Growing resort, still very good

This was our third trip to the Gran Bahia Principe complex in Punta Cana over the last 8-10 years. On our first trip the resort was essentially two hotels in one, and it has since grown to seven hotels. Most recently we stayed at GBP Esmeralda in 2017 and GBP Aquamarine in 2019. For our January 2019 trip, we booked Royal Golden club in the GBP Punta Cana, in part due to some of the promised amenities (direct transfer from airport, own check in, bottle of rum, towels in room). On arrival we were  [... read more]transported directly to the complex but the Royal Golden was the third stop. We were told that we were being offered an upgrade to Aquamarine, a "newer hotel". We accepted, not seeing we had much option. The following day we inquired with the Transat rep, who told us that this was a hotel decision, not the tour operator, and who introduced us to one of the managers. This manager spoke with us at length and explained that the hotel had undergone many changes and that Tripcentral/Transat's descriptions of what amenities were provided were out of date. He was frank in that he said his guess was that Royal Golden was oversold, and he explained how Aquamarine was indeed superior, in his opinion. He facilitated additional a la carte restaurant reservations for us and explained further the Aquamarine advantages. We felt our concerns had been better addressed. Regarding our actual experience at Aquamarine, to be fair the hotel is new, clean, well maintained, and well organized. It is at least a 10 minute walk to the beach. Our room was ground floor poolside, since we no longer enjoy climbing stairs. The main pool is very lively - don't expect quiet, despite the Adults Only status, but after all, that is the job of the animation staff and they do it well. The beach, compared to our early visit in 2010 or so, is highly subdivided. The aquamarine section is no more than 30 meters across, and is quite crowded. The actual Bavaro beach, on which anyone can walk for kilometers, remains unrivalled. We found the staff on the grounds and in the restaurants and lobbies to be uniformly friendly. Don't expect everyone to speak English superbly - that's unreasonable. We found the food to be very good in the buffet and in the a la carte restaurants, especially the Rodizio (Brazilian). When it came time to leave, we were instructed to get a bellhop to drive us to the GBP Punta Cana lobby, since that was where we were dropped off. We did so, only to encounter other transferred guests on the bus who had been picked up at Aquamarine. So, on balance, we had a very good holiday, a notch down from the excellent rating we would have given had we received what we thought we had purchased.

Reasonable resort - good for the value

Hotel room was lovely & clean. The alarm clock was broken, had to reset anytime we wanted to see the time. Otherwise, good location, good beach. Food was nice in all the restaurants, wide variety. However, often had problems at the main buffet, where the tables were not being set with enough cutlery, water glasses, napkins etc. Had to remind staff to bring supplies several times. Sometimes felt like we didn't matter to wait staff and other times, they were great. The pools were clean, was [... read more]hrooms too. Night entertainment was typical resort style.

Amazing resort

Great resort for the price. Plenty of food around the clock. Never got bored , only able to see half the resort , too big, good for the kids too, plenty of activity, play area lots of pools every where. Entertainment every night. Beach is awesome. Bad : 1 receptionist very very slow to do everything? Check in 20 minutes per room . I don’t get it 2 : all the meat food are very salty? I mean very. I don’t get that part ether

Too large

People, courtesy awesome. For me it was too large. Having stayed in a Bahia in Punta Cana a few years ago was more quaint. Exclusions from allowed resorts were not well indicated. For example, told to move our sun chairs on the beach by 2 feet and not being served drinks where we had previously in the past first days.

A 3,5 star at best

We have stayed at a Bahia resort in Jamaica and had a great experience so we thought let's book at a Bahia in Punta Cana. We can't go wrong, right? *Check-in was disastrous and finally fixed a few hours later. *Service was substandard. After my husband made several attempts to arrange a late checkout he was denied again by the manager and told to just file a complaint! *Rooms were cleaned 4 days out of our 7 and the fridge was never stocked. *The entertainment is ok but not well organized  [... read more]and you'll find yourself trying to find what is going on when it just abruptly ends at midnight. Overall, we were very disappointed in this resort and will never go back or recommend it.

Big big resort nice grounds.

Beautiful grounds and clean pools Need a few more lounge chairs Great trolly service from your room to lobby or pool or beach. Comes ever 5 minutes. Food was very very good great choice. Loved the village in middle of resort. Resort is decided into 4 parts you cannot go into other areas. Nice playground fir kids some night entertainment. Sand fleas are too bad

Big big resort nice grounds.

Beautiful grounds and clean pools Need a few more lounge chairs Great trolly service from your room to lobby or pool or beach. Comes ever 5 minutes. Food was very very good great choice. Loved the village in middle of resort. Resort is decided into 4 parts you cannot go into other areas. Nice playground fir kids some night entertainment. Sand fleas are too bad

Can't wait to go back!!

