Location
Punta Cana - BeachProperty Information
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Resort Details
Hotel Advisories
General Policies & Fine Print
Check-in Policy - Hotel requires a credit/debit card authorization or cash deposit upon check-in for incidentals; this will place a hold on your funds.
Convention Policy - Individuals attending a convention cannot book this property for their stay. If found attending a convention, guests may be subject to higher room rates upon arrival.
Hotel Spring Break Policy - This hotel cannot guarantee a spring break-free environment.
Transfer Policy - A price may display when children stay free, if your vacation includes transfer to your hotel.
General Information - Room taxes and service fees are included in vacation price. Minimum night stay restrictions may apply. Reservation changes may not be permitted unless authorized by the hotel.
Customer Ratings & Reviews
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating
8938 reviews
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May 05, 2023Beautiful resort!
Accommodations were wonderful! Food was good. Can't expect what you're used to at home. Lots of variety, two main cafeteria style restaurants. There are a la carte specialty restaurants, but, difficult to book at times. We had booked 3, the japanese one is amazing with live cooking in front of you. Just be sure you're at the right one because there are two almost in the same area. Even if you have reservation, you still need to wait a long time to be seated, but....it's worth every second! The italian restaurant we booked at was not as good, but okay. Like I mentioned before, we can't expect what we're used to here at home. The wait time between courses was very long! Reservation at 6, got out at 9! We missed the shows. We cancelled the 3rd restaurant after that. The beach was beautiful, but unfortunately we had lots of sea weed....nature's fault. Resort was very clean. Had towels every day, but had to go early for exchange. When we got there,they gave us each a color coded bracelet, depending where you're staying. Important to know: you're not allowed in other areas of the resort, ex fantasia. There's a guard at the beginning of every new section, stopping you from going through, but they're there till a certain time only. The shows are not great but the music is nostalgic, from the 80s, 90s, if you like that era, you'll love it! Don't expect shows like in Cuba, not at all the same. We saw a show in Fanatasia: a circus act, then they continued outside where the castle lit up, like in Disney, very nice. There are regular shuttle carts to bring you around the resort. We went to the Dolphin excursion, which was a little pricey but amazing! Staff is polite and go out of their way to help you. I would recommend this resort for sure, and would probably return.
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Apr 21, 2023Great week of relaxation and warm weather
We travelled to Bahia Principe Esmerelda the last week of March 2023. We had downloaded the app and made all the dinner reservations before arrival, never had a problem, it worked well and all the A La Carte restaurants were fantastic. Great food, good service and wonderful selection. Since the Esmerelda was a Luxury listed hotel, we had access to all other Bahia Principe sites so we picked restaurants all over so we could experience the differences between the hotels (and see the well kept grounds). For one dinner we stayed at the buffet and were really surprised on how nice it was, large selection and the deserts were amazing. The pools and beach were well kept and clean. The beach can get a little crowded but it just gave us a chance to talk to different people from different parts of the world. We were at the beach in the morning until 3pm then moved to the pool until 5pm (whisky sours at the swim up bar with friends we met became a highlight of the day)! The rooms were fine, cleaned every day and fridge was restocked, what else could we ask for. We knew they were starting renovations in April so we expected dated décor but we had no complaints. Large rooms with all the necessary components! Key cards deactivated twice during our week but we went to the lobby and had them back and working in 10 minutes, I would not consider this to be a problem. Little things like this happen, but the staff fixed it and we moved on with our day... we had a drink and all was good. The staff were amazing, learned a few words in Spanish and they enjoy us making the effort... we are in their country after all. We found everyone tried to help and with a little effort and some hand gestures, everything went well. From the waiters/waitresses, pool staff and lobby managers, we had great service. We smiled, laughed and had an amazing week of relaxation, good food met some nice people and a few drinks by the beach. Cant wait to return to Bahia Principe and see the renovations for the Esmerelda! Thank you to everyone there.
