The food was horrible (very few things on the menu were mediocre at best). The rooms had a moldy odor and were rundown. I've stayed at 4-star hotels many times before, and this IS NOT one of them. I suggest look elsewhere!

Don't stay here the service was the pits. When we arrived our lock was broken, took three days to fix it. Would not put us in a another room, claimed they were all booked. Booked thru Apple Vacations and they were no help at all. Never Again.

We just got back from Barcelo Bavaro Caribe Beach in Punta Cana. We have stayed @ the Barcelo Maya 6 times on the Mayan Riv.. It was always wonderful.
The Punta Cana facility has the worst service, condescending attitudes of the workers, no beer, flat beer, no coke,no ability to speak English, NO service, can't get change, cold food, not enough food,POOR room servicing,etc., not to mention the rudeness of the other guests - Horrible considering the beauty of the facility & great beach - We will NOT EVER go back to this Resort!
The ONLY restaurant worth eating at is the Mexican one, run by Jorge Rodriguez & Sonja Valdez - two TREASURES to their corp. & they should be Commended for the service THEY & ONLY they provided us - Promote them to management & FIRE the rest of the staff!
Also, the Thimble Jelly Fish are TERRIBLE in April - I'm STILL scratching!
We are VERY unhappy with where we spent $3000.00!
Very disappointed,
Jess & Nancy room 7332, 4/5 to 4/14, 2008

I just returned from this the Barcelo Bavara Caribe (March 27th- April 3rd). Overall we had a good vacation. This was our first time to the Dominican but have travelled many other places in the world. Our room was the perfect location (6338) not far from the lobby, pool and beach. As all the other reviews say they are alittle out dated but honestly how much time do you spend in your room? Our balcony was great, big and quiet! The beach is beautiful with alittle sea weed by the shore. The food was good, better than I had expected. The only thing is that they don't change it up very much from day to day. The other hotels buffets are much similar so there is no sense going there. We ate at three a-la-cartes, the Italian- GOOD, the Mexican-BETTER and the Steakhouse-EXCELLENT! It is honestly faster to walk to most of the other resorts (Bavaro Beach, Golf and Casino) then to take the trollies. Its confusing at some places such as the pizzeria and at the food stop next to the disco because there are prices next to all the food items... these are still free for you! The first night we got there it was late and the disco was the only place to eat but we didn't bring money out with us so we starved until morning because we thought we had to pay. Lots of Europeans at this resort. I had read about that but didn't quite understand how many until we got there. I swear about only 20% of people spoke english and at the show one night there was only my boyfriend and I and one other couple from Canada! So if you enjoy speedo's and lots of toplessness this is the resort for you! Speaking of engligh, one big down fall is that the staff try and hardly any of them understand english to the extent you need them to. I would also recommend to bring your own mug or something because the cups they give you during the day are so small you need to refill many times and since there is no bar at the beach it will make your life easier! Also there are no face cloths in the room so bring your own. We did a few excursions. Every friday night they have a romantic lobster dinner on paradise island, beware you are not going on an island instead you are eating by the pool. We were disappointed with this but they did a wonderful job and the food and service was excellent. The cost was $35.00 per person but totally worth it. We also went parasailiing one day which we bought from a guy on the beach, that was $40.00 each for about 30 minutes. We chose to do the Reef Exploration tour, don't do it its a waste of money. We might have seen 30 fish and the there are 3 stingrays in a cage and 3 sharks in a cage. Not worth the $83.00 per person. One that we did and really enjoyed is the Bavaro Runners tour. It is all day and you really get to see the Dominican country side. As all the other reviews say, the locals are very pushy just don't make eye contact because if you do then they think that you are interested in what they are offering. All in all we had a great relaxing holiday and we would recommend this resort to others.