Barcelo Punta Cana Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

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Hotel guests engage in a raging volleyball match

My stay coincided with spring break at a lot of Canadian universities, so a high proportion of guests were young, rowdy groups of 20-somethings. Ignoring the frat boys, kids love the Barcy waterpark. I also came across older couples, honeymooners, and groups traveling without children (and even spied a few topless bathers). The resort caters mainly to families and couples throughout the year, with spring breakers in February and March and a lot of Caribbean college students during the summer.

The spring break atmosphere translated to crowded bars late at night (I witnessed a rousing 1 a.m. rendition of "O, Canada" and a jumping disco with a fairly packed dance floor). I was impressed, though, that the resort was able to stay clean and fairly relaxed. I didn't see anyone puking on the beach, nor any couples making out in dark corners. I did talk to a couple whose room was near the lobby bar, and they said the noisy revelers kept them up at night.

I also witnessed a wedding during my stay, and these seem to be quite popular on the property. After spying the oceanfront gazebo, situated on a white-sand bluff overlooking the turquoise sea, I could understand why someone would want to get married here.

The majority of clientele is Canadian, followed by Americans and occasional Europeans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominican weekenders. The resort even hosted the Miss Latin America Pageant in May 2009.

The Barcelo is not a part of the nearby five-hotel Barcelo Bavaro complex, which has a wider variety of restaurants and amenities, but it's also so spread out that guests need a mini-train shuttle to get around the property. Here, at Barcelo Premium Punta Cana, everything is centrally located and walkable, and the resort is particularly family-friendly, with a sparkling new waterpark and the large mini club. The Barcelo Premium brand is also more upscale than every resort in the Bavaro complex (except for Barcelo Bavaro Palace).

Like many resorts in Punta Cana, Barcelo Premium is both massive and buffered by a lot of land, so it's virtually impossible for guests to leave. The resort is approached by an access road that's nearly a mile long, and is bordered only by palm groves and a pond, with other developments off in the distance. The resort is laid out in a single continuous building that stretches along the beach, though it's set back a bit to make room for the pools and other daytime amusements. I found the resort easy enough to get around -- there were even elevators in my building -- but I wish there had been more signs to point me in the right direction. I constantly had to ask for directions and, given the language barrier, often struggled to get a satisfying answer.

Hotel employee making pancakes

I heartily agree with the TripAdvisor reviewer who sourly recalled, "You had to queue for everything." In order to eat at any of the a la carte restaurants, guests have to get out of bed every morning and wait 40 minutes at guest services to make a reservation. During dinner at the buffet, I waited all through dinner for a drink that never came. I waited 10 minutes at the lobby bar for a margarita. I waited half an hour (and needed three trips) for a simple beach towel. I waited until 4:30 in the afternoon for housekeeping to clean my room. It’s really, really irritating.

Service is definitely the resort's weakest link. Unlike at most resorts, there’s no welcome drink. When I asked for directions around the property, I typically got a vague or unintelligible answer. (However, this was due in large part to the language barrier). I also met several guests who complained of booking mishaps or discourteous treatment from the staff (which is pretty rare in the Dominican Republic). One couple from Indiana explained that their bed had no pillowcases, so the wife found a housekeeper to ask for some. "Later!" the housekeeper told her sternly. They never received pillowcases. Likewise, I spoke to a woman from New York who told me about a faulty iron that had spilled water all over her room. Despite repeated calls to housekeeping for a new iron, she never received one.

View on a Larger Map

The resort is located in the area of Macao, just outside Punta Cana. It's about 40 minutes and a $40 cab ride from the Punta Cana airport, down a very long access road set back from the street. Nearby properties include Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana and Grand Paradise Punta Cana, and the Punta Blanca golf course is also close by.

The beach

Punta Cana is famous for its white-sand beaches and crystal-clear water, and Barcelo's long stretch along the Caribbean Sea did not disappoint. Though the beach is fairly packed through the morning and midday, it stretches long enough to include a beach volleyball court, a sizable watersports facility, and a massage hut. From afar, the water is a gorgeous shade of cerulean; up close it’s clear and fairly shallow, especially at low tide, and the temperature was absolutely perfect. The waves are sizable enough to be fun, though they’re less ideal for young children.

There were no vendors around, other than a friendly guy on a Segway who tried to sell me a one-hour beach tour for $40. I politely declined, and he seemed happy enough to just converse with me in my limited, broken Spanish before moving on.

The watersports area has everything from catamarans to boogie boards available. I saw lots of guests paddling across the big waves on kayaks, and was impressed by the resort's scuba diving maps.

