Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: Great deal, hidden gem

Best thing about this hotel is probably the food. Overall very good. Lots of quality buffet selections, à la cartes are all great, Brazilian was our fave. Some of the best beef and chicken we've ever had anywhere. Beach is nice, coral just feet off shore makes for some fun snorkeling. Small pool but we aren't pool people. Overall great place, a hidden gem. Friendly stray beach dogs are fun to play with, they stay off the resort beach

Bahia Principe Explore El Portillo: Fantastic Resort!

The resort itself was first class. Everything you want in an all inclusive resort. Great food (each of the A La Cartes and the snack bar and buffet), beautiful beach, very clean rooms and buildings, genuine and helpful staff and lots of things to do to keep you busy and entertained. The best feature for us was the great people that were working while we were at the resort. Everyone was very nice and quick to help with anything. The beach is more of a Snorkelling beach than anything as there is a [... read more] natural reef about 20-50 feet out depending on the part of the beach you're on. Lots of chair availablility on the beach and lots of sun and shade to go around. Outside of the resort, there are two warnings I have to give.. 1) make sure to fly into Samana, if not, be prepared for a 3+ hour drive to the resort from Puerto Plata. 2) We noticed that the area around the resort is quite dirty and found our excursion destinations very polluted and not exactly what we expected. Be especially aware of the Horseback Ride and Hike to the waterfall El Limon. You may end up on a donkey and the routes were very treacherous and my girlfriend and I felt uncomfortable and unprepared for the trip and we both ride here in Canada. Just a heads up so you're aware if you choose this excursion. In conclusion, we couldn't have been happier with the resort itself. What an incredible place to spend a week out of the snow!! Thank you!!

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Great future potential

Grand Paradise Samana has great potential. The location is beautiful, beach is postcard perfect and the pool facilities are good. After changing rooms three times, we were happy. The air conditioning finally worked and we were far enough away from the generator facility so as to not hear the noise. The room was clean, beds comfortable and furniture new. That said, two rooms had plumbing issues and despite asking the front desk for maintenance to come and waiting 6 hours, we finally took a p [... read more]lunger from the maintenance room on our floor and plunged the toilet in our final room ourselves. Staff and facilities still have a few bugs to work out but we feel this could be a great resort after the growing pains are worked out.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Worst Trip of Our Lives

This was the worst vacation we have ever been on and probably ever will be. I wish I had stayed home and gone to work. The facilities are frighteningly poor and the staff just doesn't seem to care. At least they were relaxed, because we sure weren't. We came back more stressed and deeper in debt. Avoid this resort at all costs!

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Definitely a 3* Resort - Wouldn't Recommend

We travelled to this resort with a large group of radio station trip winners. We found the drive from the airport a little far, approx. 1.5 hours on windy roads. The resort was under construction, but many of our problems didn't have anything to do with the construction. The electricity at this resort was spotty. It would go out and be out for a long period of time. We've never had the power go out at any resort we've ever stayed at. The first room we had was a double bedroom which was run [... read more]down and in desperate need of a renovation. We requested a king room in order to be more comfortable sleeping and were then moved to a king room which was newly renovated and was very nice. However, we had cold water all week and the view from our new room was of some rundown outbuildings. We understand that not everyone can have a beach view but this view was not very appealing at all. The hotel has a fantastic beach!!! We are pool people and we thought the newly built large pool was wonderful! We loved the varied depths and size. The small, older pool was rather dirty with lots of floating bugs and debris in the bottom. Staff did come and clean it through the day, but it wasn't nearly as clean as the new pool. Our major problem was with shade. I am very fair and burn easily. I need shade and these pools (and the beach) had no umbrellas or palapas. During the week, we saw some unused umbrellas near a storage shed and asked if we could use one at the pool. We were told they were only for use in the buffet (really??). My husband took one to the pool for me anyway as they had stone bases and wouldn't be damaged by water. We used it for a whole day and the following day while sitting under it, the hotel manager came and told us that was security was called and that we couldn't use it. My husband said that I needed shade and the manager told us that the hotel has a "no umbrella policy" at the pool and beach. What kind of policy is that??? The hotel staff came and took the umbrella while we went for lunch. We've travelled to a multitude of all inclusive resorts and we've NEVER been at a resort that didn't have either umbrellas or palapas around the pool or at the beach. Not everyone wants to bake in the sun all day. The food in the buffet and at the a la carte restaurants was very good. We always found something tasty to eat. The Asia teppanyaki a la carte was excellent!! Here are the problems we had: 1) When we were having drinks in the evening at the Select bar, we found that the bar staff was not washing glassware. My husband was served a drink in glass that had fresh lipstick on it. Further inquiry showed that they were just rinsing glasses with water and then reusing them dirty. Likely the reason that a stomach virus circulated among the group over the course of the week. This was TERRIBLE! This practice is unacceptable and left us wondering where else in the food/bar areas shortcuts were being taken 2) The resort seemingly ran out of white wine, beer, vodka and Bailey's (daily). 3) A $30 US lobster dinner was advertised at the buffet but when we inquired were told that the resort was out of lobster. Strange considering it is on a Caribbean island and we were more than willing to pay. All of the staff were very good. They tried to help as best they could. We wouldn't recommend this resort. There are other resorts in Samana that are rated much higher than this one. TripCentral and Transat Holidays should reconsider their relationship with this resort.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Wait six months before going here

