Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro

The resort, at first sight, is beautiful. Checking in wasn't too much of a hassle and our room was ready right away. We were somewhat disappointed with the "junior suite", we had requested a king bed and ended up with two doubles. The pool closest to our room had a problem the first day we were there and by the second morning it was empty and crews were digging all around it. It was empty all week, which posed a problem on the windy days that we were unable to be on the beach. My suggestion for future travelers would be to get beach towels early and save chairs at the pool, the quiet pools fill up quickly and unless you are interested in playing the "crazy, crazy pool game" at the large pool by the beach, you'll have an issue.

The food at the buffets and restaurants is sub-par at best. I'm not sure how this resort is considered 5 star. Our room was rarely cleaned before we came back from the beach or pool. The earliest it got done was 4pm.

There is also a major language barrier everywhere you go, so if you can't speak spanish, be prepared to not do much talking. We spoke only to each other the entire time.

The pictures and the price make this resort very attractive, but I would have rather spent more money and had a better experience.

First for those who say it is a 3 star. They are wrong, the only complaint i have for my whole trip was the other tourests that were there, alot were european, and very rude, not all of them but most when they knew that we didnt speak spanish right away they were rude. Besides that eveything was amazing. The food was good, anywhere you go tropical you cant go overboard with alot of exotic food that you are not used to or else you will be in the bathroom....Bahia's food was above normal for these resorts. The grounds are Lush and amazing, every where you look people are keeping them up. The lobby is great marble everywhere, very friendly staff, and the front desk is the only people you can count on to speak 100% english. All the other staff Try very hard to accomidate you. After a few days you will pick up general things, that will help you along the way. The beach and pools were awsome, allways could find a spot, it was quite busy when we were there but there was allways a spot either on the beach or pool area. The resort is quite big so if you dont like to walk, then dont complain, but there is a tram service that runs every 2 mins to and from the front to the back of the resort. All and all great vacation, for my first one to a tropical destination....Will deff recomend to others and will be back sometime.....

Jeff at the front desk is a hoot....

Also Jose at the front desk....great guy

***** golden stars

Just returned from a week at Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana. Before I left I read many reviews to see what I could learn about the resort and get some tips on traveling with a toddler. I was concerned when people either rated it 3 and under or a 5! The reviews were so mixed.

Now that I’ve returned I thought I would address some of the issues people had. For those reviewers who gave it a 3 and under you must be accustomed to dinning with the Queen. You possibly employ a full time chef and maid and therefore yes, the resort would be below your standards. Give me a break. May I suggest that next year you try and take your family to the South of France for $1,200.00 each!!!

For those of us who are middle class, work fulltime, don’t have a chef to cook for us, don’t have a maid to clean up after us, don’t employ a chauffer to drive us around then this is definitely a 5+ hotel!

Don’t get me wrong, I have my standards…and they were met! The resort was wonderful! The food was good. The staff was helpful. The service was quick. And the accommodations were excellent! The room included nice touches like slippers, robes and an umbrella in case it rains. The maids would clean the room once during the day and in the evening while you were out for dinner they would exchange the wet towels and turn down the bed.

For those of you who are traveling with a toddler for the first time let me give you some tips.

* The resort does sell diapers in the lobby gift shop (while I was there they only had pampers small and large) but a previous poster mentioned that guest services was able to get some for her. The prices were obviously more expensive but sometimes you have to pay for the convenience of not having to lug everything with you. They also sold baby shampoo, body wash, cream, pacifiers, teething rings and a few toys.

* One of the other things I traveled with was a float, but when it got a slow leak mid week I was able to find one is one of the shops for $10US. They had floats for infants, children and adults. They also sold water shoes, “crocs”, beach bags, sarongs/wraps etc.

I wish I had know this and I would have saved on space in my luggage and not have had to ask others traveling with me to use their space for my stuff!

* bring lots of zip lock bags!!! Large, Medium and snack size. They came in handy. I would keep a large one always packed with diaper supplies, another with various snacks for the day. A few in my bag at all times for a sippy cup filled with juice, or a wet bathing suit. I also used the medium size to warm milk in the sink for her morning bottle. I bought milk at the lobby gift shop for $2 and kept it in the mini fridge. Poured the amount I needed into the zip lock bag and put it in a sink of hot water.

* Bring a small amount of dish soap to wash bottles, sippy cups and spoons.

* bring lots and lots of sunscreen. The sun is really hot and we had to apply 2-3 times throughout the day. We finished a spray pump bottle in 3 days! Its really expensive in the gift shops.

* bring disposable change pads. Not every washroom had a change table and it was useful for changing diapers on the counter.

* bring disposable diaper bags and disposable bibs.

* Bring diaper rash cream and Vaseline. With the change in food my daughter got a really bad diaper rash.

* Bring a few jars of baby food or a box of cereal. My daughter enjoyed to food, but it did come in handy sometimes at the beach if your not hungry and she is. They had a few for jars of pureed veggies and no name cans of powdered formula for sale at the lobby shop.

* Don’t bother bringing sand toys – you can buy them there and save yourself the hassle!

* The crib that they place in your room is a playpen. Do bring a few blankets to cover the bottom and cover the baby.

* I purchased a few thinks to keep her occupied on the plan and found that stickers were great. A travel size Magna doodle was great (I noticed they also sold a few of these in the lobby gift shop, as well as a couple of barney dolls). The best item was a Travel size Mess Free Go Paint set by Elmer which I got at Toys R Us. I also purchased the finger paint option.

* I brought my large Graco stroller and there were pros and cons to having it versus a folding umbrella stroller. The umbrella stroller would have been easier to collapse and carry on the “bus”, however in the evening our large stroller did come in handy when she could lie back and sleep while we continued to have drinks or stroll around. For our next trip I will try and find an umbrella stroller that reclines…Lol!

If anyone has further questions please feel free to email me.

We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday here. Beautiful, clean hotel; friendly helpful staff; excellent selection of local and international cuiusine; a wide range of cocktails; nice large pools with ample space at the pool bars and many sun beds; and a large sandy - if slightly busy - beach.

The icing on the cake - if you can get it - is an upgrade enabling you to use the Diamond Club pool (quieter and cleaner than the pool next door) and also the Italian restaurant at lunchtime which is next to the Diamond pool (fantastic ambience and very good a la carte service).

To summarise:

HOTEL

Very well maintained with big, clean air-conditioned rooms. Mini bars contain soft drinks and beer. We left tips of $2US each day for the cleaner and $2US each day for the mini bar, and written notes with requests for more beer etc were always met. A trolley service takes you from ones side to the other but is actually quite walkable if you are reasonably fit. NB: Watch your step as there are some steep flights of stairs and the odd surprise step here and there

FOOD AND DRINK

Very good range and quality. Cocktails were either fruity or creamy (latter at the pool bar - Pina Coladas, banana mamas, Coco locos, Cocolate Monkeys - were pre-mixed but usually still of high quality, but make sure they know you want alcohol with them, as the basic mixture is also available to kids). For the evening a la cartes some of the gourmet dishes might contain nuts so check with restaurant staff if you have any allergies. The Garden Grill is the best a la carte if you like ribs and steaks. NB: book up the evening a la cartes as soon a you can after you arrive.

POOLS AND BEACH

Pools not too deep, but large enough to have a decent swim. Beach is pure sand. Sea is a bit choppy for some and gets deep very quickly but very good for swimmers. Lots of beds at all sites and ample room to move them for more / less shade.

ENTERTAINMENT / NIGHT LIFE

More of a hotel for families but still a good range. Theatre show each night. Live music in the lobby bar (shuts at 11pm). House band in the main square (11-12); busy but very well air-conditioned karaoke in the Piano Bar; a disco and a privately-run casino both open till late.

OPTIONAL EXCURSIONS

We did the Bavaro Runners trip - which took us up the mountains for lunch; showed us the sites; took us horse-riding; and to a beach. NB: Bring some sweets, clothing and pens/ crayons for the local children if you can. Excellent. Also recoomend the helicopter ride. They fly you over the hotel.

OPTIONAL WATER ACTIVITIES

A lot of people are booked at once so you might have to wait a while - take your sun cream with you. Also, the harnesses on the parasailing did not feel as secure as one might expect in the EU, so might not be for the faint-hearted.

SHOPPING

Not much variation across the island to what is available on main square. Jewellery in Harrisons is VERY expensive. Otherwise there are some cheaper souveniers and ample opportunity to buy cigars and alcohol. Not many sweets though. NB: The market traders in the main square are enthusiastic salesmen but don't forget to haggle equally enthusiastically!

Overall, we did not feel there was much to moan about, and any quibbles we had were soon rectified by the friendly and helpful staff (who have a very cheeky sense of humour and a love of life and music). I would thoroughy recommend this resort - and I wish I were still there now.

Coming from Young Couple who like to have fun but still experienced travellers

Flew with Sky Service

- not so fun really cramped seats nothing much to talk about, just don't fly with this airline if you want to sleep without morning cramps

Booked with signature vacations

- call into the travel agent that way you can haggle the price and request certain ammenities definitly worth the call rather then paying the online price

Arrival

-fast! flew threw customs baggage claim was quick and checked in on the bus so when we got to the hotel went straight to rooms

Vacation

-got upgraded to the Ambar resort definitly lucked out!! near beach much larger rooms separate shower and jaccuzi and room service plus way better a la carte options and buffet also better worth the price difference if you don't like hearing crying babies more of a couples resort as it is adults only

-traveled with boyfriend plus four other couples they all stayed at the bavaro and us at the ambar so was able to really compare the differences

for example

Pool

-bavaro's main pool near beach filthy at the end of the day and always full (meaning pee from kids and drunk patrons) while as our ambar's pool see through still at end of day and much quieter

Food

-just don't eat the salad and you'l be fine

the vegetables are more or less steamed or boiled just the lettuce is washed in tap water which is undrinkable

-generally good enough to fill you up

Alcohol

-tip your bartender's remember your waitresses names and you'll be taken care of no problem generally all drinks are over the top sweet but you can always ask for more alcohol like we did and ask for a drink to be made a certain way so you don't have to drink their ultra sweet drinks

Service

-truthfully service was amazing at the bavaro and ambar it didn't matter, you don't have to tip for these hard workers to service you any better and they really seemed genuinely appreciative to recieve anything

-all seemed to be in great moods especially if you made time to get their name which is on their name tags! and they always greet you with a smile and a hola they really remember you as long as your friendly

- a friendly demeanor goes a long way i wouldn't want to service a snob anyways

Beach

-amazing beautiful got lots of beach volleyball in and suntanning

bring more then one bottle of sunscreen

or you'll be paying 20 us dollars like i did for a small bottle

-you don't need to wake up extra early to reserve chairs we went back and forth through out the day always found shade for our group of 10

