Booked it based on the grand Bahia Príncipe in Jamaica experience last year

Unfortunately, this was the worst, and because it was a Bahia Príncipe, the most surprising trip I have ever experienced. I have been to the BP in both Tulum Mexico and Jamaica....love loved them I booked this quickly through an agent because it was a BP and I depended on the quality. My first room had a mini fridge that was old so the compressor sounded like a truck and there was construction and dust immediately across from my room entrance. I asked to relocate and requested 'any' room as [... read more] long as it is quiet. They located me across from the main pumping station for the site and the maids service area. This change required 3 trips to the front desk and waiting until after 3 pm. and when I got to the room, there were NO towels, period and no mini bar. Wallpaper was peeling, shower glass was dirt!!! They moved me again, I OFFERED to pay any upgrade fee for this THIRD move. I literally said I was desperate for a four star quality room! They insisted that I was correct to complain and they wld move me again So the THIRD day I had to go to the front desk four times to make these arrangements 9, 2 pm, come back at 330 they said, then come back at 630. At this point I went back to my shitty room and literally broke down and cried out of frustration. It took two more phone calls and the final room was ready. So Get into 2250, Cannot have a hot bath for two reasons Drain in the tub is broken and the water pressure is like a dribble, (room was great, clean, towels, in good order) Air conditioner remote did not work. Called desk They sent repair guy, he agreed the remote was not working....he turned off the at and said he would fix it the next day. That never happened Then the storm hit I lost all tap water in my room for 24 hours The next day, extensive flooding on site and the main swimming pool was closed due to SEWAGE contamination. For my last two days, not allowed in the pool or swimming at the beach due to rough water and debris. I was allowed to take out a paddle board ONE day of my entire trip. I went alone on this trip for the first time and am so glad I did not subject anyone else to these conditions. I start a new job next week and this was a quick getaway to recharge. I travel south twice per year between Jan and May This was the worst most stressful, horrible experience I have ever had. A four star?, absolutely not. My trip dates were March 19 to March 26 2017 Maryann Mason

Awesome resort!

This was our second time being at this resort and we love it!! We had a one bedroom suite which was fantastic! Clean, very spacious, two bathrooms and two balconies. The food is great and the people working hard here even better! We even met workers from three years ago and re-established bonds with them. What we loved about it is it's a quiet resort with its own beach. Never had to fight for a chair on the beach.

Good value for the price

This was a great hotel for a nice little getaway. Great crowd with a nice mix of younger and older folks, singles and couples. The karaoke bar was a blast! The beach was not all that nice (a little rocky), but I was just fine lounging by the pool. Rooms were decent and service was good. Overall, a great time!

Grand Bahia Princepe San Juan

Upon arrival we requested a closer room as they had us at the furthest point of the resort. They told us to come back the next day at 12 00 pm to see if the manager could do anything for us. I don't understand why they couldn't help us when we booked in at 1030. PM. Also the drive to the resort took over one hour and 45 mins to get there. It didn't say that upon booking our trip. For the first four days in a row our toilet was over flowing every time you used it. Can you imagine standing in you [... read more]r own urine and the toilet over flowing. At the same time our bath tub was backing up leaving horrible debri in the tub. Making it impossible to shower. We call six times in four days. They would show up with a plunger . clear toilet only to leave and go to use it again and it would over flow again .I'm sure you can see how frustrating it became. No apologies from the front desk. Seemed to be quiet a language barrier. Sand flee bits I am covered in them. Over a hundred bits. Terrible!!!!! Upon inquiring about golf when we were booking with you we punched in golf as a priority. When we went to book some tee off times. We were told there in no golf courses that we could play at. The representitive did call a coarse that was private. He informed us we couldn't play there because it was private. However I insisted he call and inquire. When he called they said we could play but it would cost 295.00 USD EACH PLUS 60.00 USD to rent a cart. Converting this to Canadian dollars it would have cost us around 1000.00 to play one round. Rediculous! !!! Upon checking out not even a thank you. The clerk handed us a piece of paper and pointed to a porter to give the paper to. We have been travelling to the Carribian and Dominican Punta Cana for over 30 years. It's not that we are not aware of some inconviences but this really left a bad taste for us. We filled out a survey from the Hotel customer service manager. Thanking us and an appolige then saying we hope to seeing you again soon. Come on people no explanations for poor service and putting up with all the inconveniences we experienced. What's that all about. In closing for the passed ten years we have taken two trips in a calendar year. We will be seriously thinking about staying in our own country and make the best of the winter time. I'm disappointed about even thinking about it however I would not want to experience another poor trip to a resort that lacks the service level that should be a priority.

Exceeded all expectations

We were very pleased to find a resort that accomodated a wide range of interests and she groups. We enjoyed the the night life in "the street" after 11 and the option of lots of activity around the main pool or quite serenity at a more private beach on on the beach. Great food options as well. We dined at all three speciality restaurants. Our advice is to book an early setting as you can enjoy the beach view and prompt service. The buffet also did not disappoint. Our room was roomy with a genero [... read more]us balcony. The A block was a great location, close to everything.

