Bahia Principe Explore Tulum: Amazing Resort!

We just got back from this resort the end of October 2016. We stayed for 1 week and it was the best vacation. We stayed at Grand Bahia Principe Tulum which is right on the beach which is beautiful. The sand is powdery white and the water a beautiful turquoise. The pools were very nice as well. We loved the swim up bar and if it got a little noisy, we just moved to another pool to relax. The grounds are very well maintained. The staff at this resort are always working hard. If your lookin [... read more]g for great tasting food, look no further than this resort. Lots to choose from the very flavorful. We have been to many resorts and I have to say that this is one of our favorites.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Friendly clean beautiful atmosphere

The staff were terrific. Bright clean resort. Very accommodating. Everyone was willing and happy to assist you. Food and entertainment was outstanding. I love the swim up sushi bar. The ocean swim area was good, with little fish swimming at your feet, that was different. I would go back and have recommended to many people already. You can relax join in the fun and games, whichever you wish no pressure. Great vacation resort.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Great resort and beaches!

This was our 2nd time to Gran Bahia and it didn't disappoint. The water is so clear and beautiful on each of the beaches. Unlike other resorts I've visited, there was ample lounge chairs at the pool and all beaches so you didn't have to wake up early to secure chairs. The food was standard for a resort, but we liked that there was always some Jamaican varieties at every meal. We tried 2 a la carte restaurants, both of which were very tasty. Mid stay we were upgraded to Gold club, which came wit [... read more]h a better view, room service, etc. The only criticism is that some interior corridors need their carpets replaced. Otherwise the resort and staff were all great and cater to your every need!

Bahia Principe Escape Runaway Bay: Beautiful Place, Beautiful People!

We loved our stay. The hotel was immaculate & luxurious. Attention was paid to every detail. The food choices were excellent; from casual poolside to fine dining. Above all, the staff were cheerful and attentive, ready to respond to your every need. We would highly recommend this resort.

Bahia Principe Explore Turquesa: 3 star for a ridiculous price - disppointing

clean hotel... people were friendly but don't speak any or understand minimum English. wouldn't go back no way a 4 1/2 resort more like a 3 maybe. Food was mediocre not what I expected from a so call 4 1/2 start disappointed recommendation by the agent.

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: beautiful resort

The room We had was lovely. I was with 4 other people (2 suites). Unfortunately the maid service could not understand that 3 beds meant 3 people and every day we had to request 3 towels ,3 cups, 3 glasses, extra tea, coffee, WATER etc.. We had to ASK for our umbrellas (only received 1 per room for 3 ladies), Robes, Rum, never received our slippers, All part of our upgrade... Two pools: 1 is a quiet pool no music, no laughing loudly, you have to be very very quiet. So we had to leave the pool th [... read more]at was below our balcony and walk 15 minutes to the other pool to just TALK. There was not a decent type of (rye) whiskey except at (the only inside bar) lobby bar. If you wanted Canadian Club that was an UPCHARGE. I have been to D.R. many times this was the worst for accommodating an upgraded package. The resort CLOSES at 11:00 pm Lights out in Lobby. The only Bar closed AT 11:00pm. NO TRANSPORTATION back to your room from the bar. Sorry to be negative but I don't work all year to go on vacation to have to turn in at 11:00pm. We were informed that there was entertainment (and with the rainy weather we couldn't figure out where it was. The Theater was in the total opposite direction of the outside stage (disco area) the front desk didn't know where the entertainment would be either. We had a good time because a vacation is what you make of it, come rain or shine..

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Loved the resort, food great.

