Barcelo Bavaro Beach - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

14656 reviews

• 

  Lots of families

  Beach is clean. Lounge chairs were easy to find on the beach, but were full by the pools. This resort still uses towel cards, which is a way to get the guests to pick them up instead of staff doing it. There is no beach or poolside beverage service. Bar staff are pleasant and busy (Perla and Juan at the adult pool)! The resort is family-friendly and has adult-only areas including a pool for swimming lengths. Food is ok at the buffets. La Brisa and the Mexican restaurant were very good. The food at the Italian restaurant was poor. The rooms and the resort overall were clean. There are uniformed security staff throughout the resort as well as life guards near pools and the marked areas for swimming at the beach.

  Jan 25, 2025
• 

  Beach vacation

  The resort was good. A few hiccups to start but these were resolved quickly. Seeing turtles daily was a highlight. Generally easy to find chairs on the beach but chairs by the pool were all reserved before breakfast. I’ll take the beach over the pool any day.

  Jan 23, 2025
• 

  Barcelo Bottom Feeder

  Food = Average Dealing with food poisoning was very poorly handled by the Premium and Excursion desk. We ate at the French restaurant on Thursday night. That evening, I experienced aches, chills, fever, diarrhea and bloating. I remained in bed through Saturday morning when I was finally able to take in water and small amounts of food. While we are aware these things can occur, what incensed us was the way my wife was handled by your excursions representative on Thursday morning. The day before we had booked a boat ride with a Friday am show time of 0825. My wife went early to let them know I was sick. When rep showed up, he proceeded to hard line her with no refunds and to move to the next day's excursion. She continued to emphasize that I was extremely sick and not at all likely to get better before our departure. He demanded a note from a doctor as proof and was only willing to refund 60% and told my wife she had to sign the receipt. On Saturday morning, when I was able to depart the room, we asked to speak to a manager at the Premium desk. While not immediately available, we were later told by staff that because my wife signed a receipt, nothing could be done for us. We would not be receiving a refund. Further, we had to push for the Premium desk to document the food poisoning incident. Even though they said they reported it, they asked no questions regarding the specific time and what each of us ate. Very suspect handling... This is NOT "premium" service and not how we expect to be treated as repeat Barcelo customers. Place more signage indicating that lounge chairs cannot be reserved or held while guests leave for other activities. My wife was verbally accosted by guests that had placed just a towel holder on 4 chairs early in the morning. 2 hours after we saw this, my wife went out to sit on the beach and no chairs were available. She sat in one of the "reserved" chairs and within 5 minutes was approached by 4 guests who aggressively indicated she should leave. Though she reminded them they could not reserve and the chairs had been unused for over 2 hours, they made it clear she should move. When she put her towel on the ground near the chairs to at least sit on the beach, one of the women walked across the towel and kicked sand on it. My wife took the higher ground, but Barcelo must take a more proactive and engaged stance on this guest behavior. Smoking/vaping signage needs to be expanded and should not be allowed in eating areas

  Jan 22, 2025
• 

  Our Stay

  Would have been easier if a communication barrier did not exist. I would imagine a large portion of your guest speak only English. I expected the staff would know basic English. Food-serve better salad dressings like RANCH, French, Italian. Serve COLD real milk. Beach is wonderful. Housekeeping wonderful.

  Jan 21, 2025
• 

  Dated room, bad food. Bad drinks.

  I am going to start with the positive. The beach, pool, and surroundings are beautiful, but that’s where it stops. Upon checking in as a “premier” guest, we were escorted to our oceanfront room (which is about the only difference from a normal booking). Walked in to a completely outdated and musty smelling room. I’m trying to be ok, because honestly, I’m really not a fancy or fussy person, so I just smile. When he leaves I was like well, I guess this is it for the week and just laughed it off. We first went over to La Brisa for a late lunch. We were completely ignored, no one served us drinks , so we got up and got our own, then proceeded to grab some food. Not good. That’s all i can say. We made reservations at the Santa Fe steakhouse, dolce vita Italian, Mexican, and international restaurant. Starting with Santa Fe, not good service, only wine and beer options and food came out cold and steak couldn’t be tougher although wasn’t expecting much. Dolce Vita. Great service, only beer and wine, mediocre food and saw a mouse running across the floor. Lol Mexican, was the best service, wish I remembered her name , she was lovely… food decent. Great service . International restaurant, my birthday… went and got served appetizers and again only beer / wine. Two hours later, yes 2 hours , I was so pissed, we walked out. Our toilet overflowed and they didn’t come for about 5-6 hrs later after we complained cuz it had been 41/2 hrs… who doesn’t want their own toilet to work?. The drinks are watered down…except my husband did like the espresso martinis at the lobby bar. Food overall was mediocre at best. We ate at caribe for most breakfasts and lunches where people were friendly. Julio the manager called to try and make us happy after my travel agent called and let them know our displeasure. He was friendly , but honestly , there wasn’t anything he could do other than give me some sort of refund to make up for this. He sent a charcuterie plate and some chocolate covered strawberries which was nice, but in return, everything was covered in ants. Yes i have photos. you can’t put lipstick on a pig. This place need serious upgrade. I’ve never written a bad review like this but feel very disappointed I chose here for my birthday. We hadn’t done an all inclusive for 20 years, and will never again.

  Jan 20, 2025