The BEACH / CARIBE resorts are Great !!! they are a solid 4 star and the beach is wonderful. The food is good, but as far as the a la carte restaurants are concerned the only one we enjoyed was the steak house, so we went 3 times. We ordered the meat sampler platter for 2 and shared it.

Rolling Black outs - Be aware that it is farely comon for there to be power outages while you are there, there is not enough energy to support the whole island so they share power and occasionally at night the power will go off. The resort is very well exuiped and versed in dealing with this though and the pull out back up ambiance right away. The only inconvenience is the disco is not open. We used this oportunity to share a romantic candle lit dinner and get to know some of our neighbours in the resort.

Excursions - We did the day trip to Saona which is an un inhabited island , getting there was half the fun, a great excursion all round.

I stayed at this hotel/resort for 2 weeks and found it to be average in all aspects. It should be noted that the Barcelo Beach Resort is currently rebuilding 4 of the 5 buildings. Although they have a large fence around the construction site to reduce dust/dirt, this does not reduce the noise of the construction project. The construction project will not be completed until December 2008.
The noise of the jack hammers breaking concreate goes on from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, 7 days a week. The construction firm is under a strict deadline. Therefore there are very few people at this location due to the fact that buiklding 5 only has 200 rooms. It would be much better to stay at the Barcelo Bavaro Casino or Golf Resort which is located 1 block away within the same compound. Although many people were complaining about the noise, there was nothing that the barcelo staff could do as often the other hotels (Casino, Golf, Caribe, Palace) were full.
Also, it sould be noted that in June & July 2008 there will be several thousand Cuban-American residents from Flordia who get a special price and the resort is completely CRAZY with everyone drunk due to all-inclusive package and free booze.
This is not a good time to go if you are looking for rest and relaxation. It is GREAT time to go if you like to drink from 10 a.m. until 5 a.m. with crazy party people. Also, take your own TUMS, Roid Aids, sun screen, sun lotion, etc. Everything is 4x more expensive than in the USA due to resort prices.

spent 5 days 4 nights in this hotel.

pro:
beach is nice.
variety of soda , water provided in the hotel room.

con:
room smells like a basement.

other than swimming, there is no other water sport activities on site, you need to take a shuttle to another hotel in order to get those sort of thing. Even snorkeling causes extra $$$.

I know at least 4 people in my group gets either upset stomach or diarrhea after eating foods there.

Don't order grilled lobster, it is mushy.

Most waiter / waitress does not speak English.

If you sleep early, don't take any room from block 3. It is right behind a band, which sings every night until 11:30pm.

I've been to the Dominican Republic three times and so far the Barcelo ranks towards the top. Like most resort grounds in the Dominican Republic, the Barcelo's is beautiful, with palm trees and an assortment of plants and flowers. The pool at the Barcelo Bavaro Beach left something to be desired. Luckily, guests from the Beach can also access the surrounding Barcelo resorts (Caribe, Casino, Golf, and the Palace the Palace had the nicest pool.) The Palace is Barcelo's premiere resort and you do need a special bracelet to access this area. The staff is friendly like at most Dominican resorts.
The food was about average for the Dominican Republic as far as resorts go. You have the typical buffet with an assortment of foods from different countries. There are also a la carte restaurants where you can sit down and order from a menu. The types of restaurants they have are traditional Dominican, Italian, Mexican, and Seafood. The food tastes fresher when dining a la carte as opposed to the buffet. The drinks are the same as any other all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic. They carry Brugal and other Caribbean liquors. Sometimes they will have recognizable brands. The resort supplied two kinds of beer, Brahma (Dominican not Brazilian) and Presidente, the beer of the Dominican Republic.
The rooms were pretty much standard. A single king size bed or two full beds. There's a small TV with some channels in English. Every room has a balcony with two white plastic chairs and a coffee table. The bathroom has a separate room for the toilet. There is a combo shower/bathtub and a sink.
Many of you are probably wondering if I would go back to this resort. The answer is most likely. I haven't found the perfect resort yet, but the Barcelo ranks pretty close.