The worst check-in I ever experienced. All my sisters got a room with a super long wait. In the end they were overbooked and had no room for me. My choice was to go to the opposite end of the resort (the green section) and we all booked for blue or take a room in blue with no phone. I took this room, it had 2 small beds and toilet did not flush properly as well. I was told to go to the blue lobby for my room at 9am the next day. I was sent back and forth to blue then green lobby!! It was ridicul [... read more]ous, luckily we used the shuttle. I got a room about 5:30 pm and felt I had 2 days wasted.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Always a pleasure

I've been to this resort 3x and will def go back if I get the chance. Its clean, well maintained, the staff are friendly and the rooms are kept clean. Food is great, there's always something you can find to eat. Buffet is a little repetitive but always well replenished. Towel service needs a bit of improvement w its turn over w washing and drying - new towel at the end of the day or mid day not always available. Had to tip the guy at the booth to hold 3 towels for us in the afternoon one da [... read more]y. Entertainment on the beach needs more improvement... There really is none except aerobics. Gift shop prices are ridiculous when it comes to necessities like sun screen or bug spray. They were asking $20USD for a bottle of OFF spray! Bring bug spray....we were eaten alive! Love this resort!

Bahia Principe Escape Samana: Fantastic

This resort is a perfect place to go to relax. We enjoyed the beach area, the pool area & pool bar every day. The staff was helpful and great customer service. The food was the best I have had at any resort. Amazing choices at the buffet - the A-la Cart restaurants were ok - but we actually preferred the buffet or room service. We have no complaints - this resort is one of the best we have ever been too.

Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: Quiet and peaceful

Beautiful Resort, lots of quiet places to relax and unwind. Staff was friendly and attentive, made the resort feel like home. The resort was not on the beach, however knew that going into booking.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Simply Paradise

Prior to our trip I sent an email directly to the hotel requesting something special for my friends 50th birthday celebration, they did not disappoint. We arrived to receive VIP check in, robes and slippers & pool towels in our room and al a carte reservations already booked! The resort was breathtaking, every square inch of it!! The food was incredible, our favorite was the Don Pablo (you have to have the Chateaubriand). The Jamaican people are all so attentive and friendly, they are willing  [... read more]to do anything for you. Kevon (pool entertainment), Evrad & Winston (lobby bar), Gilly (watersports), and Maycelinne (housekeeping) were amazing; the hotel should be proud to have such amazing people in their employ. I would recommend this hotel to everyone, it was a relaxing & fantastic place.

Bahia Principe Explore Akumal: recommended resort

All areas at the resort were clean. Food was good with an amazing variety. Staff were friendly. Good entertainment at night. Never had to be concerned about getting a lounge chair at the pool or beach. WiFi available 24 hours. It was along drive to the hotel but well worth it and was a very relaxing holiday!

Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: Luxury Bahia Principe Sian Ka'an

I loved the room that we stayed at as it was large and modern. We had a hot tub out front we took advantage of daily. It was our first stay at the Sian Ka'an our previous stay was at Akumal and it has it's own charms. We spent two wonderful weeks in the sun with only one rain day, which is amazing in itself. We took advantage of two excursions while we were there: Rio Secreto and Coba, both are 1/2 days. I really enjoyed the caves but the going is treacherous at times and I did not climb the p [... read more]yramid as it was high noon and I am not in great shape. I enjoyed learning about the Mayan culture and about human sacrifices. My favorite part was the private beach which was pristine and full of fish. You did not need to have any equipment to see the fish in the clear water. My second favorite was the food at the buffet, it was very good and plentiful. My one regret is that they often ran out of Rose wine which is my favorite. We did try some of the a la carte restaurants but I did not find them anything special and one was just awful. I would recommend this resort in general but enjoyed the little extra perks from the adults only.

Cayo Levantado Resort: 5-star resort, 5-star staff

We had an amazing time at this beautiful resort, even with some rain a number of days. I have never been to a resort that has umbrellas in every room. Nice touch. We were part of a group of 28 Canadian friends (50+) celebrating some anniversaries, and we had lots of laughs. When it rained, we just jumped into the pool so we wouldn't get wet. The restaurants, including the buffet were very good. Don't skip seafood night at the buffet. The wine and other drinks were . . . you know. And the staff [... read more] was amazing, all of them.My wife was in a wheelchair due to a recent injury. They took care of her everywhere. Sadly she couldn't go shopping!!! We will be back.