-moist evironment made skin silky smooth no need for make up

Tours

-don't go on jurrasic boogies especially in the triopical storm fay like i did

our 4 hrs tour became 8 hrs driving a standard dunebuggy with no ignition (got jump started) no seatbelt broken helmelt with pelting rain and winds at 70 m /hr not so fun, especially when your sitting soaking wet with the tour guides telling us well only be waiting 10 DOMINICAN mins (times by at least 7) and on the horses in the blinding rain isn't fun either especially when your saddle keeps sliding off cuz the poor horse was too skinny

Carribean Festival

-nurse sharks and sting rays

-pretty cool kind of short

-snokeling fun but short

-if your an experienced snorkellor don't come to punta cana for coral very high near surface more than average dead and doesn't compare to mexico's

-crew on board very entertaining and energetic

TIPS

-bring more than one bottle sun screen

-haggle for everything that has a price on it

-don't be afraid to walk away from what you think is a good deal

they will chase you down if its not their best price

-say the person name that's serving you they will remember you

-you do n't need to speak spanish lots of multi lingual individuals there although it wouln't hurt to learn a couple of words or the whole language

-bring mosquito repellent if your as prone to bites as i am

my group everyone got only 1 or 2 i got like 20 not cool

-ask for another a la carte we did and we got 5 doesn't hurt to try

-remember your on vacation put on a smile and have fun

-go to the spa refirming package for 130 us soooo worth it

my boyfriend even loved it you get exfoliated covered in chocolate and a massage after

-flight out sucks line up crazy long line up to get baggage checked in another line up to go through customs and another wait before you get on the plane

-if you have some time to kill go wait in terminal two its air conditioned with less bugs soooo much cleaner too (PUNTA CANA AIRPORT)

OVERALL

-soooo fun great service, friendly people, drinking games, relaxing (alone time) and beautiful memories

The Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro was fabulous! Just to clear any confusion you may have - the resort is large and divided into sections: Punta Cana, Premier, and Ambar (Adults Only). When reading reviews take a look at all sections including Gran Bahia Principe Premier, Gran Bahia Principe Ambar, etc. This will help you formulate a cohesive idea of the resort. My girlfriend and I stayed in the Ambar section but will comment on the resort as a whole or when otherwise stated.

Food: Clean and huge variety! The resort caters to both Europeans and North Americans. Thus, you have many choices when it comes to style of cuisine. It impresses us how the staff was able to keep up with so many people throughout the day (at least 300+ at a time in the main buffets for all meals). The moment you left your table your plate was removed and glass filled with water. I have been reading some of the reviews and have been puzzled with their critique regarding food and service. Where do you know a place in our neck of the woods where food is of large quantity, inexpensive, service incredible, buffet, found on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and which caters to thousands of people daily?

We stayed at the Ambar and thus were able to eat lunch there. By staying in the Ambar section you are able to eat at all restaurants and snack bars across each section of the resort. We would say that the food at the Ambar was a little better than the main buffet. We found the Premier to be the worse buffet.

Rooms: Rooms were clean and spacious. TV is mostly Spanish stations. There are three English stations.

Beach: Beautiful! Water is not as clear as Cuba however just as warm. The water is a little wavy (1 foot waves) consistently. Sand is white. There are tall palm trees that cover parts of the beach. As long as you arrive at the beach by 9:30 you will find a nice cover except on Saturdays/Sundays when you should get there for 8:00.

General Service: Was above average to great! Food service was excellent as previous stated. The front desk answered all questions. The bell boys were quick to respond. We only had an issue with the swim up bar at the Ambar pool. It seemed they served Spanish speaking people before us...

Airport: Wow, more efficient than others. Punta Cana is small but gets your luggage out fast. When leaving it was a little hectic because the previous days flight was delayed due to a tropical storm that went through Dominican Republic. Thus, two flights to Toronto went out at the same time.

Pools: Large and spacious. 3 large pools!

Language: Mostly Spanish

People at resort: Spanish speaking/European

Staff: Friendly. Dominicans are very nice people.

Tip: We tipped our maid and she appreciated this by providing extra towels, etc. We left tips for servers and bell boy. The service was great regardless of the tips. Other vacationers in the resort were not tipping. Very few tipped.

Overall, amazing resort! Great value for the money! Enjoy!

I don't understand the negative reviews! There were a few things that could have been better, but my boyfriend and I didn't mind, we were on vacation in paradise!!

Check in on the bus ride to the hotel was great! No need to wait in line when we arrived! Two friendly bellboys drove us to our room and carried our luggage to the door. The keys were not activated :( They drove us back to the lobby where the keys were re-programmed right away and we were driven back. Atleast we got to see the grounds of the hotel on the first night which was nice. We tipped them $10 and they looked stunned at the amount! Thats how much we would tip back home, and these boys need the money way more so we didn't mind.

Our first morning we went straight to guest services to book our 3 a la carte reservations (Maiko was excellent japanese, the Garden Grill served delicious steaks and il Cappriccio had very good italian appetizers and desserts. I highly recommend all three) People complain about not knowing about/getting the reservations, they should have read the sheet of paper provided in the check-in envelope on the bus. (it also contained room keys, a map of the hotel, description of the restaurants and hours, pool hours, bar hours and a few pages of english to spanish translations)

The beach and water were absolutely spectacular! more then enough chairs and palapas even though the hotel was fully booked. We had no trouble finding a spot each day. We would put our towels on chairs each morning before breakfast around 9-10am.

The grounds are HUGE! The little shuttle would come by every few minutes to take you from one end of the resort to the other. Here's a tip, if one or 2 pass by and they're full, hop on the one going the other direction and it will turn around and take you to the other end anyways! We didn't mind the amount of walking, but if you prefer a smaller, quieter resort, this may not be the one for you.

We never had a problem getting into the buffet for any meal, although we did see people lining up almost everyday (Lines moved quickly). Some travellers on this site complained about being "rushed" because their plates were removed right after eating. I see this as excellent service, which we received everyday! The workers are fast and efficient. Some of the dishes did run out, but were replaced within minutes.

Some travellers complained about the food at the snackbar which was mostly burgers, fries, pizza, etc. We would switch it up and go to the Buffet every couple of days. I don't understand why they would complain, rather then going to the other restaurant. The shuttle takes you almost to the door!

The a la carte restaurants were a much quieter atmosphere with impeccable service. There was a veriety of appetizers, entrees and desserts. The wine was refilled promptly for us at each dinner.

The best drinks were at the Lobby Bar. We had no trouble being served at any time of the day.

Unfortunately the front desk wasn't very friendly. Luckily I didn't need to speak to them often.

I think it is important to remember that this is a 5 star resort, but in a very poor country. The servers, gardeners and maids work very hard for very little money. Tip wherever you can! If you were at home in Canada or the US you would tip at every meal 15-20% so why not leave a few dollars for people who need it much more?

Enjoy this beautiful resort! Remember, you're going for the beach and to relax! Try not to let the little things ruin your vacation!

Loved it.

I have to say, the airport surprised me, as it looks more like a beach house, that an airport :)

Being an European, the first and biggest impact I had was the tropical weather. Hot humid air all day and all night is not something I'm used to, and as soon as I put my nose outside the airplane, I felt a huge difference, but you get used to it fast. The tropical weather brings a lot of surprises because it is very likely that it will rain everyday, but it rains for 5 minutes or less and then stops. It's like a natural air conditioner, because the air feels light and fresh after it. The lighting storms are amazing to watch also. We watched one on the beach, crashing a few miles away from the shore, and it was a terrific view.

By the time our bus arrived the hotel, there were several ladies dressed with Dominican typical clothes serving some watermelon juice to the arriving travelers.

Everyone was so so so so nice. Very kind and pleasant. They'd do anything you'd ask, and everybody had always a smile on their faces :)

There was plenty different choices for the food at the main buffet restaurant, and they didn't kept on repeating the menus everyday. The breakfasts were great: lots of tropical fruit and natural juices along with the typical American and European breakfasts. You do have to make previous reservation for the existing 'a la cart' restaurants, but it's worth it, because the food is great. The only trouble might be choosing witch ones you'll go. I loved the Mexican, and would recommend it.

The beach and pool were awesome, always very clean and with pretty warm watter. The towels were always clean and we even got them warm from the laundry once or twice. Along with that, all those coconut trees and white sands, and that WW2 old ship stuck on the sands, a few yards from the shore, makes you truly feel like you are in a desert, unreachable place, and that really feels great :)

ps: be careful with the sunburns

I'm writing this review late, as I stayed there in April for a wedding!! I felt compelled to write a review because of all the negative ones, which I personally don't understand! I loved absolutely everything about it!!

Flight was long and tiring but worth every minute of it!!! Finding our bus was easy, and the workers took our luggage for us. They do expect a tip though, so just be aware!!! On our bus the guys were very friendly and checked us in and explained about the resort quite thoroughly!! The resort is huge, but that is what I loved about it!! We arrived at night so basically we went to bed as soon as we arrived at our villa.

We stayed at the Royal Golden and I loved it!! Our room was spacious, and very well cleaned!! The maid was very friendly and always stocked our fridge with extra beer, pop, and water. The room doesn't come with an iron, but I found room service to quite efficient and got one right away. Well air conditioned.

People complained how big the resort is but I thought it was great! I enjoyed walking through the grounds and taking in the beauty of the grounds. They were very well kept, clean, and absolutley beautiful. Plenty of shade everywhere. There is a tram that can take you around the resort if you don't feel like walking so I fail to see the big issue. I personally didn't notice the exhaust fumes, but if there was any it was very little. Nothing to complain about.

The beach was my favorite part. It was gorgeous, with white sand and blue water. They kept the beach spotless, and there was always plenty of places available to lay down. The Pool were very nice to, though not as refreshing as the ocean. Kept very clean, and we really enjoyed the swim up bar. Bartenders were very nice, and made delicious drinks.

I reccomend going snorkeling during your stay. We went and enjoyed every minute of it. We got to swim with nurse sharks and sting rays, and then got served drinks on the boat. The staff were incredible!! Lot's of laughter and dancing with this crew.

Food at the resort was mainly good. The main buffet was huge and always rather good. We ate at 4 a la carte's and we enjoyed most of them. The brazilian I didn't like at all. The meat was tough and tasted really smoky and service was a bit slower. The BBQ was not bad, meat still a little tough. I loved the Mexican, the staff were amazing and food was excellent. I also really enjoyed the french Paris, very good service and food. The snack bar by the pool was mediocre at best. Pasta always hard, and didn't care for burgers or hot dogs. Stuck to the fruit. There is also a burger place open at night if you out parting, which is pretty good.

Night life was very good. We went to the theater 3 times and all three shows were excellent. I especially enjoyed the Micheal Jackson show. There is also a kareoke bar, and a band that plays every night there. There is a casino, drinks aren't free, and a disco club which I really liked going to.

Shopping was very good here also. There is a market square located in the resort where I did most of my bardering. There is one further up the beach but I never got the chance to go see it. We also went into town to a canadian owned store to buy souvineres, but it was a bit pricey. Quite interesting to see though.

