Not as expected

Hi, I'm afraid my review of Bahia Principe in Punta Cana is not so great. This was my third time at same resort. I decided to go third time to bring my sister, who has never been anywhere, hoping she would have a wonderful time. I have to say that I was quite disappointed, not for the atmosphere but more regarding the food, hotel cleanliness/attentiveness, and most of the staff there. Hotel room: there was a coffee machine and two mugs but never any coffee or tea for us to make. The day bef [... read more]ore we left, I received a phone call from front desk asking if our stay was good or anything we were not happy about. I told them about there not being any coffee or tea in room. They apologized as I told them we had to bring some coffee and tea bags,suger,etc, from the front lobby. To this, they sent coffee/tea,suger on our last day there. The room floors were not washed or swept once. I almost slipped on the floor as they were greasy and slippery. On the last day, I had finally made myself some tea in my room only to be disgusted by there being a small piece of paper towel in the mug along with smudged lipstick on the inside of mug, yes, on inside of mug. This led me to believe that mugs were not washed properly and had only been wiped down with paper. Bathtub was not washed once during our stay as it was left as is after we had used it each day. The food at buffets were mostly "salads" of different types, which were neither tasty or fresh. The solid food such as snapper, pork, chicken were all dry and seemed saved from day before. Lunch was made up of leftovers from breakfast and dinner was made up of leftovers from lunch. It became obvious to me that cleanliness and hygiene were not practiced at this resort as both my sister and I went home with a stomach infection for which we are now on antibiotics for. Service at buffets from waitstaff was uncaring. All staff was not happy, cheerful, attentive. We felt as if we were bothering them the few times we asked for coffee. Staff always seemed and looked bitter towards guests, no matter if it was at buffets or front lobby or bars. Not very inviting at all. On top of all this, both my sister and I have been bitten by sand mites on the beach. Other guests have also been bitten as well. Because of this, we had only spent three days on the beach and the rest at the pool. Not good for resort not warning people about the sand mites. Other guests thought the bites on their legs were from mosquito bites but then realized they were actually from sand mites. This had caused my sister and I to stop going on the beach. Very disappointing as we specifically took this trip to enjoy the beach. I believe that Covid-19 has really done a number on everyone, but when it comes to the public spending their money and making time to go on vacation to this resort, only to be disappointed and treated rudely was not my idea of a nice vacation. Both my sister and I came home feeling disgusted and disappointed, not to mention ill from stomach infection. This was my third time at this resort. The first two times were before Covid hit and were great. But this third time around after Covid, it was extremely disappointing. I will never go back to this resort as I feel they don't appreciate the public who spends their money on something where they are not cared about and looked after properly. Very disappointing.

Increíble resort

We only have positive comments about this resort. From the friendly staff members, to tasty food and drinks and spotless facilities. We had an amazing time. The beach is quite clean and all the facilities kids friendly

Beautiful

Hotel is very large and easy to get lost and turned around The food was mediocre Most of the meals were the same day after day , was not great for someone with pepper allergies, everything has peppers The a la carte restaurants weren’t great The beach access was closed on our side and so we had to use the other hotels access Guest services staff were rude and unpleasant Our travel agent was difficult to deal with, we were short one room which was requested 5 months prior without any [... read more] compensation for inconvenience Agent left on holidays just before our vaca, we requested to speak with her supervisor and we were denied every time Some Rooms had mold Drinks were limited Service was good

Do NOT stay here!!

This resort was mediocre at best! It is no where near a 4-5 star!! The main pool by the beach was closed for renovations and we were never informed by anyone when or after we booked. The service was not great, the pool bar ran out of stuff daily. No frozen drinks either! The pool was scummy and cloudy on most days. The beach was way over crowded so much so that the beach chairs were lined up touching each other! A huge disappointment for our entire group and a waste of $4000! I will never stay a [... read more]t Bahia Principe again.

