Some hiccups but overall a great resort

Bavaro was a huge place and very well kept, the pools were amazing the food and drinks were great especially the Italian al a carte. The people very friendly and the beach very clean all things considering (aftermath of Maria we assume?) The Micheal Jackson Show was out of this world!!! It's as if you saw a real MJ Concert. Recommend the Dune Buggy (Boogie), the Safari and Zip Line excersions, they were GREAT!!! Things that disapointed us were the fact that all the Bars  [... read more]and entertainment shut down at 11pm. We Canadians like to party until the wee hours of the morning at least until 1 or 2 am LOL. And the Big one was that we had to pay (one or the other?) $24 or $28 US each room for our safe. We've never had to pay for a safe in our room ANYWHERE. Watch out for the Jelly Fish at the beach. My son was stung by one and it hurt real bad. We found out a lot of people suffered the same fate but urine, vinegar or making it to the First Aid Station on the beach soon cured my son of his hurt. When we got there we we'nt told of the trolley system that would take us from the front lobby to our rooms and else where around the Resort, would of been nice to know instead of running around trying to find our Room the first night. And men, remember they won't let you in the Dinner Buffet unless you are wearing a T-Shirt or Dress Shirt, NO MUSCLE SHIRT!! WE found out the hard way. All in all we had some hiccups but it was a Great Resort none the less.

Not worth the money Grand Bahai Principe Jamaica

The best thing about this resort was the sun and water. The hotel needs upgrades (when you walked out from the hotel by the gym, all you could smell was sewer). There is no air conditioning in the hallways and the air conditioning in the rooms smelled. When you leave the room, they want you to take your key card out to turn off all the power, so that means no air conditioning in your room while you are out in the hot sun all day. Did not find the staff very friendly, felt like we were an imp [... read more]osition to them. They never smiled. Meals were pretty good but we had an infant in our party and had to continually ask for a high chair. I felt it was over priced for what you got, have had better service in Dominican and Mexico. The beach by the kids park was great but the other beach by the pool was dangerous. Was full of rocks and cut my feet a couple times.

Don't get what you pay for

Over all the weather, pool and ocean was beautiful. Food service was poor. Not only my group but other guests weren't offered water, tea and coffee during meal times at the Buffett no matter how many times you asked to get some you wouldn't get served. Maintenance was horrible my room smelled like something died up there. Our housekeeper every called for someone to come and no one came. And couldn't get a new room. My son sat for a picture and his brand new Bluejay jersey got full of paint as th [... read more]ere were no signs indicating wet paint in the area. The pool bars weren't nice, missing tile left sharp edges and the oool lights weren't in place in the pool. Food was always the same. Never changed even though they had the Theames at the buffet. Entertainment wasn't the best.. very outdated and seems very awkward. The shops at the village were great. I sdont think I'd return back to this hotel.. for the amount I paid I would expect a lot better. I wouldn't recommend this resort.

Amazing Resort

We loved this resort, it was clean, well maintained, huge with lots of lovely grounds to walk around. The beach was kept clean, lots of beds available, the sea was actually warm ! the pools were lovely and warm too. The food was fantastic as were the staff all very friendly. We will definitely return :)

Disappointing Experience. Expected more from 5-star hotel.

