The hotel was not as I expected advertised as 5 star which it is not. The place is clean and comfortable. Plenty of choice where to eat but the service in some of the restaurants is pretty slow. I didn’t pay really expensive price so had good value for money paid however if you rate 5 star then you have to create and provide a 5 star service. TUI should stop advertising this as a 5 star resort to prevent complaints. We found reception helpful and the bell boy quickly sorted out a major problem on arrival we were given 1 bed for 3 people.
First of all, I will start by saying this is my fourth time to this resort. I have sent a few reviews to you but I feel this one will speak the most about your resort. I travelled there in February with a long time friend. We took advantage of the solo rooms as it’s nice to have our own space at our ages. That also posed some complications booking ala cartes. When I booked ala cartes through the app, they were only reserved for one person Needless to say, by the time we got to the resort, the popular restaurants and times were all booked up so we only ate at the buffet. I also travelled again to your resort in March on the 28th with my daughter. We were unable to get any ala cartes my first trip in February, so we ate at the buffet every night. My daughter has celiac disease so I was adamant to prebook all our ala cartes on the Bahia app before I arrived. What a huge difference great food makes. I was even more impressed about your gluten free options and the attention my daughter received due to her dietary needs. She had brought her own pasta, bagels, rolls, etc…. Your knowledgeable staff assured her they had gluten free products and that she would have her pasta boiled in clean water and all the pans used to cook in, would only be used for gluten free ingredients. They cooked for her, her own personal pizza, pasta, beef and veg, chicken and rice and even asked if if they could create something for her. I was blown away at your service provided. I had recently taken her to a more modern, high end resort, also in the Dominican, and she was really only offered salad, chicken and rice and no where near got the service you provided. I must commend you on your selection of all your head chefs. They were all very accommodating and attentive. My daughter never once felt like she was imposing on them, or bothering them. I watched from a distance and everyone was polite and attentive. In fact, there was a night when a server put an appetizer on our table and the chef came running out and removed it very quickly. We also had another served her regular pasta but again, within seconds, the chef scooped it up and brought her the pasta he had personally prepared for her. All of the ala cartes were delicious, visually appealing and the service everywhere was top notch and amazing. We were never without water or wine, I’m not sure why we other guests complained about this, we were well taken care of everywhere When we arrived I had requested a certain building number, due to mobility issues. This request was not granted but the kind young man at the reception desk, Joel, sought additional help from another young lady, concierge, to find us a room She was right on it scampering about from desk to desk seeing what she could do. I had requested this at the lobby my last trip and emailed prior to arriving but my request wasn’t granted. I’m thinking about coming again, travelling alone because I feel very safe at your resort so I hope you can accommodate my room request then. They couldn’t accommodate us that day but promised to have a room the following day They phoned the next day to say they have a room suitable to my request but we had already started unpacking, so we stayed put. Thanks Joel, always a friendly face in the lobby, checking in on us. Carmen, at the buffet was helpful, beautiful and kind always finding a server to meet our needs. The friendly male bartender cook, at the egg station, always a smile on his face and eager to please. I like my eggs a certain way, so after day one, he remembered exactly how I like them cooked. There was also a hostess, Josemeny, in the buffet, greeting us every morning with a smile and a greeting. I wish I had wrote everyone’s names down but I also have Emmanuel at the MEAT restaurant which was an amazing experience and he provided outstanding service. We never had any issues with housekeeping. They cleaned our rooms everyday at a reasonable time and left us clean towels and refreshed our beverages. There were many lounges available on the beach and poolside, never an issue. Entertainment was pretty good but we were so tired by nighttime, we didn’t catch many shows. Beverages were good, probably the best in the lobby but we had so much fun at the poolside bars with the waiters there They were so polite and fun to be around. the waitresses walked around the pool fairly often if you wanted someone to serve you. Tipping goes a long way. A buck or two to the staff, means so much to them so we would tip almost every round. The pools were clean and warm and there was enough room to swim a few laps. I do wish there was a smoking section around the pool. I’ve had lung cancer so I don’t like inhaling others peoples smoke. I watched how people in the pool would smoke and butt their cigarette in the filter. Disgusting. Have some manners people. All in all, another amazing vacation at the Bahia aquamarine. Maybe next time I’ll upgrade to the amber but I’m pretty familiar with everything now at the aquamarine, so maybe I’ll just stay put Sincere regards. Terri Hogan CANADA 🇨🇦…
