our room. The staff was ok, but we had a few times when it took a long time to get attended to after we sat down to eat. The room service is not good. The options of food were very limited and it took a long time to get our food.

Our stay at Barceló Bávaro Palace was unfortunately very disappointing. There was a strong sewer smell in several areas of the resort, including the French restaurant, which requires an additional fee to dine at. While it didn’t bother us that many staff members spoke only Spanish, if you don’t speak Spanish there is a good chance your order may be misunderstood. This happened to us multiple times, and we were brought the wrong food on several occasions. The beds were extremely firm and uncomfortable. We even saw a cockroach inside the Asian restaurant next to my husband’s foot, which was very off-putting. The food throughout the resort was, for the most part, inedible. This was actually the first vacation I’ve ever taken where I lost weight. The liquor served is very low quality—think of the cheapest alcohol you drank as a young adult. The mojitos tasted like rubbing alcohol unless they were loaded with sugar. On the positive side, the main pool is very large and there was plenty of entertainment throughout the day. The complimentary kayaking was also a lot of fun. One thing to be aware of is that if you want real coffee, you’ll have to pay extra unless you upgrade to the Premium level. Even with the upgrade, the main benefits are the coffee and a more exclusive seating area—the food itself wasn’t noticeably better. If you do visit, I highly recommend booking the snorkeling excursion with the nurse sharks. It was by far the highlight of our trip.

Rooms are humid and have mold growing. If the air conditioning is not on it smells like mildew. Cleaners use the same bucket of bleach to mop the floor in each room. Bed felt moist and pillows smelled bad. I did not enjoy the room at all other than the nice view of the resort and ocean. The rest of the resort is gorgeous and staff are kind. Rui parties are fun and the beach is clean and beautiful. Lots of people trying to scam and sell you things sometimes took away from the experience. If you can say no you will be fine.