We just got back form 7 days vacation at this resort. (Grand Bahia Principe Bavaro). We are family of four with two kinds (13 and 8) living in Canada. We have limited experience in Caribbean vacations: it is based on our visits to 4 Cuban 5-star resorts. We were told that 5-star resorts in DR are class above the 5 star resorts in Cuba (Melia Marina Varadero, and Ensenachos Iberostar where we stayed in the past). We went to DR for: i) the beach, ii) a bit of luxury ( food, drinks ) apparentl [... read more]y missing in Cuban 5 star hotels. We expected something a class better from this place, as everyone ( including travel agents) assured us that compared to Cuba the Grand Bahia in DR is a top notch place. We got none of the above so we were quite disappointed. Below are the details: 1) Beach is practically "un-swimmable" due to the seaweed. The thick layer of algae in the ocean makes it a very unpleasant experience -- my eight-year daughter and I, got some form of skin rash from this on a third day. It is true that the seaweed is "taken care of" -- there are workers with pitchforks working along the shore whole day. They rake the seaweed into the small piles ( 1 meter diameter and 1 meter high) with about 2 meters space between them. Then the tractors come to scoop them up and move away, and then the pitchfork guys start again. If you lounge on the beach you see and hear these tractors all the time, you also smell diesel. I would not be surprised if there is an accident with kid run over by one of these machines at some point. The other raters comments about " weeds being an issue that is quickly dealt with" do not reflect the sad reality that the whole beach is affected by this ( July 12 to July19). For me it was the source of greatest disappointment -- staying near the pool is an option, but I could rent a place with swimming pool closer to home, if all I cared for was the pool-- I wanted an ocean. 2) Food/Restaurants/Drinks None of the restaurants use their air-conditioning fully. I does not matter how good the food is if I am sweating while sitting there. I know we came there for the sun -- but the whole point is to be able to get out of the heat/humidity from time to time. ( Buffet and each a la carte restaurant we visited were about 27C.) Bars serve almost only local substitutes of quality alcohol-- did not see much difference from what I was offered at Cuban resorts. (To give you an example -- they consider Gordon Gin and Beefeater as upgrades for which you pay extra), so at no point I felt that this was 5-star establishment, I was expecting. 3) Rooms -- we had junior superior room booked for us. It was OK for size , but it had this aggressive chemical odour to it-- like bleach was used excessively to mask the smell of mould. We had to complain to get a room with properly working AC. After being transferred to the new room I discovered that the AC unit has a limiter on it. I had to complain three times to the resort management and finally the technician was sent to remove it ( he had to open the ceiling panel to change the electrical element in the circuit.) After that the cold air finally started blowing. Needless to say the AC was "working" before, (so they try to make you believe that what you get is a standard) just not the way it should have been: it was barely blowing a tepid air on max settings. It seems to be a typical approach-- many guests will not complain or will resign themselves to the fact that this is the way it is supposed to be, and live in this humid/hot environment. Rooms are very dark ( there are only wall side lights so at night it is quite dim.) 4) Resort is very busy, the beach and the main pool near the beach are overcrowded. Perhaps the other ( adults only) parts of this complex are less crowded, but I was told we are not allowed to use them. 5)Number of people/vendors trying to sell you something is unbelievable. One section of the beach had as many of them as guests. You can also be ambushed by friendly sales representatives who want to show you the new resort Fantasia or get you to join the Privilege club. 6) there are throngs of very loud guests waking you up at night (3AM) if you are near the main transfer route of the hotel. ( We were in Villa #30). 7) the mini-golf area is not very good ( no shade and very worn out) POSITIVES: 1)The food is of decent quality and fresh -- none of us had any stomach trouble despite eating risky food (we had beef carpaccio, seafood, mayo-based salads etc.) 2) Staff is very efficient and quick, there are many people working there. If you ask for something ( towels, busboy) the action will be taken within few minutes. 3) The resort is very clean. 4) It has good quality night entertainment -- I mean life music ( not the shows). 5) Very few mosquitos -- I got bitten once or twice for the entire stay. 6) Main bar in the lobby serves very good drinks -- look for what they call a "drink of the day." If you are Canadian do not bother to buy Dominican Pesos -- the whole resort operates based on US dollars. Room Tip: Check the AC in your room upon arrival.

Grand Bahia Principe Bavaro - 3/5

The hotel grounds were very well-kept and clean. The food was okay (nothing too spectacular but there was a good amount of variety). The beach was alright--been to better in other places in the Caribbean (Cuba, Jamaica, etc.). The pools were pretty great though so that helped...The room was clean, housekeeping was extremely professional and nice and really did her job with care. The service, however, that is where 5/5 stars are unfortunately, not present. While there were a few members of the s [... read more]taff that really stood out and did their jobs with care, we had experiences with a few that were outright rude or were unhappy if you didn't tip them the amount they deemed to be correct. We had trouble getting basic service at times (at the buffet especially) such as not having spoons or cutlery or the servers would ignore us to take long to assist--that kind of thing with the exception of a few. Tips: get towels early in the morning (8 am) as they disappear quickly and if you want a comfortable spot at the beach with shade, be prepared to arrive early in the morning as well ---this "conglomerate of resorts within one place" is huge and finding beach chairs is virtually impossible. All in all, while the resort itself was well-kept and had a lot to offer, I'd probably try elsewhere next time.

Semi inclusive, not all inclusive.

