Me and my girl are very happy of our choice. Is the best hotel we have ever been and the staff is always trying to help you in everything they can to keep you happy. The Food and drinks are wonderful and i can not understand people complaining about something about this resort.

One last thing, the official lenguage in RD is the Spanish, not English. If you don´t want milk or meat, you only have to learn that meat is "carne" and Milk is "leche".
sorry, but sometimes it seems that in this world only USA and English lenguage exist.

My wife and I (35 & 40) just returned last night to a snowy Denver, Colorado. We wish we were back at the Bahia right now. We stayed April 20-27 and had a great time.

The resort was actually 3 hotels and I think the total count of all the rooms was over 1500 +. The place is huge and very very nice.

The beach was beautiful I would give it 4 stars, snorkeling was also very good you would have to swim out about 100 yards / meters. Toward the shipwreck was the best, I saw a large variety of fish, sea urchins, alot of beautiful corals. A cool porcupine puffer that was 2.5 feet long with a head the size of a basketball and blue eyes the size of silver dollars, saw some multi colored squids. All and all very good snorkeling.

I did not do any Scuba diving as it seemed a little expensive, but was told that it was also very good.

I brought my own snorkeling gear, which was a good thing because the dive shop never seemed to have any available, which left my wife out of the snorkeling.

Also if you would like to use the Hobie cats, sea kayaks, paddle boats, or windsurfing equipment I would suggest booking it upon arrival. We did not and were not able to utilize any off the water toys.


Yes you are going to a place where there are people from other countries that are less inhibited about being fully clothed. There were many topless women, the good, the bad, the plain ugly, but you can always look the other way or give them a look of disgust as I had to do several times.

Bring alot of sun care product as we saw alot of people that had severe sunburns we brought like 10 different sunscreen bottle with varying SPF to protect our Colorado winter whited skin and left with great tans. Sunscreen at the resort shops was between $15 to $25 dollars US per bottle.
( Robbery )


The room was Great, we were in Villas 32 room 32211 overlooking the north center pool. nice pillow top mattress that was nice and firm and we both slept very well every night. Bring Slippers as the marble bathroom and tile floors in the rooms would give me and my wife sore feet after long walks on the beach or around the resort. Nice balcony, Mini bar fridge never got very cold but beverages were always cool and there in an ice machine on the first floor on both sides of each villa. Air conditioning worked great and there was an endless supply of hot water for bathing.


As another reviewer noted there are Mosquitoes. It rained on and off the first three days of our stay and that seemed to bring out the bugs, not alot but enough to annoy you. We were on the second floor and although there is usually a breeze to blow the mosquitoes away and keep them from getting in the room, there are no screen doors, and as stated, The Maids Leave The Doors Open To Your Room While Cleaning. We did not know this the first couple night and I had to kill 10 to 30 mosquitoes per night and still had several bites on both me and my wife. I don't speak Spanish but bought a little Spanish phase / dictionary book for $5.00 that allowed me to ask the maid in Espanol to close the room door while she cleaned which helped alot with bugs in the room.

The food was O.K. not great. We ate at the French, Japanese, Steak house and would rate them in that order.

Buffets were O.K Tons of fresh fruit, pasta, fish, beef, chicken, pizza, salads were not that good but always alot of choices, some were good some not, but we were never hungry. I liked breakfast the best.

The staff was very nice and seemed to enjoy their work and all the tourism / tourists. We gave out maid some gifts and usually tipped her $2-$3 dollars per day US. Also tipped the Mini bar people $1-$2 dollars per day if the kept us well stocked with water and beer. We would also give little tips $2-$5 US to any of the staff members that went out of their way to insure we were being taken care of. ( It was very appreciated )

Shopping at the Beach was interesting, you must barter with them to get the prices down to more reasonable levels. They have better prices than the resort shops.

Did not do any trips as we both wished to just have some down time and loved relaxing at the pools and the beach.

Both lobby bars were the best, try them both.

In room safe cost us $30 US for the week, Note you only need you room key to program the safe with your personal code. After you program it don't use you room key, just your security code. There was some confusion with the front desk staff regarding this and it took us a while to figure it out on our own.

Entertainment was pretty weak, we tried to watch a couple shows, but left seeking more excitement.



We rate this hotel as maybe 4 stars, Mainly a 4 instead of 5 because of the food. It's not as good as some AI's we've stayed at in Mexico or other countries / Islands.


Would we go back, YES

We stayed at the Bahia Principe Punta Cana from 4/17 to 4/26. We are 30 yrs. old couple.

Check-in: No problems whatsoever. As a matter of fact we asked for a room on the 2nd floor facing a pool with a king size bed. A manager made the change with no questions asked!

