Great resort!

Clean, well kept grounds and rooms. Staff was extremely friendly everywhere. The hacienda don Isabel had nightly entertainment and a Mexican themed party you could buy tickets for. The beach was a short trolley ride away with kayaks and SUPs you could use.

It was OKAY but I would not come back

Hotel Chain: This is the 3rd and last time I’ll stay at a resort with the Grand Bahia Principle Hotel Chains, they are notorious for two things worst coffee service/quality ever and aggressive time share high-pressure salespeople. This chain of hotel offers cheap quality coffee from machines that is more than half the time broken. The bartenders are unwilling to make coffee or cappuccinos from the actual machines because apparently it’s broken or my favorite “coffee service is over use [... read more] machines” (this is the same excuse at all three resorts I have been too). On top of that it’s the cheap Nescafe instant coffee served with processed milk that comes from a box that does not need to be refrigerated. Thus if you are a coffee fan don’t go to any of the Grand Bahia Principe Chains its all the same. Second the Time Share sells people who wants you to upgrade your quality of vacation by purchasing a time share of 30 weeks to the Don Pablo black wrist bands luxury service for $20k at any Grand Bahia Principe resorts. On top of that you have to purchase flights and transportation to the resort and if its not the Grand Bahia Principle you have to pay an extra $317 + taxes for each week you stay. You are also excluded from countries like Cuba etc. If you really take the time to break it down and call their helpline to ask for cost of flights and transportation, you will find its not any cheaper to book yourself but instead this forces you to only travel to their allowed resorts for the next 30 years and get the luxury services of an upgraded room and better bar shelf. Coba Resort itself: Coba resort good, lots of iguanas and raccoon like creatures strolling around. The food and buffets are good, a lot better than the Jamaica Grand Bahia Resort. Service is always good if you hold a tip in your hand. The Snack bar is no service basically whether you have a tip or not just miserable people there. The beach is further away and you have to wait for a trolley to come and drop you off. If you want walking distance to the beach like every other resort move to the Tulum side of the resort. Beaches all have major rocks in them so bring water shoes. Definitely not a 5 star as advertised on their signs. Air Transat: Nothing special, same service as Sunwing and other travel agencies. They just want you to book tours and excursions through them.

Bahia Principe Coba Might Not Be a Good Choice for Couple with No Kids

Once again we have returned to a Bahia Principe resort. We have been coming to Bahia Principe resort several times per year for about eight years or so. I believe this is our 14th stay and this marks our first vacation at the Bahia Principe Coba. We have stayed at all the Riviera May resorts, the Ambar in Punta Cana, Cayo Levantado in Samana, and in Runaway Bay in Jamaica. As we have stayed with Bahia Principe more than ten times (I think that’s the number), my wife and I are considered VIP [... read more] guests. It’s taken me some time to figure out what this gives you but essentially you are entitled to unlimited a la cartes, access to all the resorts at Bahia Principe Riviera Maya including the exclusive Don Pablo sections and can get certain requests granted. I have many friends ask why we would keep going back to the same resort chain over and over. I can tell you it’s that VIP status. While on paper those perks don’t look that tremendous, it’s like booking a higher end resort without having to pay for it. For example, on our last day we spent the entire day at the Sian Ka’an resort and enjoyed all that they have to offer by their quiet pool, including a pool side BBQ, top shelf drinks, and best of all no children (Sian Ka’an is adults only). Later in the evening we had reservations for the Alux restaurant which could very well be the best restaurant in the entire complex. All of this on Coba pricing. Like many other guests of Bahia Principe I do send an email to the resort about a week or so before arriving. I don’t make many requests but I often ask for an improved room selection. It’s sometime hard to say if I get an upgrade in the room since most of the rooms are essentially the same as one another. I can say that sometimes a room upgrade comes in the form of where it’s located on the resort. We were assigned room 32714 which is located in the building directly between the Royal Golden Lobby and the smaller of the two larger swimming pools in Coba. I has also informed the resort that it was my wife’s birthday that month and I would appreciate if they could leave a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of tequila for us upon our arrival. These requests were granted. They also added helium balloons which ended up getting snagged in the ceiling fan which caused some excitement. One of the things about being repeat guests of Bahia Principe is that you really notice when you got something in the past and suddenly it isn’t there. In the past we have seen our mini fridge restocked daily with two beers, Coke, Diet Coke, two bottles of water, Orange Fanta, Sprite, mini vodka, whisky, and rum, a small chocolate bar and a small bag of chips. Certainly if you were at the Bahia Principe for the first time you wouldn’t notice if something wasn’t there. This time the mini fridge was only stocked every other day, and there wasn’t any liquor at all. This is not a big deal for us as it is an all-inclusive. Certainly those missing items are available all over the resort, however it was noticed. Over our fourteen trips we have tried every a la carte and buffet restaurant the resort has to offer. What I can tell you is that the gourmet restaurants are excellent. Next to the Alux restaurant in Sian Ka’an, I would say that the Don Pablo restaurant in the Tulum section is the best. Everything else is very good and I would suspect you would have a hard time having a disappointing meal. I will say that the buffet restaurants are all pretty much the same thing. If you were staying at Coba, for example, I wouldn’t go out of your way to take the transportation to the Tulum section to try their buffet restaurant. There are some key food experiences that happen at various locations around the resort in any given week. For example, the cooks will make a paella right next to or on the beach. This is a lot of fun and certainly gets you something fresher than what is at the buffets. Most of our time was spent at the beach. As VIP guests we were entitled to use the Akumal section and beach. The only issue is that with the blue Coba towels you wouldn’t be able to exchange them for fresh towels since the Luxuary Akumal section has a different style of towel. In fact I would like to say to the resort that perhaps you could apply some more modern customer service standards and get rid of the towel police on the beach. I felt like I did something wrong as they got out their clipboard to look me up to see if I was in fact going to try and steel Bahia Principe towels. It’s this stubborn attention to rules at this chain that makes me sometimes question my loyalty to this resort. I honestly don’t know that I would return to the Coba section as it really caters to families with children, which we do not have. I think I will continue to look for good pricing at the other resorts and simply take the transportation to another resort which we would have access to.