Bahia Principe Explore Tulum: Great resort / rocky beach

Great resort. Everyone is friendly. Expensive WiFi access and lobby WiFi is kinda weak. Sand was good but rocky once u r in the water; suggest to bring proper footwear if you want to spend time. Far ride from the airport. Don Pablo and le gourmet was great. Tequila the restaurant is something you want to avoid.

Bahia Principe Explore Turquesa: Ok

We stayed at the Turquesa. This hotel was very nice, well cleaned, well maintained. But very large. They say beach but you have to take a shuttle to get there if you're packing your kids and all the stuff. It was a very nice 10 min walk though if I didn't have to pack stuff. Our pool snack bar was terrible.... they offered hot dogs, or hot dogs or hot dogs. At the kids water park you could get hot dogs or nacho chips with the cheese sauce. It would have been nice to have a little more v [... read more]ariety between meal times, or instead of a meal at the restaurant where you needed to be dry, no swim wear etc. It takes quite a lot of time from your day when you have to get the kids out of the pool, dry, dress and sit for meal. I also would have preferred to do supper at 5, then get the kids in the room and settle down for an early evening but there wasn't food available to eat at that time. As for the beach, it's nice. Fairly calm water, but not as calm as I would have liked having a 1 year old there. The sand was a lot of fun. The beaches were cleaned and well kept, and they were packed with people, although we didn't feel too crowded. I guess my overall disappointment began because I figured my travel agent would have known these facts. I originally was going to book a different place before I realized how large it was. I told her my concerns and she agreed that it was large, so I assumed she wasn't going to recommend another large resort.

Bahia Principe Explore Tulum: Beautiful resort!

Just got back. We are an active couple with an 11 year old son. The resort is breathtaking. grounds are very well taken care of. We like to play tennis and the sports complex is fabulous. No shortage of day trips to choose from. they do seem rather expensive though. Lounging around the pool is never a problem, always lots of chairs. Mexico is one of my favourite places to visit. The Bahia Principe is located close to a lot of attractions. Food is spectacular and lots of selection at the buffets. [... read more] I would definitely recommend this resort.

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Loved this resort

The hotel was great, we were lucky to have our room right by the main lobby, halfway between both pools, spent many days at both pools and the beach. Never had an issue trying to find beach or pools chairs for 4. food was good, need to have an open mind and remember they are catering to numerous cultures, always found something good and tasty to eat every time we went to the buffet. Went to a couple of the a la carte restaurants, book a couple days ahead as they book up quick. The staff are a [... read more]mazing, always smiling, happy and friendly and always quick to say hi. Looking forward to going back !!

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: good

This was my 1st time at this resort my parent went there to celebrate their 25th anniversary 5 years ago and thats why they said lets go back has now it has been upgraded to a 5 star compared to 5 years ago it was a 4 star and this was a special occasion has I was proposing to my girlfriend and wanted it to be very special but there were some issues has my parents had arranged for a special arrangement to be done in the room for us and NOTHING was done for us and she asked them 5 times to do som [... read more]ething but nothing was done to make our occasion even more special aside from that our room was ok...it was very cold we kept the a/c off most of the time the food was ok we did have issues at the Don Pablo where my fiance food (duck ) was raw the beach was good

Cayo Levantado Resort: Save yourself $. Go Anywhere but here!

