Hi my name is Tony, I’m from Toronto, Canada I was at Barcelo Puerto Plata hotel from 04/01/08 to 04/09/08 and there were 7 people in my party.
I had an excellent time the staff is just fabulous always smiling and very helpful and the place is spotless.
Don't forget to bring $1 bills for tips they certainly go along way.
The food was great and the variety was awesome.
I would recommend this hotel over and over again so much were planning to go back again next year.

the stories of the previous review of the resort in my opinion were greatly exagerated. we arrived there april 16/08 and with in less than 1/2 hour we were in our room and changed and heading for the buffet area. during the next 7 days at the request of our travel agent we were asked to objectively access the the previous write ups on this resort. i can only say good things about this resort, check in was done in a timely manner , room were clean and spotless , staff were friendly and courteous. food at the buffet was pleantiful and something there to please the fussiest of eater. the speciality restaurants were exellent as well. the beach had lots of lounge chairs , however i would suggest to the resort ,any beach towels left on the lounge chairs after 7p.m at night be gathered up off the loungers to be fair to the early risers who want to get a certain spot on the beach. this i also noticed at the pool with the swim up bar, towels left on loungers to reserve them for the next day. don't think this is fair, after all if you want a lounger at the pool, don't party all night ,get up early as us mary mature older people had to do in order to get a lounger. at the request of my travel agent, they wanted an objective opinion of the general area of the resort not just the premiun club. as i stated above could find nothing wrong with any of the services or the resort we are very much looking foward going back to spend more time with our extended family. keep the improvements coming barcello i would rate it a 5 and with the above beach recommendation put in place a 5 for the beach as well.

Like others who read the reviews, I was nervous to arrive at the Barcelo. But once we got there I couldn't have asked for any better. The resort is beautiful. The pool areas are amazing, always enough loungers. The beach was fantastic, we spent most of our time there. Never had a difficult time finding a lounger there no matter what time we went. The weather was great the whole time, maybe one day of rain for a few hours.

There was so much variety of food to accomadate all kinds of people with different tastes. There was always a great selection at the buffet, and there was also a pizza place which opened at night. In the day time, you can eat at the beach bar or snack bar. The breakfast was great, get them to make you an omelette..yummm There are many of a la cartes available, I only went to the Italian which was really good. My friend went to the Brazilian and despite the negative reviews, he thought it was dilicious. He also went to the mexican which he enjoyed as well. If you get sick of the food at the resort (which I doubt you will ) There are so many options in the Playa Daroda Plaza to go eat, and many bars to keep you going for the night.

We thought our room was great also..we were in room 10319. Located by the stage and pool. The resort is a perfect size, you can walk to everything in a short amount of time.

I had a massage on the resort, I would recommend that for anyone trying to relax while staying there.

There are many bars to serve you liquor. We may have had to wait a time or two for a few minutes but nothing to ruin our vacation. They all work very hard to please you, and a dollar tip is greatly appreciated.

I will definitetly return to the Barcelo again, we had an awesome vacation and recommend anyone wanting to go to Dominican, and wantring to stay in Playa Daroda to stay at the Barcelo.

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!!