JOIA Bavaro by Iberostar (Formerly Iberostar Grand Bavaro) - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

15689 reviews

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  February warm up.

  First time at this resort for my husband and I. We had a wonderful time and the resort was great. Beautiful beach and pool area. Our room was clean and had everything we needed. Edwardo was our butler and he did a wonderful job making sure we had everything we needed, checked with us daily. We were able to eat dinner at all the specialty restaurants, the food was good along with the service. No issues getting in as others have posted. The breakfast and lunch buffets were also good. Only thing, if you go to the pool after 7, do not expect to find a spot, as most are taken by then. Was up early one morning, around 5ish and noticed people with flashlights at the pool reserving their spots for the day. We were told if items were left more than 2 hours with nobody showing up, they would be removed, did not see this happen, just the usual no win situation with the pool loungers. Would definitely visit this resort again.

  Feb 19, 2025
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  Nice resort

  We had early in our stay written a review as we had several concerns the first few days. It was our second visit to the resort, staying 2 weeks. Jose, our butler, spoke with us right away stating that management took our comments very seriously. Jose went over and above to ensure our stay was as comfortable as possible and that our concerns were addressed. Very professional. Thank you. That is why I deleted my first review and we are resubmitting. The stay did improve. We did not enjoy the Italian restaurant due to the menu selections and food quality the two times we were there. All the other restaurants were very good. My husband enjoyed the beef and steak and I loved the salmon and lobster. Excellent service in all the restaurants. The omelet cook in the morning buffet was wonderful, friendly and she attempted to teach us Spanish each morning. The fruit selections were excellent. We give all the staff high ratings for service. We loved the room and the bathroom view was incredible, we had an ocean view on the top floor. We had issues with the bath tub not draining and overflowing, but that was dealt with right away. No further problems. Housekeeping was excellent. The resort is beautiful and well maintained. There is an adorable community of feral cats that are fun to see, they are not a problem to the guests, and I commend the resort for keeping them. They were there two years ago as well. The pool area and cabanas are lovely. Of course, you need to be down there by 7 am if you want a choice spot. But at all resorts this is the case. Not sure what would be a better system. They do a good job of monitoring cabanas that guests save and aren’t using. The beach is beautiful with very little seaweed. The bar service is very good. A fair selection of cocktails and spirits in the lobby bar. One suggestion is to use fresh lime juice in the margaritas and lime based drinks, not syrup. I found the mixed cocktails were lacking in freshness. The wine is fine. Nice selection of rums. Entertainment in the evenings was ok, it became rather repetitive with a 2 week stay. The bar lobby entertainment most evenings was lovely with the saxophone and singers. There were evenings where it was very loud with techno music, which we did not enjoy. We found that the resort is gearing itself to a younger demographic. Several guests are only there for 3 to 4 days. Bubble pool party, loud music and it has become more of a party atmosphere. There was a large American conference there when we stayed. Very loud and busy. We like to go to resorts that are quiet and relaxing, more of a boutique luxury resort. That is the main difference we noted this trip. We did leave an expensive dental appliance behind at Check out. Jose located it and Guest Services were efficient at getting it shipped to us. Thank you. We don’t like the morning sell up talk pitch when you first arrive. We skipped it this trip as we knew the content and preferred to be relaxing. All in all, it is the staff and the gorgeous kept grounds that make this resort beautiful. We appreciated their environment friendly practices, very commendable.

  Feb 18, 2025
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  Great Birthday trip!

  Spent 4 days here celebrating my sister’s 60th birthday. The resort is beautiful and i had a great time! All the staff were wonderful, especially our butlers Houston and Junior who went out of their way to decorate our room for her birthday and were always available if needed. We had a swim-up room which had a great patio to eat breakfast on. The crowd at the resort is older and it is a somewhat quiet crowd which we appreciated. Great beach and pools.

  Feb 17, 2025
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  Peaceful Paradise, Just What We Wanted

  We just completed a wonderful one-week stay at the JOIA Bávaro—our second Iberostar resort vacation. (Last year, our visit to the JOIA Rose Hall in Jamaica was so enjoyable that we became club members.) We try to take an annual mid-winter break after a year full of activities for our grandchildren and their parents, and it's always nice to find an adult-friendly option for our main requirement: a week of quiet beach gazing! We had two very attentive butlers for our level and I'm sure they felt under-utilized, but we really need little more than the basics for beaches, pools, food and drink, and rest. (It was still nice to have the peace of mind that they're available, and they did spoil us with unsolicited goodies on Valentine's Day.) During our stay, conditions were pleasant—often a short rainstorm on either side of sunshine, with very breezy conditions right off the ocean. Sometimes it's a little sandblasty, but Augusto and the rest of the crew on the Star Prestige beach make every effort to keep those cabanas cozy. And oh my gosh, not one cigarette butt! Some resorts we've visited over the years have beaches that are more like ash trays. You could easily go for a dip, but few did because of the wind and waves. That's okay, because the three pools (and swim-up bar) more than made up for it. The crowd was definitely more our age (50+), so a couple around 40 looking for tranquility would love it while a couple closer to 30 might want more late-night features. We only did one excursion, a snorkel trip, and their W2M service handled that very capably, along with the airport shuttles. The breakfast buffet was always a great way to start the day, the lunch buffet was also consistently good with lots of variety. There are themed restaurant and theme buffet dinners, all nice—maybe a little limited, but given how much is available overall, I'd be concerned about food waste if the dinner menus were Cheesecake Factory-sized. We briefly toured the other properties and we're sure they'd be a big hit if we were to book a family vacation sometime. We did subject ourselves to an attempted upsell of our membership, but it helped us get reacquainted with parts of our current "silver" membership and reinforced that it's the right size for us. We're already thinking about which Iberostar destination we'll choose for next year. And finally, we read plenty of recent reviews before we left and then re-read them once we were down there—it's not like this place doesn't have hiccups or bad days, but some folks need to take a breath before unloading. If you get through the ones that are clearly bitter, you can see that all the good reviews AND the parts about their shortcomings are all on-target and will give you good perspective, with more details than I can add here. In short, exactly the kind of relaxing piece of paradise we were looking for.

  Feb 16, 2025
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  Amazing Vacation Experience from start to finish

  My spouse and I, just spent our anniversary at the resort and it was my first time at an all inclusive. 10/10 recommend! From the moment we arrived Dilson from concierge greeted us and was there to help us with anything we needed until the moment we checked out. The food was amazing and we never had an issue finding a cabana on the beach or fighting for a seat by the pool. The beach was beautiful and the staff went above and beyond to make sure our anniversary was one to remember! -RIG & ARB

  Feb 15, 2025