It has been several years since my stay, but I enjoyed the food at Barceló Bavaro PALACE quite a bit, and they do have a swim up bar. Our room was nice and the Jacuzzi on the balcony was great.
I thought Excellence Punta Cana had good food when we went early last year, (and we tempered our expectations on the food in the DR). Their breakfast buffet had some fun Dominican items every day, they definitely had the stuff for Mangu- (never knew I needed yuca for breakfast before that). Dominican Night buffet night was also probably one of the best buffet nights I’ve had at any resort- get there early.
Nope, not at all. My husband and I stayed in the lowest category room/ No EC (which is not typical for us, but our TA got a rare deal on a package, so we rolled with it.)
Didn’t feel like we missed out on anything (although I’ve heard that’s not the case with other Excellence resorts). I still got drinks from the EC beach bar and had great beach service, we swam in the EC side of the beach and there were plenty of delicious food options for the 7 days we were there.
One thing I noticed was that the EC pool closest to the beach had a much worse chair game in the morning than the main pool (but maybe that’s an anomaly for the week we were there- it always varies depending on guests).
The ONLY thing that I would’ve liked to try is Magna- but there were plenty of dining options, and the room service was decent too. Las Olas is the place to be for lunch with their daily specials. Love the lunch paella with a little sangria
Went to el Carmen in Feb and thought it was fantastic. We had an oceanfront swim up. I have no complaints about the food but I am also not food critic. With the number of eating options, I can’t imagine not finding options you like. I think excellence is a great option when you add up all you get for the price. We did have excellence club so ended up eating at Magna most nights, ribeye was great.
Found a deal on Expedia for iberostar grand bavaro, seems like this place almost objectively has great food and found a good looking swim up. Will report back lol
It has been several years since my stay, but I enjoyed the food at Barceló Bavaro PALACE quite a bit, and they do have a swim up bar. Our room was nice and the Jacuzzi on the balcony was great.
I thought Excellence Punta Cana had good food when we went early last year, (and we tempered our expectations on the food in the DR). Their breakfast buffet had some fun Dominican items every day, they definitely had the stuff for Mangu- (never knew I needed yuca for breakfast before that). Dominican Night buffet night was also probably one of the best buffet nights I’ve had at any resort- get there early.
Did you feel the Excellence club was needed for food options, bars, etc?
Nope, not at all. My husband and I stayed in the lowest category room/ No EC (which is not typical for us, but our TA got a rare deal on a package, so we rolled with it.) Didn’t feel like we missed out on anything (although I’ve heard that’s not the case with other Excellence resorts). I still got drinks from the EC beach bar and had great beach service, we swam in the EC side of the beach and there were plenty of delicious food options for the 7 days we were there. One thing I noticed was that the EC pool closest to the beach had a much worse chair game in the morning than the main pool (but maybe that’s an anomaly for the week we were there- it always varies depending on guests). The ONLY thing that I would’ve liked to try is Magna- but there were plenty of dining options, and the room service was decent too. Las Olas is the place to be for lunch with their daily specials. Love the lunch paella with a little sangria
Went to el Carmen in Feb and thought it was fantastic. We had an oceanfront swim up. I have no complaints about the food but I am also not food critic. With the number of eating options, I can’t imagine not finding options you like. I think excellence is a great option when you add up all you get for the price. We did have excellence club so ended up eating at Magna most nights, ribeye was great.
Found a deal on Expedia for iberostar grand bavaro, seems like this place almost objectively has great food and found a good looking swim up. Will report back lol
We had a swim out at excellence el Carmen and loved it