Very much average resort

On the plus side the food was plentiful and diversified. The service at the dining facilities was provided with courtesy and a smile. This place is huge almost the size of a small town. But for a limited number of units one has to be prepared for a long walk (more or less 15 minutes) or take an available lorry to reach the crowded beach and hope for the best to find a shaded area. Unfortunatly see weed has started to appear and has to be crossed to get to clear water. The weak point was the room [... read more] becoming worn out and questionably clean. We had to have pillows replaced for bad smell, we were out of drinking water for 3 of the 9 days despite numerous request and to top it all the refrigerator did not functioned during the full stay. While there are positives we would definitely not return to that place. With regard to COVID, no mention anywhere of the subject on the site

Won't Return

This was not a fabulous experience and I can assure you, with all the choices out there, we won't be back. This was hardly al inclusive when many restaurants and bars were not included. Too many meals were buffets which were the same day after day. Too often the draft beer didn't work at many bars and the only option was to purchase another product. On two occasions the resort was out of ice. And one time out of vodka in all bars for half a day. Beyond all this service was average and the bea [... read more]ch smelled like sewage. We are not picky though expected a lot better for the dollar from this large brand name resort and we have enjoyed much better at other resorts on previous trips.

Great Resort

Hotel was amazing Staff were always on the job making sure that the pool areas, Walkways were kept clean and tidy Food at the Buffet restaurant, delicious. The hotel lobby area is very large and can handle the quantity of people on the resort which is not at all noticeable. There are so many plus signs for this property and no negatives in my opinion We are definitely going back again

Enjoyed our stay

Rooms are very dated but clean. We had key issues all week, eventually decided the issue was the door mechanism not the keys after many recoded keys would not work. This was incredibly annoying as the front desk is a very busy place most of day. Room was beside a service road, had no view, and was noisy with trucks all night long. Had already requested a room change which was a challenge and time consuming so we lived with the noise and the second room was very close to beach which was what we w [... read more]anted. The resort is large and there is lots to do, the trolley system is very good and you never had to wait long for a ride. Entertainment was actually quite decent and performers were often practicing through the day. Lots of little shops and things to do in the Village area. The food was very good in the buffet and the Beach House. The A la cartes were ok, tried the Italian, the Grill and the Teppanyaki. Can’t say enough of the staff, everyone was excellent and did all they could to make your stay the best it could be. I would try this resort again but would be very specific about room selection now knowing the lay out.

Very disappointing

I have travel to several of their resorts and will not return to this one! The service was minimal and the staff did not seem to know the most basic information about the hotel, such as where certain onsite restaurants where located - even the maps were inaccurate. The Gym was well equipped but half of the equipment was broken! The staff did not seem happy, even when tipped generously. The rooms are outdated and requires important upgrades as the amenities were non functional, including the jacu [... read more]zzi bath, tv. The food was particularly disappointing regardless of which buffet or restaurant we went to or the time - the coffee came from a free vending machine. There were just too many issues overall.

OK

The hotel itself was well kept as was the grounds and beaches. Our booking stated "superior garden suite". There is NO SUCH THING. All the hotel rooms are standard. Also we were advised that we had "privileges" at all hotels. WRONG!! The AIR CANADA REP advised we could use beach, drinks, but for lunch had to go back to our dining room. NOT GOOD. Food was good at main hotel, but, a pain going there for lunch when there were restaurants on beach. The did have a BBQ each day,and SAME [... read more] THING EVERY DAY, salad, hamburgers, chicken and rice, but you had to take your plate back to beach chair to eat. NOT GOOD.

Great Stay

After not being able to travel for a few years I was great to finally get away. We enjoyed our stay at Bahia Grand Principe Punta Cana. Overall a comfortable hotel with excellent staff. The resort is long but trolleys run 24/7 which helps when tired. Rooms could be updated a bit but overall nice. A lot of the shops and casino outside the resort were closed due to the pandemic and have not returned yet.