Beach looks like dirty lake water

If the beach was nicer I would rate this hotel a 4 star. Very family friendly, wonderful staff, something for everyone at the buffet, clean suites. However, it's a shame they've set up that ugly wall of wave breakers.. looks like a bunch of dead whales along the beach. The ocean water is beautiful and blue in the distance and as soon as it reaches that man made wall the water turns brown. Lots of sand fleas too, we itched our ankles all week.

Starter Resort

Grand Bahia Principe San Juan is a secluded resort with a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. I spent a week there. I think this resort is great for first time travelers. It provided quality accommodations and food. The beach is acceptable however there are nicer beaches and the entertainment can be hit or miss. There are excursions for a reasonable fee which can help you gauge if your a relaxer or and explorer and a town nearby enough to walk/cab to without encroaching on you. NOTES: resort [... read more] is over 1hr from airport, vendors on the beach but only in a specific area, access to local and american funds limited, 3 pools but the biggest is too loud.

Beautiful resort

The rooms were very clean and the staff was amazing. The beach was very large, but sometimes had garbage and excessive seaweed on it. The pools were beautiful and very clean. We very much enjoyed our trip. The only negative is that we were not made aware that their would be so many HS grad. Trippers at the resort...likely an excess of 600.

Just awful

The hotel grounds were lovely however, we only found out once we arrived that the hotel books group vacations for teen grad trips, in the hundreds. To be specific, during our weeks vacation (Mar 9-16) there were 756 teenagers. They were horribly disrespectful, drunk, violent and inappropriate. This is completely the hotels right, however, families should be made aware of this when booking a vacation with young children. During our week, 8 were sent home (that we know of), there were multiple fig [... read more]hts and a young woman was found passed out, drunk and had been sexually assaulted (told to us by hotel security). There were countless complaints made to hotel staff, by our group and many others and nothing was done about this. In fact, hotel staff and the Air Canada rep assumed we knew that this was the party destination for graduation trips. These children were underage & drinking nonstop. The trip was hosted by a group called S-Trip, which was young twenty-something college students that couldn't control a thing. It was a terrible week and we will never travel back to the Dominican Republic because of this experience. Our vacation was ruined. We are extremely disappointed.

Clean and Friendly

This resort is clean and although 25 years old its very clean. They take care of it. Be aware of the front staff that are trying to sell the Grand Bahia Principe time shares, they are very pushy. Even though we said no at least 10 times they were still persistent to the point that we avoided the front lobby at all cost. They do have a couple of pools but the main pool should be split and separated for the families and the partiers. Some inappropriate things happening with the little kids right t [... read more]here and that was the only pool for the kids with shallow ends.

Nice vacation

I would like to say the resort was an old report but well kept. The staff were friendly but they were very pushy abiut selling their time share foe all the countries they are set up in. Booking through air Canada gave us a couple extras, like free safe for the week (would have been $29 US) and 4 a la care dinners instead of 3. We had our own rep Mr. H or Hipilito, that helped with everything from getting extra towels to helping get us a great deal on a family day trip. I was not pleased that the [... read more] hotel was hosting a high school trip and put the kids though out the park in with the families. They really should have set them up all together in one arena so they wouldn't bug the other guests. But having said that one the complaints came in from the other guests they posted security outside the rooms of the students. All in all it was a nice vacation but because of the time share people I don't think I would go back. Dominican is a very nice country to visit perhaps a different city and resort.

So, so.

After being at Bahia hotels many many times in Punta Cana, Puerto Plata Bahia was not a good experience. Atlantic side is NOT good. Hotel it self 3.5 star. ( 21 years old). Sea is not like Caribbean Sea. Windy all the times. Dark sand not pleasant. Hotel employees are very nice, polite, hard working people. They try to fix many of your problems. Food is good, bars are awful. (Not the servers). Hour and a half from airport. For us, never again.

Very nice resort

Everything was perfect The oly think I brought might golf clubs for nothing there it's no public golf course close to the resort. The one I was planning to play turn private and no body mentioned When I book the trip I was specifically ask for that. But besides that all good Tks.

A super Resort, Excellent Holiday

This is a wonderful resort and we have been going there for over ten years.. The staff is so friendly and treat you as family. There are activities going on all the time to keep people interested and happy. Good shows every night. great access to beaches, pool and shops. The restaurants have wonderful food and great service. I have recommended this resort to many people who have all loved it.

Beautiful resort

The resort was really nice. Rooms were very clean and staff were great. The beach was always ruff, they have tried to control this by placing large breakers in the ocean. The pools were ok. The one bad thing was no water pressure in either of the bathrooms we had. We were a long way from the main buffet (1.5Km). Any side trips you want to take are 2 -3 hrs away. We didn't do any for that reason. The drive to and from the airport could have been better with the attendants passing on some info  [... read more]from the island.

