TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Just returned from 10 days at Aquamarine, our first trip to the DR. Resort is massive but always trolleys running to take you where you need to go. Alternatively it is walkable which we often chose to do. Buffet for breakfast & lunch is very samey but had different options each evening that we went. We tried a few of the a la cartes, MEAT and Portofino being stand outs. We spent a lot of evenings at the Ambar Sports Bar which was great. Only downside was the amount we were bitten when we sat outside here. The pool bar staff were excellent and extremely attentive. Special shout out to Yorkie and Liciana who made our pool days so enjoyable. The entertainment team here also do a great job of getting everyone involved. Robert was always friendly and doing the rounds around the pool. Only downside to our trip was on the last night we returned to the room to find a huge leak coming from upstairs. It took multiple calls to the concierge and a trip to guest services before maintenance came out 90 minutes after we first reported it. By this time the bathroom was entirely flooded and we had to move rooms at 1am. Appreciate these things happen but waiting 90 minutes when we have reported a severe leak was incredibly frustrating.

After 6 days we decided we wouldn’t return to this hotel again

Receptionist supervisor gave us a dirty room phone did not work shower only had hot water shower was in a deep bath tub .floor was full of dust we had three hand towels .next day we change rooms still hot water only in shower .beach is full of seaweeds I did not go in water.have to wake up at 6 am to reserve a chair with umbrella at pool. The food was really bad at buffet recycle food chicken roasted first day then different sauces is added to serve next two days eggs are burnt .only one speciality restaurant had good food..have to walk far to get trolley it’s not as it was a year ago. I will not go back I am 69 years old vacation suppose to be pleasure .