This resort was beautiful and we had a fantastic experience overall. The rooms were lovely and clean. We had a beautiful view of the pool and the maids did an excellent job every day. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, shoutout to Eddie the entertainer - he was so energetic and lively. Nighttime entertainment options were repetitive and could improve. The buffet was really good but options were very repetitive. One complaint about the food would be the poor signage indicating what everything was. We don't eat pork and we found a lot of pork dishes were not identified properly, there was also a LOT of pork options, so more chicken/beef/fish options would be nice. The a la carte restaurants were the best part - delicious food, great service and lots of variety. The resort has a great gym you can use and all the other amenities were great. The only thing that was disappointing about this resort was the beach - it smelled disgusting and there was so much seaweed you had to walk over half a foot of seaweed to get to the water, and the water itself was covered in seaweed you could hardly swim. The pools/chairs/cabanas were maintained well and always clean. I constantly saw staff cleaning/rearranging/organizing the pool and beach areas. Overall, this resort would be a 8.5/10 for me. It was an amazing experience for the price.…
To all my friends, family, and fellow travelers…. DO NOT ever stay at this resort. I had a the worst experience, they ruined my birthday as well as my trip. Total waste of money. They are rude, unhelpful, you do not feel safe, they hang up every time you call (if they actually answer) this is a 1-2 ⭐️ resort at most. I’ve never wanted a vacation to be over in my life. In 5 continents and over 20 countries I’ve never had such a bad experience. I walked out of most my dinner reservations as I couldn’t get service, they have the cheapest garbage alcohol available. As we have a huge network of fellow travelers especially solo, PLEASE share, word of mouth, change your reservation if your going. I wouldn’t want my friends to have this experience.
I would never book at this property again nor would I recommend it for a number of reasons. Prior to even arriving, I checked in but could not log into my second reservation. This was because of an input error on their end. That said, I tried calling and emailing multiple times to get this straightened out with no help. I found out on my own that in order to log in, I needed to use the first name on the other reservation (not my last name as indicated during log in). While trying to get the second reservation taken care of, I was able to log into my first reservation to make dinner reservations; however, I could not connect it to the second room (and could only make dinner reservations for 2 people not 4 people). Again, I called the property and was directed to send an email. I emailed multiple times and was told this could be taken care of at check in upon arrival. Fast forward to our arrival— I was told there was not enough room at the restaurants for our total party of 4 even though I had tried to rectify this prior to arrival. While trying to “accommodate” our party, the only options were to change locations of our dinners while also eating very late at night. I was also told to call guest services that evening at 5pm to see if they could get all 4 of us at the desired restaurant that evening. I called both extensions provided at 5pm and continued to call until about 5:45pm and no one picked up the phone. That seemed to be the general consensus for anytime one of our rooms attempted to call the concierge for the entirety of our trip. No one answers the phone. In addition to our check in and dinner reservation issues, the place is not well marked making it very difficult to locate buildings (buffet, lobbies, restaurants, etc. which are also very spread out). The entertainment nor the food is not up to par with some of the other all inclusive resorts I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. While there are several staff members who made our stay enjoyable— Smerlin, Edward, Jhonatan, Summeriel, and Juan to name a few, this would not be a resort I’d ever recommend nor visit again. And talking to several other guests, it did not appear that our party was the only party with issues that have deterred us from returning.…
Our room wasn’t ready and we waited 45 minutes after check in, then our room was used and dirty. (We requested a room with two beds on 5/2 and 6/13 confirmation has been received.) I understand this is a request but unnecessary and unprofessional to have us wait 45 minutes for a room with two beds AFTER CHECK IN. No one updated us and seemed to really care that we were dying of heat just waiting in the lobby. We had to ask them three times for an update. Now onto the first room- no towels, no shampoo, no lighting in the room other then one reading light by the bed. The beers were opened in the minibar, the tub was dirty and stained and the room smelled of mold and mildew very strongly. It looked like someone had just left the room. Like checked out or something. We went back to the front desk, and had to wait another hour in the heat. New room- We got a new room and the toilet was leaking in it. Then