Two words ... Fantastic Trip!

I booked this trip a bit last minute to surprise my husband for his 40th birthday. The roulette option was very unconventional for me, but I reviewed both Bahia hotels and figured I'd be happy with whichever resort we ended up at. We were fortunate to get the Cayacoa. Our gardeview room was upgraded to a view of the pool and ocean. The views from anywhere on the resort are spectacular. It's a quick walk in to town and the causeway along the ocean is also an amazing option. The bartender (R [... lire plus]aul) at the main pool was awesome. The entertainment staff including Flo and Jeffrey were so friendly. They remembered my husband by name! But were not pushy in the least. You could tell they truly enjoyed their job. The dancing lessons around the pool were fun, aqua aerobics were entertaining and volleyball in the pool was a not to be missed event! There was a pretty good selection of food and no issues with the a la carte restaurants. We had issues with our door which required them to change the handle which afterwards caused issues with our keys, but we thoroughly enjoyed our vacation none the least. We were fortunate to have other amazing guests at the hotel the week we were there. We would most definitely recommend this resort.

Beautiful Beach

I enjoyed my trip. The resort was better than my trip last year to Mexico. There are a few things about the resort in DR that I didn’t like. The lobby bar closed at 11pm. You HAD to go to the disco if you wanted a drink after that. There was no place to get snacks. Chips. Nuts. Crackers. Cookies. The room was beautiful. The view was amazing! I would definitely go back to DR. The roulette was pretty cool. If you’re flexible...that’s definitely the way to go! Saved us some big bucks!

Amazing!!! Spectacular! Bahia Principe Cayacoa Roulette!

When we landed at Samana airport we went to the air canada rep and he told us we were going to the BPG Cayacoa. (Most reveiwes said that 99% of the roulette people end up here). The resort is 45 mins from the airport which was fine. Checkin was ok a little slow the whole bus was at our resort. (Its not like punta cana where there are 20 resorts in a row and they drop off people like bus stops). Since we did the roulette we got whichever room was available. We got the room with 2 double beds. E [... lire plus]ven though when we booked the trip we had requested a king bed. It was so late by the time we checked in, ate a snack at the snack bar, we didnt care to bother with a room change. Felt like more of a hassle. So we ended up moving some furniture around and pushed the beds together, and it was fine. This resort is not at all suitable for small children or people who are unable to walk too much. It is built on a hill and is ALL slopes and stairs. We stayed in bldg 21 and it took 116 stairs to get to the main buffet. U can call reception from your room and they will send a golf cart to come pick u up. But that could sometimes take up to 10-15 minutes of waiting. So we just walked. If there was a cart waiting to pick up someone else we would hop on. But we didnt wait. We saw maybe 3 kids the whole week we were here. Bringing strollers will be a nightmare here!!! Unless u can get a room in the hotel building which has elevators and not the outside villas. There is free wifi everywhere. Rooms, lobby, restaurants, pools, even spotty connection at the beach. Once you check in you can log on. You can book ala carte restaurants on the app. (We teied the Orcadea, amazing!) We had an amazing week. Walking a lot. Food is great here. Lots of variety. We enjoyed everything and were not picky at all. Drinks were good too. We have been going to cuba the last few years so come back to DR was very refreshing! The place is spectacular so green and grogeous. The most scenic views we have ever seen. Extremely clean and well groomed. Bathrooms by the pool and lobby are very clean. Servers and everyone working around the resort are very nice. A $1 tip and a smile can go a long way. They are Ready to serve and help at all times. Beware of the bahia principe privilege guys in the lobby. They are vultures and will try and sell u time shares and upgrades. They are v annoying and persistant but if u say no to them 2-3 times they will leave u alone. Do not make eye contact with them and do not let them start up a conversation. U will waste 1-2 hrs of a good day just trying to get them to shut up! He will start of by offering u a necklace and then its down hill from there lol The beach is very small, yiu ca the elevatorfeom the main poil area or u an walk down hundreda of steps on the other side. Water is merky. Sand is brown. So if u are expecting to see crystal blue water and white sand u will be disappointed. Its very clean though. The far section of the beach is shared with the locals which was not a bother. Some reviewers complained that there were too many locals on the beach. We did not find that at all. We spent more time at the pools all week anyways. Our block of villas (bldg 21) had its own pool and bar. Very quite...we hung out there on a cloudy day and were by ourselves the whole day which was brilliant. Our room 2106 was great. Big. Clean. Bathroom also was great. Lots of good pressure hot water. Too many mosquitos though! Bring mosquito repellant and keep the ac cranked in the room. Do not turn the ac off...or u will get invaded by mosquitos. Also leave the bathroom door open so the whole area is cold. It gets very cold at night. We ended up wearing socks to bed. But we didnt want to be bitten! So bring long pjs! Walked into town one day which was nice. Its very safe. Theres a Bahia shopping village. Vendors will approach you a lot but will leave u alone if u say no thanks. DO NOT book any excursions with random vendors in town!!! Walked on the "bridge to nowhere" a few times. Its a very long walk. We loved it. Dont walk it at night as its totally isolated and cut ofd from the hotel. We did the National Park excusion which was excellent. I would highly recommend. Be sure to wear running shoes as you will be walking in caves etc. Alot of people wore flipflops and its very rocky and slippery. All in all excellent resort and a wonderful week!!!