The wedding itself was breathtaking!! Again the staff were awesome,and the reception was very nice.

Overall I thought the resort was excellent, and would definitely reccomend it to anybody.

I booked a trip for the four of us to the Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana. The Gran Bahia Principe complex where we stayed is home to the Bavaro, Punta Cana, Premier, and Ambar resorts. With the Club Golden we had “access” to both the Punta Cana and the Bavaro areas of the complex. (They are mirrors of on another). The Club Golden does come with some extra amenities so you need to determine for yourself if it worth it. Special check in and dinner reservation is included that alone to me was worth the price I paid. For us it worked out along with the other things we did (as you will read below).

The trip was through Funjets / VIP travel which made the trip, especially once on property where our representative Amy was extremely helpful in setting up excursions for the family and providing me with a quick an informative introduction to the property.

So that I can get this posted before next years vacations I am going to make it more of bullets to help your stay be the most enjoyable.

Bring extra cash and tip … we over tip … and as long as you’re discrete, you will be quite pleased that most of the staff will recognize you and go out of their way for YOU.

Also, we brought school supplies for the housekeeping staff for our room. Kids in the DR have free school but parents have to pay for supplies. It’s a little extra weight to haul the notebooks and stuff but I will tell you we hade no problem with the supplies and general keeping of our room. Also keep in mind the evening staff is different from the daily staff … they change out the towels … tip them too … ditto for the mini-bar (we had extras stacked on top to replenish ourselves.

Tip the cooks behind the omelet and crape bars … it’s hot back there behind the grille.

Invest in Bubba Kegs and take them with you … you can get them @ Wal-Mart or Target … if I could have had a case of them shipped to me at the resort I could have made quite a profit. Benefit will be in the fact you won’t be running back to the pool bar for drinks (a lot) and the ice won’t melt before the drink is gone or you get back into the water.

Using VIP for excursions we had the opportunity to have Miguel as our tour rep for a excursion to Soana Island and a second excursion with Bavaro Runners which took us to a Cattle farm and a plantation owned by local families. Both were long days but experiences that the family will never forget. Miguel is an excellent host for his country and has made it tempting to return to DR to stay real soon just to have him as a guide on more excursions.

Quick list of bests:

Restaurant: Garden Grille

Housekeeping staff member: Idania – Building 22

Bartender: Only female barkeep in the Bavaro side … sorry for not knowing her name. She uses tequila for medicinal purposes while at work … cleans the sinuses she claims. See her for your ailments if you know what I mean.

Best Palapa at the pool: Located by the hot tub of the main pool, when you stand getting ready to get into the tub and turn around to face the beach it is just off to the right.

Overall my family had a great vacation but with any vacation or activity you have to contribute to your own success!

Hello, i sadly returned today to Portugal from bahia principe bavaro.... and really i can't understand the bad reviews!!!! I stayed for 9 days on paradise!

Everything is wonderfull, i really mean everything, maybe some turists that think they are smarter than the others and think they are superior to the dominican people (who are simply a great people)... maybe that why are a few bad reviews!

Make this quick!

Service - great, they never try to cheat u! Fast and nice!

Staff - Briliant always smiling, Portuguese people always eard "Portugal Bacalau com Batatas" the very best!!!!

Pool - Always warm and clean

Food - no word! a get more 5 kg

A la carte food - excelent experience, if you dont like the food, you can always go to buffet "Buganbilia" and eat more

Beach - Quiet and very clean... good naps!

Excursions - I recomend saona and bavaro runners!

I dont remenber anything more!! Everithing excellent... Don't read the bad reviews! I see many turists treating bad the dominican peolple there... offcourse if you treat bad someone you shouldn't expect the best treatment too!!!!!!!!!

They love the Portuguese and Spanish people!!!!

Was there from June 21st until June 28th. Regret not to have stayed two full weeks. Incredible hotel room, food, drinks, beach, pool, shows, personnel, waiters, bar and restaurant service. Magnificient weather, of course. Perfect for families.

Just don't forget taking your Malaria Pills before trip for a total of six weeks, as well as the recommended shots........and your Best Mosquito Repellent !

Have a Great Vacation !

My husband and I stayed at the Punta Cana section from July 4-10. We got married here last year and wanted to spend our anniversary HERE again :)

Upon our arrival, we were upgraded to the Ambar Section (which is brand new) adults only. We were able to use everything in the Punta Cana and Bavaro section, however, no one else was able to use our section unless you were part of the ambar sections. The resort is HUGE! but we dont care, we're young and we could use the walk. Just ignore all of the bad reviews you hear out there. You are the one who make your vacation worth while. If you are picky and have it in mind to complaint, then everything will go WRONG. Go with an open mind and remember this is not the US. The service is great if your great to them, if you have a nasty attitude, they're going to give you a nasty attitude lol so just be nice :)

The Ambar section had a private pool and three private a la carte restaurants (which you must make reservations upon your arrival) and one buffet restaurant plus many pool bars and pool/beach restaurants. You can also go to the buffets and some of the a la carte restaurants on the Puntacana and Bavaro Section.

We got married last year in the Punta Cana section and had NO complaints, we returned this year and still NO complaints. We are already planning our third trip for next year :)

After reading the previous two reviews, I felt compelled to write my own review of the Bahia. I stayed at the Bahia from July 6th to July 13th in the Diamond section.

Check In: We arrived in the early afternoon and were directed to the Diamond check in. There were no line ups and we were given a welcome drink with alcohol. Surprisingly, our room was ready and our requests had been followed. Our 4 ala carte dinner reservations had been booked with the times we requested. I had e-mailed the Diamond club with our requests a few days prior to arriving.

Room: Our room was clean and comfortable. The only bugs that we saw for the whole week were very tiny, harmless little bugs much smaller than ants.

Service: We found everyone who worked at the resort to be friendly and very polite. We had one problem on the second day. Our room had not been serviced until the late afternoon (5:30 pm). I don't know why this happened and it certainly didn't happen again. A concierge came up to us at the Diamond pool and asked us if we had any complaints and we told him about the room not being serviced. After that, we had our room serviced twice a day (morning and evening). New towels were delivered twice a day and chocolates were left on the night table. We received two phone calls during the week from reception asking how we were enjoying our holiday and if we had any complaints. We had towel art and flowers in the room every day.

The waiters at the bars and the restaurants were excellent and attentive. Water glasses and wine glasses were refilled without having to ask.

Food: We actually found that the food was much better than we

were expecting it to be. We ate most breakfasts in the Italian restaurant where there was probably 10 people there at the most. It was very quiet. We ate lunch at the beach but not at the main snack bar. We found another restaurant overlooking the beach that served better food. Half of it was under construction so I don't think that many people knew that if they kept walking a little bit further they would find that the other side was open. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the main buffet was open before 7 in the morning so that we were able to have some breakfast before going on an outing and before going to the airport. Fruit was plentiful and delicious at each meal. There was a wide variety of choices.

We enjoyed the restaurants. We ate at the Gourmet, Steak House, Italian and Japanese.

We also had the option of eating lunch at the Italian restaurant which we did on one occasion.

I did not ever have to ask the bartender to put alcohol in my drinks. I saw the rum being put in each time.

The lobby bar was lovely to sit at and enjoy an after dinner cocktail or a cup of tea.

Beach and Pools:

The beach is beautiful. We went for a walk and a swim before breakfast when the beach was empty. We spent most days on chairs under the shade of the beautiful palm trees. The ocean was much more refreshing than the pools which seemed to be too hot. The Diamond club also has their own pool which was very quiet. I did notice people who were not from the Diamond section were also using the pool but it was never crowded.

Internet

We took advantage of the free 20 minutes per day of internet use in the Diamond Room.

I would definitely recommend staying in the Diamond section but I should mention that there is presently construction going on close by and you can hear hammering if you are sitting by the Diamond pool.

right.... were to start. it was unreal. I am 19 my boyfriend is 21 we just went the two of us.

i was panickin coz we'd paid all this money to go somewere were the sea was guna b cold, aggressive and windy (the atlantic ocean) but oh my i was wrong. we got there and it was beautiful, so hot that you cudnt bear to sunbathe, the sea was calm and warm and the breeze was the best! its like the warmth of the carribbean and the breeze of the atlantic.

theres free water sports including kayaks which we took out about a mile to see the shipwreck up close, that was cool! one day we even did water aerobics which was hillarious in the pool!

the rooms are huge!... with a jacuzzi tub :o) which was good, we even used it to wash our clothes haha. the maids are nice too. always polite, we left her a dollar everyday. you get a minibar in the room which they fill with 7up, big bottles of water, pepsi, diet pepsi, orange soda and beers everyday. the tip means he leaves a little extra for you.

right... for all you that are confuzed about this two sided crap, its simple. The hotel is not split. There arent two sides and no one really cares (sort of) ... well the hotel is one big one with two roads runnin through it. the far left being the punta cana side, the middle being the bavaro side and the far right being the ambar part. The bavaro and the punta cana are exactly the same! the ambar a little more posh. We was on the punta cana side in block 6 (right near the main pool n beach) the only major thing is that in the reception area the people from the bavaro part have to eat in their restaurant on the right and the people in the punta cana side have to eat in their restaurant on the left. you'll get used to it, its no big deal.

As for food. lobster on the first night we got there, fresh fruit is awesome!.. anything you could possibly want to eat was there. some people kept saying in reviews that the food got boring, but how can it, they change the menu every night! they have american nights, mexican nights, italian nights ectt... its so good!

We made a few friends whilst there. The majority of the people are american or canadian ( some french canadians too ) they are all dead friendly though! the people at the hotel are too... just give them an ollaaaa as you walk past and theyre sure to remeber you n greet you.

Money!! take american dollars! the exchange rate for dominican money is ridiculous! they charge you way more in their own currency so take dollars! the sellers wont push you too hard if you say not today or somethin but the flea market at the hotel is ridiculous. big man or little woman, if you have money they will sell you something. but it is funny trying to bargain with them.

whilst we were there a few people in the market place offered us home grown substances if you know what i mean. not common. but did hapen

for women n girlys who are worried about goin topless or strap marks, i always go topless but i heard it was against the law in dominican. Lots of women there go topless and no one cares. Its natural.

We went on two trips. Manti park. oh my its so good, definately not worth missing, and its so cheap, plus a free bus from your hotel there and back!!

Annddd.... saono island. really good too. catamarang n speed boat trip there n back and dolphins, starfish, beer, carribean beach, barbeq on the beach. shopping trip on your way back to the hotel. you couldnt ask for more. definately dont miss!

one more tip. try the margarita's! they're awesome

Before i begin my review. let me just say that you should never take to seriously someones online review (including me own). everyone goes on vacation expecting something different. and everyone perceives things differently. some people can stand in line for 20 minutes and write a 2 page rant on how terrible the service. Others are more understanding and choose to focus on the high points of the vacation. Its all a matter of perspective.

