Catalonia Punta Cana - All Inclusive

I loved the exterior views, beautiful landscaping, palm trees, the pool was nice. The buffet had good food and we loved the coffee shop!

The shower could be a little more updated and cleaned. Also maybe offer eating areas with A/C

The room was spacious and the lady that clean it was friendly and always left the room nice, clean and restocked with coffee and water. The property is very well maintained, with a lot of vegetation and turtles, iguanas, fish and birds. Very pleasant and calming. The assistants at the resort, particularly Jose Antonio, were very helpful in helping us get reservations at the different restaurants in the resort.

Nobody mentioned to us that during July and August the sea is full of zargazo (seaweed). Hard to get in the water plus the whole area smells like rotten eggs. This obviously is not the resort fault but when you book a resort in Punta Cana thinking about sandy and cleared beaches they often promote, it is quite disappointing. The resort is also very crowded and there are not enough launch chair at the pool for so many people. As such, people put their towels on chairs as early as 6:00 a.m. so, if you get to the pool by 9:00 am there are no chairs available. With the beach as a limited option due to the rotten smell, you really have to get up early to ensure a space at the pool. The website to make reservations at any of the four restaurants is a nightmare. It is also hard to get a reservation at the restaurants, as they show they are always ful. For this, the best way is to work with the resort assistants to help you make reservations, so the website is, really not helpful.

Bar staff at all the bars were friendly, prompt at seeing me, quick responding to drink requests. Dinner, restaurant staff were good, timely getting me in at my reservation time, and prompt throughout dinner. Beach was clean, lounge chairs were clean, plenty of room without feeling crowded.

Check in was extremely slow. Front desk staff were sometimes not there, then maybe one or two would show up or just walk by. There were no more than a dozen people waiting to check in around 3 pm, I was about 4th in line, and it took at least 30-40 minutes for me to check in.

A few of the employees were friendly and helpful.

The staff did not do their best to be excellent. A concierge tricked us into going to a "special breakfast" and made us wake up early thinking about this special ocassion but it was only a pitch for a time share and a very uncomfortable breakfast with a lady, that although was not a bed person, we did not want to have breakfast with her. That situation was a bummer, especially on the first day of the stay. Then, the overall treatment of many employees is not good. I know there must be a low salary but if you dont exceed, you will not have happy clients. Everyone is on a budget and paying to have a good time. We were even almost thrown out of the lunch room because we were the last ones. They announce they have 4 restaurants but the same day of arrival they say you can't book a restaurant. Then you are led to a webpage where all restaurants are full and you only can get one reservation. We went to each restaurant and werr able to dine in a second one while begging to one employee that was more than helpful. When you look at the restaurants they were not full so it was not easy to understand why they were all booked. The food was ok at the all inclusive restaurants but the service was sometimes nonexistent. The first day we had to get our own drinks. Room service was poor and in three days they never answered the phone not even once, not in help desk, not in housekeeping, etc. We left a $10tip with a note for the person to please bring a comforter and it never appeared. We went to the store close to the pharmacy and the lady, given it was close to closing time, trameated us very badly. She even did not want to sell to us and said she waa not able to call reception to find our room number. Finally we contacted the concierge that tricked us (that happened the next day) and she was able to give us the room number. The first day we were sold "an upgrade" of $40 extra per day and it was a scam. Really? A better room? With a cockroach in the shower?