This was my 5th time to Punta Cana in the last five years in 5 different hotels and I can honestly say that this was the best so far. We were upgraded from the Bavaro to the Amber upon arrival.

Rooms were definitely a 5 star jaccuzzi full shower Canopy King size bed with amazing mattress brand new bedding, screen tv bathrobes, slippers a huge room couldn't ask for better.

Pool area beach and restaurants were clean beautiful and quiet no cigarette butts on the beach or smell of booze in the pool plenty of shade and pallapas you could actually sleep on the beach and if you wanted to and if you wanted more action you could go to the Larger pool area.

The Amber buffet and lobby were beautiful and the food presentation was really nice we did eat the other larger buffet but we preferred the Amber

People were friendly don't forget to tip the gardners the grounds were immaculate

Overalll a very relaxing holiday

My husband and I are in our mid-thirties and honeymooned in Punta Cana 2 years ago at Sunscape the Beach and we absolutley loved it. We decided to return to Punta Cana and try another resort. Keep in mind, we chose a higher rated, "Golden Apple" resort. We stayed at the Gran Bahia for 11 nites, 12 days and just returned on 6/29/08. We are easy going, easy to please people and don't complain much but I highly recommend you changing your travel plans if you have booked this resort.

The resort itself is very beautiful. The pools and the beach are great. The room was very nice. The service on the other hand is terrible. The worst i've ever seen and we travel alot.

Let me begin with checkin..We arrived at the reception desk at 2:00 PM to check in. We were told our room wasn't going to be ready until about 2:40 which was fine because checkin was actually 3:00 anyway. We continued checking the status of our room every half hour. We finally got our room at 6:00 PM. Three hours and 40 minutes later was totally ridiculous. they kept telling us 10 more minutes.

The first day we tipped the maid $20 (600 pesos) and asked her in Spanish to please give us 5 beers and 5 diet pepsis and that no other beverages were needed. The $20 was taken quickly but no beverages appeared. It was hit or miss with towels and washcloths. You never no what your going to get. Somedays 2 towels, some 3 and some days NONE. Calling housekeeping does nothing because they say they will bring them to you and never show up. This happened 3 times. We contacted Guest Services and advised but nothing ever changes. We also contacted our onsite Apple Vacations rep who made a call instantly and we immediatley had someone bring beer, soda and towels to our room. But that only lasted 2 days, then back to the same bad service.

This is an "all-inclusive" resort but if you think your getting a drink, think again. It doesn't matter if its soda or alcohol. Lets start off with soda at dinner in the buffet. You never get your beverages with your dinner. They do usually come over as soon as your seated and ask what you would like to drink but by the time you actually get it, your done with dinner. I can't even count how many times we ordered soda before eating and never got drinks. We went several meals eating, finishing and leaving the buffet before soda even reached our table. There is pleanty of staff walking around in the dining room but for some reason they are doing other things, standing around mostly. Next is ALL the pool bars, the karaoke bar and the Disco. HAHA... if you think your getting a drink in one of these places its gooing to take a while. If you don't mind standing at the bar for 30-40 minutes you may get a drink. The bars are extremely understaffed.

The Casino is another place that is understaffed. The tables were always packed with people and they never opened up the other tables. For the entire 11 nights we were there, they only had half the tables open each nite. You have to pay for drinks in the Casino and you are not allowed to bring a drink in with you. I tried cashing 2 -100 dollars bills for 20's and they would not allow me to cash more than one bill. We were told the casino is privately owned...Interesting huh...

One of our dinners was the Japanese place. The dinner itself was awesome. Our room/table was assigned 2 waiters. One was excellent and we tipped him well on the way out. The other waiter decided he and another "Spanish" guest were going to talked about us in Spanish right at the table in front of us. My husband and I don't speak spanish but we understand it. That was the longest and most uncomfortable dinner I've ever had in my life.

We did have 2 very positive and pleasurable experiences. Another dinner we had was the Mexican place. Everything about it was great. The staff, the food and the service. Actually we liked it so much we tried to get in a second time with no reservation. We tipped the senorita at the door and she seated us with no problem.

Leaving Punta Cana was another disaster. The line at the check in counter for Continental was about 75-80 people long and only 2 counters open. The "Elite" service had 4 counters open and no line. Totally ridiculous!!

I'm sure you can probably tell we were soooo happy to be back home in Jersey. And probably safe to say we will most likely stay clear of the Dominican Republic for a while if not forever.

