We returned to the Ambar for our 6th visit from Dec 13-20th. We chose the Ambar because we wanted our trip to be relaxing and enjoyable and decided that based on past experience, the Ambar would be the perfect fit. Sadly we were very wrong.

A couple of weeks before our arrival, I emailed the resort to advise we'd be returning and it would be our 25th wedding anniversary. I made a couple of small requests: I asked for a third floor room in any building. As the hallways are tiled, it can be very noisey at night and early morning. And since we just wanted to relax, I felt the top floor would be much quieter. And asked for a King room rather than a room with two doubles. Upon arrival we were given black "VIP" bracelets and were told was because we've been there so often (to this day I'm not sure that there is any benefit to them and were never told anything). However, we were assigned a ground floor room. Worse than that, the room faced the other resort and the roadway where the trolleys run up and down 22 hours a day. And to make things worse, it had two double beds. Ugghh. Luckily there was a lovely lady at the front desk who was able to change the room to a King room for us. This room was in the same building but still ground floor. Not wanting to let this ruin our vacation, we accepted it and decided to make the best of it. We were disappointed though - for our 20th anniversary the resort we stayed at made us feel a little special. We had a bottle of champagne and fruit basked waiting, a banner on the door, rose petals .. you know some of those extra things. And keep in mind this was our second trip to the Ambar in 2012.

Room: The room was cleaned every day. And we tipped every day. But not once did we get a fresh flower or a towel swan or other creatures. These are the things you sort of expect as the norm when you visit a 5 star resort. Again, no big deal and not enough to bother you. However it's all the little things that add up ... and can tell you not anywhere near the experience or service we experienced on previous trips to this particular resort. Left a note in Spanish kindly asking maid for only pepsi/pepsi light and white rum. Left note three days in a row. Completely ignored three days in a row. Just enough to frustrate you.

Resort: On previous trips here, the security/staff were strict at ensuring that only Ambar guests were served at the Ambar are of the Bahia. This trip was very frustrating.. There were non-Ambar guests all over and were never turned away. In fact one day there were children swimming in the Ambar pool. No staff made any effort to ask them to leave. It was actually a group of Ambar guests who mentioned to them it was Adult Ambar guests only. We often had trouble getting a chair at the pool and realized it was because there were many non-Ambar guests filling them, as well as at the beach. Again, frustrating when we pay extra to be a guest there. I will say, however, that the resort staff are extremely friendly and as helpful as they can be when asked.

Buffet: One of the main reasons we like Ambar is because of the food. We travel 3-4 times a year and food is part of our experience. While some people are happy just finding enough food to fill up on, good food is one of our main criteria. And having been here several times before, we were so surprised at this visit. I don't know of management has changed, but can tell you that the food is not at all what we expected or experienced beore. The food by the pool beside the Portofino restaurant was great the first day, but was EXACTLY the SAME every single day. Very disappointing. The main buffet had a nice selection, but the hot food was generally barely warm. Perhaps this is the reason we both fell somewhat ill. When hot food is not served and stored hot, it can easily make you ill. We found this very disappointing. And dessert, is the same dessert every day, on every buffet and at every a la carte restaurant.

A la Cartes - we had a lovely Butler Maurice book our a la cartes for us. When we realized the night we were celebrating our anniversary was booked at the Garden Grill, we quickly went to Guest Svcs and asked to switch it for the Italian at Ambar. The gentleman we dealt with was absolutely unwilling to help us make the change and absolutely didn't care it was our anniversary. While I do like children (my business is a child-related one), I wanted to spend my anniversary dinner at in a quiet spot and at a restaurant we knew we liked. Unwilling to help us make the change, we trotted off to the Garden Grill, only to be sat in the lower level, surrounding by 5 tables of cranky children. We ended up leaving because it was so noisey and certainly not romantic, to have our dinner at the Ambar buffet. Again, just not what we expected for our anniversary. At this point we wished we had booked the Iberostar Grand up the beach.

Beach: Lovely and clean. Someone was always coming around to pick up empty glasses so everything stayed tidy. Only complaint was all of the non-Ambar guests at the Ambar beach made it often difficult to find a chair/palapa. While one of the reviews below has a coment from the Bahia staff that the Beach area is self-serve, there is actually service on the beach. We had a lovely guy come by every hour or less and took our drink order and served it with a smile, even though I'm sure he was dying of the heat. We made sure to tip him well every day. By the third day, he already knew what my husband liked, and just dropped a beer by on his travels. He was the best part of our trip - cheerful and helpful.

Privilege Club: They tried to nab us for our free tour of the new part of the resort. But we were suckered into that previously so we knew just to tell them no thanks. I just wish they'd be honest with people - it's a TIME SHARE presentation!