Don't go

Bahia Principe Grand Punta Cana The morning after we arrived the Air Transat rep called our room early in the morning. He informed us that we needed to be in the theater for orientation at 10 am. I told him we did not get a Wi-Fi password the night before and he told me he would give that to us when we met at 10 am. At breakfast we met two ladies that were on the bus with us the night before. They asked if we were going to the 10 am orientation and we told them we were. The four of us arrived [... read more] at the orientation precisely at 10 a.m. where the Air Transat rep told us we were late and that we were told 9:30 am. We explained that wwe were told 10 a.m. and without an apology he informed us that we would have to wait 30 minutes for him. I told him to forget it and walked out, I came for the sun , not to have my time wasted. My husband and I paid a visit to the lobby desk to see if we could pay to be upgraded to their sister resort, The Esmeralda. We visited this property in November 2019 and had quite enjoyed it. I booked the Grand thinking we would have the same enjoyable experience. Unfortunately there were no vacancies at The Esmeralda and we had to remain at The Grand. The Grand is not so grand, it is sad and run down. The rooms are a decent size but they really need a deep cleaning and modernizing. We wanted to be located close to the beach and we were, but that is where the happy ends. It is a 15 minute walk to the main building where the buffet and lobby are located. A trolley ride there was impossible to get so you were better off just to do the 15 minute walk. By the time you had walked there, got a table (which was almost impossible most days), had your meal, then walked back to the room or beach, you had wasted more than an hour. The struggle to get your three meals a day wasted a lot of my sunbaking hours. I like to start my day with a nice cup of coffee but there was nowhere in our end of the resort to get one. We had coffee machines in the room but the coffee tasted like dishwater and the only supplies in the room were sugar. Walking 15 minutes to the main building and 15 back was not an option. The food was for the most part horrible and always cold. The only people who spoke English were the front desk staff, the servers did not speak or understand English at all. It was impossible to get coffee with our breakfast. Servers were invisible and if you were lucky enough to find one they would tell you to wait a minute and you never saw them again. The servers were very unfriendly and of no help if you were in need of condiments, beverages or anything else you might need during your meal. They had a snack bar that opened at our end of the resort for lunch. The food there was equally unpleasant as the dining room. Like the dining room there was no English, no service and no smiles. The staff in this resort are robotic and unhappy. At our end of the resort we had 2 two pool bars and a beach bar. The pool bar closest to the beach had music blaring so loud, perhaps trying to disguise the nasty sound system it was being played on. The bartenders had to read your lips to take your order. Along with this cacophony of sound was DJ who was set on daily repeat. He played the exact same songs every day at the same time, you could quite safely set your watch by the song that was playing. I use the term “song” in a generous way as it was the worst I have heard at any resort . The bartenders were winging it too, order the same drink 3 times and you got 3 different versions. Don’t hurry to be the first in line because they served whoever their eyes landed on. You might be first in the line but the last to have your order taken. The pool bars in our area closed at 6pm and so the first night after dinner we looked for a place to get a glass of wine after we walked back to the room. There was nothing. We would have had to go back to the main building to get a glass. No thanks! On Friday I went back to the room and found that our door would not lock. I waited 40 minutes to get the door fixed and the next day waited over an hour to have it repaired again. It seems the customer is not valued here, I did not spend money to sit in my room. The beach was on a hill and there was very little flat area to put a lounge chair. If the tide came in your belongings got wet. The walkways always had garbage on them, the same garbage every day, it was never cleaned up. The main sidewalk to the main lobby was cleaned but in a very haphazard way . We talked to many different guests and many were dissatisfied with this resort. Some people had water leaking on their belongings and some had no hot water. We had great weather for the week we were there and we will go back to the Dominican and Punta Cana but we will not be going to any Bahia Principe resorts in the future.

Beach is gone!!!