Beautiful resort! Week in paradise

This resort is amazing, have returned 3 times in just over a year and still can't get enough! Each time we go and get more familiar with the grounds it gets better and better. Resort property is huge so it takes a bit of getting used too, best way to get around is the trolley service! You can pick them up at the front lobby or just as you are walking around. The food is great never disappointed in the buffet but it's great to change it up and make use of your a la carte restaurants as they are t [... read more]op notch. The Brazilian and le gormet are our 2 favourite. There are tons of excursions to chose from or hope in a 30 minute cab ride and you can get to downtown playa del Carmen for shopping and authentic Mexican food. You have access to this resort and also tulum (just take a trolley like stated earlier) so between the 2 you can change it up and go to different pools/parts of the beach all the time. There are kids splash pads and quieter pools for the families or you can go to the pools with the swim up bars, music playing and party games for the adults. The whole resort is kid friendly though. The wild life is my favourite part, no shortage of iguanas or coatis. The rooms are clean, well equipted and the air conditioning is nice and cool when you need to get out of the hot hot heat( yes it is extremely hot this time of the year). I have nothing to complain about this resort, staff is amazing as well. Don't forget to tip your servers for amazing friendly attentive service. Will definately return more then once.

Great resort!

Food was amazing, service was geat, well maintained with impecably groomed grounds. Stretching in the pool with "Angel" was amazingly therapeutic! Thank you again Grand bahia Principe Coba, for a great vacation!  

Great, clean, staff friendly resort

Amazing environment, clean, kids friendly. Food was good...not great. Kid's splash/slide pool was awesome! Shuttle bought us everywhere in the resort that we needed. The Cenote Snorkeling tour is a MUST try.

Comfortable stay

Pleasant rooms Plenty of very good food Easy access to a good beach with little trains Wi-fi surprisingly only for 1 hour a day free. Lobby, theatre and dining room uncomfortable and risky licking on natural palm leaves roofs on rainy times that happens often

Outstanding staff

This hotel had the warmest people, always willing to help, and attend to their clients. I had the misfortune of losing some important items and they constantly contacted me to ask if I needed anything else. I recommend this hotel to all! It is however 1 hour from airport...

Good resort, bad beach

Good things: room, service, entertainment (including Tulum Resort and the Hacienda) Mediocre things: food (including a la carte), commuting, Wi-Fi Bad things: beach (rocky, narrow, water limited to waist-deep, sand barriers (ugly, unsafe), got food poisoning

Good family resort !

This is a great family hotel, if you don't have kids I would not recommend it as they are everywhere LOL However, the hotel grounds & rooms are very clean. Service in buffets and restaurants is great and there is lots of variety at the buffets although there is no air-conditioning in the main enclosed buffet, with the heat in Mexico and considering there are meats, fish and even sushi left out it is a must ! Restaurants are top quality :) Other than that this is a great place if you don [... read more]'t mind the 1½ hour ride from the airport . I would recommend this place :))

Great resort!