Medical Clinic - just beware, that even if you have medical/travel insurance, you should be prepared to pull out your credit card. We have coverage with a large and reputable health insurance company (blue cross) and were told it was not accepted and we were required to pay $700 US for two short visits. From speaking with a couple of other people, they had different coverage but were told the same thing. Just glad I didn't need a hospital as it is owned by the same company that runs the medical clinic.

So all in all it was not a horrible vacation, but it certainly wasn't what we expected based on previous visits. And based on travels to many other all inclusives (including those in DR) I would not suggest that this is Luxury as they claim. The service and food are below par compared to previous visits (first time we've been sick here) and the little things that make you feel special were completely missing. I think our next vacation in DR (this was our 17th time to DR) will be elsewhere

The Bahia Principe Ambar does not disappoint. I went with my boyfriend over the Christmas holidays and we were very happy overall. It exceeds in service; all workers from wait staff to landscapers and hotel reception noticeably strive to do their job well, taking pride in the resort and always say hello with a smile. The grounds are landscaped nicely and taken care of, and the beach is so beautiful. Even though the lounge chairs and palapas get taken quickly, the beach never seemed crowded. Take a walk along the beach and you’ll notice that most of the other resort’s beaches aren’t nearly as nice as Ambar’s—being an adults only resort helps to keep the noise out. The pool, on the other hand, is crowded and livelier with entertainment, dancing and a pool bar. Unfortunately it closes at 6PM. But a big plus is that the outside bathrooms by the pool are clean! I was impressed with the level of cleanliness. The rooms are spacious and comfortable. We had a corner room with a king bed and large wrap around balcony—nice and private. As for the food, I didn’t have high expectations since it’s an all-inclusive resort, but the restaurants were overall good. The food is not so flavorful; it’s about the small wins, finding dishes you enjoy and complementing them with the endless glasses of wine and champagne. Extra points for good champagne! If you go to Bella, get the steak—it’s surprisingly very tasty with the foie gras on the top. I had some linguini with mushroom dish and it was pretty bland. Don Pablo, as everyone writes, is very good. The breakfast buffet is good with many options; however the lunch buffet has room for improvement. We are from NYC and spoiled with lots of variety and amazing food, so the buffets were not my favorite but ok. Small wins. All in all, I do highly recommend the Ambar if you are looking for a relaxing resort with beautiful beaches and excellent service.

This was our first Christmas away (2012), which we stayed here at the Adult only Ambar in Bahia Principe. OMG, what can I say. Our cleaning man Roberto made us feel so much at home, kept our room clean with lots of surprises everyday, anything we needed he got for us. Pool area: if you put your towel down to reserve a chair before 8am the security guard will take them, one morning I sat in the pouring rain, just so my family can have a palapa during the day. Buffet food by the pool was average. Food: Don Pablo's was awesome, best dinner of the whole place, with Mikado's seconded, food was exceptional, Bella Italian was so so, and so was the Pescador Mediterraneo, serve was very slow in this place. Guest Service was very helpful, Thomas was the greatest spoke very well English and Manney was great for booking tours, We would go back in a heart beat...Very Clean place, and grounds kept beautiful, love the night light atmoshere.

We were at the Ambar from Dec 20th to 27th. Check-in was a nightmare, arrived at 1pm but check-in started at 3pm, we were told 1 of 2 rooms was ready and it would be another 20 minutes for the other room. We left our bags at the front and decided to explore the resort a bit. Up to now I'm ok, after all it's not the resort's fault we arrived 2 hrs before check-in.
We returned to the front desk at 3:30pm, the front desk clerk apologized and said it would be another 20 minutes, ok, I can live with that. We sat in the lobby and waited for over 40 minutes and went back to check if our rooms were ready, surprise, they were not and the one room that was ready when we first arrived was no longer available but we were told it would only be another 5 minutes before our rooms were ready. To make a long story short we waited for 1 1/2hrs for our rooms. After my wife had stood at the front desk looking very unhappy for about 20 minutes we were given 1 room, we took it and decided to bring our bags to the room and change in to our bathing suits to go wait by the pool until our other room became available. We got to the room and went out to the balcony, we were looking over the garbage collection area. I immediately went back to the front desk and asked for the manager, I explained all that we had been through and within 5 minutes we had 2 rooms in a different building, with a better view.
We complained to our travel representative and we were sent 2 t-shirts, 1 small mikey of rum and an apology letter. We were told to bring the letter to the Privilege Club where a gift would be waiting. The gift was an opportunity to sit in on the sales pitch for a time-share, when we told the sales person (Jorge) that we weren't interested he was quick to let us know, in a snarky tone, that we were not helping him obtain university credits and he walked away.
Food at the resort was adequate, resort was nice and well maintained, as the beach was crowded we preferred to spend our time at the pool closest to the beach. Overall the staff was pleasant and polite, except for some of the front desk staff who appeared not to care that we had been waiting 3 1/2hrs to get our rooms. I'd rate the resort as a 4 stars, definitely not a 5 stars.