Royalton Bavaro

The Royalton Bavaro is getting it right! We were in the Diamond Club and we loved it. The check in was amazing. Off the bus and straight into a cart with our luggage to the Diamond Club lounge. "Have a seat ,.would you like any drinks, there are snacks over there and we will bring the paperwork to you" wow! Great start! The bracelets ARE your room key! What an amazing concept! So all of us had our room key always with us.( the Staff puts the bracelets on with a crimper and my sons came off in the flow rider. They did initially tell us it would be $50 US to replace it. I was pretty annoyed since it's not like he played with it and lost it.. they put it on and I guess it wasn't right so how is that oit fault. And my son felt.super bad because he's no irresponsible, he had told me right away that it was gone) Anyhow, the next day, we were ready to pay up but a supervisor was there and said "no charge". Phew! Another win for.the Royalton. We.met our Butler Edwin at check-in. So nice and personable. We didn't need him much BUT when we did,.he was so responsive and helpful. Ready to come to us where ever we were to get things done. The room was nice. Clean . The closet door was broken which doesn't seem like much but it has a light that activated when the door was opened and it kept coming on and off throughout the night so we asked Edwin and he got the crew there to fix it the next day. One thing that's different is that we couldn't control our own AC. Usually there is a control in the room but not here. It would be nice to have that but it is what it is. The two kids shared a pull out couch. They didn't complain at all but in hindsight, would.have been nice for them to have an actual bed. The towel service!! Another HUGE win for the Royalton Bavaro! Beach towels are abundant! And you just pick them up at two locations and when they are wet or dirty, they have receptacles to put them in and you can go get more. No more guarding towels!!! In my opinion,.this is a big stress reliever! That and never having to look for the room key. Restaurants galore. Good food. Service is good too.. staff is super.friendly! Entertainment is so so. They have musicians in the lobby before dinner that we loved to have pre-dinner drinks and listen to but after dinner.. there's nothing. There is a big beautiful stage area in the lobby. It's nicely lit,.etc but after dinner.. you come out of the main buffet and you watch kids running and playing there. There is no music amd nothing to keep you entertained until the shows start at 9pm I felt they could do.something better there. We don't stay up late for the shows so can't really comment on the quality on the late shows. We watched the circus one and it was ok / good. Would be nice to have a second coffee bar at the other end of the resort. The coffee bar is at the lobby amd very popular so it would be great to have a second one somewhere closer to the beach. But thats just a suggestion no complaint. You can get a coffee at the DC lounge too. The beach is nice. If the waves are strong, they do bring in sea weed. It's not yucky though. Not slimy. Just plant material. My daughter and I both had a small reaction to the brown plant kind. A small rash. Must have been touching us for longer than a second or two. A bit of Voltaren gel and it went away. The sales people.on the beach are easily dissuaded if you say no right away. But if you start looking at something, be prepared to negotiate or be very firm. The animals they will take pictures of you with cost $$ They will all negotiate significantly so make sure to bring some haggling confidence. Chairs at the beach and pool are very comfortable. Loads of shade if you want it. Bars and drinks everywhere. We did power sailing and the Bavaro adventure park. Both were good. Don't know if I would do the power sailing again. It is rough on the boat and then a quick up and down (maybe 15 minutes) it IS fun but it's like $40 - $60 US and they get you with the picture costs. There is a photographer on the boat taking pictures and of course.. you want the memories lol so I paid.. not cheap. $40 per round. The Bavaro adventure park was fun. Buggy zip lining and horses. You aren't allowed to take any camera with you other than go pros on the helmet ,.but they have photographers everywhere that get cool shots and I got sucked in again and paid big $$$ for them You can say No for sure. They don't pressure you at all. If you want to do power sailing book it early because if the wind isn't blowing right,.they don't do it. So don't wait to the last day or two. We had a great trip. We came from Canada and had to have the PCR test done . And QR codes for entering and leaving DR. Plus Arrivecan that didn't even work at the Canada Airport... but you need to have a smart phone and save those codes. The Royaltons wifi is great! Works everywhere from the beach to the lobby! It's a bit rough in the evenings when everyone seems to be on but other wise, super good. The lazy river is not too fast. Not much flow so you sort of swim or paddle through it. And it's not warm. But the kids liked it. It is fun to go through a few times. Flow Rider is super fun. Hard! But the guy who is there doing it was super good and nice. We took advantage of the Punta Cana Splash park (included with Diamond club) and it was fun for the afternoon) I could go on and on but all to say, great vacay. Glad we were able to get away before more restrictions came in. The staff at the Royalton all went masks all the time. They have hand sanitizer at the restaurants and disposable face masks in case you forget. When you BOOK your PCR test make sure you PAY at the same time. Otherwise you show up for your appointment and have to get back in line, which could be an hour. Great resort!