WHERE ARE...

This was our second visit to the resort and last time my daughter was married at the resort and we had 75 guests book. We returned as we enjoyed our first visit but below is why we can not see ourselves returning and we will not recommend this resort to any of other friends. The grounds are beautiful, the many labourers working so diligently. The beach area is overcrowded - is it the addition of the Fantasia Resort that makes the beach area seem like we are in a busy city park or festival. The [... read more]re isn't any room to even enjoy a relaxing walk as the many guests are also playing soccer, frisbee or football in the same area, so a person gets ran over. Definitely a place where injuries can occur as the players are not aware of anyone but those playing the game but they too should have the space to play...but they do not have anywhere. Buffet service at both the Bavaro and Punta Cana were non existent. There was no one to sit us and at one breakfast we were greeted and sat, we then went to get our food and hard to know why, but while at the buffet our table was given to a new couple which was only determined as I saw a hatin the table that was it ours. when they too arrived at the table and said it was there table, we were left in an awkward moment to explain we also had been sat there but since the waiter and other guests spoke Spanish to one another, we were told to move but had to wait for a table to become ready. I have never felt so embarrassed and when we were given our table our food was cold and it still took a long time to get service for coffee or water. In fact, we were almost done before anyone came to offer and by that time it was absolutely beyond reasonable. There are many other instances of terrible service in both of these buffet areas and I feel compassion to the staff working as they are working quickly but there is either a lack of staff or they just do not have a system. We were so fortunate to figure out we could eat at the Turguesa buffet and started to make the longer trip to that buffet. The food was better and the staff were there to offer water/beverages within the first five minutes of being seated.

Not the best we've been to

No complaints about the accommodation - room cleaning service was good and the grounds were well kept and attractive. The food was adequate but started to become monotonous after a few days. The a la carte venues were good. The entertainment was particularly lacking in quality and few of the productions lived up to the standard one would expect of a resort of that caliber. The resort was very much too large for our liking as we found smaller resorts had more interesting things to offer and e [... read more]asier to navigate.

Grand bahia principe bavaro

Hello, I just want to say that this was my 3rd time to GBP. Last time I was there was 4yrs ago. This time, the entertainment was pretty much none existing during the day. Our room smelled of mold. Service was a hit and miss. Over all the resort is starting to show its age. Best a la cart was the Japanese. I went with high expectations. Lower them a little and you will be fine. Grounds beautiful and resort clean. Santa our pool waitress was awesome. I would give it a 4* at the mos [... read more]t. Thank you

Good but some things lacked

Grounds were impeccable, weather was great, beaches fantastic, food was repetitive, breakfast was probably the best selection wise, lunch we always had the the beach buffet and it was almost exactly the same each day, very busy,sometimes no tables,forks,or not replenished enough, dinner at the buffet was also very repetitive, but we had 2 al la Cartes,the garden grill and the BBQ, the main course was fantastic, desserts in all meals looked nice but not tasty at all. Couple issues with our room,  [... read more]aircon would not work at first, no lightbulb in outside light so we could sit outside and fridge would not cool, we mentioned at guest services first night, the rectified the aircon immediately, the light took another complaint and the fridge was never rectified, we were just told that was the way it was, it kept everything probably warmer than room temp. and we could never enjoy what was put in the fridge and the bottle of champagne they left as a special occasion gift. I would go again but I really don't feel it should be rated 5star.

Great Resort!

The resort was very big but has carts that take you around everywhere, beautiful beach and pool area. The food was great. The rooms are definitely old and a little worn down, but very little time was spent inside room so it didn't affect us. Would love to return.

Beautiful resort

Recently returned from Grand Bahia Principe Bavaro resort and had an amazing time. The grounds were breath taking and the people were so friendly. The beach was beautiful and the food was great. I would definitely recommend this resort.

Great Vacation

Everything went well, rooms were clean, air conditioning worked well,service was excellent. Had a few problems with keys and the safe. Maintenance came quickly and fixed all concerns. Later received a thank you gift because of our inconvenience. Food was excellent everywhere we ate. Service was very slow at the Garden Grill. Pools and beach all wonderful. Thanks again to Gina and her terrific service helping with our vacation!