I will start with the good things first . The beach and grounds are gorgeous.the pools and select club are great. The a la carte restaurants,especially the tapanaki restaurant were good. Now the not so good stuff. The renovations that were supposed to be complete are not. A good portion of the resort is under construction. Our room was being refurnished and decorated while we were in it. We were not happy about random people in and out of our room. When we arrived our door lock was not fun [... read more]ctioning correctly and we had to spend the first two hours of our trip sitting in our room with the AC off and the door open while they fixed it. The AC leaked. To the point where when we opened our door the was water all over the floor. This repair took six days to complete,but at least it worked . We went 2 days without hot water and the electricity was very spotty on a couple of days. I must say the Jarous from trip central was amazing trying to get the hotel to make things right for people. We also had to keep asking for beach towels and finally got them the third day. I think though in six months time this could be a great resort. They need to work with their front desk staff on better customer service and we would consider going back after everything is completed.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Grand Paradise

Needs a lot of work to be done on the grounds the rooms. Food was good. Some of the service could improve with moral kindness to show that they are at least happy to see visitors. They need room service as well as a swim up bar. Also provide water and beer the same everyday throughout the stay and not just provide one day and not the other. Play music everywhere people love music build moral keeps people happy.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Under renos

The renovated areas of this resort are beautiful. Half the resort is still quite dated, but they are working towards a newer, modern resort. The staff here were very friendly. We found that many amenities weren't readily available, but if you asked - you could pretty much get whatever you wanted! The beach here was beautiful.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Beautiful

The hotel was very nice. The air conditioning took a couple days to cool down. It was clean. The staff are working hard to get all the construction completed and were polite. We had several difficulties with the key card not working and had to go to customer service to get it reprogramed. Only given one key card for entrance to room. The shows were nice but did not always know where they were being held. Pools and pool bars seemed to close early at night.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Has Great Potential

Overall, it was an ok resort. On the plus side the beach was amazing, very beautiful and that is where we spent the majority of our time. The grounds were decent but they were still under construction so there were parts that didn't look that great. Staff was friendly although they only had usually one bartender per bar and sometimes you ended up waiting longer for your drink. Also, if they ran out of a certain alcohol there was no attempt to get some more. They ran out of beer several tim [... read more]es or vodka. Not that it was a big deal but other places we have been to if they ran out of something they would do their best to get it to you right away from another bar. Food was decent and I highly recommend the Japanese ala carte ....Leonardo was great! Overall it was a nice getaway but it has the potential to be much more than that.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: nightmare with bugs

Hi dear tripcentral and thank you for allowing me to tell you my experience to this resort. It was awful and my dear fiance had to sleep with the bugs, spiders were on the walls and we had to change the room 3 times....we had to hear everyday construction noise around our building...morning drilling and hammering in the walls, running out of beer, and other beverages, bad service, I can go over and over with all these things... There were few good things too, the beach is amazing, the palm tr [... read more]ees the views and the weather were beautiful...but when it comes to infrastructure/management and service....oh gosh. I will never ever go to that resort.

Bahia Principe Escape Samana: Immaculate resort

Probably the best kept resort I have ever stayed at! Gorgeous views no matter where you are on property. Small but picturesque private beach. The food was exceptional. Huge variety of food every day and the presentation of the food was outstanding. The staff outnumbered the people staying at resort, so help was always available. Would of liked a couple staff members to be fluent in English. Language barrier was an issue at times. Would of been nice to converse more with staff to learn more about [... read more] the Samana region. Up to me I guess to better learn Spanish! One negative. The resort was surprisingly close to road on one side and you could hear a lot of cars/horns early in morning. Bring ear plugs if u want to sleep in.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Beautiful resort

Very clean great service amazing food beautiful beach great amenities .not a lot at this point for children but it's being worked on at moment and will definitely be a beauty A bit of a far ride in from airport that was my only complaint

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Trip of a lifetime!! NOT!!!!!!!!! #worstresorttodate#

