Joia Bávaro By Iberostar

“Beautiful and Relaxing!”

We came to the Domican on the advice of other family members. When we arrived at the resort, we immediately checked in and were told that our rooms weren't quit ready. Who cares!! The bar is right there in the lobby with tons of comfortable seating and a gorgeous view of the resort. Oh, did I menti… more

We came to the Domican on the advice of other family members. When we arrived at the resort, we immediately checked in and were told that our rooms weren't quit ready. Who cares!! The bar is right there in the lobby with tons of comfortable seating and a gorgeous view of the resort. Oh, did I mention that the Cuban and Dominican cigars are free to enjoy with your amazing all inclusive resort package. We were also given vouchers for any of the buffets in the resort. We chose the buffet just off of the lobby area. We had a family of 12 on this trip. We walked in an found a large table that would easily sit all of us. The buffet was huge with different meats, seafood, fresh tropical fruits and salads. Our girl Carla took amazing care of us. We asked if we could save these seats for breakfast every morning. Sure enough, we slowly start straggling into where we had had brunch the day prior. Everyone whas definately feeling the affects of the night before. Coffee con Leche, a bloodymary and a good breakfast was just the cure to get us fired up for the day. We took a trip that the resort offers for free. Along with free transporation to a cigar factory where you can watch them hand roll Dominican Cigars. This was definately on of the trips I enjoyed the most. I do love a good cigar and a run bar to sit in a big comfy chair enyoying my cigar along with great dominican dark aged rum. There are quit a few restaurants to choose from for dinner. I highly reccomend making reservations! The beach is white sand filled with tiki huts with lounge chairs and if you need a cocktail, just ask your cobana guy to freshen you up.... We did't have any children in our family trip, but we did see an awesome kids part in the pool. I could keep going on and on about the beauty of the resort along with all of it's aminities. All I can definately say is, we've already booked again for next year!

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“WOWZA!!! HOLA!! Just book it”

What an unforgettable experience. Every one made us feel like family and want us coming back for more. From the beginning Garcia checked us in and helped us out with everything - upgraded us to a beautiful ocean front room! The energy, smiles, and hugs make you feel like you are at home. Jose and A… more

What an unforgettable experience. Every one made us feel like family and want us coming back for more. From the beginning Garcia checked us in and helped us out with everything - upgraded us to a beautiful ocean front room! The energy, smiles, and hugs make you feel like you are at home. Jose and Armando were our butlers and couldn’t ask for more. Nothing short of amazing and was always ready to be there when needed. They even gave us itineraries everyday of what kind of activities and food there were onsite. The room was fantastic - Yahira left our room speechless and with a little touch of romance everyday, they left dove towels with flower petals most days…so thoughtful!!!! Jose left us a beautiful bath with petals from the door to the tub. I mean everything was extremely well thought out and we really enjoyed the surprises. Water was always filled and fresh and we did not have to worry about anything. The food was excellent. Our favorite was the surf and Turf and the French. We didn’t get to try Italian (mostly because we are from Jersey :)). The hostesses and waitresses and servers were so kind. Nelson hooked me up with oysters and man did Nelson go out of his way to make us happy!!!! Breakfast was also my favorite because the buffet has literally everything. Yary always greeted me with a hug and everyone always had smiles on their face, even as hard as they work. Entertainment was spectacular. There was always an activity throughout the day. The dancing lessons from Yeli, Chema and Rio was the cherry on top. They provided all the energy and kept us going. The entire entertainment staff was amazing, sorry I can’t remember all the names!!! The cigar lounge was a hit especially for my other half. They had cigars for sale as well as top shelf alcohol. Ingrid was the server and bartender and we really enjoyed her company. You can tell she knew what she was doing with lighting the cigars and giving us our drinks. Amazing customer service !!! Pool was a bit warm but it is also 90 degrees constantly all year round but after a rain storm it felt great. Nelly brought us pillows at the cabana and Hamlet made us amazing drinks! The cabanas were so comfortable!!! Rodrigo is our man that hit us up with all the coconuts. He even cut them open to let us carve out the coconut jelly inside with the shell - first time I’ve ever seen that and it was one of my favorite memories!!!!! So delicious!!!! Our view was ocean front and I sat out on the balcony for hours. What an outstanding view. The grounds were so well kept and always had crew maintaining it. Elia asked about our stay and was so sweet. She let us know we can go straight to her when we come back! Thank you for everyone for making our vacation special and unforgettable and excellente!!!!! We can’t wait to come back and give hugs!!!!! Adding all our friends names below!! Ingrid Benjamin Nelson Yary Garcia Jose Armando Elia Rodrigo Victor Hamlet Nelly Julian Chris Chema Yeli Rio Jose Luis Eduardo Alexander

