Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: Beautiful resort but some problems

Pros: The grounds were beautifully maintained, the pools were nice, the beach although some seaweed was great; always found a chair. The staff were friendly. The bartenders were great, I tipped sometimes and sometimes not but got good service either way. Cons: did not get our room choice, was travelling with our adult children and requested a room with 2 beds for them, we didn't get it--my son had to sleep on the sofa for the first night and they didn't get moved to the right room until 4 th [... read more]e next day. In their new room the shower didn't work, they had to use ours, took 2 days and 2 complaints to get it fixed. Room service is a joke, selection is poor, takes for ever (close to 2hrs one time), orders are wrong (arrived late the first day, buffets closed and room service brought everyone's food except mine, complained- told it was on its way but it never came- I had no diner on my first day). Our fridge never worked, complained - took 2 days for someone to come - said it was fixed but it wasn't, complained again seemed to be fixed but died again- we gave up. The stocking of the mini fridge was inconsistent never had all the items they listed on the info book in the room but everything was warm so it didn't really matter. Our room got hotter as the week went on, had to sleep with a cold wet towel one night, I was so desperate; complained and I think someone tried to do something, it was slightly colder but the room smelled like a sewer. Not much to do at night, everything closes down pretty early, only the disco and casino are open later, would be good if they had a lounge that was open later at least till 1 where you could get a drink and snacks

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Luxury Bahia Principe Esmeralda Great Vacation!

The resort grounds are beautiful. The staff is friendly. The beach area was extremely beautiful and clean. The food selection was great at all locations. The waiters made you laugh and made you feel special.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Luxury Bahia Principe Esmeralda Great Vacation!!!!

The hotel rooms were perfectly clean. The service was great. Friendly staff, specifically the waiters at the buffet restaurants. The food was great and a great selection daily. The beach area was impeccable and clean.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Luxury Bahia Principe Esmeralda Great Vacation

The resort grounds were beautiful. The staff was extremely friendly, especially the waiters in the buffet areas. The beach was amazingly clean. I would go back in an instance to enjoy the beautiful weather as well.

Grand Palladium Select Bavaro: De bonnes vacances

Un resort qui nous a donné des vacances reposantes. Nous nous sommes bien détendu. Côté chambre rien à dire. Côté restauration les buffets je les trouvent relativement bon. On y trouve son compte. Les restaurants sont très bien décorés mais ils manquent de raffinement par rapport au cadre. Le kids club est disons correct. Le baby club reste moyen. Cela manque de jeux pour les plus petits et de personnels content de les recevoir. C'est un peu le travail à la chaîne pour certaines pers [... read more]onnes. Le service de manière general est bien, les gens sont très souriant et serviable. Ils le sont plus avec des pourboires. Le voyage etait bien organisé- avion air transat génial - transfert bien- Check in & out bien aussi. La plage est bien egalement. Les piscines sont bien. Les toilettes sont très propres. L'hygiène du resort en générale était très professionnelle. Femme de ménage de la chambre très bien. Activités nocturnes animations bien. L'alcool à volonté c'est bien mais autant le faire moins à volonté et avoir de l'alcool de qualité. En gros moins boire et mieux. Excursion faite monkey land pour les enfants c'était bien: nota ils abusent avec leur photos à 10 dollars la photo c'est un peu de l'arnaque bref. Dans l'ensemble je suis satisfait de mon séjour. Je retournerais dans un palladium avec plaisir.

Grand Bavaro Princess: Find Another Resort

The hotel staff was unfriendly and no one on the resort spoke any English. The worst was the front desk. The toilet stopped flushing properly and the shower stopped draining. Two of my other friends in our group both had problems with their rooms too. I'd say the food at the main dining room buffet was just okay, but the food was good at the 3 restaurants you could book were good (initially they wouldn't let us make reservations with our package until my friend complained which was ridic [... read more]ulous given we had a large group).

