Luxury Bahia Principe Ambar Blue April 30 2018 – May 14, 2018

This is our second time we have been to Ambar Blue and it was just as amazing the second time around as it was the first. The people here are really great and work super hard for you to enjoy your vacation. I won’t go into too much details as many others have explained what the place looks like, what to expect and how good the food is. While it’s true the place is not perfect and there will be some issues, it’s the way the staff handles it and fixes the issues ASAP. For instance we had  [... read more]issues, one with our air conditioner in our room. We spoke to our butler Padro and within 30 minutes a technician was there to try and fix it, unfortunately his efforts didn’t work so we spoke with our Air TransAt rep Gabriel who took us over to the manager right away and explained our problem. Within no time the manager working with Gabriel had us in our new room with very good air conditioning. I’m not one who thinks highly of travel reps as we have had our fair share of very bad and useless ones, but Gabriel was a no non sense type guy who took our concerns seriously and was extremely helpful. Air TransAt should be very happy with employees such as Gabriel. Our second issue was when we opened our safe my tablet was gone, we looked everywhere for it but couldn’t find it. So we went down to customer service where we spoke to a very helpful young man named Joan. He walked us through the paper work and then called security a man named Ramon , together we all went to the room. Now I found this very interesting as both gentlemen asked for permission before coming into the room, they took pictures of the door and swipe lock and then again asked for permission to look into the safe. After a few minutes Ramon produced my tablet. I was shocked and couldn’t figure out how he found it when we couldn’t. What had happened was as we got stuff out the night before we must have moved the tablet on it’s side, now being in a black case against the side wall of the safe which is also black made it almost invisible. We were so happy at getting it back and apologised to both men for not seeing it, but instead of being ticked at us they were super understanding and telling us not to worry as it wasn’t the first time this had happened. Both men were very professional. Other people like Carlos and Michelly at the lobby bar went out of their way to look after us and put a smile on our faces. Carlos is quite the bartender with his flipping of bottles and glasses, he was always in a good mood and quick with jokes. On the beach they have an issue with sea weed but every day you see guys there from first thing in the morning to late in the afternoon raking and taking the sea weed away. These guys work so hard to ensure we have a nice beach to walk along. There are so many others that also helped make our vacation a wonderful time, I just can’t remember their names. I had read in other reviews of how the mini bar was never stocked regularly or properly, this was definitely NOT the case with us, our maid was amazing and kept the room very clean and ensured our mini bar was stocked regularly. She even gave us doubles of some spirits without our asking. Because the property is so big they have trolleys running all the time and even have carts available to take you to where you want to go, just ask the bell boys and they are more than willing to take you where you want to go, kind of a personal taxi ride. All in all this is an excellent property and a good deal for the money, we will certainly be going back as it is very quickly becoming one of our favorite places to go in the DR. Quick tip: if you need to exchange money to get more ones, don’t bother with the front desk go to the bell boys as they have pockets full of ones and are more than willing to exchange money with you.

RESORT THAT CATERS TO ALL!

This was our second time back to Bahia Principe in Punta Cana. First time we stayed at The Ambar (back then it was only one Ambar) was amazing we tended to stay to that resort only. But this trip we stayed at Esmeralda (because our excellent agent made us aware that Ambar is under construction). The Esmeralda was perfect for us. It is a smaller portion of the entire complex that allows you to have all the privacy of 2 pools and a smaller adult pool, with 2 large buffets and 3 specialty restaur [... read more]ants. All the buildings are a short walk to the pools or the beach as this resort is very close to the beach. The food was great especially at Los Geranios buffet, nicer seating & tables, presentation and hotness of food. Service by staff everywhere was top notch. Very friendly people from bar staff to waitresses to maid staff. Shout out to Josephina, she is the best waitress, very friendly and remembered your drinks. OLA JOSEPHINA! Brazilian restaurant was my favorite. The nice thing was you can go to any of the other 6 resorts except Fantasia for anything, specialty restaurants except buffet, you must eat at your own resorts buffet. Do yourself a favour and do a walk or tram ride around the entire 6 resorts on your first or second day to see how much stuff is available to you. The only negatives I will say is some of the rooms are tired and need a refresher, painting and some cracks filled. We were told it is coming after the Ambar renovation. Also the pool bar closest t the beach is understaffed as it took quite a while to get served all week. Overall you cannot go wrong with this resort, well worth the money. Thumbs up to Bahia Pincipe in Punta Canada! lol

Esmeralda - Excellent!

We had a great vacation staying at the Bahaii Principe Esmeralda. Great food, drink, service, entertainment - close to the pools and ocean. Highly recommend it - and would go back to this resort again. Cheers!

Best Resort ever!

We are frequent travelers so coming to this resort was a great surprise. This is definitely a 5 star resort! The facilities, the staff, food, entertainment out of this world. Will definitely go back. The fact that we were given access to the neighboring resorts was great. Transportation was available to get around and enjoy other restaurants, shows and the resort. We were sadden that we had to leave, wish we could have extended out stay. Any queries we had was tended to immediately. We never got [... read more] sick once here which says a lot about this place!