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“Pretty good not great”

Food. The food was very good, even at the buffet. They only offer buffet breakfast and lunch, that was good too. Love the Italian both times. Japanese was quite good. The steakhouse was average. We didn't enjoy the French. The gala buffet on Thursday night was impressive with huge shrimp, snow cra… more

Food. The food was very good, even at the buffet. They only offer buffet breakfast and lunch, that was good too. Love the Italian both times. Japanese was quite good. The steakhouse was average. We didn't enjoy the French. The gala buffet on Thursday night was impressive with huge shrimp, snow crab, tons of sushi options, oyster bar... Don't bother going to the resort next door for food. The smokehouse was horrible. Food was cold and not what was on the menu. The Mexican was ok, not great. Room..We had an ocean view but it really wasn't close to the ocean. Room was clean and matched the pictures online. The common areas are starting to show wear and tear. Butler service. Shester and Houston were great. This was more helpful than we expected. They kept our mini bar stocked with our favorites and kept the ice bucket full. There were several other nice touches like birthday decorations, cake, and Cava. They also did some nice decorations with towels, the bed runner, and rose petals. They were our contact for whatever we needed. They gave us a number to text or call and their responses were reasonably prompt. Pool, cabanas, pool bar. Pools were clean and good temperature. lots of shaded place to sit. no competition for cabanas. pool bar drinks were ok. Secrets had better drink selections and just tasted better. Always ask for too shelf selection or you will get the cheap swill. It was nice to have an app to order food and drinks at your seats. Servers were also checking on you. Foam party in the pool Friday was very fun! Entertainment. Day time was lacking, maybe because it was an older crowd and not very busy. There were activities on the calendar but nobody was rounding up people to enage. For instance beach volleyball was on the schedule twice a day and there was never a game. once someone came around asking for players.Entertainment staff only seems to spend time with spanish speakers, but were pleasant. The singers at night in the lobby were good. The other entertainment at the boat was not very good. We didn't stay out for any of the later dance party stuff. Overall at the price point we like secrets Akumal and Cancun quite a bit better because restaurants were open for breakfast and lunch. The food was a bit better and there was a little bit more of a fun vibe.

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“A sign of the times?”

We traveled yet again to the IBG to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary. This trip was our 28th trip to The Grand and for the first time, we were very surprised and somewhat disappointed at our greeting and the front desk clerks. Whether or not they were new employees, they showed that they di… more

We traveled yet again to the IBG to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary. This trip was our 28th trip to The Grand and for the first time, we were very surprised and somewhat disappointed at our greeting and the front desk clerks. Whether or not they were new employees, they showed that they didn't care in any way about a smooth and pleasant check in like we have grown accustomed to over the years. I didn't include any names but I'm sure that the on-line supervisor will follow up. Our room was not ready (#7110) and we had to wait a couple of hours until we were called and escorted to our room by the Bellman sometime after 5pm. The front desk told us that "they could not release the room until a housekeeping supervisor could check it". That was surly a lie! The room was the worst room ever and was 80f as we started to unpack our things. My wife then called me over to the closet where I discovered that the sliding doors were swollen shut and we could not access our safe. I immediately called for a supervisor to fix a bad start to our vacation especially after traveling all day to get there. I told the butler Alex that I wanted another room that was functional or moved to Secrets where we have stayed a couple times. She told me that the resort was at full capacity which WAS A LIE and there were no rooms left. She was tipped accordingly and was by far the worst Butler ever! By the time we finally got into another room , it was close to 7pm and we were tired and fed up with the service we got especially after being there 28 times! Are you kidding me? The next day was a better one and we could see that many new people were working there as we only knew a few. Their key people were all on holiday or preparing for the up coming high season in a few weeks. In all fairness, we ended up having a good time with new and old friends so I wonder why our initial check in was so horrible? This is the first time we ever had a complaint while staying at The Grand! Is this type of not caring service a sign of the times? I truly hope not. Gary and Patricia

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