Punta Cana Trip + Resort Review
My husband and I just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary on April 29 in Punta Cana. We decided on Punta Cana because we went to Mexico for our honeymoon last year and also in 2016, so we wanted to try somewhere different. I read several reviews on resorts and destinations, so based on the positive ones we decided on Punta Cana. I did lots and lots of research on all-inclusive hotels there and read countless reviews and we decided on the Iberostar Grand Bavaro. It had over 10,000 positive reviews on Trip Advisor alone. Everyone raved about the grounds, food, and service. We also loved the fact that it is and adult only resort. I booked our trip thru Delta Vacations as a package after shopping around on several travel sites. We felt Delta gave us the best price for the trip. I prefer booking trips like these as package deals rather than separate rooms and flights when possible as it can save you hundreds of dollars on the total trip. Our package included round trip airport transportation as well, but when I learned that it would be on a bus with several people who would be dropped off and different resorts we opted to book our own private transportation. I'm so glad we did. We used Hello Tours and they were great. They were right outside the airport waiting on us upon arrival with a nice clean van stocked with beer and water. They were right on time for our departure back to the airport as well. And a huge plus was their vans have free wifi so we were able to check in and let family know we had safely arrived. I'm going to share tons of pictures of the trip below along with a complete review of the hotel, rooms, food, and service.
Hotel grounds:
As you can see in the photos the grounds are amazing!! From the boat in the center of the resort to all of the art work throughout the lobbies, we couldn't complain about anything. They had 3 pools and are right on the beach. The beach had cabanas that you could lay out in, but we chose the pool each day. I had read several negative things regarding pool chairs being hard to get, but we didn't experience that at all. We went to the pool by 10am every morning and never had an issue getting chairs. I will say if you wanted a pool cabana you probably would have to get out there before 7am to reserve them, but we were fine with the basic lounge chairs. The pool and grounds were very clean and the hotel itself were very easy to navigate. They also have 2 flamingos in the front pond around the hotel that we loved walking by to check on each day. Our only disappointment was the casino on property. It was old an had awful machines. So if you like to gamble I recommend the 10 minute cab ride to the Hard Rock like we did.
Food/Drinks:
In all the reviews I read on this resort the food was one of the things people raved about the most. This excited us as we haven't always had the best of luck with great food at all-inclusive resorts.
They have 2 buffets, one open for all 3 meals and another only open for lunch and snacks. They also have 5 specialty restaurants to choose from, however, they do require reservations. You can make these at the hotel upon arrival or you can email a week or so ahead and they will make them for you which is what we did. They have Italian, Surf & Turf, Hibachi, Mediterranean, & Gourmet to choose from. Our first night we chose the Italian restaurant. We loved our calamari appetizer, but didn't so much love our entrees. It wasn't necessarily due to them tasting bad, it just wasn't what we wanted, so instead we hit up the buffet for spaghetti that was so good!! I literally ate spaghetti from the buffet everyday for lunch after this. Our 2nd and 4th nights we ate at the Hibachi restaurant. We were so excited about this because we love where they cook for you right at your table. We didn't have anything bad to say about this one. We loved everything thing we had both nights and our cook was also great both nights. Our 3rd night we wanted to try the Mediterranean because all of the reviews we read said the sea bass entree was to die for. While we didn't agree with that, we did love our appetizers and our lobster and rice entree. The breakfast and lunch buffets had a variety for everyone each day. They were good. I don't have any complaints about them, but they are what you would expect at an all-inclusive resort. The drinks were great, too. They made the best pina colada by at the swim up bar.
Rooms:
At check-in they realized it was our anniversary and they kindly upgraded us to a room with an interior garden/pool view at no charge. Our room was so nice. We had a fully stocked refrigerator sodas, water, and beer. There were also snacks, wine and liquor provided. Our room was cleaned spotless each day with new towel decor and rose petals as well which was a nice surprise to come in to.
Service:
The one thing this hotel prides itself in is service!! From the second we arrived we were 100% pampered and didn't want for anything. Upon arrival we were met with pina coladas and champagne for check-in. Check-in was quick and easy and they had our room ready within about 15 minutes of our arrival. Each room is assigned a butler for your stay. Yes, I said a Butler!! Our butler was Alejandro for our stay and he was constantly coming by the room to check on us or even when we would see him out and about in the hotel he would ask if we needed anything. He brought us champagne every day when we came up from the pool and always made sure our fridge was stocked with anything we needed.
Overall we loved the Iberostar Grand Bavaro and are already wanting to go back. I would highly recommend anyone wanting a relaxing adult only vacation where you are pampered daily to go here!!
If you made it to the end, Bless You!! Thanks for stopping by!!