My wife and I joined some friends late in June for Punta Cana. I know this is a little late but this may be of some help.

The Hotel:
We stayed at the Bavaro (which is the best of the three hotels). Huge resort, so bring the walking shoes with you. The rooms were very nice and roomy. Fridge was always stocked with soda, water and beer. Pools were nice but it seemed to us that the pools at the other two resorts were alot better. Room service is available at no extra charge. The food was okay, nothing great but we didn't come there to eat. Funny enough the buffets were the best to eat because you received a huge variety. Whatever you do don;t expect to much concerning the food. The beaches are nice but nothing compared to Aruba where we all went the year before. Lots of activities to keep you busy including organized beach volleyball which I played hours a day. The drinks they serve you are very strong. That was probaly one of the few complaints. I am a drinker and their drinks they served made me jerk every drink. No kidding. Went to the club their and it was okay nothin special but gives you something different to do at night. Overall the resort was absolutely bueatiful and the people friendly.

EXCURSIONS:
Now to the best part!! If anyone needs detailed info just e-mail me with questions.
MUST DO'S
Maranarium: snorkle with the sharks and stingrays and drinks afterwards on the boat while listening to Marley. They will also take you to swim at this beach where the water is stunning.
Sonoa Island: take a 2 hour catamaran trip to an island where you relax and enjoy the wonderful beach. Drinks included. afterwards they take you on a speedboat back where you stop about 1/4 mile out from the beach and swim. Incredibly the water only comes up to your waste. There you can take pix with huge starfish that are found all over.
Jeep Safari: interesting and relaxing. drink all day while taking a tour of the DR. At the end you will stop at a secluded beach to swim.

Overall the vacation was fun. But hell aint' they all. Our group probaly would not come back to the DR. For the money I would recommend ARUBA anyday. If your already booked you will have a great time!

My wife and I stayed at the Iberostar Punta Cana from 8/14 to 8/21. The flight over was pleasant but the experience at the Punta Cana airport was not so nice. We had a direct flight from Cleveland to Punta Cana and waited over an hour to get our luggage. The ten dollar "tourism fee" is a complete rip-off and the custodian in the airport restroom wanted a "tip" for me to use the dirty restroom.

After the 40 minute bus trip to the resort, we checked in and sweated through a short presentation we could barely understand (everyone speaks Spanish). Be prepared to sweat. There is no air-conditioning at the resort (at least the main common areas) and everything (the bar, restaurants, entertainment) is under a thatched roof pavillion. After finally checking in and getting our room keys, we were escorted to our room.

Our room was not in the "Punta Cana" side of the resort but in the "Bavaro" side which is much much older. We of course had a ground floor room which I heard nightmares about from reading other reviews. The first thing we saw when we went to our room was a big bug crawl in the light fixture by our door. My wife hates bugs so she was already mad at me. We got in our room and all we were looking forward to was a nice "cold" room so we could shower and have a good nights sleep; we walk in our room and its hot as the outside temp (which at that time was about 86 degrees and humid). We checked the A/C control on the wall and it was on full blast, not making a bit of cool air. We also had two "double" beds which were more like twin beds which both of us wouldn't fit in especially since it was smoking hot in the room. I then checked the refrigerator in our room for a cold drink and the refrigerator didn't work and the drinks were all room temperature. My wife and I then called the check-in desk to change rooms and they said we would have to wait until the next day. We barely slept at all because it was so hot and humid that night.

The next day after getting the "run-around" from the front desk about a new room we decided to give the man a $20.00 dollar tip to speed things up. We were in a new room within an hour in the "Punta Cana" side. The second room was a third floor room with a much more modern room. The A/C however, still didnt work one bit. So for the entire week (even after complaining about the A/C) we relied on two ceiling fans to cool us down. Meanwhile, we asked some other people we met there about their room and they said it was ice cold. We were not happy.

The resort itself was beautiful. Very well kept and very clean. Everyday I reserved chairs by the pool by 8:30 am (most were taken by 9:00). It helped taking our own towels too. The pool was beautiful as was the beach. It seemed like the Europeans tended to be a bit rude and they let their children run around unsupervised. One day a father and his naked four year old were playing for several hours in the pool and as soon as the boy got out of the pool he started urinating all over the sidewalk area. Several other children I saw, were apparently allowed to eat and drink as much as they wanted and threw-up on the sidewalk and in the pool. That made me not want to get into the pool as much.

