Mention Punta Cana and images of white, sandy beaches, tropical sunshine, pina colada in hand and all-inclusive resorts would come to mind. In the past few years, many resorts have sprung up along the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic.

A Caribbean workhorse of sun and sand, the southeast is synonymous with go-big-or-go-home tourism and carries the weight of the Dominican Republic’s most dramatic beaches and turquoise seas on its deeply tanned shoulders. Sprawling resort developments, some like city-states unto themselves, line much of the beachfront from Punta Cana to Uvero Alto, offering families, couples and the young and restless alike a hassle-free Caribbean holiday in some of the most idyllic environs in the region. But there is life beyond Punta Cana.

The resort that we chose to stay at is Royalton Bavaro Resort & Spa. First dissatisfaction with this resort is that they do not offer free airport shuttle services. Considering that we paid quite a lot for each room, the resort should have the decency to provide free transfer for guests. We ended up paying US$30 for the one-way trip which took about half an hour from the airport, easily the most expensive airport transfer that we have taken on this trip. Even Costa Rica was cheaper. While I understand that there are many holidaymakers who come to stay at the Punta Cana resorts on chartered flights and tour buses, it is still unfair for walk-in customers or those who book the hotel separately from the flight.

The Royalton occupies a huge area with direct access to the beach front. The kids enjoyed playing the water slides and floating along the lazy river. If your children are into water parks with larger slides, then be sure to stay at the Majestic Colonial Punta Cana which is also located near the same area as Bavaro Royalton. I was impressed by the water slides just by looking at it outside.

While the kids enjoyed the swimming pools, we preferred the beach, with the salt water, waves lapping up the shore and the coconut trees swaying in the breeze.

We brought the youngest one out to build sandcastles and she got bored after a while. Forgot to bring your sandcastle kit? Fret not, because there are shops in Royalton Bavaro selling it and other stuff available such as swimming costumes, insect repellent etc.

The both of us enjoyed the Caribbean vibes of the area, with the waves which can be gentle or rough depending on the time of the day. If you asked me which is the nicest beach in the Caribbean, I would still choose Varadero for its super blue, turquoise waters.

To keep guests occupied, there is a 10-hole mini golf course at Royalton Bavaro. Guests can loan the golf clubs and golf balls from the games counter and slowly clear the holes one by one. I brought my niece and nephew along, as they had wanted to try golf out. The niece was impatient as she can’t wait to go back to the swimming pool again while the nephew was patient enough to complete the whole course with me.

The weather can change really quickly at the resort. One moment it may be sunny, and the next moment it can be cloudy with some gusts of wind. The swimming pools are plentiful and during the day, various activities such as aquarobics/ pool zumba are organised by the resort staff.

This is the view of the Lazy River from the balcony of our hotel room. Just grab a singles or doubles float and slowly drift along this river. Along the way, there are poolside bars where you can stop for a drink. Some people do not like the water fountains along the way and would try their best to avoid it. For those who enjoy getting splashed, they just complete the whole course of the lazy river without paddling on their own.

At night, there are more fun stuff to do, such as the nightly performances and Dominican dances. On one of those nights, the crew enacted the theatrical piece “Lion King”. The props used were elaborate and the scenes followed the musical closely. There is also an entertainment crew who would dance with guests at the bar and promoters trying to sell you the Coco Bongo show, an additional expense as it is outside the resort grounds.

As it is an all-inclusive resort, all drinks served at the bar are free-of-charge. The bartender would look at your wristband and if you are a kid, they would not serve you alcoholic drinks as it is for adults only. Making full use of my stay here, I had lots of drinks, starting from morning till night. Our night time favourite hangout place is “Martini Mix”, a bar at the resort with nice funky music and serves all sorts of martinis. We could order anything we want, from beer, wine, martini, margaritas, champagne etc.

There is a huge variety of food options at Royalton Bavaro. Zen Teppanyaki and Sushi Bar is the only restaurant that requires advanced reservation. It serves teppanyaki (dishes cooked on a hotplate) such as chicken,shrimp and fried rice. As for the dessert, it was unpalatable and the cheesecake that we ordered tasted like rubber. Be expected to experience lots of noise at this restaurant because the teppanyaki chefs would put on a special show for the diners in front of them, something that they do it on a daily basis when they cook on the spot for their clients. I was impressed with the good service here and also that they served sake to go with the food.

The chef made a “1 love you” sign for us on the hot plate and he addressed us as his family. He even allowed the kids to try their hand at stir frying the dishes on the hotplate, by putting on a chef’s hat for them and giving them the spatula. Another memorable incident was the catching of a slice of egg using my mouth while he threw it from a distance, but I failed miserably on the first try as I did not know that I had to move my head. On the second try which was the following day, I managed to get the piece of egg into my mouth on the first try, to much surprise.

If you are craving for steak, Hunters was definitely one of the better restaurants at the resort, besides Zen the Japanese one. We did not try the Brazilian barbecue restaurant during our stay there. Although appetizers and desserts were nothing special, the quality of the steaks (especially the fillet mignon) was very good. There was good red wine to pair with the steak too and the restaurant was selling premium bottles of wine for those who are looking for a more exquisite option.

Note: you cannot make reservations at the restaurants unless you are a Diamond Club member. If you are with a large group you need to show up at or prior to the restaurant opening (normally 6:00 pm) to get a seat without waiting. We had a reservation for Zen restaurant, but for Hunters, we had to wait for almost an hour as we arrived during the peak hour. To kill time, we went for some drinks at Martini Mix first and we were given a buzzer so that the staff could page for us when the table was available.

This is the lobby of the hotel, with its sleek, shiny tiling and the Christmas tree decoration. On the first day when we arrived, the staff told us the room was not ready yet, but proceeded to give us the wristband so we could make use of the hotel facilities. When we went back again at 3pm which is the official check-in time, the room was still not ready and the front desk staff gave an excuse that the housekeeping team is still doing their final checks. It was ridiculous as after asking a few times, we finally got access to our rooms at 3.45pm, about 4 hours after we had arrived at the airport. This was only the start of the bad service that we had received here.

The interiof the room looks new and there is an open-air bathtub. It also has a jacuzzi function which we used to our heart’s extent. The extensive mirrors in the room gives it a bigger than normal perspective and is also useful for the women.

The king-size bed was comfortable and we slept so well on it for the three nights that we stayed at the resort. The housekeeping team made our room every day and also folded our clothes to put by the side. The downside about being at the beach resort is that we would inevitably bring sand back to the room, but we always tried to minimise that by washing our feet at the poolside shower before coming back to the room.

Overall, at $400 a night based on a twin-sharing room with all meals included, the price is quite steep. We got a junior suite while my other family members got a much larger room for the kids and grandma as they stayed there for one whole week. Would I recommend Royalton Bavaro? No. There are so many things which could have been done better to make the tourists’ stay a more enjoyable one, including a more effective check-in team, less hard selling of tours and also people trying to entice you to a ‘free’ upgrade but first you have to put yourself through a lengthy timeshare talk. Thankfully I did not fall for that scam as I had read such negative reviews on TripAdvisor. The consolation about staying here is that we enjoyed the facilities, easy access to the beach and not having to worry about food for every meal.