Check in was fast and friendly with helpful staff.
Our rooms were clean,but needed upgrading, a/c worked good, no problems with the rooms at all. This not a 5 star resort. We figure about a 3.5 star.
The food was hit and miss in the buffets ,breakfast was always good. The pizza was good at the Italian and Steak House restaurant, and the snack shacks at the Caribe and Beach. Hamburgers and fries at the casino pool bar everyday were good. The Steak house was our favorite.
Bar service was hit and miss as well. Some were very friendly and some weren't , tip or no tip. Most staff did not speak very much english, however, we are in their country, with a little sign language, things usually worked out.
Beach was excellent, usually no problem finding a chair. Staff were always cleaning up after some people who would just walk away from half full drinks and pizza boxes left on the beach despite an abundance of garbage boxes, c'mon people.
All in all, we had a great time, however, we would not rush back to this resort unless it was great deal.

This was my first trip down south and this resort was so awesome that I may be desapointed on my next trips!

This hotel is part of a 5 hotels resort, in which you have acces to mostly all restaurants, bars, shops etc...

The rooms were clean (always leave a little gift for the maid, assuming she has a dozen children and they deliver an even greater job)

Food was good! Especially the Italian, otherwise thanks God the PINA was excellent! :)

Entertainement was really exciting!! Thanks to strangers who randomly pointed us to go up on stage and dance for an hour infront of hundreds of tourists!! At this point the Rhum was so sweet and good that it didn't even matter!!!

As for activities well I discovered that I was allergic to horses while horse back riding on the beach!

And we bought ourselves some snorkling gear to go by ourselves!! the water is amazing!!!! And you can actually find big seashells!

And the beach, well what can I say more!! White, hot, beautiful and soft sand!!!

Therefore, can't wait to go back!!

well let me begin by saying this is the first place i have travelled to outside of canada but it was my boyfriends 3rd time going to this resort. i loved it. i will break it up for you.

BEACH- i wish there was more hours in a day cause i could not get myself off of this beach. the water was so warm and the white sand was so amazingly soft. There was ample amount of chairs to lounge in and the scenerary was stunning! i dream of this beach still cause it is so beautiful. they keep it sooo clean and there is no sea-weed.

RESORT- we stayed in the casino resort which was the furthest from the beach but it was only a block at max to get to the beach and the train which was so much fun, it had carribean music playing on it and it was really a nice treat when u didnt feel like walking half a block to the other resorts. Our room was always cleaned and stocked with pop, water and beer but we usually left a tip in our room cause the cleaners were super friendly and they really liked my boyfriend haha!! the casino is pretty small and we really didnt spend much time in there.

THE STAFF= besides the language difference, very very friendly.. i kinda found that the guys were pushy trying to sell u a horseride or snorkeling but u just have to smile and say not interested we will come find u when we are politely and they would leave u alone.

THE FOOD- here is my only complaint...the food was not great and i read some reviews before we left so i already kinda pysched myself for some gross food. but i am the most pickeiest eater so my opinion really shouldnt be taken to heart.my boyfriend ate everything and loved it, i stuck with rice and buns for a week.. we both got cramping and diarrhea for one day but it wasnt that bad, we just stayed at the poolside...however on our way home on the plane it seemed like everyone had diarrhea, so maybe im lucky that i stayed with buns and rice..i wouldnt say the food is terrible, im just used to good canadian food..

OVERALL- i am dying to go back to this resort, the 4 resorts in this complex are all different and all beautiful, there are tons of restaurants and buffets to choose from..i found that the casino buffet was great for breakfast and the barcelo beach resort was the best for lunches and all the restaurants were nicely kept and entertaining. i plan on going back to this resort cause i dont think i can imagine a more gorgeous beach anywhere else in the world. GO HERE YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!

We (2 couples 2 rooms)booked through Travelocity flying out of Boston (Weds. to Weds) on Delta with 7 nights at Barcelo Golf for 610.00 a person including hotel transfers. When we got on the bus to the hotel the guide said the Golf hotel was closed. He called ahead and stated we were booked now at the Caribe. Having stayed there before I was happy with that because I knew it was closer to the beach. When we got dropped off there the desk stated we were actually at the Casino ( not excited about the move). We had golf and diving equipment to drag around. But a bellman came right up and loaded everything up and took us to the Casino. No lines anywhere at check in. The rooms were not ready yet but got checked in and went to buffet and bar and they were ready when we were done. Rooms were on the 2nd floor and had two full beds downstairs with a bathroom and a king upstairs with a bathroom. Easily could sleep 6 or 4 with room to spare. They had just put a new featherbed top on the king upstairs so we slept there. During the week new featherbeds came for the downstairs. Thought it was the best room we've had on this property having already stayed at the Beach and Caribe hotels. At first I thought it would be to far away from the beach but it was fine. It is actually no further from the bars, buffet, dive shop, pool etc. of the beach hotel than the further rooms of the beach hotel are. I never have a problem with the food here. I extremely enjoy the Steak House and Italian Restaurants. We ate at these 2 for dinner all week. We did the buffets (all 3) for lunch and breakfast each day. I'm a beer drinker so the bars were fine for me. For the girls (tropical drinks) the bar tenders had to be reminded to put alcohol in every time. The one place I see a lack of speed is in the bars. I would put an extra bartender in them and pull some help from the buffets. We golfed one day but was very disappointed. They've let the course run down and only had the back 9 open. Driving range was also closed. It wasn't worth taking the time to do it a second day. The casino has been updated since we last visited. It was good entertainment but never very busy. Not that I'm ever in the room but found only CNN in English but a card that stated there was more English channels. When we called down they said it was 5.00 a day or 20.00 a week(we said no thanks) We did the Fun Buggy tour off the resort and really enjoyed it. We did the Segway tour on the resort and had a lot of fun with that also. We've seen the property run down a little over 5 years but would recommend it for a first timer to Punta Cana on a limited budget.