What a blast.......Hola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have travelled to many destinations as well as the Dominican 5 times. We had the best time here at the Barcelo Resort. The total vacation was exciting from the minute we arrived. The people were happy, pleasant and very accommodating, we couldn't ask for much better. The resort was clean and colourful room was clean when we weren't in it :=} not that we were in it much :=} The food was very good and alot of it, different menu every day. The desserts were creative and tasteeeeeeeeee :=} The pools were tempting but we are beach people :=} The staff were friendly, courteous and always wanting to make us feel at home or atleast part of their family. There was activities all day and night, never a dull moment. The adventures were also exciting especially the dune buggies at Jurassy adventures ( puddles) Rainy days are awesome :=} Thank you Nick for the great day out :=} We will be back Oh yes the cervazas were awesome Gracias Amigos :=} We will rate this a 4 HOLA :=} We would like to thank the staff and vacationers for an awesome week of smiles and HOLAS We will be known as the HOLA couple :=}

Booked the holiday with Thomas cook online. After reading the reviews we were worried about the rooms as they looked very basic and not what we are used to from a four star. Anyway the hotel itself has two pools one large pool and one small children's pool. There is a pool bar that serves drinks and is great, staff are friendly and the animation team are very lively and always get people off their sun loungers to join in with the aqua aerobics. The beach is clean and the hotel is right next to it. The hotel has a number of ala carte restaurants, we found the Mexican and seafood to be the best, they have a oriental, Brazilian, and Italian and also pizzerias and various snack bars. The buffet restaurant was also amazing, there was no complaints with the food here as it was amazing, we felt spoilt for choice to be honest. The reception area is fairly modern and the resort itself is well maintained, you get cleaners up at 5 am in the morning clearing the pathways and pools.

Now for the inside truths, stay well away from block 7, we were put in block 7 room 303 which overlooks a club that plays loud music till 5 am in the morning, it is adjacent to a main road and you get locals driving around in , motorcycles horning all night. After our first night there we asked to be moved and after a day of waiting around, we managed to move to block 12, room 303. That was well away from the loud noise and closer to the beach.

The restaurant staff are very friendly, especialy the bar staff who remember you and what drinks you have. There is no requirement to tip but it does go a long way when it comes to getting another round of drinks and not having to wait to be served when you walk up to the bar.

The reception staff however are very slow and you can wait upto 30 or 40 minutes to buy some pool table tokens from them. be sure to buy it in one go to avoid having to que. 5 dollars gets you 4 tokens and you have to buy them from reception which is silly seeing as the pool tables are nowhere near it.

The ala carte restaurants need to be reserved in advance, the oriental needs to be reserved in the morning for the same day. the others you can book 3 days in advance, best thing to do is book them all in one go, be sure to do it early before they get booked up. Booking is opposite reception and starts at 10am.

If you want to find a good spot or even any spot to sit on by the beach or the pool, be sure to wake up early and i mean something like 5 or 6 am and go and put your towels on the sun beds. if you don't then im sorry to say that you will find nowhere to lay down as everyone does this and often you will find empty beds but towels are on there from morning till evening with someone coming and sitting there for an hour or so and going off.

The rooms are basic, nothing really modern about it, does the job, bedsheets are clean but very old. Draws and furniture old and need to be replaced. Tiled flooring throughout.

Bathrooms, clean, showers are not very powerful, nor is the flush on the toilet, but after a few attempts it will work.

Once you arrive at the hotel a porter will take your bags to your room, have 1 dollar per person to hand out as a tip as this is the custom.

Overall the hotel was not as bad as i had thought reading the earlier reviews and we had a great time. I would rate it a 7 out of 10.

Weather was great too, bit windy on some days and the sea was rough, but it was lovely by the pool and the trees protect you from the winds. Temperature wise i would say at least 32 or 34 degrees. I managed to get sun burnt so be sure to rub some lotion on...

The rooms were disgusting. The toilet was broken, the tv didn't have a remote, the beds weren't comfortable, the furniture was old and looked dirty. There were bugs everywhere in the room even after a bottle of disinfecting spray and bug spray. Although the resort wasn't too bad. Service was pretty good the beach was ok.. except people would come up to you every minute to ask you to buy something. The buffet had good food but out of the 5 restaurants i would say the Oriental one is the best, then Seafood, Mexican (it was just tacos and fajitas and that sort), Brazilian (it was all meat and it was all hard to chew) and lastly Italian (never order the lasagna it's not gonna be what you expect and they cook the lettuce for the salad before they serve it to you and the food is cold). The resort itself was quite clean except for the rooms.
I wouldn't stay at this hotel if a traveled to Puerto Plata again.

have just got back from a one week stay at the hotel and have no complaints at all. It was what you expect of a 4* hotel.

The rooms were great, though in fairness we did get an unexpected upgrade to a suite, due to the fact that they accidentally sent us to a room already occupied. For what amounted to 10 minutes of inconvenience the hotel staff were quick to upgrade us, and we ended up with a great suite. The maid was fab, and after leaving a tip we regularly got crisps and chocolate left for us along with the standard drinks in the fridge. We also got 4 free litre bottles of alcohol with the room which was good. Sadly I don't drink, but I did pack one to take home. So overall the room was great.

The food was ok, breakfast was great, I fully recommend the omelettes that they make for you, or get them to fry you up an egg or scramble one for you. They are fantastic. There is also a range of pastries, fruit, pancakes etc. I really couldn't fault breakfast. Lunch tended to be burgers and hotdogs at the pool restaurant, but you could get more choice at the Grill. The buffet was ok for dinner, but tended to be similar every night. Though you get 3 restaurant bookings to complement, I personally didn't like the Brazillian, as they literally give you everything on the menu which is a novel experience, but I have never eaten soo much meat in one sitting. The Oriental was lovely and the seafood was good, though not outstanding.

The tours were the best bit about being in the DR. Admittedly I get bored quickly around the pool so we did something everyday:

Outback Safari - Great trip into the country of DR. You get to see various different aspects including a school and a typical house. Our guide was great, if you get a chance ask for Jessie.

Free Style Catamaran - great day to chill out on the sea. Entertaining staff, who are happy to teach everyone Dominican dancing, which consistents of lots of bum shaking and thrusting.

Paradise Island - well personally for me this was not paradise. It was a sand island the size of my garden, with 5 huts for the travel companies and approx 150 tourists. On top of this is was a 2 hour drive either way. I would avoid at all costs

Ocean World - I would only recommend this if you are going to pay for the extra experiences: dolphin swim, sealion encounter, shark encounter, stingray encounter etc. Between me and my friend we did them all and they were all good. The dolphin swim was fun, but was very geared towards photo opportunities which was a bit annoying. The sealion was fun and fairly cheap, but my friend who also did the sharks gots a great deal as they do the encounter part which is very touristy, but then you get to swim with the sharks in the pool.

Anyway, I think I have waffled enough. I hope this is helpful for someone.