Catalonia Punta Cana - All Inclusive

We stayed in Catalonia for eight nights in a ground floor Privileged room.  The hotel on a whole was fantastic, one of the best we’ve ever been to.  The resort is so beautiful, we loved the gardens, the little lake and it’s stress free area where you can just enjoy watching the ducks, the birds, the fish or read a book.  We loved the wide sandy beach and all the palm trees.  It felt like a real paradise! The staff are kind and warm, they work so hard and are happy to help with anything you need.  Many thanks to the staff at La Palapa restaurant by the beach, who made our little girl’s 2nd birthday so special.  They helped by organising a birthday lunch for her and her holiday friends.  They all sang happy birthday to her, provided a cake (with the help of guest services), and made sure the adults were having a great time also! The entertainment team were absolutely fantastic, the best we've ever seen in any of the resorts we've been. They didn’t hold back when accosting you into activities and they never seem to tire of dancing!  They were particularly great with our Daughter and organised a Birthday applause for her at the pool party.  Thanks Ricky!  Finally the Mr Catalonia show was by far the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a resort although, I was very pleased I wasn’t a contestant! Things to be aware of before coming: A)- If you like to tip like us, it’s far easier to arrive with plenty of $1 and $5 bills as opposed to bigger notes as changing to smaller currency in the resort is a real challenge.  This is even more difficult if like us, you arrive with Dominican Pesos, in the typical large notes provided in a currency exchange.  Despite going to reception around twice everyday, only once were they able to change one of my larger notes to smaller ones.  This meant that in order to tip, I would have to negotiate an exchange to dollars with the bell boy, and then return to the front desk for a change to dollar bills.

Beautiful beaches, friendly staff, there is everything you need such as hair dresser, SPA, shops, different restaurants etc. The food is really good, and the buffet has a large selection of meals We had a wonderful time there

The only complaint we have is about the person who did our check in. She was not really kind and did not explain us anything about the hotel, how the “all inclusive” works. She did not tell us where our room was, we had to ask, and she barely point out the direction…

Beautiful and well kept grounds and facilities.

Initial booking was on non-updated rooms. Despite being labeled as Junior Suites, the rooms are extremely outdated. We had to upgrade to what they call “Priviledge by Catalonia”, which are more in tune with the price that we paid. please, do not go there unless you upgrade to the Priviledge rooms!!! The buffet food is OK; the restaurants are way subpar. The personnel is not customer oriented by any means. Staff not attentive, and most likely the worst element in the whole picture. Not sure how can this be solved.

The food was good, excellent. Variety of European and Caribbean.

The room very outdated, smell of mold. The Air-conditioning make horrible noise. Part of staff still wild. In sted of good morning or other greeting says ( Que quieres ?)

The staff was so helpful. Everything was fantastic! I will stay here again

room service only came twice on a 2 day stay. I had to keep calling asking for towels

After upgrading to the Privileged room, all was really great. Cocktails were really good and there were a lot of food options. Rodeo restaurant was the favourite one. The Japanese one was great too. The hotel grounds were really lovely and nicely looked after. Very green and clean! There was so much greenery the buildings with rooms were kind of blending in not like a concrete jungle. There were lots and lots of activities to get involved in eg dancing on the beach and it sounded like something was constantly going on somewhere.

I would not recommend the cheapest unrefurbished room option as it is very grim, especially the bathroom. Tapas restaurant was a mild disaster. The food was not great and the waitresses brought some dishes that we ordered and some or half of the dishes were totally random. For the table next to us as well. It seemed they had put the most inexperienced staff in that restaurant when we went there.

Staff very happy and helpful. Pool was very nice and also the beach was well cared for. Italian and Steak restaurant fantastic!

Spanish restaurant was awful. Everything tasted the same and was deep fat fried. Not Spanish at all. First time I've walked out of a restaurant with not eating anything. Potato Bravas came out covered in Mayo and Ketchup not the spicy alioli that it should have been. The entire place also has an obsession with balloons. Everything has balloons. Yet the place prides itself on being sustainable and looking after the world. Every day I went swimming in the ocean, and I'd say we pulled out 3/4 balloons a day! No one cares about balloons, just stop using them. The place is beautiful and doesn't need balloons!

The property itself is absolutely beautiful and remained in pristine condition for our entire stay. The variety of food at the buffet was good and left us with great options depending on what we were feeling. Plenty of places to choose from for dinner reservations and the staff was exceptionally nice and is always there for anything you may need. We were upgraded at checkin to the adults only side which ended up being much more peaceful which we greatly appreciated as well as the wider variety of restaurants to choose from for dinner.

Biggest thing to me was all of the people going around trying to sell something wether it be merchandise from the vendors setup at the front at night, or the people walking aground on the beach constantly asking about excursions braids etc. When you’re trying to layback and relax that can get old rather quickly. Lastly the room was excessively hot for our entire stay and nothing was ever done about it even after contacting front desk multiple time. I believe it was 80+ at least three nights of our stay and the others weren’t much better. Overall a pleasant stay though aside from these few things.

The staff was awesome!

Bathroom showers are to hot didn’t cool down for nothing and rooms where muggy..

Overall I like the amenities.

The staff in front desk could of been better. Long wait times for check in. My phone didn’t work at all & they kept saying someone was going fix it never did. I had keep going to front desk because my key would stop working to open door to villa.