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Apr 15, 2023Terrible Experience !!! Cleanliness, Staff attention, Discrimination and Safetye experience
WE HAD THE WORST EXPERIENCE IN A HOTEL THAT IS SOLD LUXURY BUT IS NOT. Since the day we left the hotel, we are trying to contact and agree on the bad experience we had and the hotel is not honest in trying to solve it. 1) one of the dinners that you need to reserve, we could not enter the restaurant due to their own mistake. 2) We found a cockroach in the buffet restaurant, I took a photo, passed to them and they did not give the necessary importance. 3) There were no supplies at the pool bar, simple things like a piña colada they couldn't provide us. 4) the room, BE CAREFUL because the door does not close well and opens easily 5) almost all of the staff treat you dry, often rude 6) the worst of all was the discrimination we suffered and so far the hotel is not honest with us due to the number of errors, find a solution. TUVIMOS LA PEOR EXPERIENCIA EN UN HOTEL QUE SE VENDE DE LUJO PERO NO ES. desde el dia que salimos del hotel, estamos intentando contato y acuerdo por la mala experiencia que tuvimos y el hotel no es honesto en intentar solucionar. 1) una de las cenas que necesitas reserva, no pudimos entrar al restaurante por um error de ellos mismo. 2 ) encontramos cucaracha en el restaurante del buffet , tome foto , pase a ellos y ellos no brindaron la importancia necesaria . 3) No habia insumos en el bar de la piscina , cosas simples como una piña colada no podian brindarmos. 4) la habitacion , CUIDADO porque la puerta no cierran bien y se abre con facilidad 5 ) el personal en casi su totalidad te tratan secos, muchas veces groceros 6 ) el peor de todo fue la discriminacion que sufrimos y hasta el momento el hotel no es honesto con nosotros por la cantidad de errores , encontrar una solucion.
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Apr 12, 2023Nothing like what is advertised
I don't feel as though this resort is represented accurately online and it is certainly not a 5 star luxury resort. The food was mediocre at best. The rooms were very dated and run down. When we would ask a question it felt ike we were sent from one person to the next and then the next with no resolution. Personally I won't return to this resort or honestly may not try the dominican again. Other Caribbean destinations have far exceeded by expectations and this place did not.
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Apr 10, 2023
Not as advertised.
The only 5 Star for this hotel is for every member of staff. Every single one of them was great. And would go above and beyond to help you. By far the hotels saving grace. Food good and plentiful in the buffet. But expect to queue for omelette of fried eggs in the morning, and burgers at lunch. Plus the queue is in front of the cakes and pastries; hotel needs to plan layout better. Facilities limited in the hotel. It's pool or beach, or sit in the reception. The reception provided drinks and pastries all day, which was awesome. Beach was rammed in. Too many beds in one area. Not everyone able to get shade during the day. From first light people are on the beach putting towels down. Hotel needs to bring in a policy of the staff able to remove towels if the bed is not used for an hour. The pool was the same, equally a lack of shade. Every usable sun bed was taken before 8am. And people not turning up to use them till 11am or later. WiFi was dire or non-existent in most areas. Meal booking options. This is a stupid one. On the website they advise booking themed nights and gourmet restaurants before you arrive, but to book them you need a room number, which you don't get until you arrive. So when you arrive there is a touch screen in the reception to use, but guess what... you'll find all the places already booked. Gourmet restaurant dress rules state long trousers but they don't enforce it as I found out when I pitched up in my long trousers. Then in the gourmet restaurants they tell you to scan the QR code to access the menu... But then there is no WiFi so you can't. Sort the dress code and the WiFi please. Advertised as a 5 Star hotel... not really. Very tired. More likely 3 Star at best. Lots of things broken or don't work. If it was 5 Star they'd be providing better room facilities and toiletries. Extreme lack of electric sockets in the room. Our first room had one socket we could access and use. Second room had two. Razor/Toothbrush charger socket in bathroom didn't work. Rooms are not 5 Star clean or cleaned. The linen on the bed doesn't fit. There is a coffee machine that you can use to boil water, but they don't give you filter paper only instant coffee. So it'd make more sense to have a kettle. Especially as we couldn't get a pot of boiled water without it having some dubious black bits in it. The tv reception and picture was awful, our remote didn't work. The shower had a broken pipe and sprayed water into the light fitting. In both rooms the aircon was very noisy. No lifts anywhere. If you are on the 2nd floor it's stairs for you. If you have a buggy or disabled make sure you ask for a ground floor.