Okay: so im a 17 year old girl and went on this vacation with my mother as a graduation present. We spent weeks researching different hotels and this one seemed to me the total package.

Check in: Check in took at least 20 minutes, but there were waitresses walking around with fruit drinks (non alcoholic so the kids can have them too)- and the time passed fairly quickly. We were upgraded to Ambar(a seperate section of the hotel-more on that later). After checking in there was a line of trams waiting to take you directly to your building. There were a few mixups (one of our bags was brough to the wrong room. but we got it less than 2 hours later-nothing missing).

The Room: BEAUTIFUL. I could not rave about it enough. the power only works if you put your room key in a slot near the door. which is great cause youll never lose it. My mom and i had expected 2 twin beds but were not disappointed to see the enormous king size bed with the white lazy canopy over it. The room had all of the ammenities- tv, couch, table, chairs, dresser, closet, shower, jacuzzi tub, etc.

Layout: The resort is seperated into 4 different living areas. Bavaro-Punta Cana-Ambar-and im sorry i dont know the name of the 4th. From what i saw- each section has its own buffet, bar, and lounge. There is a main pool close to the beach that can be quite a walk from some rooms so there are 2 other smaller ones. One close to the middle of the resort and one in ambar. There are trams that will take you to different parts of the resort and they definitely make the place seem bigger than it actually is. A walk from 1 end to the other is no more than 5-10 minutes. and if your walking in the evening after a show-or just going for a nice walk. the weather is pleasant.

Pools & Beach: I can only speak for Ambar but it was definitely beautiful. i little shallow- not more than 4'6" or 4'7" deep. Each pool has a pool bar and at Ambar the bartenders are extraordinarily nice. But the third day of trip they new both my name and my moms name and spoke to us as if we were old friends. if you want a lounge with shade by the pool you need to get there pretty early. definitely by 9. maybe by 8. shade on the beach is always available but how good of a spot you get depends on how early you get down there. i would definitely recommend getting there by 10. the snack bars on the beach and by the pool are decent. they usually have a couple kinds of meat. pasta or potatoes, fries, vegitables, salad and fruit, and a few other things. everyone is allowed 1 hour of non motorized water sports a day. we didnt take advantage of this until our last day when we went kayaking out in the ocean. it was beautiful. my mother met up with a guy who payed the hotel 35 dollars on his first day there for a catamaran lesson...and every day after that was entitled to an hour out on a catamaran. he took my mom out one day and she said it was the most enjoyable thing she'd done. so i definitely recommend dishing out the 35 because ive been told its absolutely worth it.

Food and Drinks: Alot of people are going to criticize the food. and ill admit there were certainly things at the buffet that i never want to see again. however, you have to take into account the fact that they are cooking for people from dozens of different countries and cultures...and trying to accomodate each. we went to 3 a la carte resturaunts but agreed that we preferred the buffet. the servers were always very pleasant and there were always several delicious things to fill our plates with I thought the drink selection was fine. coco locos are amazing. and bahama mamas are good too. banana mamas are also a good choice. Breakfast always comes with bloody marys and or screwdrivers.

The garden grill: this was nothing terrific- very basic not impressed.

the italian resturaunt and french resturaunt- i cannot remember which was which and at this point dont care much. neither were that good- but it didnt ruin are vacation. we were somewhat disappointed but the next day we went to the buffet and forgot all about it. ive heard the japanese a la carte is very good though.

Entertainment: though we never went to the night clubs at the resort we did find a fair amount of stuff to do in the evening. we only went to 2 shows. the micheal jackson show and some culturally diverse show. the mj show was much better. the highlight of our evenings was the casino. we are both big gamblers so we spent a good hour there evey night playing black jack and the slots. the casino is small but there are always alot of slot machines open and room for you at the card tables. there are alot of vendors in principe village trying to sell you stuff so watch out for that.

I guess thats about it. feel free to contact me with any questions about the resort.

Hello!

I've been to Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro from the 25 th June to 2nd July 2007 and it was funtastic. The bedrooms were hudge, the service was excelent, the great staff, they were so nice, so funny. The buffet was awesome, all activities were really funny specially the "Perfect match" game. I loved it. And is really as the music says - volverás! Si, yo volverei!

This Resort is amazing!

The food was great!

The people are fantastic!

The resort is very clean!

The beach is very nice!

The rooms are large and well kept!

I would return to this anytime, we had a fantastic time!

I know it has been a few years since I was at this resort, but while I was posting another review I thought I would do this too.

The hotel grounds were gorgeous!

Service was good!

Food was great - lots of choice - a la cartes were easy to book and a nice change from the loudness of a buffet setting

Event staff were fabulous - always trying to get you to join in on activities - very friendly and welcoming

Always plenty of activities going on (pool/beach aerobics, darts, dance lessons, Spanish lessons, volleyball etc.)

Beach was amazing! Sometimes difficult to find a lounge chair unless you went early though.

Would I go back? YES, definitely!

We stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe, Punta Cana side for 2 weeks. We booked our holiday through Thomson travel agents.

When we first arrived to the hotel there were some maintenance works going on at the front which was really annoying because you couldnt hear the receptionist. But the reception is so far away it doesnt effect your stay. We went straight to our rooms on a little cart which was driven by the bell boy and our suitcases were on the back. They even took our suit cases up to the third floor which was handy. The room was nice and big, very clean and the air conditioning was brilliant as it was sooo hot!!!

First thing me and my boyfriend did was head to the beach to see what it was like. Amazing, clean and well kept. There are plenty of umberllas on the beach so you will find somewhere to sit as the beach is huge.

We used to sit on the beach in the morning and swimming pool in the afternoon. I must say every day you will see staff walking around picking up any litter!! They take pride on keeping that beach clean. Just annoys me when you see people leaving their plastic cups/cigarette buts on the beach...they get picked up very quickly though. And the same goes for the poolside. There are plenty of bins everywhere.

Poolside was a bit busier, but still we got there in the afternoon and we still found a lounger every day. We sat at the main pool near the beach.

Now down to the food. We went to 4 a la cartes. Mexican, garden grill, japanese and gourmet. The best was Garden Grill and Japanese. The Gourmet was a bit strange but still we tried it. We heard good feed back about the other restaurant el pascardor which is a fish restaurant. Shame we missed that meal due to being back late from an excursion.

The buffett is good, ive been to other all inclusives before and this one was by far the best. Breakfast was a selection of everything you can think of. Lunch we always had near the pool and the food isnt kept there for to long, you will always see them replacing the food with freshly cooked food. There pizza is really nice. Ok you will get board of some of the food but hey you got to expect that. I must say i did like the fact that every night in the buffett they will have a themed night, like Italian or Chinese.

The room was cleaned every day by our maid which was nice to always come back to after a day out. She done all her little art work with the towels and flowers which was nice. We left her $1 a day.

We went on 4 trips:

Soana island - amazing, the best trip of the whole holiday...get to go on a paddle boat, then speed boat and after you had lunch on the island you get to go back on a caterman.

Monster Truck Safari - really good, got to see different bits of Dominican and how they live. We visited a school and even a vodoo witch doctor which was a bit scary.

Ocean World (swimming with dolphins) - we went by aeroplane which was only an 18 seater!!! Swimming with dolphins was amazing. We saw the shark and sea lion show but there wasnt alot else to do there. We did get a bit board.

Speed Venture - you get your on speed boat per couple, my boyfriend drove it and thought he was James Bond...was really good fun and you get to stop off and swim with tropical fish which was amazing.

The hotel overall was very well kept, you will always see them keeping to very high standards. Staff were brilliant, there were some struggles with the language but us english are used to that going to other european countries. It wasnt a problem. Oh and they will give you a little passport which will tell you about the hotel and will have a map on. You will need this when you arrive as the resort is quite big. And to be honest it doesnt make any difference which side you stay on (Bavaro, or Punta Cana) they are exactly the same!!

Also if you are searching to find out what the weather is like out there,ignore the weather forecast's as it is always wrong apparently. Its boiling hot and sunny and you get the occasional storm which clears quickly.

If you are going to this hotel, enjoy....me and my boyfriend certainly did and we would recommend it to our friends and family so that must mean something.

Just returned from a lovely holiday with my partner; we could barely find any fault with the hotel. We paid £931 each, flying from London Gatwick, and I think the holiday was excellent value for money. I'd urge people to remember how reasonably priced the All Inclusive's in the DR are, and be realistic with their expectations: it's 5* Dominican Republic, not 5* London or New York!

I'll split my review into sections to make it easier to follow. And please excuse the length!

Travel agent/booking: we booked and traveled with Thomson's. This was the only major downside to our holiday! The rep was useless: she was never available, very patronising when you did corner her, and she didn't even let any guests know about departure details (what time we were being picked up from the resort etc). Absolutely appalling. I would urge anyone going from the UK to avoid Thomson's for this reason.

Flights: we traveled on the Thomson Fly airline, and I was very impressed with the flight. There was tons of leg room (don't book extra leg-room seats though as you can't stretch your legs out). Comfort packs were provided, as were earphones, and you had a personal seat-back TV, with a selection of music, games and films. You could upgrade the TV for £5 each way, which gave you a wider choice. The flights left pretty much on time both ways.

Check-in: a bit noisy, as there is currently some construction work taking place outside the lobby (they're re-doing the entrance). Very quick though. As soon as we'd checked in we hopped on a tram/bus with our cases and were taken to our room. We e-mailed the hotel prior to travel and requested a room away from the construction. We got a good room, third floor as requested, away from the construction, and in a good location, very near the beach and main pool (room 10301).

Rooms: lovely. VERY big and spacious, with a massive king-size bed, dressing table with TV and large mirror, and a large separate sitting area with two chairs and a table and a sofa. There was also a balcony with plastic chairs and a table which we rarely used. Wardrobes had plenty of hanging and shelf-space, there were also drawers in the bedside tables and dressing table. An umbrella is provided which came in handy a couple of times!

Bathrooms were large and marble, with a jacuzzi tub. There were plenty of towels, as well as face-cloths. I'd advise avoiding showering between 6 and 7, as the water-pressure wasn't very strong at these times, I'm guessing because everyone showers at this time. It was still fine though, just took a little longer!

The rooms were spotlessly clean and we only saw one bug (sadly a cockroach :-s) during our entire stay, which was dead (I think they must regularly put down bug killer as we didn't ever see any live ones!). The maid left us some lovely towel art and flowers the first few days, but it petered out by day 5 :-( The mini-bar was generally re-stocked daily, but a few times we didn't get any beers. This would be one of my complaints, it could be slightly irritating as you do pay for it.

The safe was $32 dollars per week, well worth it and hotel will not accept liability for any valuables not left in the safe. Warning: the safe was pitch black, I'd recommend bringing a torch if like us you put a lot of stuff in your safe!

