Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe

[disazaja]

Good morning everyone!!

 

I am back and I have great news for all of you!! I apologize for the long post by the way, but I want to be as detailed as possible…. I will post pictures later this week.

 

Thursday

 

My mom and I got there around 7 pm, the airport is really cute and tropical… everyone has to pay a $10 USD entry fee, and I think it has to be cash, so that’s a good thing to let guests know. After we claimed our bags we took a taxi, it was around a 25 minute ride and it was $28 USD (another thing to keep in mind if you are not getting transportation for your guests). The driver offered to pick us up on Saturday on our way to the airport and surprisingly, he was there on time on Saturday waiting for us.

 

So we got to the hotel, and there was a gate at the entrance and the security guard stopped and asked where we were going, so that was good. Overall, I never felt unsafe, not on the resort or the drive from/to the airport. The resort is HUGE, we drove by the golf course, tennis courts and everything was very well maintained, clean and pretty gardens. People were playing tennis at the time and jogging around the resort.

We got to the lobby, and it was really pretty too, this is the main lobby and main building, you will find shops, most of the restaurants, spa, theater, chill out room, weddings office, tropical pictures office, ATMs, vacations office, and big theater where the have shows every night.

The check in was pretty quick and smooth and they got us a golf cart to escort us to our room.

 

We got our room through priceline and we got the cheapest one, I was thinking we were going to get one by the golf course, far away from everything, but not we got one with oceanview so that was a great surprise. The room was very clean, and it had a mini bar with sodas, water, beer and some chips and nuts. This is all included and they will refill it every morning, that was good, sometimes you want something to drink and you don’t want to pay $10 for water.

 

The only thing I noticed is that the water smells differently there, not bad, just different. Not the drinking water, the sink, shower and toilet water.

 

We headed to the Bohio Dominicano buffet for dinner, we took the train which is convenient. It works from 8 am to 4 am and they are very constant, I would say every 3 minutes you see a train.

 

So on the main lobby you have 2 buffet options, Bohio Dominicano and Miramar, they have 2 other buffet on the adults only part, La Brisa (under remodelation so it was closed) and Caribbean., so if your guests are staying on the adults only hotel they don’t need to go to the main lobby if they don’t want to. You can have breakfast, lunch and dinner on any of these buffets at any point without reservations. However, the other restaurants, Japanese, Mexican, Seafood, Spanish, Steakhouse, Chez Gourmet (adults only hotel), Italian and French (both of these have a fee if you are not a club premium guest) you do need a reservation which can be made on the lobby or by calling an extension #.

 

Just so you know, these reservations get booked pretty fast, so I would recommend that guests get there and plan which restaurants they want to try and make reservations since day 1. I saw a lot of people doing this on the lobby, picking restaurants and times for all their stay.

 

The food on Bohio Dominicano was ok, I would say a 7 from 1 to 10. It had lots of variety, meats, salads, veggies, pastas, rices, desserts and fruits. But I wouldn’t say the food was the best I ever had, it was good, but not like OMG. The waitress will bring your drinks and clean up the table, they were courteous but not like super friendly. But I did noticed, they were nicer when you speak Spanish to them, maybe because not all of them speak English fluently.

 

After dinner, we headed to the main theater to watch the show which was a meringue show, a live band with dancers, it was entertaining. There are waitress going around and bringing drinks.

 

Friday

 

It was great waking up and see the clear waters and white sand! J for breakfast we tried the Miramar buffet, same as Bohio, lots of options, pancakes, omelets, fruits, cereals, pastries, etc. it was good but not to die for…

 

Just have to add this; they have lots of chairs on the pools and on the beach, which is good. You can easily find a spot.

 

So 10 am came and we went to meet Lianny by the lobby, she was on time and she is probably 27ish… she was nice and friendly and walked us to the weddings’ office. I saw Susana there too, she is probably 30ish.

