I am 30 and my Husband is 54, this was our first time to the Dominican Republic, the Resort if you want to call it that, the people were not friendly while checking in or later. The room we had was an upgraded Ocean View room, let me tell you this was the most dirty room, not clean what so ever, the bathroom had scum in the tub, no drain stoppers, didnt look like they had washed the floor since it had been there, mirror dirty, toliet had crap all over it, dirty dirty dirty....
When the maids came to clean, sometimes they would leave towels and bath mat, or not. If you tip well, you get towels everyday no problem.
The buffet hall was mostely the same food day after day. The day trips offered we not worth the money you paid, The Beach area was dirty and not well taken care of.....not many activity's at ths resort.
We will return to Puna Canta but will find a better Resort to stay at. Would never refer anybody back to this dumpy place.

We travelled Feb 21, 2008 to Feb 29, 2008.

It was beautiful.

we stayed at the hotel carabela on Bavaro beach.

The beach was clean and had plenty of palm trees for shade, you did have to move your beach chair around throughout the day to keep your self in the direct sun if this is what you want.

Plenty of breeze to make make the hot sun bearable.

The food at the hotel was good, plenty to choose from.
Service was good, very pleasant, not very many of the staff can speak english, but we were able to communicate with them through broken up french and hand gestures.

The rooms were ok, we were in one of the older buildings, but we were directly beside the pool and main lobby, this was very convienent.
The bottled water in the rooms was good, it gets replenished after the entire bottle is done, and if you need more water it is always available at the frint desk, no problems with broken seals.

The Mexian al a carte restaurant was the best of them all, we attended all al a carte restaurants they all were good.
The buffet is fully stocked and was fresh for each meal.

Take a thermal cup with you, small cups are used for all drinks which makes you walking to get a drink quite often.

The best excursion that we did was the Sting ray and Nurse sharks, this was excellent.

Guests at this hotel were all ages.

The disco was good, the music was what you might expect spanish but it was still fun. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR DRINKS IN THE DISCO. Not sure why it states otherwise in the ads, but we attended the disco 4 nights of the seven and did not pay for one drink.

the peddlers on the beach are very pushy, do not buy from them, go to the dominican plaza on the street behind the beach, very reasonable and the prices are marked not bartering.

Overall I would recomend this resort and location to all ages and I would definitely return.

Here is a detailed description of what you get at the Carabella. I wouldnt go back myself but if you got a great price in the 600$ range than I wouldnt discourage you to go if yo are prepared for a 2-3 star not 4 star hotel.

Lobby
comfortable with a bar in the lobby that is open in the evening. At least at this bar they give you a glass not a plastic cup for your drinks

Rooms
The rooms are in need of renovations but were kept clean although you still might find a cockroach and bugs. We had to change rooms because the frist had a very large leak in the bathroom. We got a second room with just a small leak. The shower depening on the time of day and the room had very litlle hot water. The air conditioner worked well and was quiet in the second room. There is a mini fridge with a large bottle of water in it and it is replaced everyday. The sliding doors do not lock and the screen doors dont work. After taking to some guards they said the place is very safe. The safe cost 10$ per week. You have to ask for a remote control. There are two english chanels one movie channel.


Breakfast
Americn type foods, eggs bread hams and cheese lots of fried meat, fruit smoothies and only 4 types of fruit. Coffee is terrible. If you want a decent tasting coffee get the double espresso in the vending machine.

Lunch
There are 10 hot dishes to choose from and usualy fried meat two types of pasta, make your own fajitas, rice and a traditional meat dish. There are two salad bars. The desserts were good usually 5 to choose from. At least 5 of the hot dishes were not edible.

Dinner
The same as above, a fried meat of every type of animal inc. fish. I found half of the dishes unedible. There is a make your own pasta bar which was good. you choode the ingrediants you want and the sauce and the chef mixes and cooks it on front of you.

A la carte resturants
The grill/seafood resturant was very good everybody enjoyed there dinners there
The mexican resturant was goos but spicy and upset out stomachs later.
The Italian resturant had good pizza
The beach bar has ice cream hamburgers hotdogs fried fish and french fries.

Drinks
A lot of cheap brands alcohol, the beer was good the mixed drinks were too sweet and they didnt use any fruit in any of the drinks. The pool bar was not manned, empty and not used

The grounds and beach
The grounds were very pretty and kept clean. The beach was small, with nice sand and nice clear water. If you want to sun tan do not go to the beach there wre too many trees and most of the beach is shadded. Lot of charis no matter what time of day you go

The pools
The pools were fine small but comfortable. Lots of chairs.

The shows and Bar
We didnt get to any of the shows as were were travelling with a 3 yr old and a 1 year old. But everyone one enjoyed the shows and the bar.

The staff
They were frendly but almost none of them spoke English. When our room needed repair someone came within the hour, when we asked for another room they were helpful.

I went to the Carabela Bavaro Resort in Janurary and we had our money worth. It was so much fun. Before leaving, I was a bit stressed, because of all the bad reviews, but I can assure you that it's worth every penny. There's a lot of activities and the people at the resort are very friendly. Theres always something to do and some place to eat! We did the banana boat and it cost only 7$ but we laugh all the ride. You should try it! The hotels room were very clean. Always lots of chairs available beside the pools and on the beach! Foods and drinks were really great. It's a excellent resort for family, older crowd and teenagers.