Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda All Inclusive - Newly Renovated

I recommend this hotel 100%! I had the best time and would return in a heartbeat! 💓 I’ve been travelling in all inclusives in Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico and Cuba at least once a year since 2014 and this resort is my favorite so far! THE POSITIVE I stayed at this hotel for the first time back in 2019 and loved my experience so I decided to come back this year (May 2024). I was pleasantly surprised by the renovations and changes they made. The room and the decorations around the pool are truly beautiful now. I had a great surprise when I arrived as I was upgraded to a room with a beautiful pool view and partial ocean view, free of charge (as I asked for it for a special occasion). We booked all of our À la carte restaurants (7 reservations allowed everywhere on the complex including restaurants at the Ambar) ahead of our stay on the App which was very convenient. At the restaurants, the food was delicious and the service was excellent. The pools and jacuzzi water was clear, the shows at night and by the pool in the afternoon were high quality and entertaining, the beach was very beautiful, as always. There are plenty of palapas for everyone, no need to wake up early. Same for the chairs by the pool. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENTS Even though the stay went almost seamlessly there are little downsides which are no big deal but just for constructive purposes… We were surprised that they were not cleaning the sea****s off the beach everyday. They did clean it on somedays and some other days there was so much sea****s that they had to shovel a path from the beach to the ocean so we could walk to the water! I wish they would clean the beach everyday so that at least the ocean tide does not take all the sea**** back into the ocean (while we swim in it) during the day… Luckily, the amount of sea**** varied from one day to another so some days were better and there were barely any. I still think the hotel should do their best to pick it up everyday, particularly when there is a lot. The wifi was good pretty much everywhere on the complex but as we travelled during rainy season, we had a couple of nights where it rained quite a lot and this caused some issues with the wifi in our room. It was disconnecting and reconnecting continuously… The staff tried to fix it and weren’t able to do it during our stay, unfortunately. We appreciate that they tried their best to fix it, at least. HIGHLIGHT OF MY STAY I had to do some remote work and go on a Zoom call during my stay and did not want my colleagues to know that I was travelling. I needed a stable wifi connection which was not the case in my room after the rainstorm. I asked our building guest experience responsible, Alfredo, if he could help me with that and he was kind enough to show me a room (by the lobby) where I could sit and use the wifi in the morning. He also suggested that I could work at the coffee shop at the Ambar which turned out to be my favorite spot to work in the morning! Alfredo was a

Just got back from 8 nights' at Esmeralda. I went in with low expectations because of the mixed reviews but I have nothing but good things to say. I went with my husband and 2 kids (4 and almost 2) we got connecting junior suite rooms located in villa 93. I loved the location of our room because we were right outside the quiet pool and close to the buffet and waterpark. However, nothing in the resort is ever far away. We stayed only within Esmeralda since my youngest was usually cranky towards the end of the day we didn't want to worry about if he had a tantrum at dinner trying to get back to our hotel. So I can't speak to the restaurant/ facilities of the other resorts. We went to Casa Bella, Yurta (twice), Naan, Dominican restaurants and buffet for dinner. The food was far better than I expected. I wish Naan wasn't our last night if I knew how good it was I would've gone there a 2nd time. We found the service at the bar in the quiet was pool was so much better than the front pool. I liked watching the games in the front pool but we didn't partake so being in the back pool wasn't a sacrifice. Angela the bartender with the glasses at the back pool was the best! I did find the language barrier worse here than other resorts I've been too. I'm in a country where I don't speak the language, it's to be expected. I found if someone didn't understand what I said they just said yes to my request and never saw them. It wasn't for anything serious though so we just laughed about it. For instance, it took me 3 days to get tabasco sauce at breakfast but I kept trying. Then when Ruth came through with it we just went to her table every morning. And, every morning she just brought it right over after that. She was SO SWEET. The SPA, it isn't an over the top facility. I've been to much nicer spa's with pools and experiences outside of just the treatment you are there for. That being said, the massage I had was one of the best I had. We bought the package of 5 for $350 so a great price as well. My husband did 3 and I did 2 since we were there for his birthday. We had different massuse and both raved about our treatment. I will 100000% be back. Sorry for the long rant of a post but I wanted to give some positive feedback to ease concerns of those that read the negative like I did.

The service at Esmeralda is wonderful. The employees are both professional and welcoming. Manuel, the guest services coordinator in building 94, is outstanding. The grounds are well maintained, and everything was clean. I have been to a dozen all inclusive resorts, and Esmeralda is one of my favorites.

A very large resort with access to many ala cart restaurants theres many shopping options around the resort. Staff was exceptionally friendly and will to help with anything you need..has a kids exclusive area along with many activities for young and old. Would highly recommend for couples and familys both..

As per usual, this resort has met...surpassed our expectations, though the first time staying at the Esmeralda. All staff at the resort were amazing (no surprise), but during this last stay we had a couple of stressful situations arise and I would like to say that the following staff members were top notch....we would have not been able to enjoy our vacation without their assistance: Guest Services: Altemis - she was terrific - our life saver...without her assistance I'm not sure if we would have not enjoyed our vacation at all! Yirandy - daily assistance with everything...again without her, our stress level would still have been high -she was like our adopted daughter. Manual Lopeze - for being a new comer to the resort, he was very helpful, without his assistance we would have been at a loss with moving forward with our issues. Bellboy: Denny - super friendly, helpful, added the special touch. Bartender: Ruben, he was amazing....so full of life, even if someone was having a really bad day, his joyfulness would bring them out of it! Fluer, the concierge, for her as the first point of contact in making our vacation a wonderful memory! The beach, the food, the accommodations - cannot complain about anything! This is why we always return to the Bahia...have always felt like family - thank you....can't wait to return again!