We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday here. Beautiful, clean hotel; friendly helpful staff; excellent selection of local and international cuiusine; a wide range of cocktails; nice large pools with ample space at the pool bars and many sun beds; and a large sandy - if slightly busy - beach.

The icing on the cake - if you can get it - is an upgrade enabling you to use the Diamond Club pool (quieter and cleaner than the pool next door) and also the Italian restaurant at lunchtime which is next to the Diamond pool (fantastic ambience and very good a la carte service).

To summarise:

HOTEL
Very well maintained with big, clean air-conditioned rooms. Mini bars contain soft drinks and beer. We left tips of $2US each day for the cleaner and $2US each day for the mini bar, and written notes with requests for more beer etc were always met. A trolley service takes you from ones side to the other but is actually quite walkable if you are reasonably fit. NB: Watch your step as there are some steep flights of stairs and the odd surprise step here and there

FOOD AND DRINK
Very good range and quality. Cocktails were either fruity or creamy (latter at the pool bar - Pina Coladas, banana mamas, Coco locos, Cocolate Monkeys - were pre-mixed but usually still of high quality, but make sure they know you want alcohol with them, as the basic mixture is also available to kids). For the evening a la cartes some of the gourmet dishes might contain nuts so check with restaurant staff if you have any allergies. The Garden Grill is the best a la carte if you like ribs and steaks. NB: book up the evening a la cartes as soon a you can after you arrive.

POOLS AND BEACH
Pools not too deep, but large enough to have a decent swim. Beach is pure sand. Sea is a bit choppy for some and gets deep very quickly but very good for swimmers. Lots of beds at all sites and ample room to move them for more / less shade.

ENTERTAINMENT / NIGHT LIFE
More of a hotel for families but still a good range. Theatre show each night. Live music in the lobby bar (shuts at 11pm). House band in the main square (11-12); busy but very well air-conditioned karaoke in the Piano Bar; a disco and a privately-run casino both open till late.

OPTIONAL EXCURSIONS
We did the Bavaro Runners trip - which took us up the mountains for lunch; showed us the sites; took us horse-riding; and to a beach. NB: Bring some sweets, clothing and pens/ crayons for the local children if you can. Excellent. Also recoomend the helicopter ride. They fly you over the hotel.

OPTIONAL WATER ACTIVITIES
A lot of people are booked at once so you might have to wait a while - take your sun cream with you. Also, the harnesses on the parasailing did not feel as secure as one might expect in the EU, so might not be for the faint-hearted.

SHOPPING
Not much variation across the island to what is available on main square. Jewellery in Harrisons is VERY expensive. Otherwise there are some cheaper souveniers and ample opportunity to buy cigars and alcohol. Not many sweets though. NB: The market traders in the main square are enthusiastic salesmen but don't forget to haggle equally enthusiastically!

Overall, we did not feel there was much to moan about, and any quibbles we had were soon rectified by the friendly and helpful staff (who have a very cheeky sense of humour and a love of life and music). I would thoroughy recommend this resort - and I wish I were still there now.

