Bahia Principe Grand El Portillo – Excellent Vacation

We stayed at the resort from Jan 27th to Feb 2nd 2020. Overall, it was a great experience and one of the most enjoyable Caribbean all-inclusive vacations I have had. Resort: The entire resort is a good size and very walkable. The layout is well planned and the main buffet/pool/lobby bar is all in close proximity. Everything is walkable. The nighttime shows are held in one of two areas depending upon the activity: either near the nightclub/disco (#46 on Map – Publeo Principe near main en [... read more]trance) or in the area west of the lobby (#24) and lobby bar (#25). We had standard rooms and stayed in buildings #13 and #14. These are excellent locations to stay in as they are in close proximity to the beach/buffet/pool/lobby and are quiet at night. Rooms In building #13 and #14 the rooms are of average size and are in stacked townhouse-type 2-story configuration. Two units are on the 2nd floor and require a short climb of stairs and 2 are on the ground floor. The rooms are a little dated and nothing great but nothing to complain about either. There are very few available wall outlets in the rooms, so if you have many devices to plug in to charge, you are advised to bring a multi-outlet splitter or power bar. The rooms require that you insert your room key into a slot before power and A/C is enabled, so sometimes the room gets warm when unoccupied. Each room has an ironing board and room safe in the closet to store your valuables. The room was also provisioned with a robe and slippers. Service to clean the room was good. The only issue for us was that the rooms were not serviced until late afternoon (4PM or later). We would have preferred the rooms were cleaned mid-morning. Beach The orientation of the resort means that the beach is facing north. In January, this means that the sun rises in the South-east and sets in the South-west. If you are facing the water, the sun will be pretty much at your back the entire day. The beach is not hugely wide and is densely packed with multiple rows of beach loungers. I always got to the beach early and so never had a problem getting a lounger. There are palapas available but they get reserved early. Slightly away from the beach, there are shady areas where palapas are not necessary. When the resort is crowded, if you show up after 9:30am you will need to hunt to find a free lounger. The sand is soft, powdery, and pleasant on the feet. The water is shallow gradually gets deeper. It is warm enough to be pleasant and yet cool enough to be refreshing after a hot day in the sun. There are many corral formations close to the beach and further out toward the ocean. There are few waves as the corral formations and the shallow water disperse the waves before reaching shore. Snorkeling was not great immediately in front of the resort but was much better if you walked west along the beach outside the resort. Outside the resort, the beach extends for miles and miles. We did an hour walk along the beach toward Las Terranas. It is a very pleasant walk and is sparsely populated. It is a recommended activity for those who like beach walks. Buffet The main buffet (#27) is close to the lobby. A smaller buffet (#38) is also available. In front of each buffet is also an area for near beach dining. The buffet is well stocked and the food was delicious. The staff service in the buffets was good. Servers are quick to offer you coffee at breakfast time or to fill your water glass in the afternoon. The buffet selection and food quality was as good as or better than any other resort that I have been to. A-la-carte Restaurants We had opportunity to try all four a-la-carte restaurants. They were all excellent. We were a group of 9 and could not agree on which was the best. Service was excellent. I had red wine with dinner each night. While the wine was somewhere between terrible and not great, I kept drinking more anyway. Tip: At the seafood restaurant, the seafood stew was excellent and included some large pieces of lobster. Overall, even though the buffet was good, I very much preferred the restaurant-type experience and excellent food at the a-la-carte restaurants. Activities The Animation staff coordinates a variety of activities during the day. They encourage visitors to participate and are very upbeat. If you like activities, there is no shortage of activities (e.g. ring toss, horse shoes, bean-bag toss, volleyball, dance lessons, yoga, etc.). My only disappointment was there was no archery activity during the week I was there even though there was a range on the resort. Cons: Lighting – the overhead lobby lights are turned off later in the evening so the lobby is pretty much in the dark. I you like playing cards at night or sitting around with friends in the lobby expect it to be dimply lit. Bar Closings – the lobby bar closes at 11PM. After that, the only drinks available are in the mini bar in your room or at the nightclub near the main entrance. Wi-fi – the free wi-fi is a pain to register. It is very slow and the signal strength is intermittent. 15 min of internet access are provided after registration until the email address entered at registration is validated, however some devices are unable to access email during those 15 min. In this day and age, easy and fast email access should be a given.

5 star food !

Nice beach but there is a lot of sharp corral you have to watch out for. The layout at the beach is excellent with everything close by. The Bazillian BBQ restaurant was a hit and everyone liked the buffet especially the never ending bacon in the morning and the fresh fruit. Not really suitable for the party crowd but great for families, retired and relaxers! The only thing I would add is a swim up bar but for the money you can’t go wrong. I give it a solid 4.5 stars

Great resort.

