Lauren and Evan traveled to Punta Cana this month and stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.  When Bruce Springsteen music greets you on arrival, you understand right away that rock and roll is the theme that drives this popular all-inclusive on Bavaro Beach.  The property is large with nearly 1,800 rooms, but has a wide variety of pools, beach, dining options and other recreation that keeps the guest spread out.  There are 13 pools including active pools with plenty of games and activities; an adult only pool with cool Bali beds and hammocks, children’s pool with waterslides and water play areas and several smaller pools scattered around.  Lounge chairs in the pool is popular here and all pools offer drink and food service.  Recreation includes a huge gym with an array of fitness classes, tennis, golf, bike rentals, small rock climbing wall, 18-holes of minigolf, huge spa, large theater, big casino and tons of shops.  Horses are kept on property for beach riding excursions.  The beach is wide, but windy while we were there.  Therefore no watersports and an endless battle to keep the sand from building up along the wall before the pool areas.  At least you can take long walks down the beach.  Evening entertainment was mediocre in quality.  At least no reservations are needed for the many dining options.  Food service was good and food quality on par with most all-inclusives in this price range.  A few excellent meals were had at the steakhouse, pizza and Japanese restaurants.  The resort is still offering $1,500 in resort credits per room which actually makes guests a bit more active with a wide choice of excursions, spa treatments (limited to $300 total), bottled wine, shop purchases, etc.  But it also creates a lot more work for the hotel staff to attend to all the guests scheduling their credit arrangements. All rooms at the hotel are junior suites and larger.  Our Caribbean Suite was lovely.  Very spacious, clean, nicely decorated with a huge bathroom, large balcony and jacuzzi in the room.  Song lyrics prevail around the property to set the “tone” of your vacation and buildings are labeled by musical instrument.  Quite clever.  A shuttle helps those with limited mobility to get around.  Overall a very relaxing vacation.