It is a bit late fo rmy review but wanted to add it anyway. We traveled in Novembe 2010 over Thanksgiving break. This is a great place to stay if you are travelling with younger kids. There is a lot to do for the youger kids. We were traveling with 10 & 12 year old. The kids were bored since they were in between kids and adults. There isn't much to do for Tweens. The seafood restaurant is only you are a seafood lover. The Asian restaurant was EXCELLENT! our second best restaurant was the Mexican. there is a coral reef just a few feet away from the beach on the side by the kayaks. The staff was great and very friendly. We had the same waitress the entire trip, Juana, she was excellent.

The whole experience was excellent from the staff to the food to the accomodations. There were many vacationers, but it never really felt crowded. Kawana Polanco's team do an excellent job of making us feel welcome and that they are glad to have us staynwith them.

This was our second year in a row staying at the Iberostar Punta Cana.

When we arrived our room was not quite ready. (We arrived at 5 pm.)

We waited about 35 minutes. We were very happy to get the room we had requested in advance. (Ocean front 5247) This room faced the ocean and during our stay the staff trimmed the palm trees in front to give us an excellent view of the ocean and the pool.

Our room had a king sized bed and flat screen tv.
The bed was quite comfortable and the bar fridge was filled daily.
The air conditioning and ceiling fan worked well.

If there was one thing the hotel could improve it is the lighting in the bathroom. We found it rather dark.

The food was ok at the resort, good variety and never hard to get a seat.

We did not have a problem getting a pool side lounger daily. Although I'm an early riser and usually was down at the pool by 7:30 am.

It is difficult getting an al a carte reservation at this resort. Although the buffets are good, my complaint would be there is never any spots left for reservations at the al a cartes. We stayed 1 week and only got to reserve two spots. My advice, (although we did do this) is reserve when you arrive.

The staff are very friendly. (One of the reasons we keep coming back) The star entertainment staff really get the guests going and work extremely hard providing good entertainment.

The weather: This year was mixed. We arrived on a Thursday evening to light showers. It rained for the next 3 days. On two of the days it rained very hard for a few periods. (Not a short misty shower as has been described on reviews before) We only saw the sun a few short time periods from Friday until Sunday. Then the clouds moved off and we had great weather from Monday until we left on Thursday. Daytime highs around 29 C or 84 F. Quite windy every day. Nightime lows around 23 C or 75 F. You did not need a jacket at night.

The beach sand is like talcum powder and the ocean quite warm.

Trip tip: The duty free store on the resort had two bottles of Barcadi White Rum for $ 24. (1 Litre each) This is a better price than the duty free at the airport.

We have been at Iberostar Punta Cana located in Bavaro Beach for 8 days. Generally our experience was satisfactory. I would like to describe every aspect of this hotel:

Service: this is by far, this is the best point of Iberostar Punta Cana. The hotel staff is quite efficient. Receptionists were quite helpful, they were well disposed to answer all our doubts and attend to our requests. The animation staff were great, they are always offering you to join them to play games, dance, volley, bingo, etc, etc.

Rooms: rooms are just ok, they are not 5 star hotel rooms at all. They've got minibar which they fill every two days (free in our case), coffee and tea maker, hair dryer and iron. The bed was comfortable and the room has also a balcony from where you can have a glance at the hotel gardens. The room was rather quiet; we weren't bothered by any kind of external noise at all. I would like to remark the fact that the cleaning lady did a great job every day of our stay. Each afternoon when coming back from the beach we found the room really clean, tidy and aromatic. It is true that every day I left in the room table a dollar note and it could have help.

Hotel facilities: I loved the beach which was always clean, I spent most of the time under the palm shelter which made possible my much needed relaxation. You can get drinks at the pool bar or at both of the restaurants located by the beach and take them to the palm shelter. It is remarkable that the sand is very clean, we haven't found any seaweed. The gardens which are in the middle of both Hotel Punta Cana and Hotel Dominicana are very cute and quite wide with a good variety of trees and plants.

Restaurants: there are many restaurants, the buffets were quite complete, a lot of food, drinks, etc. I would just criticize the fact that if you spend at the hotel more than a week like us, the food may become repetitive. The thematic restaurants are a nice experience as well, we enjoyed the lobster and the fishes, but this is not easy to book them, they told us there were too many request, so we there weren't many available days. Once again remark tha amazing service given by the restaurant and bars staff, they always got a smile and they are continuously working hard to make you feel fine. We travelled with the baby and they offered us with milk and vegetables soup for the baby.

Pools: a little too old, they should make some improvements in the two pools.

Internet: this is the worst aspect of this hotel. 10$ a day fare is too expensive so I didn't contracted this. Most of the people don't need to stay connected 24 hours. There should be a internet cafe or a business center paying internet by minutes like other hotels I have stayed where you could pay the internet with coins. Moreover, There aren't cybercafés nearby the hotel. This is a big handicap for a person like me which need to send a email to my family.

Finally, I strongly recommend this hotel.