Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Still a Nice Resort but if you pay for Luxury then it needs to always be top end!!

We have stayed at Bahia Principe Hotels on about 15 occasions ( at least 10 at what is now called Luxury Bahia Prinicpe Ambar), we have always spoken highly about this resort and the people who work here, and nothing has changed, still beautiful and the staff are amazing. We decided to come at a different time of year and this time (as always) we sent an email ahead of time to get a room in one of the buidlings that we like to stay in and book our dinners, none of this was done our room is right [... read more] next to what sounds like a night club ( as I am listening to right now) and nothing was booked as requested. I don't mind paying extra for an amazing place to stay but the new place next door ( Royalton Bavaro) looks really amazing , so maybe it is time to give it a try, we are going over for a tour tomorrow. Sorry Bahia , but upping the game is how to keep a top notch place word by word of mouth.

Bahia Principe Escape Runaway Bay: Perfect Honeymoon

We had an amazing time at the resort, the grounds are gorgeous and the food was amazing. Staff were very friendly and went above and beyond to make sure our stay was perfect. The entertainment on the resort was great and they had lots of amenities and activities. The beaches were beautiful.

Bahia Principe Escape Runaway Bay: Big resort

Stayed on luxury side Was was nice ...the beach was waist deep at best Restaurants were just ok Buffets were just ok...didnt starve Disco was just ok Room service was slow Room was cleaned great...but cleaned later in the afternoon

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Excellent vacation

This was our second visit to this resort, the first visit was at the Blue and the second at the Green. The hotel was great and the food was better than good. The hotel room was clean and the grounds always tidy. The employees at this this resort were always happy and helpful. My wife and I cannot find one thing to complain about during our one week stay. We will visit this resort again and believe that the Dominican people that work so hard to keep their customers extremely happy are just one of [... read more] a kind. Truly really nice people. The weather is always hot and the ocean is fantastic. One employee named Alexander always has a smile on his face and always yells, " I Love My Job", is an honest and down to earth guy that really does love his job and the vacationers. Can't say enough about how nice a week we had.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: 5th time at the Grand Bahia Principe

Start out by saying that this is our 5th visit to this lovely place. A lot of changes but for the most part it's AMAZING. FOOD: Seemed to be a lot better than we remembered. The selections are always fresh, extremely flavourful, abundant and very well presented. The Don Pablo Buffet, Jazmin is a lot more quiet, less populated but probably far better than Orchedia, and Jazmin is Adults Only. The a la cartes were always popular and spectacular, most especially the Garden Grill where the Surf [... read more] and Turf dish was outstanding. Beautifully presented, excellent flavours complimenting one another and just enough to make you very satisfied without being stuffed POOLS / BEACH. Albeit the resort was full, there was never an issue finding loungers at the beach or pools, Again, the Don Pablo area, was a very relaxing, clean and tranquil rest. The activities allowed you to be as engaging as you wanted. The snorkelling is amazing out in the sea grasses by the ropes in the Sea. ROOMS: Quiet, comfortable and inviting. Pillows were a tad soft but are perfect for those who prefer that. There were six so we each had three which was sufficient. The TV remote needed fresh batteries and the toilet had an issue flushing, however once we mentioned these issues they were seen to and corrected incredibly quickly. Great customer service. STAFF: well not everything is perfect in a perfect world. The few Staff members who were above and beyond were first off, Gay-Ann at the Don Pablo pool bar, ( I hope I got her name right ), and Britney and Camaro, both our spectacular servers in Jazmin Buffet. I hope they stay there for a long time because they add to total customer satisfaction! However, that being said, MOST of the staff seemed to be bothered by any queries or requests. A lot as well would be hidden as soon as the tips stopped flowing. Sad to say but true. Other staff whose names we will not mention, and who we have got to admire over the last few years, were just plain RUDE. Again it seemed as we were troubling them. Too bad and not to worry, the few who stood out, put the other's service to shame. As well we wish to mention the spectacular entertainment shows. The Michael Jackson impersonation and His Crew were off the charts, along with Positive Vibrations Steel Drum Band. What great shows! We will be back for sure

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Awesome time!

