Review of Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe

I toured Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe on May 31, 2012.

The Barcelo Bavaro Palace deluxe is a mega resort.  Combined with the Barcelo Bavaro Beach next door, there are a total of 1991 rooms.  There are 25 shops and 13 restaurants and six pools.  This is a large resort.

The Barcelo Bavaro Beach next door, which is adults only,  accounts for 391 of those rooms.  The two resorts have a certain level of reciprocity, but the exact rules for exchange privileges at Barcelo resorts have always been unclear to me. It’s not as straightforward as at other resorts like, say, Iberostar where the rule is that you have full access to your own resort and all lesser resorts.  At Barcelo you can’t eat dinner at a restaurant away from your home resort.

As you might imagine in such a mega resort, you wear a wristband to identify yourself as a guest of Barcelo Bavaro Beach and Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe.  You are also issued a towel card at checkin that you will exchange back and forth for beach towels during your stay.  When you check out, you need to either return the towel card or a beach towel.  If you’ve lost it, you’ll be charged at check out.

The Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe has two room types that are incredibly useful.  The first one is called a “Family Room”.  This room consists of two sleeping rooms connected by a short (8 feet?) hallway with a bathroom between the two rooms.  The other really useful room is called a “Family Junior Suite”.  This is two sleeping rooms that connect only in this one each sleeping room has it’s own bathroom.  In my own family, 2 bathrooms is really important.  One note is that the family section of the resort is not directly on the beach.  (It is a big resort, after all. Only a select few rooms are directly on the beach.)

Wifi is available at Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe.  At the time of my visit I was quoted a price of $10 per day.  If you stay in the “Club Premium” section there is no charge for the wifi.  Also in Club Premium Internet access is even available in your room.

Speaking of Club Premium, the other features that distinguish this special section from the rest of the resort are free room service (most of the resort pays $5 per plate for room service), a 10% spa discount as well as access to the Club Premium lounge.  The Club Premium lounge is enclosed and air conditioned and features drinks and snacks as well as computer work stations and free internet.  There is also a private concierge just for guests of Club Premium.

This Barcelo does have a golf course on site.  There is also mini golf and a pirates water park for the kiddos.

Also for the kids, there is the “Barcy Club”.  Open from 8am until noon each day, the Barcy Club has planned kids activities for kids 4-12.  There is also a teen club for the older kids.

A wave pool is also at the resort (one of few in the Caribbean).

Also, the do serve Coca-Cola products as opposed to Pepsi.

Have you stayed at Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe?  What did you think?  Or, do yo have specific questions about the resort?