Trip to Grand Bahia Principe Cayo Leventado in Dominican Republic Via AirTransat Vacation First let me say that I am 38 years old and consider myself a seasoned and veteran traveller. I have gone on at least one vacation a year since I was 19 years old, and I have been all over the world, from Costa Rica, to Spain, to Indonesia. I have done it all from cruises, to all inclusive, to condo rentals. I will say this… It is the first time I have never written a review on anywhere that I have e [... read more]ver been, and I’ve never been compelled to share my experiences as much as I am now after my trip to the Grand Bahia Principe Cayo Leventado in the Dominican Republic via AirTransat Vacations. I guess Looking back on most of my experiences you could say I’ve been really lucky to have gone this far without having issues like I had during my week at the Cayo Leventado. Cayo Leventado was rated a 5-star all-inclusive resort that was located on one of the most breathtakingly beautiful landscapes I’ve ever visited. Its very own private island! The price of the one week stay was $1735.00 CAN, which seems pretty high when I hear about people travelling to the Dominican for as little as $600….But this is a FIVE-STAR so it must be worth the extra $1000.00?.... Well I didn’t think so, based on my experiences. Many of the experiences I had were incredible including our dinner at the don Pablo restaurant, our Jacuzzi night, and breakfast in bed on our last day, and the wonderful server who made sure my girlfriend, had nothing to do but sip on her coffee, and reach for her grapes, and yogurt. They hit the mark on a few things, but missed it by a mile on some really important stuff. Probably only a couple of the bad things that I had to endure, would have ruined some peoples weeks completely. Because I am so easy going, I still managed to really enjoy myself, but I will never pay the money to go back to Cayo Leventado, and here is why. When we first got there my intentions were to talk to the front desk to upgrade our room to the junior deluxe room, since our travel agent was unable to upgrade us she suggested we try when we got there. I was told there were know deluxe rooms, or beach villas available, but my room had been upgraded free of charge to the junior suite superior. Well immediately I told her that I did not want the superior room, because I had checked out all the rooms online and felt that the junior suite was nicer. I was assured that this was a better room because people pay more for this room….Sorry, but that doesn’t make it nicer. Any who…we went with our butler up to the room and it was nice enough, but not what I was looking for, the view was ok. It looked over the garden and there was a small window through the trees where you could see the ocean. We decided it wasn’t what we were expecting but we would make the most of it. It gets much worse. The Butler explained a few things, I tipped him $3.00 US, and that was the last time I ever saw him again. After unpacking and getting settled in, I started wondering when our air conditioning was going to start cooling the room down, so I decided to go have a shower since I was tired and sweaty from travelling all day, and unpacking all my stuff in a hot stuffy room. When I went to open the shower, I was excited since it had a big huge shower head that is a luxury I don’t have at home. I was instantly disappointed when I went to go turn my shower on, and the water started spraying out of the shower head in about 50 different directions, none of them towards my head or body. Luckily there was a detachable sprayer, and I was able to bathe myself. After drying myself, I called down the front desk to ask them if they could send a maintenance person up to the room since my shower, and my air conditioning was not working. Someone came fairly quickly. The language barrier was great, and communication was non-existent, but he felt the air coming out of vent with his hand, and said it was ok. I work as a refrigeration mechanic and told him that “no, it is not working!” It was 35 degrees in my room and the system has been running for at least 3 hours now. Air was blowing out of the vents, but it wasn’t cold air. He took my shower head and returned half hour later and the shower worked great. My AC was still not fixed. I called back down to the front desk to ask if there was someone else that they could send to fix my AC knowing that I would not be able to sleep if we couldn’t get that AC fixed tonight. They said they would send somebody else. I asked them if they could also bring a couple more beers, since I had already long finished the two beers that were in my room fridge when we got there, and also asked if they could send a bottle of wine for my girlfriend. I was told that my bar fridge had already been stocked for the day so if I wanted more beer they would be $3.00 US per can, and would be $24.00 for the bottle of wine. Well... I was appalled! This was supposed to be an all-inclusive, and I wasn’t about to pay 3 bucks for a 50 cent can of Presidente beer, which by the way, is your only beer option on this island, and I certainly wasn’t going to pay 24 bucks for a 5 dollar bottle of wine. I expressed my dislike for this rule with the person on the phone and said surely with all the troubles we’ve had now with no air conditioning in the room this could maybe be the least that they could do for us, so I was told they would