TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Our stay at the Grand Bavaro Princess in Punta Cana - Dominican Replublic. As a 1-10 rating of the Grand Bavaro princess - I would give it a 8.5.  Great overall resort with a few minor annoyances but very good resort Accomodation: Rooms were clean and pretty modern,  we heard that this resort was totally re-designed in 2020 when covid hit - so things are up to date.  Plumbing in room was our only complaint,  shower not great and sink blocked eaisily but did really bother us much.  Each villa has 3 levels with stairs,  nicer views means more stairs but surrounding grounds and wildlife on the resort were nice to see and hear.   Food: Many different restaurants to choose from.  We didn't go to all - but we found the Indian restaurant to be the best,  followed by the Japanese steakhouse (tepanyaki).  Daily buffets are good and plentiful as well - you will alwys find something to eat.  Breakfast buffets and made to order food at the Platinum restuarants were very good. Amenities: We paid for the platinum service which was well worth it.  PROS:  Seperate check-in/check-out and conseirge services.  Restaurant reservations for platinum only guests was a great perk.  Separate pool, bar and restuarant with special area of beach dedicated - all well worth it.   CONS:  Platinum service should be adults only.  We found the pool to not be very relaxing when full of children.  We like kids - don't get me wrong - but they have their own water park at this resort - the platinum should be reserved for adults only.  For a resort of this size,  it should be easy to have the best of both worlds but it seems to all bleed together at this resort. Overall Facility: Resort is immaculate - tons of staff working and constantly bustling.  It is big though - very big.  99 buildings with 12 untis per.  If you like walking,  great - if not using the trolly system is efficient as well.  I don't understand how - but you will not see any insects on this resort - did not see a single mosquito or crawly bug for the entire week we were there.  Tons of Peacocks and Storks roaming the lot btw.. Staff: Because we had Platinum - maybe it is a bit better but it was painless coming and going to this resort and always very helpful staff to aid you with anything. Princess Club: - look for the "Staff" in Pink Shirts.  Unless you want to buy into a Timeshare vacation club - do not agree to the presentation.  If you are into that - go for it but the sales tactics are high-pressure and did not leave a good taste in our mouths.  We will know for the future not to fall for it - we cut it short and didn't waste to much of our vacation time.  In our opinion - this should not be allowed at the resort (message to the Princess corporation) We booked our Travel from Montreal with EscapeNow travel at escapenow@live.ca with Carolyn and would reccommend to others as well.

The service in the restaurant was superb thanks to Juan Gavilan and Yandra. The buffet was great, the resort was beautiful and the entertainment was amazing. I really enjoyed everything this resort had to offer. I will definitely be coming back.

Stayed here and admit being nervous due to critical reviews. My bad!!! We had a fabulous time. Everywhere spotless and well kept. Staff amazing - Kennedy/Ingrit in the Main Buffet and Jose in the PBG Bar were outstanding. Try a mango Daquiri. Would we go again? You bet. Tomorrow please