I want to start off saying, for 10 years I have wanted to go to this place. I have dreamed about it and we were finally able to go! Now I wish we didn't. If you are looking for a true all inclusive, then move on. This is not it. They will nickel and dime you to death here. Everything costs more. You want a safe, sure that's another $4 per day. You want internet (not the free one that's only available in limited space within the lobby), sure, that's another $80 for 7 days. Your kids want to go to [... read more] the fun park, sure its only $10 per kid!! They told us there are no upgrades at all to the Bavaro (there is even a forum on here somewhere stating no upgrades for Bavaro) yet on our 3rd last day (11 days total stay) there was a sign on the lobby counter stating upgrades were $35 per person per night!! insane!!! anyway, onto my very long and detailed review. The check in - We arrived before check in time. We went into the side room with our travel person. We chatted for a bit and that was that. She said our rooms are not ready yet, go have lunch, so we did. After lunch, still before check in time, we came back and asked about our rooms. Yup, all done and ready to go!! awesome. We checked in, they gave us a ride to our rooms (2 adjoining rooms on the main floor because of mobility issues). We had the "happy birthday banner on both rooms ( our anniversary and our son's birthday). We also had a bottle of champagne for our anniversary in our room. That was really great. Rooms - the rooms are average. We've been to a lot of all inclusive and they are all about the same. Nothing fantastic, but not terrible. Now, some we have been to include robes and slippers. Now, these are not necessary items, however, once you have had them its hard to go back. We did not have them this time at all (I do believe it was listed as being included). The walls along the floor were actually falling apart. There was pieces of the wall on the floor all the time. I'm sure its because of a flood or something at one time, but they do need to be fixed. There is never enough lights or plug ins in the rooms as well. We had to unplug the lamp and coffee pot to plug in other things we needed. The coffee in the room was great. There are no facecloths!! not sure why this is, since we have young children they are pretty much a necessity. Grounds - the grounds were great. always kept us and clean. There was always someone out there working, always!! It really is a beautiful place. Guest services - well now, where to start. I went to guest services and asked about restaurant reservations and said we have 2 rooms both for 11 days. Then asked about the reservations I had emailed about 2 weeks prior to our arrival, like I was told to do. They only had one room down, and they had only half the people listed on it. We were told, very bluntly, that we are only allowed to have 4 a la carte visits during our 11 days even though we have 2 rooms. Not sure why. I have never been to a resort before where I was limited to the number of a la carte restaurants I was allowed. I was completely shocked, Yes there is a buffet, but I will get into that later. So anyway, they booked us in 4 places, one right after the other, with 2 small children and reservations as late as 7:45. Now, it is June, and the place is at what, 50% capacity at the most! That is horrible. We didn't have a choice though unless we wanted buffet every night. Whatever, reservations done. The following day I went back again to guest services and asked what the number for room service was as there was nothing in our room about it. He looked at me and smirked and said "you don't get room service" again, floored!!! Since when in an all inclusive is room service not a thing?? So, after I got my composure again, asked him what was included in an all inclusive since almost everything we asked about was not included. He said your food drinks (only local, not international) and your room. Oh wow. So we paid almost $7,000 CAD for fights, rooms, food and some local drinks. Great. So then my next question, we have children and a diabetic with us who need to eat often, buffet is closed often so what can we do for food between buffet times. We were told to catch the tram to the beach and go eat at the buffet down there. great!! NOT! Lets pack everyone up from the pool, get a 70 year old with a cane and diabetes and 2 young children back to the room, dump all our stuff and catch a tram down to the restaurant down by the beach to have a snack, then load everyone up on the tram again and back to our room to get our stuff head back to the pool. Sounds like a wonderful time. We did it, very day. Great waste of 2 hours. Trams - there were many trams running all the time. They were simple and easy, once you found outwore everything is and which ones were going to where you wanted to go. We just started asking the driver where he was going and determined if our stop was on the way. Now, if you are wanting the tram to the kids water park, leave a good hour before you want to be there. It is always full and there is only 1 and it hold 12-15 people. People will push in front of you even if they just showed up and you have waited for the tram for 3 rounds. We started walking and would catch the turquesa tram which dropped us off close, but it meant grandma couldn't come because she couldn't walk that far. Kids water park. - It was great. Not nearly enough seating but it was wonderful. Our 7 year old got bored pretty easy though but the 5 yr old loved it. They had some drinks and snacks there. Towel - Never go for towels after 10 am. Not sure what happens but with this place maybe half full, they hardly ever had clean towels!! Not sure if they didn't order more when they opened fantasia and just used the same as the other resorts or what but if you weren't there first thing you didn't get one. Sometimes you could watch and see the drop off of cleans ones in the afternoon then rush up there with everyone else and get one. Chairs - we usually got chairs everywhere we went. people do put their towels on them and reserve though, even though it plainly says you can not. People should have to have some sort of personal item there as well. Like your shoes, you can't swim with your shoes on so leave them on the chairs. (unless of course you reserve your chairs first thing then take off for a few hours leaving only your towel there, as they certainly did). Shows - we didn't do a lot of the shows. The ones outside by the lobby were always full and there was never anywhere to sit so we didn't bother. the ones in the inside theatre area we saw a couple, lion king and one other, were pretty good. kids club - our boys went2 times to the kids club. They enjoyed both times. you need to make sure you go there to get your kids for lunch because they will not feed them. Not sure why but what ever. Ours were only there for 2 hours one day and 3 hours the other day. pool - the poole by our room was nice. It was quite though and a little boring. The big pool was good, hard to find chairs though. More entertainment, geared to younger people. bars - the more often you tipped, the better drink you got. drinks were usually good anyway, but more alcohol with tips. There was actually wait staff at the lobby bar. staff- most of the staff was very good. It did seem like walking through a high school with the amount of staff on their phones. One was actually playing a game on his phone when I went up to ask for something and I had to wait until he died on his game. Yes, I could see his phone and what he was playing. This is the service staff in some areas, not all. The grounds staff and the cleaning staff, were never like that. They always worked so hard, and it really shows. buffet. - we ate there a lot. Not by choice but by lack of other options. I do not like buffets to start with but when it is that or go hungry, you do it. The best part of the buffet for me was the pasta bar. They would make you whatever you wanted. It was fantastic, and my go to. It was rather repetitive otherwise. If you wanted a drink, you usually had to flag someone down or go get your own. More often than not, that's what we did. we were there a few times for breakfast and didn't have a single person come see us. Good thing the coffee in the room was so good. beach - the beach was great. beautiful sand, and people always cleaning. The sand fleas were horrible. When I got home I had to go to the dr and he said i had "a massive infection from insect bites" so that was horrible. So itchy!! Not the resorts fault but something to be aware of. so congrats, you made it to the end of my review. I was so upset when we were here. I have been to may places, including one in punta cana, and have paid less and received so much more. The service here is less than average. The grounds and "behind the scene workers" were top notch. They want more money for everything. If I had known that, I would have paid the small amount more for the other resort I wanted, and have been to there and other places, and received anything and everything I wanted, including room service, wait staff everywhere (beach, pools and all bars), free safe, free wifi everywhere, free kids activities, a la carte every night without reservations, and so much more. Next time I will know where to go. I will not be back to any Bahia Principe resorts anywhere. They are behind the times. Other resorts are including the "extras" in their "basics". Every all inclusive I have been to, has included a la carte restaurants every night. I haven't ever had to go to the buffet for supper. They need to change their policies and get with the times.

