this was our 25 anniversary present to ourselfs.It was our first trip ever.The flying was bad ,but the barcelo was paradice,the people that worked there were so friendly and nice.the other guests were also nice even so the odd few werent, like any where else i suppose .There was nothing that we did not like about this place.may be one ,the dominican restaruant was not so good,The best beach ever we loved the waves.would go again in an intsant.

A group of us went down for Labor day weekend for a friend's wedding...at first glance...and on the website- the hotel and grounds look nice. The reality...absolutely no service. what went wrong...

The AC didn't work.
The power went out twice (as did the water while in the shower).
The hotel was dirty, linens weren't clean. Towels weren't fresh.
We had bugs in our room and in our bed.
The floor wasn't clean- and was never mopped.
The Spa- pedicures were done out of a Dr. Scholls foot soaking thing (like the ones you'd have at home) and nothing was sterilized. Also, appointment was for 4:30 pm- they didn't start until 6 pm.
I had my hair done- I paid $45 USD to look like I came out of the pool and went straight to the wedding.
They ran out of beach towels, everyday and the towels were old and stained.
Absolutely no service from anyone, bad attitude.
Couldn't make reservations for dinner- everything was booked...at every restaurant.
They had cheap local liquor and everything taste like coffee. I ordered a margarita and it was a coffee-rita. GROSS.
The buffet- flies all over the food- I'd ask for coffee or juice- no one would bring it. The scrambled eggs were egg soup.
In the evenings- they would set up a flea market in the Lobby/main corridor and haggle you as you walked by.

I wouldn't rate it a 2 star. Overall- the service is HORRIBLE!

The disco/club- again, gross drinks-dark and dungy- it was like a dark dirty cave.

Not many tourist- a lot of locals...I have stayed at other all-inclusives in Punta Cana and have had a great time. Will return to the area- but NEVER to this hotel.

We are a family of three (47, 42 and a son of 12), we have been to the D.R. 4 times with this being the second time to this property. Our holiday was for 2 weeks from 11th Aug- 25th Aug 2008. (we booked with Portland direct)
We have been to several other carribean destinations and many european and north african resorts, in total we have been on 16 holidays in the last 4 years so I feel more than qualified to express a well rounded and detailed review. I apologise now for the legnth of my report but I don`t do anything by halves!!!

Before we went I took time to read the reviews and took part in the punta cana forum (which I strongly advise) I gained alot of advice from these comunications-so thanks to all that contributed!!

The airport in P.C. is very basic and you have to queue for ages to pay your $10 visa tax but this sets the pace for your whole holiday as everything is done "in dominican time" you are on hols so just chill, why do you need to rush anyway? what else have you to do?

ARRIVAL DESK AT THE HOTEL;
check-in does take a while as previously stated in other reviews but the staff are nice when you get to them, they just need more check-staff. I had previously e-mailed the hotel to ask for a renovated room twice but recieved no reply and didn`t get one of the renovated rooms I had read about, however on inspection of the room we found the view was fantastic so an older room was a small price to pay.

HOTEL BEDROOMS;
we had room 4409 on the top floor overlooking the pool and sea, the room had 2 x queen size beds with feather matress toppers that were REALLY comfy! There were some small ants in the bathroom and around the coffee machine but they did no harm. The rooms have A.C. that isn`t too efficent but was cold enough for us and after a few days you start putting blankets on the bed as you get used to the temp.!! There is a free safe, fridge thats re-stocked daily and a hairdryer, there is also an iron and ironing board for you to use along with a coffee making machine so don`t waste your luggage allowance with travel hairdryer ,iron or kettle! The plugs in the room are two pin flat style ones and the power is very low voltage so doesn`t charge electrical equipment very fast ( back to the dominican time again!!) My GHD`s hair straightners wouldn`t heat up enough to use so I had curly hair all hols!! We left a tip every other day for the maid and in thefridge for the re-fill guy, we spoke to him often and he left plenty of beers for us! The maid was lovely and kept giving me present of the premium toiletries!! We took tea bags from home to use daily in the coffee machine- getting fresh milk from the buffet and storing in thefridge. I also took an air freshner spray and citronella candles to make the room smell nice as most A.C. can leave a funny smell.

BEACH;
well, what can I say? it was beautiful (see pics.!)
there isn`t alot of shade but people built there own using spare sun loungers. we stayed by the pool and just went for little trips down to the beach. The waves are very big sometimes and there is an undercurrent so becareful letting kids go out alone. There is a warning flag system but even when orange it was quite rough(-but fun!!), there are very few fish visable at the shore line so no feeding them!! the sport centre on the beach offers free inclusive equipment to use and you can pay for extras such as ringo`s and banana boats etc.there is a water taxi twice a day to take you up to shops further along the beach.

POOLS;
there are two pools along with a separate kids pool with slides for under 12`s. we stayed by the "active"pool where the animation team where based and although we chose not to participate we enjoyed watching others doing water polo, water volleyball. aerobics, silly games and dance lessons. The music that is played is very spanish and could be a bit more carribean but the lads put on our CD when we asked.
The new pool has water fountains and built in jacuzzi along with intergrated water loungers which were nice. The kids pool has loads for kids (slides waterfalls and fountains suitable for 3-10yrs really)
The active pool has a swim up bar but was over taken by groups of young Americans during the week then by groups of Dominicans at weekend so we just used the other bars it was no problem. The new pool has a bar right by the side and the active pool is next to the marlin bar.
We only had a problem with beach towels once in a fortnight and we only waited 15mins for the next delivery, Jose in the towel hut was lovely and very friendly.