This hotel was amazing. The staff were very nice, everywhere was very well kept and food was awesome. The pool bar was where we spent most of our time to relax as well as the beach. They have servers come up to you on the beach to take drink orders which is very convenient. I would recommend this hotel to families and couples of all ages!

Bahia Principe Explore Coba: Clean and beautiful resort

The grounds were beautiful, and well maintained. We were a family of 6 adults and two children 4 and 2. This hotel was very big, with plenty of golf carts to give you a lift. Rooms were big, clean and comfortable beds. Food was excellent but often just warm, lots of variety. Specialty restaurants Mediterranean, Italian and Mexican was great. This hotel is not on the beach and you have to take shuttle cart to beach which was a little disappointing as you had to make sure you pack all your stuff [... read more] and carry it to the front lobby to then get on a shuttle.

Bahia Principe Explore Legend: Amazing Resort

We stayed at the Bahia Principe Fantasia Jan. 3 -10, 2018. We travelled with my two children age 5 and 8. My children were catered to at all times. The grounds were clean. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The rooms were spacious and clean. The beach was close to resort. Everything was within walking distance. There was lots of activities for the kids to do. I would completely come back to this resort and recommend it. Trip central was great to deal with in regards to booking trip. They were [... read more] very helpful and I would book with them again.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Good Value

Hotel was clean and food was ok but not a lot of seafood or fruit. The beach restaurant was always a problem for a table and cutlery and better off to shuttle to the main buffet. Beach was fantastic as usual but had to reserve chairs in the morning as well as the main pool by the beach

Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: Excellent Service

Great food for where your at. Amazing service. A little way from Cancun, but if you don't mind, its great. The beach is a 10 minute shuttle; shuttles come quick and they accomodate if your in a rush. Amazing entertainment. Loved that we have all-access.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Great resort with a few things that need to be fixed.

Hotel in general: the resort in itself is beautiful. It is very large however the nice thing about the Esmeralda is that you are right on the beach regardless of how far back your room is. The grounds are immaculate and very well kept. The lobby is beautiful and open air. There is a bar right in the lobby and on the side there is a coffee machine with sweets and snacks in the afternoon. Rooms: very nice large rooms. Comfortable beds. We had 2 double beds. One for my wife and I and another for o [... read more]ur 18 year old son. Our mothers came with us. We requested ahead of time rooms in the same building on the second floor with separated beds. These requests were not met. You also won’t get your room until 3pm. Wifi did not work in one room, we complained about this multiple times to the front desk and our concierge however this was never fixed. The rooms are quite large and we never felt crowded with 3 people in the room. Beach: beach is nice, however if you’re expecting clear, calm water, you won’t get that. The beach in punta cana is rough and goes deep very quickly. The water is not clear, so forget about snorkeling. We had to get up early (8am) to get beach chairs in around the third row so that we could see the beach from our loungers. However if you wake up later, you can always find loungers further back. Lots of palapas and chairs towards the left of the beach area, close to the Fantasia area. Pool: 3 pools, 2 large pools and an adult only pool. There aren’t enough loungers in the pool area. They get reserved very early. My opinion is that there is a lot of room to add more loungers. Food: this is where I have mixed reviews. I haven’t been in punta cana in 10 years. Last trips there were in the Luxury Ambar and Riu Palace. In the past 10 years I have been going mainly to Maya Riviera and other islands. Although it seems that in all the buffets and restaurants, there is ample variety and every food you would want: seafood, meats, vegetables, etc.. The food for the most part in the buffet was cold to luck warm. The food was either salty or bland. I found the food to be much tastier in the resorts in Mexico. They need to drastically improve in this area. Also for specialty coffees, there are all machine made, no real expresso machine. The desserts were amazing, kudos to the pastry chef. But they need to improve the temperature in the buffet and hire better chefs. Having said that you won’t go hungry. Tons of restaurants and choices in the buffets. We did 3 a la carte, Italian in the Ambar (very good), Brazilian in the Esmeralda (very good), meditarrean: Bahia Punta Cana (average). On the positive side, we were a group of 5 and nobody got sick. On the topic of getting sick, I have been fighting a cold since I landed in punta cana and despite the warm weather, I got really congested towards the 6th day. I went to the pharmacy (in the ambar) and even walked to the pharmacy in the Riu complex. Very hard to find cold medicine and when I finally found it, it was US$10 for 6 pills (cold remedy). Lesson to learn, take all your medicine with you. Entertainment: aside from the standard shows in the main theatres which I never attended, I’ve seen them too many times in others resorts, there is local entertainment in every hotel lobby. There is a theme every night, Latin band, Karaoke, Tropical nights (dancers) etc… These are all held in the lobby and they rotate to the different lobbies. There is also entertainment in the main Plaza (south of the Punta cana) where they have a band at night (10:30), a night club, a bar and casino. We went to the club a couple of times, it was fun and it is oriented for the younger crowd but you would find people of all ages. One negative aspect is that it was difficult for my 18 year old son to connect with other teens except at night at the disco. They should have a pool table and a ping pong table in the main lobby or somewhere around the pool. This is great for the teens to congregate and meet. They have this in every other resort I’ve been to except here. There are also lots of daily activities led by the staff, Zumba classes, yoga, games etc…What we would do most nights is stay at our lobby until 9pm then take the trolley to the punta cana lobby, it is more lively there, then around 10:30 walk over to the main plaza. By the way, walking from the main plaza which is all the way at the end of the complex to the Esmeralda took about 15 minutes (we are fast walkers). In general, we found things to do but my teenage son found the resort too big to connect to other teens and told me he would have preferred a smaller resort. Having said that he went out every night to the club and made friends staying out until 3 am on a nightly basis. So nights were fun for him but was bored during the day. Overall impression, it was a nice resort but for they need to work on a few things. Most staff members were pretty friendly but we came across some staff with attitude and both my wife and I speak Spanish fluently. We find that in general hotel staff are much friendlier in Mexico. Wifi was spotty and never worked in our room. A pool and ping pong table in the resort is a must. Improve on the food quality. We also did one activity that we purchased in the resort. We went on a dune buddy activity that was a lot of fun.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Pretty area