Great time

Hotel is located in the great place. The views of the city, mountains and ocean are very nice. Rooms are very nice and clean. Cleaning staff are great. There are 2 beaches, one is ok, another one is not too good. Entertainment on the beach and on the pool is very nice. Pool is closed at 6 pm, and a beach at 7 pm. Food is good. Evening entertainment wasn't too great. Night club is open from 11pm to 2 am. It wasn't any people there. Overall vacation was great. A lots of sun and swimming.

Decent resort

The resort was pretty good. I think we both felt that the food was so so. The staff were lovely and helpful. The resort itself was slightly dated but clean. I would not go there if you have mobility issues.

Absolutely Beautiful

We really loved the location of this resort - Bahai Principe Samana Cayacoa. A 45 min. drive from the airport brought us to a mountainside property with a lovely view of the town across the water. The choice of several different pools and 2 beaches made every day by the water a little different which was quite nice. Our room was standard Bahai-type room with a great view, large patio and was extremely clean. We found the buffet a little smaller than other resorts, but the hotel itself is not lar [... lire plus]ge. Each of the 3 a la carte restaurants had very good food. I loved the fact that the hotel never felt crowded and was pretty peaceful most of the time except for some lively entertainment in the evenings. Would definitely recommend this resort for those looking for a low-key getaway.

Amazing vacation!

We really enjoyed our week at Grand Bahia Principe Cayacoa. The resort is built on a cliff overlooking the bay and the village of Samana. Beautiful views from everywhere you are. We had a room in the main building, with a view overlooking the pool, and the ocean. Our room wasn’t very big, but was clean and had everything we needed. On our arrival, we had a nice welcoming surprise in our room, a bottle of champagne with a a plate of cold cuts, cheese and crackers. The staff is always friendly,  [... lire plus]the food was pretty good, we especially enjoyed our meal at the Orquidea “gourmet” restaurant. We love to vacation at Grand Bahia Principe resorts, we are never disappointed.

AMAZING VIEWS

We took the Roulette because it was the best deal and we didn't care where we ended up. We stayed at the Cayocoa resort and it was beautiful. There is lots of stairs and hills but they have little shuttle buses if you need them. We stayed in Villa 10 on the hill and the view was fantastic. Food was very good and the resort was SUPER clean! Staff are friendly and helpful. Only free WIFI in the lobby is a little disappointing. There were some small maintenance issues with our room but they w [... lire plus]ere fixed very quickly. Five pools and two beach areas made it easy to find a lounge chair without having to get up at 7:00 a.m. (unless you want the main (noisy) pool as that filled up quickly). Highly recommend it.

So much fun!

This is the first vacation that my boyfriend and I have ever taken together. The Grand Bahia Principe Cayacoa totally blew away our expectations. It’s a gorgeous resort in a truly beautiful setting. Everywhere you look, the view is breathtaking. The beach is beautiful, and the pool was a lot of fun. The bartenders are funny and nice, and they mixed our drinks just right. The buffet had tons to options. The Italian restaurant was delicious. We had a romantic dinner for 2, and they made us feel  [... lire plus]special. We enjoyed every aspect of the hotel that we could. Everything was always so clean. The staff were constantly cleaning and refreshing everything. Everyone was super helpful and nice. The service was superb. I loved everything overall. The only suggestion I have is about the food. It was delicious, but I couldn’t always tell if a dish had meat in it. I’m a vegetarian, so this is very important to me. If they could do something to mark the dishes as vegetarian it would be most helpful. Other than that everything was perfect. The staff was extremely helpful and very nice. They went above and beyond to help us. The food was fantastic, and we enjoyed the entertainment. Overall an awesome experience. Thank you so much for making our stay so enjoyable. My boyfriend and I both rate the resort 5 stars. We will definitely be back. Thank you for everything.