Room: Stayed in Villa 31, Room 31211 with a pool view. We had a king size bed with a sofa. Very nice room, very clean. However, the room had a "scent" to it; a musty odor. I bought a glade plug-in, but it do not do any good. We found plenty of mosquitos daily. Probably because of the maid left the door open while she cleaned the room. We bought bug spray and sprayed the front door along with the sliding glass door. Didn't really work. Got bit a few times, no biggie. Bathroom was nice. From reading previous reviews I made a mental note of the shower issue and water on the floor. We rolled the floor mat and placed it aganist the glass shower door. We kept our bath towels from the previous day and placed those on the floor. Overall, our system seemed to work. If you run out of towels, kleenex, toilet paper, we found a storage room located on every floor that was unlocked the entire time we were there. The room is equipped with a mini-bar. Mainly water (4 bottles daily), 2 Pepsi's, 2 Diet Pepsi's and 2 7-up's. I'm a big water drinker, wish they could of given us more water or at least have bigger water bottles. They tell you NOT to drink the water and that includes brushing your teeth. So...that meant we need to use the bottled water, which led to the water shortage for us. They also have a hairdryer, little shampoos, bath gels, sewing kit, shower cap, shoe shiner, dental kit...kind of nice if you run out of something.

Maids: Yes, they barely speak English, however, they are willing to listen to you if you need something. I left her gifts daily along with a spanish written note. I have a friend who speaks spanish, so before I left I had her write a few lines for me. Spent about $20 or so at the dollar store for ponytail holders/brush/mirror kit, paper, pens, crayons, soaps, toothbrushes, toothpastes for adults and the kids, candy. I also chose to bring my perscription eyeglasses, which I do not need anymore. I figure they could use the frames, she greatly appreciated them. We also left $10 the day of departure along with lotions and toothpaste, our snorkels and masks we chose not bring back with us. These women work ALL DAY LONG cleaning rooms. They do not get paid much and most of them have families to provide for. I can tell you our maid appreciated the gifts we had given her.

Overall staff: I've read people complaing about the language barrier. We never had a problem. If they did not understand our request, they found someone that could. Very happy, smiling people that are willing to please.

Entertainment: From reading previous review, people were disappointed with the entertainment. I beg to differ. It wasn't the best nor was it the worst either. We actually found it quite amusing. They have a half hour before the show dedicated to the kids. Dancing (chicken dance, hokey pokey, choo-choo train), little games. It was nice to see they do things for the kids. They had Karoke night, Thai-Papi night (Which was really amusing), Stars nights, Games for everyone, just to name a few. The announcer was very energetic! (Considering he works ALL DAY LONG TOO!) Went to the disco, which was okay. They played a variety of music. Never made it to the casino, although I wanted to go. My boyfriend stopped me. He probably said I have more chances of winning here in the US than at a resort casino located in the Dominican.

Pools: Awesome! Water was never cold. More like luke-warm bath water. Swim-up bars at every pool We chose to hang out at the quite pool. We saw the activity pool (near the beach) with something always going on. If you like to do activites in the pool, then this is the pool to hang out at. We bought rafts from home and had the scuba guy fill them up for us. As far as to the "saving chairs with towels" issue, yes, everyone does it! And you have to get up early to say your chairs, especially if you want a palapas. Same goes for the beach chairs.

Beach: PRETTY, PRETTY, PRETTY! Water was warm and really enjoyed swimming in it. Sandy bottom too! They are constanting raking up seaweed to make Bahia Principe's beach the best! Let me tell ya, it is! Took a little stroll down the beach, passed a dew other resorts and found Bahia Principes the cleanest and biggest. You can rent (for free) catamarans, paddleboats and canoes/kayaks. We do not, so I can't tell you how it was. They have guards patrolling the beach constantly. I guess they do not want locals wandering and bothering the tourists. They have some sort of market you can walk to...maybe 30 min walk or so, but we never made it to that either. We heard you can take a boat ride there for 8 bucks, but I have no idea where you find this "boat". Oh...we fed a homeless dog that seemed to be wondering the beach everyday. Felt really bad for her, skin and bones! VERY friendly dog....she needs food and water. I chose to save to chicken, bacon, sausage, ect.. and what not and brought it to the beach. She throughly enjoyed it! Saw someone else feeding her as well.

Food: Well, considering we are from Chicago, we are spoiled with excellent food. It was okay, not the worst nor the best. The buffet was huge! Something for everyone. Pastas, pizza, fish, beef, chicken, lunch meats, cheeses, desserts Breakfast at the buffet was so-so. Good crepes for breakfast, omlettes were good. The only thing we wished they had was a self-serve pop machine. Keep an open-mind and just enjoy!

