Bahia Principe Escape Ambar

Just returned from Bahia Principe Ambar with my wife, wow what a great holiday, a la carte restaurants every night, have to mention Limbo (lives up to the reviews), Yurta (we went back a second time, so good), and Olivo (pleasant surprise - gourmet food). All the staff very attentive and like to interact if you know even a little spanish. Ingrit and team in the coffee shop: True Baristas, didnt want coffee anywhere else after tasting their art! Usually bumped into Francis in there who taught me a local spanish word "Vaina" - english people call it "Thingymajig" haha. The pool bar is great as is the beach bar. It was seaweed season but it doesn't spoil things too much, 15-20ft out and it is minimal and the hard working tractor drivers are busy sun up to sun down. We opted for a standard room, the pool is so close and all the restaurants we didnt see the point in a swim up room, but they did look good. We will definitely be returning as a larger family unit at some point. There are still more cocktails that i didnt get to try! Must also mention the chicken wings at the sports bar - again lives up to the reviews, they are great and it is decent AC in there. This review wouldn't be complete without mentioning the Spa - i generally never visit these but I was aching a lot probably from all the in/out of pool all day! getting old now! I signed up to a couple of massages with the lovely Rosanny, a true professional, on the second visit she used hot stones and the aching dissolved almost immediately - she zoned in on the exact source of the pain. and seemed to have a sixth sense on how much pressure to apply to different muscle groups, I will definitely pay her another visit when I return. Hope this is useful to people thinking of going here. Thanks to all the staff for being so Friendly and helpful.

Been here a few times and i must say, i think it may be my last. Although the food was good, the selection was not much with not much variety. The restaurants are always had to book reservations with. Even though the app states it is full... there are always empty tables. There needs to be a better system for this. The drinks were mediocre. Super watered down. You would think you would get a little taste from tequila shots but no. just tasted real water down. You have to bring your own bottle from outside. AND to top it off... YOU NOW HAVE TO PAY a $30 ENTRANCE FEE FOR THE NIGHTCLUB. In an all INCLUSIVE!! I don't pay that amt in the states and they expect me to pay it there? NO WAY. I hope people don't give in to this. I spoke with a manager or whatever he was and told me the club is now seperate from the resort. I hope this place fails miserably. The greed of some people i tell you. Oh and also charged per drinks. No thanks. I had my bottle in my room and invited some other guests that were disgusted by the fees as well back to my swim up pool room where we had a better time than we would had at that obnoxious, overpriced night club. The room, pool, and people you meet made my stay all the best. But this resort use to be at the top of my list, now i can see it's taking a turn for the worst.

What an absolutely delightful resort. My husband and I had a wonderful stay at this beautiful gem. We were exceptionally impressed with the food, drinks and fantastic service. A special shout out to Desiree, who worked near the pool and goes above and beyond in every single way. We would love to visit again