STAFF;
The staff defo work to Dominican time there is no sense of urgancy at all. I can understand this annoying some people but you` re not at work and you`re not under pressure to get things done like you are at home so just chill and don`t stress about it!!
All the staff really appriciate you making an effort and smiling at them as apose to shouting at them, don`t we all? We did leave a few tips through out our stay and they really appriciated it. The staff are not allowed to eat and drink whilst on shift so we sneaked them a couple of beers and made instant friends with everyone!! The towel guy was really appriciative as were the animation team who spent there breaks with us daily just chatting and having a laugh.
A knowledge of spanish would be helpful as most staff have a very limited grasp of english, however all of them tried to comunicate and we always recieved what we wanted.

FOOD;
There is a main buffet restaurant and 6 ala carte restaurants. The marlin is also an additional buffet restaurant for lunch and breakfast. You will never be short of food as there is always something on to eat somewhere, however it is very spanish in the buffets but edible and hot.
At the 2 x buffets there is plenty of salads/meats for lunch and dinner with speciality stations cooking various things from grilled meats to pasta, the marlin does burgers and lovely paella at about 4pm. Breakfasts have omlette stations and eggs cooked to order, a lady behind the bar makes fresh smoothies to order( shes hidden a bit so go and look for her!)
All the ala cartes were really good (except the Dominican-we just didn`t like the food!) the japanese we visited 3 times!!! they cook everything in front of you, the french, italian, mexican and seafood were all really good with very large portions and lovely steaks in all. We went at 7/7.30 pm every time as this is our prefered time and recieved excellent service sometimes a little too fast as you need a gap to let all the food go down!!
You do recieve allocated times and date for each restaurant and you do have to queue at 9am(as others have said) to change or reschedule, some times you get to the front of the queue to be told that there is no space in the restaurant of your choice( so be flexible and go to another one!!)
We made friends with Ramon in the buffet at breakfast and for a $5 tip he got us in any restaurant we wanted without having to queue!!

BARS;
The bar staff again work to D.R. time and you do see people getting frustrated, being friendly defo gets you to the front of the queue. The two lobby bars are particularly slow but the marlin/beach bar was great during the day. We took thermal cups to keep our drinks cool and get larger drinks to save having to go back as often!! There is table service in the lounges and we found it quite efficent, again its D.R. time though, so your drink may take 10 mins to get back to you. The mud slide was my favorite along with pina colada with rum!!! the presidente beer is good and makes a good shandy. My son had a million shirley temples.
My son adopted a waitress/bar maid and tipped her and she looked after him and his friends all hols(Miriella).

ENTERTAINMENT;
During the day the animation team organise a range of activities based around the beach and the pool all of it good fun and too energetic for us but we watched!!
There is a rock climbing wall, trapeze and trampoline with instruction for everyone (not just kids). My son really enjoyed this and this was one of the reasons we came back! There is a games room with free pool tables, football game, and ping pong etc it was sometimes hard to get on these as others hogged them and didn`t share. there is a sports bar next door all of these are really well A.C. as it is a new area so its good for the kids to get out of the heat at times.
The T.V. in the room and around the hotel was mostly spanish so you can`t watch much but you can do that at home right?!
There is a huge new ampatheatre with a bar were shows are put on. they are all very simular with spanish singing and dancing, very proffessionally done but very much the same as each other!! There was a circus night which we really enjoyed around the trapeze in the grounds and a beach party we werte told was good but we are early bed people and missed it!!

SUMMARY;
Whilst there Faye passed over but it was no problem, just 1 day of rain and it was quite interesting to watch!!
There are a few power cuts the longest one was 15 mins. which didn`t inconvience us but a torch might have been handy!!

we had an excellent holiday and would recommend this hotel to anyone, just treat people as you would like to be treated yourself, if you make an effort to be nice then the staff will do the same.
Use the forum before you go and research peoples profiles before judging what they write. When deciding the credability of the reviewers report look where they are from as peoples expectations are different all over the world.

Please ignore the dates on my photo`s as I can`t re-set it!!!!!

If anyone would like any further advice etc please don`t hesitate to contact me.

I feel compelled to write this review, as looking at this site I find some of the reviews unbelievable, this was our 2nd trip to Barcelo, we went last year too. The hotel is great, food is of a good standard. OK some of the rooms could do with updating, but they were clean and a good size. As for the conmplaints about staff, I could not disagree more, they are delightful, I feel that if you treat them with respect, it will be returned. Our experience of this hotel and resort is one of pleasure and would definately recommend it to our friends. The entertainment staff were wonderful. Our daughter who is 11 absolutely adored them, especially leonardres and santa the waitress, who actually bought our daughter present before we left. The beach uis beautiful and we walked all along it, and the stretch belonging to Barcelo is by far the nicest. Please if you are going to this hotel, go with faith, as this is a lovely place.