TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

We stayed as a family of 4 in July and left pretty disappointed with the experience. Firstly the pro’s Lots of choice in the restaurants and the a la cartes are a lovely experience even if the food isn’t what you like personally. The grounds are generally tidy. Staff are polite. The con’s which are the reason I wouldn’t come back It a 4* at best, not the levels of cleanliness or service you’d expect with a 5* (I’ve been to several to know the difference). After slow check in we were given the wrong room. Then we got a room with the correct number of beds the layout is a bit weird. There’s a huge window between the bathroom and the bedroom so there’s no privacy. They did have a blind, but it didn’t fit the window properly, plus it was on the bedroom side so anyone could just look into the bathroom. Not good with older children or maybe 2 couples. Bathroom itself felt grotty. Air con didn’t cool down properly. Neither did the fridge. The balcony door didn’t lock and looked like it had been forced open more than once. The maids are banging around outside the room before 7am every day. Then trying to get in at 8am if you haven’t put down not disturb on the door. The theatre area for the evening entertainment was like a sauna, no air con at all, no air flow, insanely hot. Everyone dripping in sweat and getting eaten my mosquitoes. Drinks in tiny plastic cups. Soft drinks served from plastic bottles, flat and warm. Tui list this as on the beach but it is not. There is another hotel between it and the beach and you can either walk for 6/7 minutes or catch a golf buggy. There are people bothering you selling trips and water sports all day. They wanted $40 for a go on the wave rider / surf simulator. Crazy price. Second to last evening they served my son a piece of chicken in the buffet restaurant from the grill that was completely raw inside (see images). Most worrying was when we raised it with the manager in the restaurant he simply scraped it in the bin and didn’t even speak to the chef on the grill. It’s a no from us. It’s not what it is advertised as, it’s not relaxing, it’s not especially clean, it’s not sustainable , it’s not on the beach, it’s not a nice place to be in the evening. it’s not safe to eat their food.

This is my honest review of the hotel. I don't want to be all negative as there was some really good positives let's start with them... Positives- the grounds of the hotel where always maintained, and looked very nice, You will ALWAYS find and get a sun bed, no sunbed wars here, they say not to reserve but unfortunately people still do which I don't understand same culprits that leave their towels and walk off... The beach is beautiful and the areas around the beach, like the bars and the shop, truck stop ect....(never had ice cream machine working) Entertainment was good for children, they was always something for them to see in the evenings.. Negatives unfortunately these really over shadowed my stay here, the room we originally got given was the first room on the block extremely noisy so we got asked to move which we had to go back and ask more then 3 times, I had a 1 year old and a 5 year old, we eventually got moved, the room we had first and our second room just are not up to standard, the smell from the drains in the shower absolutely stunk, the bath was vile! The jets where all brown and never cleaned inside, mold almost everywhere around the shower and the bath, just unacceptable for 5 star! Not to mention the air con broke and was leaking again I had to go and ask 4 times as my children where at risk of slipping on the water that was pouring from the ceiling, the rooms are very old and outdated, if you have an eye for detail this is not the place for you. Everywhere we went the resort wasn't that clean was dirty if you actually looked, they didn't clean tables, there was no hand gel stations anywhere, in the toilets near the pools there was always empty, There was poo in the kids pool so I instantly took my children away and didn't return to the area, my child came down with HAND FOOT AND MOUTH on the second week, which landed her in the hospital, which the DR said was picked up from the resort, (please look at previous reviews on this one) you get HFM from dirty touched surfaces, and the pools, we had to stay away most of the second work as my daughter was too poorly so we stayed in our room the majority of our last 5 days there! The hotel where told about this and the man I spoke to was arguing with me saying it's just a virus and it's normal, not acceptable for a 5 start resort, that landed my daughter in hospital which cost a fortune, which we got back by insurance in the end... Also I mentioned the lack of hand gel in the buffet areas there was one the next day but I never saw people use this, they should be signs and staff members encouraging hand hygiene especially where people are taking food, be careful with the buffets I saw half eaten food put back, and people touching with their hands!! English is spoken very little here, as a resort that welcomes British or English speaking people, staff need to try harder to understand as there is such a language barrier, if your not Spanish, you will be ignored at bars, and swim up bars for drinks and at the reception desk, where again they are not in a hurry to help you. I would like to name a special person that was also so warm and welcoming to me and my children, from the family concierge, her name was Cruz, there was another lady that she worked alongside, she wore pretty headbands, and wore lipstick, I didn't take her name, as she wasn't there when I left my room, them two ladies where lovely so warm welcoming and genuine! Thanks so much girls for always having that welcoming smile and be super kind we really appreciate you!