To Whom it May Concern: We would like to give a summary of our trip to The Bahia Principe-Aquamarine in the Dominican Republic, Room Number 82307. This was my first time ever leaving the country, but not the first time for my wife. However, we both feel this trip was a horrible experience and has altered my opinion of ever doing something like this again. We flew out from Northwest Arkansas on May 22nd, to Miami to catch a connecting flight that took us to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Our flights were fine, it wasn’t until we got into the van to make our way to the resort that things began to change. We had set up transportation through AmStar. We met our AmStar representatives and they led us outside to a van. There were several AmStar vans in the area, but he led us to a van that was not AmStar. I didn’t catch what company’s name was on the side of the van, but I’m 100% positive it was not AmStar. Our driver did not work for AmStar either. We entered the van with 4 other people, 6 of us total in the van, we sat and waited for approximately 20-30 minutes for our driver to enter the van and take us to the resort. Our drive to the resort was awful. I know that people drive differently in other countries than the United States, but our driver was all over the road and showed no concern for the lives he had in his vehicle. And I have the drive from the resort to the airport at the end of our trip with an AmStar driver to compare it to, which was much better than the drive from the airport to the resort. So that started our trip out very poorly. We arrived in Punta Cana Friday evening, and after a day of traveling we were exhausted. We had purchased an Anniversary package that was supposed to have a welcome bottle of liquor, a door banner, discounts on spa services, and I believe discounts on merchandise, none of which we received when we arrived. Our first full day at the resort was Saturday May 23rd. We decided to keep it relaxed and spend the day at the resort pool. While entering the pool I fell down the steps leading into the pool and injured my tailbone. The entire pool area is very slick tile which makes it very easy to slip. I did not go to a Dr to get looked at but was severely bruised and had difficulty standing and sitting for several days. The next list of things that we encountered at the resort may not be in chronological order, but were serious issues that affected our stay. The outside of the resort (grounds, pool area, entertainment lobby) was taken care of very well, was clean and very visually appealing. However, the inside of the Aquamarine Resort is a different story. The hallways, stairways, and our room/bathroom were dirty all the time. I will attach photos of the stairway I took on Thursday the 28th as a snapshot of what they looked like the entire week we were there. Our bathroom had long black hair on the floor that was there the first 3 days we were there. My wife and I have blonde and brown hair, so we know this wasn't either one of ours.I had to clean the jacuzzi tub before my wife and I could use it because it was so dirty. I'm also attaching a photo of a door of a room approximately 2 rooms down from us, where we noticed on Wednesday the 27th (after we had been there 4 full days) a “Happy Anniversary” banner had been draped over the door. The same banner to the same package we had purchased that we did not receive and was told by an AmStar representative that the package we had purchased was no longer available due to the fact that Hyatt Hotels had taken 50% ownership in March of 2026 and had eliminated all of the “perks” from said package. On one day of our stay, while at the resort pool, we watched a rat swim across the pool. A patron who was in the pool, used a personal drink floaty to give the rat a “ride” to the edge of the pool. The rat then ran on the ground around the pool bar, only for a staff member at the pool bar to beat it with a broom until it was dead, then sweep it off into the weeds. We noticed, along with other patrons, that tipping the staff did not grant us better service. Rather, the overall customer service was awful. On multiple occasions when walking up to the pool bar, guest services counter, lobby bar, check-in counter, there would be several staff members behind the counter/bar, they would see me/us, but would not come help serve for whatever need we may have. They failed to even greet us when they saw us standing there waiting for service. Their conversation would continue with one another, joking back and forth, completely walking away from the bar/counter, then after the one person who was serving someone would finish with a previous customer, then we would finally get some help. We found this to be a common issue with other patrons after speaking with them. This awful customer service continued when we arrived at our reservation time to the speciality restaurants. First off, the reservation system at this resort was an absolute joke. To get a reservation was a challenge in itself. Then when arriving at a restaurant that we did have a reservation for, to be sat and forgotten about for 20 minutes or longer, to have water glasses stay empty and have to hunt someone down to get a refill, to seeing on the menu that there are only 1 or 2 options for food, and if we wanted other options we would have to pay for them. When we first started looking to make reservations, on the morning of Saturday the 23rd, we found most of the restaurants were “booked” and did not have openings for us. We thought we would try our luck, and see if some of the restaurants that were booked, would maybe have room and still seat us. Yet upon arriving at 2 restaurants, which were practically empty, being turned away because we didn't have a reservation. We would have definitely understood had we arrived at a fully packed restaurant, but to show up and the place be practically empty, felt very discouraging. It came across to us as customers of this resort, that they like to show that they have all of these wonderful restaurants that we could enjoy as customers of their all inclusive resort, to only show them “booked” so no one could enjoy them. Another issue that arose while there, Wednesday the 27th, starting at 2am, the entire resort complex lost electricity. My wife and I immediately woke up when this happened. After approximately 30 minutes of no electricity, we attempted to call the guest services desk to find out what the issue was, only to find the room phone was dead. Also while the electricity was out, we went to use the restroom to find we had no water. The Wifi had stopped working during this time as well, so we had no form of communication with our cell phones or the internal phones. The doors having the wristband scanner to get into the room, we were not sure if they were electric as well, so the concern of leaving our room and being able to get back in became very real. We were unsure of how long being without electricity was going to last, without any way to charge our cell phones we avoided using them for the time the electricity was out. The electricity did come back on some time after 4am, but nothing was ever said or explained to us the next day or any day thereafter. On either the 26th or the 27th, we left our room and spent time down at the resort pool. I needed to return to our room to grab something, we had only been out of our room for approximately 1 hour to 1.5 hours. I returned to our room to find the housekeeping staff had been there, which the only thing they did any time they came to our room was make the bed and replenish towels-no actual cleaning, and that our door was left 6”-8” open to the hallway. We had some valuables locked away in the safe, but other things were left out to charge and all of our clothes and other personal items were there available for anyone walking by to come in and take. On Sunday the 24th, we wanted to spend the day at the beach. We only spent a couple of hours there because we could not enjoy our time there due to the amount of aggressive sales attempts from people on the beach. We are unsure of who these people were affiliated with. It seemed to be every 5-10 minutes someone was coming by, aggressively trying to sell something. From cigars, to ankle bracelets, to foot massages, to pictures with monkeys, iguanas, parrots, etc… It was impossible to enjoy ourselves because we were constantly having to decline purchasing items, massages, or pictures. This deterred us from trying to spend any more time on the beach the rest of our stay. Having spoken to multiple people there at the resort from multiple states in the United States, as well as people from Canada, and England our experience of poor service and the rooms/interior being unclean was common throughout this resort. Many people told us this was the worst resort they had been to, and most of the people we spoke to said they would never return. This was supposed to be a great anniversary trip to celebrate our 12th year anniversary. However, this resort was so bad, and the customer service was so awful, and the facility was so unclean, and we didn't receive the items/discounts we were supposed to receive, it was a trip to remember for all the wrong reasons. Because of this, we will not return, I will be leaving a negative review, and we will be telling all of our friends and family about our experience to deter them from staying here. For the amount of money we spent for this trip, we expected better. Thank you for your time, Brandon and Rachael Turner

Far from beach, rooms were ok, had to ask for face clothes, 4 days later there they made bed but did not restock coffee or refrigerator. Beach was full of seaweed. Restaurants were a nightmare to try and book 10 days prior to coming. We were only able to book one as everything was already booked up upon arrival so we had to eat at buffet everyday which the food was just ok just what u would expect at a buffet. Entertainment was fun durning the day at pool, and night time was ok.