My husband and I were married in June 2008 at the Gran Bahia Principe in Punta Cana. We had a rather large number (44) of guests attending the wedding and staying at the resort. We stayed for 9 nights and had guests that stayed as short as 3 days and as long as 7 days.

Resort:
The resort is rather large and parts of it are currently under construction. The lobby driveway was being remodeled and if you tried to use the Punta Cana side of the lobby during the day, it was absolutely horrible. Also, I’m sure the staff was doing harm to their hearing, and their nerves, as they tried to cope with working in such an environment. Most of the construction is not at all noticeable except for the fact that their numerous clubs (Golden, Diamond, Ambar, etc.) are very confusing with everyone mingled in together due to the construction. I’m still not 100% sure of what each of the clubs meant except that the Ambar section was adults-only and a little quieter and nicer than the other sections. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and perfectly maintained. The pools and decks are cleaned at night and the pools were always in wonderful condition. The main pool near the beach was always very crowded. The quietest pools were in either the Ambar, or Diamond areas as there were always plenty of umbrellas and chairs at these pools. The rooms were nice with a sitting area, bed and balcony. The bathrooms had jet tubs and were marble and tile. The bathrooms in the Ambar section are a little nicer with a separate walk-in shower, toilet area and tub.

The spa was very nice. We had the “relaxing” couples massage and it was definitely relaxing. We also used the water therapy area. It was the neatest thing I’ve seen. It had two big pools – one slightly warmer that the other with all kinds of different bubbles and massaging options. There was also a small and very cold “pool” or sorts. There were also saunas and steam rooms with different temperatures. It had several types of showers including a rain shower, bucket, and a therapeutic (my favorite)! However, the prices are comparable to the U.S. and aren’t a really great bargain ($72 USD each for a couples massage.)

Restaurants:
The service at some of the restaurants was definitely lacking and spotty at times. Sometimes the service was wonderful and sometimes you were begging to get a drink while you sat at you table. We ate at the BBQ restaurant which is on the beach and has made to order steaks, pork chops etc, a salad bar and dessert bar. The service here was quite good both times we ate there and you were able to enjoy the sounds of the ocean. We also ate at the Italian restaurant, which was quite good, and the service wasn’t at all bad here. There was a salad and appetizer bar including a bruschetta bar, salad bar, tomato bisque, carpaccio, olives, and other “Italian” appetizers. You then chose a main course. The pizza was quite good at the Italian restaurant. The lobster pasta was relatively good. Some of the seafood options at the Italian restaurant were mediocre. The Seafood restaurant’s appetizers were wonderful and included fried fish, calamari, steamed shrimp, shrimp cocktail, and a seafood soup. The main dishes were not that good and we saw several other families just having the appetizers and salad for dinner. We also tried out the Garden Grill, which was wonderful both times we ate there. The skirt steak was delicious and the “Louisiana Corn Chowder” was outstanding. The dessert bar throughout the restaurants was pretty much the same and relatively good. The bananas drizzled in chocolate, fruit selection, ice cream, and mouse were all quite good. The main buffet was quite good and although it did get a little repetitive, everything was still above average for an all-inclusive resort. Reservations were hard to come by (you have to make them in person at Guest Services, though some of our family said they were able to call to make them) and I recommend getting them as soon as you get to the resort. If they insist that the only thing that’s available is BBQ or nothing at all, just ask nicely again. You can also come back later, sometimes there are cancellations and you can get squeezed in. The drinks at the bars are very sweet and usually quite weak; however, we often times asked the bartenders to add more alcohol and they always complied. The best mixed drink we had while there was the capirinia. It’s very similar to a mojito, but, with lots of fresh lime instead of the mint. The margaritas were also quite good. In general, the drinks at the lobby bars were much better, and stronger, than those by the pool area. Maybe the resort is trying to save us from ourselves by making the drinks by the pool and beach a little weaker?! I think that some of the inadequate service was just due to growing pains that the resort is feeling since it is expanding and growing so rapidly. It also definitely has a big resort feel where you just feel like you are just another number.

Wedding:
Well, the actual events leading up to the wedding were the biggest disappointment of our trip. The actual wedding itself went off just fine. However, everything leading up to it was so unnecessarily stressful.

