I went to the Ocean Bavaro Resort last July, my first time to the Dom Rep, having been to Jamaica in the past. I found the Dom Rep in general to be a beautiful country, lusher and greener than Jamaica.
The resort itself was spectacular, very clean, beautifully maintained grounds and beach, superb facilities. The entertainment staff were excellent, spending all day rehearsing shows to put on in the evening which were very energetic and colourful. There was also plenty of activities organised throughout the day if you wanted to participate, but there was no pressure.
Food wise, there was a main buffet restaurant which provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, but there were other restaurants on site which you needed to book in advance which were also in general excellent. There is a snack bar located around the pool which offered pizza, chicken, sandwiches etc. One thing I will say is that the buffet staff couldn't speak english very well, so if you know any Spanish/French/Italian it's useful. It is useful to note also that you must wear a T-Shirt in the buffet, no bikini tops allowed.
if you want to go on trips, I would recommend the Outback Safari, a full day with guide and driver which was excellent fun. You go up into the mountains, stopping off at a typical local house (very staged but still interesting), sampling local coffee and other produce, lunch is provided along with unending suppys of drinks on route. We ended up on a beach for boogie boarding/swimming which was really welcome.
We also went to Saona Island which was absolutely stunning, going out by speed boat and back by Catamaran, again a full day with lunch provided.
Horse riding and Quad biking are also popular but be careful who you book with, there are some touts going around the resort who perhaps are not quite Kosha.
Overall it was an excellent holiday and I'm sure you will enjoy it too.

Thanks for the reply! I am really looking forward to it now...6 weeks yesterday! I had heard about that trip to the island, sounds great, will definitely have to check these excursions out!
Thanks again!

Hi Louise,

I've just booked this hotel for 2 weeks time (probs with planned hol so last minute change needed!).

I'm off on 2 June for 2 weeks, will post when i get back

Del

That would be great! Hope you have a Fab time!

my boyfriend and I are heading out on the 22nd June. Last minute booking
if anyone else is gonna be there get in touch and we can meet up. We have been extravagant and booked First Choice longhaul upgrade.mmmm cant wait

I am going to the resort on the 22nd June and hope to do lots of diving. anyone else out there want to buddy up? anyone know whats the diving like? any info gratefully recieved.

Hey we 'my boyfriend and I) will be setting off to the ocean bavaro tomorrow morning. Will stay there for 10 days. I must say that after reading reviews on tripod I started to get a little nervious about our stay. Lots of complaining about the rooms and I even read something about rats NNN
Hope things are a bit exaggerated but we'll see, can't be worse then our last visit (september last year) when we met hurricane jane...
Just want sun, beach, good food and no stress Will be a great holiday!
Mayby some of us run into each other....

Hi Shady Lady

The north coast is the atlantic coast and so tends to be rougher. Consequently the best diving tends to be found off the south ( caribbean ) coast centred on Bayahibe and it is not uncommon to find folks travelling down from Bavaro / Punta Cana to dive off the south coast especilly of Catalina Island ( The Wall and Aquarium ).

When we stayed in Bavaro a few years ago the organised dives never went outside the reef ( too rough ) so max depth was less than 10M.

This site is a good starter for 10 which will give you some idea about some of the sites that folks have reviewed. I recommend the La Romana report ( nice photos ) which was actually based in Bayahibe.

http://dive.scubadiving.com/tripfinder/main.php/results/view/Dominican+Republic

Depends what sort of diving you like !

I dived off Catalinita Island which is at boundary of Atlantic and Caribbean ( just north of eastern end of Saona Island ) where there are nurse sharks.

Off Bayahibe there is a good wreck called the St George ( deep ) and many reef dives.

Hope that helps

Scubaman

thaxs for that. I will keep that in mind and try to get to the south coast. my kit is all packed so really looking forward to it now.

Hi,

got back from this resort last weekend.

Had a wonderful time. The hotel was stunning, the grounds were immaculately kept and spotlessly clean.

Yes the rooms (standard) were a bit jaded, could've done with a lick of paint, but nothing wrong with them!

Both pools were very nice, and the beach was fabulous (we thought it was nicer than the beach at Saona)

No shortage of loungers at the pool or beach and it was quite safe to leave things while you went swimming or for food.

Food was ok. Having very conservative British tastes, we got by ok while not raving about it. It seemed a bit odd having Spanish, Mexican and Brazilian a la carte restaurants, perhaps a little bit too similar. The italian restaurant looked very nice but nobody else in my group likes italian food so i didn't get to try it! The sea food restaurant were charging a supplement of $40 pp.....

