Bahia Principe Fantasia Punta Cana reviews
2603 TripAdvisor reviews
Stay away!
S F (Ottawa, Canada) on Mar 23, 2024
Stay away! I would not recommend due to horrible customer service , dirty rooms, lack of attention to details. If you have dietary restrictions forget it. Literally a family member was served what they’re most allergic to even after being advised. You spend hours trying to resolve situations that should never have happened . Go some place else!
Only with small kids, and even then....
LoopsToronto (Toronto, Canada) on Mar 23, 2024
We split our vacations 5nts Riu Palace Punta Cana, 5nts Bahia Principe Fantasia and we did the Riu first, so it may have made my impression biased. This hotel feels like a Disney resort under poor management. They have a Disney Princess show, a Pirates of the Caribbean show and a Lion King show. There's a castle, and a monkey character that roams around for pictures. It felt like a 3 star Disney experience. Pros- The Waterpark. This splash pad/water park was great for the kids and adults. It allowed me to sit back and relax while the kids played 20 feet from me and always within eye site. They have a bar there and pizzeria, so we could stay here all day with all of the amenities we needed. The Pool They have two large pools, with easy access to towels and bars. Plenty of loungers and part of the pool is sloped for young kids. The entire resort is ideally designed where everything is "right there" for you. A la carte dinners - NOT at Fantasia but at the other Bahia properties. The Mexican, Brazilian and Greek we visited were great, right off the beach. Good food, great atmosphere. Cleanliness. Every single time I went to a washroom in a public space there was someone cleaning it. There are kids everywhere and there was rarely a time I saw a mess on the floor. The cleaning staff did a great job staying on top of the mess. Cons- Service, Service, Service in 1 word - Atrocious. We waited for everything and always felt like we were a nuisance. At breakfast you'd have to flag a server for a drink or a fork that wasn't on the table. A 2nd cup of coffee would you require you to get up and head to the station yourself (which isn't meant for guests to self serve). Our bathtub was broken, we asked for it to be fixed 3 time before the maintenance guy even came to the room. He took apart the drain and said he would be right back and then never returned. We gave up. My daughter (7yrs) went to get up from lunch and her chair leg got caught in a drain causing the chair to fall over and she hit her head on the table behind us. The guest service manager was great after we caused a stink and even sent her to the hospital, but before we complained the servers at the restaurant didn't help (or come over as the kid is screaming). It was the hotels negligence to have that chair positioned like that right beside the drain, but its still positioned like that to happen to someone else. The lifeguard at the kids waterpark didn't speak English. I realize that we're in a Spanish speaking country and I fully respect that, but if you have a life guard watching kids they should be able to communicate when I'm sure 60% of your patrons are English speaking. I witnessed a situation where a kid was crying and the mom was trying to speak to the life guard and needed a guest to help translate. Other issues - Our fridge was warm, our A/C didn't work very well, there's not a knob on the outside of the sliding door - so if you go out to put out towels you cannot close the door behind you (letting the little AC out). Our TV wouldn't turn off, we unplugged it. There isn't an elevator and we watched young families struggle with strollers up/down stairs regularly. You have to make dinner reservations at the a la carte restaurants. They were full the entire week at regular times so at late every night which was tough on the kids. For me service is always something I turn a blind eye to. But when all the service is bad EVERYWHERE it becomes frustrating. Lastly, the food was gross. The food for dinner away from Fantasia was really good but we ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch. We were able to find something that we liked and ate that everyday, but the other selections were really not good. So we ate the same things every day were were there. As stated, we stayed our first nights at another hotel, and when we left we asked the kids which hotel they liked better. Both agreed the other property. This was our first Bahia experience and I think it will be our last.
