Great Resort

We just returned from a great week at the Gran Bahia Principe Cayacoa. The staff was friendly and helpful. The rooms and ground were immaculate. The food was excellent, we tried all 3 a la carts which were great. The buffet had lots of selection so it was easy for everyone to find something they liked. The entertainment and bartenders were a lot of fun which made our vacation really enjoyable. Dario, Alex, Fernando and Carlos were the best.

Paradise

Great staff, good food. Very clean and comfortable. The beach was lovely but small. Could use a snack bar on the beach. Show at night were great. Would go back again. Loved the Samana area. The ziplining was a great day trip.

Excellent!!!

Nice luxurious hotel with lots of stairs, bridges and elevators. Very clean with great guest services, beautiful open patio with great restaurants and buffet, close to the town of Samanas and other amazing places to tour and visit.

Beautiful, friendly resort!

The entire resort is beautiful and clean. The food was delicious and varied. The staff were friendly, helpful and fun. When we returned to our room each day there was a sweet surprise of flowers or chocolate. The resort made a very special occasion for Valentines with special food and decorations. The water and beach are gorgeous and there was no problem getting a shady spot. I would have liked to eaten at the beach grill more often but the selection was limited. Super nice stay.

Great resort!

Staff are incredible! Food is amazing. Absolutely beautiful! Only downfall is all the stairs from top to bottom. Love that they had taxi carts though to make getting around easier if needed. Would go back. The only thing I didn't like was the push for timeshare.

Great and beautiful Hotel

My wife and I were looking for a cozy and quiet destination to relax, and after some vast research ended up here and we were not disappointed. The views of the beach and the mountains from our room were magnificent, the food was great, the outings were unforgettable and the staff were extremely friendly. The only thing was that the beach was so-so because it was small and the fact that it was at the bottom of the resort (you have to take the elevator) we spent most of the time at the pools on to [... read more]p. Go to see the Salto del Limon (waterfalls in the forest) and order some papaya with lemon (they dont usually offer it but if you ask for it they will give you some with a smile) We would definitely come back to this country.

A Secluded Gem!

The resort is lovely; maintains the exceptional high standards of the Bahia Principe family of resorts that we have come to appeciate in all aspects of service provision; food, cleanliness, romm accomodation, etc. I would like to submit a few worthwhile suggestions regarding the main pool; - as this is a relatively small pool and deck area, i feel a few minor adjustments could greatly enhance the overall aesthetics and guest enjoyment of the pool area. First and foremost the lounge chairs need t [... read more]o staggered around the pool, or clustered in small groups. This would be much moe appealing visually and would avoid guests being shoulder to shoulder within inches of a stranger in the lounge next to yours!!! Second suggestion; remove the "spa" area at the far end of the pool. It was not used once the entire wk we were there and the space could be better utilized to accommodate guest lounges- the spa is currently occupying the most lovely area on the pool deck and that area could offer the most amazing views!!! Third suggestion; replace the existing pool umbrella's with the thatch roofed, more permanent type( as located at the smaller pools), the current situation presents a potential area of liability resulting from guest injury! Several times the wind plucked the current umbrellas out of their holdings, flew accross the pool and narrowly missed injuring people in the pool and on deck!!!

This was Great!!!

We had a WONDERFUL time!!! First of all, the food was excellent. The staff were always there when you needed them and very friendly!!! They could use another pool, no where to sit, but there was always the beach.

Lovely resort

We went with friends to this resort in Jan. The weather was beautiful,very warm. We ate at all the a la carte restaurants and found the them to be good. The seafood one has mainly all seafood choices, so if someone in your group does not like seafood do not go there. Our rooms were really big and cleaned daily.You take an elevator to the beach, but it is no problem,nice beach. This has been the nicest place we have stayed in D.R.

Lovely resort

The hotel was very nice, super clean and staff exceptional. A few drawbacks include the up-and-down nature of hotel and property in general. Must be fit and energetic, even to get to some a la cartes. Big pluses include staff. Always friendly and helpful. Food was good, but nothing special. Prices in resort-based stores exhorbitant! Definitely go to town for any shopping, even for basics like snacks!