The Deluxe Room

Deluxe Rooms are in Buildings 1-3. Each of these buildings includes white marble floors, flat-screen TVs, pillow-top mattresses, chic wooden furniture and closets, and airy marble bathrooms. According to TripAdvisor reviews as well as the unhappy guests I spoke with, the Superior Rooms in Buildings 4-7 range from "fine" to disrepair. The most common complaints are about faulty plumbing and musty bathrooms, but these rooms also lack the newer TVs and furniture. Management has no immediate plans to renovate Buildings 4-7. The new Deluxe Rooms typically cost about $15 to $25 more per night and are well worth the extra cash. But be warned: If you’re using a booking Web site like Expedia or Hotels.com, you’re likely going to get a Superior Room.

I lucked out and got a Deluxe Room, No. 2213, in Building 2. The Deluxe Rooms are well ventilated, with both an air conditioner and a ceiling fan. The king-size beds feature a stylish rattan headboard and clean white linens, and the orange throw pillow matches the gauzy, sunset-hued curtains. Though initially excited about the large Philips flat-screen TV, I was doubly disappointed that 1) none of the channels matched up with those listed by the remote (in fact, there were only about five English-language channels total) and 2) nearly every channel had a fuzzy picture. Deluxe Rooms also came with a nice new electronic safe and a little CD player. Like at most resorts, every room comes with a free mini-bar, which is restocked daily with water, Presidente beer, Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite.

I liked the bright, modern bathroom, particularly the semi-open shower, which had great water pressure and hot water. I did notice tiny ants crawling across the floor on multiple occasions, though, and was further dismayed when I kept finding ants in my bed.

The open-air hallways are bright and feature a nice courtyard at the bottom, but the tiled floors mean constant echoes, especially when housekeepers speak loudly to each other and slam doors. One housekeeper even woke me up at around 7:30 a.m. when she loudly knocked on the door and poked her head in, only to hastily withdraw when she realized I was in there.

Every room in the hotel has a balcony. Mine included the standard small table and two chairs, and there wasn't room for much else. All rooms are extremely close to one another, and even the Deluxe Rooms can overlook a vacant lot, so the balconies are not a major attraction. Building 2 faces the large amphitheatre, meaning I heard the music and cheers of the audience until about midnight, even with the balcony doors closed.

The waterpark

The resort has three pools, two of which were built in 2008. The original main pool features the swim-up bar and is the site for daily activities like water aerobics and Latin dance lessons. There's even an afternoon fruit-carving class, which I was crushed to have missed.

The second pool, on the western end of the property, is known as the quiet pool because there aren't any activities there and it's adjacent to the quiet end of the beach. With edges that slope gradually into the water, the zero-entry pool has plenty of space for swimming or lounging (and, occasionally, topless sunbathing).

The third pool is the kiddie pool, which is fairly shallow as it's part of the compact Barcy Waterpark. The kids I saw (and the accompanying squeals that I heard) indicated that they were more than delighted by its waterslides and large cartoon-character obstacles. But these aren't the most intense waterslides. Kids over 10 would probably prefer one of the larger pools or the giant trampoline, rock climbing wall, and trapeze net adjacent to the waterpark, by the beach.

In terms of other sports, there’s a tennis and basketball area that’s in good condition, as well as bikes and other sporting equipment available for rental in the adjacent sports hut.

The resort has a modern Internet cafe filled with Dell PCs; rates start at $4 for 15 minutes. Guests can also purchase Wi-Fi for their rooms at the rate of $10 for 24 hours, $27 for three days, or $49 for the week. I found the connection in my room to be spotty, as I often had to close windows and reload pages.

The clean, modern Metamorphosis Spa offers a full menu of spa and salon services. The fitness center next door features a few bikes, a single treadmill, and a decent number of free weights and weight machines. The dark space definitely smelled like a gym.

Trapeze

The resort has a large amphitheater set off in a separate building at the front of the property. The building is impressive, but the entertainment is the same as at any other all-inclusive mega-resort. The evening show I saw, "Poison," included ballet dancing to the Def Leppard anthem "Pour Some Sugar on Me”, multiple instances of people emerging from coffins to spooky music, and lots of sparkly Spandex body suits. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. "This show is out to lunch," the couple next to me whispered.

On the bright side, a large house band and three singers perform for about half an hour before the main show commences each night at 9:30 p.m. The band plays everything from Muzak versions of "My Way" and "The Girl From Ipanema" to a heavily accented version of that song from Ghost. But the band was at its best playing some rousing merengue music, which highlighted the considerable talents of the brass and percussion sections. When the show finished at around 10:50 p.m., the band took the stage again so the crowd could dance until 11:30 p.m.