Very nice resort!

It is a very beautiful resort! Really great staff! Nice pools and great beach. Really good selection of restaurants as well. I have no complaints. It's a nice size for the amount of people that stay there. You can find some quieter spots if you want or party spots if that's what you want

Great value/good resort

This is a huge 5 star resort, and has pretty well everything. The pool is in the shape of the number "8", is huge, has a kids area, a whirlpool and a bar. There are also several kids and family games organised round the pool area, during the afternoons. Several restaurants are available to handle your hunger, however our favorite ones were the two (all you can eat) buffet style. The vast variety of food available, and all was absolutely delectable and tasty. The service is exceptional. They [... read more] constantly chearfull, bring you water (and drinks), and remove your used/empty plates. The beach and lawn chairs area must be experienced. The calmness and soft sound of the waves rushing onto the sand. The beach includes a bar and a dance/exercise area (with loud music). The nightly entertainment by the pool was appreciated. The rooms are well laid out, comfortable and spacious. However...room service was horrible. When we returned to our room in the late afternoons, we either had to request blankets or face cloths. These were items the were removed from our room, but were not replaced. I find it absolutely unacceptable to provide room service (clean the room/replace towels/etc.) and forget to leave face cloths. This happened several times. The sign on the mini bar/fridge indicated that it is replenished daily, however that did not happened. Also, we had had to call for burned ceiling bulb, etc. I was really disappointed with the room service from a 5 star resort. To be fair to the readers, I'm not sure if this was simply an isolated incident, rather then the norm. I may return to this resort, however my room expectations will be lower.

Beautiful resort

The hotel was wonderful and clean but the best part was the staff. They were absolutely incredible from being friendly to extremely helpful and efficient. I would love to go back just to see the staff again.

Super holiday

My husband and I shared a suite in the Esmeralda section of the resort and we were very happy with everything. The room was beautiful and clean. The sheets were crisp and ironed. There was a selection of pillows which could be scented if you so chose. The bathroom was supplied with toiletries and clean white face cloths and towels daily. The food was abundant and interesting; so many choices. We tried two of the a-la-carte restaurants for dinner and although we would not recommend the Brazilian [... read more] (or dining at 9pm) the Italian was lovely. We appreciated that hand sanitizer was squirted into all hands entering the dining area....a great precaution. All staff at this resort were very friendly and helpful. We asked the guy trimming the hedge if he would take our picture. He carefully lined it up and took a selection. We enjoyed the warm pools and the magnificent beach. We walked for miles. It was a wonderful vacation in every respect.

Won’t teturn.

Spent 10 days at luxury Bahia principe Esmeralda. Grounds are pretty and well taken care of. Rooms are clean and spacious, although we did have a ceiling leak the fourth day in but it was resolved fairly quickly. The wait staff and cleaning staff, pool bar staff are fantastic ,incredibly friendly and if you can get past the language barrrier they are very accommodating. Management is poor to say the least we had some serious heavy construction 3’days into our vaykay going on across at the neig [... read more]hboring resort. We couldn’t sit on the balcony because of the dust and the noise ...we brought this to management and asked to change our rooms ...they informed us that the hotel was overbooked and that wouldn’t be possibly. We decided to try to get past it , however what ruined our vacation was having to get up at 5 am to get a cabana or umbrella by the pool it was absolutely impossible to get on the beach and we didn’t get to spend one day sitting by the ocean..which is why we chose Esmeralda as it had a beautiful beach, although I did read the reviews prior to booking and all visitors to this hotel in the past year have complained about the same. It’s is clear that managemt isn’t concerned , although they do tell you they are checking into it...they DO NOT. my travel agent assured me this was not the case as the reviews were from busy season and we were travelling in off season...not the case it seems. I feel incredibly disappointed with trip central and the agent who dismissed my concerns pretravel. I will most definitely be returning to Punta Cana in October ....but I will not use Trip Central , nor will I be staying at Esmeralda. If you are planning to stay here please make sure they are done the construction on the neighboring hotel and check with agent about how booked....or overbooked in our case the hotel is.

Wonderful Vacation

My wife and I had an amazing time at the Luxury Grand Bahia Príncipe Esmeralda.From the time we arrived until we left the staff went out of their way to make sure we had a great time.Norielis in Guest services had all our A La Carte restaurants booked for us and filled our request for the building we wanted to stay in.Building 95 was close to everything,the quiet pool,the small buffet ,the lobby and the beach.She even had a bottle of champagne and a fruit bowl sent to our room to help my wife c [... read more]elebrate her recent retirement.The food is really good but one of the A La Carte Restaurants over cooked the fish and the service was extremely slow.Other than that everything else was great.I definitely would recommend this hotel to all my friends and family.Truly an enjoyable experience.

Bahia Principe Esmeralda Mar 18

Great rooms, food and service. . Poolside and nightly entertainment were a little weak. . Overall our trip was great because of the great service by all the staff especially Maria, Francis, & Yenny. . Am I at 200 yet?

A Great Time!