Exceptional service.....fantastic vacation!

This was my 26th Carribean vacation, and I can say it was the best resort so far. ;-). I have a checklist of resort requirements that I've developed over the years, and this resort exceeded my expectation. There are large resorts (over 350 rooms) and small resorts (under 300 rooms.). Larger resorts are usually less personal and offer a tin of things to do on and off site. Smaller resorts have less "to do," but but are much more personal. You get to know the staff and other guests because instea [... read more]d of having 3 pools, there is one pool where you see the same people every day. This was a smaller resort.....adults only resort. The food was by FAR the best I've ever had. If you're insistent on a beach like Varadero or Punta Cana, this wouldn't be the place to go, but it has the BEST view ever! The beach is small and very calm...which was great for swimming. The town of Samana was a 5 minute walk from the hotel and a great place to visit. The local people are great. There are only 5 resorts in Samana and are spread apart, so the locals are bombarded with tourists. They love talking to you. So friendly. The room was super clean and very nice. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this resort. I'm going back next month. ;-)

Beautiful CLIFF Resort

Like the other reviews, this Spectacular Resort has ALLOT of stairs and walking, and I should know as I walk for a living (15-20 km per day), but by the end of the week, even I was tired of the treks each day. The elevator to the beach is nice and fairly quick to get, but overall a nuisance. The beach is nice but short and sometimes hard to get a good spot, and the cabanas are very hard to secure, so get there early. (And try to use it the entire day as nothing is more aggravating than seeing on [... read more]e stay empty all day so the occupants can use it for an hour in the evening) We were disappointed in the beach bar, which didn't have a good selection nor seemed to be able to open with the food at the proper time, which meant a trip all the way back to your room to change then to the buffet. THE POSITIVES: The views are SPECTACULAR The grounds are IMPECCABLY kept and there is always a grounds crew manicuring the area. The Staff are very courteous and helpful (many only speak Spanish, but will get someone for you if you don't) The Rooms were clean and well maintained, however, the hotel rooms seemed small a little smelly, like mildew, hallways too, which you have to go through to get to the lobby, unless you take the shuttle. The Food was very good with a nice selection to chose from. Mosquitoes were present, but not terrible, bring repellant. Samana is within walking distance if you are up to it, or take a shuttle, and is quite a quaint little town with many things to see. For explorers...there is a beautiful walk with bridges made to the adjacent islands that is worth the trip. THE NEGATIVES: Bring walking shoes...there is A MILLION STAIRS, and the shuttles are fairly frequent but usually fills up quickly. The hours for the buffet were pretty good, but there wasn't a lot of options when they were closed. The bridges to the islands are falling apart, (50 or more years old) so while the views are worth the trip there is a little concern over safety and there is allot of garbage on the rocky beaches on each island (THIS IS NOT PART OF THE RESORT) We took one of the excursions to the jungle (AGAIN...NOT PART OF THE RESORT) that had a long, long, long boat ride there and back, which seemed to more about drinking rum on the boat than anything else, although the actual caves and flora were very enjoyable. Finally, we went into Samana for a day, and were sad that we had arrived late in the season and many of the shops had closed for the year, so keep that in mind, also I got a great hair cut for $7.00 US that took the guy 30 minutes to do and was well worth the time and experience. While this resort got a 4.5 star rating when we went, I think it is closer to a 3.5 star to perhaps a 4 star, but still we really enjoyed ourselves and I would recommend seeing it.

Wonderful vacation

We loved this spot! A group of 10 of us went and everyone had a great time. Unfortunately we didn't spend much time at the beach because we were travelling from pool to pool, which were all great. The sea lion excursion was fantastic! Wide variety of food to choose from, staff were all friendly, grounds beautiful and the stairs helped burn off the calories from over indulging! We would definitely go back.

Lovely resort!

The grand oasis was absolutely beautiful. The scenery was outstanding to see. The set up and style of the resort was very nice as Well! The overall atmostsphere was very pleasant to be in and was quite a lovely stay for all of us. The entertainment lacked a little bit but the cancun strip wasn't too far away which made up for it as we were able to leave the resort and find other forms of entertainment.