Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Great Vacation!
The resort was lovely, HUGE but very clean and well maintained. The staff were wonderful, always greeting tourists with a smile and a "Hola!!" Our room was spacious and clean, the maids do a wonderful job. The beach was beautiful and the pool was awesome. Our travel times to and from the resort were excellent, arrived at noon and left at noon. Food in the buffet was very good as were the 2 a la cartes.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
DR travelers -
Verified Purchaser
Occidental Caribe: Good value for money
The facilities are quite nice, beautiful beach that never ends and staff friendly. Food is good, keeping in mind you are in the Caribbean. The only sacrifice from a five star resort is drink service, you have to go get it yourself, so as long as that's not a deal breaker you'll have a great time!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Kinger1972 -
Verified Purchaser
Royalton Splash Punta Cana: It was ok
I was very disappointed upon arrival to find out that the 2 rooms we booked (1 for my husband and 1 and the other for my 3 daughters) we separated and not connecting like we had requested. We left memories and ended our vacation at the Royalton which was incredible!! The rooms were elegant, the service was impeccable, the food was amazing and the pools/beach was everything we imagined. Picture perfect. Will definitely be returning to the Royalton Resort & Casino in the future.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Miss Mila -
Verified Purchaser
Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Nice resort
Grounds were immaculate. Beach area was huge, but get there early to grab a beach chair! Stayed in Ambar 1 to be closer to the beach, however went to Ambar 2 for the pool. A lot quieter with lots of lounge chairs!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Jp_k -
Verified Purchaser
Occidental Caribe: Perfect Family trip!
Amazing trip. Resort was exceptionally clean, staff were very polite and prompt and the food was delicious with vast selection. I would recommend this hotel to anyone!
Lots of chairs around the pool and lots of different activities to do on the hour every hour. Couldn't ask for more.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Sally 409 -
Verified Purchaser
Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: We bin in Bahia 3 times. We love it. Exellente.
Everything is vary good except washrooms by the beach. You need more of them and clean them often. Most of the times they were dirty. Love the beach, it was always very clean. I never use the pols. Sometimes it vas hart to find chairs. You should get more of them.
The beaches were wonderful as were the activities and the food. I was disappointed with the disrepair of the room. The sink was squirting water so we needed a towel on the floor. The bath was in poor condition. The room felt like it needed to be renovated. The safe required a key instead of a combination.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Conners -
Verified Purchaser
Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Lovely resort
We had a wonderful time. The grounds were kept well and the staff was very friendly. We were ill for a day and what was really impressive was, the staff from the hotel called our room to see how we were feeling and stated that, if there was anything they could do for us or anything we needed to please let them know. Now that's what I call great service.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Lextaz -
Verified Purchaser
Occidental Punta Cana: Need Care and Love!!!!!!!!
Resort need restoration OK in general.... Not a WOW! Good service
No Kleenex and face cloth, matress in VERY poor shape, Glasses on the beach shall be a NO NO!!
Buffet very good, resto a la carte deceiving except the Oriental
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Alvesc -
Verified Purchaser
Bahia Principe Grand Bavaro: Beautiful Resort
Hotel was beautiful , the food was very good, the beach was very nice, nice pools, the people are nice special Miguel at the restaurant by the beach .what impressed me the most was how clen the place was no garbage anywhere
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
DavidK -
Verified Purchaser
Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Beautiful Resort
Excellent and well maintained resort. The area I was in had it's own separate swimming pools. They have an Adult / VIP section with Canopied Beds and mattresses on the beach. Daytime activities were great. Volleyball, tennis, etc. Several restaurants including Lobster, Japanese, Mediterranean and Brazilian which have really good food. And of course a general buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nightly entertainment at a theatre. It's amateur theatre at best but it is still really good and wo[... read more]rth watching. Night time beach parties/raves are not for me but they have several smaller bars where you can relax and enjoy a drink / conversation. Lots of local shopping on site with local vendors. Also a small little town just a short walk off site. Small gym on site as well. Overall an excellent place with a mix of activities for young and old. Highly recommend.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Juliem -
Verified Purchaser
Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort: Great trip!
Lovely resort with friendly staff and excellent service. The grounds were especiall well maintained, beautiful beach and good size pools with plenty of lounge chairs. The food was also very good and a la carte restaurants were well worth it!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Nicmac -
Verified Purchaser
Riu Bambu: Good Value Resort
This was a good value resort for what we paid. Resort was clean. We had a newly renovated deluxe king room that was beautiful. Our room was stocked with 3litre bottles of water, beer, and pop that was refilled every 2 days. In room liquor dispenser as well.
