Bahia Principe Escape Ambar

My husband and I came here for our honeymoon. We had heard a lot of great things about it from family members who had gone in the past. We spent quite a large amount of money for the corner swim up room. We had put that it was our honeymoon and hoped that they would do a little something seeing as we saw honeymoon and happy birthday banners on peoples doors. They did nothing for us. That wasn’t the biggest deal but was a tad disappointing. They put our swim-up room next to the main pool and next to the restaurant and buffet so it was a heavy traffic/loud area and there was absolutely no privacy while we were in our swim up. I went to ask for another corner swim up room and they were happy to oblige. The unfortunate part was that the second room had this loud filter system next to it that was buzzing and I just couldn’t take it so I requested another new room, which they ended up giving to us day later. It was better, more private. In our room, it looked nice at first glance, but once you lived in it for the week, you could see how gross it was. The shower was caked in mole on the bottom seals. The shower-head was only working with the rain shower so you couldn’t just use one or the other you had to use both and being a woman who doesn’t wash her hair every single day, it was difficult. The glass partition in the shower was gross and gunky like it hadn’t been cleaned. The walls were gross, and our sink was marked with gunk. The bed wasn’t the most comfortable, but it also wasn’t the worst, but the pillowcases had gunk on them. It was absolutely disgusting and the towels also had hair and they were ripped. Some of them had spots on them. It was absolutely atrocious. When we got there, we booked our dinner reservations right away, and were really disappointed to see that we weren’t able to book a lot of the restaurants because they were already full. The restaurants we did go to were very mediocre. Nothing special and the appetizers were a little piece of food. Definitely would’ve been better to just eat at the buffet every day. Seemed a little weird also that when we left in the morning for breakfast, we put some money out for the cleaners and when we got back, the room wasn’t clean, but the money was gone. This happened several times during the week. The nightlife was nonexistent. My husband had gone to the resort before and led us to the village where he said there was a nightclub. The nightclub was closed and they had a DJ in the centre theater. Just playing Spanish music all night. We wanted to grab a drink and just sit down and listen, but with only three bartenders there and it being packed, we were unable to get a drink. All in all, we expected a lot better and were extremely letdown, especially with having heard such good things about this place. This was absolutely not worth the money and we will never return again. It should be a 4 to 4 1/2 star, absolutely not a five star. I wish I took pictures of all the gross things we saw. By day five, we wanted to get the hell out of there and couldn’t wait to get home. Happy honeymoon to us!

This was a beautiful adults-only resort. It’s not too large, everything is within walking distance. The staff friendliness was a hit and miss, but overall we had a great experience and would come back. Room: We had a Junior Suite Deluxe Corner on the 3rd floor, building #69. Very spacious and well maintained. There’s only one 120V outlet, so I’d suggest bringing a converter so you can charge more than 1 device at a time. We did have one incident during our stay. We went back to our room late-morning and before housekeeping had cleaned up, we noticed dirty shoe prints in our shower, on the bath mat, and dirt in the sink. We told reception but nothing was resolved. It was quite disturbing to think someone (hoping it was housekeeping) was using our room while we were out. Download the Bahia Principe app. The app needs some work, but it was helpful for booking a la carte dinners and seeing updates on entertainment, etc. If restaurants are full on the app, go to Guest Experiences in the lobby and they can help you find a timeslot. Efrain at Guest Experiences helped us get a reservation at Yurta, which was a great experience. All the a la carte restaurants are beautifully designed. Our favourites were Limbo and MEAT. Buffets: Palmyra (main buffet) – a lot of options. Breakfast buffet was the best. Check out Miguel at the omelet station, he was the happiest person there, always smiling, singing, and cooks an amazing omelet! Lunch buffets – we were usually at Las Brisas (beach restaurant) for lunch. Good options, but not as much as Palmyra. Nice views while you eat, looking over the pool or beach Coffee shop was excellent. Great coffee and espresso, and snacks/treats available. Sports Bar was open until 2am. It’s the only night life on the resort after any shows in the lobby end at 11pm. But after our trip, we learned the “Bahia Principe Village” (in one of the other resorts that you have access to) had some night life (but keep in mind it’s the family resort). Lobby bar at night was excellent. The bartenders were very friendly, and quick to serve. They had a show in the lobby every night, it always ended at 11pm. Beach: Beautiful white sand beach. Staff are excellent at keeping the sand clean and maintained around the chairs/huts. There was quite a bit of sargassum during our stay, but some days it was clear. Even with the sargassum we were still able to swim in the ocean. Staff work hard all day to remove it from the beach. The huts get taken very early in the morning, and there’s not a lot of shade by the beach. We watched the sunrise a couple of mornings (a must see!) and people were reserving their beach huts at 6am. Beach bar was great! William was the best bartender, friendly and not shy on the alcohol! Pool: We used the pool in the afternoons, so by then there weren’t any issues finding shade. The pool is large, never felt overcrowded. There had a foam party one afternoon, and that was the only day we found the swim-up bar was packed. Overall, this resort was perfect for a couples getaway. The resort was quiet and relaxing, but also lots of fun/entertainment!

The property was fine. No issues with food or sevice, but maintenance was a nightmare. Our toilet ran non stop so we requested someone come and look at it. They worked on it as we were heading out for the day. When we returned the toilet wouldn't flush at all. It took two more calls and a temporary fix for the night before they fixed it properly the following day. Then the AC stopped working. Got that fixed, worked for about 2 days before needing fixed again. One evening before we checked out the door stopped unlocking with out wrist bands. Maintenance couldn't fix it until the next day. We liked the pool, bars, food and overall guest services, but the maintenance of rooms to resolve guest issues are lacking. We overheard others having similar issues as well.

Just back from our 3rd visit. Fab as ever. Location of Ambar is excellent as beach right next to pool so best of both worlds. Fantastic value for money especially with number of restaurants! Staff work hard and are helpful. Special mention to Melvin around pool area who was helpful everyday. A couple of areas are in need of a little tlc eg bathrooms. Staff at buffet restaurant by pool spent more time chatting amongst themselves than attending to guests. We therefore went to main buffet where staff were excellent. We will return again .

We spent 9 days at Ámbar. It was our 4th stay there. The food was still very good. The resort was well kept. The only change we noticed was the staff was not as happy or friendly as they were prior to the Hyatt buyout/partnership. They were still great but the big reasons we went to this resort were the food and the amazing, friendly, happy staff. The team was still great but they seemed to have lost the happiness they had before. Maybe it has nothing to do with the buyout. Just seems suspicious that the change seemed to coincide with the change