This was our second visit and we were not disappointed. We were very happy to have been given a larger room on our return visit. We were travelling with a large group and had asked to be in the same building and on the same floor. We were happy that these two requests were granted. Very good food, amazing beach, clean and well maintained resort.

Awesome Again

This is our second year in a row at this resort. Everything was great, with the exception of a few cranky staff members. Most of the staff are pleasant and very helpful, but some seemed unhappy to be there.

Very nice resort!

The hotel rooms were comfortable and spacious. The beach was beautiful, you could take long walks in both directions, palm trees giving you shade. The drawback was that the part of the beach in front of the resort was very crowded. Regarding dining - there was always a great selection of nice dishes to choose from. As far as excursions from the resort I took one to the National Park. The places we saw were beautiful but the lunch we got during the excursion was horrible . I had never ever se [... read more]en anything like this. Luckily a friend of mine who had taken that trip before advised me to take some food with me, otherwise I would be starving . There was just rice and noodles , some raw cabbage and tiny pieces of chicken back bones. Hopefully that will change as I complained to the Air Canada Vacations representative , but it is hard to tell.

Amazing resort

Wonderful grounds, very nice kept, clean and stuff very profesional, and helpful. Food excellent, very fresh and well prepared. specially fruits always fresh and plenty to chose from. Restaurants re very good specially the brasilian one was amazing.

Never Disappointed

My Husband and I have been to this resort numerous times and are never disappointed. The resort and beach are beautiful and well maintained. The food is delicious with so much variety, I can’t imagine how they do it. The staff are hard working , friendly and so much fun. This resort is AMAZING

Beautiful beach and great food!

Just returned from the resort (week of Jan 5 2020). Flew with Air Canada Rouge with no issues. Resort is on a palm tree lined beach great for walking, snorkelling and swimming. Resort buffet was excellent. Food choices were extensive and varied nightly. We stayed in a standard room which was clean and and well maintained. Only heads up - room safe was odd. I had never seen one like it before and couldn't figure it out, Luckily I had combination lock on my luggage so I secured valuables in m [... read more]y luggage.

Favourite place to go!

This was my 4th visit to this resort, and the 1st time taking my kids (8,11) and it is perfect! The rooms are spacious, clean and comfortable. The lobby, indoor and out door sitting areas are beautiful and we could always find a spot to sit and have a drink. The pool area is on the small side and busy, but always meticulously clean and the beach is just amazing! The food was excellent there was always something for even our picky eater, and the staff were very pleasant and wonderful.

Good Resort

Rooms were clean need to be renovated but ok, food buffet it was good, I recommend El Pescador restaurant. Beach super nice, we also visited Las Terrenas Town, very nice place in general we had a excellent vacations

Amazing place!!

Hello!! The resort is amazing.There are still some employees (like Oscar) who were vey rude to us since day one upon arrival.He incisted on my (autistic) son to wear the wrist band.We have been to several destinations in the carebean and no one has ever asked us to forcehim to wear it!!! The "a la acrte restaurants" were all good except for the brazilian and the french. Santo was amazing to our family.He would keep a table reserved for my son for breakfast lunch and diner knowing about his [... read more] disability.He was friendly and super helpfull. The food was very good at the buffet. The rooms were big but a little off style,could take a renovation...the extra bed built in the wall is too small for anyone to sleep in... in general,the trip was great!! The only really negative point I have to talk about is the trip on our way back on west jet flight.The attendant was really uninformed about my son's diagnosis and uninformed about their policies.There were 2 seats empty on the premium class and I asked her if my son could sit on one of them and my husband because my son is not independant.She totally refused and eventhough I gave her my son's disbalitity case number on westjet,she totally refused.Her name is Virginie.I have never seen a person so mean and arrogant in my life!!

Great Resort and Amazing Beach

We stayed at the Grand Bahia El Portillo in August 2019. Hotel is perfect for families and seniors small enough everything is so close. Food was great at the buffett and a la carte. The beach is amazing on either side of the resort, long enough for walks, when at the beach you must walk to the left it's so nice. kids loved the snorkelling Rooms were

Amazing, beautiful clean esort

Stayed at “El Portillo” Grand Bahia Principe resort for 7 nights last week of June 2019. The most amazing beach with calm turquoise crystal clear water with refreshing ocean breeze.Food and service amazing, entertainment fabulous some nights. Housekeeping very loud and chatty in the hallways at all times during their working hours, however I would definitely consider coming back to this resort since the service was always done with a smile and great disposition.

Super Nice!

If you love food, and don't mind putting a few pounds this is the place! I've never seen so much good food and varieties in all my travelling, especially if you love fish! You'll find all types of fish everyday! I went for the first time with my parents and 2.5 year old daughter, I wanted water like Cuba and food like Punta Cana and this has both. The resort is very clean and well kept, the rooms definately need updating but the beach is to die for. It's clear was, no waves, Luke warm water, per [... read more]fect for little kids. I loved that I didn't have to worry about her running In the water. Wifi only in lobby kinda sucks...lots of activities for everyone to do throughout the day, and the kids waterpark was great too! Only downside is they barely speak English..