Good Resort

The hotel grounds were beautiful as well as the pool & the beach! Customer Service was poor, we had a lot of issues when we arrived with our rooms and things not working in the rooms! They were unwilling to help us and said there was nothing that could be done. (toilettes not working, no lights, doors not closing) Overall, it was an okay stay at the resort.

Great resort, friendly staff !

The resort itself was great. Food was awesome, drinks were great, and the bartenders were always very happy and quick to serve you. The only issue we had was with our room itself. For some reason the door wouldn't lock when you shut it, you would have to lift up on the door and slam it shut before it would lock. So when the maids came to clean the room they would leave and not realize it was still open. Other then that issue, we loved the resort and the friendliness of the employees there.

Overall Great Stay!

This was my 3rd stay at the Bahia Principe. As usual I had a pretty great stay. The only negative was I feel service has declined a little bit. We ran into more problems then usual on our stay. We travelled with a group of 12. One of the couples with us didn't even have a reservation when we arrived. Although they did get bumped up to the luxury resort (Ambar), consequentially their villa and lobby were away from the rest of us. Two of the couples we were with had broken toilets upon arrival to  [... read more]their room. And a bellhop was banging continuously on our door at 6am one morning. With all that being said, the food was overall pretty good, and all of us were satisfied all week. The pools and beach were always kept clean and the atmosphere was always amazing! The Japanese and steak al la carte were phenomenal and always my favourite!!

Great Resort - Decent service

Hotel, grounds, pool. beaches, food, drinks, all amazing - no complaints. My only complaint was the service from workers there. It is very evident that no one is ever in a rush. When calls for service were made it took very long to get anything done. Faster, more attentive service would be appreciated. However this was not everyone, some great, friendly workers there as well.

Great resort!

The grounds of the hotel are beautiful! Food was great, the buffet had a different theme each night which helped to switch up the food. Rooms nice and updated! Pools and beach absolutely beautiful! Although, they could use a couple more swim up bars! Never had to wait longer than a minute or so for the trolly's taking you from point A to point B. Casino was great and disco very fun, as was the karaoke bar but there needs to be more seats in there and open later! Overall, a great resort.

Not 5 star

Good value for the money. Not a 5 star tho. Hugh hotel, too far too walk from the beach to the cafeteria. Yes I felt like it was more a cafeteria than a buffet. For the amount of people the resort can handle there aren't enough buffets, only one for dinner. One has to wait in line to be seated in the buffet (something I have not experienced before in my travels).

Disappointed 4th time repeat guest

This was my 4th time visit at the Grand Bahia Principe : 4 years ago in Bavaro, 3 years ago in La Romana, last year in Ambar. We decided this time to book Bavaro for a week on the 19th of November. It was also my boyfriend’s second time in this resort. My boyfriend and I flew with West Jet and our flight got delayed for 6 hours. We arrive at 9:30PM instead of 3:30PM. Although I was expecting a travel voucher, West Jet only gave us 15$ meal voucher per person... contrary to Air Canada who ha [... read more]d gaven us travel vouchers last year for the delay we had encountered. When we got to the reception, the employee who served us was unimpressed by the fact that it was my 4th time visit and my boyfriend's second time. They added that we would only be considered repeat guests if it were our tenth time visiting the hotel – which sounded doubtful since we met a couple visiting for the second time who were considered ‘’golden’’ members and got a room right in front of the beach. They told us to come back the next day to check for availabilities. When we returned, they told us again to come back the next day to check for availabilities. We then figured they were unable or unwilling to help us. The food at the buffet had very little variety. If I recall correctly, this wasn’t the case at the Ambar nor Esmeralda side. At ‘’rush’’ hours, we had to wait in line for breakfast, for dinner and for supper. When it was pouring rain, it smelled like mold at the entrance. Sometimes we were seated on tables near buckets that were placed on the floor for water dripping from the ceiling. At times the ceiling water dripped on our table and food. Concerning the service, more than often we had to ask for coffee, for water or for wine – rarely did they offer drinks which seemed awfully surprising to me who used to find the service impeccable at both anterior visits. At the pool buffet, I once asked if there was a table available for two and I got the answer : ‘’you have to go look for yourself’’ from the employee in charge greeting the guests. The À La Carte restaurants were okay. My boyfriend asked for a second plate at the Garden Grill because he was still hungry and they refused claiming only one meal per person – this wasn’t the case at the Pescador where we were very satisfied with the service. The pool bar was a lot of fun. Jose and Kelvin were very entertaining. The beach was lacking its beauty mostly because it poured rain for 3 consecutive days. When it was finally sunny, there were no available beach chairs. People were laying extremely close to each other and there was very little space to find. We had to ourselves drag two beach chairs from close to the pool area down to the sandy beach. Also, the hotel lacked clean beach towels so we had no beach towels for 1 ½ day. There were extremely long line ups every time they brought clean beach towels and eventually there were none left for certain people. We ended up asking for used beach towels. It was ridiculous. Overall, I felt like I was ‘’just another client’’ in a hotel who can now hold a maximum capacity of 14,000 guests and who seems to lack the resources for doing so. The hotel is very big and the trolley car in the resort was often full. It was hard to build a bond with the employees who seemed very busy trying to minimally satisfy everyone’s needs. They did not even bother asking us if we were satisfied of our visit when we checked out at the front desk. I am extremely reticent in returning to Bahia even if I used to recommend this hotel to many of my colleagues, friends and cousins. If I ever should visit again, it would definitely not be at the Bavaro side.