Just an average service and facilities resort , location was perfect pool was very good and clean but not a good and clean beach ,food was perfect but bars were quite few no good alcoholic beverages, I recommend if you are a good quality drinker better take you drinks with you there.

Bahia Principe Escape Runaway Bay: Here's what you need to know about this resort - the good and not-so-good

We have been to over 20 all inclusive resorts so it's safe to assume we have a well rounded scope of what to expect. Although there were good points to this resort, I will start by saying it's definitely not a 5 star. It more accurately reflects a 4. It's not entirely clear when you book that there are two sides to this hotel. The Luxury Adult side and the Grand Family side. Here are the pros and cons for you to consider: Adult Luxury side: PROS 1. It's quiet, and doesn't have a busy feel  [... read more]which we appreciated 2. You won't see line ups at the main buffet & the food selection/variety and taste is good 3. The bed was very comfortable -- our room was in the new building, and it was spacious and very nice 4. The pools are big and beautifully lit at night 5. Raymond at the main bar is AWESOME - his happy energy makes everyone smile CONS 1. The Family Side (Grand) appeared to have better features than the adult side. Their lobby is a big open space where you can see the pool and ocean. Even their main buffet had outdoor seating - the luxury side did not which for me personally was a huge disappointment. We travelled south to enjoy the warm temps and outdoors, so having the option to dine outside would have been nice. 2. The lobby on the luxury adult side has a "closed in" feel and your only view is the road. We had 2 full days of rain so our only "hangout" was the lobby. I'm guessing the designer of this hotel isn't an ocean person because even the path that takes you to the ocean resembles a maze - we are intelligent people and it took us 3 days to finally figure out the best way to get us there because it involves walking down dark narrow hallways etc. 3. If you're a beach person, the adult side is not for you - there's a small contained space that is surrounded by rocks which obstructs your view of the ocean. Again strange. 4. The check in was long and a little painful. We had been up since 3 am and had a flight delay -- air transat doesn't supply a meal so we were hungry and tired when we arrived at 4pm. A few other couples sitting with us expressed the same. Yet we had to sit through a group orientation? Tough. Wasn't the right time. 5. The gym is on the family side and it's a smaller room without windows. Felt cramped and boxed in. We always work out on vacations but no inspiration to do so at this resort. 6. **Do not let the women sitting at the desk in the lobby convince you to sit with them for the "scheduled meeting". They warned us on the bus to the resort to ignore their attempts at putting another resort bracelet on you (selling you something). It's a waste of your precious vacation time. 7. I sat down with the concierge the first day to book al la carte (restaurants) and the only availability they had was 9 or 9:30pm for our entire stay. Some restaurants were closed throughout the weekend? So my advice is to book your dinners in advance before you arrive. We went to Picasso at 9pm one evening and it wasn't full but the food was delicious. 8. The spa. One of our rainy days we booked the sauna room. You need to book it and they charge you to enjoy this space. They can't guarantee you will be the only couple occupying, and we weren't. Their steam shower is part of this "package" that you pay for but it wasn't working the day we went. We enjoyed the quiet relaxing spa music, and ambiance but paying money to use a resort sauna felt odd to us. Other locations we've stayed at offer this feature is part of the resort experience and it's always complimentary. 9. It's 1hour 15 minute drive from the airport. Our flight landed at 2pm and we arrived at the resort at 4:15pm. Departure day our bus left at 9:15am and our flight was 1:30pm. Just something to keep in mind if like us (we booked 4 days) you're booking a shorter stay here. To sum it up, if you book this resort with a 4 star expectation, and you're a pool person vs beach, I believe you'll be satisfied.

