Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda

We recently stayed at Esmerelda as a family of 6 (4 kids ages 2-12). The hotel had everything you could ask for. Beach was clean and well kept, lots of umbrellas that offered covered seating, but you do have to get up earlier if you want a prime location. Getting covered seating at the pool was more challenging than the beach. water park at the hotel was great for the kids (although it was too small for the 12 year old). The bigger communal water park slides was a bit unsafer as the slides were steeper and there was no cushion at the landing so it could be rough. Hotel rooms were awesome, and the fact that connecting rooms were offered made it extremely convenient and comfortable for our family. Cleaning service was always prompt and did a great job, keeping the bar and coffee stocked each day. The representatives at the customer experience booths were amazing, and probably one of the highlights of our trip. Wildy and Marie always greeted us with a smile, made sure we were comfortable and always helped us with reservations and navigating through the hotel. Can't thank them enough for making our stay an incredible one. The food was decent enough for an all inclusive. breakfast buffet was a bit of a mad house since it was the only place that offered breakfast. The dinners and lunch at the buffets were awesome. The other snack and food area near the water park could use some more attention though. The Taco Truck near the beach was also a mad house at lunch. Overall our stay was great, and would bump this to a 4.5 if possible, with the only knock being the breakfast buffet madness.

My experience in this hotel was by far not the best I had. There are definitely other better options in the Dominican Republic, especially for a cheaper price! My positive aspects: Nice ocean, long beach, white sand, nice looking room, nice pools and pretty good food My negative aspects: mostly really bad service, shower smells disgusting, parts in room that aren’t clean (dust under bed) , crowded beach, not enough entertainment for me personally Another important aspect: Even if you were checked in into Esmeralda for example you still could use the whole Bahia property except for Legends. That was a nice thing since there have been nice pools and other activities. So overall its a good looking hotel where you can enjoy time at the beach and the pool but its a little overpriced due to lack of service and activity.

I want to share a cautionary tale about credit card fraud issues I had while staying at this resort. During my stay, I scheduled a scuba diving excursion with two fellow guests. The scuba diving centre is located on the resort grounds by the beach, and there is no indication the staff there are representatives of any company other than Bahia Prinicipe. Due to wind and weather issues, the scuba trip wasn't possible. I was very understanding of this. They staff said they would provide a refund (I prepaid over $500USD). I provided them a copy of my visa charge and even let them photograph my credit card. I went home the next day. Five days later I had not received a refund. I contacted the individual at the beach activities location at the resort and he now said they could not provide me a refund for some technical reason.. and suggested I contact my bank. So I spend a bunch of time getting through to Visa credit cards to explain the situation and request their intervention. They have now started an investigation with the company that charged my credit card for the Scuba trip "Bavaro Tours". I'm not 100% sure I will get my money back. I have tried to contact Bavaro Tours directly, but they are not responding either. Perhaps even more concerning, Visa told me a fraudulent charge was attempted with Amazon on the 'same day' I originally paid for the Scuba trip while at the resort. I didn't used my credit card for anything else on this trip (it's an all-inclusive resort). The Amazon charge was obviously flagged as being suspicious as Visa didn't allow it to go through, thankfully. However, my credit card was compromised on the same day at the Scuba charge, so I'm obviously a bit suspicious of a staff member using it. I called the "Bahia Principe" report to ask if they could help, and essentially wanting to let them know of my experience with credit card fraud while staying there. The resort representative was dismissive and said the water activities people are a separate company and she told me she couldn't help me. I explained the water activities are literally a part of the resort grounds, and she was again dismissive of having any ability to assist me and basically told me to look elsewhere for help. So that's my story. I am currently out of over $500USD and I'm awaiting a new credit card to be mailed to me as my prior one was compromised while at the resort. This is a shame as the overall stay was pleasant, but please be cautious of credit card theft and dishonesty regarding refunds if you stay this resort.

We had been to the Bahia Principe Esmeralda 2 times previously. This time the rewards program switched over to Hyatt and as a previous Bahia Principe Gold member, we were told that we are not eligible for a free room upgrade as we were before under the Gold program, so that was disappointing as we have gone to Bahia destinations at least 8-10 times, so it feels like we kind of got ripped off from the change in program. The rooms are nice now that they have been renovated, except the swim out pool was not cleaned very well. There was algae growing on the bottom. The swimming pools were also not cleaned very well, were cloudy and had scum on the top of the water. Just didn’t seem like they kept up with the chlorine or cleaning. The buffet at the Esmeralda was good, but lacked variety. We missed the “themed” buffets that they used to have before. Booking al-a-carte restaurants was virtually impossible unless you wanted to eat at 9pm, and most of the time they were only 50% full. The service around the pool was very good - Alexis in particular was excellent. Just tip these workers here and there. You don’t have to, but remember that they’re not making very much money and do work very hard. The beach was well maintained and enjoyed booking a cabana one of the days to take In the ocean and breeze. Overall, a good vacation, but there are some things to be improved to call itself Luxury and to charge Luxury prices - like variety of food, rewarding long-time members, cleanliness of pools and the restaurant booking process.

Wonderful first visit to this resort. No complaints. High quality staff, restaurants, pools and beach. Book à la carte restaurants early, even before arrival.