Leading up to the big event, we tried to stay in contact with the resort and understand what we needed to decide in advance, however, it was nearly impossible to get in contact with anyone via email or phone. When we did get in contact with the resort, we were told we need to make a lot of decisions (restaurants, cakes, flowers) as far in advance as possible. However, the follow-up information was never sent to us. At one point we were told to provide our documentation (birth certificates, single affidavit, etc.) in advance, however, it ended up that we were suppose to provide this when we actually arrived at the resort. When we faxed in our deposit for the wedding (9 months in advance) we reserved the restaurants, however, when we got there those weren’t available and we went with the BBQ for the rehearsal dinner and the Garden Grill for the reception. (Both restaurants turned out fine and the food was delicious.) We went through “WeDo” wedding documentation to get all of our paperwork in order for the wedding. They were so easy to work, very responsive and had a very quick turn around.

We got to the resort, had lunch and then went immediately to check with the wedding coordinator. We were scheduled to meet with her the next evening at 5 (two days before the wedding.) At the meeting we picked flowers, cake (chocolate or vanilla), menus etc. We were told the wedding would be at 11 am instead of 4 pm. This is the hottest time of the day and there is no shade at the wedding gazebo. We were quite insistent that we have the 4 pm time instead since that was what our deposit said that was the best time for us. The coordinator did not admit that there was a scheduling mistake with the judge until we found the form we sent in and pressed the issue. She then said there was a scheduling mistake. She then said she’d try to schedule a different time with the judge if his schedule allowed. Up until 5:30 the day before the wedding, the time was still up in the air. The most difficult part of this was that the hotel had started telling our guests that the wedding would be at 11 the next day so we had a huge communication problem. Also, we checked with the wedding coordinator 3 times prior to 5:30 on the day before the wedding and kept being told that she would know in the next 30 minutes, hour etc. and never had an idea until early evening. We ended up with a compromise and the judge came at 11 to do the paperwork and we had the service at 5 pm that evening. Which worked out fine for our schedule.

The day of the wedding it poured all day long. Which is somewhat ironic since it didn’t rain any other day during our stay. Oh well, I guess we didn’t take valuable beach time away from our guests since they couldn’t be at the beach or pool anyway. The resort was very accommodating with the rain – although we had to insist on trolleys for our guests. So at 2pm a decision was made on the weather and it was decided that the ceremony would be inside at the Garden Grill terrace. This worked out just fine, however, my maid of honor had to call around to all of the guests and let them know the location had been changes due to the weather. The wedding coordinator had schedule a hair appointment at the spa for the bride at 2 pm the day of the wedding. When we arrived at the spa, apparently they didn’t have the appointment on the books and just kept telling me that there was no appointment. With time quickly fleeting, I decided to do my own hair and went back to the room. The flowers arrived as scheduled in my room. While they were slightly different from what we had ordered, they were still beautiful. A trolley arrived to take the bride, bridesmaids, and flower girls to the wedding location. We got dressed at the garden grill due to the weather and the ceremony went nicely. The band was a lot of fun! The actual ceremony is very short if you haven’t written your own vows and don’t have any readings. There were mimosas and champagne. We took trolleys to the lobby for drinks and pictures. We had lots of guests taking our picture – a little weird! Afterward, the trolleys took everyone back to the garden grill for dinner. Much to our dismay, the restaurant had lost our seating cards with everyone’s seating assignments and there were only numbers on the tables. The dinner was nice and the service was quite good – chicken caesar salad, Louisiana corn chowder, skirt steak with mashed potatoes and eggplant, pineapple “cobbler” (really just glazed pineapple) with ice cream. The cake was lovely and quite nice. We then moved everyone into the second room of the terrace for dancing and mingling. We brought our own music on an I-pod and the resort provided the speakers and cables. We did bring our own cables just in case we needed them.

The turndown service included floral arrangements throughout the room and flowers on the bed. Breakfast arrived in the room late the next morning, however, it did arrive. It included champagne, juice, coffee, rolls & croissants, fruit and yogurt.

We had a wonderful wedding party that coordinated a lot of things for us and insisted on the trolleys due to the weather and an opportunity for the guests to have happy hour. The wedding party also coordinated the flow of people and straightened out the seating arrangements when our seating cards went missing. Everything wouldn’t have been as nice had they not taken care of all of these details for us!