Well let me start by saying that we were booked for The Bahia Principe Gold Club.Because this was our second time there,they upgraded us to the Amber side

AIRPORT We were in our van within 30 minutes and on our way.It was great because we had our own van right to the resort with no stops

Check-IN
Went to the Gold Club check in ,that is were we found out that we were upgraded to the Amber to our supprise.Went like a breeze

ROOMS
The rooms are very big with King size beds and a large sitting area and a flat screen tv.Bathroom had a stad up shower,jacuzzie tub,private stall toilet and a big vanity

MAIDS
Did a great job on keeping the room clean at all times and keep the mini bar filled to.Would always say hi when we saw her

BEACH
Well what can you say but wonderful.It is the best beach that i have ever been to.Water was blue as can be and the sand was so pure.and fine.The beach is also well kept.Every day there were a few guys walking around and picking up trash and racking the sea weed from the beach.There are a few haglers on the beach selling stuff with no preasure to buy.The chair game is played here but not that bad.If you were down on the beach between 7:00A.M and 8:00A.M you would have no problem finding a shade hut and yes there are topless women on the beach

Pool
Did not spend a lot of time in the pool,but it was warm and clean when we did.The chair is also played here but you could not reserve a hut before 8:00A.M or thge guard would take your stuff off the chair and take it to the towel hut.There were people sitting under the huts with there stuff till 8:00A.M came around every A.M

FOOD
We ate at 3 ala cartes the Japanese,the Garden Grill and The Mexican all were good.If you stay on the Amber side you could only use the Amber buffet except for lunch then you could go to any of the buffets down by the beach.The breakfest buffet was good they made any kind of eggs you wanted.Had all kinds of meats almost any thing you wanted.Lunch was lunch you know hambergers .hotdogs pizza pasta and a few other things.Dinner was the bomb.you could pick just about any kind of meat out of the case[steak,fish,shrimp].the quality at the Amber buffet was the best i have seen in the DR

Drinks
We hung out mostly at the Punta Cana side lobby bar were the drinks were the best made by German and Ramon.the lobby bar at the Amber side was also good.Pool bar on the Amber side was inconsistent with how they made a drink

SERVICE
I thought the service was good.You were never in need of anything.Every where we went there was someone asking us if everything was ok and could they help us.Everyone was real pleasent.Also if they could not understand you they would get someone who could.After all you are in there country

OVERALL
This was a great trip and I would not blink at going back.These people work very hard for there money.Every time we would tip they would answer thank you with a smile.i would get mad every time I saw a person ask or demand for a speical drink and not tip.That was down right low

P.S.

WHAT A GREAT TIME

A place of luxury and relaxation............

Our daily schedule:
Up at 7 am to reserve your Palapas (beach hut) very important as the sun is hard at mid day but with a cool Atlantic breeze all day, you still get a tan like in a convection oven. Breakfast at 8, Snooze till 11:30. Snorkel at 12 visibility is at it's peak, lunch at 1pm, Snooze again, Happy hour at 4 pm at the pool. 7 pm cocktail at the lobby bar ( ask for Kir Royal a real treat of luxury) dinner at 8 pm and after dinner drinks at the lively lobby bar.


Airport arrival:

The customs and immigration is as easy as a hot knife trough butter, no if and buts clean and new terminal. It took 60 minutes from landing to sliding our hotel key in our hotel room door.


Hotel:

We checked in with a welcome fruit and rhum drink, which was out of this world and no line ups as this is an adults only resort and everything is planned so that the customer does not have to wait for anything. I asked what was the ratio of employees to guest and I was told an average of 4 guest to 1 employee working in the service department, and it showed all week as we never waited for any type of service. The room was spotless all week, Mini bar full of goodies clean sheets, extremely comfortable beds, good AC and ceiling fan.

Pool and Beach:
Pool was clean but a tad warm at mid day, so if you want to refresh yourself stick to the sea, but around 4 pm everybody moves to the pool for happy hour and to warm up from the cool Atlantic breeze of the beach when the sun starts going down.

The beach was spotless low descent gradient in the water and a little secret for you snorkeling fanatics like me, at about 200 yards west (or left if you prefer) of the hotel beach there is a lot of shallow reefs with plenty fish, such as trumpet, yellow tail and red snapper, doctor fish and a lot of tropical fish nurseries due to the shallow and protected small cracks on top of the reef. Note of importance no Barracuda do the closeness of the beach (See sat pic for location) We took the hotel Snorkeling tour for 29$ great boat ride and the fish were ok visibility was excellent, depth of about 15 to 20 feet.

Food:
In short me and my wife ate like King and Queen, the buffet is well above standard for a 5 star. Lobster, High quality premium beef cuts, champagne available 3 meals a day, The beach buffet had a great selection of fast and high end food and no recycling form the day before, everything fresh. One night we had only appetizer and champagne thats how good it is.

Bar and drinks:
The service is quick and flexible, if it's not on the list they'll make it and the quantity of alcohol is always at the guests leisure no pre-set standard limit per drink. For you dark rhum lovers like me, you have to try the Rhum Barcelo at the main lobby bar, on the rocks only. It's as smooth as the service that we had all week.

Security:
Every where and their presence is felt but not overwhelming. We felt so secure that we left inside our Palapas on the supports under it, a duffel bag with books, room key and Ipods snorkeling equipment etc and never were worried as locals are not allowed on the inland portion of the beach even tough it is public. They are only allowed to sell their trinkets on the portion of the beach that is the closest to the sea. Once the tourist police is present but not overwhelming.

In resume a great week for those of you who want to recharge your batteries with your spouse. It can be fun if you are with a group but their are only relaxing activities at the hotel if you want lively animation you have to walk to the Bavaro or Punta canna complex or a 45 second golf cart ride.