The beach was nice and seating at the pool and beach was plentiful, which is the first tIme I have seen that at an all inclusive. No need to reserve seats at the crack of dawn because there were always lots available.
The only thing I didn'[... read more]t love about the resort was the food and is why I wouldn't give it a 5 star. I would guess most of the food was cooked from frozen, which is fine, it's just not amazing food like at other resorts we've been to. The Omelette bar, fresh fruit smoothies made daily at the buffet, homemade pizza, fresh fruit and veggies were delicious. Nothing made us sick though so no complaints there.
The resort is not too big so you don't have to walk too far from the rooms to get to restaurants, beach, pool, etc.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
TigersFan87 -
Verified Purchaser
Catalonia Bavaro Resort: Great value
This resort is a great value for the price. The rooms are a little dated but are adequate for what you need with comfortable beds. The showers are tiny!! The buffets are pretty good and the a-la carte restaurants are very good. Don't expect home cooked food but you won't be disappointed. The pool and pool bar are very nice, get there early to get a chair. The beach is cleaned daily and beautiful with lots of chairs. Stay away from the souvenir shop off the resort as they are very aggressive. The[... read more]re are also people trying to sell you travel club memberships but you can just say no and walk away. We brought Domenican Peso's and these is the only currency I would bring. Make sure to get lots of small bills before you go because you have a better chance of winning the lottery then getting change. Air Transat staff out of Windsor are rude and it's a miserable experience but the staff on the plane are very professional. I would go back because of the value but it is not a 5 star, not even after a few Cuba Libres!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Lovetravelling -
Verified Purchaser
Dreams Royal Beach Punta Cana: Fantastic Trip!
Great facility with equally great staff. Slight confusion with check in but was otherwise a fairly seamless process. Customer service was the best experienced at an all inclusive and have been to the DR on 5 previous occasions. No complaints!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Kayl -
Verified Purchaser
Grand Sirenis Tropical Suites: Huge Resort and Great Beach,
The resort is massive (almost too big), tons of places to go and relax but the beach is the best part. Beautiful and huge we spent most of our time on the beach and didn't even touch the pool, which was smaller than I thought and the swim-up bar only has a few seats! The only part of the beach we did not enjoy was the fact that all the staff constantly come up to you to sell you adventures - same with the venders but they were only there 2 days of the 7. There are plenty of lounge chairs by the [... read more]pool and the beach as well as covered areas. And we walked for hours along the shoreline which was amazing as well.
The food was great, the main buffets always had a ton of food but the restaurants weren't as good as aspected and sometimes too busy for a reservation. The buffet by the pool was good for snacks too. However, a lot of people from our group still ended up getting sick and were still sick once we returned home.
The bars were also great, and bartenders know their drinks and are very friendly. The Disco was super fun but one day of the week it was full of staff (Valentine's Day) which was great but it also meant the bartenders wouldn't serve you (we waited 25 minutes for a drink with our friends wedding planner standing beside us not helping) and they wouldn't play any songs you requested.
The rooms are amazing. Each has a little living room, air conditioning, stocked fridge everyday, two tv's, two beds, robes, huge closets and a balcony!
Overall, the resort would be great for families and other groups or couples who like a large resort where you can sneak away and do your own thing. But it is not good for people who do not want to get hassled every second to buy something, someone who wants a large pool and swim up bar or someone who wants a more intimate experience. I do not think I would return to this resort in Punta Cana but I did enjoy my time!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Markcourt -
Verified Purchaser
Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: A most difficult experience!
First of all this facility is too large. Trying to service adults18+, adults with children exclusive and general family areas just does not work. We were in the 18+ Amber area which is divided into 3 areas. Thankfully we were in area 1 close to beach and facilities. Amber 2 and 3 are further back and quite a ways from most resturants and importantly the beach. The pool at Amber 1 is where all activity takes place and is very lively. The pool for Amber 2&3 has no shade except for umbrellas and is[... read more] quite dead however there are available chairs. This is not the case for pool 1 and the beach. There are just too many people looking for too few spaces. This is really apparent on the beach which is very beautiful and great. You must get there by 6am to place belongings to get your place. This is supposed to be a vacation not a race at crack of dawn to get your chairs. We were told that the 18+ Amber has over 1000 rooms so space does not meet this number as per pools and beach space.