Decent place for getaway

In general our week of vacation has been spent well: direct flight from Toronto to small quiet Samana airport with quick passport control and Customs formalities, rather short transfer from airport to resort, prompt check-in (because we knew the rules from previous visit and broke away from the group from the bus, otherwise we would waste the time), food and drinks all day long and remarkable beaches not only within resort limits but specially outside of them. It looks like resort management rea [... read more]lly pays attention to the guests reviews and we saw no any shortage of chaise-longues on the beach, there were plenty of them. But a few remarks should be addressed to resort management for further improvements. Room cleaning should be better organized with less hassles to the guests. On the first day of stay we came back to the room around 4pm and our room was not attended yet. We simply asked the maid for the fresh towels. On the second day our room was not cleaned at 4.30pm and I had to talk to the administrator at the front desk to expedite the procedure. We could not apprehend the schedule for room cleaning but certainly the guests should not adapt their time to the cleaning operations. The second issue is the room entry door. We could not open it to the full opening because it ground against the floor but we did not make a big deal of that. The big deal was the lock - we could not get into the room three times and had to wait for security guy to open the lock and then for service guy to fix it. On the third time we simply demanded to change the room and had the nice room for one night. But as I mentioned in preamble a few nuisances did not spoil our vacation and we will definitely come back again soon.

OVERALL A TRULY WONDERFUL/FAB VACATION.

JUST RETURNED FROM GRAND BAHIA EL PORTILLO SAMANA.FLIGHTS AND TRANSFERS WENT SMOOTHLY.RESORT WAS ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING WITH BEAUTIFUL AND IMMACULATE GROUNDS.THE SERVICE WAS PAR EXCELLENCE.STAFF WERE METICULOUS AND EAGER TO ACCOMMODATE EVEN THOUGH ENGLISH WAS LIMITED.AMAZING CHOICES AT BUFFET.FOOD WAS REALLY GOOD AND DRINKS WERE PREMIUM.WEATHER WAS SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL ALL WEEK.A LA CARTE RESTAURANTS WERE TERRIFIC AND PRESENTATION OF FOOD NOTED.ENTERTAINMENT WAS PRETTY OK.ACCOMMODATION WAS DECEN [... read more]T EXCEPT FOR THE POORLY LIT ROOM,SLIPPERY BATHTUB AND LIMITED WATER FLOW FROM SHOWER.FELT SAFE AT ALL TIMES..WOULD SURELY RECOMMEND THIS RESORT.ALL REQUESTS REGARDING ACCOMMODATION WERE FULL FILLED.WOULD SURELY REVISIT.FEEL TRULY BLESSED AND GRATEFUL FOR AN AMAZING TIME.SPECIAL THANKS TO LIDIA,OMAR,ANA,ESPERANZA,JOSE AND OTHERS.WARM FRIENDLY PEOPLE..ALWAYS SMILING AND READY TO SERVE.GOD BLESS.

Very relaxing vacation

The hotel is in a very beautiful setting. The beach is perfect with clear water and nice coral reefs with fish, you can walk on the beach left and right side of the hotel for kilometers and enjoy the view. The hotel is nice, food is good and the overall environment is friendly and relaxing. The hotel is perfect for couples who want to relax and enjoy quiet time, for families with children.

A Must Return Resort

Food is excellent, beaches are spectacular, room second to none, easy to get around, super staff, great bar service, Relax Pool is really relaxing, scenic drive from the airport. Looking forward to our fifth visit soon.

Amazing beach and resort!

This was my second visit to this resort , my son was married there 3 years ago, and we returned because of our experience in 2016. This resort is soooooo clean, the staff are amazing and constantly cleaning and maintaining the resort and grounds. Our room was spacious, clean and comfortable. My favorite part is the beach! There is a breakwater a distance out and it breaks the waves as they come in so that the swimming area is calm and smooth like bath water most of the time. There are corral ree [... read more]fs close to the beach for those that want to snorkel, which is home to tropical fish. The food is some of the best I have experienced at an all inclusive. Our over all experience was Excellent and hopefully I will return again.

Great resort

The entertainment was outstanding. Every part of the resort was clean and well maintained. Staff were attentive and service was always good. Everyone worked so hard to make our holiday great. Lots of good food, loads of variety and great choices. Beach was windy in the afternoons. Great place to enjoy the ocean, the pools and the activities. Yoga on the beach was one of my favorite things, long walks on the sandy beaches, loads of fish to see while snorkeling in front of the resort. Had  [... read more]a great time and hope to return.