TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Pros: The rooms were spacious and kept very clean. My son loved the kids club and the water park. Shout out to Beatrice and all the ladies who made my son feel at home. The resort as a whole was nicely decorated and cared for. Check-in and Check-out were seem less. Because I booked through my timeshare I had a personal concierge, which they called a butler, Javier with Royal Holidays. He booked all the restaurants and answered any questions we had. Overall, Royal Holiday was great, they arranged our transportation to and from The airport as well. But alas, there were more cons to be sure. Cons: The overall service from the majority of the wait staff, bartenders, and trolly drivers could only be described as cold to almost rude. While in the buffet, we were typically not served drinks or refills even after the server passed us multiple times until we requested it. My wife and I felt like every request was an inconvenience to them, whether it was the eye rolling or responses such what?! We did not feel welcome. It wasn’t until The last two days that we found a section in the buffet that had two amazing servers. Unfortunately, I cannot remember their names but luckily we provided a survey for them while there. The resort is large and to get to and fro you could use the trolly system. In one occasion three different drivers directed us to the wrong location and we were late for a dinner reservation, after my brief objection when they attempted to decline service the host allowed us table to our appreciation. Overall I was disappointed because this is not my first Princess Resort. But this experience is night and day. What’s most unfortunate is that our expierence seemed personal as we noticed how the staff treated other people extremely differently.

Overall, it was a nice hotel, but it was the first all-inclusive hotel I have visited where I had to queue for almost everything, including the restaurant, bars, and reception. I only had eggs for breakfast twice because the queue was always at least 15 minutes long. The food was average, there was plenty of choice and I was never hungry, but I found myself eating very similar food most evenings. Breakfast was much better. The meat was not great, but the paella and seafood were really good. The service was among the worst I have experienced. That said, the staff in the main restaurant were excellent. Benito at breakfast and Nuna at dinner were both amazing and provided outstanding service. Regarding the excursions I booked through the hotel, the boat party with snorkelling was disappointing and not worth the time or money. The trip started almost an hour late, and the snorkelling experience was poor. In contrast, the full-day trip to Saona and Catalina was excellent, and I would highly recommend it. Communication was sometimes difficult because not many people spoke English. Additionally, the seaweed on the beach was only cleaned twice during my stay, as far as I could tell.

The resort is nicer than pictures show. It is a very large property and if you can, try to get a room closer to the pool and beach. The resort is very lively and the entertainment is great. It was a perfect place for teenagers, they had so much fun. The beach is nice and wide, we had some seaweed issues but if the seaweed season is over, the beach is perfect. The staff at restaurants are horrible, no life and almost no one spoke English. The resort needs to improve the attitude of the staff, by the end of the week, you get quite annoyed with the lifeless attitude Food was just ok. We ate at the sushi (horrible), fish place ( horrible), Italian (horrible), teriyaki ( amazing). Buffets were great. Lunch by the beach with the bbq chefs was the best for lunch meals. Really great. Rooms are large and no complaints there. For the price, absolutely worth booking this resort

I am writing this review publicly because the formal complaint email provided by the hotel has completely ignored me. I have time-stamped proof of when my email was sent. Our stay was in 2024, but fir the lack of response I came here to try and make them have some accountability for their actions. As a Royal Holidays member for over 40 years, I have never experienced such disgraceful, unprofessional, and insulting treatment as I did at Grand Bavaro Punta Cana. This management team needs to be held accountable for their utter lack of responsibility and severe lack of staff training. While we faced multiple unpleasant situations during our stay, one incident stands out because the management made us feel like liars and thieves. We used the hotel app to book a dinner at Cafe del Mar. The app apparently contains a tiny, easily missed disclaimer about an extra charge, which is completely illegible when booking quickly on a phone at the beach. We assumed it was a standard confirmation pop-up like all the other restaurants. The lack of transparency from that point on was unacceptable: - No Verbal Warning: Not a single staff member at the restaurant mentioned that this venue was not included in our all-inclusive rate. I even ordered a premium drink, and no one warned us of an extra fee. - No Pricing on Menus: The menu did not have any visible, clear warnings regarding extra charges. - Deceptive Practices: At the end of the meal, the maître d', Ledesma, asked me to sign a blank piece of paper with no total amount on it. When asked what it was for, he explicitly lied and said, "It is just for our internal control of goods used." He never provided a copy. When we contested this hidden bill, the Guest Services Manager, Ms. Marcia, behaved erratically and rudely. In front of other staff members, she loudly proclaimed that if I did not pay the bill, the staff would have to pay it out of their own pockets. This emotional blackmail is toxic. If staff is poorly trained, that is a failure of hotel management, not the guest. Ms. Marcia was incredibly condescending and actively blocked me from speaking with the General Manager, despite my multiple requests. She clearly wanted to "hush hush" the matter to cover up her own managerial failures. For us, as Platinum upgraded guests and decades-long Royal Holidays members, this is not about the money—it is about the principle, truth, and basic respect. We left the resort feeling insulted, as if we had done something wrong. The entire situation was a failure of management and a complete lack of ethical staff training. I expect a formal response from the Royal Holidays corporate offices regarding the actions of Ledesma and Ms. Marcia.

Grand Bávaro Princess is excellent. Suite bungalow room is clean and spacious. Lots of restaurants and bars for delicious food.they have different performance every night. You can join different excursions at the hotel. Recommend to join Fun Park tour with zip-liner, horse riding, buggies ride and Safari truck ride. Steak house staff Nicol and Carlos are kind and friendly. They always have sweet smile and give us good recommendations of Dominican food and wine. Service is good. We really enjoy our holidays in Dominican Republic Grand Bavaro Princess. Definitely will recommend to our friends to come.