Staying: Dec 2 - Dec 16, 2022, Villa 04 Hotel is dated (it was built around 2001-2004) and while everything was working in mine room it was "on borderline" - toilet flash was requiring "special" handling ,otherwise it could stuck and water will flow for ever. Shower was on the brink to be broken. Light in bathroom ( 2 of them) broken during mine stay but surprisingly they were fixed in 20 min (normal 20 min ,not "Dominican" (if you know what I'm talking about :) ) . Also air conditioner  [... read more]broke - not stopped completely but start losing/dropping water to extend that it practically flooded my room so I had to spend 20 min removing it from the floor with towels (it was 2 am so I didn't called service ). I turned it off and called service first things in the morning and when I returned from the beach around 4 pm it was back in full working mode. Minifridge "refreshing" not happening unless you completely emptied it so if you want beer or soft drink for spare remove it from fridge. Worst part was beach - not hotel problem - some natural disaster happens during first week of Dec 2022 and ocean "claimed/eat" literally half of the beach (first row of palm umbrellas were flooded and gone, volleyball playground completely gone ). It is third week of December and still there are no good beach. Remaining beach area is overcrowded /overfilled with lounges - merely not enough space to accommodate number of people staying at this hotel. I'm a beach person so for me it was disaster - pools are OK but VERY busy - TOO many people. Bars: 3 stars , while service is OK (but also not very good) - drinks are not - there are no premium drinks and even if you want cocktails based on tomato juice - at the best you can get them first hour from opening - after that - most likely tomato juice or clamato are gone. But what is worse - at all bars and even almost every restaurant /buffets - you cannot get simple club soda - most of personal doesn't speak English and doesn't know what is "club soda" is so remember Spanish term they will understand "agua con gas" (not even "agua carbonatada") - but still most places say - no - we don't have it. As well you cannot get it in minifridge Food: nothing "amazing" but you will not die from hunger for sure - and best part you can get it almost 24 hours (there are nigh snack bar at the beach - but no alcohol drinks) Good part about resort: they have pretty good night disco club but it opens at 11:30pm so you need kill some time before you can get here. Design of the disco /music and even service at the bar is amazing. While close to 2am you will start notice smell from toilets iside disco due to luck of cleaning - but you have to realize that place is packed from the moment it opens to last minute - so be prepare for some "side effects" Shows at resort looks a little bit amature (while girls' are beautiful and boys are strong) but still enjoyable. There are another "live" music show at the central plaza (common place where is disco and casino is) - and Surprisingly there are very good especially "rock band" which plays (some nights) with their interpretations/remix of latest (and not) hits - so I recommend and good part here as well - waitress service - so you don't need to get up and get drinks by yourself - keep tipping and you will have non stop coming of your favorite drinks (after second tip they were bringing me mine drink without me even asking - but still don't forget to tip) So overall - stay was good. Will I return? Most likely - no

Amazing and very clean resort ..

Very, very clean in all areas . Food at the main buffet was excellent . Hotel rooms were a little dated , but very well kept and clean . The grounds were very well kept , as were the pathways . The transit system was amazing from main lobby to beach area . Would like to say that the Transat person on site was extremely unhelpful .

Bahia Principe Grand in Punta Cana

Grounds were exceptional, customer service on the other hand not so much. No internet service in our room and very sporadic around the pool or in the main lobby. Also the phone in our room did not work during our stay even though numerous complaints at the main lobby.

Very disappointed with bahia Punta cana

Rooms were very dirty, also sour smelling and musty. Room changed 3 times. Poor quality of food on buffet,exact same thing for 2weeks. The bug issue is a very big problem outside and in rooms. My mother needed to be seen by the dr for bites as our benadryl and hydrocortisone cream did not work. Lots of guests covered in bug bites. Cockroaches in room. Dirty linen on bed, dried blood and hair. Fumigation is a joke just sprayed with raid. Will not return or recommend. Beach area not good unless  [... read more]you were vip

Baha’i Principle Grand Punta Cana

We choose this resort and wasn’t disappointed. It met our expectations from the we arrived to the day we departures. We have already recommended this resort to our relatives and friends. We will definitely stay at this location for our next vacation.

Beautiful Grounds and Beach

The beach, pools and grounds were breathtaking! The room was clean, with a traditional tropical decor. I would say the room was more 3 star as it had some items needing repair. Bare minimum in towels and room cleaning was good but nothing extra provided, even the refill of the shampoos and soaps were not done. The food was not very good. Lots to choose from at the buffet but I had stomach cramps after eating there. The restaurant at the beach (Tequila) was much much better plus the view. [... read more] The service at the bars was quite frankly terrible. Warm drinks and grumpy bartenders. I speak Spanish AND we tipped them and that did not seem to change their moods. The service overall at this resort was not good, the people are not helpful but still expected tips. We had about 3-4 staff who were very friendly but the rest nope. We went for 4 days and that was perfect. We enjoyed the beach and an excursion and unlike many other vacations, I was not sad to leave. It was the perfect amount of time at this resort to enjoy the sun, beach and the country without getting too sick, annoyed or hungry. I would recommend it, if like us, you were focused on the beach part and the adventure. There is no luxury at all. A true 3 star should be the expectation.

Nice resort

Bahia Principe is a nice complex of hotels. The grounds are very well kept and there is a good entertainment every day. There are several pools with swim up bars. The beach is wide and cleaned daily. (Because there is lots of seaweed )

Good resort

the room was clean but old , however the public area was good, but the restaurant was not clean we found cockrochs in many of restaurants the floor very greasy and not clean, the restroom below the average.