Barceló Puerto Vallarta - All Inclusive

“Great service”

Apolania made the trip the worth it. Definitely will come back because of her great service.

“Mixed Experiences”

We have been long time Barcelo and Occidental club members. Puerto Vallarta is actually where we bought our membership and it is always good to be back. We have been to many Barcelo locations in Mexico, they were all quite impressive. We stayed in 1315 from MAY 9-14, here is the quick breakdown… more

We have been long time Barcelo and Occidental club members. Puerto Vallarta is actually where we bought our membership and it is always good to be back. We have been to many Barcelo locations in Mexico, they were all quite impressive. We stayed in 1315 from MAY 9-14, here is the quick breakdown. Location: 50 min drive from the airport, min. There isn't really anything around, you will need a car. Free parking. Grounds: Clean, bugs free, big iguanas by the pool. Pool: North side pool is adults only, ok size, dipping pool, nothing deep. There are smaller pools for kids and water volleyball, jacuzzi. Clean. Beach: if you count a short 35 yard-ish coarse sand beach that is blocked in by 15 plus boats, then you are good. Otherwise, you will need to drive about 15 mins north for a perfect public beach. There is no drink service on this small beach, only by the pool. They also allow people to smoke on the beach even though it was prohibited since 2023. Staff: professional and friendly, above average. Customer driven. Room: my 1315 suite was very spacious, clean, bed room AC stuck on one fan level (loud), the door lock frame plate is broken, balcony lock is broken, partial Oceanview since it is only on the 3rd floor. Mini fridge with beer, pop/soda and some water, refilled daily. Plenty of closet space. Single sink bathroom, functional, but water temp fluctuates if other people are showering and/or flush toilet. Don't get scalded! Buffet: the buffet serves Mexican food mostly, not to bad. The menu changes out daily but not a whole lot of variation. The coffee machine and the ice cream machine break down all the time. I enjoyed the breakfast the most. Restaurants: Capri the Italian spot, I give it 3/5, not bad, but the cream base pasta are to bland, too much sauce. Armando and Iveth are note worth servers. The Cabernet was actually pretty good and I am quite picky with my reds. Don Quijote the Spanish joint deserves 4/5, the meats need better seasoning and the lamb needs a better cut. Way too much connective tissues, couldn't eat 50% of it. Larcos steak and seafood, 3/5, the lunch is relaxing here. Kyoto Japanese, 1/5. The 1 star is for the view during sunset. The menu is not edible. Overall, we had mixed experiences here, I will let you be the judge if you decide to come here considering the Pros and Cons.

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“Some room for improvement but overall good”

My husband and I stayed at the Barcelo mid March this year. We had a great time. We really enjoyed the evening entertainment, the karaoke night and hanging by the pool. My favorite à la carte restaurant was the Italian one. The food overall was a 7 or 8/10 for the buffets and à la cartes. Some revi… more

My husband and I stayed at the Barcelo mid March this year. We had a great time. We really enjoyed the evening entertainment, the karaoke night and hanging by the pool. My favorite à la carte restaurant was the Italian one. The food overall was a 7 or 8/10 for the buffets and à la cartes. Some reviews mention bed bugs but our room did not have any. That being said a huge shipment of mattresses had arrived while we were there so maybe there was a problem in some rooms but it shows they were actively doing something about it. I had been to this resort in 2023 and I remembered almost all of their alcoholic drinks being sweetened with stevia which I did not like. This visit I didn't taste stevia too often so I was pleasantly surprised. There are still bugs like noseeums that bite. They called them mosquitos but I never saw a mosquito but I could feel myself getting bit but they are virtually invisible bugs. I loaded up on deet bug spray every day and I still got about 10 bites over the course of my trip. The bites are very itchy red lumps. Most of the bites happened at reception. I swear it's a plant or maybe the big bouquet of lilies that attracts them at reception so I tried so hard to avoid going to reception for that reason. I did enjoy the activities, one young guy I think his name was Oscar (he dressed up as the leprechaun on St Patrick's Day) took us on an ocean kayak trip and was very personable and friendly. I liked the activities but I was frustrated that they kept cancelling or moving beach volleyball. I travel to resorts that specifically have beach volleyball worked into their daily schedule and in 2023 I was pleased to play beach volleyball at this resort every day. This trip I ended up playing only twice because I'd show up at the original stated time for beach volleyball only to find it had been taken off the schedule or moved. I started to think that maybe the staff didn't like hosting beach volleyball or would change their mind. The service staff was all quite kind. Some reviews mentioned about money being stolen from rooms but that definitely did not happen for us. The bedroom and bathroom were nice. There were welcome macarons for the room when we got there but they were awful and stale which was too bad because that was our first experience of the cuisine but luckily it improved from there. The bed and pillows were so so comfortable and we slept great. The shower was also great and we had multiple a day. The resort does have a smell that lingers in your clothes even once you get home. It takes several washes for it to go away. It's like a strong industrial cleaner or mildew smell. It was a problem getting it out of my clothes after coming home from my trip in 2023. It made a difference to leave the air conditioning on in my room at all times this trip but my clothes still smelled like the hotel once we were home. At resorts I typically consume all the broths and chips with guacamole. The broths were all great but there wasn't often guacamole which was disappointing so I adapted. I mostly drank the Palomas which depending on the bartender were either super good or only okay. We did the bioluminescence tour from the tour guides affiliated with the resort stationed near the beach area. It was really great and we were happy with our experience. So overall I gave it a 4 because there is room for improvement. It's nearly a 5 star. I did reach out to the hotel manager after our trip to ask what brand of pillows/mattress were in our room because we really liked them. The manager said he'd happily look into it and then ghosted me. I followed up a couple times but I guess I wasn't worth his time which was a sour ending to the experience. Anyway, maybe we will be back in the future but if you're reading this review and considering this resort what I'd say is that they seem like they're actively working on any shortcomings they may have and seem to be trying to improve themselves. I think you'd enjoy yourself.

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