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Dominican Republic Hotel, Resort & Villa Reviews
Barcelo Bavaro Ocean Village 11/21/2003
Reviewers Rating:  Great
Because I use your site so frequently for travel planning - both the reviews and the forums, I wanted to write a review on our experience at the Bavaro Ocean Village.
We are a couple in our mid-thirties who travelled with Air Transat out of Toronto the week of November 10 - 17. We are from Halifax, but because we got this trip at such a great last minute deal, it was still worthwhile to fly from Hfx to TO. This was our first time to Punta Cana - the beaches; all I can say is wow!
Here are some of our observations:
Check-in: We arrived at our resort around 10 pm. Check-in was a bit of a "gaggle". There was no obvious line so I stood and waited for them to call my name as they were doing for other couples. It then turned out you had to fill out a form before they could process your room info. I got another guest to get me a form and we were checked in within about 20-25 minutes. I had e-mailed the resort for a second floor room which we received.
Room: Our room was fairly basic with washroom (full tub), closet, small fridge, and safe. The AC worked probably about the best we've ever had while we were away - a lot of the time we had to turn it off it was so cold! We had a bit of a problem getting the right safe key from Reception, but this was finally resolved (cost for the safe is only $8 US per week). Lighting in the room was a bit dim.
Grounds: The grounds are very mature and beautifully landscaped. Everywhere you go, lots of palm trees, flowers, grasses, etc. The pool at the Villas side incorporates this into the design of the pool. It's worth noting that we found the resort could be better lit at night, though. On the night we were leaving, we had a downpour on our way to the restaurant. We were already dressed in our clothes for the plane and we walked right into an ankle deep puddle that ran alongside the walkway (which you couldn't see because of the lack of lighting).
Beach: Beautiful!! We walked along the beach in both directions and we seemed to have the nicest stretch among the resorts in this area. The water is many shades of blue/green and if you do some snorkelling, you can see fish and some coral without going out too far. There is a bit of an undertow that tends to pull you to the left as you are facing the water. I noticed it, but I'm not a very strong swimmer, and my husband also pointed it out to me.
Food: Our overall impression was that the food was average at best. Because this resort is comprised of "three in one", you have your choice of 3 buffet restaurants + 1 a la carte. We didn't try the a la carte because it's on the beach and it was so windy while we were there, we didn't bother. We found the restaurant on the Villas side to be best for breakfast, but for any other meal, they were pretty much the same. The only place we found ice cream was at the restaurant on the Ocean side. During the afternoon, they serve hot dogs and pizza by the pool in the Village - neither were very good. We also found the lunch they served at the Beach to be just OK.
Check-out: Because we had a late evening flight (10:50 pm), we were at the resort until 7:30. This means, you have to check out of your room at noon and leave your luggage in their luggage room. I tried to get a late check-out from our room (at a cost of $25 US), but they told me there was no availability. I'd prefer to leave the resort after breakfast rather than waiting all day to leave! We also had bad weather on our last day - it rained almost the entire day, then a lightning storm as we were leaving.
Miscellaneous: The weather while we were there was probably typical for this time of year. We had some rain every day except for 2. Our second night, it just poured and our room leaked in 3 places. When we left our room for breakfast the next morning, the entire walkway was under water. We had to remove our shoes and walk barefoot in water up to our calves until we reached a high spot. There were a few low areas that had water almost to our knees. By late afternoon, this water had drained away. We didn't do any excursions - we just wanted a relaxing holiday which we had. Even with the rain we came back with dark tans!
Leanne
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