The hotel staff were extremely helpfull and friendly, and even though some of them didn't speak a lot of English they made every effort to be helpfull and to make themselves understood ( I could've done without the Americans making fun of their lack of English, but then I could go on at length about the rudeness they displayed ) The Dominicans are a wonderfully friendly people, and boy do they like to dance!

There is one shop on the site and that was very expensive. Much better off walking along the beachfront as far as Captain Cook's and going to the supermarket there, or taking a taxi to Plaza Bavaro.

If you do any excursions you get plenty of chances for shopping on those. And also on Friday evenings local traders are allowed into the hotel grounds, where they set up stalls selling their goods. The whole place becomes like an outdoor market. But remember to barter. The rule of thumb we were given was to knock them down initially to a third of the asking price and go from there.....

As far as excursions go - we did the outback safari. A must do in my opinion to see the real Dom Rep. A fun day out but a real eye-opener as to the way of life, the poverty is heart-breaking. We also went to Saona Island, the journeys out & back were great, and the star-fish provided a real Kodak moment, but as i mentioned earlier the beach at the resort is equally as good as Saona Hubby and son also did a helicopter trip which they said was brilliant. The pilot makes a point of flying you over your hotel

One word of warning - pack plenty of Immodium. While we were there many of the guest had severe stomach upsets. Not your usual 24hr bug. My mother went down with it 3 days into the hol and 5 days after returning home she still has it. Some people ended up having hospital treatment for it. The doctor in the hotel was providing treatment (at a cost) of anti-biotics and injections. The hotel management and our First Choice Rep at first were denying there was a problem but as more and more people were affected our Rep admitted there was a problem but said that other guests in other hotels were going down with it too. She seemed to think it was a virus in the area.

We had a really great holiday and I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

If anyone has any questions don't hesitate to email or pm me

Glad you had a good time, I am heading out on Monday and Can't wait...Imodium is packed, haha! Hopefully we won't be affected by this stomach bug you were speaking about though. Thanks for posting your review, some really good tips there!

Louise

Wish I was going again on Monday

Hi, we are going there at end March 2006. Anyone been recently. We have a junior suite, waht are they like?
Any comment welcome.
Are $ the best currency?

If anyone can assist by posting a review, please do so HERE.

Many Thanks.

For currency info/posts, please use THIS TOPIC.

Pippy

Have just returned from there last month and had a wonderful time. The resort is lovely and exceeded my expectations. The bar staff in the evening round the pool area (best entertainment is here too) are wonderful and friendly. You havent a hope of staying sober as they top up your glasses constantly! We found the food also very good. They have a number of restaurants on site and we enjoyed the Japanese, Italian and Spanish although we were not impressed with the Brazillian, too rushed. Be aware that you have two booking times available for the restaurants and these must be adhered to. The main buffet restaurant though, is go in whenever you want and stay as long as you want and very nice too. To guarantee good service at bars and the buffet its a good idea to slip a couple of dollars to the staff. There is entertainment going on around the pool and beach areas but you are not hassled to take part. There are also areas where you can lay in peace without that all going on. An excellent excursion was to Saona Island, I highly recommend it. All in all, excellent value for money, a lovely resort with plenty of choice of bars and restaurants. Have a wonderful time!

Oh yeah, I forgot to say, yes definately take US$. They are accepted everywhere. The currency is Pesos but try and avoid these as you have no hope of exchanging them back or to US$. You'll also have to pay your entry and departure taxes in US$. Around 10 arriving and 20 departing!

Hi, i went to Ocean Bavaro in June 2004 and had a great time. Went on a great day trip, Catamaran to idyllic island for a beach barbeque and sunbathing and then picked up by speed boat, had great time. They then stop in a shallow area of the ocean where you can get in the water and look for starfish. And they are the size of footballs so you won't miss them. Disco there isn't great, but still fun. Just get drunk thats what me and my mates did. And get ready to be pulled up by the workers, they try to teach you salsa.
Kebabx

hi , just wanted any information on the dominican republic really , i have only ever done spain before , i just wanted warm waters and white sand , we are booked up to go in june 07 so can anyone tell me is the water warmer than the costa brava and sand lovely and white, i hope so we are staying at ocean bavaro spa & beach with first choice , we normally do spain by coach because i dont like flying , so this 10 hour flight will go down well, i havent slept since we booked it, not with excitement but with fear of flying, but i am looking foreword to it

Has anyone stayed at this place? ive just booked for next september