Catalonia Punta Cana

We have been to Punta Cana now for the 6th time. The Catalonia resort is beautiful, but service was lacking a lot, 2 days at the buffet and nobody would come and pour water. The beach buffet host refused us to enter for lunch, with our 2 kids, as we were wet (it is a beach and ocean mind u!!!). The rooms are very outdated and small, but clean. First 3 days the bathroom ceiling was "raining" water, it was leaking from the upstairs shower, nobody would come and take a look and fix it, after 3 days finally after talking to some "big boss" they tried fixing it, but it still leaked for the rest of our stay, not one "sorry" and no empathy at all.

Overall we had a great time. The pillows were on the hard side and we had a problem with the toilet on the first night but was fixed after the second trip to the main desk. The entertainment nightly was great as were the employees during the day getting you to participate in group activities.

After reading quite a few negative reviews, I was pretty nervous about our upcoming stay at Catalonia Bavaro. We arrived in the afternoon and immediately offered an upgrade to "Privileged" which would include a newly remodeled room, access to better drink & bar options along with the 'privileged' beach area and 24-hour room service. We didn't feel like shelling out $200 extra without being able to see what the basic room package looked like. We walked into the room and the smell of musty/mold/mildew was very strong. Sat on the bed and it was like sitting on a rock. The fridge didn't work and neither did the WiFi. So, we asked to see a privileged room to make sure it would actually be an upgrade and it was so we went with the upgrade. We're very glad we did, even if it was just for the amenities of the room alone. Fridge worked, WiFi worked great, the room didn't wreak and there was a lovely shower with 2 huge rain shower heads, even a bidet! The privilege upgrade offered better booze which we didn't get unless we specifically asked for it which that wasn't a huge problem, we just had to remember to ask! The privileged beach area isn't any different than the regular beach area. The privileged bar on the beach was nice to have around, though, especially because it had restrooms. The food was very hit-or-miss. Our first night in we ordered room service and it was very simple. The ham and cheese sandwich looked like my 9 year old nephew made it, literally a piece of ham and cheese slapped between two pieces of white bread. The Cesar Salad was tiny and had chunks of bread for croutons. The second night we went to Mikado, the hibachi restaurant and that was very delicious! The third night we tried to go to the Rodeo Steakhouse and got there right as they were scheduled to open at 6pm. 15 minutes later the hostess came out and said "one moment please", went back inside and 15 minutes later still hadn't returned. We gave up and went to Toscana, the Italian restaurant. That was also very delicious with excellent service! The next night, we figured we'd give the Rodeo steakhouse another try. Same thing, waited and waited until finally a nice lady from Tennessee decided she'd go in and see what was going on. It was only then that someone came out to seat us. Steaks were TERRIBLE, no seasoning, ordered medium-rare and they were barely even rare. Mozzarella sticks tasted very chalky and not at all cheese-like. The spinach salad tasted as musty as our original room smelled. The last night we tried Yuca, the Caribbean restaurant that I hadn't read very good reviews about so I was a little skeptical. Turns out, Yuca was delicious!! Very glad to have saved that for our last night out rather than the Rodeo! We ate breakfast and lunch at the buffet and while the food was simple and rarely changed, it was good and sufficient. The entertainment staff was so nice and very fun! They put on great shows every night and really worked hard at getting guests to interact with them. Room Service was not good at all. The food wasn't good and the service in general was something we were less than impressed with. Several times we called for more water and beer and they never showed up at all. We'd ask for bottled water while at the bar so we could bring it to our room (since room service didn't) and we were refused! It was like pulling teeth to get bottled water! We also had to call three different times to get beach towels in our room. Do not upgrade to privileged based solely on the 24-hour room service, it's simply not worth it! We found that there are very few staff members that are fluent in English which was difficult at times, but we took it in stride and used it as a learning experience to freshen up our Spanish speaking skills. All in all, it was a nice vacation. I always say "the worst day on vacation is better than the best day in the office!" If you can't have a good time at an all-inclusive beach resort, you're just not doing life right!!

My husband and I have been to this resort 10 years ago, it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, really. During these last 10 years we have been to a lot of resorts in DR and Jamaica, BUT never stop talking about Catalonia in Punta Cana, soooo we decided to go back. The beach and pool are amazing, the rooms amazing, clean and updated. They have done a lot of renovations and updates with the resort itself, they have increased the number of the umbrellas in the beach, which is a big plus. The check in process was very very quick, Angelo is amazing. We arrived there at 10:30 AM, at 11 we had the room, great. The population of the resort has doubled up, so I am sure the income for the owners has increased a lot. Unfortunately, i dont believe they have increased the salary of the employees, their service was not good. in the restaurant - lunch and dinner, you had to ask for beer or drink twice and more. Their answer was - I am busy, sorry. Every single day the same situation. Not only that, but, i never understood the line in the buffet. It is a buffet, why people have to stay in the line to go to their tables?????? And the tables were all unoccupied, but again we had to wait for the waitress to come and pick us up, it was weird, not good. the food varieties were not good, the only good food were the fries and the steak. They had a lot of salads and tropical fruits. what can i say, we were a little disappointed. Would we go back? Maybe, maybe not. long story short, they have renovated and updated the buildings but the food and service. Oh, forgot one thing - There are no straws in the restaurant or bar, none, whatsoever. you had to drink in the plastic cups that some one else had used before you. And dont forget that the cups are "washed" very well