 

Anyways, Lianny was all business, she opened a file under my name and had pictures I had sent her of cakes, decorations, flowers, etc. so she started going through these details one by one. Cake flavors, flowers, timeline of the wedding day, etc. she did remember everything we talked about and all my concerns. Ok so here is what I got from the meeting….

 

Cake flavors: vanilla or chocolate

Fillings: strawberry, guava, dulce de leche, almonds, chocolate, lime, vanilla.

 

You can definitely bring decorations, favors, etc. she suggested we bring a suitcase full of things instead of shipping boxes. She said she was still waiting on boxes some brides have sent 3 months ago.

She actually had a huge suitcase from a bride there, not sure if it is JGCorona’s LOL, she had all the candies for a candy bar, the jars to put them in, favors, fans, programs, bubbles, table #s and place cards. Behind Susana there were more little bags from another bride (there were 2 weddings on Saturday).

 

She got me the prices for the Chinese lanterns, a 12†lantern without light = $12, with light =$20

16†no light†= $16 with light = $24, 24†no light = $26, with light = $34. the light is not a candle, they are light bulbs, I think they don’t need light since Bar Higuey has lights… but it all depends on what you are going for. I do think they are really pricey, so that’s something I am planning on brining with me. She wasn’t sure how many were needed for Bar Higuey since she has never used them there before, Saturday was going to be the first time. Again, not sure if that was JGCorona’s wedding. Lianny said she will send me pics of how it looks and how many she used.

 

She also got me the prices for the floating candles! Soo expensive, the flower ones are $76 for a dozen and they last 5 hours. The round ones are $101 for a dozen, not sure why they are mores expensive…. She did mentioned that if things don’t have a weight, they tend to all move to a corner of the pool, so she suggested balloons with weights, I wasn’t sure about that so I am going to look for options here better.

 

So we also decided on tablecloth colors (I will post the pictures later) as well as chairs, etc. my wedding is going to be on the church, so she let me switched the Caribbean trio for a pianist, no extra fee.  The decoration of the chapel, will be a red carpet, and some cylinders filled with water and submerged orchids (included on tangerine package). The church is really pretty so it doesn’t need a lot of extra decoration. The beach gazebo is really cute too, but it is between the pool and the beach, if you don’t want people around you then this is not the best option for you (I will post pics later), the garden gazebo is more private and bigger and the dock is also beautiful and private. They have romantic dinners there every night. That would be a nice honeymoon thing!

 

They will have one of the trains for us (no fee) decorated to take guests from one place to another during the wedding day. Lianny will be there the whole time, to make sure everything is running smoothly.

 

We then went to the office of tropical pictures, they do have more pictures there than what they have on their website or facebook. I have to say this, I am not an artsy person and don’t know a lot about photography so I liked what I saw…. Typical getting ready pics, ceremony pictures, etc, but again, I might not be the best judge. I am going to go with them bc their pics look nice and it is hassle-free. You can pick the location for your pics, the beach, golf course, the gardens, etc.

 

Then we headed to the vacations office because I wanted to see what other activities we can have for our guests….they have lots of options too…. Here is their email [email protected]... The ones I liked the most were: the spa cruise, half a day cruise and they have massages, pilates, etc and the imagine disco tour…. I am doing this since my wedding is a 3pm and the party will be over so early…Pretty much a bus picks you up at 11 on the resort, takes you to this club which is a cave and you get 2 drinks and come back at 4 am. http://imaginepuntacana.com/   this will be like the after party LOL this tour is $40 per person.