I’ll keep this as concise as possible because I personally don’t like reading long reviews, but this needs to be said to create awareness. Bahia has always had such a great reputation, and our travel agent highly recommended this resort. We arrived with very high expectations, especially since this was my mom’s first all-inclusive vacation and we were celebrating both my brother’s and sister’s birthdays. Unfortunately, the experience fell far short of what we expected from a 5-star resort. **The Good** - Beautiful beach and pools - Entertainment team was fantastic - Beach party was a lot of fun - Food was generally good - Drinks were good - Coffee shop was amazing - Wristband room key was convenient - The cats around the resort were a nice touch **Beach** - Excessive sargassum (seaweed) throughout our stay. - Trucks appeared to be mulching the sargassum rather than properly clearing it away, making little difference to the beach conditions. - Beach vendors selling items and services were very frequent and persistent, making it difficult to fully relax on the beach. **Rooms & Housekeeping** - Rooms are extremely old, dated, worn down, and in desperate need of renovation. - The room layout offers very little privacy. The clear glass shower is located right beside the entrance, making it unsuitable for families or friends travelling together. In one of our rooms, one guest had to step onto the balcony every time the other needed to shower. - We had three rooms. My brother had to switch rooms twice because the first room’s A/C didn’t work and was unbearably hot. The second room was extremely dirty, with stains, long hairs left on the shower walls, and the A/C didn’t work there either. Even after switching, the room wouldn’t cool below 24.5°C. - Shower tiles were stained yellow. - Dirty towels that didn’t even smell clean. - Dirt and debris on the floors. - Long hairs left on the shower walls and bathroom counter. - Makeup stains on the headboard. - Black discoloration along the bottom edge of the bathroom mirror. - Leaking lotion bottle by the sink. - Missing toiletries. - Open bottles left behind by previous guests in the minibar and room. - Stained robes. - White blotches on the bed runner in one room, while another room didn’t have a bed runner at all, showing inconsistency between rooms. - Drawers and cupboards didn’t close or fit properly. - Housekeeping was inconsistent. - Towels weren’t always replaced during room cleaning (only one towel was left, and we had to request more). - Requested additional towels and other room supplies, but they never arrived. - Conditioner wasn’t refilled after housekeeping and had to be requested. - Left a tip only to realize our sheets hadn’t actually been changed. The exact same stain was still there, just flipped over. **Maintenance** - Barely any cold tap water during the day…we had to let it run for quite a while. - No hot water at night, so I couldn’t even soften my toothbrush or comfortably wear my night guard. - Salt and pepper shakers rarely worked. - No straws available anywhere on the resort. **Food & Restaurants** - Had to book à la carte restaurants before arriving because most reservations were already gone. - Once we arrived, we couldn’t make any changes to our reservations because the app continued to show restaurants as fully booked, despite them appearing half empty every time we dined. Even the Front Desk was unable to make adjustments. - Food items were unavailable despite still being listed on the menu. - Basic beverages, including Coca-Cola, were unavailable at some restaurants. - Buffet labels were often missing or incorrect, which is concerning for guests with allergies or specific dietary needs. - The app didn’t list the lunch options available by the pool, so we completely missed them while spending our days at the beach. - Simple items, like the hash browns, were consistently dry and overcooked. - Some fruit, including papaya and cantaloupe, didn’t taste fresh. **Service & Communication** - Staff often came across as unfriendly and unenthusiastic. - Rarely any drink service around the pool. - Pool closes surprisingly early. - Events and activities were poorly communicated through the app. Some were missing altogether, while others didn’t include a location, causing us to miss several activities, especially since Ambar guests have access to multiple resorts. - The on-site nightclub requires an additional fee ($30 USD per person!!!) - We reported multiple concerns to both the Front Desk and Guest Services. Everyone was polite, but very little was actually resolved. - Despite the number of issues we experienced, no goodwill gesture or meaningful effort was made to improve our stay. **Most Disappointing** - We pre-ordered and paid for a chocolate birthday cake through Guest Services for my brother’s birthday. When we arrived at the restaurant, they had no record of the order. They quickly made a replacement, but it wasn’t chocolate and instead tasted like a marshmallow gelatin cake. What should have been a special celebration turned into a major disappointment. **Something We Heard** - Another couple we met said their room’s towels and bed sheets smelled musty and were stained upon arrival. - Another group told us their shuttle driver stopped before reaching their hotel, told everyone to get off because his shift was over, then continued speaking in Spanish. While we didn’t experience this ourselves, it certainly didn’t leave a good impression. Overall, this resort still has a lot going for it, but the outdated rooms, cleanliness concerns, inconsistent service, poor communication, and lack of attention to detail make it very difficult to justify a 5-star rating. We truly hope Bahia takes this feedback seriously and returns to the level of quality it has built its reputation on.

I really enjoyed my stay at Bahia Principe Luxury Ambar and would definitely consider coming back in the future. The rooms were one of the highlights of the holiday – they were big, spacious, clean, and very comfortable. The staff throughout the resort were friendly, welcoming, and always happy to help, which made the experience even better. The beach was beautiful, with plenty of space to relax and enjoy the scenery. The food was excellent, with a great variety available, especially in the à la carte restaurants. I would definitely recommend downloading the resort app before you travel and booking your restaurant reservations as early as possible to avoid missing out. The resort also has a great sports bar, which was a nice place to relax and catch live sport in the evenings. There are plenty of activities available too, including on-site mini golf, which unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to play, and the tennis courts were excellent and great fun to use. The drinks were good overall. My only minor criticisms were that I wasn’t a big fan of the local draught beer, and I would have preferred the soft drinks to come from a dispenser rather than being poured from bottles or cans. Overall, I had a fantastic holiday and would happily return. I’d rate the resort 8.5/10 and would recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing all-inclusive stay in Punta Cana.