Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9297 reviews

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  Things have really gone down hill from last year!

  My honest evalution of this resort. We were there from Jan.7 to Jan.21/25. The resort is lovely, 3 pools, good a-la-carte restaurants, rooms are lovely, and well cleaned everyday. Sheets are only changed if needed. Our chamber maid Angela was a jewel and a pleasure. I tipped her a few times. The bugs are bad, wear repelent. Apply after exiting water, and evening. The Guest Experience (butlers) are amazing, great service, and go out of their way to help, if they can. Special mention to Jose de la Rosa, Armando, Francia, and Silvestre. Bartenders are great and prepared some great non-alcholic drinks, as I dont drink during the day. Most of the A-la-cartes were fabulous, espcially, Portofino, CasaBella, Yurta, Garden Grill, Rodizio, El Olivo, Limbo, and MEAT. Except Portofino and Casa Bella had items missing from their menu! Items that I went there for. Ths smash burger at Sports Bar were amazing. But leave the lettuce out. (Lettuce is not always washed properly.) Chairs at the beach are nice but not monitered. Wheel chair spots are often occupied by healthy, not physically challenged guests. For someone who walks with a cane, this was disheartening. They look at you, they see your cane and say nothing. Not polite at all. Chairs are often reserved with towels, and no one is seen on them for hours. Now for the bad. I can forgive the chairs, the bug bites, but I cannot forgive the food poisoning. Both my wife and I got travellers diahrea. And someone else on our floor was also sick. This is totally within the control of the resort. Food preparation safety is paramount. And no we did not drink tap water. We reported this to Francia (guest experience), but management offered nothing to compensate for our discomfort. Lucky we had imodium, and purchased some more at the in-house pharmacy at Ambar. Also food quality has gone down at the main buffet, (Caney). We were here last year, and it is the only resort we have ever visited twice. We were totally impressed by the lobster, crab, selection of shell fish, and other fish such as tuna steak, salmon etc. We trully thought we were in a ‘luxury’ resort. Not so this year, as there was none of the above. Some of the meat was overcooked, or re-hashed from the night before, as it looked dried out. So next year we will be looking at other options to spend our tourist dollars. When you spend enough money to buy a small used car, one would expect that food quality, safe preparation would be paramount in a ‘Luxury’ resort. The Spanish owners of this resort make billions here. One would think they would invest in a water filtration plant for this complex. One suggestion, take dukorol before you visit, to prevent travellers diahrea!

  Feb 03, 2025
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  Great Holiday

  Visited this resort the last week of January. Go ahead and book your vacation and you will be pleased and you will have a wonderful time. Weather: Sun everyday throughout our week Airport Transfer: Easy-bus from the airport drops you at Fantasia and a cart will take you to Esmeralda. Reverse of this upon leaving. Check in: Quick. I did check in on the app ahead of arrival and at the resort it took minutes to receive our bracelets and get to our room. Building: 96. Very close to the lobby. 3rd floor and it was not loud. Resort isn’t huge so quick walk to pools, lobby, buffet, and beach. Room: Very nice and clean. Pillows and bed comfortable. We had hot water but others did complain that they did not have hot water in their shower. We also had a few cockroaches which my spouse was able to get rid off. We alerted the front desk and they did a thorough clean 2x. Fresh towels everyday and mini fridge restocked as needed. Food: Lots to choose from at the buffets. Loved the open air buffet by the beach. A la cartes very nice. Drinks: Great selection. Anything you want they will make. I love a slishie drink and the coco loco was awesome. Service: Fantastic on the beach, around the pools, in the restaurants/buffet, front desk and housekeeping. Cleanliness: Very clean. The floors, paths, public restrooms, etc were being cleaned consistently. Wonderful gentleman on the beach sweeping the sand from our chairs and sandals Beach/Pool: Clean and beautiful. You can walk for miles on the beach both ways. You will come across seaweed in front of the Punta Cana hotel. Entertainment: Pool entertainment throughout the day. No entertainment on the beach. Nightly singers im the lobby and a variety of live shows in the evening. You will also have access to the entertainment at the other Principe hotels (exception being Fantasia) Bugs: There are mosquitos. Take bug spray, Benadryl for your itch and after bite or a steroid cream. Wifi: Worked well throughout the resort. Spotty on the beach at times Book and enjoy your vacation. We would go back to this resort.

