Catalonia Bavaro Oct. 26th – Nov. 2nd
We flew out of Toronto on Skyservice A320 in Row 23, very short of leg room. Uneventful relatively smooth flight arrived 5 minutes ahead of schedule time at 10:25 am, customs was very quick, luggage quick and onto bus to resort with Grande Presidente in hand within about 20 minutes of arrival, 10 minutes later we arrived at the resort.
Check in at the resort was very efficient, we were greeted by Assistant Guest Service Manager Laura, who registered us, we waited in the lobby bar to indulge in a couple of cold Presidentes for an hour while our suite was prepared and then the Bell Captain ferried to our beautiful 2 room suite #1823 with a wonderful pool and ocean view from either of the 2 balconies. Within 15 minutes we were back at beach bar for lunch. I previously emailed resort requesting a room with an ocean view on an upper floor. We got exactly what we requested and more, a beautiful 3rd floor Master Suite, with magnificently polished tile floors; king sized bed, lovely sitting area, two balconies with hammocks, a large bathroom with an in bathroom Jacuzzi and separate closet for toilet and shower. Quite a pleasant surprise for us was the beautiful basket of fresh fruits and bottle of Gran Anejo on the sitting room table along with a fridge stocked full of water, pop and ice cold Brahma beer. One word describes these accommodations “Excellent”; while not as modern as the suites in newer resorts it was impeccably clean and comfortable.
There was plenty of shelf space and hangers in closet with a key lock safe available at no charge. The dressing area had two sinks and supplies of shower caps, sewing kit, face cloths, and lots of towels, body lotion, and body gels. We even had a supply of beach towels available in the suite.
The balcony was a good size with two chairs and round table as well as rack for wet bathing suits, as well there wonderful hammock where a person could relax and look over the ocean, the second balcony off the bedroom had 2 chairs and a hammock that afforded a decent view of the pool area.
Maid service was excellent—usually cleaned by noon. Each night we came back to find a turn down service has been provided and a fresh supply of towels.
This resort which is one of the oldest resorts in the Punta Cana region is very nice, and is very well maintained and manicured; the workers never seemed to stop keeping the place spotless.
As far as layout the resort is very easy to get around. Grounds are lovely and have some beautiful foliage and plants with a family of egrets and ducks and geese wandering around their own ponds.
The beach was also better than I anticipated as I had read there was a lot of seaweed in this location, the seaweed present very little problems and was raked up and hauled away early every morning as well the entire beach area was lightly raked to remove any debris that may have been left from the previous day by the guests. One must be made aware that towards the northern end of the beach there are some coral formations in the water and we would recommend surf shoes in the area from the beach bar north to the property boundary.
There were plenty loungers available at the beach and the pool with adequate shade available.
We had been notified that the pool area was construction before we departed but were pleasantly surprised to find it was completed and very well done, with new decking and new tiles around the pool area. Service at the pool bar and swim up bar was quite good and all empty glasses and food plates were picked up by staff quickly, so there was no debris or garbage laying around in the hot sun. The pool was a popular spot in the afternoon especially if any the sand started to blow on the beach but it was very hot and one had to avail themselves of the water frequently to stay cool. Temperatures for the week ranged between 30C and 34C with a light breeze blowing at all times.
Food and service was excellent in all the a la carte restaurants on the Bavaro side of the Catalonia complex.
We tried the Italian (Toscany), the Steakhouse (Rodeo), Mexican (Mirachi) and Japanese restaurants and enjoyed them all immensely. The wait staff was very attentive, courteous and polite; it is our opinion that these were some of best a la carte restaurants that we have visited in our many visits to the Dominican Republic and rate close to any 5 star restaurants we have used previously
The Gran Caribe buffet always had something to suit everyone’s palate but was consistently the same everyday. It was situated adjacent to the beautiful lobby and the fountains which afforded wonderful views while eating in the cool outdoor breeze. The service and buffet area was air conditioned and impeccably clean and well maintained.
Entertainment in the evening didn’t really impress us it also started at 9:30 pm and I am an early riser and generally to bed quite early. We stayed for one evening performance, they worked very hard to do their best and entertain the guest but personally I found it too loud.
The magnificent lobby bar (Palmareal) and court yard was the place to gather/hang in the evenings for a few evening cocktails under the stars and the table service was definitely second to none.
Sports equipment was available for all ages at this resort, shuffleboard courts, tennis courts, volleyball, wind surf equipment, hobie cats, kayaks, sail boards, table tennis, pool tables, and of course the 27 hole Catalonia golf courses and a 9 hole par 3 which driving in looked like they were in fine shape.
In the afternoons the animation team led the games at the beach and around the pool everyday, they would come a politely ask if you would like to join in, if you did not want to they moved on.
The resort while it is listed by most tour operators as a 4.5 star, in my opinion does meet those standards very solidly.
We definitely would return to this Catalonia Bavaro resort of course if the price was right.
While there we took our own walking tour of the Catalonia Royal,
I will give you a brief summation of what we saw. Construction of new buildings near the beach which caused no concern to any of the clients, a lovely spa with outdoor Jacuzzi’s, a beautiful pool with built in waterbeds, a lovely outdoor patio deck off a smaller air conditioned lobby and an a la carte restaurant (Thalassa). Everything is very well kept and maintained. We also tried the restaurant one evening and the bar a couple of times as we were allowed by management to visit these facilities.
The restaurant was beautiful inside, table service was generally very good with multiple waiters looking after us, some obviously were in the being trained mode as they did things just a bit different, for instance we ordered coffee and dessert, we had our dessert and after waiting 15 minutes left for an after dinner cocktail and had the waiter chase us down in the lounge to deliver our coffee, strange but a bit too late. Also while I had a decent meal of lobster, the pork sirloin my wife ordered had to be returned to the kitchen as it was almost still walking, so remember that when you order meats make sure you say “very well done”.
Pictures can be seen here
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v126/hlywud/Catalonia%20Bavaro/?albumview=slideshow
Hlywud/the Warden
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