I'm not even sure where to start with this. it just seemed to be one disaster after another at this resort. 1) Food - was okay but it was the same thing everyday just put in a different spot so as to maybe look like it was something new. There was only one restaurant to choose from unless you made reservations for the other one but because they could only do 1 seating/hour for either the Tabanaki (spelled wrong) or the Sushi (both located in the same tiny room) per time slot they were full.  [... read more]We had to reserve our spot 3 days in advance. They did seem to have a theme every night so I believe they just cooked the meat differently. lol 2) Entertainment - There was almost no nightly entertainment and if there was it was not posted anywhere that everyone could see it so not many people showed up I was told. I did not see any shows because of this and I would have loved to. 3) Rooms- We moved rooms 5 times due to various reasons. Mold and mildew, bug infestations, unclean, no air, broken toilets, bathroom ceiling caving in(not ours thankfully). Jairus was so kind and thoughtful to us and everyone else. He gave up his room so we could be comfortable. We all felt so bad for him with all the stress of what was happening. 4) Pools - were nice but not cleaned daily. There was a lot of floating bugs and dirt on the bottom in the smaller pool. The big one seemed cleaner though. 5) Maintenance - On our first day I accidentally knocked a bull bottle of beer on the floor and it smashed all over the place. I called the front desk 6 times in 2 days and nobody came to clean it. We had some people in that night so the one guy tried to clean up some of it and cut his fingers up a bit. I ended up having to grab the broom from the maid cart the next day and did it myself. Our toilet was constantly clogging too and numerous calls were made to get someone to come plunge them. I would think in a place like this where the plumbing is not great a plunger should be readily available in each room. Just my opinion. 6) Grounds- There was a lot of renovations and construction going on. Furniture being moved into rooms everyday that people were occupying. There was a lot of dirt everywhere so very hard to walk around. They were washing off the walk ways but this just made it very slippery and hard to walk on. A few people fell. 7) Staff - I only really have positive comments about this. They were all very friendly and for the most part accommodating. Samuel was the manager and he was lovely. So kind and tried his best to help where he could. We could see there was a lot of issues with other guest so he was constantly under stress and he handled it very well. I have never been to resort before and probably won't be able to go for a long while. It is just not financially foreseeable to m. So needless to say I was really excited when I won this trip. I also had nothing to compare it to but after seeing this place and hearing beforehand how great resorts are I was sadly disappointment with my first experience. At least if I ever do go back it will be paradise

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Challenging times

One of the first impressions I had was I was entering summer camp. We were ushered down a small path simply not representative of a four star facility. It seemed that the resort was not ready for visitors and was dirty. As I sat in the theatre, there was garbage outside on the grounds by the road we just drove in on. There were a lot of wasp nests visible in the roof. It was not a good first impression. The beach was its best asset as too was the wonderful folk dance/stories done - on our last  [... read more]day.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Great food!!!

The beach is beautiful, so are the pools . Our room was cute just been renovated the food was really good but I think more can be done about the evening entertainment the fire show was great the rest not so.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Nightmare Resort

I give this resort a 2 out of 10. I only give it a 2 because the beach and the weather was beautiful but other than that the resort was a disaster. Bad accommodation including bugs in the beds, a/c not working, no iron or ironing boards, fridge not working, patio door getting stuck each time when trying to close it. In regards to the food, the buffet was horrible, flies all over the place, cheese and cold cuts left outside for hours, basic and plain food everyday. The Asian restaurant was fully  [... read more]booked everyday and the seafood and Italian restaurant was inside the buffet, they just decided to sit us in the corner. The staff were very rude in the buffet and in the reception area. There were days where they would run out of beer or vodka or some other type of liquor. This is unacceptable. Also, the discoteca was a joke, they were playing the same songs every night when we went there. Apparently there was a nightly show but we were never told anything about it and from other guests they said it was a poor show. This is the worst resort I have ever been to and i have been to many.

Cayo Levantado Resort: Paradise Island

I visited this beautiful island resort with my boyfriend the first week of December. 2016 and it exceeded our expectations on many accounts. The service was superior to any resort we've visited in the Caribbean, including, Mexico, Bahamas, Cuba and St. Lucia....the staff could not do enough for you wherever you were on the island. A la carte restaurants and the buffet were all excellent and upscale. Although the swimming was very good at the beach, it was on the smaller side and somewhat mur [... read more]ky as the prior week had been stormy. We did do an excursion to Rincon Beach which was one of the world's top virgin beaches and stunning with gorgeous aqua waters. Overall, I would definitely recommend this adults only resort and would love to return one day.

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Relaxing trip!

Beautiful quiet resort. Rooms were updated (building 6 & 7) and great after we could be moved to one with AC. Food was very good and lots of variety. Grounds are lush abs well kept. Not a lot of night life if that is what you are looking for but we enjoyed this resort very much...and Transat a Trip. Enteral was wonderful!

Wyndham Alltra Samana: Wonderful resort

Are room was awesome .loved the shower .the beach was amazing . the food was awesome . the plants were lovely .The people were working their hardest to try and finish the work that has to be done to finish the renovations . on the resort. the people their were very friendly and very helpful.I was there Dec 4 2016