The nightly entertainment was worse than a high school play. That even made it somewhat entertaining at times. If you go to the beach vendors, you want to pay about 1/3 of what the asking price is (sometimes even lower). Take enough cash beacause if you use an ATM it gives you "peso's." (Dont exchange your money). The buffet's were okay. By the end of the week we became tired of them. The three restaurant's we went to during the week were worse than the buffets. They were a nice change of pace but the food was average at best. If you want A/C go to the Star Rock Cafe. That was the coolest place on the entire resort. My wife and I stayed in there for hours.

Men need to take some slacks (long pants) as the restaurants require them. There is no iron in the room, so if you take one you have to buy an adaptor for the outlet. The room safe costs two dollars a day (I would recommend it) and be sure to get a TV remote at the check in desk. Be prepared to see some interesting sights at the pool and the beach. Topless woman at the beach (that really shouldnt be topless) and fat men with speedo's.

Overall, I thought the resort was beautiful and the experience was different but I would absolutely never go back.

We traveled to Punta Cana from August 20-27 and had a fantastc week in paradise! There were four of us on the trip.

We traveled with Apple Vacations on a USA 3000 Charter. All travel was very smooth. Check in was very easy as we did not arrive at the resort until about 9:00 PM. We had a problem with the safe but it was quickly fixed. The room was as expected--it was very nice but certainly not deluxe. The bed was comfortable, the room was a little musty but seemed to air out, and we did see a few bugs, but nothing major.

Our biggest disappointment was we had requested a poolside room via email, but we ended up a LONG way from the pool, beach and lobby. We were just a few buildings from the Dominicana. The walk was not too long even from as far away as we were, and as a benefit, we were closer when we went to shows or restaurants at Dominicana. We basically only used the room for sleeping and cleaning up.

The People- the staff works SO HARD to keep the resort clean and make sure we have a great time. Language was a bit of a challenge, but we managed to communicate with the wait staff pretty well. We especially loved Alex at the buffet. The people work 12 straight days and then have three off. They appreciate small gifts and tips. We used a lot of ones on the trip.

Restaurants- this is the slow season so we were able to go to 5 reservation restaurants instead of three. You simply go to Guest Services after 3:00 and see what they have available. We went to the Steak, Mediterranean (2x), Gourmet, and Tropical. Breakfast was great and lunch was good, especially the day they did the kabobs and paealla. The food was much better than we expected and much better than Cancun

Beach- The beach was awesome!!!! We put out towels each morning around 7:30 or 8:00 and were in the front row every day. The weather was very pleasant with the breeze and the shade provided by the palapas The snorkeling was fantastic. Bring your own mask and snorkel and underwater camera, take some bread and you'll be amazed at the fish on the reef inside the swim rope at the resort.

Trips- The Outback Safari was great. It really gave us an appreciation for the beautiful countryside and how fortunate we are. The host family we visited has no electricity and uses a car battery to watch TV. The Marinarium allowed us to swim with sharks. We thought there woud be more snorkeling. We would give the Outback Safari 5 Stars and Marinarium 3.5 Stars.

Shows- they were ok, but a couple are pretty corny. The Star Friends have such energy, during the day they are organizing activities on the beach such as volleyball or dancing, then rehearsing for the evening shows.

Alcohol- could bave some higher end brands, but we're not big drinkers.

Shopping- There was a shopping bazaar one night at the hotel and we took advantage of that. The flea market was fun and there are good deals to be found there, especially on rum, cigars and Larimar. Prices at the hotel are expensive so make sure you have plenty of toiletries, sun tan lotion, Pepto Bismol, Immodium, etc.

Environment- The resort is BEAUTIFUL. We enjoyed watching the birds at breakfast. The grounds are immaculate and they work very hard to keep the grounds manicured.

Montezumas revenge- one of our group (from the other couple) was sick for a couple of days. My wife may have it now, a couple of days after our return

This is a "6 Golden Apple" experience not because of the condition of the room, but because of the overall experience. We want to travel to other locations, but we certainly will consider coming back here next year!

My husband and I (28/30) just returned yesterday after spending 8 days in paradise. We celebrated out 5th wedding anniversary and I can't say enough about this resort. The staff was AWESOME! This resort offers something for everyone- couples, groups and families. The age range varies greatly, but this was a positive experience. We had a great time!