We've all been there, about to check out of our online purchase of our trip and that little message pops up "would you like to upgrade?". Or when you are checking in at the hotel, all thoughts of decision making and stress far removed from your brain, and you're hit with the"can we talk to you about upgrading"question. Instantly you start sweating. On the spot decisions are never fun, especially on vacation when you want the hardest decision you make to be what kind of cocktail to order at the pool bar. I am here to ease some of your worries! As a person who is never quick to make a decision, and someone who usually doesn't see the point of upgrading, I am here to tell you that during our stay at Barcelo Bavaro Palace in Punta Cana we took that leap of faith and upgraded to a Premium level; and it was sooooo worth it. In this post I am going to dish it all. The parts of it we loved, the parts of it we thought were overrated, the parts of it we didn't even use, and all the goodness in between. I hope that by sharing this with you, I can help you make the decision for you if you visit this resort, and so that you can enjoy this beautiful place stress free!
Let me start off by telling you how my boyfriend and I ultimately ended up upgrading to Premium level. We purchased our trip to this beautiful resort through a website called Cheap Caribbean. I love this site, and use it for a lot of my traveling. To learn more about how to book a trip on this site, and more of the reasons why I always recommend it check out my blog post: Cheap Caribbean: One of my Favorite Ways to Travel. While we were selecting a room for our stay, the website showed us that if we upgraded to a Premium level guest we would be able to have an ocean front room. Not ocean facing...ocean FRONT. That has been a dream of mine, for a long time. I will admit that the upgrade was a couple hundred more dollars, I believe the exact cost was around $200 per person BUT before you stop reading right there let me explain. By going through Cheap Caribbean we were already saving so much money and once you read this list I am going to share I think you will understand why we took that leap of faith. Dishing out a little extra cash didn't just get us a nicer room, but it also got us access to a different level of amenities that only Premium guests can have. So without further ado, I present the list.
The Room & Related Services:
I had to start with this image. This is the view from the balcony of our room, and although the photo is stunning let me tell you it does not do it justice. This is what enticed me to upgrade to begin with and it did not disappoint. I am usually the girl who doesn't care too much what the room looks like because all I plan on doing in it is sleeping; but with a view like this I found myself thoroughly enjoying my time spent in the room. Waking up to sunrises, and seeing sunsets from the comfort of our own balcony was a true treat; and that jacuzzi was amazing! I loved that it had both hot and cold options so you could utilize that tub any time of the day. It also comes with bubbles and a privacy shade that you could pull down in front of it, if you were looking for a bit more of a romantic experience. With this upgrade, not only could we see and hear the beach but we were literally steps away from it. All we had to do was walk out of our room, go down some steps and walk forward maybe 10-15 feet. We literally couldn't have been any closer unless we plopped ourselves right on the sand, and it was amazing! Not to mention that we were also directly to the left of all of the pools. That was another benefit of this room, our location was central to everything. This made our walking time very manageable, which is good because this resort is HUGE. Here is a gallery that shows you what the inside of the room looks like as well. If you want more details on what comes with the room, our likes and dislikes about it check out my blog post on the room review!
Also something to note that goes along with the room, as a Premium level guest you do have access to 24/7 room service. We did not utilize this as best as we could have. We called room service once for tea, but besides that we never used it. I did however like that we did have access to it at all times if we needed it. In addition, the staff was really good at restocking our mini fridge every day. We always had fresh snacks, beer, soda and tons of water in our room. *For reference: our room was called the Junior Suite Sea Front Premium Level*
The Premium Lounge
One of the many benefits of being a Premium member is that you have your own separate lounge on the property. Located on the top level of the palace, it is on the left hand side, past the check in desks as you walk into the resort. One of the many perks of this lounge is that you receive expedited check in and check out time. No waiting in the big lines at the check in desks. Instead you walk right on over to the lounge, where you are greeted with an assortment of snacks and the beverage of your choosing. Check in was speedy and seamless, and our bags were brought to our rooms for us. It was a very short walk to our room as we were also staying in the Premium Rooms.
This lounge also serves as your it spot. This is where you go to make dinner reservations, when you have any questions or concerns, or when you just want to relax! Just as with check in, there is rarely a line, it is air conditioned and comfortable, and everything in there goes seamless. It really is a feeling of luxury inside. Just the bonus of skipping lines and having our wishes address quickly was enough for us to rave about this. Below you will see some of the decor from the lounge.
Food and Beverage
As a Premium level guest you also get additional bonuses when it comes to food and beverages. To begin I will discuss beverages. As a Premium level guest you get access to Premium liquor that the other guests do not get access to. Now I will be honest, I don't know different liquor types and quality that well, so to me this part of the package didn't matter and I would not have known the difference anyway. Some of the group I traveled with however, know much more about liquor than I do and they were disappointed that apparently a lot of the liquor that is deemed top shelf here in USA was not a part of the Premium liquor list, and that you did in fact have to pay a little extra for that. I never ended up paying extra for liquor but I also just asked for traditional drinks such as Margaritas, Mojitos etc, and did not specify liquor when I went to the bars. If alcohol is something that is important to you I would be sure to have the front desk specify what liquors are considered Premium before you purchase.
Although not everyone in my group was impressed with the liquor portion of our package, the perks that come with the food portion of the package were well worth it. For starters, let me tell you that a majority of the restaurants offered on this resort are open for dinner only. All of the restaurants that are open for dinner only require reservations. If you are not a Premium guest you get a limit on the amount of reservations you can make, meaning depending on the length of your stay that could be an issue. If you are a Premium guest however, you get unlimited reservations. This was a lovely bonus for us because we wanted to enjoy a variety of restaurants and did not want to worry about running out of reservations. In addition, some of the restaurants on the property require an additional cost to eat at them, unless you are a Premium guest. Le Comide, the French Restaurant for example costs additional money for regular guests but dinner for our group was included since we were Premium. Another food perk for Premium members is that in the morning and afternoon the Seafood Restaurant El Coral turns into our private buffet. The other two buffets on the lower level, Miramar and Bohio Dominicano can get very crowded and noisy. There are also a lot of children running around (which is fine if you have kids) but no one in our group had kids so we prefer the less crowded, more secluded area upstairs. The food was wonderful and the view was awesome.
Spa Services:
The final thing I am going to mention here is something that I wanted to take advantage of so badly but my group was having too much fun elsewhere and the time got away from us! As a perk of being a Premium member you get 45 min a day access to their hydrotherapy pool in the spa. The pool looks lovely, located at the rear of the spa/gym area, it overlooks the main pool right by the palace. It has several hydrotherapy jets in the water and various lounge chairs around the water. One thing we did learn is that you do need to make an appointment to reserve a time slot if you are interested. However, as a Premium guest you do get access to this pool for 45 min a day included in your package. If you try it out you will have to tell me if it feels as dreamy as it looks! If you want to see a peek of the pool check out my gym review post, as I show a video of it at the end.
Well guys, these were the main things that I found useful in making our decision on why upgrading to Premium was worth it at Barcelo Bavaro Paradise in Punta Cana. We were very happy with some of the upgrades that we received as part of the package, and the things that we didn't utilize didn't make us feel as if we have wasted our money. I hope this helps you make your decision next time you visit this resort, and of course if there is anything you want to add to make this list more comprehensive, or to share you experience, please do so in the comments below. Happy traveling đđ
-Steph
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