Once again a 5 star resort with great friendly service

Will try and keep this short and simple. Grounds-most beautiful I have seen. Rooms-again, beautiful and clean. Food -good selection in buffet but average quality. A la carte- Le Gormet (Don Pablo) was the best (above average). Pool and beach fantastic. Bar service- inconsistent at all bars, everyone seems to make the same drink differently. Premium liquor only at Lobby Bar and then very short list (what they advertise they have and what they actully have is different). Definite language barrier but can get by for the most part. Food service- again average and inconsistent. In general a very quiet resort. Place literally shuts down an 11:00 PM. Pet peeve, I was very annoyed at the fact that the lobby staff actually took the seat cushions right out from underneath you while sitting in the lobby or patio area when the bell struck 11:00. Despite these issues my wife and I had one of the best vacations ever simply because of the great people we met and hung out with. I would not go back to the Amber again for several reasons but primarily because I have received far better service in Mexico, Cuba, Bahamas, Aruba etc. and would rather go back to these countries. Have been to D.R. twice, both 5 star and both with similar levels of service.

We came back from our week’s stay at the Ambar last Friday. Had a great relaxing time, a first for me on holiday as I usually go for action packed holidays. Anyway, let’s start the review.

Check in – Our check in was quite uneventful since our rep had never been to the hotel and didn’t know where to let us off the coach. We were first driven to the Punta Cana reception, then to the Bavaro and then back again to the Punta Cana. No welcome dance or drinks for us, but then we were 2 hours late due to the delay back at London Gatwick.

Room - We were upgraded to the Ambar, originally booked Bavaro. Not sure if this was due the our email a week earlier stating we were repeat customers or that all Thomson customers got upgraded? Anyway, we were in Villa 68 which is the 2nd building closest to the beach and next to the jungle. We were in room 68309, one of the extra large corner rooms with extra large balcony on the top floor and one of the best views (jungle and sea view)! The four poster bed is probably the most comfortable we have slept on away from home! Everything in the room was clean but there were some inevitable peeling and cracking of paint due to the DR climate.

Food - We found the food in the Palmyra buffet was of very high quality. There is a different theme at the buffet every night. During our stay Caribbean night was lobster night which seemed to have been enjoyed by all. The most disappointing night was Asian night. We ate at the 3 pre-booked a la cartes within Ambar. For service we liked the Portifino the best, for food El Olivo (great rib eye!!), our least favourite was the La Gourmet. All 3 Ambar a la cartes had lobster on their menus. We stumbled in the main buffet in the Punta Cana twice being misinformed by our Thomson rep that it was ok to do so, on Gala night they had a very impressive carvery spread! And men wearing shorts are not allowed in any Ambar restaurants, but you can wear whatever on your feet.

Staff – All friendly and relatively helpful. I guess we like to go with the flow when we’re on holiday so we never really tested the staff’s level of English. Actually, having read the reviews here I expected a lot worse and was pleasantly surprised. Our maid Sidia came to clean our room and provide turn down service at different times everyday and although this did not bother us what did slightly was the towel game we played with her! Each day it would be a different number of bath towels in the bathroom. Some days there would be 4, some days 1!

Grounds/ Pool/ Beach – Everywhere you looked maintenance people would be doing something to make the place more perfect. The trolleys to the Bavaro were not very frequent and some drivers, for some unknown reason, would fail to stop at the bus stops to pick up passengers. It is easier to walk the extra 2 minutes to get on the main trolley route. The Ambar pool was never overcrowded and being Adults Only, it was never noisy. Beach always clean as there were several rubbish cleaners in the Ambar section of the beach alone! Plenty of palapas available at all time on the beach, of course not so at the pool. Wonderful clear turquoise water. We had 2 days of cloudy skies and even a morning of heavy rain but 5 days of unbroken sunshine to enjoy the beach.

Activities – For me, this was the only area with room for improvement. Being slightly intolerant to the sun, I have always tried to stay out of it. But at the Ambar, if you stayed out of the sun you might as well go back to your room and sleep! All activities are based around the beach and pool area apart from the ill-equipped sports area, which was just too far from the Ambar. But if you’re into your water sports, there is plenty to do. Parasailing, kayaking, pedaloes, catamaran, banana rides etc. Unfortunately for me, I can’t swim and barely managed 5 minutes of white knuckles on a kayak… It was yellow flags for all 8 days we were there and the water really is rather choppy, we did see a capsized catamaran really far out and water sports staff had to go to their rescue.

Palm Real Shopping Mall – We didn’t go for any excursions as most were water-related so we took advantage of the free shuttle to escape from the hotel for a couple of hours. The shuttles pick up from BP Punta Cana and Bavaro from 10am – 4pm every 2 hours. It’s only 20-30 mins ride and the shopping mall is nothing to write home about, but it’s worth it just for the ride on the shuttle where you get to see how the locals live as well as some of the other hotels along the way. Anyway, the shopping mall is a real disappointment and you will be stranded there for 1 hour until the next shuttle takes you back to your hotel.

Punta Cana Airport – We were very surprised at how relaxed security was. Not once did they look at our passports and I even managed (unintentionally) to take a 160ml bottle of cough syrup with me in my hand luggage. There are 2 terminals, terminal 1 is the open-air side and terminal 2 is the air-conditioned side. Not much to do to pass the time in this small airport, a few shops, a pizza place, a Wendy’s and 2 bars, but terminal 2 is slightly more pleasant while waiting to board your plane.

Conclusion – We really enjoyed ourselves, and although we will not be returning to this hotel, Punta Cana or even the DR (there are too many places we have yet to visit), we would definitely recommend people to go at least once.