Princess Family Club Bavaro

Sarang V.

The resort has a few good highlights. The food trucks and ice cream shop were nice additions, and the newly renovated family club rooms are modern and comfortable. However, there were several drawbacks. The food menu was not very versatile, and the buffet served the same items every day. Vegetarian options were very limited. The Wi-Fi was poor, and there was a noticeable lack of nightly entertainment. Even small things, like no lemon and mint available for mojitos for one day! Overall, it was an average experience. Based on my previous trips, I would recommend considering other resorts for better variety and overall value.

Lawrence Covert

This was our first time here, and our first all inclusive vacation. The staff are super friendly people even though I only know 2 Spanish words. The young man in the main buffet making omelets to order each morning (I wish I could remember his name) made the start of each morning here special! Always a smile, a wave, and kind greetings! A very beautiful beach, well kept grounds, rooms and beds are top notch. We stayed in the family zone. Our grandchildren were catered to with activities, water slide park and a family pool. There is even a buffet in the family area specifically designed to make the littles happy. The food, how can I say this strongly enough, I am a food lover and neither I nor any of our family group were ever disappointed with the volume or the quality of the food. The included al a carte restaurants are worth checking out. We soon found a favorite and returned a few times. Our stay was 2 weeks and we always had something to do, somewhere to lounge in the sun and something to occupy the littles with. We will return.

Takara Martin

RED FLAG: I am going to start with this so it doent get lost in my review as I feel its important. the family selection resort looks fun and was fun up until a point. However, on our third day, one of the water buckets that fills up and dumps broke off from above, full of water, crashing down and absolutely destroying the platform. Kids were playing on that water park. Stop and think if there was a child in that section when it came down. Kids were in that section moments before... It would have killed a kid. It would have killed an adult with how heavy it was. No one came over the check on it until three dads were pulling this bucket off to the side. They shut it down for 30min before turning it back on saying they would check the integrity later.... We checked in with the staff to see if this was acctually done and not one person could assure us if it was. Inspecting the waterpark a little closer with our own eyes you could see the wear and tear... we were terrified to send our kids on there not knowing if one of the other three buckets would come crashing down and actually killing a kid this time. I was EXTREMELY disappointment with how they handled it. A family could have been bringing a child home in a body bag. It makes me think a little harder about how I pick future resorts with water parks knowing that the standard of upkeep of these structures isn't the same as it is in North America. The pictures they have posted are NOT up to date. Aside from this, this hotel was pretty good. In the Family selection, I enjoyed the private bar, ice cream truck, and buffet for just our area. The food was good, no complaints and the options endless. We had time for the food trucks, The steak house, Mexican, Teppanaki, and Italian restaurants. The service was a bit slow and you didnt always get what your ordered, or sometimes things were missing which was a bit hard with kids but everything was tasty and no one got sick. I will say we did have a big group so that may have been the issue with the mix up in the orders and the length, but when we did eat I was very impressed. To book restaurants you had to book on the resort app which barely worked and was a bit frustrating. I think this was due to Wifi being so awful. It was only a big deal for us since we had a huge group and was trying to keep track of where people were but we made things work. Guest services was helpful in booking restaurants however so that is a way around it. The rooms, pools, general bathrooms, resort greenery was very clean and the staff was friendly. There is a section on the resort that is a green, jungle space. I think it may be a swamp and it smelled pretty awful when you went through it but just hold your breath. I got the family selection swim out which I absolutely loved. It was perfect for my 3year old and 6month old. It allowed my 6m to nap while we were still able to be pool side. The rooms were spacious and clean. The tiles however were extremely slippery. Not a great choice for a pool resort. The resort is large. They did have a tram which my kids loved so no complaints there but you did have the trekk down to the beach from the family selection and for people in the regular rooms it seemed like they had to make the trek to our area where most of the restaurants were. I would have been blown away by this resort had the waterpark not nearly killed a child and they handled things a bit better. But this is something I cant forget and other families should be aware of.

Isabel Velasquez

While the staff and grounds were lovely, I feel it’s important for future guests to know that all three of us became sick daily from the food, which seems tied to hygiene or food handling. This issue, along with the constant upsells, poor communication, and weak family offerings, means we would not return and do not recommend. Pros: The swim-up room was great and very clean. Staff throughout the property were genuinely kind and welcoming. The resort grounds are well-maintained with lots of visible upkeep. We appreciated the cute birthday package that was left in the room. Cons: Unfortunately, several issues overshadowed the experience: (1) The constant upselling throughout the resort was overwhelming. From the moment we arrived, we were approached for a timeshare-style “membership” pitch that took up a lot of our initial time. Once on the beach, vendors were immediately allowed to approach us on the sand to sell products and services, which made it hard to relax. Even while enjoying our swim-up room, staff came by upselling spa packages. It felt like we were being sold something at every turn rather than simply enjoying our stay. (2) The food was a major problem. From the first meal to the last, all three of us experienced stomach issues daily. It felt like food was left out too long, with bugs circulating around the buffet, and cross contamination. (3) Buffets rarely changed from day to day, which added to the disappointment. (4) The WiFi is extremely poor unless you pay an upcharge — another money trap. WiFi still sucked. (5) You cannot take food from the buffet, and room service is not included, both of which felt like unnecessary nickel-and-diming. (6) Events are not clearly communicated. For example, one night there were fireworks around 2am that were never mentioned anywhere. Not inclusive of families with children. (7) The amount of smoking everywhere on the property (cigarettes, cigars, weed) was overwhelming. There didn’t appear to be designated smoking areas, which is surprising for a family resort. (8) Our daughter said the kids club didn’t run the activities listed, which was disappointing since we chose the resort partly for that. In chatting with other families, they had similar feedback. (9) Transportation wait times (train/shuttle to the beach) were sometimes 15–20 minutes. We also saw people with strollers struggle to board due to crowding and aggressive boarding.

Brittany Switzer

I stayed at the family Princess Bávaro. The hotel is stunning, with so many amenities and pools. The food options were great, but never hot. My husband, daughter and I were sick for days, we think it was the food as, when we returned home, everything went back to normal within a day. The alcohol they serve is also cheap and was tough on the system. This said, this was a fantastic experience for my daughter. There are toys in the room for kids to use, great toddler and kid water slides, and wading pools for littlest. The wildlife was amazing. Unfortunately my grandmother had to go to the hospital and they over charged and misdiagnosed her. The hospital is linked to the hotel. If you have to go, I suggest you go to a hospital closer to the hotel and not affiliated with them. It seemed like a money grab; they kept her longer than necessary and prescribed things that were not necessary for her symptoms.additionally, they charged more than what the bill said. After looking at other reviews, I see other people had the same experience with the hospital. This, combined with other experiences, has convinced us to never go back to Punta Cana.