Best experience ever

Cabt wait to go again. So much to do. Loved it. People friendly. Food okay. Only issue keycards continued to stop working. And food was cold. Specialty restaurants great. Loved the japenese restaurant. Boogies ride definately worth it. So much to do.

To much noise

We stayed at Grand Bahia Principe Bavaro in 2015 and loved it. We enjoyed the relaxing nights in the lobby with a nice cold drink and fresh air. We decided to come back to the same resort this year, the room was perfect and quiet but the rest of the hotel was to busy. The lobby was loud at night and the smoking everywhere was even disturbing. So much for the breath of fresh air. Even the day of our arrival it was impossible for us to book the 3 a la carte restaurant The food at the buffet was no [... read more]t as good as in 2015 :(. If we decide to go back to that resort we will definitely upgrade to Amber or Esmeralda. Our vacation was not as relax as we planned. To bad because Punta Cana is such a nice beach for a great walk.

Great family vacation

The hotel met with most of our expectations. The food was good with a wide selection for everyone's taste. The beach was amazing and always a place to sit and relax. There was a pool to match your mood for the day, quiet, kids activities, party, music...something for everyone. The grounds were immaculately maintained and the shuttles ran like clockwork. It was huge so that did take a little time to find your way around. There was a lot of misquotes so make sure you take a lot of bug spray [... read more] with you. The lobby is open and not great ventilation so it is quite warm in there all the time. The air conditioner wasn't working our last 2 days there so that made for a very uncomfortable sleep since you couldn't open the door due to the bugs. Not a lot of evening entertainment after the show but we were fine with that since the sun seemed to make everyone exhausted by 11 anyway.

Had a wonderful time Pros and Cons

What we like. We liked that we could book a al cartes ahead of time. Sandy Nichols of Tripcentral made those for us ahead of time, and we got exactly what we asked for. The grounds were meticulously maintained. The staff was always working to keep things nice. Great Palm trees, excellent powered beaches which were racked continuously to make our stay nice. The food was above average with lots of choices. The rooms were spacious and cleaned with care daily. We made some additional requests, and [... read more] they gave us what we asked for. What we didn't like. Vendors on the beach hovering. Vendors on occasion blocking the main path, so as to steer you to their tables. Had no trouble getting beach towels, but each time, they tried to sell you an excursion.

