I will get the bad stuff out the way...
The beach was not fantastic, not the white sands I imagined but ok. Sand fleas? I didnt see any but I was not there at night and only went on the beach once. The night time entertainment was not up to much but then again we were tired after our trips out so went to bed early.

Well, now that is out the way...what can I say...BRILLIANT!!!

The grounds of the hotel were fab and well kept. The room was very clean and had a very big bed! The maid dressed the room with fresh flowers every day which was nice (although this brought in a small amount of ants).

The food:- As people have said it is variations of the same food everyday but.... there is more than enough to choose from, to make yourself a different meal everyday. Plus there are the restaurants, We tried the mexican and the italian which were both simple and nice.
You also had to use alcohol gel for your hands before entering the food areas which is good to stamp out germs...although some people I noticed did not....YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!

Trips:- Ocean World was a great day out. We swam with dolphins and sting rays and sharks. It was expensive to do these things but worth the money. We paid $205 each. We did not need to spend once there apart from lunch $21. We decided to buy some of the photos and videos that had been taken of us and spent $75 but the prices vary and we did buy a lot. Oh and we had a guide called Jay Jay..What a fantastic singer! Keep it up Jay Jay!!

Laguna Jeep safari was not like an animal safari more like a kid safari...seeing all the poorer children of the area. However we got drinks all day and food included and we stopped at some breath taking sights. Can not remember how much it cost but not a lot.

Horse riding at rancho montana was fantastic. It was a half day but was great. Horseback through the countryside in and out of the river stopping for water and some fruit. Coffee and rum were inclusive before and after ride. You can do full day but be warned those who have not rode before .... your bum can get sore! $52 each

Paradise Island......wow....wow...wow!! Cost I can't quite remember but was no more than $150. It is a long journey but worth the trip. We set off at 6.15am and arrived at the speed boat at around 9.45am. 30-45mins on boat and there we were........... Clear blue waters and the white sand.. well what a sight! We had rum and soft drinks, sandwiches and fruit. We then snorkelled round the coral reef (or at least I did but steve went back because he nearly drowned but there were many people the to help Ha ha! silly man! so watch what you are doing!) We stayed there for a couple of hours lazing in the sun and having our picture taken by a proffessional which you later view and buy in land. When we arrived back at the port you had lunch and drinks, again buffet style but was nice. There was a gift shop with the usual tourist artifacts. Off home...Set off at 3Pm by coach and arrived at the hotel at 6pm but we did stop at another shop/ toilets on the way back for 20mins or so. FAB day!!!

Back to the hotel..we would like to thank all the staff for their long hours of commitment with such small pay.XXXX

PS Dont forget to save money for tipping staff, you will do it a lot.

My boyfriend and I just returned from the Bahia Principe San Juan. I have a friend who was married at the resort a couple of years ago and he only had good things to say about this place. So despite the many bad reviews I had read on this site, I booked our vacation at this resort. However, I honestly wish I would have trusted the reviews. We were disapointed upon arrival at several things. We did manage to make the best of everything considering we were off of work for a week, and seeing as the trip was already paid for. So here is our honest review:

Rooms - Awful. I was under the impression that the hotel was recently refubished. We had small ants all over the bathroom, rust in the bathtub, and an air conditioner that did not work. Also, we had requested a king size bed, but instead we had two twin beds pushed together. We also had a problem with sand fleas in the room itself so after a day, we had to be switched. Our new room actually had air conditioning that worked and even a real king size bed, but still had ants and rust in the bathroom. After speaking to a number of people, we just came to expect that this was a norm at the hotel. Even the maids did not do a good job, we tipped generously everyday, but we still found traces of dark hair all over the room (we are both very blond). However, the mini-bar was always fully stocked with what we asked for when we tipped.

Beach - We enjoyed the beach for the first couple of days, until I had more sand flea bites than I could count, and the itch was almost unbearable. Sand fleas only seem to bite certain people...and I am definitely one of them. This was upsetting because I really did not want to have to avoid the beach. My boyfriend did get some bites, but no where near as many as myself. Anyways, if you are not one of the people that sand fleas feast on, the sand is not white nor the water crystal clear...but it is still very nice. It is kept fairly clean and you can walk into the water without having to worry about stepping on a lot of rocks or anything. There were always open loungers and umbrellas, so it was not too crowded which was also nice.

Pools - The main pool is nice, but we did not spend any of our time there. It was always busy and since the activites go on there...it was always very very loud. We spent the majority of our time at the quieter pool. There was no swim up bar at this particular pool, however there is still a bar which you can walk to. There were always loungers, no lack of space, but not a whole lot of shade. All of the pools closed at 8pm...which was also disapointing because it would have been nice to go for an evening swim every once and awhile.

Food - The food is nothing to write home about. The buffet food remains the same most days, regardless of what they say the theme is. You definitely won't starve, but you also won't have to worry about gaining weight. We ate at the Italian, Mexican, and Mediterranean ala cartes. The Italian and Mediterranean are pretty much just the buffet food, but served to you by a waiter. We liked the Mexican a bit better, although it was not all that great. We just liked the variety because this was food you could not get at the regular buffet. At the time that we went the night-time burger place was closed for renovations, so there really was no where to eat after 10pm. This was horrible considering we thought this was a 24-hour all inclusive.

Bars - Once again with the 24-hour all inclusive thing. This resort is definitely not a 24-hour resort. Alhough it states there are something like 8 bars or more, only 1 or 2 of these bars are open at a time. We got the impression that they like to 'heard' all of the guests into certain areas at certain times. For instance, after 11pm, the only place you can get a drink is in the pueblo principe. The pueblo principe is the street in the resort which the close every night and it turns into a street party. This was fun, but some nights you just want to relax and have a couple drinks...not party and dance in a loud environment. It would have been nice to have some options. Also, the drinks are very watered down. Ask for lots of booze in your drink if you want to experience anything close to a 'buzz' without having to drink 12-15 sugary drinks.

Gym - This was a joke. If you are going, please just go for a jog down the beach...because what this hotel calls a 'fitness centre' is nothing of that sort.

Staff - We only found a handful of staff in which we friendly towards us. Rarely would staff say 'hola' when we passed, although we would always say hi. The language barrier was sometimes an issue, but hi and thank-you are practically universal. On the whole, the staff were not particularly friendly or helpful.

Grounds - The grounds on the resort were very well maintained. Very beautiful and well kept...this was the nicest thing about the entire resort.

There is one other thing we would like to draw attention to. The first weekend we arrived turned out to be a long weekend in the Dominican. The resort was PACKED with locals. A lot of people had issues with this, just considering that the locals were extremely rude and loud. Also, even with a long line up at the bar, the locals would walk right up and get served first. I didn't think that such a large, and well known resort would want to condone that...considered a lot of people are paying good money and travelling a long way for their vacations.

Overall, this resort should not be rated as a 4 star. Although we did make the best of our time, we would never return to the Bahia Principe San Juan.

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!!!