We recently returned from Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana and had a wonderful time. The rooms were clean and in good shape. The entertainment and drinks were plentiful and the pool was wonderful as well. There were very times that I didn't notice the cleaning staff working around the grounds. The only aspect of the hotel that I didn't enjoy was the food. On a scale of 1-10, I would give it a 4. Don't expect too much in that department. If possible book or ask for an upgrade to the Gold Club, It is closer to the pool and the Ocean and you will save time on the walk/bus ride. I would return to this hotel.

Got back from the Bahia Principe, Punta Cana on March 28th.

First of all, I must say that DO NOT TRAVEL WITH AIR TRANSAT. Seats were cramped. Imagine sitting for 7hrs in a cramped position. The flight attendants were good. They knew that the plane was packed and crammed as well.
As far as the hotel is concerned, it was absolutely wonderful. Granted, it was big, however, the service was so good that you didn't feel like it was that big.
The beach was actually the best I have seen, and I have been all over the caribbean.
The hotel next to us had a terrible beach with weeds ( Majestic Colonial). The other hotel on the other side to us, Riu, shared our wonderful beach.
The food was a little bland in the buffet, however, a lot of people liked it. Our favorite theme resturant was the French, Mediterranean,
seafood, and fried chicken from room service(24 hrs room sercice)

Anyone that complains about their time here is way to picky.
I was at the Bahia Principe from April 28 - May 5 2007 and I had an AMAZING TIME.
Went with my mother, father, brother (aged 21), his fiance (aged 21), my best friend(aged 19), aunt, uncle and 2 cousins (ages 13 and 17).
The airport was a little confusing to find our shuttle bus, but wasen't bad. It was extremely interesting driving through the cities, seeing how they live and the cultural differences.
When we got to the resort, check in wasen't bad. While waiting in line we were given fresh watermelon juice, as we were all really hot from the heat and still being in long pants. Check in took approx. an hour for all of us, getting 4 rooms, all in the same buidling like we asked, 2 together on a floor, and 2 together on the other floor. Only thing we couldn't get was 2 rooms with 2 double beds, instead 3 of our rooms had a king, but that wasen't the biggest deal. Before we even got our rooms we had our wrist bands and went over to the lobby bar in shifts to grab and drink and run back to the line.
once we had our keys we were quickly wisked to our rooms, where they helped us to carry our bags up to the 3rd floor. Quickly through on our bathing suits and went down to the pool.

Food: The food was really good, buffet changed things up every night. The fruit was like nothing i've ever tasted here in canada, it was so fresh and so juicy. We went to the Garden Grill one night, really good, buffet style though, so seemed alot like the buffet. Japaneese was by far the best, very entertaining and the food was really good as well. Mediterranean was really good, i had an amazing soup there. As for illness, 3 of us the food didnt always sit great, but i know for myself no matter where I have ever travelled too it never has, no big deal though, careful what I ate.

Bars: My favourite bar by FAR was the swim up in the main pool, shout outs to John and Juan. They were hooking us up all week, they saw our drink was empty and it was refilled within a few minutes. They even let me and my friend hook our Ipods up as long as the music wasn't distastful. The bar at the entertainment was always fairly busy, but everyone went to the nightly entertainment that you can't blame them, still not as busy as a bar here in toronto.

Entertainment: AMAZING, they really take pride in this and making sure people get involved. Laying on the beach, I would always get approached saying come dance,come dance, learning the merange, and aerobics on the beach. At the pool, always games, volleyball and such most of the day, near around 2-4 always contests like bingo, drinking contests and tons of other fun. Best was having to watch my brother "shake his stuff" to be able to get his bottle of rum he won in bingo. Went to the disco a couple times, it was packed, but didnt have alot of people dancing, still fun though.

Rooms: Nice enough, tv was good, bed was comfy, BIG bathrooms/showers, always enough towels, if not asked for more. Really didn't go there to spend time for the room so didn't care what it was really like.

Beach: Gorgeous beach, amazing clear water. Went parasailing one day, absolutly amazing experience. Any vendors understood no and left us alone. Chairs weren't bad, we usually got one for all of us.

Overall, amazing time, go and you will not regret. The people that complain really are just not letting themselves relax.

We stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana 5th March - 19th March 2008.
We travelled in a group of 18 people, and got married on 14th March 2008 at the hotel.
Our first impressions of the hotel was very good.
We all got checked in on our coach, so we did not have to wait in reception due to the size of the party. We were transferred to our rooms, complete with luggage by the very efficient bell boys. Within 15 minutes of arriving at the hotel, every member of our party was at their rooms.
There was a few teething problems with some rooms. The First Choice brochure advertised either 1 king size bed for upto 2 people or 2 double beds for more than 2 people sharing a room.
3 lots of 2 adults & 1 child found only 1 kingsize bed and a sofa, so the child had to sleep on the sofa, and a family of 4 (2 adults & 2 children) only had 1 kingsize bed and 1 sofa.
On arrival one of the bathrooms had a leak above the toilet, but i must say, within 5 minutes of reporting the problem, maintenance was at the room putting it right. You couldn't ask for more.

Food at the buffet was good, with a varied choice, but we found alot of the dishes barely warm or cold. Service in the buffet varied from excellent to poor, according to who was waiting on your table. One night we had to ask about six times for drinks before we got any. The a la carte restaurants were very good, when you was able to book in. We went to guest services the first day we were there, but we couldn't manage to get a booking until the start of the second week.
Keep a wide berth of the Hamburger Bar in the square, the waiter/waitresses were very rude, the service was unacceptable and the food was very cold.

The bars shut very early in the lobby and the theatre (11pm) and it was very difficult to get a drink as there is not enough staff to serve the amount of customers. (When the hotel is full, there is 5000 people staying on site).
In the lobby bar, there was only ever 2 bartenders and 2 waitresses serving drinks.
In the theatre, we only ever saw 1 waitress, who had to serve approx. 1000 people.

The night entertainment was very poor for a 5 star hotel. Myself and my husband have been to many hotels and never seen such poor entertainment and service.

The poolside bar was better, well staffed, friendly and polite. And as we laid in front of the bar during the day, we got to know the staff there pretty well.

Although stated in the First Choice brochure, you have use of 3 swimming pools, you could only use two, unless you upgrade to the Diamond club, which is not available to British tourists anyway.
The only way you could upgrade to the Diamond club is if you was getting married or have previously visited the hotel.
The beach looked like Benidorm, you could hardly see sand for the amount of sun loungers.

We personally had a few issues with the hotel, i.e. the hot water was turned off on the day of our wedding and the staff on Reception and night manager were not interested at all. They even refused to call our Rep or First Choice resort office, stating that they could not make outside calls on the hotel telephones.
We complained about the service in the Hamburger Bar and as before the staff in Guest Services were not interested.
The sun loungers beside the pools were more or less all taken by 7am. People were putting their towels on them, although it was prohibited by the hotel and not returning to the sun loungers to at least 11am and in some cases 3pm in the afternoon. So if you want a particular spot or you want sun loungers together, make sure you set your alarm for 6am.

This is a 5 star hotel, with a 2 star service and management from Fawlty Towers. We would never go back even if we were offered a free holiday there.

If you like the idea of Butlins in the Caribbean then go, if not, stay away, far away.