Lets start with the good stuff first.... the resort was beautiful,(on the outside) the landscaping was well kept, the beach was well groomed, ocean was crystal clear and calm. The restaurants were done in "high class" decor, no complaints about the food, it was always tasty, but the servers made it hard to tip. We are a tipping family and go outta our way to tip, but Wilson from the buffet restaurant was the only one that we truly liked, so we went to him on every chance we could. so if u see wilson tell him we wat up!!! but thats where it starts to go down hill. The customer service was non-existant!!! The inside of our room was ghetto as could be. The drawers on our dresser were broken, the mini fridge was ghetto rigged on some sort of wooden set up but it wasnt level so everytime you opened the fridge there was a risk off the glass bottles of pop and beer that they stock the fridge with of falling and breaking, which i broke 2 thru out our 7 day stay. It took at least a min of 3-4 hours to get a broom and dust pan brought to our room. One morning the hot water tap broke off and so the hot water could not be shut off, after using all the hot water in the resort, or at least our area, (nothing but cold water was coming out) 3 phone calls to front desk and 1 trip done there in person, finally after bout 6-7 hours later(well after 3pm) they finally came to fix it. there was roaches in our room, the electrical plugs looked like fire hazards, the finish on the tub was abrasive due to the peeling, etc, etc,etc. I really feel like in a couple of years this might be a suitable resort, but for now during the re-building stages of the former occidental to the now Barcelo premium resort, I would not recommend it to anyone, unless you just want to drink enough that it wont matter where you pass out(but it takes a while to get a drink) lol! but seriously tho!!

We just got from the Barcelo on April 6, 2008. The experience was so so. I do not like it that EVERYONE had their had out for money. The check in was fast but they would not give us a key to the safe right away. I went back an hour later and got the key to the safe and they said I should have been given the safe key when I checked in. The room was dated and needs updating. This will probably happen soon as it was just sold and the outside colour has already been changed. It took me several calls and a 7 hour wait to get an extra pillow. There was no remote for T.V. but we had some english channels which was a surprise. The food in the self serve restaurant was good BUT stay away from the beef it is very tough. Get there early to book for the special restaurants and be prepared to wait in line for at least 1 to 2 hours to get reservations. Also check the colour of your wrist band as they have different times to book for restaurant reservations When I finally got to the front they said I could only book 3 of my 4 reservations and had to come back to make the other one. The Italian atmosphere was good. My wife had chicken and it was good. I had the beef and it was VERY tough so I did not eat it and when my wife was finished eating her food I went down stairs to eat. While we were eating another couple got up and left. We went to the Seafood restaurant but it was too wet from the rain, tables were damp and napkins wet so we left. You have to pay EXTRA for Lobster and Shrimp and this was not told to us. The Pool area was good but you had to get up early to get a lounger and put your towel on the lounger. The beach was nice and had lots of loungers to sit on and the food at the beach bar was good as was the bar service. The beach bar had the best bar service ot all the bars. The rest of the bars in the resort the service was slow and lacking at times unless you pulled out some money and then you got instant service even before others who had been waiting. The reception service is only lip service. You ask these people to get things fixed or to ask for things good luck. They are not interested in taking care of what you ask them. They listen to you and pay lip service and that seems as far as it goes. the maintance peole are totally useless. We had a problem with our shower head. The first morning the shower head leaked all over the floor because the shower head was cracked. We let the front desk know and they said they would take care ot it. Next day same problem it was not taken care of. I phoned down again and told them they said someone would be there in 10 minutes. I went back to room to check and nobody came. I phoned again and asked where was maintance person. Two came down a half hour later to fix shower head and hair dryer. Problem seemed to be fixed but next morning same problem leaking all over the floor water. Tried again and maintance person came down at 6 p.m. and took shower head and did not return. I saw that they were putting on new shower heads on outside showers around pool so i took one and put it in room and this fixed probelm. I told my story to Transat rep Michael and he said time stands still in the dominican so what should I expect. After 4 days of leaking showerhead I expected it to be fixed. I mean it would only take less than 5 minutes to put on some tefleon tape and a new shower head. VERY frustrating especially since we were on holidays.

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...