TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I have been to a lot of Bahia Principe resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean and this resort is by far the worst place that I’ve been. First of all, the servers in the lobby and a la carte restaurant does not speak English and what I find the worst was they are avoiding non-Spanish speakers and some servers are very rude and picking guests who they want to serve. There are several occasions where we have to wait for more than 10 minutes to find a server just to ask for refill of our drinks while eating in the buffet or a la carte restaurants. If you’re planning to go to an all inclusive resort in Punta Cana, try to avoid this place.

We traveled in Feb 2025. We booked three rooms at Bahia Principe for 8 travelers. Two of the rooms had broken beds. When I asked the front desk, they stated the hotel was fully booked. So they do not maintain their rooms but they are charging a high price for their stay. The pictures do not match the condition of the rooms. We booked through JETBLUE VACATIONS. Please do your research before you book. This hotel and JETBLUE VACATIONS are working together and will not do the right thing to support the customers.

After reading all the previous reviews,we were very concerned....well,I will say this...do your research....we did....we always check trip advisor...as well as other sources...I recommend going on the bahia app and joining the bahia principe punta cana Facebook group by John, bubba king....it was a great wealth of information...we were well prepared due to the great tips on the fb group..we had a great trip... We arrived very late due to our flight delay. Staff at check in were great..very good English and because we were prepared we asked for a room in the newly updated rooms near the beach. This was not part of our package but thought we would at least try. The nice gentleman said he would see what he could do for us. We managed to get rooms close to beach and in buildings next to each other.we were in room 7207 and our friends were in building 6...our room had king sized bed and was great...we did not have to pay the upgrade fee...we had to pay just $20 ...that's it...so...no harm in asking nicely... We got up early to put towels on our chairs(6 am)...yup...we were prepared for this...and every resort we have ever been to we have had to do this...and really it is quite beautiful in the early morning down by the beach and large pool...the beach is very crowded so most days we got chairs by the pool next to the beach and just went to the beach from there...we went on nice l8ng walks on the beach every morning...if people do not want to get up early to get shaded spots near the beach then they can go to the 2 quiet pools up in the middle of the resort because shaded beds were still available at 10 am in those locations....if you want to stay in bed and sleep late then you will not get a shaded spot. We always get our spot go to the coffee bar in the lobby for our coffee/tea then go to breakfast at 8,back to our room to sunscreen up and then head back to our spots for the day. Bugs...yup,we knew about them and we were prepared....deet repellant,vicks vapo rub, polysporin itch,hydrocortisone etc....lobby was full of mosquitoes...always covered ourselves in fly dope when going near lobby and buffets...we even took a big zapper...and we enjoyed zapping them..lol. because we were prepared we knew to sit outside the lobby where there's a breeze...walk around and find a breezy spot. We had no issues with mosquitoes outside of the lobby area and none in our room. We saw them spraying twice while we were there. So they do spray for them. I would suggest they get some goldfish to put in their standing water areas to help with the situation.i saw fish in their mangrove area so it wouldn't be hard to put some in their fountain areas,especially the areas that don't have moving water. This would help with the larvae. The resort is huge. If you enjoy walking,like us,you will love it. If not then there are lots of trains going constantly back and forth between lobby and beach and the drivers are alot of fun. We had no issues with food...lots to choose from at buffet and we registered on the bahia app so we could book our a la cartes ahead of time...we were allowed 4 so we enjoyed our food choices...there were so many a la cartes to choose from....do your research on the fb group to see which ones you may like...the app as well allows you to see the menus before you book. There were lots of entertainment....lots...check the boards at each resort to find something that interests you...if you don't like what's at the theatre every night then check the village area,if you don't like that then check the neighboring resorts...it would be nice to be able to see the entertainment at neighboring resorts better. It's hard walking to each resort to check their boards....but the staff around are a great source of information as well...just ask the entertainment staff...we did miss not having a resort map. The fb group has maps to view as well as the bahia app...but I do wish the resort had a paper map that showed exactly where each a la carte is located. There are many bars. The ones near the large pool and beach are crowded but the bar attached to the truck snack bar had no line ups...we never had to wait for drinks. We did tip but not for every drink order. We also had staff take our drink orders from our chairs as well as from the lobby,theatre and village areas...so I think if they have extra staff they will send them around,which was nice. We tried lots of different cocktails. They were offered at some a la cartes as well....I would like to see them provide a drink and cocktail menu but again, I was prepared and saw lots of recommended cocktails in the fb group. I wrote them down so I knew what to ask for....lots of frozen cocktails...yummmm...alot of the bar tenders English isn't very good so if you know the name of some cocktails then it makes it easier....we enjoyed the Sammy Sosa(frozen), whiskey sours,many different daiquiris( strawberry,mango),cosmos and margaritas. We always take our thermal mugs for keeping drinks cold and saves alot of trips to the bars. My husband doesn't like diet cola and had a hard time finding regular . In the room fridge they provide pepsi...but its pepsi zero. We asked for regular cola but they didn't have any. The fountain pop machines have the regular pepsi logo but most of the time it was pepsi zero with aspartame in it,which he can't drink....he ended up drinking zup because it wasn't diet. We had a great time..lots of sun,sand ,food and drink....

