The resort overall is really big, but service is not compromised. We (couple in our mid-twenties) spent a week a week there in April. The weather was really hot but since the resort is on the beach, there was a really nice breeze both at the beach and the pool which is located next to the beach.

From the airport it is an hour and a half trip to the hotel on a bumpy road, so if you get car sick, you may want to sit at the front of the bus. Its really neat though because you get to go through many towns and see how the people there live. Our check-in was done on the bus so when we got there, we just went straight to our room to drop off our suitcases.

The buffet has lots of variety, even if you're a picky eater, there is lots of fresh fruit, bread, cheese. In the morning there is and omelet bar and for lunch and dinner a pasta bar. They also serve food at all hours of the night if you're craving a late night snack. Its very clean and the staff clear the tables quickly. Our favorite a la carte restaurant was the Mexican but the Mediterranean was also quite tasty.

The main pool always had lots going on, music blasting, there is a swim up bar and the entertainment staff organize plenty of activities. There is also a quieter pool near the gold rooms if you like the quiet. Both pools have a sectioned off kids area. If you plan on swimming lots in the pool, take an old bathing suit, they use lots of chlorine and our bathing suits are now a yellowish tinge. The pools are very clean, they clean them regularly and I never saw any debris in them.

The rooms are just standard rooms, really, how much time are you planing on spending there anyways?.. They are always very clean and well taken care of. We never had any problems with anything. Our mini bar was always stocked and everything worked well.

The nightly entertainment was just like that at most all inclusive resorts. A bit cheesy but fun.

The people who work there are really nice, friendly and always had a smile on their face.

Make sure to make a trip to Playa Grande. Not only is it really pretty, they have big waves that are really fun for body surfing!

Just returned from bahia principe san juan, went for 8 nights,
Before i went i read alot of bad reports so was a little worried,
The transfer was not good, little bus, felt like it was falling apart,but not to worry we got there after a 9hr flight in ok condition.
the resort is lovely. good food, good sevice.met lots of lovely people.rooms ok but need updating.who cares you only sleep in them.I loved the days on the beach,nice and tranquil.we had bad weather rain a bit,but still warm. what made my holiday was the trips swim with dolphins is a must, horse riding, jeep safari,ect.
so, resort lovely and grounds, food good, best is med alicart.
only complaints the beer and shorts are really watered down,you could drink all day and night and not be tipsey.the entertainment is awfull, the team do there best, they work from 9am till 12pm, so the hotel needs to get people in,also at 11pm they close everythingdown and you need to go up the little strip to get more drinks all inc still,it was very busy while we were there we didnt go in pool, to busy, there are other pools you can go in that arnt as busy, it was only me and hubby, i wouldnt take my kids there.
it was just to busy, lots of canadians, young ones, but canadians
very nice people.i wouldnt go back to this resort, but i did have a good time, if you are going have a good time

First and foremost, USE THE IN-ROOM SAFE!!!!!!! If the one in your room is broken request to change rooms. Also, lock your suitcase as the maids to go through your things. We had our money, credit cards and even my driver's license was stolen. Obviously we should have been more responsible and have learned our lesson. Despite this we still had an amazing time and I would go back to this resort.

ROOMS: Between the 4 of us we had 2 rooms, one of which had a king and the other 2 twins. This did not bother us at all. The rooms were nice and clean. The shower does not have an adequate shower curtain so water gets every where in the bathroom. The air conditioning can only be on when the key is in and the key is attached to the room key and soldered together so you cannot leave the A/C on while out of the room, which kind of sucks, but we found ways around it.

STAFF: The staff was very friendly but most do not speak very much English at all. If requiring something from the front desk it is better to go in person as the person answering the phone was rude and spoke very poor English, but when you walk up to the front desk the speak good English and are very friendly.

