This is my first time going to an all inclusive trip of this kind so it's fair to say that I dont have anything to compare with - but Bavaro Princess did a great job impressing me. The following is a breakdown of what I liked about the resort:

1. Beach - the beach is white white white! Not a whole lot of twigs, seaweeds or rocks which makes it really easy to walk or play in the sand. There's always enough lounge chairs at any time of the day and other guests are friendly to share the shade. Most stay in the sun all day anyway!

2. Room - very clean and the maid was courteous. In-room beer, sprite, coke and water are refilled every day. I like the villa style of the rooms and we got lucky to be assigned to room that's close to the beach, restaurants and the pool area.

3. Staff - it's true when they say Dominican people are nothing but warmth like their weather! Everywhere we go you hear hola, amigo! We were offered coconuts from the tree by the garden worker. They don't generally ask for tips but when we felt like it, we gave them our gratituite by tipping. Tipping the housekeeper is a must because then your room is always clean and refreshed!

4. Food - Amazing fruit, coffee and alcohol! In terms of the food itself, I come from a multicultural city (Vancouver) so I am fortunate to enjoy a wide array of different foods. The asian a la carte restaurants were not my favourite at the resort, but that's jus tmy personal opinion. The seafood was al-right as well, not what I would call good food but at the same time, I understand they can't get fresh seafood at this large of a volume to cater to the entire resort. If you venture to outside of the resort, you will find freshly caught shrimp, fish, lobster etc.

5. Entertainment - There's a lot going on throughout the day if you don't want to be lazy around the resort. I took yoga class on one morning and step class on another afternoon. They are not real yoga or step classes that I have taken in Vancouver, but still a great way to get you moving and burn those calories!

6. Weather - sunny for most part but when the storm moves in it pours! It didn't last long, though, it was decisive and when it's done, the sun comes back out and dries everything up, and you can go back to the beach again!

Overall it was a great trip with what the resort had to offer.

Let me start off with the fact that this is the most impressive all inclusive that we have been to. We have been to this location twice. We went in January 2011 as well as January 2012. The rooms are awesome! The houses that are all around the property have 8 suites per house. The quality of the room was the same each time. We had a large foyer that has a love seat, coffee table, mini fridge, coffee prep area, round sitting table and chairs. The floors are marble. You walk up 3 stairs to the bedroom where your bed awaits you. There is a ceiling fan and a variety of lighting for whatever you need. They have flat screen tvs and satellite cable. The jacuzzi tube is in an open area to the left of the bed. The water does take some time to fill in the tub, so start early to fill when you want to take a bath. The bathroom is in front of you as you continue through the room. There are double sinks and a large closet first followed by a separate area with the toilet and stand up shower. The water pressure can be less than impressive at times. Overall, the room is far beyond any hotel room.
The landscape of the resort is impeccable. Every day you will see someone tending to the grounds one way or another. There is generally plenty of seating around the pool. We preferred to sit at the beach. We were always able to sit under a hut with a chair. The beach service was far better in 2011 than in 2012. It was non-existent during our stay in 2012, but we can get up and get our own drinks, so that did not bother us. We traveled through Apple Vacations, so we got a private beach party one of the days with the staff grilling us food. It was nice because it was not the normal fare that you would find day in and day out (not that that was bad either). One downside to the beach and some areas of the resort is that people and tour guides harass you a bit to buy their products. One word to the wise, DONT. If you pretend you are sleeping or you say no thank you and scramble away, they will generally go away or leave you alone.
Now on to the food. There is such a variety of food at the resort that I would love to find one person that cannot find something to eat that they are happy with. The international cafe "La Hispaniola" always had something even for the most discerning tastes. The restaurant is an open air location and was never hot. It was always pleasant. Bella Pasta is the Italian restaurant. We could have only gone to that restaurant and been happy. The only thing I wish they would change is that you can see some of the waiters standing at the hot stations adding food to your plate that would be similar to a buffet and you being served from it. It just ruins the class of the restaurant. We never went to El Pescador, so we cannot review it. El Gaucho is their steak house. Word to the wise though, if you are big on a steak and the quality of the steak, I would steer you away. They tend to beat the steak until it is super tough and cook it until there is nothing left. It was very tough and I ordered a tender cut of meat. The Chopin restaurant was great. It was another buffet style restaurant, but a little more upscale. It has a great ambiance and there is a piano on a boat that travels around the moat and plays music. The Japanese restaurant Tanuki was delicious. The only downside is that it is too much salt personally for us. I would prefer under salting and adding soy sauce or teryaki at my choice. Sakura, the oriental restaurant, I was really not impressed with. I am somewhat picky when it comes to Chinese food and it is not USA style Chinese food. Lastly, there is the Snack shack. Do NOT eat the burgers. This is one thing that was absolutely yucky. There was something hard in them and they were stored in some type of hot liquid. I don't eat hot dogs, so I just ate fries on our second trip there or tried to get in the buffet by the beach before it was closed for the day.
The massage parlor was a little weird. The towels that they provide you with for turning are very tiny, even my husband thought so for our couples massage, and it is quite bright in there. Just not quite so relaxing. I think this is a matter of difference in culture perhaps.
The shows were ok, but nothing really to write home about. We didn't need shows though to make our experience. I think shows more along the lines of comedians, magic shows, or performance act with skills versus singing and dancing from an era long gone would be a better option. The relationship shows are always a good laugh though. One thing to note, if you do not have the strength to walk around the property, they do have a tram that rides around constantly and picks up guests and will stop at the various locations that you would like to stop. Just shout STOP or ALTO. Word of warning, there is a sewage plant on site for the bathrooms. There may be some days when you drive through that it is a little ripe. These are the only down sides. Just hold your breath the short few seconds and you will survive. Also, it is not all the time.
We are looking forward to our next trip to Bavaro Princess in Punta Cana!