Nice resort very large though

The Bavaro resort is quite nice although it's very large. Sometimes hard to find chairs at the beach and pools. When it's raining there's not much to do but drink in the lobby which is packed. Juan at the lobby bar is exceptional!! Always smiling and going above and beyond to make people happy. Food is great variety and quite tasty not sure why people complain about it. The entertainment staff is severely lacking and quite possibly not even present at this resort. Example: volleyball net in the [... read more] pool but pool staff guy was quite rude - wouldn't give us a volleyball- said we had to buy one from the lady with the snack shack 29$ US. This was highly disappointing considering all other resorts we have been to have daily volleyball in the pool as a way to get guests to socialize and have fun together. Overall the resort is so large I likely wouldn't go back. It's well kept always kept clean but aside from a handful of good staff, I feel there's a larger number of staff that treat you like you're an inconvenience For instance the towel exchange fella I actually offered him a tip if he'd crack a smile - nope! (I have experienced this Dominican wide though, not just here)

Bahaia Esmeralda

The resort was beautiful, one of the nicest kept resorts we have stayed at. The beach was well maintained, and they had some hard working guys raking the beach all day long - it was the nicest part of the whole beach. The entertainment staff were great, with lots of fun stuff going on. The rooms and resort were clean as well. Now the bad stuff. The food was ok, the beach BBQs were great. The buffet was the same every day and the food was just ok. The restaurants were great, but hard to  [... read more]book into. Most of the wait staff were very friendly, but not the kitchen staff. The bars were understaffed, and the bartenders were not friendly. The hotel lobby staff, and most other staff were NOT friendly at all - in some case down right rude! This is not the case at other DR resorts we have been to. The rooms were clean, but the maid service was terrible - and our maid was absolutely rude to us. We actually complained - first time we have ever had to do this. The overall resort is large and hard to figure out the trolley system - don't ask someone for directions unless you don't mind a dirty look - again staff are not friendly or helpful. Finally, if you want a spot on the beach you had better get down there around 5:30 am!

Absolutely amazing resort!!

This was our second vacation at this resort, we were not disappointed..... even better second time around. The food was awesome, staff were very helpful and friendly, the grounds are just beautiful and well kept. Great bang for your buck!! We will definitely return to this resort again.

Truly a five star experience!!!

They foliage and flora are breathe taking. The dining experience was the best !! Amazing food selection, delicious fresh food. The a la cartes were Five Star!!! Beach was kept spotless. Pools and faculties monitored and vey clean. Hotel staff very courteous and efficient. Amazing experience, will be returning in the future.

Clean and fun!

My family and I just returned from 5 days at the Grand Bahia Principe Bavaria resort. It was lovely! Clean and fun, with a great friendly staff. It's a monster of a resort though, not that it bothered us. My two kids can't wait to go back!

Totally awesome resort

We had an awesome trip from the time we landed until we got back on the flight to go home !! Service was great at reception when arriving, the room was clean towels daily we didn't have to call looking for them. Servers at the buffet for supper and on the beach were very friendly welcomed us everyday Entertaining was plentiful on the beach at the pool common areas to the shows in the evening The grounds were well maintained The number of people staying at the resort there was know complaint [... read more]s at all Trollers were always going I would have to say that was our only complaint they were not friendly Over all 8.5 /9 out of 10 for sure

Amazing resort

Can't wait to go back. We had a very relaxing time, enjoying the beach and the pool. There was a wide variety of food available and their Italian restaurant Il capriccio, has my top vote! Cleaning staff did an excellent job and were always available to provide more towels, water, and coffee. Beach and pool bartenders were always friendly, dancing and singing along with the music. We enjoyed the dancers and their enthusiasm to teach us their dance routine.

Awesome place.and.people

Everything was perfect! The landscaping was beautiful. The food was great as far as buffets go. The room was nice. Clean. Served it purpose. The beach...was amazing! Loved it. Will be booking for next year!

Great place to stay !!!

We were pretty pleased with everything. Excellent food at buffet. But only downfall with restaurants was they were too busy, and could get any reservations before 10pm. But really the buffet is all you really need. Staff is very friendly and always go out of their way for you ( tipping them well helps). Room was clean. Lots of hot water. Only downfall with the room was the bed was TERRIBLE. stiff as a board. Other than a few minor things, we will definitely be returning next year with [... read more] our kids. Tons of options for kids !!! We wish they were with us on this trip.