BEACH: This resort does not have a white sand beach with aqua water. The beach is really the only downfall of the resort as the rest of the landscape is beautiful. There is a beautiful white sand beach nearby called Playa Grande that you can get to easily by taxi which I would recommend doing.

POOLS: The main pool is large and does have swim up bar which is always fun. The pool we enjoyed the most was smaller but there were always lounge chairs. It does not have a swim up bar but does have a walk up bar that did the trick.

EXCURSIONS: The 2 excursions we did were the Dominican Flavour and Laguna Jeep Safari. They were both a lot of fun and if I went back I would most definitely do them both again. Dominican Flavour was an evening tour that takes you to visit the Playa Grande beach, to a restaurant where you eat and see a voodoo show (which was very cool), from there you go to a local bar to party with the locals. I thoroughly enjoyed this but warn that it is not for people that do not want to party!

BARS: There are quite a few bars and they all have amazing and very friendly bartenders who speak decent English. If you get a chance to be served by Antonio, make sure you tip him as he is amazing and made our trip extra fun! The beach bars close @ 6pm, the others between 8pm and 11pm, the bar and the disco close @ 2am. We were a little disappointed as this resort was advertised to have 24 hour bars.

ENTERTAINMENT: The nightly shows were really good and very audience interactive. The entertainment staff were really friendly and fun to party with.

All in all this was an amazing trip and we all really liked the resort. I would definitely recommend it to the younger crowd and to people who like to party.

My husband and I stayed at Bahia Principe from April 22, 2008 to April 29, 2008 and had a wonderful time. We are a fairly young couple in our early twenties so we were looking for the best of both relaxation and a good time. Bahia Principe provided both.

I haven't travelled very much myself but my husband has and this place never disappointed either of us.

CHECK IN:
We arrived at Bahia Principe on a large air conditioned charter bus that picked us up from the airport. The bus ride was a little over an hour long. On our bus an employee passed out room keys and all-
inclusive bracelets which made check-in a breeze. We arrived at the resort at 10pm Dominican time. We bought our safe key for the safe in the room. (I suggest doing this, not that we saw or had any issues with not trusting the staff, but just in case. It costs $25US).

ACCOMODATION:
There are three parts to this resort, the main, the gold club and the diamond club. We were registered Gold club guests, the upgrades we received were a fourth a la carte meal, a private air conditioned lobby, and free daily internet access.

Our room was located on the second floor of a block in the Gold part of the resort. It was a bit of a walk from the main pool and lobby but trolly's always run to offer rides and we found the walk very nice. The grounds are extremely beautiful and well kept. The Gold and Diamond club areas are situated on either side of the main part of the resort and they are beach front. Our room had a king size bed, tile floor, nice bathroom with a hot shower. The bed was no paliser but it was comfortable enough. The air conditioner in the room worked extremely well, and the curtains were full and dark to keep out the sun if you wanted. The balcony was large and bright and clean.
In every room there is a fridge, upon arrival there is one bottle of water, two pop, and two beer. If you leave $1us in your fridge and one on the pillow your fridge will be stocked FULL daily and the room keepers will work extra hard and leave very pretty towel designs in the room. The rooms were very clean, floors were bleached and mopped daily. The roomkeepers spend a lot of time doing quality work. We never had any problems in our room so we didn't need to call for service, but one couple we met did and service was prompt and well.

GROUNDS:
This resort is excluded from any cities or near by towns. It is huge with two miles of nice beach. The shrubs and palm trees and landscape was very well kept, clean, beautiful, green and honestly paradise. Every morning workers washed off the sidewalks and at about six in the morning would spray for bugs. Bugs weren't a problem at all.

BEACH:
The beach spans about 2 miles. It is a brown sand beach with lots of sun or shade, plenty of sunchairs. The beach was clean, we didn't have any trouble with sandfleas although I know some guests that did. The water was warm, the bottom sandy. There are barriers that keep the large waves and debris from hitting shore. Although playing in the waves was nice. They raise flags, Green meaning it's great swimming, yellow meaning its kind of rough, and red meaning swim at own risk. Everyday on our stay was a green flag day.

