Catalonia Royal Bavaro

I had an amazing experience enjoying a beautiful day and my experience was made perfect by the service provided by Sayry! She was kind, diligent and we very much appreciated her service!

Our first time at this resort, but it won’t be our last. We enjoyed the small size of the resort and the laid back atmosphere. The room was sufficient (we are really only in the room for an afternoon nap and to sleep at night). A little dated, perhaps, but fine. We are beach people so can’t speak to the pools, although they looked lovely. The beach is great if you like shade, lots of palm trees and palapas. We are sun worshipers, so got to the beach early each day to claim our chairs at the front. There is some seaweed but the beach is cleaned twice a day, early morning and mid afternoon, so it really isn’t noticeable. Always a nice breeze on the beach to keep it from being too hot. Food was decent . We only ate at Bloved and Thalassa (personal choice) and enjoyed both. What we enjoyed most was the incredibly friendly and helpful staff. Every staff member we met, from front desk to gardener, greeted us with a smile. All staff were professional and went out of their way to ensure we were taken care of. Bartenders/wait staff remembered our favourite drink orders and our bars, amazing considering how many people they deal with. We are already planning our return trip next year to celebrate my 60th birthday, and are looking forward to seeing all of the friendly faces of the staff.

We recently stayed at Catalonia Royal Bavaro and unfortunately our experience was a major disappointment, especially considering this adults-only all-inclusive resort cost us roughly $6,000 for the trip. I actually stayed at this same resort about 15 years ago, and the experience back then was fantastic. This visit felt like a completely different place. The quality of food, service, and overall guest experience has clearly declined. We booked the Adults-Only Romance Package with the Privileged upgrade because we wanted a relaxing vacation focused on connection and time together. The beach itself is beautiful, and the Privileged beach seating area is a nice place to sit and enjoy the ocean. Unfortunately, the positives largely end there. The food throughout the resort was extremely disappointing. Many meals were honestly some of the worst food we’ve had at any all-inclusive resort. Restaurant reservations were also a constant frustration. The restaurants we actually wanted to try were almost always fully booked, while the ones with the poorest food always had availability. The only decent meal we had the entire trip was the romantic dinner on the beach that we paid extra for. The setting was beautiful and the service was good, but even then the grilled lobster I ordered came out mushy instead of firm. Service across the resort was very inconsistent. Some employees were excellent and deserve recognition. Marcos on the beach was fantastic, attentive, friendly, and truly made an effort to provide great service. The morning café con leche attendant was also wonderful once we figured out where to go. Those two employees were bright spots of the trip. Unfortunately, many other staff members seemed grumpy, disengaged, or uninterested in helping guests. One employee at the coffee shop was openly rude and even yelled at customers. Room amenities were another frustration. Our AC broke during the stay, which they did fix, but our refrigerator never worked properly the entire trip. Despite asking multiple times, they never stocked sparkling water (agua con gas) in our room even though we explained that we do not drink alcohol. The Privileged membership presentation was another major frustration. We were signed up for what turned into nearly four hours of sales pressure, which wasted a large portion of one of our vacation days for something we had absolutely no interest in purchasing. The Romance Package itself did not feel worth the upgrade. Aside from the beach dinner, a bottle of champagne in the room (which we do not drink), and a fruit plate on arrival, there was nothing that made the experience feel particularly romantic or special. Housekeeping did keep the room clean every day with fresh towels, which we appreciated. But beyond basic cleaning, there were no noticeable benefits from the tips we left. Another frustration was the extremely high prices for anything extra inside the resort, which felt unreasonable given the overall quality of food and service. To be clear, the time spent together and the beautiful beach setting made the trip meaningful for us, and that part was worth it. However, the resort itself did not live up to the expectations of a premium adults-only all-inclusive experience.

Spent a week with 10 other adult family members (aged 25-80) at Catalonia Royal Bavaro and we all had a wonderful time. The resort is beautiful, the staff is very friendly and accommodating, and all the food exceeded our expectations. We loved the size of the resort, the adult side is quite small in comparison to the family side, but we considered that a positive.. there was always beach chairs and pool loungers available and it never felt crowded, never had to wait long for food or drinks. The beach is nice, nothing spectacular, we didn’t spend a lot of time there, mostly just a morning dip and relax in the shade of the palm trees. We spent our afternoons in the pool. The service at the pool and beach was excellent, often our drinks weren’t yet empty before another server was on the way asking if we were ready for another round. 4 of our group played two rounds of golf, 9 holes, then 18 (9 holes twice). The course is super fun and well maintained. Wish we had more time for round 3. There was local entertainment every evening, with talented dancers/performers, and we loved the silent disco night. The rooms were more than adequate, no one had any issues. Each room has a huge soaker tub, although we were all so busy enjoying the beautiful resort I don’t think any of us put them to use. The food was excellent, we loved how the adult side has its own breakfast buffet and À la Carte. Thalassa was probably our favourite restaurants, and we did try all of the restaurants on the family side except for the Japanese which unfortunately we could not get reservations for. The family side buffet was also great with loads of tasty options. We were travelling with one vegetarian and another gluten-free eater in our group and there was never a shortage of choices. The Spanish restaurant did not have a vegetarian main course option and the chef, without being asked, was kind enough to put together a vegetable plate so everyone had a main course. As a group of 11 we often tried just about everything on the menu and of course there were a few “not as good” meals but overall everyone always left happy and satisfied. Finally the staff.. I won’t even try to list the names of all the wonderful servers, I’d hate to leave anyone out (especially at the pool/swim up bar and Thalassa.) But they were so friendly and made us all feel welcome and appreciated, I can’t say enough good things about them all. 10/10. Of course we tipped them well which probably helped, but they certainly deserved it! Several in our group are avid vacationers and we all decided that Catalonia Royal Bavaro is most definitely a resort we would return to in the future! What a wonderful vacation we had!

I want to start this review by saying how grateful I am for the opportunity to visit the beautiful Dominican Republic for a week. I will definitely be back, but not to Catalonia Bavaro Royal. I’ll start by saying I am a beach person, and the hotel's beach isn't great, with lots of seaweed. Obviously, the hotel is unable to control that; I should have done more research. As for the resort, the rooms are definitely dated but very clean! The housekeeping staff is friendly and responsive. The food in the resort restaurants is average to below average. I’m not a picky eater, but some of the food was inedible. Your best bet is Thalassa. The service staff is, for the most part, sullen, bordering on rude. Again, the exception was Thalassa. A real bright spot is the spa! I had the luxury of receiving two treatments while I was there. The first treatment was amazing; however, I made the mistake of scheduling it during an event at the pool, which is right next door. It was hard to truly relax with the noise. I ended up rescheduling my second treatment after checking the pool activity calendar, and it made a big difference. I want to stress that the services were amazing! I wanted to end on a positive note; however, we started calling the front desk 20 minutes before leaving and could not get through to request help with our bags. Our bus was waiting, so we had to do it ourselves, not the end of the world, but I really didn’t want to end my vacation by putting my back out! I’m glad we had the opportunity to visit Punta Cana, but we will not be going back to Catalonia Bavaro Royal