We had a wonderful time relaxing and having fun. Incredibly well kept and clean resort, great food and drinks. The staff was amazing from start to finish, we will definitely be booking another vacation here in the future

Amazing Resort

Everything about this hotel was amazing all the stuff were friendly, polite. I would definitely recommend this resort to anyone that is planning on going to Punta Cana and the rooms were always clean no matter what.

Fantastic resort

We traveled as a group of friends. The resort was clean, rooms clean with supplies restocked daily. We always had good food to choose from. Pools we're clean with lots of chairs available. The staff was good, although they worked on Dominican time, we appreciated the slower pace !We had no complaints at all about this resort and would return. We had a chance to view the adult only sections and are going to book our next stay there!

Girls getaway

The resort was huge and great. Very clean and lots of room to roam. I found if you didn’t want to walk the trollies can take you. The food was decent but the beach was not as nice as other resorts in the area. I would go back.

Good value

The buildings and grounds were comparable to a five star. Staff are constantly working hard to keep this place spotless and up to date. Staff is very kind but most don't speak English. The food was good, as was the beach and pools. I can't complain about this place.

Just ok

Return last week from two weeks at Royal Golden section. Be sure to bring a lot of bug spray as mosquitos are very active as well as send flies and ants. Also learn some Spanish as most of service people in hotel do not speak English at all. Resort is huge so if you are not in good shape and ready to walk a lot, consider some other place. Yes, there are trains around resort but you will still need to walk to them and wait. As for Royal Golden section, do not waste your money. You do not get any [... read more]thing more then regular section except more sales invitation. We were last time in Bavaro Princess for about same amount of money and I would not think twice about going back to Princess but we will not be back to Bahia. Nothing specially bad about this resort but too big to take care of everything in proper way and prefer Spanish guests. For same or less money there are better choices.

Beautiful resort!

The grounds were beautiful and extremely well kept. The resort was very nice, lots of staff and for the most part very friendly! The beach is beautiful and well looked after, pools were very clean, I wish there were more activities at the pools but loved every minute being there!!

Nice resort !!

Bahia Principe Punta Cana was a nice family resort with beautiful grounds and amazing beach and activities. Easy to access the trams which ran all the time. Service was hit and miss. Some staff went out of the way to serve you and some did not. We went to a couple a la carts and they were just average. Rooms were spacious and nice and we stayed in the Golden section which had the rooms near the beach which was nice but not worth the extra dollars in my opinion. Getting a drink was never a [... read more]n issue and they had a nice water park for the younger children which was not busy during our stay. The only thing to watch out for is at the airport how they like to take your bags from you so you cannot get to your bus. Overall, the resort has something for everyone and not to be overlooked.

Fantastic Resort

It was so beautiful there. Lots of pools, great food and evening entertainment. I would recommend this resort to all my friends. The only thing that was not up to par were the sale ladies in the resort store. They were always on their cell phones and were not very friendly. Other than that a 6 star resort.

Grand Bahia Principe Punt Cana

This was my second time at this resort. I had been there about seven years ago. They have changed the decor and it was very nice. Most of the time they were very accommodating but when we first arrived we had a long wait to get our rooms. We were in the royal golden which meant we should have had faster check in but we did not. The rooms were nice and close to the beach. I would totally suggest bug spray to be packed as there were a lot of sand flees which I am still itching from. The meals at t [... read more]he restaurants were okay, nothing special. The Le Grill restaurant have a lot of bugs swarming and we asked to be moved. The server was not pleased with our request but when we asked for management they moved us. Overall the weather was great so this helped to make the vacation acceptable. I would say that trip central was very organized with our booking and lots of info. I would use this agency again but I would not return to this resort.

Wonderful

The food was great! I love all the restaurants! Room was big and spacious! My daughter had a wonderful time in the swimming pool nonstop and the water park. Overall, I had a awesome time at Grand Bahia! Everybody was wonderful!

Our wedding and vacation

Despite the fact the resort was beautiful. Our guests and us continually ran into problems with service from the very time we arrived. Disorganized! We paid for a certain package and didn’t receive it. It took 2-3days for problems to be solved and some weren’t solved. We found The Air Transat Rep not very helpful and would talk over us. Didn’t really want to deal with him anymore. Our wedding and our wedding coordinator were the highlight of the trip. She made us feel welcomed and  [... read more]bent over backwards to help us. She was organized and approachable. All in all I would love to ask for my money back for the vacation part. Didn’t get the bang for my buck.

Very disappointing

I arrived at Bahia Principe Punta Cana on Sept.1 in the evening. I could not get the room safe to work. I called the front desk and they sent a person to fix it. I put $200.00 US and $80.00 Cdn. along with a credit card and a few other items. I went to get some money from the safe onMonday. I WAS ROBBED from a locked safe and room.