  Feb 01, 2025
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  Bahia Principe - check the map to see where your "sub-resort" is located

  It is important to note that the Bahia Principe, Punta Cana is separated into many different sub resorts with different classes of privileges. See accompanying resort map. From my experience, I would say that the Bahia Principe - Grand Punta Cana / Grand Bavaro were the most restrictive and required a 5-12 minute walk depending upon where your room is all the way to the front of the resort (away form the beach) where the breakfast buffet was located (or you can wait for the shuttle tram). We stayed in the Bahia Principe Esmeralda, which allowed us to use the Ambar coffee shop but we still weren't permitted to have breakfast at the restaurant closest to the beach, which is one of the features that we normally enjoy in the morning when on an all-inclusive beach vacation. The selection of evening restaurants and meals were exceptional. We really liked the Naan Indian restaurant with from food menu items selected from different parts of India. The variety of pools was very good and Bavaro beach is amazingly long and great to walk.

  Jan 31, 2025
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  Top Notch Experience at the Bahia Principe Esmeralda Punta Cana

  We stayed at the Bahia Principe Emeralda for 2 weeks in early January 2025 and could not have been happier with the overall experience. The Esmeralda portion of the Bahia Principe resort is newly renovated, bright and clean. Our room with balcony overlooked the pool area and was beautiful. The resort had a cozy feel as everything we needed was right there: the pool, the beach, the lobby, 5 excellent a la carte restaurants, the buffet, the spa. Every evening there was music in the lovely lobby side outdoor patio as well as the evening shows in the theatre. All of the staff with whom we interacted were professional and helpful: particular shout out to Bernardette on check-in, Extania and Angelina for yoga, Wanderson (aka King Kong) of the entertainment team for spanish practice. We also want to acknowledge Viktor, Nicky and Valentina from the Punta Cana Grand check in for helping us organize a move from the Punta Cana Grand to the Esmeralda.

  Jan 27, 2025
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  ESMERALDA!! WOW WOW AND WOW

  ESMERALDA : Thank you for always an Amazing Stay with you. I would like to thank Alberto Figueroa for doing an outstanding job. He greatly takes care of his clients, his staff and his hotel. ALBERTO IS ONE IN A MILLION. Hope to see you in early March. A Big shout out to the Sports Bar morning Girls YOU ARE AMAZING all of you "little miss sunshines" (MARIA, ROSA,KATHERINE, EL CAPITANE). I can't wait to see you again. A huge thank you to the Staff of YURTA! Elizabeth, Felix and Santa, you are truly exceptional. Thank you to the wonderful Yissel Mercado for taking great care of our room and making sure we had everything needed. Buenas Dias Yissel asta Pronto xxx. My STAR OF THE WEEK is: GRACIE who works extremely hard at serving her customers and making sure they are all good @ the Sports Bar Terrace @ Night. Gracie is Rapido (speedy Gonzalez) and always joyful .Our swim out was amazing, we love this concept and use our swim up often. Everything is all well thought about, close to the lobby, close to the pools and beach. Thank you to Jose and Francisco Food and Beverage your joy is contageous and we love this. Adreina thank you for your outstanding devotion and hard work, you are a great asset to Esmeralda. Pedro at the morning Buffet. WOW WOW AND WOW. Solo champagne lady thanks you very much :) you are an exceptional worker and person. Yoel the night Bartender at the sports Bar, keep smiling and keep making those wonderful cocktails. I tried the spinning in the quiet pool and enjoyed it to the max. I hope this will continue. Thank you Animation for giving us a special treat this week. THANK YOU ESMERALDA!!! AILEEN NESTRUCK

  Jan 26, 2025