 

After this we headed to the Caribbean buffet where our food tasting was going to be. We tried out the caprese salad, asparagus soup, the sirloin steak and the fish, the crème brulee and the chocolate cake. I picked the cparese salad, the presentation was really pretty, it came on a parmesan cheese shell (think of a taco salad but parmesan cheese) and it was a good portion. The soup was good but I felt sooo warm after a couple spoons that it wasn’t a good option for the weather. The sirloin steak, was a little hard but the portion was great and nice presentation, it came with mashed potatoes, and veggies. I feel steak is tough because everyone likes it cooked differently. So I picked the fish, also nice presentation with mashed pototoes and veggies and a good portion, the fish was a grouper, she said they usually go with white fish whatever is on the market at the time of the year. The crème brulee was good and I had to pick that one since it is my fiancé’s favorite. The chocolate cake was good and had a nice decoration. On Saturday night, I also went to the steakhouse for dinner and the steak was exactly the same. So that was another reason for picking the fish, I didn’t go to the seafood restaurant though, maybe the fish was also the same…..

 

After the taste we headed to the spa, for hair and makeup trial. Ok so on the tangerine package you do get the bridal suite, but here is the bad news, since it is on the spa, you cant really be there with all your bridesmaids being loud and taking pics, since other people would be having massages, etc. So if it is only going to be you and someone else then that’s a good option, if not then your room will be a better place to get ready… I have 6 crazy bridesmaids so there is no way we can use the bridal suite….2 months before the wedding day, she will send you a spa rooster, you will specify who is going to get what and she will work out the schedule. The spa is really nice and quiet and relaxing, so relaxing my mom totally passed out while I was getting my hair done LOL

 

So I took pics of the hair style I wanted and the make up… the lady asked me if I wanted to see what they can do first, and to my surprise, all of the hairstyles I wanted where there…it is a loose up-do (pictures to come) so their hairstyles are up to date. She took her time and did a great job with my hair….. the make up however, even though I was happy wasn’t was I was going for. Mostly because they don’t have all the colors and things there… I love fake eyelashes, they don’t have them there, I wanted some smoky gray and silver eye shadow, they don’t have it there… the liquid eyeliner was too thick too because they don’t have the right one there. So for my wedding I am bringing my own make up and eyelashes, etc. they do know how to apply makeup, they just don’t have all the tools and colors. The lady was really nice, her name was Yaniri Castillo, and she wrote down everything she did so she can remember in March…. Really sweet lady.

 

That night we had reservations at 9:30 for the steakhouse. Only restaurant and time available when we made the reservation that day at 2 pm…that’s why it is important to make reservations ealy.

 

Food was good… service was a little slow, but they were busy, they weren’t slow just because they were standing around.

 

Saturday

 

We headed to the beach… when you check in they give you one card per person for the beach/pool towels…. You cant lose it, otherwise they charge you $25.

 

The beach is amazing! As I said before, lots of chairs available, so no need to rush in the morning.

 

We went to the adults’ only buffet for breakfast… but we went late, 11 am and food was ok but I have to say it was a little bit colder… like not fresh. So I suggest going earlier.

 

Went back, got ready and checked out… fast and easy too… the cab driver was waiting for us… and we got to the airport on time. Long immigration line, 40 minutes on line.

 

Extras that I didn’t mention

 

Rehearsal dinner – can be done in one of the restaurants.

 

Chill-out bar – reallyyyyyyyy pretty… for a welcoming cocktail, it is $500 for one hour… and $15 per person to get waiter and canapés. But the bar is literally 50 steps away…. It does get dark around 6ish so I would suggest using it before 6….

 

There are some mosquitos... but not too bad.

 

Lianny and Susana are non stop… during our meeting Lianny got phone calls from 3 different brides asking for info; she was called several times from people on the hotel (restaurant, spa, etc). so I think that they don’t really have the time to sit down and reply to all of us immediately but it made me feel better that she did have all my info and pics.

 

There were 2 conventions while I was there and yes, they were next to the Bar Higuey. But they don’t interfere with it… so they are all on the convention center but there is not need for anyone else to go to Bar Higuey if they are not on your wedding.

 

The resort is beautiful! I have no regrets picking it and I can’t wait to go back!

 

I will post pics later sorry for the longgg post!! Let me know if you have more questions and I hope this helps!

