Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Good hotel for the $$ value

Grounds were great, food was good, rooms were good, except if you didn't tip enough then you didn't get good towels...or had to remind them to fill out the fridge...basically everything was driven by tips... Also the music was too loud at the pool could hear it at the beach...

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Great Resort

Another fantastic trip to the Grand Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay, Jamaica! This was our 3rd trip here and met up with a group of friends from previous years. As this was our 3rd year we were given Golden Club status. Private check-in was a breeze and we got our favorite room with a 200 degree view of the ocean, beach. This is a large resort but if you have a room in the 16,17,18 blocks you are close to the beach, main pool, lobby, Garden Grill resto, Dolce Vito resto and the main buffet. Rooms  [... read more]are fairly large with king size beds, and modest furnishings. Lots of variety of food in the buffet and different themes through the week. Depending on your time flexibility, reservations at the A la Carte can be fairly easy. We ate at Mikado, Picasso, Don Pablo, Garden Grill. All were excellent! The entertainment staff at the main pool are top notch and a lot of fun! Pool bar can be slow at times. Beach is average. Great value for the money.

Bahia Principe Explore Coba: Not as good as I anticipated

First the negatives; 1) The beach is questionable, to get there you have to take a shuttle which you can wait for for up to 20 minutes and the ride is about 20 minutes. So getting to and from the beach is a hassle and after all is said and done it can't compare to other beaches in Mexico or Punta Cana's beaches in the Dominican Republic. 2) The a la carte restaurants are difficult to get into even if you pay the extra for the Golden package. The resort is selling a Privileged Club package. If yo [... read more]u are "Privileged" you can book restaurant reservations two weeks before you arrive. So if you are not "Privileged" you get the leftovers. If you want to eat at 9 or 9:30 and don't want to get into the better restaurants you will be okay. 3) If you are "Privileged" they heavily promote children under 12 for free. In my opinion this resulted in many kids just running around doing their own thing with little regard for others and parents not caring for them. All other resorts I have visited allow children and I have never had an issue with children at the reasorts since in all other cases they were much better behaved. As to other items; the staff was very friendly and went out of the way to keep you happy, the rooms were clean and comfortable, the food (buffet restaurant) was very good with a large selection of items. I would have reservations recommending this resort mainly because of the situation with the beach and getting into the a la carte restaurants. In my opinion the beach is a big item if you are going to Mexico or the Caribbean.

Bahia Principe Explore Coba: So good we will return for a third time

We have just an amazing week here, traveled Oct. 3 Rd - Sept 27th - 10th October. This was our 2nd visit, previously 2010. What Can I Say : "IT WAS A PARADISE" Hotel This hotel is huge it is made up of at least 5 resorts, where we could move around in 2 of them. but once you get your bearings it easy to navigate around. Within the 2 resorts you can move around in there are 4 large pools with great swim up bars and then there are scattered smaller Jacuzzi pool with no bar. The Foam Pool Party  [... read more]on Friday was fantastic, music, tequila and the foam made for a memorable experience comparable, yet not as wild, to a spring break party. Also Highly recommend the Mexican Fiesta on Thursday where there is a folkloric Mexican Fiesta at the Hacienda. There are plenty of trains to take you around the resorts where the maximum wait time between trains is 15 min and in the and worst case scenario, you could walk to where you to get to taking about 20 minutes for us to get to the beach. The rooms are large and spacious and amenities are great. Tea/coffee facilities and mini bar constantly stocked with water, beer, coke ,fanta and sprite. The grounds are immaculate and maintained constantly by the army of gardeners. BEACH The Beach is beautiful, with nice white sand and clear blue water. There were enough sun loungers available, we had no need to be put towels out at 7am but it could have been because the time of year although to me the resort looked full. I have read on other reviews about a seaweed problem, but, the issue is pretty much non-existent due to the new barriers they have in place. The beach bar is great. You can walk to the Tulum hotel which you have full access to. The beach this way is a little rockier. If you go the other way you can walk down to the Akumal part of the beach which is the best and absolutely stunning with plenty of fish to swim with. The facilities here you cannot use freely as a regular Coba guest. We did have access and we enjoyed a bit time there. FOOD BUFFET- The buffet was GREAT! So much choice, you would never go hungry. There is all kinds of food all over laced with my favourite type of food MEXICAN. They were constantly replacing old trays even up to 15 minutes before they closed so there was never an issue with lack of fresh food. A LA CARTES We did the following....... Meditereano This was a great simple and elegant restaurant to go to. I am not an expert on mediterranean food, but I had one of the best New York Steaks I have tasted and my wife had a Salmon comparable to the salmon served her in Canada. Japanese This we had done on our previous visit and the top show table is a must. The show was good, it was entertaining and involved all at the table helping us make friends with those at the table. Overall, we had the most AMAZING time We will definitely be back...... The customer service is exceptional Thank you. The staff is great the customer service at this hotel is above and beyond and we will be returning in a few years to annoy you all again!

