We stayed at the BPSJ from April 30 to May 7 in the diamond club section of the resort. For the most part the upgrade was worth it.

We had a room that had an ocean view as well as a pool view. The rooms were clean and the beds were comfortable. We had a few issues with our air conditioner which were fixed (not promptly) but fixed nonetheless.

We spent most of our days at the beach in the morning and the diamond section pool in the afternoons. Both were well maintained and enjoyable. We had no problems on most days getting chairs at either location.


However, with that being said...the rest of our time at the resort was amazing! We enjoyed our time, here are a few highlights:

The main bonus to the diamond section was the restaurant. We ate at the main buffet twice but preferred the diamond club restaurant. There was less variety but better quality and always an array of meat and fish that was custom cooked in front of you. The service was excellent. If you are staying in the diamond club section, make sure to try an omelet made by Devlin...his omelet were the best omelets we'd ever had.

The ground were amazing...although our room was a good fifteen minute walk from the main area of the hotel, it was always a pleasant walk. The flowers are beautiful and everything was well manicured.

We tried three out of four a la carte restaurants. All were very good and we each had out favorites. The atmosphere at the Mediterranean was great and the location of the Mexican and Italian we fabulous. If you can, book the Mexican and Italian for the 6:30 setting so that you can watch the sunset while you eat. The other thing I will mention about the Mexican was that they were super accommodating. I have an allergy to avocado and they brought me a specially plated meal that had no avocado on it. I was very impressed.

We did two excursions...we did the Laguna Jeep Safari which is an experience not to be missed. My favorite part was the morning drive through the countryside. If possible, take candy from your country with you because you pass some places before you have the opportunity to buy candy. Although candy isn't ideal, to see these children who very little come running up to your jeep with sheer gratitude and excitement in their eyes, is humbling. The other excursion we did was the snorkeling that left from the resort. Don't listen to your rep who says there isn't any snorkeling near the resort. Although we only stopped at two snorkeling spots (we also took a boat to a lagoon, cave, and beach) it was great snorkeling and well worth it. It is only 4 hours as opposed to the full day Paradise Island is and you leave on a boat from the resort as opposed to a long bus ride from the resort.

The drive to and from the hotel was an excursion experience in itself. I loved it! Although the ride from the resort was at night in a storm...it was a great glimpse at their lifestyle in the DR and their culture!

All in all our holiday was excellent and relaxing. We would most definitely stay at a Bahia Principe again and if the right deal came along would stay at the BPSJ again...but I think our next holiday will be somewhere with snorkeling at the resort of close by...as a first time snorkeller on this trip, I am totally hooked!

I would recommend this resort to anyone looking for a good resort with a variety of actives and somewhere that is secluded but still close enough to towns to explore them. It is a good resort for a variety of people and definitely attracts them. There were university students their having a good but respectable time, there were families with young children and teens, and there were older couples. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves no matter what group they feel under.

As a side note...The first few days of our stay were excellent. The However, on the weekend the resort became packed with 900 locals because of a long weekend in the DR. After reading the reviews of the Canadian teens at this resort over spring break, I think those of us there this weekend could relate to some extent to what those there at that time experienced. For three days straight there were drunken people trashing their drink cups everywhere. They were passing out near the pool, extremely loud, rude, and disruptive at the restaurant, and it was very surprising. The workers at the resort were respectful and very nice people, but the locals that swarmed the resort left a sour taste in our mouths. We could not believe how disrespectful they were to a resort in their country. We know we were not alone in our feelings towards their behavior at the resort. The lady at the check in practically apologized for her people's behavior and said that it is always a disaster when locals spend a weekend at the resort. She said it often takes a week to clean up the resort and that she has no explanation why they behave like they do. I would recommend checking before you travel to ensure it isn't a holiday weekend for them. It was a big damper. But once they left, with the exception of the mess they left behind, it returned to the amazing, peaceful resort, from three days before.

We Just arrived yesterday from our trip we stayed from Arpil 30th till may 7th. I will say that this is our second trip here but we had taken a few others with us that have never travelled before and lets just say that they had a fantastic time. Now i made the most of my trip and the staff were very friendly but I must say that again that the Animation team was the best. Now as being from Canada I am very proud but This week I was a little embarrassed about it there were a few that just had no respect for themselves or others, when it is all inclusive doesn't mean that you have to be drunk the whole time you are down there and disturb the rest of the people who are there to relax , now don't get me wrong I had my share of drinks down there but not once did I get that drunk that someone had to carry me back to my room or did I take the bottles from the bar and start drinking from them. I will return again next year just because We made alot of new friends at the resort but I will say just beware of those small group of people who you swear have never gone in public and had a few drinks before and believe me you will know who the are. I did not let these people ruin my trip by no means and I hope that the other people at the reost did not either because it is the best resort. Hope to see you all next year!!!

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.