have to get a hold of a manager to find out if this could be possible. They called me back a few moments later and said that they would bring up a complimentary bottle of wine and a couple beers. Thank You! Or not… When my beer arrived it was warmer then my room. I asked the man who delivered it if he ever drinks warm beer…He said “Of course not sir!” I asked him why on earth he would bring me two warm beers. He agreed that it was ridiculous. I called back down to the office this time quite perturbed about the level of service I was receiving at this 5-star resort and reminded them that I paid and extra $2000.00 to get a 5-star experience and that this really wasn’t cutting it. I asked that I be moved. I told them I would be more than happy to pay for an upgrade to the junior deluxe, or a beach villa, or would be happy just to go back to the junior suite, that I had originally booked. I was told there was no other rooms avail. Except one junior suite but the view was terrible. I asked if the AC worked, they said yes, I said I’ll take it! I was then told to wait they would see if they had any other availability, so me and my girlfriend decided to try and get some sleep. We both struggled to sleep due to the temperature of the room, but about an hour later just as my eyes were ready to finally close. We were awoken to a knock at the door. I quickly got changed, and it was a staff member telling me he had a room to show me. It was in the same building just upstairs, and he would like to show it to me. I asked him if the AC worked and he replied “yes”. Well we got up to the room it was an identical room just one floor up. I immediately asked if we could go to the thermostat to make sure the AC worked. The employee turned the AC on and turned the temperature down low and the AC would not even kick on. It wouldn’t even blow hot air around the room like my current room. After trying a few things the staff member got frustrated with the fact that he could not get it running so he started punching the wall. I just walked away and went back to bed. The next day after an awful night of tossing and turning and sweating, we went straight to front desk and asked that somebody please fix our AC, or please move us to a room that has working AC. I was assured that this would be done. My and my girlfriend spent the entire day enjoying the beautiful beach and pools. By about 5:00 we were anxious to find out whether they managed to fix the AC in our room, at this point we were kind of hoping we wouldn’t have to move all of our stuff again. When we got back to the room I was very disappointed that my room had only cooled down to about 30 degrees C. Still very hot! I called front desk and talked to somebody different. This time Anna and she at least seemed like she wanted to help. I went down to talk to her, and she told me that the maintenance staff had been saying that the AC is fine, and that it was my fault, because I was leaving the door open. I explained to her that the door had been closed all day with the air running and still made no difference. I also informed her that I was a refrigeration mechanic, and was quite capable of determining that we were not getting proper cooling in my room. She gave me a couple of options. One room was a superior like the one we were in, and the other a junior sweet like the one that I had booked originally. She asked me to go take a look at both with a guy named Augustin who was great, although I ended up getting the island tour because they also had 4 other fares for Augustin to tend to, and he left his keys in one of the other villas. After looking at both rooms, I decided to take the junior suite. Because I like the layout of the room much better, and it was in the main building, so was closer to the bars, buffet, and any of the action. We were running extremely late for our reservations at the Mediterranean restaurant so we quickly packed our stuff, and Augustin waited patiently to move it for us into our new room. As he stood there he admittedly said it was really hot in the room, and that our AC was not working. Thanks Augustin! Our dinner was mediocre at best. The restaurant was extremely loud with some rowdy guest, and I really didn’t like the au gratin sauce they ruined my lobster with. While chocolate mousse, was more like marshmallow with some berry jam drizzled over it. After returning to our new room we were very happy to find out that the air conditioning was working, and a bubble bath had been set up with candles, and rose pedals for my girlfriend, upon my request to Anna, when I was settling up the changes it was delightful, and relaxing. The view was a disgraceful, we over looked the laundry room and employee area, and had zero view of a garden or the ocean so that was disappointing, but at least the room was nice and cool. We were there with a group of 28 people so I was able to see the spectacular views that some of our friends, had that actually paid less money to go there then we did, so that was a major disappointment. The next day we had dinner at Don Pablo’s. It was an amazing dining experience. My only complaint is that our waiter took everyone else’s order, and forgot about me and left the table. He later apologised, and no big deal right, just one more story to add to the trip. At this point in the trip some of the housekeeping habits were starting to arise, and we started to question why garbage, and dirty dishes