the safe locked and would not open after we used our code we made for it. The room was brighter and did smell better. Same night- this resort has 13 restaurants and we walked into one because we were starving from the long day. We were turned away because we didn’t have a reservation. They told us to go to the lobby and talk to guest services. Back we went and the guest services employee tried making reservations at ANY restaurant for that night and the next three nights and all the restaurants were booked!!! Guest services told us that we needed to make them FIVE DAYS in advance!! We had no idea, no one told us and the information was not given to us. Thuraday, we went to the beach and got all the way there, on other side of the resort, and couldn’t get towels because we did not have a towel card. The emoloyeee said at check in they should have given it to us in our key packet. We had the packet with us and showed him we never got it. I started crying at this point because we would have had to go all the way back to the first lobby to get a towel card and go all the way back. The employee helped us and gave us two towels because of our situation. The kicker is last night and today. Last night after a great boat ride- we went to the buffet (only place we have been able to eat with not being able to make reservations). We both had bathing suits but a cover up that was long enough and covered everything- looked like a tube top dress. When we walked in- they wouldn’t let us in because she had a string bikini but a cover up tube top- literally nothing was showing. I gave her my shirt and we were seated. Keep in mind - every other girl around us had a spaghetti strap dress or shirt and had everything out- stomach, midriff, breasts- everything!! It was so crazy. Check out today- we reviewed the charges and asked becsuse if every issue we have had if our room service (that made us sick until 230am). The employee said we should have called to guest services about the room service. I told her it was 12am-230am and literally couldn’t get to the phone. She refused to do anything. Coming from the hotel world- if a guest is unhappy you can try to make it right by doing anything- comping a meal, getting management anything to let the guest know that they are heard and truly sorry. Nothing was done. She could be do anything. My friend was starving. She went to the restaurant after we put the balance on her card. The employee said she needed to come back and sign for it. I told her that the buffet is closing in five minutes, because this check out mess took so long, and I was not going to get her. I signed, three times, even the reciept that said no firma required. She said it needed to be signed. She then looked and said our complaints have not been logged anywhere. LIKE WHAT!! I told her the two front desk employees know about everything, guest services, the employee at the towels and by the beach, and i have been messaging and emailing the hotel for three days and no response. THREE DAYS. And it shows they read the message. Travelocity has been trying to call them and get a refund request since Wednesday night, but Travelocity has told me for the past two days, they are trying to reach the hotel and not having luck. Keep in mind at the airport coming here- I tried calling the hotel 13 times to ask about the shuttle that is advertised on the website and noone answered. It just was ringing. Fast forward to standing in the lobby- you can hear the phones just ringing and ringing and noone is answering. When we complained to the front desk, twice, guest services, the towel guy and a restaurant employee- The staff members told us that we have been treated unfairly and understand that we have had a bad experience after a bad experience. It’s been the WORST EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD. The staff and and management does not communicate, everything has been completely unprofessional and downright rude AF. Never stay here. I have been feeling defeated since our first night and cried every day. I will say that the pros were the boat ride through Pachanga party boat (not hotels company) and the entertainers at the pool were amazing. The buffet food was good despite getting singled out trying to have dinner last night. Everything else awful. 0/0 stars. If I could get negative stars I would…
I went to Aquamarine in May with a friend (we are 27) and her parents (mid 50s). We had an amazing time! Bahia Principe is a very large complex of 7 hotels all in one, and Aquamarine is the Adults-only mid-tier one. In my opinion, it has the best entertainment and is the most worth it. There are about 15 RESTAURANTS across the complex that you can choose from and all the ones we tried were good, especially the Greek and Mikado. The buffet and Las Olas, by the beach, also had really decent food. There is more option at the buffet. You do have to pay extra for nicer liquors, but if you don't mind (we didn't), then the drinks are great. The BARMANS will listen to your needs and are all very friendly, especially Jose and Jhonathan by the pool. The HIGHLIGHT of our trip: the ENTERTAINMENT team. Thank you to Walter, Eddy and Ranger for making our week special. They offer a ton of different activities by the pool and the beach all day and those change everyday. There is a lot of music and dancing by the pool which makes it really fun. The shows at night next to the lobby were all