A disco located underneath the lobby stays open until 2 a.m. The dance floor was packed when I ducked in at around midnight, playing remixes of popular techno and dance tunes in both Spanish and English.

Noisy geese roam the beautiful grounds

I covered nearly every inch of the property and came away impressed with the level of cleanliness throughout. The resort was beautifully landscaped (save for some obnoxiously noisy geese on the front lawn), and I saw fewer discarded cups and plates lying around than at other comparably large resorts. The only slip-up was on the beach, where I found a lot of cigarette butts in the sand (not exactly a fun thing to feel between your toes).

Overall my room was very clean, though it seemed to smell faintly of a mixture of ammonia and cigarette smoke. (Nonsmoking rooms are not an option at most Spanish resort chains.) I did see lots of ants crawling across the bathroom floor, and was dismayed to find them in the bed as well, but this seemed more a function of the Caribbean setting than a cleanliness issue. My bed linens were fresh and clean, though, and housekeeping mopped the floor and tidied my bathroom nicely.

However, most guests feel the Superior Rooms are filthy. Among their complaints: grit on the floor, stained sheets, hair in the bathtub, and no pillowcases on the bed. Similar accounts on TripAdvisor indicate that this may not have been a fluke.

Dessert from the Alcazar Buffet

Barcelo Premium Punta Cana has a whopping seven restaurants, including one buffet and another that becomes an a la carte surf-and-turf grill at night. The other restaurants are Japanese, Dominican, Tex-Mex, French, and Italian. Going by guest feedback, the Japanese restaurant, which is set up like a hibachi grill, is the most popular. But as with all Barcelo resorts, the food gets little more than indifferent shrugs.

It’s virtually impossible to secure a reservation to the restaurants. Guests are assigned reservations to at least three restaurants during their stay. (I received no such voucher when I checked in because my stay was so short). Preference doesn't matter; it's purely a function of availability. Anyone who wants to change their reservations must wake up early to stand in line in the lobby and haggle with the front desk. I arrived at 10 a.m. and stood in line for 40 minutes, all the while conversing with perturbed guests who'd thought they'd booked restaurants in advance only to learn the resort had changed their reservation on them. When I finally got up to the front, where a single clerk was left to deal with the long line of guests, he told me that every restaurant was booked for the evening. "I have only one restaurant for you, and that is the buffet!" I fought to snag a table at El Mirador, which turned out to be only 25 percent full.

The main buffet restaurant, Alcazar, was large and not remarkably different from any other all-inclusive buffet, though I found the salad bar to be fresh and more appetizing than most. For dinner I waited more than 10 minutes at the made-to-order pasta station. El Marlin, the other buffet, is open for brunch and afternoon snacks. There are plenty of outdoor tables, so guests can catch a nice morning breeze with a great view of the beach. An outdoor omelet and pancake station are the highlights. In addition to typical buffet staples like cereal, French toast, and fruit, the coffee and tea stations are entirely self-serve -- a welcome alternative to waiting for coffee that never comes.

At El Mirador, I dined on some tasty tortilla soup, a salad wrapped in a somewhat soggy parmesan cheese wafer, chicken done three ways (taco, enchilada, and quesadilla), and some wonderful chocolate mousse served in a coconut. I was impressed by the presentation but found some flavors to be a little bland. Service was friendly but a bit on the slow side.

The resort also offers a "midnight" snack at the theater bar until 5:30 a.m. When hunger overtook me at around 1 a.m., I headed over and grabbed some fried wontons and fried chicken that was tasty enough to rival KFC. Hot dogs were also available. Finally, a limited room-service menu is available 24 hours a day. It offers sandwiches and a couple desserts at an extra cost of $5 to $10 per item.

The swim-up bar

Have you ever seen those T-shirts about meeting the three wise men -- Jack, Jim, and Jose? Well, Barcelo got me two-thirds of the way there. Considering how bad the liquor can be at most all-inclusives, that’s just fine by me. In addition to Jose Cuervo tequila and Jim Beam whiskey, I also spotted Canadian Club, Frangelico, Tanqueray, Drambuie and Barcelo (of course) rum. Only the vodka seemed to be generic. My room came with bottles of Presidente beer, which also flowed freely at the resort's eight bars.

Surprisingly, the resort didn't tout the name-brand liquor in any of the literature I read before my stay, but I did meet a guest who cited it as one reason she prefers Barcelo Premium to other all-inclusives in the D.R.