I went to the Bahia Principe Esmeralda last week and I was extemely pleased with my experience. I was extremely impressed with an individual by the name of Nicanor. He was always willing to help....he was amazing.
The hotel is beautiful. The rooms a spacious, clean and comfortable. Great bathrooms. The restaurants had lots of variety of food and good service.
I will definately be back soon!

We had heard a lot of good things about this resort and were very excited to go to Punta Cana. The beach was nice and the resort was very clean. The bar staff was awesome and so were the staff in the restaurants. But the front desk staff was no pleasant to deal with at all. We had a broken shower head and the fridge did not work in our room so they said they would move us to a different room in a different building. That took about 24 hours. Once we were in our new room we were treated poorly by the cleaning staff and the butler. They barely made our bed, did not bring us clean towels, and we had had a dirty comforter for the whole week. (we also tipped them everyday) Other guests received fruit trays, free T-shirts, and bottles of rum and we did not. By the end of our stay we didn't even get bottles of water in our room. Our family contact thevfront desk at the Esmeralda and they never gave us the message. Good thing it wasn't a major emergency.
Also the canned shrimp and artificial crab was subpar for a 5 star resort located on the ocean. I would not recommend this resort to anyone I know.

Thanks to manager Louise whom you find everywhere taking care of everything and the general manager who listen to guests for improvement, chefs, waiters especially head waiters Ferdando and Joselo and the nice guy Nicanor, and the Butler D Jenny. Yes we were VIP visitors because we were there last year but I noticed that they are taking care of every single guest of the 1500 as if he owns the place and not just a customer. The exceptional cleaning procedures including washing the streets with soap and water and sanitizers was extremely amusing. It is a yearly dream vacation. I highly recommend this all inclusive trip, to visit the vertical jakozi for adults and the one inside the new swimming pool. The only time the group was unhappy is in Maiko Japanese restaurant when the chef was unhappy and did not perform the show or even talk one word, though the waiter was excellent. I like this place very much and will visit again

We had a great time in this resort. Read on and I tell you what I think is good to know
before you go there.

This was the 9th Bahia that I have seen so far. They are all the same theme although
the porta plata Bahia is really not as good as the others in terms of the buildings. I think
after Bahia Cayacoa (building alone but not the beach) this stands the best and at the same
level as Coba in mexico (Note that I have not been to Levantado!! :-). All the buildings are
airconditioned. The Esmeralda is a small addition to the side of Ambar, yes, it is relatively
small. The closest building to the beach are 90 and 91 respectively. The buldings are only 3
levels and only a small number have oceanview while most have only poolview. The beach is
pretty good and much better than Cayacoa Bahia (well, the beach is elite in Punta Cana no
matter you are).


These are the points I would like to pass on to you if you are planning to go there:

1 - The Esmeralda is a small addition to the side of Ambar. The resort is super clean. The
rooms are classic Bahia rooms with marble finishes and comfy bed. The resort is really clean
all around it. you have ride little cars to ride to other sister resorts and the transportation is quick and easy.

2 - The pool is clean and very well maintained. The pool bar serves a good variety of drinks
however the other bar inside the resort have even better variety of different drinks.

3- Staff are friendly and you feel welcome wherever you go within the resort (well, it is not
Jamaican Bahia for sure! See my review here: http://snipurl.com/25o4rys).

4- All the buildings are airconditioned (Akumel and Tulum Bahias in mexico had no
aircondition in the main buffets when I was there in 2010).

5- The closest building to the beach is 90. Then is 91 as second closest. However, whereever
you are in Esmeralda, the beach is not that far. So no worries.

6- There is no night entertainment area in Esmeralda per se. You have to go to the sister
resorts to see the shows.

7- There is a small clinic in the resort with good doctors and claims to be 24/7.

8- There is a children pool in the resort but no baby pool.

9- The buffet menu is "great" with a large variety of food. You can also eat in other Bahia
buffets but Ambar, I believe.

10- There is a Casino in the resort which becomes busy after 10 pm.

11- I do not think that Esmeralda is a good resort if you are looking for snorkling.

12- The pool seats are "Towel-Marked" around 8 am in the morning (people leaving towel on the seats to reserve them) but there is always enough seats for everyone and you can always get a seat.

13- It takes 40 minutes to and from the airport. The airport has free duty shops for alchohol
and tobaco and so on. There is also a few fast food store once you pass into the waiting area
to get into the plain.

14- This is a nice and quiet resort which stands up to the 5 star claim it makes. Enjoy your
stay.


PS: See my posted pictures from the resort and rate my review if you like it.