great (Burlesque, White Party, Karaoke, Las Vegas, etc.) and the entertainment team kept making the nights fun. They are very friendly and helpful. The DISCOTHEQUE reopened on May 22nd, and there is also a sports bar and a casino that are all opened until 2 or 4 am. This is where you go after the show at the hotel finishes (11 pm) if you want to party, and this is all at the entrance of the complex so you will not be bothered by the noise if you wish to sleep and not go out. It is not a calm resort, but you can still go to the smaller pool further from the beach and the music will be less loud. You can hear music from the Ambar hotel pool when you are in the Aquamarine section of the beach, but it is not too bad. Aquamarine has a private section on the BEACH for Adults-only which is good. We could have used more palapas for shade. On the week we arrived, there was a lot of seaweed which made us not really want to go in the water in front of our hotel... but we did walk a couple of minutes to swim where there wasn't seaweed. The hotel passes with a sort of tractor to clean the beach. We met people that arrived the week before us, and no seaweed at all! So it depends. And it's not the resort's fault anyways. Since it is a large complex, Aquamarine is about 7 to 10 minutes to the beach by foot. Nothing that really bothered us. There is a shuttle service with long golf carts that passes on the roads from the beach to the last hotel of the complex every couple of minutes, so you can use them to get around. We didn't really wait for them since we like walking. The resort is very CLEAN. Nothing negative to say about it. The rooms are not the most updated, but still nice and the bathroom and fairly recent. Ask for POOL VIEW, or less you will look at the side of the hotel next to Bahia Principe and it definitely isn't a good view (it's a dumpster). The CHECK-IN process was pretty long because they drop off everyone all each hotel. They drop you off at a small lobby for Aquamarine and Ambar, and then a cart brings you to the main Aquamarine lobby. From then, it was pretty fast and Manuel was very helpful. We were surprised that a lot of travellers speak Spanish and so, most employees are not fluent in English, and definitely not in French. We made it work though, but it is something to remember. The head of the entertainment team, the lobby employees and the restaurant waiters can all speak good English, but for the rest, good luck. Lastly, we did the Holà catamaran trip that was booked with our Air Canada representative. We do not recommend it. The transport was excessively long and there wasn't a lot of time on the catamaran for the price. Try to look at other companies online. All and all, we had an AMAZING time!…
We enjoined our trip to Aquamarine. One week in the end of May. Service was excellent! Beach is great, but you need to put your towels at 6am to get the shadowed spot. After 3pm very beach is getting windy, but water is warm, Ocean is clean, no sea weeds, nice! Food was good. We went to only one a la cart, it did not worth it, restrictions, time, etc. and food was really bad, so stick with the buffet. Room was good, but overlooking on the entertainment area, take a garden view if you prefer quiet evening. Too loud and too much Latin music.
We arrived on a Tuesday and stayed at the Bahia Principe Aquamarine. Check in was easy as we had used My Bahia Principe website to check in a couple days before. I had sent an email requesting building 80 and a top floor. Both requests were honored. We couldn’t get our keys until 3:00 but that gave us time to go to the buffet. As everyone says the rooms are very big and clean. The bed is firm but I slept just fine. The pillows are also very firm which is less than desirable but we made it work. The a/c worked well and the water pressure and temp in the shower was very good. We did have to ask for hand towels and Kleenex the first day but after that it was fine. Our housekeeper, Yessica, was terrific. She brought extra towels, made animal towel sculptures, and left us love notes in flowers. We had a different maid on Saturday and Sunday which was less than stellar. At 3:30 on Saturday our room still hadn’t been cleaned (and we’d been at the pool since 0900) so we just asked for new towels. We also called the front desk to get water and beer which was delivered quickly. We had emailed our a la carte requests but NONE were honored. Maybe if we’d used the app we would have done better. We were required to use the kiosk by guest services. Fortunately we did get reservations for 6 nights. I was disappointed that the restaurant we went to for our anniversary didn’t even acknowledge it. We had put in the notes when making the reservation that we were celebrating our 16th but nothing. We did have the banner on our door though. 