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Great Resort

Spent 5 days at this resort in August. The grounds were beautiful. Several different restaurants with a good selection of food. 24hr room service with a limited selection. Two pools, one with a swim up bar. Very quiet around the pool. Beach was beautiful. Lots of shade from palm trees and the water was protected by a floating barrier. The rooms were nice with a jacuzzi in it. Our room overlooked the pool which was very nice. Internet was provided but was poor quality at best of times and almost [... read more] nonexistent in the room. Timeshare rep is relentless, get rude with him and he'll disappear. We wondered around the family resort next door. It's grounds were beautiful however it it much louder. Had a great vacation here.

Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Good resort great staff

We were upgraded to vip. Services were excellent staff were excellent everything was excellent except for plumbing. They were working on it when we arrived. Older buildings being renovated I believe. Toilets not working daily. Water coming through the ceiling of one room but moved to a honeymoon suite. No hot water sometimes. Everything else was excellent which made up for the plumbing renos

Viva V Samana by Wyndham: Simply Amazing

Stayed at Viva Wyndham for a week in mid August. From the moment we arrived we knew we had made a great choice. Staff are amazing and make you feel like you are an old friend. Rooms clean and well appointed, food at buffet and a la cartes great, beach stunning. We would highly recommend this hotel to adults looking for a quiet getaway. If you're looking for a party resort keep looking, lol

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Punta Cana: real "Hard" rock...

Fun-tastic.... Only problem for vegetarians. Never starved though. One very important thing is waterpark/slides. If you think you can book this for waterpark/slide fun, its not big at all if your kid is over 7 yrs. so, waste of money if you think to have that kind of fun... Go somewhere else. Staff is excellent, new manager has just been appointed 2 weeks ago.

Cofresi Palm Beach and Spa Resort: Awesome Vacation

This resort had a lot to offer with 5 pools and 3 bars, as well as a very entertaining "Entertainment Group" and friendly staff. Not for the weak at heart - there are LOTS of stairs! The beach area isn't the greatest, but they make up for it with their own beach area - large sand area with lots of loungers and a few cabanas available. It was advertised that food was available 24 hours a day, but I believe it was just for the VIPs because once the restaurant closed at 10:30, no snacks or coffe [... read more]e/tea was available until 7 a.m. the next morning. The nightly entertainment was enjoyable, except for at The Dome - way too many people crowded into a small area. We were fortunate to find a seat, as many people had to stand off to the side, but our seats were way off to the side and the stage was barely visible, while there was a huge area sectioned off at the front, I'm guessing for VIPs, that remained half empty. Our room was spacious and clean, but the air conditioning in our room was not the greatest.

Grand Bavaro Princess: Clean and friendly resort

Good variety of food in the buffets, everyday different theme. Beach is fairly clean and well maintained. Lots of green on resort property makes you feel like you are out in the jungle at times.The resort shuttles run non-stop all day with minimal wait time, after about 3-4am you've got to request to be picked up via the reception and you only wait a few minutes.. Overall had a great time

Majestic Elegance Punta Cana: Wonderful Resort

We had a great time at this resort. It was clean and bright, the grounds were well kept, the staff were always there to help with a smile on their face. Food was very good. Our room was excellent thanks to Adam at the front desk who upgraded us to a Deluxe Suite with premium amenities. Thank you Adam......Would also like to recognize Gabriel Bautista - General Manager - Food Services, who made us feel very comfortable and was very accommodating and made our stay special. Thank you Gabriel ....

