My Fiance and I - age 31 & 26 just returned fromteh Gran Bahia Principe - Bavaro. Our stay was from April 24 - May 1st.

Over all we had a fantastic time. But this resort if huge. We stayed in RM 24105 which is close to the beach and I was still having a hard time finding my room on the last day of our vacation. It isn't the kind of resort that you can run back to your room to grab something you need. Running back to your rooms means jumping on a tram and going for a 15 -20 minutes ride.

Check in - Fast and Easy.

Golden vs Normal - we purchased the golden package. What that truly means is 4 a la carte dinners vs 3, tons of beach towels vs. Towel Card, a room close to the beach vs close to the main lobbies and buffet, access to 3 pool vs 2, Housecoats and slippers. If I were to do it again it wouldn't purchase the Golden package. Being closer to the beach means further away from the buffet.

Food - Good enough. We always foudn something yummy.

Beach - really nice. Busy - but you can always find a chair.

Pool - well kept. There is 3 pools so your should always be able to find a chair.

Shopping - Pueblo Principe is the shopping area. My advice - go into the stores and check out the pricing on items. You can't bargain with the stores. Then if you want to go bargain with the vendors go ahead. The vendors start their pricing 3 x what the stores are asking. So it might be cheaper just to purchase what you are looking for from the store if the vendor won't lower their price.

Rooms - really nice. Maid service was great. Needed an iron and that arrived in 5 mins. Had an Alarm clock in our room. It didn't work and I asked for a replacement that never arrived. No bugs or anything. We did have a ground floor room.

Entertainment - Okay. The shows were kinda boring so we didn't attend many.

Activites - their wasn't much to do on the resort so we went and did a bunch of excursions.

Swimming with the dolphins - a lot of fun but you only get to swin with the Dolphin for 10 minutes. That is located in a zoo. So after you can go see all the Animals.Half Day.

Dunbugee - Boring. They just drive around the streets. I wouldn't do that again. Half day.

Bavaro Runner Tour - great tour. You go horseback riding, then to a ranch farm, then lunch, then cigar factory then sugar cane field then a different beach. Its a full day tour but you get to learn a lot about the Domincan.

Speed Boats and snokeling - this was the best one. You drive a speed boat about 15 mintues to a platform in the middle of the ocean to go snorkeling on a coral reef for an hour then you drive the the boat back. Half day but great experience.

I would go back to Punta Cana again but I look for a smaller resort. This resort was really busy and big. I prefer something a little smaller.

My husband, kids (13 and 11 yrs.) and myself stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe for a week at the end of April.

We chose to upgrade to the Golden package, hoping to get an ocean view room. We were in building 6 on the Punta Cana side. There are very few ocean view rooms at this resort, the buildings are basically one behind another…we could not see or hear the ocean from our room.

The beach is very beautiful with soft, white sand. The waves are fun and manageable. My kids loved the boogie boards and parasailing. We didn’t have any trouble finding shade on the beach regardless of the time of day. We were disappointed that the beach bar closed at 5:00 PM each day. The pool bar closes at 5:30 PM. If you want a drink after 5:30 you have to go to the lobby bar which is a 10-minute walk. Not very convenient for all-inclusive. The bartenders are fun but the drinks are a little light, not a problem if you tell them mucho tequila!

Rooms are nice, not luxurious but comfortable. The showers are interesting. There is a glass wall from the top of the tub to the ceiling, but it only goes about a third of the way down the length of the tub. After my daughter stepped out onto a very wet floor and slipped, we put a wash cloth at the end of the glass partition and also on the wall side to trap the water. We found the beds to be OK, but there is definitely not a pillow top mattress as the web site promises. Our room was cleaned thoroughly each day, furniture is moved away from the walls and the floors were scrubbed. Please remember to be generous with the housekeeping staff, they work extremely hard to keep the rooms looking nice. We loved the fresh flowers and towel art. We were on the ground floor and didn’t see any unwanted visitors (ants, roaches…).

Food is good…each day we ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch. The main buffet near the lobby offers many more breakfast and lunch choices than the other buffets that are more convenient to the beach. We ate at the Café French, the Grill, the Japanese, and the Mediterranean. Our Golden representative told us the buffet, the French and the Japanese restaurants on the Punta Cana and the Bavaro sides were the same. All of our meals we tasty, but I do have to warn you…at the Japanese restaurant, as the chef was preparing our meal in front of us, a roach scurried around the counter top. He pretended not to notice, but the 10 of us around the table noticed! I couldn’t help but think where there is one there are many! Each of the restaurants we went to were nearly empty, I’m not sure why it is difficult to get a 7:00 reservation as opposed to an 8:30. We had both, arrived early for the 8:30 and were seated right away with many tables available. Be prepared for a leisurely dinner at the ala cartes, it takes about 2 hours from start to finish.

We went to 3 shows, The Lion King, Michael Jackson and Sexes vs. each other. The Lion King was good, younger kids would enjoy this show. Michael Jackson show was fun to watch. The Men vs. Women show was pretty lame. I was sorry to miss the international show, but do to our ala carte reservation time, we couldn’t make it.

We golfed at the Punta Cana golf course, which is next door. It is very expensive and the course is not in very good shape. We made our tee time through the Golden Club and were told it would be $145. per adult, $45 for kids. When were arrived at the golf course, the kids were each $75. Ouch! If I had it to do again, I would look into a different course.