First impression, this place is huge! There are 5 resorts on this property. There is a bus that travels the grounds to shuttle ppl from one end to the other, which in the heat, is GREAT! The grounds are very well kept, and for the most part, the staff was very friendly. The nightly entertainment shows were phenomenal - high energy, well trained, great costumes! Be sure to catch the Michael Jackson one!!

The beach was spectacular...and miles long! Powder white sand, a blue sky and the ocean ALL WEEK long! The weather was awesome!

The Club Premier -- my first impression was that it was too far from the beach. But after figuring out the shuttle, I realized that it was actually probably the best location. It was far from the beach, but gladly it was also far from the main kids pool, which was insanely busy and far too crowded. The Premier pool was much more low key, still had a good mix of families, elderly and couples and was big and clean. Each resort also has a few restaurants and a lobby bar, so it wasnt like we were totally deserted. Another really nice thing about Premier's location, is that its close to the main lobby where most of the larger buffets and bars are, all the theatre shows are held, and the main square of the complex is - which housed outdoor entertainment, the casino, shops, and the disco.

Our room was large, clean, and well decorated. The bathroom was marble and always had clean towels thanks to our maid. The balcony was also large and overlooked our pool which was very nice at night. Great closet space, decent tv channels, and an extra bed and seating area were a nice touch too. No elevators tho, so be prepared to walk a LOT! (which was good for the beach bod lol) One thing I will warn ppl about is the towel art. The maids are wonderful and put out great towel art each day, which included fresh flowers, but beware, the flowers can contain ANTS! I had some creepy crawlers try to set up shop in my bed one night, and had a hell of a time trying to communicate "fresh sheets" to the spanish speaking front desk attendants. I eventually got the sheets, but it was quite frustrating, especially at 3 am!!

The food at the buffets was great - I especially liked the personalized pasta station and the freshly grilled meat. mmmmm We ate at 3 a al carte places - the Mediterranean, the bbq meat one, and the Japanese one. The bbq one was no hell, I was actually confused as to why we even needed a reservation. It was a converted outdoor grill with plastic tables & chairs with table cloths and a BUFFET...? There was no ala carte menu...I was very diappointed. I was still hungry and ended up at the main buffet looking for more... The mediterranean was pretty good, but the service was slow. May have been an off night tho... My fave was the Japanese restaurant! The service was awesome - the meal was prepared on a cooktop right at your table, so the service was very personal. The menu included a number of courses, all of which you got - u didnt have to choose! You could have all of the options, or just a few whatever you wanted! it was awesome - but book early bc this one fills up! We couldnt get a res b4 Fri at 9pm and had to wait like 30 min for a table bc it was sooo busy, but still well worth the wait!

The main square has street vendors, who can be aggressive, as well as regular stores, which was nice bc it was the best of both worlds. We got some cheesy souvenirs from the street vendors and got some really nice genuine pieces from the real stores! The disco was mostly younger teenagers but played good music. The casino was small and limited, but still fun! i managed to leave with a few bucks in my pocket!

This hotel was more expensive than most, and was rated 5 stars, and I was weary as most ppl are going to a place they have never been, but as soon as we arrived I knew we would be getting good value for the money we paid. It was very nice and i would definetly stay there again :)

For me...This was my first real vacation outside Canada and boy was I impressed to say the least! The ground and the staff were amazing and friendly. The food quality and diversity was something I have never even imagined!
At first I was pretty worried considering I did my homework. We read all the reviews...talked to other people who had been there and at first we were pretty leery on how our experience was going to be. This trip was a gift for our daughters graduation and we were worried it was not going to end up being the vacation of her dreams. BOY WERE WE WRONG!
Any time we had any questions about anything the staff were always trying to go above and beyond. We made sure to try and speak some of the language and they were very appreciative for that and bent over backwards. Always happy to take pictures for us and with us!
The room was great and maid service was fantastic! Word to the wise.. a dollar US here and there goes a long way in getting some extra services!
The beach was amazing and clean. Lots of places to lie down and soak in the sun. However it is best if you like a bit of shade to get your towels down early and then go on about your day and you have your "spot" reserved.
The animation team was awesome and had so many great and fun activities available at all hours from dancing to areobics, horsehoes to pingpong. There was never a shortage of things to occupy our time.
Would I stay there again.. You bet! I am already planning our next trip back!
If you have any complaints about this place.. you need to get your head checked because we could not have asked for a better vacation!