There was 8 of us total, 4 couples.
Our rooms were some what close. When we booked we asked for ocean view, king beds and balconies. None of us got either. Check in is at 3pm and they do make you wait until then. We ended up with room 4033, lagoon view and 2 standard beds. I don't think they were queen size. The mattresses were very used. You could tell where people had slept before as there were indents in the mattress. Some of the others in our group said their beds were really comfy with a pillow top. Our view was of the lagoon but good thing we were on the 4th floor so we could look over the mall. Some asked what it would cost to upgrade to at least have a balcony. I believe they were told $39 extra a night. The maid service was good. We did leave $2 a day though. We had clothes laying out and she folded them. We had shoes out and she lined them up under the window. Towards the end of the stay the maid broke a small marble top table in our room and we think she tried playing it off to the supervisors as we did. They kept asking us what happened but we were at the pool all day so it had to have been her. We were worried about being charged for this but in the end we were not. The mini bar is nice. Bottled water, soda's, beer, chocolate wafer bar & peanuts restocked every day. You do have to pay for the room safe. I believe it came out to be around $2 a day but we thought it was well worth it to put jewelry, money or passports in. We did not find the water pressure to be bad. They do have 2 options on the shower had for pressure (massage=light or spray=hard).
We found the front desk friendly enough. We were not approached by the vacation membership people at all throughout the whole trip. The exchange rate was not as good at the hotel as we found downtown. When we were there it was $12 Peso to 1 USD, at La Isla mall it was $13.40 Peso to 1 USD. The bus is the best way to go. It's very safe and the drivers we found were very helpful. Even some of the locals on the bus were nice with giving directions or letting us know when to get off. It ended up being around 50cents USD a person to ride the bus. They will take US dollars but not US coins.
We were only at pool 3/activity pool. The activity staff is great. We really enjoyed Vanessa & Marianna. The water aerobics is a great workout (my arms were hurting the next day). They also played pool volleyball, pool basketball, bingo, movie & tv trivia. They do give out prizes also. We never found scum on top of the pools. I saw the pool maintenance guys out there at least twice a day. We liked their pool towels, very nice size and heavy. It seems like they do allow topless bathing as there was one lady there. The ocean was red flagged the whole time but they still allow you to go in it. There is a lifeguard on duty and they do whistle if you get out too far.
We thought the bar staff was great (Antonio was the best!!). We did tip so not sure if that makes a difference. We thought the drinks to be strong at times and they kept our glasses full. They do not allow smoking, only outside, but if it happens to be raining they do allow smoking in the lobby bar. They have a pool table which was 20pesos.
The nightly entertainment in the theatre was good. They have a Caribbean Night, Cabaret Night, Retro Night, Karaoke Night and I think there are more but I can't remember.
As for the food, overall it was decent. We ate at the Mexican Restaurant and the Seafood Restaurant. I think the Mexican was the best or at least their desserts were the best (Churros are the way to go!!). The Seafood was good too. I ordered the Shrimp Steak, thinking it was Shrimp and steak, that was not the case. It's shrimp in the shape of a steak, very good though. We had the buffet for every breakfast. You could get eggs made to order and pancakes. Make sure to ask for your eggs extra done, they tend to make them runny even when it's an omelete, so I ordered scrambled most of the time. They have an array of fruit, some form of potatoes (hashbrowns with or without carrots) and meat (bacon, sausage links or ham). They also have bread (white & wheat) for toast. Their milk is not like US milk. It was a lot thicker. I tried it but couldn't stand it, so skipped that for the rest of the week. You have to wait to be seated for the buffet they get very upset if you seat yourself. They do not allow you to take food out of the buffet either. We tried taking some bananas out but were told that's a no-no (there is a sign but it's behind the door, so who would read it?). The lunch buffet was decent too. They have hamburgers, cheese burgers & hot dogs. They have stuff to make a salad though too. Sometimes there were items on there from the buffet the night before. The dinner buffets were decent. Every night was a different theme. At least the good thing about buffet and all inclusive is if you don't like it you don't have to eat it.
All in all I would go back to the Barcelo.
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