Coming from Young Couple who like to have fun but still experienced travellers
Flew with Sky Service
- not so fun really cramped seats nothing much to talk about, just don't fly with this airline if you want to sleep without morning cramps
Booked with signature vacations
- call into the travel agent that way you can haggle the price and request certain ammenities definitly worth the call rather then paying the online price
Arrival
-fast! flew threw customs baggage claim was quick and checked in on the bus so when we got to the hotel went straight to rooms
Vacation
-got upgraded to the Ambar resort definitly lucked out!! near beach much larger rooms separate shower and jaccuzi and room service plus way better a la carte options and buffet also better worth the price difference if you don't like hearing crying babies more of a couples resort as it is adults only
-traveled with boyfriend plus four other couples they all stayed at the bavaro and us at the ambar so was able to really compare the differences
for example
Pool
-bavaro's main pool near beach filthy at the end of the day and always full (meaning pee from kids and drunk patrons) while as our ambar's pool see through still at end of day and much quieter
Food
-just don't eat the salad and you'l be fine
the vegetables are more or less steamed or boiled just the lettuce is washed in tap water which is undrinkable
-generally good enough to fill you up
Alcohol
-tip your bartender's remember your waitresses names and you'll be taken care of no problem generally all drinks are over the top sweet but you can always ask for more alcohol like we did and ask for a drink to be made a certain way so you don't have to drink their ultra sweet drinks
Service
-truthfully service was amazing at the bavaro and ambar it didn't matter, you don't have to tip for these hard workers to service you any better and they really seemed genuinely appreciative to recieve anything
-all seemed to be in great moods especially if you made time to get their name which is on their name tags! and they always greet you with a smile and a hola they really remember you as long as your friendly
- a friendly demeanor goes a long way i wouldn't want to service a snob anyways
Beach
-amazing beautiful got lots of beach volleyball in and suntanning
bring more then one bottle of sunscreen
or you'll be paying 20 us dollars like i did for a small bottle
-you don't need to wake up extra early to reserve chairs we went back and forth through out the day always found shade for our group of 10
-moist evironment made skin silky smooth no need for make up
Tours
-don't go on jurrasic boogies especially in the triopical storm fay like i did
our 4 hrs tour became 8 hrs driving a standard dunebuggy with no ignition (got jump started) no seatbelt broken helmelt with pelting rain and winds at 70 m /hr not so fun, especially when your sitting soaking wet with the tour guides telling us well only be waiting 10 DOMINICAN mins (times by at least 7) and on the horses in the blinding rain isn't fun either especially when your saddle keeps sliding off cuz the poor horse was too skinny
Carribean Festival
-nurse sharks and sting rays
-pretty cool kind of short
-snokeling fun but short
-if your an experienced snorkellor don't come to punta cana for coral very high near surface more than average dead and doesn't compare to mexico's
-crew on board very entertaining and energetic
TIPS
-bring more than one bottle sun screen
-haggle for everything that has a price on it
-don't be afraid to walk away from what you think is a good deal
they will chase you down if its not their best price
-say the person name that's serving you they will remember you
-you do n't need to speak spanish lots of multi lingual individuals there although it wouln't hurt to learn a couple of words or the whole language
-bring mosquito repellent if your as prone to bites as i am
my group everyone got only 1 or 2 i got like 20 not cool
-ask for another a la carte we did and we got 5 doesn't hurt to try
-remember your on vacation put on a smile and have fun
-go to the spa refirming package for 130 us soooo worth it
my boyfriend even loved it you get exfoliated covered in chocolate and a massage after
-flight out sucks line up crazy long line up to get baggage checked in another line up to go through customs and another wait before you get on the plane
-if you have some time to kill go wait in terminal two its air conditioned with less bugs soooo much cleaner too (PUNTA CANA AIRPORT)
OVERALL
-soooo fun great service, friendly people, drinking games, relaxing (alone time) and beautiful memories

The Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro was fabulous! Just to clear any confusion you may have - the resort is large and divided into sections: Punta Cana, Premier, and Ambar (Adults Only). When reading reviews take a look at all sections including Gran Bahia Principe Premier, Gran Bahia Principe Ambar, etc. This will help you formulate a cohesive idea of the resort. My girlfriend and I stayed in the Ambar section but will comment on the resort as a whole or when otherwise stated.

Food: Clean and huge variety! The resort caters to both Europeans and North Americans. Thus, you have many choices when it comes to style of cuisine. It impresses us how the staff was able to keep up with so many people throughout the day (at least 300+ at a time in the main buffets for all meals). The moment you left your table your plate was removed and glass filled with water. I have been reading some of the reviews and have been puzzled with their critique regarding food and service. Where do you know a place in our neck of the woods where food is of large quantity, inexpensive, service incredible, buffet, found on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and which caters to thousands of people daily?

We stayed at the Ambar and thus were able to eat lunch there. By staying in the Ambar section you are able to eat at all restaurants and snack bars across each section of the resort. We would say that the food at the Ambar was a little better than the main buffet. We found the Premier to be the worse buffet.

Rooms: Rooms were clean and spacious. TV is mostly Spanish stations. There are three English stations.

Beach: Beautiful! Water is not as clear as Cuba however just as warm. The water is a little wavy (1 foot waves) consistently. Sand is white. There are tall palm trees that cover parts of the beach. As long as you arrive at the beach by 9:30 you will find a nice cover except on Saturdays/Sundays when you should get there for 8:00.

General Service: Was above average to great! Food service was excellent as previous stated. The front desk answered all questions. The bell boys were quick to respond. We only had an issue with the swim up bar at the Ambar pool. It seemed they served Spanish speaking people before us...

