Hotel Riu Palace Bavaro

This is a very nice all-inclusive resort with generally very good food. A very solid value. In terms of the entertainment, some of the dance shows are very good, particularly the Dominican Show, Super Latino, and the Circus show. A few other shows, like the "Las Vegas" one, are a bit dull. The night club DJs keep the dance floor bumping, but we didn't care much for the color party dancing around the pools at the Riu Party complex -- the nightclub was more fun. The kids loved the water slide park. My biggest complaints: (1) The gym equipment is in neither the Bavaro property nor the Macao property next door (at the gym inside the spa) are kept in working order. The Bavaro gym had a treadmill out of order the entire time, and there's a ton of competition for the remaining two treadmills in the morning, and the Macao property's chest press machine was broken. (2) The Sports Bar is not kept clean late late at night, and quickly becomes gross when people go there to hang out after the night club. The need at least one and maybe two additional staff bussing tables and cleaning the food area at the Sports Bar at night. (3) The steak at the Steakhouse was dry and not well cooked. Surprisingly, the steak at the less-popular "American Country" restaurant was excellent. These were small complaints in the scheme of things, but I'm listing them here in hope that the management read them and work to improve.

It is a beautiful and neatly maintained hotel. The rooms were spacious and neat, clean and well maintained. The spa was fun but needed maintenance here and there. The choice of food was wide ranging in quality and the temperature could have been much better. Extended drinks menu, missed the real fresh juice. From ice cream, candy to fruit and meals, a choice for everyone. The activities at the resort were okay. The pool wasn't always nice and cool, usually clean.