POOLS:
There are three pools. A very large lake style pool with a swim up bar. This is the main pool, entertainment goes on all day here. Fun to watch. You don't need to participate. Local music, and a swim up bar. Another pool which is a bit smaller towards the goldclub was quiet and less busy. There was a bar right beside the pool here. The third pool is a private pool in the diamond club. We never swam in this one. All three pools were very clean. Staff got in the pools and scrubbed the walls every morning. They had workers walk around and pick up garbage all day. There were alot of sun chairs around every pool...no problem finding a spot. No hurrying necessary.

BUFFET:
The buffet served breakfast lunch and dinner. For breakfast there was homemade omelets. They also have, smoothies, pancakes, french toast, crepes, fresh fruit, croissants, muffins, pastries, toast, sausage, juice, milk, cereal and of course coffee. They had everything, and it was all very good. Lunch was alot like the suppers served. They had Fresh fruit, pastas, fries, burgers, vegetables, salads, show cooking, wings, wow...from exotic to normal...anything for even the pickiest eaters. Suppers had theme nights, all of which had the regular dishes and some dishes related to the theme. On Mexican Monday, try the tortilla soup, it's AMAZING>

On the left side of the beach a little ways down there is a burger restaurant. Here they served burgers, hot dogs, roast chicken, pizza and fries...The best fries I have ever had. Check it out for a mid-day snack or lunch.

My husband and I are very familiar with farm live. Beef and good beef is very important to us and honestly it was fine at the resort. Not bad at all.

A LA CARTES:
We attended all four a la cartes, Italian, Mediteranian, Mexican, and Seafood. The italian was good, it was your basic pasta, lasagna, and flatbread pizza. The Mediteranian was excellent. I had the grouper here...which was fantastic. It's a soft white fish and it was stuffed with crab, it was amazing. The soup was very good as well. The seafood is in the same restaurant as the mediteranean so tip well at the first one and your drink will never go empty at the second. Also service was amazing. I don't recommend the salmon appetizer at the seafood. I do however recomment the salmon meal at the seafood. The best salmon fillet I have had. It was soft and really good. The mexican a la carte happened to be my husbands and my favorite only because we love mexican food. The soup was so good. The enchillada and burrito that we had were very good.

Every restaurant including the buffet require you to use hand sanitizer before you enter. They won't let you in otherwise. Everytime you order they take your room number so they can track your meals incase you get sick. We never had any medical issues or stomach problems at all. I actually never heard of anyone getting sick from food or anything. Book your a la carte meals as soon as possible. Good times fill up fast.

BARS AND BEVERAGES:
They had many bars open all day long. The rum (ron in spanish), is amazing. I drank mostly ron punches and volcanoes, very very good drinks. My husband drank beer. They have Brahma brand beer at this resort. and my husband was very impressed at the carbonation. Never flat, always cold. Very good beer. Our first night while we watched the entertainment in the theater, we were sitting at a table and kept getting up to wait in line and get drinks. The second night we clued in, when your server brings you a round tip him $1us...and another one after every second round. We have about 10 rounds a night and only paid five dollars. We never left our seats and our drinks were never empty. Some of the rounds the server would bring you two rounds at once. We had a server named Carlos, we always sat in his section. He was so nice and a great server. Fun to talk to.

Back to the alcohol, the beer was always carbonated and cold and good. The rum drinks were great. Because of the temperature they didn't stay frozen for very long, but they always had lots of ice and it didn't matter.