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Wonderful Vacation

The hospitality, room, food, and entertainment was wonderful. The beaches were clean, plenty of beach chairs, and the free dance lessons were lots of fun. I would return again. ( The free ride to town is a scam. They bring you to one tiny mall far from town with only a couple shops. Best you find another method perhaps public bus to real Dominican town shopping)

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Beautiful!

The resort was beautiful, clean and so much fun. The staff was friendly and helpful, the evening shows were so cute! The whole resort was spotless! The buffet was fantastic and always different! Amazing time!

Bahia Principe Explore Coba: Incredible Resort

I thought the hotel was amazing! The staff was so nice and helpful, the resort was beautiful and the food was delicious. I had such a great time with my friends and I would love to go back there again.

Bahia Principe Explore Coba: Incredible vacation spot!!

The hotel was beautiful, great for a group and perfect for young people (we are a group of girls in early 20s). Fun and entertaining atmosphere, we never had trouble finding things to do. Even with bad weather we had a great time! The Hacienda is a must (great nights at the disco, sports bar, shopping)! The trolleys were a great for the rainy days when we didn't want to walk. Food was good and our room was nice and fairly big. Pool was beautiful!

Bahia Principe Explore Akumal: WOW!

Amazing Place. Its HUGE! The service, the food. Tops! We Loved all about the resort. The resort has lots to keep you entertained. Bahia Principe has 4 sections to stay at. And soon a 5th will be open.. To suite all needs. For golfers, the resort has 27 beautifully holes to play. Will definitely be back..

Bahia Principe Explore Tulum: Fantastic vacation

Resort is beautiful and lots of activities. The food was really good especially the Japanese restaurant. I would fully recommend this resort to anyone and I have stayed at many resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean and it's one of my favorites.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: great resort

Loved the resort !! About 1 hour from airport but really nice drive !! Food very good !!! Staff very friendly !! Grounds very well kept !!! Beachparty on wednesday nights was a blast !! Great entertainment staff !!

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: All adult very positive

We've been to this Resort several times, Club Diamond twice and the Ambar twice. The grounds people are working all day every day to make sure the surroundings are well groomed, including the seaweed that washes up on the beach. This didn't deter us from enjoying the refreshing ocean waters. I use a cane as a mobility aid, and on several occassions was assisted by a buffet server in carrying my plate of food to my table - which was greatly appreciated. There is always a variety of foods to appea [... read more]l to everyone's taste - never lacking. While some people review that they've got sick, it's true, but my comment to this would be - germs are everywhere your hands may touch >> pool chairs, pool bar, hand rails etc. and may not always be related to food sources. The only thing negative I would have to say is the temperature of the pool water. It's very warm, and not refreshing. We stayed last year at the Gran Bahia in Runaway Bay Jamaica, and their pool was cooler, so just not sure why the difference. Maybe they could pump some cooler water in during the day.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Trip of a Lifetime

I had an amazing time at this resort. Food was quite well and there was so many options! The only downside was it was hard to get Jerk Chicken, it was so good it would be gone sometimes if you waited too long. The staff was excellent, it was clean, and they were so friendly and helped whenever it was needed!