Another real issue is resturant reservations. This is insane! We took previous advice and sent requests prior. We did get most choices however requested times were all over the place. Two were 9pm which was too late for us and when we tried to change it was a fight and time consuming with no success. The desire of the management is for the guests is to use the buffets and not the individual specific resturants. We were told repeatedly that they were fully booked with no availability. This was totally false! We observed every time at most 50% occupancy ...unbelievable! We requested a meeting 3 times with general manager to talk about these issues to no avail. They made all the right noises but I in our estimation only talk. To the positive the resturants are very good particularly Rodizio and the beach front bar lunch. Staff in the food facilities were very good which was a bright spot . Our low rating for service is not the general staff but the management staff. Rooms were good however as previously stated location is the key Amber 1 older rooms vs newer further away. We did have a very unusual experience on the day before we left. Room was not cleaned by 4:30- when my wife returned room was open with the cleaner sitting on the bed charging his phone on our charge system...unbelievable! We wrote a formal complaint with again no reponse.
The grounds are beautiful and we'll kept with workers constantly working.
In conclusion we usually do not complain and usually suckl it up. We were not impressed with the overall resort however there were bright spots. You wait for a winter get away pay good money and expect maybe a few minor issues. This was not the case.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Luvtootravel -
Verified Purchaser
Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Nice resort with a few hiccups
The resort is very clean and beautiful. The beach is gorgeous and someone rakes seaweed all day long. We had a room in royal golden. Nice size room kept very clean by our housekeeper who was super sweet. We never saw any cockroaches or bugs of any kind. The fridge could be kept a little colder and air conditioning. Our clothes still smell musty even after washing them. We encountered some staff that were super friendly and others that were not.
The food was good to very good. We enjoyed all of t[... read more]he a la cartes. I didn't like how busy the buffet was. Sometimes very long waits and people can be rude budding in front of you. Also, we found the service at breakfast from the servers to be lacking. What ever you do, do not sit at a table that has instant coffee on it, you may be yelled at lol! Service was better at lunch and dinner. The snack bar by the pool was crazy busy. On about day three we found a lunch buffet that is the bbq restaurant at night that was much more peaceful. I just didn't find this resort overly relaxing. We had to get up and down to the pool and beach to reserve a chair of you were out of luck for having any shade for the day. Believe me, you need it. Weather is hot and beautiful. We travel twice a year and have never seen chair saving like this. We also had problems when we arrived. We did not receive a welcome drink which is no big deal but would have been nice. Then when we got to our room neither of our cards worked. We were told someone would be right back. Half and hour later we called front desk and no one answered. Finally after an hour, we just got on the tram and went back to the lobby ourselves. It was just a bad start after a crazy flight with air transat. Over half the plane was university students that took up all of the flight crews attention. They were blaring music, partying and pretty much out of control. I even had to line up at the back of the plane to get a coffee.(Not like we could sleep!) Then we had to wait on the plane while the police came on and arrested two of them. I swear the longest flight of our lives! On the way home, our luggage was delayed and we were over an hour waiting for it. Not sure what happened there?? Not sure I would book with transat again, It really left a sour taste in our mouths.
We also never received turndown service which apparently was on of the inclusions. We also had to drag our own luggage down to the lobby on check out as well after 2 phone calls to the bell boys.
That aside, we did have a nice vacation. We loved Tehani at the lobby bar. Lilia at royal golden is amazing at her job and went above and beyond. All the swimup bartenders and beach bartenders were awesome! Mary at the spa gives the best massage! Not sure I would return because the service was too inconsistent. I also prefer a smaller resort that is less crowded. Beats the weather in Canada though!!
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
Sandee -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Good value resort
My overall impression of this resort is it is relaxing and quiet. It is what I wanted in my holiday having had a very stressful year I was not into a night life or rowdy guests. The food was good and lots of variety since you could also go to other resorts for dinner. The accomodations were good, not great but comfortable beds, hot water and easy access to the resort.
Location
Value
Food
Beach
Rooms
Service
Helpful?
Report
La Pomme -
Verified Purchaser
Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Great Resort
Really nice resort.....food was very good at the restaurants located at the resort and at the a la carte restaurants at the adjoining resort (Palace Deluxe). Overall service was excellent. Beach is beautiful and no issue getting lounge chairs. Room was a little dated that that was more than offset by our spectacular ocean front view. Highly recommend to book Club Premium as the extra perks are worth it (no charge for room service and WiFi for example).