ENTERTAINMENT:
Every day around the main pool they had entertainment such as games (Crazygame), Volleyball, water polo, stretching, aquasizes. The entertainment crew would dance around the pool to the bahia principe song everyday. They encouraged you to get involved but if you didn't want to they didn't hound you. They have soccer, tennis, mini-golf, volleyball and many excursions to pick from. Also free paddleboating everyday, and you could rent jetskis. The excursions are more expensive if you book through the resort. If you go past the bartering huts on the right side of the beach you will come to CAMPO tours. Book everything except the horse riding through here. They are about half the price for the exact same excursion. Book the horse one through the hotel same price and it's one day instead of two. They also have a fitness club to get in your workout and a spa.

NIGHT LIFE:
Every night at nine oclock in the open big theater by the lobby they had a kids show were the entertainment crew would dance with the kids, and play games till about 930. At nine thirty they would play really entertaining fun games with adults from the crowd. They were hilarious and fun. Then the entertainment crew at about 10pm would put on a vegas style show with fun costumes and dance. It wasn't the most spectacular shows but it was entertainment, there were plenty of drinks and sometimes the shows were really good. On Thursday nights show they did a fire show. It was great. The show ended at midnight were everyone would either go to bed or head to the Principe street at the front of the resort. Here there is a casino, disco clubs, bars, shopping. They would put on fun dance competitions, or you could dance on the dance floor and drink at the bar. Moving the party out to the front street kept the noise away from the rooms so the grounds were quiet at night. The party on the street was a lot of fun, we only went 3 nights but it was great and went till like four in the morning.

SHOPPING:
THIS IS WHERE I HAVE THE BEST ADVICE!!!!! I'm a shopaholic. At the front of the resort when you just come in you will see small colorful buildings. These are the resorts shops. There is no bartering at these shops.

If you are looking to barter, there are shops on the right side of the beach where this takes place. They cannot come onto the main part of the resort. These shops are safe, and still on resort property just in there own corner.

At the resort shops everything is about double what you will pay bartering. Paintings are about 3x the price you would get them for bartering.

CIGARS: If you want to buy cigars do not buy them anywhere but at the bartering posts. A box of 25 montecristo cubans run $200 anywhere on the resort but you can get them from the barterers for about $10-25 a box. Even if you aren't a good barterer you can.

The bartering stands aren't very pushy. They are a little bit in your face but not much at all. When you want something give them a price EXTREMELY LOW like $3 for something..then work up but not much, be friendly. You will get great deals. Know the exchange rates which is about $1 US dollar is 36pesos. Oh, I recommend going to the barterers with pesos not dollars. They will kind of scam you with dollars by having a lower exchange rate $1us dollar will be 30 pesos, that way when they exchange it in the city they make an extra 6 pesos.

We bought 8 oil paintings, one extremely large one, 2 boxes of cubans for under $100. The paintings just roll up nicely and easily make there way back to Canada unharmed. You will pay AT least double for everything bought at the resort shops. Don't be scared of the bartering it's not hard.

WEATHER:
During our stay mornings were clear sky, very hot. Afternoons mostly the same. Around 3pm clouds would roll in and about 10 at night it would rain warm rain. I work at a tanning salon so I'm one of those year round dark people, probably too dark. Anyways I'm saying wear suntan lotion! I never burn in Canada but in the dominican close to the equator wear it, and reapply often and wear 30SPF. Trust me, I was an avid tanner, with a very very dark base tan. I tried wearing SPF 20 and burnt. Wear higher anhd reapply often. You will still get a delicious tan.

FINALLY STAFF:
The staff at this resort was excellent. Everyone looked and acted as if they loved there job. They spoke well enough english. They were polite and extremely accommodating. Wonderful people to talk with and get to know. They worked very hard and were pleasant to be around. Great service. Classy. Just great people.

We had a wonderful stay. Infact we are looking into bringing our whole family to this resort next year. My husband and I contemplated what made this resort a four star rather than a five star and the only thing we could come up with was that a stuck up rich person wouldn't be satisfied. Everyone else would have a great time and make memories and make the trip there own. This trip is not very expensive but it was worth every penny and a whole lot more. You won't be disappointed.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at shepherd.cassandra@gmail.com