weren’t being collected, we started a collection of wet towels under the bathroom sink. After about day four the towels were finally picked up off the floor from under the sink and folded, and placed folded beside our Jacuzzi. Thank you! Never know when I might need a wet towel from two days ago. Service around the pool and beach was slow, but I expected that. Once I asked the same server for a shot of tequila 3 times before it finally came on his tray. I was tipping these guys every time. And it seemed much more then then the people around me who still seemed to be getting better service then me. I called butler service one night to have a couple pillows from their pillow menu, and a scent from the scent menu delivered to the room, and the person on the phone gave me a bad attitude. I got “Sigh ….fine!...What time?” I said 10:00 they said “Fine….” I asked if this was ok I got more attitudes and told that he would be there. I said thank you and left a $5.00 tip on the bed. Came back and my pillows were tied tight in a bag at the end of my bed. We had booked a snorkelling excursion on a catamaran for the Friday but we were unsure about the weather. The rain had been relentless, and the Dominican had received historically high amounts of flooding during the week were there. I’m not blaming anyone for that. Nor did I even mind so much. But conditions were unfavourable for snorkelling as we could barely see 5 feet in front us because of all the bad weather. In most places I’ve been to they would have cancelled the trip but not in the Dominican. We went regardless, and cancelling, and getting money back was not optional. Snorkelling was awful. The catamaran ride was nice, and so was lunch, but I paid to go snorkelling not for the pleasure cruise. The tour guides were unhelpful not once did anyone give us any direction of what may have been a good spot to snorkel in or give us any information on the area, or even give us some safety reminders. The one girl who spoke English from the beach hut where we paid for the excursion was on the boat, and all she did was flirt with the other male staff. Not one word was spoken to any of the guest on that boat, unless it was to order a rum and coke. Our last night we had dinner at the Portofino restaurant and by chance two of our friends from our group also had reservations at the same time. We asked the girl seating us if we could put our two tables together to share dinner together, and she responded but shaking her head at us and saying “aye aye aye!’ I couldn’t believe it so we put our table together on our own…They hated that, and made it very clear. We learned at the table that our friends had also been having some pretty terrible experiences with the staff and the hotel also. In fact they had decided to forfeit their second week. They paid the extra money to get on a flight a week early and go home. I’m not sure exactly what all their issues were but I know there room was a major factor. At the end of dinner, a young waiter by the name of Pedro came to our table to ask if we wanted desert. We had already discussed that some of were interested in two desert, and since we were in an all-inclusive what the hay?! Well Pedro ask my girlfriend first what she would like and when she told him she also wanted a second dessert Pedro looked at her and shook his head and said “Really?... You’re going to eat to desserts! ... Aye Aye Aye!” Well I don’t know if he thought he was being funny but I can tell you nobody at the table thought it was funny especially Amy. She was mortified and so was I. The nightly entertainment wasn’t all that great except for the night of the beach party, and the night they did the Michael Jackson nigh. Otherwise it was just their local band that played I think in the lobby about three night. The one night I think was the Tuesday they bored everybody to death with BINGO. If you filled an entire card, you won an airplane sized bottle of wine. YIPPEE! (Sarcasm) One more small complaint about the hotel, it seems old and run down. Lots of things don’t work. Even in our new room the toilet didn’t flush properly. Every time you flush the toilet you had to take the top off and put the flapper down, or it would just keep running none stop. The water in the toilet, and out of the taps, and showers, was brown. There were various leaks in the ceiling of the lobby, and sections of it were caution taped off due to water on the floors. Water was a big concern all week because of the amount of rain we got. The outdoor dining rooms were sitting in two inches of water and staff had a hard time getting rid of the water. What can you do? That‘s nobody’s fault. When we arrived and the Samana Airport to go home we found ourselves at the very end, of a very large line. We found out from someone else in our group that did some investigating, that the airports computers were down and they were writing out boarding passes by hand. It took us 3 hours just to get our boarding passes, and almost missed our flights. People that paid extra to part of Air Transat’s preferred customer program, were not give their rights to be able to by-pass the long line up. If I had only paid to go to a 3-Star hotel, I would say that Cayo Leventado was great. How this place ever got a 5-Star rating will always be a mystery to me. I have been to 4-Star resorts that put this place to shame. Save yourself $2000.00 and go somewhere other than here. Sincerely