Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana All Inclusive Resort

Recently Brad and I had the pleasure of taking off for a week together at the Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana all inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic. This is part of my partnership with tripcentral.ca, a company I highly recommend if you’re looking for help with an all inclusive vacation. We discussed what Brad and I were looking for in a resort and the fantastic pros at tripcentral.ca quickly came up with a selection we could choose from. The trip matchmaker on tripcentral.ca makes it very simple to search destinations and resorts by plugging in your preferences, dates and other information. This simply weeds out TONS of options and allowed us to make our decisions based upon our own desires.

We had a FANTASTIC week in Punta Cana and we are excited to tell you all about the Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana all inclusive resort.

Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana All Inclusive Resort, Dominican Republic

The Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana resort is located within a resort complex comprise of 6 different Grand Bahia Principe resorts. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the massive size, they have laid everything out well and there are many maps located throughout the resort to help you understand.

Each resort has its own coloured wristband which signifies which resort you are staying. This is to help staff understand where you are staying and which amenities you can use on the grounds.

The Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana is located in the middle of all of the action. It’s a rectangular shaped property that runs from the front lobby area to the beach.

The Room

The Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana has 756 rooms in two and three story buildings (no elevators).

We chose to upgrade our Punta Cana stay by purchasing the “Royal Golden” package. This entitled us to the following:

• Room located closer to the beach
• 4 a la cartes versus 3 for non Royal Golden
• room service (no breakfast menu),
• Welcome Letter and a bottle of rum in your room
• beach towels
• bathrobes and slippers in room upon arrival
• turn down service at night
• access to the Bavaro resort’s lobby and lobby bar – excludes the main lobby buffet
• free printed press
• a private lounge exclusive to Royal Golden guests
• free hard wired internet access for 15 minutes per day per guest
• free in-room safe

We stayed in a Junior Suite Superior which had:

• a king-sized bed
• full bathroom – with hairdryer
• plenty of closet and storage space
• a refrigerator which is stocked with soft drinks, water and beer – refilled daily. Tip: We left a note letting them know what soft drinks we enjoyed and the next day we found there were more of those in the fridge!
• couch and dining area
• balcony
• telephone
• TV

Our room was spacious, clean and welcoming. We enjoyed quiet time together in the room and the only negative (which really wasn’t that bad) was that the mattress wasn’t a pillow top but seriously…if that’s my only negative it shows how little there was to critique. The bathroom had a whirlpool bath and the room service was excellent. The fridge in the room isn’t as cold as at home so we solved the problem of warm pop with ice from room service.

The room was close to the beach and a lobby and main restaurant and a further 5 to 10 minutes to the Bahia Scouts Water Park, located close to the main entrance and the Grand Bahia Turquesa. If we were tired when we were heading to the lobby area, we waited at a trolley stop rather.

The Pools

The resort has many large pools which we didn’t find to be overly crowded. Each pool has swim up bars with a constant flow of drinks and fun non-alcoholic bevvies. I really liked the fact that I didn’t have to wait in bar lineups for water or pop because they have these located at the side of the bar so I could help myself. Each day there are activities at the pools, from spin classes (in the water), volleyball to dance lessons it was a blast to participate. Tip: Bring along a travel mug as the cups at the bar are quite small

The Beach

Bahia Principe resort was built the resorts inland, meaning that the shape of the property is rectangular with the beach being on one of the shorter ends. This is a GORGEOUS beach with white sand, turquoise water and plenty of shade for the seating available but it can become very crowded in high season. The seaweed is cleared early in the morning and there are staff working on it all day long to keep it clean.

The Restaurants

The main buffet is open until 10:30pm had a variety of dishes and overall we were satisfied with the quality.  Thankfully there were enough choices and nightly themes to keep things different but do remember this is a buffet and you may find that you become bored as time goes on. I strongly suggest making the reservations for the a la carte restaurants the day you arrive at the resort to spice things up as the week passes. They can book up quickly so the sooner you book, the more choice you’ll have.

We tried four of the a la Carte restaurants(Brazilian, Dominican, Italian, Steakhouse), our favourite was the Italian, which started with a fantastic appetizer buffet.  For lunch and all day snacks, we enjoyed the Picsis Snack Bar right near the pools and the beach. From 12:30 to 6:00 they have a buffet as well as a chef making either rice or noodle paella. There’s another snack bar with more seating right next to the beach. Food is pretty much the same and is open from 12:30 to 3:30.

Activities and Entertainment

There was a wide variety of activities available to guests- from spin classes in the pool to nightly entertainment in the theater. The nightly shows are very well done; I’m not a show-goer but couldn’t resist watching The Lion King as we were passing. The costumes, sound and choreography far surpassed my expectations and the Theatre was jam packed. Get there early to find your seat as it seems everyone enjoys the shows. Be sure to check out the open air village at the front of the hotel which has shops, a sport bar.

This is just a taste of our week at Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana All Inclusive Resort in the Dominican Republic and as you can see we really enjoyed our stay. This is a fine resort for families and couples alike as there’s something for everyone!

If your’e thinking of an excursion while you’re there, check out the Dr. Fish Ocean Spa!!