My family had the best 2 weeks in the family club swim out suite. We got the one and only swim out suite with the added lounge area to the left. We stayed from November 12 - 26. My family loved it! Here's my review: The swim out pool was warm all day. We all loved it. We brought 5 floaties, 2 beach balls and it didn't take up much room in the pool. We swam as late as 8-9pm. There's no closing time. Be careful near the plants on the other side of the swim out pool. On day 3, I was playing catch with my son and I tripped on some of the leaves that were pointing sideways and it cut my foot bad. It got infected so after a week I visited the Dr there. She was amazing. Dr. Sterling is her name. Luckily I had travel insurance to cover it otherwise it would have costed $250 USD for 1 visit. I had to go for a followup so it costed more. I needed to get new sandals as the ones I had rubbed on the cut so we walked out of the resort to the shops across the street and bought a pair there as it's cheaper than the resort. It only lasted 5 days but it was enough for the rest of my trip. Good thing I bargained the price. We only noticed that the heavy blankets in our room smelt like pee on day 3. We told guest services to replace them but they didn't so I called again and eventually they came at midnight with just 1 blanket but I told them all 3 smelt like pee so at 1am we finally got 2 more. We didn't get our room cleaned daily because we didn't need fresh towels daily and we were tired of having to tidy up our room with our stuff that we didn't want cleaning products sprayed on. The fridge guy only came like 3 - 4 times during our 14 day stay. It didn't bother us since our kids don't drink the juice boxes that much, we don't drink pop, hubby drinks the beer but doesn't care for it and we could easily get bottled waters from the bar by the waterpark. My kids enjoyed the waterpark but only went twice. They didn't like that there was mold on the stairs and other places too. But on Tuesday they did a deep clean and even though they didn't get rid of all the mold, our kids eventually played in it again as the slides were fun. Adults are not allowed on them. I really wanted to try it once. These 3 adult women went down it but were told not to and when they went down the slide one of them had her top uncovering her girls. Good thing no kids saw, only adult men and me. My kids only visited the kids club once and played video games for 1 hour. They liked it but preferred to enjoy other activities as a family. We never went to the family pool or the relaxed pool. The big pool by the beach was fun. Not too crowded. Lots of people playing volleyball in the water and having fun together. I did read here that the pool isn't that clean but I never like looking for it otherwise I get grossed out so I didn't see anything. We played table tennis and connect four there too. There's a train that comes every 10 mins or so and it goes around the whole resort. The service at the restaurants and bars were great. All the people were very friendly. We tipped whatever amount we wanted to the shuttle driver, bell boy, at every meal, whenever the 3 men sang and played a song at our table, the bartender once each bar (not each drink), cleaning lady, fridge guy, tour guides and drivers. Also, gave full chocolate bars at the end of the trip to the special people we wanted to give to. We made reservations to a la carte restaurants 2-3 days in advance on their Princess App. We got to try all except the Samsara (Indian) and Platinum (we weren't platinum) restaurants. We're not a fan of Indian foods. We loved El Pescador (seafood) - it was our favourite. The fish of the day (which is the same everyday) is fried tilapia and we all loved it. We went there twice. La Hacienda (Mexican), Il Tartufo (Italian), Tanuki (Teppanyaki) and El Guacho (steakhouse) were all close 2nd. Focaccia (Pizzeria) was almost a fail as the 2 times we went, we didn't enjoy our food except the calzone. Wasabi (sushi) was a fail because we love sushi and this was nothing like the sushi at home in Canada, however I did enjoy the salmon poke bowl. We barely finished any of the sushi and was tempted to eat at the buffet but we were too turned off to eat anything else. La Hispaniola Buffet is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We've tried it for all meals and it served us well, both service and food. The server Ezequel was the first server we got from when we arrived and everyday we'd sit in his area. Then when he left to go home for 3 days another young 18 year old named Ebrauly took over and was just as nice. We found out later that Ana, who also works in the same section, is his mom. Whenever we go to that buffet, we ALWAYS sat in their section. My kids loved them! Ana would always walk by and say "meow meow" and the guys would play with my boys. The egg chef, Manuel, made our omelettes and fried eggs everyday. He was super friendly and cooked very well! Mordisco Buffet is the kids buffet close to the waterpark. We've been there for breakfast and lunch but mostly went to the larger buffet - La Hispaniola. Not sure if they're even open for dinner, we never checked it out. It's small but very quiet. Can easily get warm food inside the back. I found out that Mordisco is the same restaurant as Focaccia on the other side. El Trapiche Buffet is at the beach. They had good food too. They are open for breakfast and lunch. Can eat inside or outside even with swim attire, however if wet, it's best to eat outside. You can even eat on the lounge chairs at the beach. Lunchtime they serve special foods outside - fajitas, paella, etc. This is the same restaurant as El Guacho at night. Next to the buffet are the food trucks. When we arrived there were only 3 but a few days before leaving they added a new black one. - Silver truck - hamburgers and hot dogs - both with French fries - New black truck - salad with or without chicken/tuna The tuna salad was VERY good! - Yellow truck - drinks - Blue truck (small portions) - quesadillas, 3 spicy BBQ chicken wings, onion rings - all come with a side of French fries (yes, onion rings comes with fries). Can also have cheese dip for quesadillas or fries. 24/7 Pub is located in the main lobby and have really good food too. We went there for lunch twice. They have arcades at the top and a huge stage for performances which we've never seen anyone perform there and large tv's. They also have a small buffet with pastries, popcorn, nachos and fruit next to the bar. There is an ice cream truck by the shops. After dinner there tends to be a lineup. She serves chocolate, strawberry (tastes like bubblegum), vanilla, macadamia, pistachio, caramel and rum raisin. They don't always have all the flavours. There are pastries in there too. We also tip her. Cappuccino Cafe was lovely. Very calming and relaxing. Cappuccino tasted delicious. They had cappuccino, espresso, iced coffee or tea (I don't remember), waffles, crepe and other pastries. We only went there once even though I wanted to go more. Just didn't fit in our schedule and weather. The beach flag was yellow when we got there, red for most of it and then yellow again at the end. We still enjoyed the beach and the ocean. One day I did the aerobics at the beach with the activity people. There was entertainment at the main lobby area (called Plaza Colonial) every night. Live music and dancing. One night was silent disco party. Saturdays was white Beach party attire but the party was never at the beach, only at the Plaza Colonial. There was some shows in the theatre but we never got a chance to see any. Pink shirt people (time share) didn't bother us that much. My family learned to say "no gracias" very well. Even to the people at the beach. We went on 3 excursions: Monkeyland, Ziplining & Buggies and Pirates of the Caribbean. We had a blast for them all however it was torrential rain for the Pirates tour. We were tempted to go back to the resort but we toughed it out like the rest of the tourists. At the tour we snorkeled, swam with a stingray and whale sharks. I didn't research this tour that well. When we got to the stingrays and sharks I saw the captive dolphins. My heart sank. Then I realized that the stingray and sharks were too. When I saw the sharks "sleeping" I felt terrible for taking my family here because I bet the sharks weren't actually sleeping, they were probably tranquilized or something. Anyway, the pirate show was great and I'll do better at researching the tours next time. Monkeyland didn't seem like that at all. I ended up getting close to 20 bug bites on the trip. The most in our family. I used bug spray but still got bite. We took probiotics daily to protect our gut from the different foods. On day 13 at midnight my eldest threw up. No one else got sick on the trip until we got home, 4 out of 5 were sick for 2 days. The weather was on and off rain. Some heavier than others, short and long. Hard to predict but we enjoyed every minute. If you got this far, thanks for reading my long review! Let me know if you have any questions. I may or may not have the answer. ??????

It was a super fun experience! This vacation was the best!!!! They had professional shows every night and it was super fun to kick off the night. Felix, Medrano, Jennifer, Peter, and Jelie were super fun and friendly! They had us dance a lot and great animation team!