Grand Palladium Select Bavaro: Punta Cana Trip Aug 2016

OK. let me start by saying this was our honeymoon resort 10 years ago. We returned here 10 years later with the kids (three girls 7, 4, 3) - Aug 2016. We flew Air Transat. Only good thing was registering for their Kids Club -- totally free and fully worth it. You get your kids seats selection for free (basically only pay for the two adults). You can use the club class line to check in. You get a snack coupon for each kid since they dont give out snacks on these flights unless you pay for them.  [... read more] Got to the Bavaro resort lobby around 1:30. Got our check in documents/keys, etc and received a cold welcome drink. Concierge said the room will be ready only around 3:30--that's how it started. Believe me I know what i'm getting into with All-inclusive trips and realize there will be minor little issues here and there, so keep this in mind while reading. I will "TIP" along the way for useful things we learned that you could take advantage of. TIP: if you love walking this is the place to go. If you have little kids that don't like walking, try a smaller resort. This place is pretty huge. Take the little coach train that drive around every 20 minutes to get from one spot to another. TIP: use the map they give you -- you will need it. We walked around and took the train to the first dining spot we saw -- Las Torres buffet. The whole resort is divided into four sections (Bavaro, Punta Cana, Palace, Royal Suites). You can make use of most of their facilities. Went back at 3:30. Got to building 26 to see the room was not even ready. They moved us to the adjacent building (building 24). Standard Room (Master Junior suite: two double beds, pullout couch, separate washroom and a small balcony facing the grounds. Sink got clogged the first time we used it. We all went swimming and walked back around 7. Key didn't work. Tried a bunch of times. I then had to leave my wife and 3 kids standing there wet and ran in my slippers all the way to the lobby (about 15 min walk). Later that night we moved to building 17 (Room 1712). TIP: Building 17, 18, 19 are luxury buildings at Bavaro -- Building 19 I think is for Travel Club guests. When we came back with the kids asleep we went into the new room and only then I noticed there is no separate washroom--this was some sort of couples room--couples who don't mind going to the washroom in an open concept room. The closure was a frosted glass door that was open at the bottom and top and the shower was the same. You can see pretty much everything. When we went to the washroom we had to send the kids to the outdoor patio. We thought we should be grateful and didn't want to say anything. (this was night 1/day 2). Day 2 night-- the power goes off twice only in our suite -- we called for repair at 8 and when we came back to room at 11PM it was not done. We called again and repair man was in our room from 11:30PM - 12:15AM. Day 3, I had enough and we were moved to building 30 -- this was an upper room with an ocean view. It was a blessing. I hated to complain but we couldn't stay without a closed bathroom. Restaurants: We tried El Arrecife (buffet), Tapeo (spanish), Sports bar (bar food 24 hrs), Rodizio (Brazillian), Las Torres (buffet), Adelita (buffet). TIP: dont waste time at Tapeo -- it was like some weird try at modern spanish fare. There was gray paste on our plate that was supposed to be a sauce. It tasted like you would image gray paste to taste. Rodozio was okay. Meats were not great but the chicken at the steakhouse was good :-) The indian (Bhogali) was the best meal. Great curry and tasty naan break. Although the second time the curry had too much garlic salt. TIP: The buffets are nice-- there is las torres in the punta cana side and then the main Adelita in the Bavaro lobby. The mangos is what drove me back to punta cana. i ate so much fruit for practically every meal --mangos, papaya, watermelon, passion fruit. The Arrecife is crowded and open (no AC). Food wasn't so good here. Guy at the grilling station was switching from cutting raw chicken breast to flipping burgers and didn't really wash his hands -- salmonella for sure. He got busted by a guest so he grabs an egg, crushes it in his hand, uses that as soap and rinses it off. Island sanitizer? Pools: If you have kids, spend your day at the Kids club pool area (punta cana section). There's a big pool (shallow and deep end) as well as a splash pad area with a big pirate ship and small water slides. This is in the centre of the resort. The kids club is also very nice. It was a drop in sort of program but a lot of people left there kids there the whole day--weird. but i'm sure they had fun. They had a small rock climbing wall and a small zip line section and a movie theatre. The Bavaro side pool is crowded and really dirty. the other pool in the Punta Cana section closer to the beach is also crowded and dirty. All the pools had tiles missing here and there and two of us cut our feet on these -- no good. TIP: Bring lots of bandaids. Beach: The beach was amazing -- can't complain. The water is a little mirky, closer to the shore so you can really see much when under, but i'm sure it is clear when you go past the safety buoys. The chairs do get taken fast but we weren't there to sun tan, so all good. The sand is incredible, soft, and white (or yellow, i couldn't tell). Souvenirs: The resort has souvenir shops and also some vendors that come to the resort and setup tables. These are not locals but are employed by the hotel to sell--you really wont get a good deal or anything. The gift shops are okay for little magnets ($3/$4) but frames, shirts, etc are expensive. The day before we left we found out about a free van that takes you off the resort to a local gift shop to buy souvenirs. We go to the little "strip mall" and went in. It was a clean mall like store. When we go in they said, "once you finish we will take you outside--more stuff there". So we bought a few magnets and went outside--we were ushered into another store--no price tags, so i figure this is the place to bargain--and it was. TIP: Buy one or two small things in the first store and wait to shop at the second. We got tshirts, little glass bottles with sand, purses, etc. Other: The resort had a claim your prize thing on our door so we went to see. It was a sales tactic to sign up for their Palladium Travel Club. They took us to a staged room in building 19. It was the most amazing place i've seen. Honestly, take the tour for curiosity sake. After rejecting their sales pitch of $17000 membership, I asked for the prize. It was $100 off at the spa. My wife used it for a $99 massage. Fully worth it. Muguel and Francisco from the front desk were very helpful in resolving any issues that arose.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Beautiful resort

