My girlfriend and I retuned recently after our trip to the Bahia Principe SJ. We had an incredible time at this resort. First off both of us work in the hospitality industry in North America. The “star” rankings in Central American are definitely different, and you should be aware of this before booking.

Now then, this resort is about 15 years old and is beginning to show some signs of this especially when it come to the room furnishing...a bit dated, and the air conditioners which kept stopping in the middle of the night (luckily I found the breaker located under the stairs and flipped it myself) . Everything was Very clean and made up nicely everyday. (Leave a tip $1-2 ).

The hotel is about 1hour from the airport and the drive is very interesting. Beach, towns, people and mopeds, it was all a bit crazy but fun.

The hotel features very nice grounds. The staff was very nice, and the pools/beach are great. A quick word about the beach, there are sandbags that keep the waves from breaking too close making very nice too swim at, but don’t expect huge surf breaking at your feet. The food was ok. Do not expect gourmet but good. (Overcooked at times- always better than undercooked at places like this) The best restaurant was the Mexican. Italian was the worst (looked and tasted like McCain frozen pizza). We ate too much, there was always something good to eat.

We did 2 excursions. The jeep safari done by, “Briana Tours”. Awesome! Highly recommended! They take you to the most awesome beach and to the blue lake (A fresh/saltwater crater lake where you can jump into the water below!) Ask for your guide to be the one they call Sexy Chocolate (Dominican dude who was a lot of fun, and kept pouring us rum and cokes). Then, we did the catamaran/snorkelling trip done by, “Tip Top Tours”. The snorkelling was not as good as we had hoped but, fun none the less. The boat ride was fun sun baking in the sun!!!(Bring some gravol, I think this is self explanatory.)

We would go back if we could and it was very sad leaving. Hope you get a better idea from our pictures

There were 17 of us in our group and we had an amazing holiday. The resort was spotless. BHSJ is a really big resort and to be blunt if you want to have a good holiday then you will have one. If you go away on holiday and then moan about anything that happens instead of sorting in and moving on then you will spoil your own holiday. In our group there were a couple of rooms which had problems with air conditioning and block loos, my brother was taken ill with an infection and was in hospital for over 24 hours - but the Dr on sight was brilliant and got him to a stage where he could travel by cab to the hospital. The hospital was terrific and the reps and hotel could not have offered more support. One other member of the group had a tummy upset but no-one else did so it's probably a case of eating a bit too much perhaps? The rest of us were fine. But did it stop us all having a good time - NO! We were flooded, it poured with rain a couple of days - when we were out on our safari trip (Paula our tour guide said we were mad English cause we sang on the way back and it was raining so much we couldn't see out the back of the truck- not so mad I think it had something to do with the Rum!!) The maids even wash and sweep the pathways in the morning before they go around cleaning the rooms! There are hand wash pumps outside all the restaurants to encourage people to 'clean' your hands before you enter. This resort is very clean indeed. The staff are friendly and can't do enough for you (just remember if someones rude to you or abrupt to you how does that make you feel, not to be nice to them I'm sure), if you are friendly and polite to the staff that's the service you receive. We were treated really well throughout our stay by all the staff at the resort. The pool is really nice but if you want a bit of 'space' and a bit of a breeze you are better off going to the beach. Get some mosquito patches from the tour reps as these are so worth it - or get some good deet spray. I got bitten quite bad and they drove me potty but my fault I didn't wear any protection on the last day or two - apart from that I didn't get bitten. The entertainment in the evening is a bit amateur but it's not the end of the world, you go along then other nights go down the strip. There is food for everyone and I don't accept anyone saying that they didn't find something to eat. I felt very lucky when I saw how some people have to live when we went on the safari trip into the country (this is part of the country you won't see unless you go). A few of us also went to swim with the Dolphins at Ocean World - it's quite expensive but we had saved before we went cause we knew we wanted to go, WOW! What an experience, it's well worth it. If only we could have stayed for longer. We are thinking of going back to Dom Rep and I would definately recommend this hotel.

This resort was amazing. A little far from the airport so the drive to get there was super long, but the resort did not dissapoint. From the entertaining performances put on by hotel staff, to the disco on the resort strip, this place was a blast. I went in January so the resort was full of people my age to party with. Whether it was lying on the beach, swimming in the pool, or just enjoying the beauty that is Dominican, I definitely recommend this resort.

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!