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: Woohoo

Love this Resort Amazing people, beautiful white beaches, great selection of food. Luxury gran Bahia Principe ambar green, is beautiful, wonderful new building and swimming pools, and whirlpools. Entertainment everyday and night. BBQ lunch at the pools everyday was a welcome addition. Definitely recommend and will be back...🏖️🌴🏖️🌴🏖️

Bahia Principe Explore Coba: Group Family Vacation

The hotel is a large. The trolley system is good... but takes some getting used to. The property is well maintained. Rooms need updating. Beach and pools are nice. Wish the pools were better heated. Water is cold. Food is plentiful but needs to be hotter temperature. Biggest concern is the drinks, specifically the margaritas, daiquiris, etc. The lemon juice or simple syrup seems to have aspartame in it, Which makes these days drinks off -putting. Otherwise resort is beautiful and great for a bi [... read more]g group.

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: Bahia El Perfecto!

Our stay was truly memorable. This hotel excelled when it came to service! The common areas and pools we clean and maintained all day long. The restaurants were excellent - we really enjoyed the variety and quality of food. Our room was perfect for our family of 4 and the twice a day tidy and towels were really appreciated. I would recommend and already have done so to friends and family! Great job Bahia team!

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Great place for family vacation

We had adjoining junior suites at the Esmeralda Hotel , large, clean ,beautiful , spacious well decorated rooms, large bathrooms, and well stocked mini fridge. The pools are great, but pool chairs were always reserved with towels, but no guests ever actually using these reserved chairs. Fantastic beach and water was close to the hotel, but again chairs reserved and unused by those reserving them. Children's water park was great for the little ones, and the play area near the hotel was fun for [... read more] the kids. Buffet meals became boring after 3 days. It was difficult to impossible to get reservations at the specialty restaurants, so don't be attracted to that option, as it probably won't be available. The Italian restaurant which we finally got to, was not worth it, as the food was poor quality. The Asian restaurant was really good.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Would not go back

We were not impressed with the resort nor what we were expecting. The food was OK and never changed and the beaches were not the greatest. The service was exceptionally poor except for our maid Nora and one or two services at the buffet that we made sure we had. The others were there only for the tips... would not go back nor would i recommend it to anyone else

The Eurostars Grand Cayacoa: Great small resort!

The resort was clean and well maintained. The food was good in the buffet but pretty much the same each day. I only liked the meddeterrain a la carte restaurant. We spent most of our time at the main pool and it was great. Just the right amount of entertainment. Overall I would recommend this resort as a great place to relax for a week.

The Eurostars Grand Cayacoa: Great place to take a vacation

The resort was very clean and well maintained. Food was excellent with lots to choose from. Staff was very helpful and always greeted you with a smile. Never had a problem finding loungers at the pool or the beach. Only issue we had was no hot water in the shower the last two days of our trip.