This resort is beautiful with amazing pools and great food. The seafood, Japanese and Italian a la carte restaurants were especially delicious. Even the buffet had many amazing choices for all types of eaters. The carts that take you to the beach were very frequent and quick. We never had to worry about waiting. Beach or hacienda - equally as efficient transport. All around good place for a couple of first time all inclusive travellers. Recommend!

Amazing Resort!! Highly Recommended

The atmosphere of the resort is amazing and the grounds were well kept. Only thing I would say was a little bit of a let down would be the food it was top not but it was still good. The staff on the resort were always friendly and willing to help out in anyway they could when asked. I definitely recommend this resort to anyone wanting to visit mexico

Our best all-Inclusive yet

My Fiancee and I stayed at this resort the first week of June 2016 and had an excellent time. We found the resort itself to be well designed and well cared for. The staff were are very friendly and helpful. The buffet had a good selection of food and of a high enough quality that I often found myself going back for a second plate despite my waistlines objections. We received 3 a la carte restaurant reservations and while the food was good it wasn't much better than the buffet so we didn't mind e [... read more]ating most of our meals there. The beach is probably the only downside to this resort. It is sandy and kept very clean but there are large wave breaks a little ways out in the water which prevent you from getting much deeper than waist high in the water or playing in the waves. On the plus side if you had children you wouldn't have to worry about them getting destroyed by the waves which look to be quite aggressive beyond the wave breaks. However, even inside the breaks there are large rocks here and there. The resort is also kinda in the middle of nowhere so if you want to go shopping in an authentic Mexican market you will have to find transport off the resort. They do have a resort market set up but expect to pay much higher prices then you would find off resort.

Beautiful Resort

This resort is huge! There is so much to do and see at this resort. We were greeted with friendly and kind people and the check-in process was simple and quick. The lobby of the resort is beautiful and really catches the cultural landscape. The rooms are spacious and clean. There are so many pools and each has its own entertainment. The staff at the resort were friendly, helpful, and prompt. You could not ask for more from a resort.

Sandles Jamacia

The resort is lovely, not much English with the staff. Did not like the check in, it really should be adressed. The rooms are getting tired needs a good cleaning esp.the bedspreads. Should sell as a very large property, very intimidating for a 1st. Time traveler.

AMAZING resort!

My husband and I stayed here for our honeymoon May 8-16 and I can't say enough great things about the Bahia Principe in Riviera Maya! The resort is huge, but made easy to get around by the shuttle carts that are constantly going back and forth. The food was top notch and plentiful. For the a la cart restaurants we chose the Mediterranean, the Japanese, and the Brazilian. All were great - if you can you should DEFINITELY get a seat at the show table at the Japanese restaurant - it is qui [... read more]te a show! Everything was very clean, everywhere! The grounds were immaculate and beautiful, the rooms were always clean right down to under the bed! The bathroom was great, clean, and restocked with extra fresh towels and toiletries daily. The staff at the resort are incredible at what they do, and they do it all with a smile! Everyone was friendly, helpful, and available to assist you with anything at all times. I found it disappointing how many guests didn't tip for this exceptional service - PLEASE TIP THE STAFF, they more than deserve it!!! We would definitely stay here again!

Beautiful resort

Resort gave us a free up grade to their Asian Kaan resort that is adults only. With the upgrade we were able to access all 4 resorts which was great. We will Deff recommend these resorts and would go back. We had an amazing time and all the staff was nice and food was great.

Amazing Resort

This resort is amazing and the people are friendly. Our family enjoyed our stay and highly recommend or add into your bucket list. The Bahia Principe Coba is kids friendly and my younger daughter loves the beach and the pools :)

Resort of no Public Relations

Overall look of the place was great beautiful in fact. Very clean except the pool by the stand up bar always mercky. Our room key did not work, out luggage took forever to come. they could not hook me up to the internet even tho it was free, we asked for extra beer for our room they would not give it to us and we were all inclusive. The coffee pot leaked they would not fix it I'm not going back

Huge Resort but amazing and beautiful!

My normal pick for an AI resort is small and reef close by. The Grand Bahia Principe Coba doesn't fit this bill...however this does not take away from how amazing of a place it is for young families! There is an amazing water park and pools. Shows or kids and the food is the best I have had....I would say better than the food I have had in Jamaica. I would suggest that anyone going here, study the map before they leave and try to understand how the trams/trolleys work. We got really lost first  [... read more]day. Also note that the tram/trolley stops running to the Coba beach at 6pm and its a really long and confusing walk back. So if you know these tips before you get there, your already ahead of the game! I would go back with my family (two children 6 and 8, hubby and mother-in-law), it was an amazing place.