Pools: if you don't have any upgrade (like Diamond club, Ambar etc) then you have a choice of two pools, the main one at the beach, and a smaller one towards the center of the resort. The pools were immaculate, very clean, and both had swim-up bars, which was cool. We preferred the smaller pool as it was quieter with fewer children. There were pool activities (like aerobics and bingo) throughout the day, but I didn't find it too obtrusive. Loungers could be hard to come by at the main pool, but we always got a lounger under a palapa at the small pool, even if we didn't get there till 11/12. The pools are quite shallow, not for big swimming fans, and could get quite warm as a result (I was struggling to find anything wrong, so this was one of my 'complaints'!)

Beach: stunning! White sand, clear turquoise water... Really lovely. It was busy near the pool and beach bar, but you could find quieter spots further away. We only used the beach a few times, but again never had a problem finding loungers and shade. Only complaint is that the swimming area was minuscule, and speed boats etc came FAR too close to swimmers. I've seen some nasty accidents caused by boats so this was a bit of a concern.

Grounds and common facilities: immaculate. The hotel really was spotless, marble gleamed, and the grounds were lovely, full of plants and flowers. A real pleasure.

Resort size: I really didn't think the resort was that big to be honest; it takes about 10 minutes to stroll from one end to the other. The larger size was a good thing in my opinion as it allowed for more variety, and you didn't feel like you were just stuck in a hotel block. I also don't understand why people find it so complicated, it took us literally 30 seconds to work out the layout! Basically, there's a central road with the reception and buffet restaurant at one end, the beach and pool at the other, and another pool in the middle. A la carte restaurants are spread out, but you're provided with a map, and there are large maps throughout the resort if you get stuck. Trams ran every couple of minutes, we did use these sometimes I'm afraid to say, more because of the heat than anything else; they stopped at bus stops down the main road.

Drinks: I thought the selection of drinks was excellent, there was a wide range of cocktails, plus beer, wine, spirits and international soft drinks rather than local ones. Cocktails at the pool bars were ready made (it would be impossible to make them all fresh!) and sometimes didn't have much alcohol. I'm not a big drinker so this was fine by me; I'm sure you could ask for a strong one without any problems! Bring a thermos if you can, bar staff will happily fill them and it saves a trip or two to the bar.

There were quite a few bars to choose from: two lobby bars, bars at the beach and pools, and the karaoke bar at the Pueblo Principe.

Food: I thought the food was very good, as did my partner. Breakfast was fairly standard: cereals, yoghurts, cheeses, fruit, fresh cooked eggs and pancakes, as well as sausages, potatoes etc etc. There was a wide selection at lunch, and you could eat either at the main buffet (with a larger selection) or the pool snack bar (smaller selection, things like pizza, pasta, chips, burgers etc, but more than enough choice). There was also a big selection at dinner (the desserts were fab!), there really was something for everyone. Food was generally hot and was being constantly replaced and replenished. Oh, and there was Heinz ketchup in packets for Heinz fans!

Drinks service in the main buffet could be patchy, sometimes you were waiting a little while. I didn't really find this an issue, and the staff work very hard, they're rushing about non-stop.

We tried several a la cartes, and here's my opinions on them:

Le Gourmet: nice, but a bit too 'fancy' for my liking; I prefer simple food that speaks for itself. The octopus salad was overpowered by too many herbs, and I wasn't keen on the corn mash; the beef was lovely though, nice and tender.

Garden Grill: my personal favourite. Buffet starter and dessert, and I had the tenderloin steak for my main which was DELICIOUS.

BBQ: OK, nothing special. Nice change from the buffet though.

Italian: awful! Please don't go, it's a waste of a reservation!

Japanese: great fun, chef cooks in front of you. The food was tasty and there will several courses which included soup and sushi. Really enjoyed this one. Had fried ice cream for dessert and still don't know what to make of it!

Entertainment: there was a good selection of things to do, from mini-golf, aerobics, merengue and water polo in the day, to the band, show and karaoke at night. The Pueblo Principe has a variety of shops, and the disco and casino are here. The vendors on the stalls will try to rip you off, go for 10-20% of what they ask! Drinks are free everywhere apart from the casino. We only made it to the disco once and weren't overly impressed, but then it was early. Most nights we went to bed at about 11, so we didn't see much of the 'nightlife'!

Language barrier: we didn't find this an issue. We made an effort where possible and this was always appreciated and met with a smile. Most of the staff had a basic grasp of English, so ordering drinks and food was never a problem, and reception staff and guest relations all spoke very good English. Please remember you are not only in another country, but in a very poor country where few people have access to education. Many of the staff try, and are practicing their English all the time, so be patient!

Overall the holiday was brilliant, and I would definitely recommend this hotel. We're already thinking about visiting this chain again next year, but in a different resort.

I think I've covered just about everything, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to send me a personal message.

My husband, two kids (7mo and 4yrs), aunt and sister visited on May 34-30. After a little mix-up with our room keys, we missed the buffet but the snack shops were open. However, since it was already so late and we had a few snacks with us, we didn't try it.

The rooms were huge and comfortable, marble bathrooms and king size beds.

The next morning the vacation started with a huge breakfast where everyone found something they could enjoy. Great friendly staff all over the grounds, even the caretakers and gardeners. The maid took great care of our room and when we asked for extra towels, we got them with no hassle.

We got internet connection and rented a cell phone which was handy whenever we split up, in case we needed to come back because of the kids. The lobby was gorgeous, hung out there after dinner almost every night. Making the a la carte dining times was a little difficult with the kids but was great. We did the Cafe de Paris and the Japanese. Great experience.

The grounds are very very clean and well kept and beautiful. No problems getting chairs at the pool or beach. Loved the pueblo shops. Not too impressed by the kids club but my daughter was happy to be in the pool as much as possible so didn't become an issue at all. My husband was happy to have the fitness facility available. We didn't do any tours or activities because of the baby but we had a great time just relaxing, having great meals and chilling at the pool or beautiful beach.

Definitely will recommend this place to anyone wishing to go for a holiday and it's a wonderful start to our all-inclusive holiday experiences. Never mind the date on our photos, we had the date setting wrong.

After reading all the mixed reviews, some petty in my opinion, some just blatantly unfair and not worth considering really. I would like to add my two cents worth (which is 1.5 cents US actually). I just got back from spending a week at the Bahia Principe Hotel in Punta Cana, with my family, (wife and kids 21, 19, and 16.) from August 16-24, 2008. Had a great time, what fault can you find by getting up every morning and spending a day on a beautiful beach with great weather.

We left Toronto on Air Canada; flight was great, on time, smooth and the aircraft had the personal, on demand, entertainment console which really helps to pass the time.

After we picked up our luggage at Punta Cana airport, we went to the exit, we were swarmed a bit by the porters, but we just firmly said “no thanks” and walked toward the hotel transfer buses. This is one part that was kind of confusing, we were told to get bus 22, by the Conquest Agent and we headed toward the bus area, but couldn’t find the bus, several bus drivers were helpful and directed us but they didn’t seem to know where the bus was either. I guess all the bus drivers are privately owned and are taking care of their own passengers. After going up and down the lines of buses three times, we found it in the end, and then they changed the bus, it is the Caribbean I suppose, but I think some kind of parking lot number or markers might help. It took about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, it was dark at the time and the roads are pretty bumpy with some major pot holes, first sign that you are not the land of plenty, unless you are going to the hotels.

Hotel check in was pretty fast, the lobby is spectacular, we did read previous reviews regarding the safe charge, so we booked the safe at the same time, I read that someone claimed they had money stolen from their room, why take these kind of chances for three dollars a day, not really worth it, is it, crime is everywhere including where I live. The front desk also recommended that we book our ala cart restaurants at guest services the following morning, we had read in the reviews that it was good idea to do it early on, which we did, we got all the times and dates we asked for, it took about five minutes, then we went for breakfast, followed by a visit to the beach, well we were on vacation.

We were driven to our room by the baggage guys, they took our cases up to the Rooms, We asked for adjoining rooms, we got it, the rooms were immaculate and spacious; the maids left the place spotless everyday with fresh towels, bottles of water etc. Our AC unit worked better than the kids room, we did get some difficulty with the keys losing their programming and not working, had to go to the desk three times over the vacation to get them reprogrammed.

Language: I would say this is the first time in any of my travels where English was not as widely spoken, I found, a lot of the hotel clientele was from South America and Spain, but we did seem to get by with basic Spanish terms, at least we tried and they seemed to appreciate it.

The grounds of the complex are beautifully kept and maintained, the resort is pretty big, but it has a tram service which is pretty straight forward and runs frequently every 5-10 minutes or so. The Beach was stunning and the ocean was so refreshing, the weather was hot the pools were massive, I did notice that as the day wore on the pools really warmed up and didn’t really in

We ate at the buffet every morning, wide variety for breakfast service with fresh egg and omelet stations, pancakes, bacon, sausages, fresh fruit, fresh breads.

We ate lunch at the buffet and the snack bar on the beach, buffet had better variety bur the snack bar was handy and the pizza was pretty good, weren’t too fond of the burgers in the Dominican though

We ate at the buffet for dinner on three nights and had our ala cart restaurants on the other nights. The buffet has a wide choice with themed nights, i.e. Dominican, Mexican and Oriental, my only complaint about the buffet dinners were that the meat wasn’t to my taste really and a lot of the dishes were a bit on the bland side for my taste.

The ala cart we chose were the Japanese, French and the Steakhouse all of the restaurants were better than I was expecting and a nice change, considering it was included made it even better.

Weather was absolutely glorious, seven days of sunshine, one night of rain (torrential) for half an hour that was it.

Verdict: I would thoroughly recommend this resort; it certainly was great value for the money. I paid C$1,200.00 pp for this vacation, with flight, accommodation and meals for a week, pretty good I think, it’s not a five star Ritz Carlton type of hotel, but your not paying those five star prices either. Hope this helps.

This resort is big! So big you don't feel the need to leave. Clean. The place is spotless. There had to be a dozen staff painting the place all day long from dawn till dusk. The landscaping beautiful. The staff, very friendly. Book your a la carte restaurants early, the day you arrive, they fill quick. With two young children the wade in pools closest to the beach were great. We thought the food was great for an all-in and the variety for the dinner buffets was impressive. Complementary T-shirts ran out quick. Don't worry about getting a towel or a spot on the beach, like I said, the place is big. In fact it's two resorts side by side; Punta Cana and Bavero, both Gran Bahia Principe. The Premier section(a third smaller resort) is closest to the road, farthest from the beach. It's about 2 km from the beach to the front gates. BIG!. There's a little bus cars that go around the grounds and they were great. Drop you right at your villa. The kids loved 'em. The only thing I had to call about was getting our suite fridge topped up. There were many other features; spa, golf, water craft. With the kids we spent the week in the pools, on the beach or eating. There's nightly entertainment at different locations through the evenings. Lounge singers in the main lobbies. Goes till (as does complimentary beverages) midnight. Dancing and singing in the courtyard and there's a theatre between the two main lobbies that hosts a variety of events through the week. It was great vacation.