😁 First night we ate at the “Gala” buffet. We were disappointed. Other than some shrimp by the salads there wasn’t anything special that we saw. Second night was Mashua. The service was excellent and the food good. One of the servers (I think it was Peter) noticed our table wobbled and came over and fixed it without us saying a word. Third night was Portofino. The building is lovely but HOT! Our service was excruciatingly slow. It took 2 hours to eat. The pizzas are humongous. They would easily feed 2-3 people and they’re was no way to take it to go for later. But the pasta portions are tiny. Both were good though. Just couldn’t wait to get outside where it seemed a little cooler. Fourth night was Mikado A la Carte. The food, ambiance, and service were all good. However, the noise level from the tepanyaki tables was overpowering. We couldn’t talk or hear each other when the show was going on. The sushi and tempura were tasty. I really liked the seafood ginger soup but the miso was kind of bland. We had beef and chicken for me and beef and shrimp for Jeff. Both were good. Fifth night was El Olivo. At least 70% of the men were in SHORTS and nothing was said SO leave your long pants at home. Our server had a difficult time understanding us so Google Translate came in handy. I wanted the cheese plate for my appetizer since none of the others appealed to me. But the language barrier was too big a divide. The chateaubriand was ok. Kind of overcooked and I wasn’t fond of the sauces. Presentation was nice though. The chocolate volcano was the BEST dessert of the week. I’d go back to just have that! Sixth night was MEAT and by far the favorite. Jeff’s chicken wings were perfectly crispy and the sauce was flavorful without being too spicy. Ceasar salad was good. Clam chowder was tasty but a little thin in consistency - not that it stopped me from enjoying it. We both had the churrasco steak medium rare. It came out rare which was fine with me but too undercooked for Jeff. He ate the ends. The chocolate brownie and Devil’s Food Cake were very rich. Final night was Rodizio. A close runner up for favorite meal. We had a table overlooking the ocean with a perfect breeze. Absolutely gorgeous. The salad bar is extensive and they bring different chips and sides to the table. The baked potato was delicious. Then the meat comes. We tried almost everything. The chicken legs and Churrasco steak were the best by far. The turkey and pork were very dry and the “ribeye” and “tenderloin” were well past well done. Just plain inedible. The service was outstanding once we got seated - our reservation was at 6:00 and we (and the others who had 6:00 reservations) didn’t get acknowledged until 6:25. That was disappointing. A big shout out to JOEL at the check in desk. He answered all my questions throughout the week. He is an asset to the resort for sure. We got great service from YESSICA in housekeeping and JHONATHAN at the pool bar. The pool was lovely and we spent every day there. You do need to be there by 9:00 (especially on the weekends) to get an umbrella. We did see chairs reserved all day with no one using them but it wasn’t more than one or two at our end of the pool. Our room was 80308. Close to the lobby, buffet, El Olivi, pool, and nightly entertainment. Maybe too close to the nightly entertainment. We could hear and watch it from our balcony. Kind of a bummer if you want to go to sleep early. I would recommend building 81 or 82. They are still close to everything but not right on top of the entertainment. Building 71 or 72 would be the spot for quiet. The beach was beautiful, especially the first 3 days. By Friday the sea grass started to come in and by Sunday there were piles 3 feet high. It’s Mother Nature so we walked around it as best we could. No hotel was spared and we did see workers raking it up. We’ve been to the DR 8 times now. Twice in La Romana and 6 times in Punta Cana - all different resorts. We did stay at Ambar in 2010. This was the first time we ever had bug bites to this extent. I had at least 10 on both legs. Bring bug spray!!! All in all it was a nice vacation but we probably won’t return. We knew it was a big complex which has its advantages (lots of restaurants, room choices, luxury vs. more affordable) and it’s disadvantages (crowded, far from the beach, not top shelf liquor without paying, less quality in food due to large quantities needed). We realize we prefer smaller resorts with better amenities. We also know we’ll have to pay more to get it. We got this vacation for a good price and we got what we paid for. …
Very large complex of 4 hotels. They say you can use the amenities of all hotels but with some exclusions which we found confusing! The rooms are large - we had a superior jr suite overlooking the pool which was lovely. It was cleaned daily. The mini bar was stocked with water every day but the alcohol was a lucky dip on what was put in by the maid. The Aquamarine is only a 10 minute walk from the beach, but a little too far away to get a sun bed with a shade, as these are already taken by early risers by 7.30am! Maybe more shade is needed? The hotel itself has a lovely pool but beware towels will be taken off of sun-beds if left unattended. The entertainment and music is just a little bit too loud around the pool most of the time and could do with some calming music in the afternoon - just sometimes! The entertainment team are so full of energy and you have to give them credit for that. They work tirelessly and for long hours! The food is a bit samey in the restaurant after the first week, but we preferred that to the speciality restaurants as they never had enough food selections for us and you never got any side dishes just a set menu. We found it bazaar! We did feel a bit captive as hotel complex was too far away to local bars and restaurants so you couldn’t go out unless on an excursion. All in all we had an ok time but there are nicer places in the Caribbean to holiday so we won’t be going back.…
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