Average resort

I thought this resort was pretty average. The food was good when it was hot. It could use some updating in the rooms. The service was hit or miss but there were a couple of times it was really good. I liked the layout because it made the large resort seem small, all the amenities were in close proximity. The beach was ok but nothing spectacular.

Somewhat disappointing

This was our 7th vacation at this resort. This has been our destination of choice mainly because of the service staff who work there, the wait staff, the cleaners, guest services, etc. We have travelled quite extensively but very simply, this staff, are the best. Professional, friendly and very social! They can't do enough to make your time with them pleasurable. Too bad the same cannot be said of management. This trip we decided to treat ourselves and book a suite. Upon arriving we were put in [... read more]to a regular room. We went to the main desk and were immediately referred to the guest services staff. We were told that the suites were being renovated and we would be in the room by Monday, this being Saturday. Come Monday, no room. We were now told Tuesday. However, we were told by people we had met that they had been offered an upgrade to another resort because this resort was over booked. So, on Tuesday, back to guest services and again, no available suite. I asked to speak to the manager and was told, surprisingly, that the manager did not speak to guests and left it to staff to deal with complaints. That was not an option for me so I insisted in speaking to the manager and shortly thereafter he arrived. I told him that I expected better treatment and wanted to know the truth; were the suites being renovated or was the resort over booked? He admitted that the resort was over booked, but he guaranteed us that we would be in a suite by Friday. This was very disappointing but as we were staying for 2 weeks we, at least, would have one week in a suite. Then we discussed the issue of compensation and although they would not refund cash, we were able to negotiate an agreement for various services that more than compensated for the loss of a week in the suite. However, this was not the only disappointing aspect of our vacation. One reason we keep returning to the D.R. is the quality, quantity and variety of food at the resort. This time, on several occasions, the buffet ran out some food, particularly at breakfast. There were several mornings that they ran out of bacon, bread for toast and one morning, eggs. This is unacceptable! Lunch and dinner in the buffet was usually varied as they had theme nights and the food generally good. The al a carte restaurants were excellent, although on the recommendation of others we met we did not go to the Japanese restaurant. We did have the romantic dinner for 2, on the beach, and cannot recommend this highly enough. We have been married many years but this may have been one of the most romantic evenings we have ever had. The setting on the beach, 50ft from the water, the mood lighting and soft music only added to the excellent food and service. We had a server named Jose who catered only to us and it was wonderful. My wife and I are in somewhat of a quandary. This vacation did not live up to our past experiences at this resort and we are questioning whether we would return, despite our love for the place. Our 1st vacation there as about 18 years ago and every time we went was a pleasurable experience. We just don't know if we would take the chance and return again. Grand Bahia has spent some money and every room has a new air conditioning system. Some renovations have been made but it is getting tired looking. Bahia has expanded its operation recently, opening several new resorts in the D.R. and they make be neglecting some of its older properties. If this trip was an outlier compared to other trips we've made then I would recommend it for a mid priced vacation, if for no other reason than to experience what a resort staff should be. We will be considering our options as to whether we will return or not.

Not what I expected

I felt miss lead on this vacation. Was told we would have king size bed, didn't have one, was told safe in all rooms. Yes, there is put it is an additional cost and a key lock not a touch code. Even when I purchased the key to our room safe, I was told by the front desk staff they could not guarantee me somebody else (the staff) couldn't get into the safe. Not as friendly staff as I have experienced from this chain of resorts . Older resort needs some upgrading.

Very nice resort but poor snorkelling at the beach

The resort is very nice and the staff are very friendly! The food is fresh and tasty! The bus ride is a bit longer from the airport (1.5 hours) but you get to see the real life of Dominicans thru the small towns on the way to the resort! The resort itself is quite big, you have to walk a lot! The beach is a long one but the sand is not white and fine like Cuba's. There is no fish to see when you snorkel in the beach area! You have to join the excursion to enjoy better snorkelling! If the reso [... read more]rt had a better beach, I would give it a solid 4 stars. Nevertheless, we had a good time during our stay!

Wonderful Bacation!

We really enjoyed the hotel. We thought the rooms were fine and liked the cathedral ceilings and balconies off the rooms. We enjoyed walking the long beach and loved the tradewinds keeping the heat very tolerable. The food was fairly good and lots of variety. We enjoyed the evening performances. The staff were very friendly and helpful and polite and hard working. The ocean water wasn't as clear as we expected and was not great for snorkelling etc.. We were disappointed that there was very poor  [... read more]free wifi connections and as a matter of fact we were unable to connect to the wifi all week. The mini bar in our room was not refilled every day as promised. The sports facilities were adequate but not great. The pool areas were lovely and we liked the open concept layout of the main building. Overall we were very pleased and enjoyed our relaxing vacation.