This was the second time we visited this resort. The first time it was a great vacation. The kids had a blast and so did the group we were with. It was good enough we came back a second time. After this experience I will not be returning. Three out of of group of over 15 people got sick, including me. One of my friends lasted her last 3 days not able to eat or drink. I came home with whatever it was and it took me about 4 days to feel normal. I am almost certain it was the food. Which was mediocre at all restaurants we tried. Definitely different than before. If that wasn't enough, the first night night our room was fine. Second morning I woke up and went to the bathroom to find about 10 flies. I removed my things and closed the door. When my husband went back, there were another 20 or so flies. I told the cleaning lady to clean and that I would tell the front desk. Her response "oh yes that happens all the time". I went to the front desk and told another lady and her question to me was "do you want to move or want us to do a deep cleaning?" Very nonchalantly. I chose deep cleaning because we were right next to my mother and kids and didn't want to move. Fast forward to the evening we walk in and the room has aver 25 flies dead and more alive flying around. They must of fumigated because there were chemicals all over our towels, all over the floor, the mirror, the tub, every where. They sprayed whatever chemical and didn't bother cleaning up. How could anyone think this is ok for anyone? I went back to the front desk and they had me talk to 2 more people. I spent time answering questions like who did I speak to first, if I was sure they cleaned the room (how was I suppose to know). All this stopped when I said I had pictures. Then they moved me to the 3rd floor (no elevator) but at least a clean room. It is truly disappointing the time spent back and forth, the questions, and even after changing the room the amount of times we had to make it back to the front desk. We never received an apology from the managers, only the bell boy felt terrible and apologized. The 3 people at the front made it seem as we were a bother and at first not telling the truth. Not even a note or an acknowledgement of the disruption and lack of cleanliness. The only thing the last manager did for us was book a restaurant for us to have dinner with another family member who arrived to Bahia Esmeralda. I will say the servers at the restaurants and pool bar were fantastic. Disappointed at the type of customer service received and acnowledgement.

Big resort with alot of activities for the kids. Five minutes walk to the beach unless you are staying in the villas or at the Esmeralda. The food at the buffet was good with alot of variety. The service and food at the restaurants were great. The only improvement I could see are to the rooms. (Basic decoration). Every building has a concierge to help you. Noemi (family concierge in building 99) was ours and she made sure we had everything we needed.

An honest review of our experience of Bahia Principe Fantasia with some hints/tips... CHECK-IN: This was a relatively straightforward check in reasonable time, friendly but offered no information about the hotel and what the facilities included or restaurants available (I'll come to that in a bit) our cases were left with a porter but they'd all gone so we had to take our own luggage to our room. We were in one of the blocks alongside the pool with a castle facing room on the 3rd floor (there's no lifts) and right down the far end of the corridor more or less the end so quite a distance to take 3 large cases. Same for check-out had to lug 3 heavy cases down the stairs and to reception in the mid day heat to reception so was dripping wet through by the time I got there. I'd done express check-out on the app so assumed that was sorted BUT when the bus came I needed a ticket off reception to board the bus so the app check-out is pointless. The reception staff won't be rushed either... only had 2 issues one when the room bracelet stopped working after day 10 an again the day after we waited for one of the 4 behind the desk for a good 10/15 minutes... the other was when the safe wouldn't open after calling reception 3 times we had to wait in the room for the repair man to come... this took 3hrs ROOM: The room as paid for was a castle view room with a good view of the pool area. Spacious and clean. The aircon was hit and miss and I gave up trying to adjust it BUT it worked for the 2 weeks and was cool enough not to complain. The maids did a great job daily tidying and making decorative towel features that my youngest child love coming back to the room checking. And the fridge was stocked daily with enough water to fill the pool we had bottles lined up that couldnt fit in the fridge...The only thing missing from the room I'd say was some information regarding the resort what other facilities you can and can't use etc. As I said we didn't get any info from the concierge so this would've been helpful. We had breakfast down the beach one morning but the next time we tried they wouldn't let us in and we could only eat from the Fantasia specific beach hut or the Truck pool restaurant, wasn't an issue but would've been good to know exactly where we could and couldn't eat...I had watched a few YouTube videos so knew we could use the other hotel pools, bars but we weren't told this and we spoke to a few guests who were surprised this was the case. POOL(s) The main pool in the Fantasia is huge, plenty of entertainment on for both adults and children, swim up bar opens at 10am whilst the girls serving drinks work hard all day long going back an forth with orders... they appreciate the odd tip an they definitely deserve them. We found the people selling trips, photos etc quite annoying on a daily basis but a polite no thanks was enough... I got offered coke an weed by one of them on a couple of occasions which was a shock in a family resort. We also used a couple of other pools Grand Punta Cana pool down by the beach which is a great pool for using the beach for and we also used the 2 Grand Punta Cana pools more or less adjacent to ours we found them more relaxing although poolside areas are in need if a little refurb around there. The kids loved the water park in the Fantasia with the slides occupying a 9 an 12 year old. RESTAURANTS: We found the main buffet quite hectic staff hit an miss with politeness, and service but on the whole really friendly... we found they appreciate trying the odd Spanish phrase how are u? I'm good thank you and u? Ordering drinks in Spanish etc goes a long way... not essential by any means but they do appreciate it...The Castle restaurant was good for breakfast and also a different choice for buffet lunch less hectic and no need to reserve. We dined at the Italian really nice, Thaila really nice but small portions great view of the sea from our outside table and also The Brazilian quite confusing an was an overdose in meat. Whilst down the beach guests can use the Fantasia beach hut but also The Truck which is good for lunch where u order like at McDonald's an wait for your order by the counter whilst self serve drinks are available whilst u wait... again we found this out ourselves no info was given ENTERTAINMENT: Unfortunately this was our only negative during the stay.. the shows weren't great tbh a magician, circus (trapeze act) were the pick of a bad bunch... Karaoke was the other option... these acts are rotated weekly too so no real variety. Was disappointed no Lion King type show as I'd seen on YouTube. That said the entertainment team work their socks off an they can't be faulted with their games, non stop enthusiasm and friendly attitude towards all guests even with limited English... Yefri was especially good with my son and spent a few mornings teaching him Spanish phrases an tested him the next day. HINTS: Use other pools for variety. Tip the staff they appreciate it an deserve it. Use the Castle restaurant for breakfast/dinner Learn some Spanish it helps not a necessity. Walk round the resort an experience it's size. Don't get your safe number wrong u wait hrs for a repair. Bring bug spray (didn't get bitten once)