[lalalal1z]

So I am finally sending in the deposit for our wedding (October 5th of 2013). I'm really excited! But now, I'm also nervous because I don't know what happens next. My first question is, what if they don't get the money I wire. Obviously I know it's not a scam, but I still get nervous about things like that. Also, we're doing the Tangerine Sunset package, so its the $4,000 package and you have to put 30% down for the deposit, she told me that the rest is due near the wedding, but what about the extras - like DJ, photo, and decorations, - does she tell you the quote for that well before hand? Whatever help you guys can give me would be great. I have looked through every page of this thread and you guys definitely helped me a lot! Any pictures you guys want to inbox me would be great too! Thanks so much!

[disazaja]

Lalalal1z

 

Just make sure to follow up wiht her abotu your wire. It usually takes a while but they do get it.

She will send you a file with extras.... for example, DJ is 488 for 3 hours, photos, there are different packages starting from 450 to 2,000. I can email you the file with the extras if you want so you can budget.

[trivera5521]

Disazaja....you rock for that review!!! I cant thank you enough its all soooo helpful!! I know you arent doing your ceremony on the beach but was there any indication of the location are they all pretty much in the same place on the beach? The food review was super helpful!! Good to know about the steak! Did they offer an alternative to the soup option, seems bizarre that they would even have soup in the carribean for a starter, like really its 90 degrees who wants to eat soup?! As far as the bridal salon I suppose since its in the spa you cant even rent it out if you wanted to huh? Did you have a favorite restaurant for a possible rehearsal dinner option? As far as the hair and make up trial, sooo good to know I will be sure we bring makeup options. Did you get a chance to check out the club on site? Again you were such a saving grace with this review and really puts things in a great perspective! Thank you again! Looking fwd to the pics =)

[lalalal1z]

Thanks disazaja! That would be great if you could send me that info! Can't wait to see your pics too!

[disazaja]

TRivera - I didnt ask about the beach ceremony

the other options for starters are different salads: caesar, curry chicken salad, tomato and goat cheese, and caprese or soups: minestrone, onion soup, chicken noodle, and asparagus. The salads are the best option unless your reception is on the ballroom and heat wont be an issue.

 

I didnt even ask about renting the spa LOL I am sure it would be crazy expensive since renting one of the 11 restaurnats is 8,000 hhahahahahah

 

I only had the chance to try the steakhouse but if I am going to pick out of appareance, the japanese is sooo pretty... it has these lighted cherry blossoms oustide (you will see it on my pics later). There is also a nice/cool little private room on the steakshouse called "La Cava", it is within the steakhouse but on its own private room filled with wines... I think it only fits around 15-20 people though...I think I am going with the Japanese so it is a totally different type of food than the reception...

 

I walked by the casino and the club, there were a lot of people walking over there and they were all dressed up but I didnt go in since I was with my mom LOL

[Bjeantil]

Disazaja...thank your for review as well it's a great help. I can't wait to see the pics. I plan on doing a site visit sometime next year!

[disazaja]

Hi girls!!!

 

here are the pics!! sorry some are blurry and dark but as I said I am not artsy LOL

 

they are not in order either ... oups!

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/disazaja/Barcelo?authuser=0&feat=directlink

 

hope this helps!!! enjoy!!!!

[Bjeantil]

Disazaja... I plan on renting out the rooftop for welcome cocktails and canapés? Would you recommend paying for cocktails if the bar is 50 steps away?

[disazaja]

Bjeantil.... it depends, you can only rent the rooftop for one hour, so if the bar is empty, guests will have time to talk, etc. but if the bar is packed then they will waste time on line and waiting for drinks. This bar started getting crowded before the shows around 8ish other than that I never saw it crowded... they dont have appetizers either, so it depends if you want some food or not.

 

I might pay for canapes and drinks just because I will be handing out welcome bags at the time so I want people to be all there at the same time. However, this is one of my "flexible" costs LOL if after adding everything else I can afford it, I will do it hahahahahah