One last note, this is a very poor area. We took toys and school supplies for the children. If you choose to do this, get in touch with Mike at mike@mikesmarina.info or [--]. Mike came by the resort to pick up our donations. Very simple and very worthwhile.

We enjoyed our first visit to the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana is a beautiful place, I would love to go back some day…but not to the Gran Bahia Principe. Next time we will try a different resort.

My husband and I just came back from the Gran Bahia Principe. This was our 6th time in the caribbean. Been to Cuba 3 times, Punta Cana twice and the Mayan Riviera once.

In a nutshell, good resort. Beautiful!! Beach is far from resort, however, the tram is always available to take you. For a 5 star hotel, I was suprised that some of the things like safety deposit box, and the banana boat were not included. We had to pay $35 for the box. Not a big deal deal but at 3 and 4 star hotels we have been to had the box included.

Don't leave your belongings on the beach or by the pool. My husband had his sandals taken, his prescription sunglasses taken and I had a beach towel from home taken, on 3 separate occasions.

The food is excellent, the service was good too. Good variety.

The beach is....heavenly!!!! Miles of white sand and turquoise water. You can't ask for better.

Pools are nice too. Kept very clean.

There are vendors on the beach, about 45 min walk on the beach or you can take a boat taxi for about $5 per person. You must barter with them cause they will try and get more form you. The vendors are very aggresive so be prepared. They also want a lot of money for their goods so you really have to be firm and bring them down to what you are willing to pay. A neat experience though!!

There are plenty of vendors right on the hotel property also in the courtyard so you really don't have to leave the resort if you prefer not to.

The rooms were kept very clean. The maids really like little gifts from us. Things like cosmetics, toothbrushes and paste, and candy. They like anything really.

Overall, a great time!! Beautiful place!! Aside from having our things taken, we had a good time, ate well, had great beach time. We would go back.

I traveled with a group of approximatley 35 people from Toronto through

Sunwing Vacations from April 26-May 3 2008 for a wedding.

We arrived at the airport and found our bus. Check in was done on the

bus to speed things up. First order of business once we got there,

purchase the safe! It's very easy to use, and unlike many resorts

doesn't require a physical key but rather a combination you pick.

The resort itself is beautiful. The grounds are in immaculate

condition. The lobby is spotless, as are the restaurants. The rooms are

great. We had one queen size plus one full size couch, that didn't pull

out but still by all accounts, was very comfortable. Maid service was excellent. One day I requested mucho cerveza por favor, which I didn't get- a quick call to room service rectified that.

The pools were spectacular. 3 swim up bars in total. One for regular

guests, one for diamond and club hacienda principe guests, plus one "

party pool" located right at the beach. All three seemed to be very

clean and fun places to be.

This is VERY important. If you are getting a slushie drink ( daiquiri,

margarita or the like) not all bar tenders automatically put rum in

them at the pool and beach bars. Some do, some don't. Just ask for a

daiquiri with rum and you're golden. John, my favourite bar tender for

the week would actually just give the bottle for you to mix your own

and then reply " I love you my friend".

The beach was very good, but not great. It's very weedy. I'd rather

take weeds than rocks and what not, but it's still very weedy. The sand

is gorgeous,clean, and white.

The restaurants were very good as well. I ate at a mix of the A'La

Cartes and the buffet. I ate at the Mexico restaurant and while I

didn't find it as good as the Bahia Prinicpe San Jaun's Mexican

restraint, it was still quite good.

The french restaurant was very good as well. I had the steak. It was a

good cut of meat and cooked to my liking.

The buffet was also good. Good selection, 2 cooking stations, a full

pasta bar with a variety of sauce. The omelette's although I only saw

breakfast twice as I'm not really a morning fan were incredible.

My only issue was the bacon seemed to be a bit of a rarity. There is

definitely something for everyone, even the pickiest eaters.

The beach snackbar was where I ate many meals. Good food, good

selection, great location. The pizza is great and can only be found at the snack bar and lunch, although is available on the buffet at dinner.

At 11pm, Puelbo Principe ( Principe Town) is where all the of the festivities relocate too. The karaokee bar was a ton of fun and the disco is good, but the music is the same night in, night out. At the karaokee bar the musical seleciton isn't the best and one night we were there they gave us a book that many, many songs that weren't in the computer.

The burger point is where the 24 hour all inclusive comes into play. I had a cheese burger, ham sandwhich, and hot dog at various points throughout the week, they were all quite good.

To those people who complain about being on the Bavaro side as opposed to the Punta Cana side- grow up. They are the same. A mirror image of one and other.

I was there for a wedding which seemed to go off without a hitch from my vantage point. The wedding planners there seem to take care of most things.

Also, to the people who complain about the distance from the lobby to the beach- it's an 8 minute lesiurly stroll. Exercise would do a lot of people good down there. I was in the furtherest vila from the beach, #39 and found it an enjoyable walk. For those who are not well enough to walk, there is regular tram service right up until 3am.


All in all, I highly recomend this resort to others. It's good for a wedding, get away with friends, a week away for a couple and it seemed like a great place for families.


I'll be back to the Gran Bahia Principe eventually, but I plan on trying the Riu ( located next door, first)