We just returned from a weeks vacation and had a great time! We loved the set-up of the hotel - it had the feel of a village and the landscaping wha beatuiful. The beach was so clean and the bars and restaurants were great. The food was not the best but there was a great variety so there was no problem finding something for everyone. The lobby was spacious and beautiful, pools were very clean, rooms were large and comfortable. We have 3 boys: 21, 19 and 12 and they shared a room and my husband and I had our own room. It worked out perfectly and we felt that we were very safe and secure. There is something for all ages and interests and I would go back right now if I could!!!

Stayed on: 7/13/08 - 7/26/08

Family age: 47, 44, 37, 36, 23, 18, 15, 13, 12, 10, 4.

p.s. I originally booked DREAMS Resort Punta Cana but after reading all of the reviews and people getting sick and problems with crappy rooms I called my travel agent and changed it to Bahia. GOOD CHOICE.

BAD

1. Very Big Plain Resort

2. Food just OK. Same but in different souse every day.

3. Pool/Beach Bra closed at 5pm

4. Trolley gives out fumes/pollution.

5. Pool very HOT at 97F

6. Pool restaurant for lunch only: pasta, hot dogs & burgers.

7. If your far from beach you need to take a trolley.

8. Restaurant service VERY SLOW w/soda/coffee/re-fills.

9. No attention/activities for ages 10-16

10. Entertainment just OK

11. Beach swimming area Very Small. next to all the boats.

GOOD

1. Very Clean Resort

2. Maids do a great job (did tip tho every day)

3. Any problems fixed ASAP.

4. Rooms much Bigger then standard.

5. No problem finding a chair at Pool or beach at any time.

6. No huge lines at bars.

7. Chek In/Out Very Quick.

email LAURA to get your room request.

She got us very close to the beach.

ventas2_bpc/puntacana/bahia_principe@soltour.es

I always stayed in much smaller resorts with much tropical surroundings. exp: Iberostar La Hacienda La Romana or Iberostar Tucan.

This resort is OK but I like them much smaller.

ENJOY.

We recently got back from our stay at the Gran Bahia (July 2-16), and I felt compelled to write a review. I am so surprised to see so many negative reviews from others who stayed at the same time. While I have some suggestions for the hotel, I would definately have to say that our stay was wonderful. If you have booked your trip and are reading these negative reviews, don't worry. If you are ready to have a good time you will. We spoke to several people over our stay and everyone was generally pleased. Please forgive the long review, but I want to be as objective and thorough as possible.

Reception desk:

We arrived at the hotel around 2:30 and were taken to our room right away. There is a fee for the safe... if you are planning to do this, do it when you arrive., the desk is often tied up with people coming back to activate the safe, and it can be a real hassle to wait on line.

Our room:

The room was clean, beautiful, spacious and comfortable. The fridge was not consistently cold, but if you stuck a bevarage in ice for a few minutes it would be ready to drink. Mini bar has beer, soda and water. This was stocked everyday and often a few extra beers were thrown in because we had asked for a couple extra the first night. There was also a coffee maker in the room. The service to the room was great. On one occasion we didn't have towels and they brought them over right away. They also provided us with a iron and ironing board immediately upon our request. We didn't have anything taken out of our room.

Hotel grounds:

The grounds are large and immpecable. Everything was clean and well groomed. They are big, but I found this to be a plus. If you want a small hotel this is not the place for you. They do provide a tram service which runs from the lobby to the beach. The trams run frequently, but we generally walked. Security was all along the path in the evening and we always felt very safe. Be sure to note where your villa is. We became a little disoriented the first night and all the villas look the same.

Beach:

The beach was clean. There were a ton of chairs and palapas, so we never had difficulty finding a spot. The water was refreshing and there is a shipwreck directly in front of the hotel. Towels were readily available with the card exchange system. We were alwasy able to get a clean dry towel.

Pools:

The pools were large and they all have swim up bars. The bartenders were extremely friendly, and yes they might call you friend, but I only see this as a positive. They were always friendly and pleasant. The service was excellent and we never waited very long for drinks. Entertainment staff by the pool was excellent as well. Activities were offered, but not forced on anyone. The water aerobics were fun. They must have been effective too because I didn't gain any weight..... which brings me to..

Food:

The buffet was probably on of the best I've seen at an all inclusive. They did vary the menu daily and there was always something to eat. They were constantly restocking everything. As far as the a la carte we enjoyed.. The Garden Grill (Steakouse), the japanese, the gourmet and the Dominican. The seafood was not our favorite. The snack bar by the beach was convenient, but the variety was much better in the main buffet, so we mostly ate there.

Mini-Club:

We traveled with my 8 year old and she used the mini-club while we were there several times. They seemed to have plenty for the kids to do and she enjoyed it, but the hours were 9-12:30 and 2:20-4:45, so sometimes it required more effort to coordinate the times. There were also a few days when the hours were shortened and they opened later. They leave the club for activities too, so they might not be at the location when you drop off if it's in the middle of a session. They had a mini-disco every night and on most nights a game. They game was also called off on a few nights when the mc was unavailable. This was not a sign-in service and we would hang out to watch it. They also had a lion king show where the kids are able to participate, which was pretty cool.

Staff:

They were extremely friendly and were always having a good time. I don't know if they are this way with everyone, but if you are friendly to them they are twice as nice back. We encountered plenty of rude people during our stay. Maybe they are the ones getiing the poor service, but we never had any issues.

Entertainment:

Shows at night were held at 9:45. We enjoyed the circus and Lion King, but didn't go every night, because we were ready for bed.

minor suggestions for the hotel:

1. Include the safe in the rate, so people don't feel nickel and dimed. I'd have rather paid the extra up-front. Also it creates congestion at the reception desk.

2. Put shower curtains in the bathrooms. We found it difficult to shower without flooding the bathroom

3. Post or distribute an activity schedule, so people will know what activities are offered and when.

4. Make sure the activities are consistent or note publicly when they will vary. It's frustrating to go all the way to the mini-club to find out that it is closed for an extra hour at lunch time. Also hire people to fill in when the regulars are out, so the activities can continue in their absence. i.e mini disco game.

We are a couple (38, 35) whit two girls (9, 5) and we were looking for reviews for our next trip to Cancun and we thought we would do this review.

We could NOT believe people having bad reviews about this Resort! Our family vacation at Punta Cana back on May 2007 was AMAZING! We stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe, Punta Cana for 7 nights and as of today our girls still asking about going back to Punta Cana.

The rooms were big, clean and comfortable with nice bathroom and two queen size beds.

The kids club is free and good enough to keep your kids busy for like 4 hours while you relax at the pool. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner buffet are awesome with a lot of choice different every night!!

Mostly of the staff is friendly but don’t forget to tip them, they work very hard and you’ll see a lot of them multi-tasking everywhere!

Restaurants are great but make sure to make a reservation in at advance, since you have only 3 “A la Carte Restaurants” per week!

The shows at night are great! Obviously not like “Las Vegas” quality but good enough to relax with your family after dinner! Ah if your kids are in the “kids club” they will performance at the Theater before the evening show.

The beach is nice and crystal blue with an excellent cocktails kiosk and we never had a problem finding a chair on the beach. Be aware that beaches and pool are topless but doesn’t seems to bother anybody (specially my husband) since are very few.

Overall, this is our best family vacation choice so far!

I decided to write something helpful for the people who are planning to stay in this hotel as I had killed a lot of time on reading from this site and was shocked at the diversity of opinions. Thus I would try to be as objective and precise as possible.

The HOTEL is like a small town, but it is easy to get around (if you are not a complete moran of course) as you are given a map. The transportation system is effective.

There are lots of PARTS and CLUBS there: Premier (futherst from the beach, secluded), Bavaro and Punta Cana sides are mirrow reflections of each other, Golden Club (closest to the sea), Ambar (the newest part, close to the see) and so on.

My girlfriend and I booked Golden Club, but got upgraded to Ambar, which was very lucky as being in Ambar you can use all the facilities and restaurants of other parts, but no outside can use yours. What a feel of exclusiveness. Besides Ambar is adults only. Othewise there is almost no difference where you live.

Now there is a CONSTRUCTION next to Punta Cana reception and along the Bavaro side, mind not to get there - all the other places are ok.

Some of the staff speak adequate ENGLISH, at least one person at the reception and head waiters. You should not expect the others to do so.

The TERRITORY is beautiful and very clean, the BEACH is great, though there was a bit of sea weed sometimes, but it is safe.

The ROOM was ok, NO BUGS seen in ten days.

You have to pay for the SAFE 3-4 $ per day.

The FOOD is GOOD, if MacDonalds is not the corner stone of your diet. We went to 4 restaurants and found out that our Ambar Buffet was better than any of them as it had more variety. For those who enjoy seafood can recommend "Pescador" (fisherman). Can't say anything about Bavaro and Punta Cana buffets cause we didn't eat there. Snack bar is OK. Mind that you need to have trousers for dinner and shorts for the snack bar.

As for ENTERTAINMENT: there are nightly shows and the corcert hall is always packed (I couldn't make myself to watch them for more than 10 minutes though); there are some watersports, but they are not free (as you have to pay "insurance") and some other stuff of no importance.

We entertained ouselves.

Hope my review will help you to make your decision.

