We just got back from a wonderful week spent at la Bahia (Feb4-11th).

We were family of 3 adults+1kid+2 infants.I was so terrified after reading previous reviews about people getting sick and other terrible things about this resort, that I was ready to cancel my trip. Thanks God I did not do it. We had great time. Nobody got sick or anything like that. We did not do anything special, the only thing is we obviously did not drink tap water. However my husband used it to clean his teeth.
We loved everything about this resort, but sea water. We knew it's not going to be crystal clear, so we were ready for that.
All the rest is perfect! Beautiful beach! Food was very very good, huge variety. Rooms are good, bathroom may need some little reno, but is ok. Very-very nice personal. Always smiling, greeting you. I am in love with their gardens. Very well maintained and clean.
I would highly recommend this hotel for quiet vacation for families with kids or middle age couples.

Four of us recently returned from the Gran Bahia Principe, La Romana (January 18th -25th). This vacation was a long time in planning and locations along with respective hotel reviews were carefully assessed. We have previously been to the Gran Bahia Principe Akumel, Tulum and Coba (all rated 5 star) thus we felt the La Romana destination would be comparable but it is definitely not a five star or even a 4.5. After our experience, we would be hard pressed to even give this hotel a 3.5 rating.
Overall, the food was, in our opinion, of sub-standard quality, both at all the a la cartes but especially at the buffet. There was very little variety and the same limited choices every day. No other five star hotel that we have ever been to would offer guests so many different variations of hot dogs, rice and cold cuts. Dinners centered on hamburgers, chicken and dolphin fish every day. Omelettes and eggs in general were never cooked properly – always raw in the middle and the bacon undercooked. Coffee station generally empty of either coffee, cups or spoons. Either toasters did not work at all or you had to put the bread through multiple times. We swear that the orange juice was actually Tang. We noticed at every a la carte restaurant; half the restaurant always had empty tables yet hearing from others that they couldn’t get reservations. In addition, the Mediterranean and Italian restaurants are not full a la cartes; you have to buffet your starters and dessert with basically the same food found at the main buffet. The food at the beach restaurant and bar was basically no different from the main buffet except there was even less choice. By late afternoon, many of the limited choices were not even being replenished but if you liked to dine on French fries, pizza or Tostitos then you were OK. I could go on but you get the picture.
The hotel we were told by a staff member was only 13 years old yet there were many signs of wear and tear particularly in the rooms. The most significant issue here (and I heard from others) were the number of patio door locks broken or missing. This, in our opinion is a definite safety and security risk. Rooms were on the small size. The especially small combo bathtub/shower had a dangerously slight incline. The television was the antiquated tube style and could not be any larger than a 24” size. Another very irritating issue were the room phones. The message light continually flashed and could not be turned off. The hotel management told us that the phone system had been changed (sounded like this had not just happened). They did not know how to get rid of the flashing so told us to cover the phone with our paper-thin bath towels – took several of them to block the light and flashed for all seven days we were there.
Water pressure was generally poor but more importantly was the issue of having no hot water for three of our 7 days there. For a short time, there was absolutely no water – hot or cold. Throughout our stay, the water was never ever hot but at least it was warm except for those 3 days where there was only cold water. If we had no hot water and at best warm water throughout our stay then I shutter to think how dishes, glasses, sheets and towels were being cleaned and properly sterilized. On multiple occasions, we received dirty cutlery, coffee cups with lipstick stains and otherwise soiled dishes. I witnessed a server drop a handful of dinner knives, pick them up off the floor then continued to set tables with them. It is no wonder that three of us came down with bouts of dysentery.
The hotel communication to it’s cliental about the hot water as well as the pretty much non-existent access to the “WIFI” was basically either “soon” , “later today” or “tomorrow”.
As a non-smoker, you definitely had to stay clear of the casino and the entertainment. We limited our time in these places because of the amount of smoke. The casino had no air conditioning only fans. The entertainment was in very poor taste and at times quite offensive – gun violence, female violence and racial stereotyping. Overall, we would categorize the entertainment as awfully amateur and not what one would expect from a “5” star hotel.
What was to be an enjoyable and stress free holiday was anything but. All of us have travelled extensively to the Caribbean and had wonderful experiences, so this is a first which has left has with a very negative opinion of the Gran Bahia hotel chains.

Just got back from La Romana (Feb. 2 – 9) and am happy to report we had an amazing time! We were terrified to visit this resort after reading so many reviews of sickness and parasites but we ate many different types of food and neither of us experienced any type of sickness. We did meet two people that had been sick but everyone else we spoke to were fine.

We absolutely loved the pool, the large palm trees in the middle make it feel so tropical! The pool is very big and we always had a palapa (although my husband got up early every morning to lay our towels on one). The beach is very nice to sit at, the sand is soft and the palm trees are beautiful but we didn't care for the murky water. It didn't affect us much though, we enjoyed the beach and would walk over to the pool for a dip, usually combined it with a visit to the bar and a top up on our cerveza's!

We were quite impressed with the food. We’ve been to a number of resorts and it has always been hit and miss with the food. Our favourite was the breakfast buffet and the Le Gourmet a la carte restaurant. The beach snack bar was okay, we preferred the lunch buffet (had the same food as the snack bar plus much more). Dinner buffet was pretty good as well, there is a lot of variety at the buffet but the buffet is nearly the same every day/night (even though they tried to switch it up each night with different themes).

Our room (in Villa #10) was lovely. It was not an upgraded room and did not have a very nice view but we were not in our room much so it wasn’t a issue. The room was very clean and the décor was nice, we did not see a single bug in our room. My only complaints about the room are that the glass shower leaked a lot of water onto the floor and for one day & night our air conditioner did not work. Also, we were in an adjoining room and did not know the other occupants – we could hear EVERYTHING in the next room. One night I woke up and heard a sneeze and thought there was an intruder in our room, turns out it was our neighbours. In our opinion, it wouldn’t be worth the cost to upgrade to the Golden or Platinum rooms. They are basically the same with a better view of the pool or maybe a piece of the ocean. The Bouganville (luxury) section, however, looked amazing and we would consider booking our stay there next time.

The staff are all incredible and make this place worth visiting again! The animation staff are very good at making sure everyone is having a great time, especially Daniel, Fransico, Smerlin & Andres. The evening shows were okay, your typical resort entertainment. Maximo the bartender was very good as well! The serving and cooking staff were all very good as well, they are very polite and go out of their way to make sure you have everything you need. We were impressed at how well most of the staff spoke English and kudos to them, they need to speak to people from all over the world…meaning they need to speak multiple languages.

My only recommendations for this resort are: bring your own travel mug, the plastic cups used at the bar are flimsy and small. If you enjoy floating around in the pool, bring your own inflatable mattress, they are way overpriced at the resort.

We were on this resort from Jan 25 to Feb 8 with a group from our local Rotary Club. Two couples stayed two weeks and the rest for only one week. Most of the people were sick from one day to ten days with gastro intestinal problems. No amount of handwashing and hand disinfection seemed to make an iota of difference. I only hope that the staff was washing and disinfecting as much as the guests! It definately was NOT the alchohol comsumption as suggested in an earlier review. I was deeply concerned about families that were there with young children. I would not take any young children to this resort from the experience that I suffered and observed. Do not drink the local water but even using only bottled water for everything is not a safe guard. We talked to several other people who were also suffering the same symptons or more severe problems. We had no complaints about the rest of the resort but being sick for ten days out of fourteen certainly would not let me recommend this resort to anyone.