I have stayed at the Catalonia twice now. On both occaisions I had a fantastic time. I love this resort so much I have booked to go again.

Grounds - The gardens were beautiful, very pleasant to walk around. Lots of ducks! There is a small shopping area on resort but the prices were alot higher here than if you brought them from the local towns.

Food - This was Ok, plenty of choice. The Snack Bar by the pool which served chicken and pizza was particularly good.

Rooms - The rooms we stayed in were clean and appeared to be well maintained. There was always plenty of drinks in the fridge. The maids were very friendly and left fresh flowers in the room everyday. Loved the hammock and the rocking chair on the terrace.

Staff - All of the staff were very helpful and worked hard. The Animation team worked expecially hard and long hours, they encouraged alot of people to take part in the activities, there was no pressure to do anything you didn't want to.

Entertainment - There were activites all day accross the resort and the evenings mainly consisted of a live band and/or karaoke, live shows and there is a disco on resort which is open to 2am.

Beach/Pool- The beach is beautiful, the sea was lovely and warm. The pool is very big, has a swim up bar and a jacussi area. The water seemed to be a bit on the cold side but was welcomed relief from the heat. There were plenty of sunbeds on the beach and by the pool and plenty of shaded sunbeds. Recommend if you want shade arrive early as they all seem to be reserved if you arrive at a normal time!

Trips - Saona Island was a long day but worth it, take plenty of sun cream and mosquito repelent for the beach.
The Outback Safari was a great trip, the day we went on this trip it rained all day but it was so much fun! Make sure you take plenty of money as there are several stops where you can by local produce at low prices.

I only know very basic Spanish, ordering a beer etc, I found the staff could all speak reasonable English, but I would recommend that you do learn some Spanish before you go. The first trip to this resort there was a mainly European clientele but the 2nd time I went the clientele appeared to be more Canadian, American and Spanish.

TIP - Remember to take some low currency notes, eg $1 or $5 dollars for tipping, I ended up tipping someone $20 for taking my case to the room!

My wife and I just got back from the Catalonia Bavaro. We stayed there from April 20 -27. We really had a great time there. The beach is why we went back to Punta Cana. We thought the Catalonia's beach was perfect. We walked for a mile or more and loved it. This resort is secluded so you dont get bothered by people trying to sell you something. Also the beach is patroled. We have stayed at other resorts that were rated higher by Apple's standards but we thought this resort was as good. The food was really good especially the pizza and chicken at the pool side cafe. The specialty restaurants were good. The rooms were clean and roomy. The pool was fabulous and so were the workers there. Very friendly. The grounds could use some maintanance but while we were there they were working on the landscape. Alot of daily poolside entertainment and nightly shows. Only complaint is to stay away from the food being served at the Beach Party. I would definetly go back and would recommend it to any age group.

We spent April 15-22 at the Catonlina. This was our 3rd trip to Punta Cana and 5th trip to the DR. What keeps us coming back are the Dominican people. We've traveled throughout the Caribbean and Mexico and find the people of the DR the most genuine.

You really can't say anything terribly negative about the resort. Huge beach with plenty of shade. Gorgeous landscaping and layout of buildings. Just the right size resort making everything a short walk away. The rooms were kept very clean and there was no problem with any bugs.

If there was room for any improvement it would be in the area of food and drinks. The food that they did have was pretty good but lacked the depth that other resorts offered. Example: no fresh made pancakes or waffles, runny powered scrambled eggs and juice made from power. Some days no bacon and most days no other breakfast meats.

Drinks were the real problem. To get a good drink go to the lobby bar. They use fresh ingredients and real liquor. The pool bar is a joke. They made a drink one day and filled the glass 3/4 with rum and added a splash of mixer. Normally a drink fixed like that would have sat me down but instead you couldn't even taste the rum. Numerous people complained and even got huffy about the drink not having any liquor. The real testimony of a good bar is a lot of empty glasses. Not the case here, most glasses are left around half full.

If having a good drink isn't a big issue then this place will be just fine for you. I really did enjoy the resort and the staff but learned to walk to the lobby when you really wanted a good tropical drink.

Thanks to Trip Advisor and so many of the great reviews, we decided on the Catalonia for our vacation, and it did not disappoint.

From the moment we arrived, until the moment we left, we loved everything about the resort and any time we spent outside of it.

If you REALLY want to nit pick (like some people sure do), yes, the bed spreads are a sweet 70's pattern, the water pressure is low and some of the buffet items are a little sketchy looking (but I'm sure very tasty if you're brave enough!), but COME ON! This is a nice resort in a poor country. It's clean, the staff are friendly, the food was really good (buffets had TONS of items for picky eaters, and the a la cartes were quite good- French, Mexi, Japanese and American, in order of our favorites).

We had decided on the Saona beach trip based on reviews, but after we got there decided our beach was nice enough and opted for the Bavaro Runners instead. We'll do a review on that too, but we REALLY enjoyed it. We did a snorkelling trip in the glass bottom boat (best $25 I've ever spent) and the introductory scuba dive was excellent value. I'm certified but my girlfriend is not - I couldn't believe they let her out in the open ocean with nothing more than a 5 minute pool lesson! That being said, it was a great shallow dive for me, a bit scary for her, but still enjoyable.

The beach party was fun, and we quite enjoyed the food, way better bbq ribs than the american restaurant.

Don't miss out on the (included!) crepe restaurant hidden over in the small shopping strip!

The resort is big (as I'm pretty sure they all are in the DR) so get used to walking, especially if you're far from the beach like we were. We didn't mind at all though, needed to walk off all that great food!

One tip- bring lots of suncreen. It will cost you upwards of $20 to buy a bottle on the resort if you run out.

Overall a great, relaxing vacation at a beautiful resort. The only thing I would change, is if they could clean the cigarette butts off the beach- or better yet if people wouldn't toss them on the ground in the first place!