My daughter and me went to this hotel GBP on the 28th July 2008. We landed in the Dom Rep to very hot humid weather adding to this we had a very long wait for our baggage, so we were very happy to get on the air conditioned coach to take us on the half hour journey to the hotel. Welcome pictures are taken in arrivals with women in traditional Dominican dress these can be purchased easily on the departure day inside the airport. On check-in things did not go to plan, several of us could not be allocated a room because the tour operator Thomson had to provide confirmation which the hotel didn’t have, this lead to a 3 hour wait on top of travelling 16 hours which we could have done without. We were upgraded to Amber for our inconvenience which turned out to be much appreciated, the bell boy took us to our room on the shuttle train to find it only had one bed so we made a quick call to reception and we were swiftly transferred nearby to our correct accommodation. The upgrade to amber meant we had a lovely room with 2 four poster beds with lots of space, a large bathroom with Jacuzzi bath and separate shower cubicle, pool towels were provided without the need of a towel card, bath robes and slippers were provided, umbrella, iron and board were also in the room. The air con and fan were the best yet of any hotel, not once was the room hot and stuffy. The lighting was very poor, as they used low energy bulbs, not good for applying make-up. There is a good secure electronic safe in the closet, which is $30 p/w. No spare sockets at all in the room for use of electrical items, you had to get on all fours to disconnect the alarm clock or lamp, which was awkward. Another extra provided by Amber was the turn down service, bed sheets were turned down and folded fancy and chocolates left on the pillow, which was a nice gesture done frequently. The Amber pool was also exclusive to Amber customers and was for adults only, the pool water was unbelievably warm and welcoming with swim up bar, this pool was perfectly positioned by the beach and close to all amenities, beware if you want shade round this pool be up early as there are too few palapas round the Amber pool and boy does it get hot. The beach is just paradise, long stretches of white sand and palm trees with plenty of shade and lounge’s and the sea is a gorgeous turquoise blue most inviting, there are lots of water activities to chose from we did a parasail which was great fun others include banana boats, canoeing, sailing, wind surfing, snorkelling and scuba diving etc. The size of the complex is just unbelievable, I went out to put a towel on a lounger first day Tuesday morning and didn’t find my way back to the room until Thursday evening lol, the use of a sat nav or the aid of a Nepal sherpa would have been appreciated, joking apart it will take several days to find your way round. There are three different routes the shuttle train runs on each will become apparent when you use them, try them all, they run all the time. The food is varied and plentiful though sometimes repetitive, one big gripe is the constant coldness of hot foods, which was a big turn off. Every night in the main buffet is themed on different countries as well as a selection of other cuisine. We ate in the Gourmet, Japanese, Italian and Garden Grill all were enjoyable with the gourmet being more of a select taste, note there is more than one of each speciality restaurant some having different menus. Waitress service for drinks is plentiful but sometimes slow so be patient, we find a tip little and often does help, English language can be a barrier, you can order a number of drinks and get something completely different back so be clear, be precise and try ordering in Spanish and have fun we did. Lots of choice of drinks some non-brands don’t taste the same but plenty of variety and also the cocktails are plentiful and tasty. At the side of the Punta Cana reception is the shopping square and market stalls, this is where the casino is located also try your luck we did and succeeded. There are a variety of trips on offer some a little pricy, a must is the Monster Truck Safari you will have a bumpy ride but lots of fun seeing the locals and how they live also visiting the school, sweet factory and voodoo doctor, unlimited drinks and afternoon meal were included. If you have room in your suitcase take some light weight toys, books, pencils and crayons and toiletries to be handed out on the trip, poverty is very widespread more so in the mountain areas, we took lots of gifts and they were very much appreciated. We had a few gripes with the hotel, having always stayed in Riu hotels we fancied a change, but in general we were happy with our holiday and will definately return to the Dominican.

My review is late by ha lol. We enjoyed our vacation, but we have stayed at several Gran Bahia hotels befor and found it allitle blaw as we knew what to expect.

Flight was long, and there was not much direction as to how to get to the bus.

Food was great.

Room was excellent, we requested to be close to the beach so we were abit far away from everything else.

Service was excellent. Only neg was no one served drinks at the pool.

Our friends book at the priemer and had a private pool and resturant. We did not so I would book priemer next time.

Beach - We enjoyed it but we like diving and this is not a good beach for this.

We went to a shop ran by someone from Montreal, it is free to go.. not a good place to get presents very costly, but nice.

The tents at the end of the beach has nice gifts at good prices.

We gave the guys at the water taxies pop and water and they gave us free rides......just a tip...

Don't go on Jrassic Buggie tour, take the other one, it was a great tour but you will never get your video u pay for...... several people had the same problem......

Bar/Disco way to many people at a small space, drinks are free but good luck with this.....

Overall this was a great place to stay but we found it to be expensive for gifts ect. I like to buy friends and family gifts and at 20 us dollars a mug, 25 for a t shirt it adds up.

Overall I enjoyed it but would not return.

have a great trip.

We have travelled quite a few times to the Caribbean but this was our first time to Punta Cana. We travelled with a fairy large group - 28 people from June 24 - July 1. Ages ranged from 1 to 60 including teenagers. I agree with the other reviewers when they say that there are a lot of children at this resort. This was good for me as I was travelling with my two young sons so I apologize in advance if it was my stroller you tripped over.

We flew on Sunwing. The flight was good, getting our luggage at the airport went smoothly but we had to walk across the parking lot to our bus with all of our luggage, a bit of a pain but not really a big deal. For some reason, and I have never seen this before, we did not check in at the hotel but rather on the bus. We had to fill out all kinds of paperwork while the bus was driving over some really bumpy roads, not the easiest thing to do. This meant that once we arrived at the hotel, we went straight to our room. The thing is, we noticed that our room was nowhere near anyone else's room. We did book our trip separately from the rest of the group so we thought it would be easy to switch room, quess again. When we asked the rude person at the front desk if we could be moved closer to my family, he flat out said no. He said that we requested an oceanview room (which does not exist) and that our room was considered an upgrade. We did not ask for an oceanview room and we did not require the upgrade. They would not fulfill our request. They flat out said no, they were filled to capacity.

The room was very spacious. When we got there, the cleaning staff had just started cleaning our room. We asked her for four bath towels everyday and 4 bottles of water. We gave her $10. She thanked us for the money but we never saw four towels. Each day we received a different amounts, different sized and forget about the water. Since my youngest son is only 1, we used the bottled water to make his bottles of milk and clean his bottles and sippy cups. I can't believe how many times we had to call and ask for water. On one occasion they even brought us an open bottle. Unbelievable. Our room was clean but for some reason, the maid stopped putting the comforter on our bed. I guess she thought that it was too hot to use, whatever.

The beach was alright. I still think Cuba has nicer beaches. Maybe not as much shade but definitely nicer beaches. We really enjoyed the pool and pool entertainment. On one of the days, my older son got treated to a show with Mickey Mouse and Elmo. I felt sorry for the guys in the costumes because it was definitely hot.

There have been lots of comments about the food. There definitely was a good variety but after 3 days, I developed the runs. I had to take antibiotics when I returned home. The only thing I can think made me sick was the salad. Out of the 28 people that I travelled with, I got it the worst. One person from our flight had to be hospitalzed because of the food.

Ok, the worst part of the trip. The service. I understand that we were a large group, but we never asked to be seated together. You should have seen the look on the person standing at the lobby buffet whenever we showed up. It was like she had to go and construct the tables and chairs herself. Since I did have a baby, I would ask for a high chair. I know they had them but good luck getting one in under 30 minutes. I usually sat holding my son for most of the dinner. It took forever to get a drink and the A/C was never on. We would joke and say that they purposefully would not turn it on so you woudn't stay long.

All in all, the resort was very beautiful. The entertainment was good (night and day), although the night entertainment was held in an outside theater that was unbelievably hot. The food was not so good and the service was terrible. Definitely not the 5 star I expected.

If you're looking for a 5 star hotel according to Dominican standards this is it BUT it's not the Four Seasons. If you're American, it is not a 5 star according to American standards, but it is very nice. I would have rated this resort "excellent" HOWEVER...

I'm writing this review 4 days after our stay. In my traveling group were myself, my brother and my 15 year old child. For the past 2 days both of them have had to be treated for amoebas that they contracted through the resort food. BE CAREFUL in your choice of what you eat! The food is good and the restaurants look very clean, however our doctor is positive that raw vegetables are what caused my family to have amoebas. I was the only one who chose not to eat any raw vegetables and I'm fine. Unless you want to start taking some serious medications and experience horrible diarhea and vomitting DO NOT eat the raw vegetables. Although you're on vacation keep in mind that this is still the Dominican Republic. The health & cleanliness requirements are not the same standards as in the States.

The hotel room was excellent & facilities great. Staff works hard. The beach is excellent and we loved our trip. It was the "after effects" that we hated.

My wife and I have just returned from Gran Bahia Principe we were ther from 19th June until 3rd July and we went with 1st Choice (from now on to be our LAST choice)

Flight over

We upgraded to Premier classas a special treat seeing as I was 60 this year. The brochure says you have priority boarding of the plane, this didn't happen it was a free for all. The plane was parked way out on the tarmac as far from the terminal as you could be and as soon as the doors opened to get on the buses it was a stampede. The brochure also states the meals were desingned by Aldo Zilli, well if thats he's ideas of decent food send him back to Italy. Your also get the choice of 16 movies noway it was only 10. The cabin crew were helpful and polite though.

Transfer to resort

We were booked in on the coach to the hotel by one of the reception staff which was helpful. She gives information about the resort which is very misleading. According to the 1st choice brochure you have 3 large pools to use, this is their first lie and it goes on from there don't believe all you read in the brochure.

Hotel

The hotel is 2 large resorts joined together with 2 smaller parts attached. The large ones are Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro and the other is Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana, in most repects they are mirror imaged but you are not allowed to share each others pools. The brochure states you have all pools to use.

The resort is vast it took the wife and I an hour to walk around the perimeter. The grounds and all areas are kept imacculate and the staff work very hard. The beach is lovely but is restricked to a small swimming area. The large pool at the beach end does not have enough sun shades so if you don't get there early enough you miss out on any shade for the day and belive me you won't want to sit in the sun allday.

The staff are very friendly and helpful at all times and can't do enough for you. You don't have to tip but a dollar here and there is met with a lot of grattitude.

Restraunts

The main restraunt caters for all tastes and the food is nice. Plenty of fresh salad and hot meals of al sorts.

We only tried 3 of the 6 al a carte restraunts as I got a bad belly on the 6th day there and still haven't shaken it of. The garden Grill was very good and the Japanese was excellent. The gourmet is what gave my bad belly as I had Lobster and Chicken fricasse and it didn't taste that good, i've had lobster many a time before and never tasted like that.

Other Holiday makers

The resort was full of every nationality you could think of. We met one Canadian couple from Toronto who are from Pakistani origin who were lovely but forgot to get their email address. Also a Canadian couple from Toronto ( Christine and David) with 2 sons (Mathew and Michael) who were lovely people. Christine helped me out with some stomach bug medication again we failed to get email address. If you read this mine is tddavis@btinternet.com

There were a lot of yanks noisy and far over the top as usual. The other Canadians were more reserved as we have found at other resorts in the Caribbean.

Airport and flight home

The Airport was hectic, they were booking in 9 or 10 flights at the same time and our rep did not have a clue what line we should be in. It took over 1 hour to get from checkin to the depature lounge and it was hot and sticky no air con at all.

The flight home was ok until we got to Gatwick. We landed at 5:35 and had to park on the hard stand furthest from the terminal. The ground staff who were in charge of manouvering the steps into place didn't have a clue what they were doing, they eventually got the steps in and door open by 6am. We were not allowed to disembark until 6:20 when the one and only bus arrived to take us to the terminal.

Once at the terminal everthing went smoothly.

We have been on holiday to the North of the Island twice before to Playa Dorada and will go back there again but never to Gran Bahia as it too big.

Let me start by thanking all past guests at this resort for their valuable comments and feedback which, after much research, convinced me to pick this resort for my family vacation.

After all that I read about the Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro, I never expected to be prepared for what was waiting for us at check-in. Apparently the resort OVERBOOKED their available capacity for the Punta Cana and Bavaro sections of the resort, which led to some inconveniences during our stay.