Great stay!

The resort grounds were very clean and facilities were definitely enjoyable. Beach was great, water was warm and pleasant. Bar and drinks were great, but food was so-so. Our room was decent, could have been a bit better considering the resort itself was so nice.

Absolutely one of best resorts and superb beaches

Staff were wonderful, the resort was spotless. The grounds were well kept and it felt like being in paradise. The food was plentiful with wide variety to suit all taste buds. The maid was great and kept our room fully stocked daily. Best bartender is "Juan" at lobby bar.

Good resort

We stayed at this resort from nov 4-11. It rained almost everyday. The room was clean but the safe, which we had to pay $4 per day for didn't work. They fixed it once but then it broke again. The phone in the room didn't work properly. The crib was dirty. The food was good. The Garden grill was excellent, the Dominican a la cart wasn't great. The resort was very big so you would get around by trolly. The beach was excellent. The pool water seemed cloudy. All in all I would rate it a 3 [... read more].5 star and wouldn't return.

Good Times !!!!

we had a great time ... we only stayed 4 nights but we wish we could have stayed longer. I like that it was a short ride from the airport. The staff was great. The food was a nice variety that satisfied everyone. The rooms were clean and the pools were awesome. The beach was clean and you could walk for hours. We would definitely go back

Not Quite A 5 Star

This hotel had amazing grounds. Shrubs and lawns were well maintained by the staff. The cleanliness of our room was amazing...we stayed in building 30, room 211. The negatives were (1)the language barriers. We felt allot of the staff didn't speak or understand English very well. The management at the resort may have not considered this to be a problem, as 90% of their clients were European. Secondly, the amount of rude Europeans we discovered at the buffet. They were always butting in  [... read more]line ahead of you, disregarding that you were waiting your turn ( as a good Canadian does). Thirdly, the buffet food. The selection seemed to cater more to foods that Europeans would eat, rather than that type of food North Americans would be used to. The food at the buffet was generally not hot, lukewarm at best. This may have been due to the large volume of people they had to feed in a short period of time. The beach had plenty of loungers but we found they were so far down to the waterline, that there was no place really, to walk the beach , if you wanted to. We also found that this resort really catered to families. Many, many small children continuously wining while you were trying to eat in the buffet. Sorry for the negativity but this is how we saw it. Will we go to Bahia again? Yes, but regrettably not in Punta Cana. P.S. If you select this resort please take bug spray as those little mosquitoes bite.

Amazing Trip

This resort is very beautiful. Large grounds, good food, great beach.The staff was very friendly. Only thing is kind of difficult to book dinner reservations, they are usually booked, call and book in advance