I just have to start by saying I just started reading some of the reviews from people who were there at the same time as us (November 6th-14th) and I can't imagine what the people leaving negative reviews are talking about...well actually I can. Because we saw the negative people at the resort, who for some reason or other seem to think that when they book an all inclusive vacation that entitles them to be rude to the waiters, bartenders, ground people as well as other guests who have also spent their hard earned money on a vacation. We witnessed some pretty appalling behavior by other guests, and I can only imagine that SOME of the people leaving negative reviews are the very same people who acted this way at the resort. We even witnessed on horrible women barge in front of everyone who had been waiting at the Bella Pasta when they opened and trotted right in front of everyone, sat by herself and in the middle of dinner just walked right out with a full plate of food untouched...like a little princess. We also witnessed her a couple of nights later at the lobster fest...I guess she made up with her boyfriend because he was there with her. But when the waiter went to pour her champagne she almost knocked the bottle out of his hand. Then he brought her a wine list and she literally shoved it away. Not a "no thank you", just shoved it away. She acted like she was too good for the place and it definitely left an impression on the six of us in our group.

So, on to the review. To start off, I am a very picky eater, but I ALWAYS found plenty to eat. And everything I ate was very good. If you aren't even into some of the different dishes there or if you're not very adventurous they always had pizza, fries, hamburgers,, hot dogs etc. You just don't get this kind of selection at home every day. So the buffet food was great. At home I generally eat cereal or toast for breakfast so when you go to a buffet and you get about 3-4 types of cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit smoothies, pastries, fresh breads, bacon, ham, sausage, fresh omeletes, pancakes, crepes, waffles, potatoes, scrambled, eggs, boiled eggs, fresh cold cuts, and other different types of dishes that I saw many other people enjoying. I mean really, do you eat that good at home? Do you get that kind of variety at home? So then why the negative reviews on the food selection being boring or not enough selection? Seriously.


As I mentioned we went to the ala cartes...actually three of them. We went to the Bella Pasta and I had the chicken parmesan which was delicious.All the food was amazing and the service was equally as great. Champagne was flowing quite freely. The musicians that came and sang at our table were amazing. I bought their CD....which they didn't advertise,,,we just asked. They were not pushy, but truly talented. It was a father,, son and nephew.
We did the Lobster Fest which did cost $45 but was served in many courses and (since I am fussy did not have lobster, they let me order off the Bella Pasta menu and of course it didn't cost anything). The others in my group who did have the lobster said it was delicious. The service again was top notch, and they kept smiling despite having to deal with the horrible, cranky woman shoving her menu at them. The meal did take some time, but generally when you are at a restaurant with that type of service it is a longer meal. there were various courses being served....this is not MacDonalds. Enjoy the experience! We did.

We also went to El Gaucho which is an Argentinian style steak house. Service again was great. Food was excellent and the experience was super enjoyable. There are not reservations so it really is first come first serve, which I'm not sure I'm a fan of. I think I prefer making a reservation so that I know I will have a table. We always got a table because we would go at 6:30 and put our names in, then sit and have some drinks and wait. And to the person that said there is no bar to sit and have drinks at....yes there is. Right beside the McPrincess outside the El Gaucho (which is in the same building as Bella Pasta and the Seafood restaurant El Pescador, And they take your order right at the table, under beautiful palapas overlooking the ocean. Not a bad way to wait for dinner I'd say.
The McPrincess which is a takeout kind of stand at the beach serves amazing hamburgers, hot dogs and fries every day from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. We ate there for lunch pretty much every day since it was so handy to the pool and beach...with a bar right beside it for refills. :) And yes, we brought our own travel mugs (the metal ones from Starbucks keep ice frozen all night right till morning, even all day in the hot sun your drink won't melt)

Pool was fantastic. We never had problems getting seats under a hut at the beach or the pool. If you sleep in till 10:00 or 11:00 you may not get a hut but there seemed to always be lounge chairs plus there are stacks of extra lounge chairs even if there weren't empty ones...which there always was a few since it is the slow season.