Amazing Resort

Everything was great! people were really friendly, rooms were really nice, and the food was great! Everything was nicely kept clean. Veiw was amazing and would definitely go again! It was well worth it. Loved it!

Beatiful views!

I will start off by saying I love Bahia Principe resorts. They are very consistent with their service across all hotels within the carribean. Bahia Cayacoa was a beautiful and unqiue resort. This hotel was spotless and I always saw the staff working hard and cleaning. ( I even saw someone polishing with a toothbrush ) The animation team here is the best! Carlos and Amanda were so funny and friendly. The animation team is not overly pushy with the games and they radiate so much happiness.  [... lire plus]The food was great for the value and the buffet had a different theme everynight. My favourite a le carte was personally the French and Italian resturants. The service was good although sometimes you needed to ask more than once. I remember to humble myself when in a developing country and I understand everyone is working as hard as they can. It did not bother me if i had to get up to get my own water once in awhile. If you love the beach I would not suggest this hotel. The beach was ok. A little rocky, sand is not white, nothing to look at in the bay if you would like to snorkle. This hotel is all about the views and again is beautiful for different reasons. If you want a beautiful beach I suggest staying at Bahia Elportillo or the luxury hotel on Cayo Lavantado. I would also suggest the walk on the bridge to nowhere which is attachted to the hotel if you are into a little side adventure.

Fantastic Family Vacation

Beautiful scenic resort with everything at your fingertips! We travelled with an infant and had minimal issues getting around the resort with our stroller. The staff were beyond amazing with our 6 month old. I would highly recommend to everyone.

Nice place to stay

Hotel is good,staff is very nice,food is ok,beach is very crowded,local people asking for food and money in the water,this is not good.Ee wish that shows start early ,everyone on the beach were talking about it,overall this is a nice place,for older people.We are enjoyed our one week vacation 🏖

Second time to this Resort and enjoyed it very much again

Very beautiful area and the grounds are lovely also. The Hotel was very clean and well looked after. We found the Staff very friendly and helpful especially Laura at the desk who went out of her way to find us the right room.

Great time!!!

First of all when you arrive to this resort you are welcomed by the staff dancing and given a welcome drink which is a nice touch and you definitely feel welcomed. The views surrounding resort is stunning of Samana Bay and town. The staff are amazing on this resort. So efficient and friendly and hardworking. Can't say enough about them. They truly made our trip. The resort itself is beautiful. Very clean and pretty. The food and drinks were great. Big selection and very tasty. The only negative  [... lire plus]thing about resort is the beach. Very small and Stoney, not soft sand and the ocean is brown. Not the typical turquoise water we are use to seeing in the Caribbean. So because of this you can't really snorkel. Don't see any fish. As well because the resort is on a cliff, anywhere you need to go has many stairs. There is an elevator to beach which is nice but to get down to the restaurant that is open when buffet isn't, it's 150 plus stairs down. There are little golf carts that they can take u down but very few far between to get one. Besides these couple things the resort was fantastic. We really did have a great time!!!!

Lovely resort

We just returned from our Anniversary celebrations in Samana. We had booked the Roulette option, so we did not know until we arrived at the airport, which resort would be ours. We were taken to the El Portillo. Everything was great, even the weather. Staff was excellent, food was great, no complaints. The only drawback was the flight - Air Canada Rouge. But the wonderful time at the resort made it all worthwhile.

Beautiful

Absolutely amazing location Close to Samana airport The beach and lounge chairs are plentiful The restaurants and food are top quality A wonderful experience The spa was a great price and great massage

Good Resort

Pool's where good Beach, okay not clear water Food-More fish than any fish lover would want Pool's where good Beach, okay not clear water Food-More fish than any fish lover would want Staff excellent Rooms clean Service Good Bus ride to resort was peaceful and smooth. Buggy rides to get around very helpful for people that cant walk step hills.

Great resort

No complaints Staff friendly food amazing rooms nice and very clean the scenery great and grounds well kept and beautiful beach was small got beach chairs everyday the shows were typical resort shows animation staff engaging and alot of fun The restaurants Italian and french very good

Great Holiday

The food was great. Resort very clean! Staff friendly! Beach lovely. Slight musty smell when using a/c in the room but we used the ceiling fan most of the time. Second time to Grand Bahia Portillo and very pleased both times.