Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana

Yan from the entertainment team was so friendly and funny! The food was great, the beach was great, and the pools were fantastic. We had a great week. The first room they gave us wasn’t good, there was mold in the bathroom. My daughter and I have breathing issues, so we couldn’t stay there. The management team was amazing and moved us to a renovated room free of charge. Thank you!

The small restaurant beside the buffet at Turquesa was one of my favorite spots on the resort. I went there regularly for lunch, and it was a lovely place to sit in the afternoon. The food was nice and the service amazing. The weather is usually fantastic, and the service and cleanliness are wonderful overall. Turquesa is still my favorite of the Baha family resorts, and I’ve stayed at the others too. I came back yesterday after staying at Turquesa, where the service was absolutely amazing and the food quite good. But I’ve seen severe cutbacks over the years, and going for six years hasn’t earned us any extras. Our rooms seemed like the cheap seats, and I felt almost embarrassed after encouraging three friends to join me. The beach chairs were taken with towels no matter when we went, but nobody showed up all day, so we ended up going in the evening, not a great time for sunbathing. At one bar, the bartender was clearly more interested in the Spanish-speaking guests than the English-speaking ones, so we switched bars or ordered through the waitress. I don’t know if I’ll go back. I’ve noticed a real slide over the years.

The gym had excellent equipment, which is unusual at holiday resorts, and the rooms were a bit dated but kept very clean by housekeeping. The train with stops made it easy to get around the resort, and the app was useful for requesting help or checking the daily program. The Wi-Fi was intermittent. The resort is very large, with lots of activities and restaurants, and guests could also visit other hotels from the same chain next door. The buffets and restaurants were decent overall. Of the three included themed dinners, the Steakhouse was best, with very good meat and fast service. The Japanese restaurant’s show cooking was a nice experience. Fish Market was the worst by far, with a long wait and rather average dishes. With so many places available, it would have helped if someone had shown us on a map where they were. We only found the beach buffet reserved for our hotel in the last few days. Few staff members spoke English, which sometimes made communication difficult. Check-in was very slow, and the porters took our Wi-Fi access paper, so we had to go back to reception to get it again. We arranged for the porters to collect our luggage at a certain time for checkout, but they never came. The sea at the beach was beautiful, and the pool is close by, but there aren’t many sunbeds at either. You need to go early to find a spot. By 6:30 a.m., the ones under umbrellas were already taken, and clean towels at the beach kiosk often ran out by 9 a.m. The other two pools stayed quieter and didn’t fill up early. The wristband room key was handy, but we had trouble getting into our room for the first few days, and the issue wasn’t fixed until the third day.

For the price, I thought this was great value. Just don't expect a five-star stay, it feels more like a three- or four-star hotel. The complex is huge, and while there are plenty of staff across the departments, they keep things running smoothly. Food is plentiful and varied, generally good, though the buffet setup means it isn't always at the right temperature. The entertainment by the pool and in the evenings is standard family-resort fare, and the rooms range from older to refurbished. We had an older one, but it really wasn't as bad as some reviews suggest. There are mosquitoes and cockroaches, as you'd expect in a tropical setting, so come prepared, though they weren't a major problem for us. The beach is small and crowded, and the pools could use more loungers.