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: Small and cozy

Everything in general is great the only thing I deplore they close everything at 11 o'clock at night. The only thing left is the disco tech and it's smaller than my bathroom you should leave at least one place outside with candles a bar near the beach till at least 1 o'clock in the morning.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Grand Bahia

I just love Grand Bahia it's the best one I stayed in Jamaica (my 4 trip to Jam.) I will definitely go back. The food is amazing, Lots of different kind to choose from. Their is something for everyone. The alla cart restaurant food/service is excellent.

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: amazing resort

Fantastic resort amazing staff and food, upgraded our stay from bavaro ( more family orientated - lots of teens) to the Esmeralda (all share the same resort) Room was nice, could use a face lift compared to other 5 stars I have been to, however, the service staff and food made up for it! Beautiful lobbys; and the luxury of enjoying all the amenities of 5 resorts in one by being able to use all their facilities was awesome! Make sure you ask for a Sammy Sosa at the Esmeralda pool bar. Best slush [... read more]y drink ever.. Great vacation over all even bought into their priveliege club for exclusive benefits! Try it out this resort will not dissapointed. . Whether you want to have an adult romance getaway at the Ambar or Esmeralda - or a family fun activity packed vacation with runs foe the kids to do and their own entertainment and water slides and endless adventures then this resort is definitely for you :-) hope I've helped me and my fiancé will be back!

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Beautiful

Fantastic rooms and great food options LOVED the choice in pools and the bartenders were Hot ! Great choice for a sweet vacation Gran bahia is consistently doing well at every resort I have stayed at highly recommend them

Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Recommending with Caution. Know what to expect

Let me start by saying we enjoyed our stay and had 10 happy days here. With just a few improvements it could be back to it's past most fabulous destinations. We have stayed here before and it certainly was a little less than in the past. The staff were not nearly as friendly as before, the food and a la carte restaurants were all quite good. Cleanliness was OK but could be better. Example of this is in the past we daily saw pool people scrubbing the tiles etc. as well as the lobby. Now the pool  [... read more]tiles were filled with black mold although the pool itself was always clean. Could be better. There were also a few areas around the pool bars that had big broken pieces that needed to be replaced. Time for an upgrade there. The rooms were cleaned daily but certainly not very well, even though we left a tip every day. I had a blood stained pillow case one day (gross) and the whole room in itself was cleaned within 5 minutes literally. I watched. The room fridge NEVER was cooler than room temp. even after asking several times for a adjustment. Our companions who are senior ladies with a few disabilities and in a handicapped suite, had their room broken into. Luckily nothing was stolen as they always carried their valuables with them but very unsettling never the less. When nicely informing the hotel about this immediately the door was fixed..... however..... it had not been fixed properly as the next morning it would not lock. After having been broken in the evening before it was quite disturbing for 2 senior ladies who were afraid to be in the room alone and also afraid to leave the room unattended. We informed the reception desk and spoke with "CARLOS" and never got even a sorry for our trouble. Just "that shouldn't have happened. we will look into it. I would expect a bit more to make their guests feel better about their stay. Also the time share people trying to get you to go spend some of our vacation time with them and listen to their sales pitch was never ending. A friendly No thank you should have been enough to let them know we were not interested. These people are not on the beach but on the Hotel itself and continuously interrupting conversations to make their pitch. Annoying. The beach was fabulous. Loved every minute down there. Grande Bahia Principe Bavaro, Punta Cana, we will be back to Punta Cana but not here.

Bahia Principe Escape Runaway Bay: beautiful

big rooms, nice dining, the pool and the beach beautiful, the hotel is big whith a big service, everything is nice and beautiful in this hotel, the food was delicius, the room service was very handy for me, and the attention to the costumers.