We just checked in and had our first day at the resort - I'm disappointed. We’re staying with our son and another couple and their son, while the front desk people were accommodating and able to make sure our rooms were together, the rooms are not what I was expecting. Very dated and our room has a smell to it, the bed feels like we slept on the box spring. We ate at the buffet last night and while there was a lot of food to choose from, a lot of it was cold and disappointing, the buffet area also had a bathroom/sewage smell to the side we sat on, and looking up, I could see where they had water damage in the ceiling and corner wall. This was not fixed and was moldy. We’ll see what our first full day brings, I’ll update once the trip is over.

Luckily great weather. The mosquitos is no joke! Infested at night.. protect yourself well. Resort clean. We had a beautiful suite. 2 rooms. 1 with king bed the second room is a relatively comfortable sofa bed. Resort is immense. 2 buffet to choose from.. identical food and themes daily. Excellent choices of food variety. 1 of the 2 buffet restaurants bouganville had a disturbing smell. Like stale water lingering.. the other was good. Try both! They are located 3 min walk from each other! Staff accommodating, but had to ask 3 or 4 times for something. Example there are no face towels in the rooms. U have to ask concierge. Front desk. Etc... we were there for 10 days... asked 4 times... gave up! Guest services helpful with the restaurant reservations. They also have a self serve terminal for restaurant reservations easy to use. The resort was booked at capacity and there was still space for everyone to get to the restaurants. They were all excellent. The restaurant bookings Is well managed. Staff nice and friendly, sommelier too. What was not so cool: Bar guys at the pool should focus less on the girls FIXED at the pool bar and look around once in a while if other guest ( not fitting the sexy 20 yr olds peofile) need drinks. Waited over 30 minutes the 1st time just to see how long it would take to get their attention... ridiculous, there must have been 10 of us just staring them down when they noticed.. If u find that great bartender, and there are, Tip him well early on and stick with him! Suggestion to bring ur own thermos or cup with lids for drinks... more sanitary and less work for staff to wash.. 1 bartender to serve the beach bar and pool at beach area is a real inefficiency. There were line ups all day. It wasnt a 1x thing.. it was the entire 10 day trip! The hamburger joint at the beach was inefficiently run.. Management should take a look "incognito" during rush time 11 to 2pm. 30..40..50 min wait to get a burger. Unacceptable. Yes ur on vacation. But u don't necessarily want to spend an hour getting a burger that should otherwise take 10 min tops! 1 guy yelling room numbers for pickup orders... 1 guy bringing food from chefs to front counter and not more than 2 chefs in the kitchen. Seemed abusive of the chefs in the kitchen. Again. Not a 1x thing. And my favorite aggrivation was the wave runner by the beach pool. Expensive activity. Great sales pitch. TOOOO many peole chsing u to buy. 20 min per person. For xx dollars. The more time slots u buy, the cheaper the price per ride. Understand that most are youngsters not in habit of surfing or taking lessons. They insisted on selling and putting the kids on surf right away. No matter who was already on it. At 1 poi t there were 3 and 4 kids waiting g for the surf at a time..1 after thr other in the same 20 min slot. That is being short changed for 1.. and dangerous for another. There were 3..kids on 1 wave at a time. It was an accident waiting g to happen. They were insisting they were right. But I argued my case.. I won! I paid xx for 20 min.. that is my 20 min not to share. If u put 2 kids in same 20 min slot then they each get 10 min of surfing.. as they take turns.. or put them together and risk them crashing into each other. The "expert" helping guests on and off the waive should go take a few lessons himself! Not much of an expert. Suggestion for management is to create a schedule.. time slots daily.. available for the week ahead.. where u pay the surf.. book the time slot immediately.. show up 15 min early or u lose ur spot. It's a no trainer and organized. Been to neighboring resorts ..4x in last 5 years... they all had the surf.. they were organized by assigned time slots selected by guest. Easy! Beachngorgeous. Not enough shade! 6.30am and all the beach loungers and pool(at beach) were taken. Crazy. And most had noone on them all day. Here is a thought.. just take someone lounger while it's free... use it with ur own towel a few hours... by the time u leave chances are noone has shown up yet! Hotel should do better to enforce a 2 hr. Rule maybe.. empty for 2 hrs.. then lose your chair! Create a lost and found! The vendors on the beach becomes harassing after 2 days.. you try to be polite but it's frustrating g where you end up being rude. They shouldn't be aloud so close the the chairs unless invited. There are sooooo many vendors. Hotel should find a way to minimize that for guests. I feel for vendors and want to give them business but after day 1. 2. 3 and after 1 or 2 activities, it's enough. Did the speed boat.. got picked up by a boat that took us further away on a different beach than onto speed boats toward snorkeling and private beach. I would not do it again. I didn't feel completely safe when I got droped off on the 2nd beach to get into the speed boats! Not worth it. Parasailing was awesome. Negotiate!!!