Restaurants:
Mikao-I think it's spelled like that (Japanese): Good (entertaining for the little ones, they cook everything in front of you.)
Garden Grill (Steakhouse): Good
Le Gourmet (French): Good (we ate there twice)

Spa: Chose to have a massage done for $74 (US dollars) Tipped the girl $10 (US dollars) Not worth the money. To me, the price for the services performed in the spa were overpriced. I can get a massage done here in the US for $60 and have it done better. I give them credit, they try!

This was our first visit to Punta Cana. We had an excellent time. No sickness whatsoever. However, I did pack pepto-bismol just in case. Bring a lot of sunblock. Make sure you bring enough of everything really. They have a store located near the lobby that is overpriced! It rained probably 6 out of the 9 days we were there. Mostly brief showers. Also, I read people complaing about the topless women. Yes, there are topless women! If you have children and feel uncomfortable with this, then this is not the place to go. Would I go back to Punta Cana, no. Why, mainly because Punta Cana is all resort area. We didn't do any excursions simply because we've done the same things in Mexico. Punta Cana is not know for the best scuba diving, so we opted a "no" for that one. Horseback riding is horseback riding. A helicopter ride is $60 (us dollars) for 10 mins. Come on, that's outrageous. The Manati Park-the whole dolphin thing. We heard the pool these dolphins are kept in are quite small. Hate to see any of that...I'm an animal lover and can't bare to see these things. Probably not, we like to go somewhere different all the time. Although I HIGHLY recommend this resort! I can see this resort going up in price within the next few years! Email me if you have any questions!

We just returned from a week at the Bahia Principe (4/18-25) and have to say it was a great trip. We traveled with our two boys, ages 4 and 1 and had no problems, and only a few MINOR annoyances. Here's our review, and we hope it'll be helpful if you're contemplating Punta Cana:

You'll see nothing but poverty driving from the airport the 45 minutes to the Bahia Principe. Shacks, under-construction concrete blocks, trash. While the airport has a nice 'tropical feel' -- the welcome mat really isn't rolled-out with beauty like, say, Hawaii.

The Bahia Principe is brand-new and has a fabulous lobby area. The place is so clean it'll amaze you. There is seemingly an employee for every two guests. We don't speak much Spanish, but it wasn't a problem. Our room wasn't ready until 3p but after check-in, we got wristbands (not the best to wear for seven days but no problem) and could go for lunch.

Our room was in villa 25, which is two buildings from the beach-side pool area. We can honestly say the pools here are probably the BEST we've seen. Totally clean, huge, and just perfect for kids. Even the deeper, non-wading pools were fine for kids with floaties. There are three different pool sections on this huge resort property, and they are awesome.

The beach is great, though not for snorkeling. It's just not that type of beach. But if you're looking for white sand, palm trees and warm, turquiose water -- this is it. There were probably 80% Europeans -- and many women are topless. Some shouldn't be, but hey... more power to them ;-)

The hands-down WORST part was the towel situation for us. There's a guy we dubbed the "Towel Nazi" down by the beach pool, who was a jerk. Short guy, gap between his teeth. Watch out for him... as he makes it a chhore just to get clean towels. He seemed to love the 'power' of handing out towels. Also, they run out of clean ones VERY early.

Speaking of early, get up and stake your pool or beach spot EARLY. We made the mistake of getting to the beach/pool at 8AM and were shut-out of any spot with shade.

TIPS: bring maybe $200 cash US... and bring a lot of one dollar bills. We tipped our housekeeper $2 per day, and that seemed about what they were used to. We also left $1 in the minibar, which is stocked every day with bottled water, juices, sodas. Good luck, though, trying to get ANY diet soda after day one... ANYWHERE. Not a big thing in the DR.

You'll have three nights you can eat at the restaurants, otherwise it's buffets... which were solid. Forget the negative reviews. Food is safe, hot, good and enough variety to please. Make your reservations early in your stay, like day one or two. Like other reviewers have stated, it'll make your life easier because if you travel with kids, obviously you're not eating at 9PM. The earlier you make the reservation, the earlier the time of day.

Another tip - eat breakfasts at the Mexican restuarant buffet area. Hardly anyone there, and you avoid taking the trams to the main buffet. The trams, by the way, are totally convenient.

We had rain four of seven days, but it moves in and out and wasn't a problem, other than warm rain.

I'd bring a large cup, mug, thermomug if you want to avoid small drink sizes. As for their entertainment, it's a joke... but so bad that it's fun and funny. Count how many times the pool leader says "Oh My God!" in broken english!

There were mosquitoes, but very few in our room. Maybe three the entire week.

Overall, it was a great time and terrific value. Tip at each meal, even if its $1. The most I did at dinner was $5... and these people know that's a lot of money. They'll appreciate it. Hope this helps... and we don't think you'd regret a trip here.