Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana Resort - All Inclusive

The hotel was gorgeous but I definitely recommend staying at the Ambar not any of the other parts of the resort if you want the option for a more relaxing experience. The good: Buffet at the Ambar, free wifi in the lobby, gorgeously manicured grounds, bloody marysThe bad: food at the restaurants you had to make a reservation for, [...] at the Punta Cana front desk who lied to our faces multiple times about trivial things like how many beds were in our room.

We stayed at this resort the last week in February 2011. The grounds and the room were very lovely. The food was super awful. Five nights was way too long to live on rice and orange water (called orange juice by the resort). There was a definite language barrier with the staff which made it difficult to communicate. Many of the staff members only speak Spanish. Also, it was like a smokers convention here. There is nowhere to escape the stench of smoke other than your hotel room, and even that had an ashtray in it. The beach was crowded and packed with smokers as was every other space on this resort. Would never even consider returning.

Good:1. Beautiful hotel in paradise with great weather for our entire trip.2. Really enjoyed snorkeling expedition and massages.3. Drinks were very good and they'll make them strong for you! Not top shelf, but still good. FYI, tip [...] well at the pool and she'll take very good care of you!4. Entertaining MC's and activities at the beach and main pool.5. Good looking people everywhere you turn, so we fitted in well :)6. Clientele consisted of: 50% Canadians, 25% Europeans, and 25% Americans. Made for interesting conversations with other guests.Bad:1. Only stayed for 4 nights and all of the good restaurants were already booked up almost a week out, so we couldn't eat where we wanted to.2. The food made us nauseous for most of the trip.3. One day, the maid removed the sheets from our bed and didn't put new sheets on. We called room service to get sheets and no one came, so after 2 hours, we tracked down a maid outside and had her come up to put sheets on our bed.4. We were told we could use the pool in front of our hacienda and an employee embarrassed us by making us leave and move to a pool further away since we weren't given the correct bracelet to use our pool.5. Hotel staff friendliness was hit or miss. Some were very friendly and helpful and others acted like they'd help us only if it wasn't too much of an inconvenience for them.6. There were minor language issues since all employees didn't speak English and we speak broken Spanish. Wasn't a major issue for the most part, but little things like asking for a steak "rare" and getting it "charred/well-done" happened from time to time.7. Most bars close at 5:30pm, so had to go to bar lobby or casino for drinks after 5:30pm. Could also get drinks at disco after midnight.8. People reserved beach/pool chairs with their towels even if they never used them, so we had to scavenge hunt for chairs every day. Hint: reserve a chair by 9:00am each morning with your towel even if you might not ever use it.Bottom Line:Had a great time, but probably won't go back to the Gran Bahia Principe due to their customer service issues of helping us only when it wasn't too much of an inconvenience for them.

Worthy 100%

Great place if you like the sun, beach, water and walking. Grounds are beautifly capped. Its our second time in 3 years, first time with 2 other couples this time with 6 couples.

This resort is huge. Everything you need is within the resort. There is no reason to leave. The train takes you around the resort. It was wonderful. There are bus stops everywhere, so you always have access. The people were the nicest we have ever met. They were so friendly and helpful. There was wonderful entertainment by the pool all day and at night in the outdoor theater. They put on amazing shows from dance shows to the circus. The restaurants had good food, but I would recommend not to eat the buffet outside by the pool. The only thing we did not like was that you could only make a certain number of reservations at the restaurants depending on the number of nights you were staying, so you could not eat at the restaurants every night. The nights you weren't eating at a restaurant, you were stuck with the buffet. The buffet food was okay. They did not have a great selection of food at the buffet. The beach was stunning. The sand was perfect and the water was beautiful. The palm trees on the beach completed everything. The resort was just gorgeous. Everything was maintained so meticulously. The rooms were nice, but the air conditioning did not work so well. The ceiling fan was a huge help. I would recommend getting a room closer to the beach, otherwise your view from the balcony is not the greatest, and you have to hike to the beach. There was a small shopping area on site right near a small casino and a disco club. The entertainment was great, just wish the food and drinks were as well. The alcohol was not top shelf, and the bars were always very busy, making it hard to get a drink right away. Overall, good experience.

The staff did not speak english well or at all. the staff was not friendly, my sister was assaulted by a male housekeeper and we had to fill out reports and the guy was fired but the hotel by no means went out of their way to make up for the situation. no where near enough was done, the manager seemed to think that it was part of their culture. the people booking trips, [...], were making ppl pay with cash so that they could keep the money for themselves, all in all the staff was not to be trusted in any area of the hotel. i would not recommend this place to anyone.

horrible service

We had a great vacation! We upgraded and stayed at the Esmerelda. I would recommend upgrading if you are thinking about it. You get far more amenities and services.

When coming, upgrade to very best rooms possible A MUST--will get you into "esmeralda" hotel, which is perfect: very new, excellent A/C, perfect housekeeping, private butler, spacy, excellent bathrm. --rooms just do not get any better than this---five to six stars (and we have stayed at a lot of all-inclus.)!!! Now, with highest Upgrade possible--Esmeralda section is separate: perfect beach and pool, and jakuzzi--all five star plus--- real good food etc. Would have been perfect vacation if it hadn't been for half of the Dominic. Rep. people's bad, non-caring-rude attitude...Esmeralda people were trying to be very friendly if you tip high and a lot---but everyday we encountered one who was very annoying to deal with--incl. resort shuttle bus drivers....store employees---just unheard of bevavior--- how for you to deal with this? 1. Maybe come prepared knowing this so you are ready to expect sometimes no cust. service and 2. be super friendly first with them--then they come around to you. Do not get me wrong---a lot of very nice people at Esmeralda, incl. top exec. manager (because I had to report an incident: one hotel shuttle driver almost hurt my 82 yr. old Mom really badly...)-why? because he didn't pay attention nor cared...)--- just enough annoying people there to leave a little sour taste behind--but that is a problem of the whole island, not hotel.... BUT: overall, yes go there, very fancy, you will love it!!!