Bahia Principe Explore Jamaica: Good resort, could use improvement.

Overall its a good resort, big and well set up rooms. Washrooms were great including jet tub. Friendly and polite stuff. Buffet, although somewhat repetitive but with a decent variety of choices to accommodate different tastes. As it was Jamaica, we were expecting a bit more of a local flavor to be included in the cuisine. Had to go outside of the resort to experience the famous Jamaican jerk chicken. The resort has many ala cart restaurants however, even though we visited only 3 out of 5 (4 ope [... read more]rational at the time of our visit) the only decent place with some sorts of flavor was the Don Pablo restaurant. The Picasso served uncooked fish, and meat. The Mikado (sorry if misspelled) was a poor excuse for a Japanese food/sushi place. If u still desire to eat at Mikado, when booking it tell the person at the desk to get your meal with the show. We didn't, but it looked like a fun presentation for others. Not sure if they were fed the same food as us also. The pool was shallow, but big with two pool bars. Good white send beach with Cristal clear turquoise water with very Minor waves and sea wheats. Not sure why but located to the side of the humongous hotel, so if you are a preferred costumer (the organization has this aggressive marketing scheme where, what looks like hotel stuff, under wrong pretences including lying, are trying to sell some sort of time share.) So for the few suckers or maybe not :) who bought in to it, the hotel houses those people at the other end of the hotel where the construction is going on 24/7 and at the furtherest point away from the beach. However, from what i have seen the lucky bunch gets to enjoy premium alcoholic drinks. And drinks if you wish to have to be premium, they are expensive! A half bottle of Hennessey VS is $100 usd at the store. Their export Appleton Rum, is about 30% cheaper here in Canada, where the liquor gets taxed like there is no tomorrow in some instances costing twice if not trice of what our American friends pay. So I'm a bit puzzled. Anyhow, i did find a way to the premium liquor cabinet and drunk about $200 worth of good drinks for about $15. Now to not some fun stuff: Even though, the hotel is fairly new, the constriction integrity is not holding up. While on our trip, a partial collapse of an eaves trough on the top of the 5th floor came crushing down through the roof onto a very busy pas sway below where majority of people walk to get to the buffet or washrooms. I'm glad and surprised how no one got killed by 50 lb concrete blocks falling from the above. That experience kind of masks the leaky ceiling that was flooding our room for the last two nights that we stayed there. The issue was addressed and fixed the first evening when that happened. On the second one we were offered to move, but it was too late as we had our plane back in the morning, so we just stayed in a flooded room. Be careful with excursions, even though i purchased ours through the representative who worked with our tour operator (more expensive) we were mislead to believe that the the Chukka Catamaran/Dunn's River Falls climb was all inclusive and was a 9/10 or a 10/10 excursion. They refused to serve alcoholic aperitifs on the way up, sighting they were doing us a favor by protecting us from getting sick. Although, i can see they would rather not see a bunch of drunks climbing the falls, we did sign a liability waver, and a seasoned trooper like me could have been more prepared for the adventure had i known earlier. Had to pay for drinks at a lunch stop also. The Dunn's River Falls climb was an awesome experience though. But id recommend to take a $40 bus and Dunn's river falls climb cruise instead of the sailless sail boat for a $100. Just saying. After collecting almost $4000 in sales, the least they could do is provide a better variety of drinks besides, orange juice, (beer and the cheapest white rum on the way back) Bob Marley excursion was okay. If you like to toke this is the excursion for you. If you dint ud might feel out of place and possibly get high on fumes lol. I'm personally neither. I dint smoke nor have anything against it. So it was an enjoyable experience. WestJet so far is one of my favorite tour operators. The website and app could use improvement though. For the life of me i could not retrieve my lost password which required for me to have at least one capital letter, one number, and one special symbol. High 5 for the security attempt. -1 for neither site/app works properly when retrieval attempt is made. Oh and no Internet availability on the flight back. :p So, overall it was a great time, with minor scuffs here and there...