The rooms are absolutely perfect. If anyone can complain about them, I really would like to see their home....like really. We had a bungalow suite, I emailed a week in advance and asked if we could have something close to the beach. We were given building 4, and if you check the resort map on resortsmaps.com, it is right beside the pool and only one bungalow away from the beach. We were room 041 which is a ground floor. Huge patio, Stunning room. Very unique layout. Loved everything about it, including the bedding. Beds were firm, but I slept like a baby each night. A/C worked great. Safe worked great. Cleaning was always done pretty early when we were at the beach. Always a nice towel animal and fresh flowers in our room daily. Very sweet. You'd see the cleaning staff picking flowers every morning from the trees to put in everyone's rooms. Loved it.
The groundskeepers did an amazing job. We had quite a few nights when we had thunderstorms (while we were sleeping, which was fine by me) and so there were branches on the ground in the mornings. They tirelessly came around and gathered everything up and kept the grounds looking great. They would even take the time to cut down a coconut for you and open it up for you to drink or (as I did) use it as a cup. :) One groundskeeper even picked a flower for me because it smelt so nice and gave it to me. Super nice. And probably a thankless job. I don't see people giving these guys tips and they work everyday in the hot sun. They deserve a big thank you too.

All in all I absolutely loved the resort. We didn't go to many of the shows. We did see The Lion King on the first night and the All Star show which I have to say, the singing was incredible. A lot of talent in Punta Cana.

We were going to upgrade to Platinum but now I'm kind of glad we didn't spend the extra money. For $55 we got a WIFI hotspot for the week so we could keep in touch with family, We didn't even walk the beach so we wouldn't have taken advantage of the stay at one play at 4 or 5 with the platinum package and really since we didn't have problems getting chairs we didn't need the special roped off area at the beach. Our suite was closer to the pool and beach than most platinum rooms and the rooms are identical. Really the only thing we probably would have used a couple of nights would have been the room service. But one night we went up to the lobby since they have snacks up there from midnight - 7:00 AM. Someone said on here that they served leftover food and that it was all cold and that you had to beg for it because the staff were all in there eating it. Well my husband and I went in, and had THE BEST chicken (tasted like KFC), french fries, cooked fresh, hot dogs and hamburgers. Seriously, it's supposed to be a snack. We don't normally eat at that time of the night but my husband hadn't eaten at supper that night so we went for a late bite to eat. There were some of the Animation staff there having a bite after working their butts off. Who cares. They were nice. They weren't pushy. There were plenty of tables and plenty of food. I guess some people just don't want to eat with "the staff". Like I said, we encountered some of these people and they were the only negatives in our whole experience. Treat others how you would want to be treated and you will have an absolutely amazing trip. These people went out of their way to make sure we had a great trip. The nicer we were, the nicer they were. Although they still kept smiling even when some other people treated them badly. Don't know how they did it. Kudos to them

I would highly recommend this resort for the value for the money and the experience. We paid $1095.00 taxes included for a bungalow suite for 8 nights.For those that say the resort wasn't clean....ridiculous. It was immaculate. They even changed the plates that the serving spoons were resting on at the buffets every few minutes.

The resort is huge but he trolley goes around every 10 minutes or so. Just wait at a trolley stop though or they won't pick you up. If they did that you'd never make it around the resort so they have to limit it to people at the stops. Our room was close enough that the walk to the lobby wasn't bad. I really feel we had the ideal room location. Only buildings 1 and 2 were closer to the beach than us. But we were closer to the pool. Great location.

I could go on and on but I will just end this by saying, you will not regret going to this resort. They go out of your way to make you happy and if you go with a good attitude and realize that you are on vacation, so lighten up, you will have a great time. They don't all speak english, but if they don't they try really hard. We tried really hard to speak spanish too. And they appreciate the effort. I would go back in a heartbeat.

First of all, go platinum. Closer to the beach and you have your own lounge to go to. You will also be able to make reservations at all of the key restaraunts, including ajoining resorts tied to Bavaro Princess. You also may get Carlos, who helped us every time we turned around. Helped with planning restaraunts and making sure we were on time for events, etc. We went through Apple so had no worries.Beautiful beach, food was fair at the buffet, but had great food at restaraunts. Staff was good to us.