Bahia Principe Explore Esmeralda

Been going to Dominican Republic for over 2O years, this was the worst experience we have had in an 4/5 star hotel ???, No !!! 3 star at best. We travelled as a family of 6 , from 3 years old to 66. At breakfast by 8.00am most days they ran out of crockery and cutlery, we were continually asking staff for spoons, plates, bowls. After 8.30 it was worse . Went to some of the a La carte restaurants overall very good. Tried the Brazilian in the Punta Cana, meat was overcooked and dry, service was not much better !! The dinner buffet was ok not a great choice and sometimes not very hot. We complained to the Tui representative as there seemed to be a shortage of drinking glasses, I was served wine in a plastic beaker!!! They ran out of glasses almost every night. We complained about the waiting service, some staff preferred talking to other staff members rather than ask if we wanted a drink ! The lobby bar was closed, for maintenance, we were told. Although we never saw anyone “maintaining “ it. In the evening we had the choice of the pool bar, service was good. Or the sports bar. Some of the staff were quite ignorant and came across they either did not like the job or the customers ! One evening the sports bar ran out of vodka , along with the drinking glasses.! We kept our glasses most of the evening and just got them refilled. In my opinion the resort is far too big,and they just don’t seem to have the capacity to cope. There were other issues we were not happy with, bottles glasses plates around the pool areas which had been left from the day before . The good points , rooms very spacious and clean although need updating. Evening entertainment was good. Mongolian and Nan restaurants were so good . Needless to say overall we were not impressed and would not go back to this hotel group.

Came here for my son’s wedding. Place was massive and sat on a complex with 4 other hotels in the Bahia group. Needed to get about via buggy’s as place so large. Rooms were fantastic and the hotel itself was beautiful with 2 large pools, a beach and plenty of sunbeds, although not shade for everyone, so many beds were reserved early. There were plenty of restaurants which you needed to book via the app, (not that user friendly though) so plenty of choice. The only downside was the buffet restaurants, many foods not labelled, so didn’t know what your eating and a lot of the food was cold by the time we sat down. Even when the beach buffet opened for breakfast, a lot of food was already cold, so we stuck to having the fresh cooked omelettes. The other downside was the service, slow bringing or offering drinks, even after asking for anything it took an age. This was throughout the complex. My son’s wedding however was wonderful and it was a day to remember, along with 40 guests, we had a sit down dinner in the beach and danced into the night. Just little hick ups, mainly down to service again. We booked our taxi to and from airport through booking.com in advance as a lot cheaper than what the hotel charge. Overall a good holiday, but we found complex too big and since we were last here 18 years ago, things have definitely changed and not for the better - too much tourism now compared to what it was. For instance boat trip back then, you were the only sailing the water in a lovely peaceful area, swimming and snorkeling. This time there were about 20 other ‘party’ boats all clustered together. Even though we enjoyed the holiday and my sons wedding, it won’t be a place we plan to visit again. We will stick to the smaller complex’s from now on.

Right next to a beautiful beach, pool lovely , swim up pool, lots entertainment, rooms clean, service good from hotel and room staff, bellboys great , service at breakfast hit m miss but overall I was happy. Yurta restaurant our favourite, lots different restaurants choose from. Lots shops to look around at legend hotel.

Definitely something to think about

Staff do not service guests before 10am and are only service guest that leave a tip. Restaurants and tables are always reserved for "premium" guests that tip the staff and no food or drinks served at the pool or the beach before 10am. Adult music played in childs area. An advantage of the hotel is that they have lifeguards at the beach.