The grounds were lovely. Everything is so clean. Food was great. Very pleasant employees. The best beach I have been on, soft sand, and clean sea water. There is nothing I would change. I have absolutely no complaints.

Marien Puerto Plata Hotel: Amazing resort

It was a good hotel... food was awesome and they were very friendly... great place to pass an anniversary... had ocean view which was nice as well. Went to ocean world and got to see dolphins upfront and sharks

Grand Palladium Punta Cana: Excellent resort

The grand palladium punta Cana was an amazing family friendly resort. The staff were all fantastic and made our stay very comfortable. The food was excellent. The grounds are big but don't that deter you, it's easy to find everything you need or want! Def recommend this resort

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Very nice

The resort is beautiful. The rooms were spacious. Everything from the rooms to the grounds, pools, beach, restaurants, common areas, rest rooms were incredibly clean and well maintained. The staff were all very polite, friendly and professional. We never felt wary or uncomfortable at any time. Food and drink were always available. We were grateful for being in a quiet part of the resort, but appreciated the option to join festivities when we wanted to. Coming from Canada, we don't know  [... read more]any Spanish and the staff knew very little English so it was often difficult to ask questions. But everyone was very eager to assist. Both staff and guests were mostly Spanish speaking so we didn't socialize with many people during our stay. The food and drink was plentiful, but the islands have a very different flavour to everything.

Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda: Very nice

The resort is beautiful. The rooms were spacious. Everything from the rooms to the grounds, pools, beach, restaurants, common areas, rest rooms were incredibly clean and well maintained. The staff were all very polite, friendly and professional. We never felt wary or uncomfortable at any time. Food and drink were always available. We were grateful for being in a quiet part of the resort, but appreciated the option to join festivities when we wanted to. Coming from Canada, we don't know  [... read more]any Spanish and the staff knew very little English so it was often difficult to ask questions. But everyone was very eager to assist. Both staff and guests were mostly Spanish speaking so we didn't socialize with many people during our stay. The food and drink was plentiful, but the islands have a very different flavour to everything.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Great vacation!

We stayed at the Grand Bahia Príncipe which is part of a complex including Bavaro, Esmerelda and some other resorts all in the same grounds. Be prepared to walk or take the trolley which passes very often on 3-4 main "roads" to get from the lobby and buffet area to the beach with stops in between for the pools or your villas. Rooms were nice and clean although not always fully re-stocked (tissue, toiletries, towels) but clean and spacious. The buffet had a great selection all the time with fres [... read more]h fruits and great desserts and a theme each night for variety. I would have liked a snack station near to the 2 giant pools in the middle of the complex as we were drinking in the swim up bar but nothing to munch on. There is a snack bar/buffet at the "main" pools just before the beach. Those pools are always crowded and seemed less clean and peaceful for us. The kids have a fabulous water park with slides which is fantastically entertaining for the kids. The wifi is minimal (in the steamy lobby for 1 hour a day) which can be a blessing or a curse depending on your needs. Drinks were strong and yummy. I would recommend this resort and def this chain.