TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

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.

My husband and I stayed at the Esmeralda, 30 April-07 May 2024. This was out 3rd time to this resort. We have stayed at the Ambar twice and the Aquamarine once. The Bahia Principe has been our go-to spot for winter getaways for many years now. We have come to prefer the Esmeralda because they have two pools which allow people to spread out a bit more. We had stayed at the Esmeralda pre-reno and were very excited to see what the renovated resort was gonna look like. It definitely didn't disappoint. Our flights with Air Canada were flawless. Everything was on time and the AC reps we dealt with were amazing! We took a private transfer with Mike Fisher from the airport which dropped us off at Fantasia. We literally got out of the van and jumped on a trolley which took us directly to the Esmeralda. Upon arrival we were greeted with a welcome cocktail, cool towel and a 'Welcome Home' from Guest Services which always starts our vacation off on the right foot. We had arrived around 2PM and knew our room would likely not be ready. We did our pre-check in and then headed over to the new Sports Bar to try our first smash burger and Presidente. Now that's a burger!!! Make sure to gets lots of napkins because you're gonna need them. The Sports Bar is a nice place to have a bite, a cool beverage and catch up on your sports team with the many large screen TVs around the bar. If you ask the staff, they will change the channel to whatever sport you want to watch at the time. After lunch we were able to get our room. The bell boy escorted us to our corner swim-up room and we were pleasantly surprised at the renovated rooms. The rooms have much better lighting and the light decor make the rooms feel even bigger than before. From the TV you can control all the lighting in the room, as well as the A/C which worked great. There are many more TV channels to choose from if watching TV is your thing. There are USB ports at the bedside which is a nice touch as well. There are no dressers in the room but the closet provides lots of shelving to layout your clothes, etc. The safe was locate a little low in the closet which was a bit of a hassle but we weren't in/out of it very often. Our swim-up pool area was very nice. The water was much warmer than I expected. The lounge chairs were more comfortable than they look. We were originally in room 93001 which is a corner room close to Building 92. What we didn't know was that there is construction right across from our room at the Bahia Principe Punta Cana resort. There was quite a bit of jack hammering during the day which quickly became an issue as it was quite loud. On our second day my husband decided to approach out Guest Services rep, Manuel Lopez just to see if there was a possibility of moving further down in Building 93 (closer to the buffet) to get away from the noise. Manuel quickly jumped on the issue and went to reception to see what he could do. Literally within 2hrs we were moving down to the other end of Building 93 and settle in room 93020. It was perfect! Another end unit which gave us a bit more privacy and we could barely hear any construction. Manuel stayed late past his normal shift time to make sure we got moved and settle in to the room. He was amazing!!! On another occasion my husband approach Manuel to let him know that our anniversary was upcoming. After a day at the pool we returned to our room and Manual had a 'Happy Anniversary' banner hung on our door. Upon entering the room he had also brought us a bottle of champagne, a fruit platter and an anniversary cake. As a Guest Services rep Manuel always goes above and beyond. He really listens to the guests and tries his best to make your vacation memorable. Another Guest Services rep that is worth mentioning is Luis (I never got his last name). We were unable to book Portofino on the app before arriving at the resort. As it was one of our favorite restaurants we asked Luis if he could get us a reservation. The very next day we received an email confirming a dinner reservation at Portofino. What we didn't know at the time was that Luis had to got home as he was ill for a day. Even as he was home ill, he followed up to ensure we got our dinner reservation. It took us a few days to track Luis down in order to show our appreciation for his effort. I can't forget to mention the bar staff at the smaller pool (closest to the buffet). There were two woman working there that were amazing. I wish I would have gotten their names. The service at the smaller pool was definitely the best. They would start making your drink when they saw you approaching. They were top-notch! We ate at Yurta (twice), Meat, Portofino, Casa Bella and Limbo. We had dinner reservations at 7PM each night and we never waited for anything. The service at each restaurant was exceptional and the food was fantastic! We ordered room service one evening as it was down pouring. When we placed the order we were told it would take 45 mins which was fine. Well, 20 mins after ordering the food it was delivered. The service was great. We ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch most days. The attendants were all so happy and friendly. Some spoke better English than others but we were always able to communicate. We never waiting to be seated or to get coffee/water, etc. The made-to-order area can get a bit congested during peak periods but overall you can always get what you are looking for. The trolley system around the resort worked well. We never waited long to be taken to where we needed to go. The drivers are all so entertaining as they take you to your destination. There were even times when they would see us walking somewhere and would go out of their way to drive by to see if we needed a lift. I can't say enough about the people working at this resort. We had read some concerning comments from others prior to travelling but were pleasantly surprised once we arrived. Every single person we dealt with had a smile on their face and always greeted us with a 'Hola'. Any issues we had were resolved quickly. Bahia Principe has become like a second home. We always look forward to packing up and getting away knowing that we will be looked after by the welcoming staff. We look forward to our next trip in November 2024!

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 seaweeds off the beach everyday. They did clean it on somedays and some other days there was so much seaweeds 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 seaweed back into the ocean (while we swim in it) during the day… Luckily, the amount of seaweed 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 amazing and very helpful as he made sure that I would be able to use another room with stronger wifi for my meeting and organized everything with the front desk. The meeting went perfectly and I was really happy about it. When I got back to my main room after the meeting, I was pleasantly surprised to see someone had left some chocolate covered strawberries as an apology for the wifi issue. As someone who worked in hospitality for 8 years (front office manager), I can say the staff at this hotel really is giving a 5 star service to their guests. We’ve been treated really well and very attentively by all of the staff all week. It was a real pleasure to stay at this hotel and I really hope that we can return sometime soon with all my family! ??

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.

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!