CHECK-IN: Upon arrival, 12:30 PM Sunday June 22, rooms had been oversold and check-in staff had trouble finding a room with two double beds (we're a family of 4, 2 adults, 2 children). The only room available was with one king size bed ! Check-in finally freed-up a room at 15:30 with 2 double beds.

A LA CARTE RESTAURANTS: During the time waiting for our room to be ready we decided to book our three a la carte restaurants at customer service. Due to the large number of guests, only one restaurant was available ! Customer Service advised that we should check-in with them every morning at 8:00 AM for cancellations. Well come Tuesday, no cancellations, and my wife decided to take a more direct approach with Customer Service. Speaking fluent spanish, she explained that on the Monday evening, we decided to check out some restaurants directly and discovered that the french restaurant "Cafe de Paris" (on the Bavaro side of the resort) and the japanese "Mikado" (on the Punta Cana side) were closed !!

Customer Service now admitted that those two restaurants were just closed this week and that suddenly there was a cancellation at the Dominican restaurant located in the Club Premier section of the resort ! We never succeded in getting a third a la carte restaurant and I believe the resort was limiting the amount of people in the restaurants as a measure of cost control. Sending everyone to the buffet is much more profitable for them.

The quality of food at the two a la carte's was very good compared to the buffet.

BUFFET: Turns out our 2 a la carte were booked for the last two evenings of our stay so the buffet was our feeding grounds for the first 5 dinners. Food was average, I'd rate it a 6 on 10, with Mexico's Grand Occidental Xcaret surpassing the GBP by far.

BARS: Popular tropical drinks (Pina Colada's Coco Loco's) are premixed from large commercial drink mixers and taste very artificial. Ask the bartenders for a drink that he has to prepare, like a strawberry daiquiri or margarita, and he'll give you a dirty look! Suffice it to say that I stuck with lots of cerveza's (which is not their local Presidente by the way but more of a watered down draft beer) and cuba libre's while my spanish speaking wife kept asking for the daiquiri's and margarita's.

OVERSOLD SITUATIION: Here's how the resort decided to handle the large number of guests booked during this week (June 22-29). Early Monday morning, a flyer was distributed to every room in the resort asking guests if they would be interested in a FREE excursion to visit Isla Saona, Altos de Chavon, stay at the Gran Bahia Principe La Samana for one night, get a free upgrade to Club Diamond (adults only) or Hacienda (with children), and get a free security box on the condition that they pack and leave their room for one night. The excursion would begin Friday 6:30 AM and guests were to return Saturday 6:00 PM. Rooms had to be vacated and luggage would be stored in a special locked luggage room for the duration of the excursion. The value of the excursion was approximately $100 per person and the objective was to get people off the site in order to accomodate other guests. These flyers were everywhere, underneath glass table tops, at the bars, posted on large billboards outside the buffet restaurants, on check-in counter.......you couldn't miss them.

On Friday afternoon, a group of approximately 300 guests, all employees of Shell Oil, arrived and took over the pool and beach area. Saturday's regularly scheduled beach activities (morning yoga session, dance lesson) and afternoon pool aerobics, bingo game, and poolside dance lessons were cancelled because all the animators were entertaining the Shell Oil guests, partying on the beach. On Saturday, the beach and main pool was jammed with people.

WATER SPORTS: Couldn't get a booking for a free one hour ride on a catamaran the whole week because of two reasons. One, only three of the six catamarans were operational, three were broken, and Two, too many guests. Well, 10 minutes later, here comes my spanish speaking wife again and this time she

asked for a one hour lesson at $30 and guess what, suddenly a catamaran was available for that lesson and it would be on the water in 5 minutes ! Was this another example of limiting what is "really free" to guests so that they could "sell" a lesson?

LOUNGE CHAIRS AT BEACH AND POOL: Forget about trying to find a lounge chair at the beach or the main pool at 8:30 AM on Monday because of, you guessed it, too many guests. Here's another unique trick.......guests were arriving at the pool and beach early morning and instead of reserving a lounge chair by placing one towel lengthwise per chair, they were actually placing their towels across two chairs, widthwise, thereby reserving twice the number of chairs at the beach and at the pool.

Guess what we started doing early Tuesday AM !

STATUS AT OTHER RESORTS: During the week, my wife and I walked up and down the beach to check out other resorts. The Majestic (5 *), just north of GBP, had 50% of the lounge chairs available at the beach and next to their pool. The RIU, just south of the GBP, had maybe 40% of lounge chairs free and the resort looked much larger than the GBP, in terms of surface area on the beach. Much fewer bathers were spotted at these reorts compared to the crammed pool and beach of the GBP.

Overall, the grounds were impeccably clean, every morning the beach was cleaned of the thousands of cigarette butts and plastic drinking glasses left behind by late night beachgoers, the rooms were very clean, the pools clean are beautiful, and the staff did their best given the many guests on site.

If it weren't for those few inconveniences and all those people, this trip would have been much more relaxing and would have ranked right up there. I guess this was a situation where BIGGER is NOT NECESSARILY BETTER !!

My family vacation of four was from 8/11/2008 to 8/18/2008. We had 2 junior suites. One room had a king size bed and the other room had two double beds. It was very hot and humid in Punta Cana. The A/C in the rooms didn’t do justice for the heat. It was just ok. We needed to ask for extra Towels every day. Getting in and out of the shower was a big step. I got sick with diarrhea from the food at the Mexican Restaurant. I went to the 24 hr medic that is on site. After many complaints they picked up the tab for the doctor bill. Making reservations for the 3 restaurants was not convenient times. The staff was friendly but very little English.

The hotel premises are beautiful. Very large hotel that is supposed to be a five star but they do not even have irons in the room. We had several problems during our stay and unfortanetly this hotel lacks custumer service. They do not address issues at all.

First, check in was fine until we walked to our room. Big no no. Take the trolley. When we got to our room we found one large king bed for my father , myself and my son. After going backt o the front desk we were told they were completely booked and we would be able to change our room the following day. Despite waiting two hours in the lobby for them to come back and tell us they were booked.

Five minutes later we went to make reservations for the three restaurants and our options were extremely limited due to the hotel being full to capacity.They were not flexible with times or dates.While making the third reservation we were told our room had changed even though they had just sad they were sold out. So back to lobby.

Room was large but full of mosquitoes .Despite having rom sprayed daily night was spent killing them. Travelled with a three year old and restaurant s re not eqipped to cater to their needs.Hotel does not have any room sevice and restaurants do not allow you to take food out. I hated begging people to give me something to wrap up food for my son that was sleeping in the stroller at dinner. In the buffet they do not have styrofoam trays to accomodate the needs of toddlers. Ad with no 24 hour snack bar this is not a family oriented hotel. Inthe restaurants they wrapped up a pizza one night and the other night they wrapped an entire kids meal. So why can they do it in the restaurants but not int he buffet. At the French restaurant I had the worse lobster ever.It was so bad but my dad loved his rack of lamb. Everything else was ok. Italian was fine except that the red snapper was overcooked and they serve the tiniest piece. Starters were really good at italian. Garden Grill was good. Meat was tasty. I had the filet and I ordered it medium which was served well. Overall not the best place for gourmet food. I hve had much better.

I travel alot and have never written a review but am writing this one because so many things are lacking at this hotel. The hotel does not cater to English speaking guests.No one speaks English. NO ONE. This was very frustrating since I was was with my son. Many restaurants lacked ice during breakfast and lunch and I had a huge problem during meals. When you get up from your table they clear your food. Well I would go and get food with my son and then place the frsh plates onthe table. Next we would go get drinks. Well many times I returned to find my fresh plates of food gone. This was so annoying and one day my son yelled at a lady and said stop takling my food. They need some kind of stop/go sign on these tables. This was really bad at the Snack Bar by the beach because they are in such a rush to clear the tables.

Room service was fine and they even did a ballon arrangement for my son on one day but never left three bath towels.

Soda machine by thte pool never worked. Ramon was great--he really tried to make my son happy and was pretty good in attending to our needs. On Aug 12 we had a very unfortanate experience. The pool /towel guy who does aerobics (the skinny one I think Iskal or soemthing like that) is very loud and gets the crowd going. There was a large crowd from Spain by the bar and the worker kept cheering them on. They were cursing, degrading women and really getting out of hand. He kept giving them hi fives, gave them his microphone, the wigs and his orange whistle. He was allowing for their innapropriate behavior at the pool despite the fact that their were kids. During aerobics he too was fresh and his idea of fun was grabbing his privates and so forth so these guest went to mimic his actions but undid their swim suits and were pulling out their privates. My father told them to stop but this worker told them to keep on. When asked his name so we could report him he refused and covered his name tag. This kept on. An hour later another guest removed his full bottoms right alongside the pool and begain making inappropriate gestures,

I immediately told workers to call security and despute security the nonsense continued. They were removed from the pool only to retunr two hours later. I nor my son or anyone there should have been subjected to that. The situation should have been handled after my father reported it the first time but this worker who was also drinking all day everyday kept this going. He encouraged it and to drink and carryon with them. When it happened the second time Ramon assisted in getting security but the hotel did not address this properly. That man should not have been allowed back at the pool.

I am trying to contactt the owners of this resort for an immediate response to the issues but have been unsuccessful.

Resort was brand New only 22 days open not everything was up and operating. The Stay was ok. Got a Very good deal on trip.

The resort is too big, too many people on the beach.

Swimming area is very narrow, if you go behind the rope you might be run over by one of a speeding taxi boats... or a banana boat, better option.

I felt for a moment like on scrap yard, looking on the sank boat on the horizon, few hundred yards off the beach. But some tourists like it... I don't...

View is better on the beach alone: nice white sand, and top-less everywhere...

Watch out for the local "sales" agents... waste of time...

Food was very good, Dominican coffee is the best!

And, learn Russian before your trip... Might help you making new friends.

Where do I begin.... I went on a girls vacation with my sister and our friend to relax and unwind. The ride from the airport was fine but finding the bus was rather confusing. I have never had to wait in line to find out what bus is taking me to the resort. A representative is always waiting with a huge sign to direct people, however this was not the case in Punta Cana.

We checked into our hotel on the bus which I found very convenient. Everything was ready (wristbands, room keyes and towel cards) so you just had to off load from the bus and go straight to your room. We were unaware however that there was a Punta Cana side and a Bavaro side (no one explained that to us) as we were walking around in circles the first night looking for the main restaurant just to be told to go around the corner.

Everyday we had to go to the front desk to have the three keyes reprogrammed as they would deactivate for some reason. We were told that if the key is next to anything electronic such as a camera or cell phone that the key would deactivate. Needless to say this was very annoying and a very uncomfortable experience.

The service for the most part was NOT acceptable. The resort is beautiful but some of the workers were not friendly and at times very rude. We found that the Europeans were favo