Met family from Nova Scotia at the Esmeralda. The resort had no problem giving us adjoining rooms which was perfect. Landscaping beautiful, beach was heavenly and the pools were great! The food was very good and the coffee was hot! Their Irish coffee’s were second to none!

Great Resort

The Entire Resort from the grounds, house keeping check-in staff restaurants, buffets & Bar Staff were all Amazing Friendly & Always Smiling Very Pleasant & Happy. Hopefully we can go back to see all of our Friends & Enjoy the Resort once again

This Resort As Always is Amazing!!!

We have Returned to this resort many Times and all of the Aspects of this Resort are Five Star, We are Treated Like Family, We Return to See All Of Our Punta Cana Friends. It's Very Clean, Comfortable Food Is Very Good

Beautiful Resort

Everything at this resort was exceptional..Staff was very helpful and friendly. However, the resort needs more English speaking staff. Many spoke little or no English at all. The rooms were absolutely beautiful. The layout was exceptional. Yes I myself would definitely return to this resort.

2nd Chance

We just got back from the Bahia Esmeralda last night. Last year, I was not overly impressed with this resort for the price we paid. There's just something about this place that makes you want to return. Rooms: Bldg 90 and 91 are closest to the beach. Rooms are very spacious, plenty of storage with the basic hairdryers, ironing board & iron, umbrella etc... Beds are firm but comfortable and you can choose your pillow softness. Fridge is always stocked with 50 ml liquor, beer, chips, pop and wat [... read more]er. I would take a facecloth though as they seem to be hard to come by. I think they use a room spray when they clean because our room ALWAYS smelled amazing. On that note, I have give a shout out to Yubelkis for taking care of us all week! She took pride in her work, did it with a smile and always aimed to please. Restaraunts: There are two breakfast buffets, both serving pretty much the same stuff. The earlier you get there, the fresher the food obviously so if you're a late riser, go for an omelette :) There are many a-la-carts to choose from if you book this resort. I'm not a very good food critic as I'm fussy and found that variety was lacking. My husband thought the food was fantastic though. If I could suggest anything, it would be to the Italian restaurants. With so many amazing Italian dishes to choose from, these menu's really need a make over. Sadly, I had better at a 3 star a la cart in Cuba. There needs to more than spaghetti and cheese pizza to choose from if you don't want meat or seafood. Honestly though, food is just personal preference, no one will go hungry. Entertainment: There are nightly shows that are a lot of fun and games and such at the beach and pool bar daily. The resort chain is so large, and by booking Esmeralda, you have access to all of them so there's plenty to keep you occupied during your stay. Beach: This is a tough one for me and the one reason I said I wouldn't return after last year. It's CROWDED! A little better this year as we didn't have anyone to accommodate that needed shade, but even pulling a lounger down closer to the ocean, there was little meaning in "personal space." It's the one downfall to this resort. If you need shade, or want to sit poolside, rising time is generally between 6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. I was witness to a LOT of chair "stealing" this week. What I would suggest to readers, is BE NICE! Don't reserve a chair poolside and not show up for 3 hrs expecting it to still be there when there are people that would really like to sit there and can't because there are no loungers left! For the most part, people were very nice, I noticed a couple with an umbrella they hadn't put up so I asked if we could take it and they happily agreed. Overall, this is a wonderful resort, small and intimate if you stay on Esmeralda property or large and action packed if you wonder to the other resorts included so there's a little something for everyone. This is no longer an "adults only" as far as I can tell. I thought it would be adults only from Jan - May but I think it's just family now. There weren't a lot of children, but I'm sure that may change in the future when more realize they can take their children there. Show less

5 stars hands down!

It was my boyfriends first vacation. It was probably the best all inclusive trip I’ve ever been too and I’ve stayed at many resorts. I’ve stayed at the Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay, Jamaica and it was not as good as the Esmeralda in Punta Cana.

Wonderful Trip!

We recently stayed at Luxury Bahia Principe Esmeralda and had a wonderful time!!! The grounds were gorgeous and very well kept. The staff was wonderful and honestly made our vacation. The room was perfect and it was located away from the main pool which was good because the entertainment was in the same area and would have been quite loud. We even took the local bus to the nearby town, Higuey which was an adventure and recommended for those who want to leave the resort. We will definitely be com [... read more]ing back again!

Absolutely Fabulous, Best Resort we have stayed in the Dominican Republic.

The grounds were superbly maintained, tended for on a regular basis by crews of groundskeepers. The rooms we had were amazing. Clean when we arrived and each day, cleaned by the staff meticulously. The dining areas were well staffed by conscientious staff, who couldn't do enough to ensure our needs were met. The public areas were clean at all times. Can't say enough good things about the staff we met, they all had smiles and greeted us each time we saw them. If you are fortunate enough to be [... read more] in a dining room with Franklin a server, Abrahan a Manager and Maria who serves drinks at the pool, you will have a vacation you will never forget.

Excellent Resort

We loved it I did not realize that small bugs bite so if you are susceptible to bites make sure you take bug spray with deet the hotel was great food was amazing the resort and service is 5 star we will be there going back for sure