Airport: Wow, more efficient than others. Punta Cana is small but gets your luggage out fast. When leaving it was a little hectic because the previous days flight was delayed due to a tropical storm that went through Dominican Republic. Thus, two flights to Toronto went out at the same time.

Pools: Large and spacious. 3 large pools!

Language: Mostly Spanish

People at resort: Spanish speaking/European

Staff: Friendly. Dominicans are very nice people.

Tip: We tipped our maid and she appreciated this by providing extra towels, etc. We left tips for servers and bell boy. The service was great regardless of the tips. Other vacationers in the resort were not tipping. Very few tipped.

Overall, amazing resort! Great value for the money! Enjoy!

My daughter and me went to this hotel GBP on the 28th July 2008. We landed in the Dom Rep to very hot humid weather adding to this we had a very long wait for our baggage, so we were very happy to get on the air conditioned coach to take us on the half hour journey to the hotel. Welcome pictures are taken in arrivals with women in traditional Dominican dress these can be purchased easily on the departure day inside the airport. On check-in things did not go to plan, several of us could not be allocated a room because the tour operator Thomson had to provide confirmation which the hotel didn’t have, this lead to a 3 hour wait on top of travelling 16 hours which we could have done without. We were upgraded to Amber for our inconvenience which turned out to be much appreciated, the bell boy took us to our room on the shuttle train to find it only had one bed so we made a quick call to reception and we were swiftly transferred nearby to our correct accommodation. The upgrade to amber meant we had a lovely room with 2 four poster beds with lots of space, a large bathroom with Jacuzzi bath and separate shower cubicle, pool towels were provided without the need of a towel card, bath robes and slippers were provided, umbrella, iron and board were also in the room. The air con and fan were the best yet of any hotel, not once was the room hot and stuffy. The lighting was very poor, as they used low energy bulbs, not good for applying make-up. There is a good secure electronic safe in the closet, which is $30 p/w. No spare sockets at all in the room for use of electrical items, you had to get on all fours to disconnect the alarm clock or lamp, which was awkward. Another extra provided by Amber was the turn down service, bed sheets were turned down and folded fancy and chocolates left on the pillow, which was a nice gesture done frequently. The Amber pool was also exclusive to Amber customers and was for adults only, the pool water was unbelievably warm and welcoming with swim up bar, this pool was perfectly positioned by the beach and close to all amenities, beware if you want shade round this pool be up early as there are too few palapas round the Amber pool and boy does it get hot. The beach is just paradise, long stretches of white sand and palm trees with plenty of shade and lounge’s and the sea is a gorgeous turquoise blue most inviting, there are lots of water activities to chose from we did a parasail which was great fun others include banana boats, canoeing, sailing, wind surfing, snorkelling and scuba diving etc. The size of the complex is just unbelievable, I went out to put a towel on a lounger first day Tuesday morning and didn’t find my way back to the room until Thursday evening lol, the use of a sat nav or the aid of a Nepal sherpa would have been appreciated, joking apart it will take several days to find your way round. There are three different routes the shuttle train runs on each will become apparent when you use them, try them all, they run all the time. The food is varied and plentiful though sometimes repetitive, one big gripe is the constant coldness of hot foods, which was a big turn off. Every night in the main buffet is themed on different countries as well as a selection of other cuisine. We ate in the Gourmet, Japanese, Italian and Garden Grill all were enjoyable with the gourmet being more of a select taste, note there is more than one of each speciality restaurant some having different menus. Waitress service for drinks is plentiful but sometimes slow so be patient, we find a tip little and often does help, English language can be a barrier, you can order a number of drinks and get something completely different back so be clear, be precise and try ordering in Spanish and have fun we did. Lots of choice of drinks some non-brands don’t taste the same but plenty of variety and also the cocktails are plentiful and tasty. At the side of the Punta Cana reception is the shopping square and market stalls, this is where the casino is located also try your luck we did and succeeded. There are a variety of trips on offer some a little pricy, a must is the Monster Truck Safari you will have a bumpy ride but lots of fun seeing the locals and how they live also visiting the school, sweet factory and voodoo doctor, unlimited drinks and afternoon meal were included. If you have room in your suitcase take some light weight toys, books, pencils and crayons and toiletries to be handed out on the trip, poverty is very widespread more so in the mountain areas, we took lots of gifts and they were very much appreciated. We had a few gripes with the hotel, having always stayed in Riu hotels we fancied a change, but in general we were happy with our holiday and will definately return to the Dominican.