Catalonia Bavaro Resort - Trip Report

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
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dr1.com
From my mailbox.
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Hi, my wife and I travelled to Punta Cana for a week's vacation on October 4/03. We chose Catalonia Bavaro resort for this visit. This was our sixth vacation to Punta Cana, (along with two to Puerto Plata). we have rated Riu Bambu, Riu Taino and Iberostar as the best resorts to date.

Catalonia is very picturesque with large well kept gardens and ponds, the villa's are three story high units, with ample space between each building row. there are covered walkways to get you from beach area to main complex during rainy/or hot sunny weather. (10 min. walk).

The rooms are beginning to age, the air conditioning worked about 10% efficient the ceiling fan did most of the cooling to enable sleep. The TV reception is only fair, the fridge kept drinks only cool. We only use the room to sleep/clean up anyway, so it was not a major factor. The maid did a good job cleaning daily (in the late afternoon).

The beach is large in depth, with many palm trees and palpas for shade, we never had a problem getting one, even at the water's edge. the beach is cleaned between 7.30-8.30 am, and again touched up lightly at noon. The sea does have sea grass and weed floating in most days, some more than others, but it's usual. The sea is very calm and warm, there are more patches of weeds growing on the sea bed than sandy areas. there also some rocks, the water is shallow you can wade out to the edge of the swimming area buoys. this mix makes for good snorkelling, fish will eat out of your hand. We enjoyed the beach daily.

The beach restaurant food was fine, salads, fruits, BBQ meat etc. Staff seat you at their choice of table, we noticed (as did other guests) that the tables around the edge (best beach view - with breeze) were kept for Spanish speaking guests. by mid week we pushed to sit at vacant tables around edge of restaurant, but were only successful once, we were usually told they were in use, but they were clearly not, as new diners (always Spanish speaking) coming in some time later were given them. Same problem with drinks, if Spanish speaking arrived after you, they were served first.

The same scenario using the main Gran Caribe restaurant for the evening dinner. Many times after being sat (never once close to the edge) we had to get our own water/wine/beer, other diners (Spanish speaking) seemed to be waited on.The food was OK.

We arrived on Sat, night at 10 pm We rent a car from adventure Rent a car -www.adventurerentcar.com they pick up us at santo domingo airport ,, this was an excellent services they give us information how to get to our hotel, beautifull place to visit etc. This a really good service and they was on time at the ariport, l high recommend this rent a car.
We chose this resort for a quiet getaway, which is exactly what we got. We would rate the resort only 3.5 to 4 star. Other than the petty little annoyances we enjoyed our stay, and would return for a quick getaway, paying only last minute prices.