Great Getaway / Facility Upgrades Needed
Miranda M on Mar 22, 2024
There was a small issue when we first arrived with our room. Our bracelets/door key would not work to open our door but the staff were great with fixing that issue. We noticed our minibar fridge was not working properly, it would not get cold. I put in request to have it fixed the next morning but it was still not fixed by the time we left to come home. Our room was also missed 2 days in a row for a fridge restock but once we talked to the front desk, they made sure that our fridge was stocked for the rest of our stay. Our air conditioner would not go below 21 degrees, making our room warm & hard to sleep at night & uncomfortable during the super hot days. The king size mattress was hard & super uncomfortable to sleep on. We ended up taking our couch cushions & putting them on our bed to add some sort of comfort. The cleaning staff were great, our room was always super clean. All staff on the resort were great & super helpful when we needed something or had questions. The food was great at each restaurant we went to. The only thing we would change is the sauce on the ribs at The Garden Circus. It was a ketchup like sauce which we found did not pair well with the ribs. Other than that, everything else was excellent. The bars were great, the beach & pool were great. The only thing we found different from other resorts was some of the frozen like beverages were more juice style which was a bit disappointing. Another disappointing thing would be, there are no elevators for strollers/wagons for the families that bring their children, making it quite difficult for them as they would have to haul them up & down the stairs. Overall, it was a great getaway but the facility definitely needs some upgrades.
Magical
T T on Mar 21, 2024
Our stay at the Fantasia resort was awesome. It was a first-time resort experience for us with our children, and we feel like we knocked it out of the park by booking at Fantasia. The resort itself is beautiful - the entire place is beautiful, nicely decorated, very clean. The big castle in the middle of the main pool is a really nice touch - the nightly music and light show was so fun to watch every night. We had a room facing the castle and although that was an extra cost, it was worth it for us. Our room had two queen beds and one sofa bed - everyone was very comfortable, and there was more than enough space for us to unpack without feeling like stuff was all over the place. The staff made the biggest difference in the experience, in my view: every single employee, from the concierge to the housekeepers to the entertainment team and wait staff and landscapers, every single one was friendly and kind. Always smiling, always professional, and always doing their best, especially for the kids, to be enjoying their stay. The entertainment team in particular made efforts to connect with us and the kids every day, and truly give their all to make sure everyone is having a good time. We appreciated it and the kids had a ball. We didn't use the kids club but I imagine it is good, knowing how engaging all the other staff members are! The food was good at all the restaurants we went to, including the buffet. The kids are normally quite picky eaters and there was always several options for them to enjoy, and always lots of treats to sufficiently blow their minds. We were able to eat dinner at a few of the restaurants at the neighboring Bahia Principe resorts and that was well worth it - especially the Mexican Tequila restaurant and the Japanese Takara restaurants. The teppanyaki place was a riot too, the kids loved it and will remember it for a long time to come. We had lunch many times at the beach restaurant which became a favorite for all of us. Getting around to the other resorts and down to the beach was so easy - the little trolley runs constantly and is very easy to use. The kids enjoyed practicing their Spanish with the drivers and getting to sit facing backwards while driving around. Nothing we went to was more than a 5-10 minute walk or ride away. The beach is stunning - the sand is lovely and the water is truly as turquoise as the pictures. Fantasia has the best setup from all the resorts on the strip as far as I could tell - lots of palapas and chairs in the shade for families. At both the pool and the beach we had no issues finding a place to sit at any time of day, although many spots appeared reserved (despite people technically not supposed to "claim" spots that way). The waves were big enough to be a a thrill for the kids, but calm enough for us not to worry about any undertow. We loved to play in the waves and watch the kids run and jump in the water. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the nightly entertainment - the shows that this hotel puts on are amazing! One night a circus performance completely blew us away, as did the Broadway-style performances the other nights. We missed a few shows but the ones we saw were really well done. The entertainment teams behind these productions are so talented and I think it's awesome that they invest so much in these performances. The kids absolutely loved them. Overall, we had what can only be described as a magical time - thank you so much to all the staff at the Fantasia resort!!!
Not what you would expect
TMatios on Mar 19, 2024
Very poor service at the restaurants and bars, personnel had an attitude, bartenders don't know how to maker very common drinks, water was not provided regularly, we have to search for drinking water. At the restaurants you have to wait for a server to bring you water, forget about refill, then wait for a server to take your order and God forbid you ask to take something out or add something, its not even an option and then wait for a food that definitely not a restaurant prepared food, over all expect a wait time for about 1.5 hours. Very poor quality of food and alcohol, ohh wait Miller Lite is for an additional price its not included, at least that's what we were told. Room was outdated, beds are uncomfortable. Also when we arrived no one really greeted us and we were not provided information where we are allowed to go and where not, because they have multiple resorts chains connected to each other we were not allowed to path through some of their resort properties. However beach was nice and clean and pool was decent, cleaning crew at the rooms was good too.