Resort: 4/5
It is a nice, modern and clean place. It was built to resist Hurricanes. Garden is beautiful. Buildings are well maintained. It is very family oriented resorts. It is definitely not for romantic couples. The resort is not as big as it appears. It is easy to walk from the beach to the main building in 8min. Bus service is effective. I have seen many larger resorts without bus service.
We found the resort not as "exotic" as other hotels that we have visited. Though the look of this hotel is well above other hotels' look in Punta Cana. A lot of issue to speak English with the staff. They only speak Spanish... If you are a BBQ lover you will not like Bahia because you won't eat anything good from the grill.


Pools: 4/5
The pools have a nice design. It is easy for children, elderly and drunk persons to get in and out. The water is warm but not as clean as we would expect. The ocean pool is definitely dirty inside and outside. I have the impression that it doesn't get cleaned every day. The pools in middle of the resort are clean and you can see the staff washing the pool side at 9PM.The resort doesn't have enough pool area compared to its size. When we were there the hotel had 50% occupancy and we had to battle for chair and towels (yes they ran out of towels).


Bars and drinks: 3/5
One of the most effective bar services that I have ever seen. There are a lot of waiters everywhere. You can get a drink easily there is no line up at noon or in the evening at the reception bars. The drinks have good size and taste. If you want to get drunk you can get a lot of drinks very fast. If you need more rum in your cocktail just ask for a glass of rum on ice and add it to your drink. One of the troubles is the quality of the alcohol that they serve. They use a kind of "Dollar" type very cheap alcohol. Basically there is no difference between the taste of the rum/whisky/Cognac/Tequila. House wine is above average. Beer is just as it. Music at the lobby bars can't get worst. They play a kind of retirement home music.


Food: (5/5)

Buffet (5/5) Applies to breakfast/lunch/dinner
The buffet is one of the best that we have tasted in the South. Everything that they make tasts very good. They cook very similar things day after day but so what. There are about 40 plates to taste. I prefer a resort that makes 40 good plates instead of 100 bad ones. Though, there is no prime cut meat or fish. Chicken/fish strudels are great. Soups are very tasty. They have gourmet pizza. Wide selection of real bread. A lot of great local meals adapted to North American taste.
First time in many years that I didn't eat a single egg for the breakfast during 2 weeks !!! They had so many good things to taste. Just be open minded and taste !!!


Steakhouse: 0/5
Entries are really good. The soup is a must. Try the home made chili and the potato skins they are best in their kind. Eat as much as appetizers you can because what comes after is disgusting ....After having had all the appetizers we thought that some bad guys wrote some bad review about this restaurant. So we were eager to have our main dish ... I had the "lamb". It was just bones and fat. When I managed to find a little meat and tasted it, I nearly throw up. It tasted between sand and coal. I think the BBQ grill was never cleaned in many months or years. My wife had the mixed grill. The shrimps were just eatable. The Steak was poor quality. Fortunately there was some chicken but tasted very bad. I was so upset that I nearly jumped onto the head waiter. My wife told me "you waste your time..." so I didn't.


Italian (5/5)
Nice restaurant good ambiance. Great appetizers. Good main dishes. A lot of food selection. Meals have the right size. Don't miss their soup.


Gourmet (4/5)
Beautiful place. You have to choose to have either salad or soup. I complained that it is ridiculous and they gave me a free soup ... Soups are delicious. I have tasted 3 of them. Main dishes are a little small. If you have the chance to go several times to this restaurant taste different dishes. Filet mignon is a real filet mignon. Lamb chops are 100% perfect. I also loved the liver. Desserts are not the same quality every day. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad and when they are bad all of them are bad. I presume they have different cooks for dessert.


Fish: 4/5
Ugly place. Smell like henhouse. (Same as Mexican restaurant). Bad music: they play some retirement home music. Appetizers are very good. I had a great tuna fish (Don't forget to ask for rare tuna). Steak is not so bad. Desserts are average.


Mexican: 3/5
(I love mexican food). Ugly place. Smell like henhouse. (Same as fisher restaurant).
Bad music (Who wants to eat Mexican with a piano music). Appetizers are very good. Mixed grill is so so, burritos are very bad. Try chicken. Desserts are average.



Garden grills (4/5)
Good salads and gourmet pizza. You can prepare tasty sandwiches. They have the best Smoked Ribs at the Brazilian grill. Bad BBQ food: Hot dog sausage is so so. "Hamburgers" come from China ...


Rooms: 4/5
Are clean and spacious. Air conditioning is not effective and it makes a lot of noise. TV channels are poor quality (but who cares). Only 5 English channels out of 70 ! A lot of cheap materials were used for the flooring in the rooms. No night room preparation ... => your rum and chocolates are going home with the house keepers at 9:30PM :) Took our beach towels but never gave us new ones. Don't forget to rent your safe. It is a must.


Diving: School: 5/5 Diving spots: 3/5
They have a very good diving school. If you want to start diving It is a perfect and safe place. You can't get a better diving school in the South that the one at Bahia and Riu. (Operated by Caribe diving...) Max depth is 40ft. If you have more than 20 dives it is a boring place ... Pay 2 dives but don't waste your money and time for the 5 dives package.


Animation: 3/5
They only speak Spanish ... Some guys on the animation team are heavy drinkers ...


Tours:
We didn't take any of them. They try to sell very hard the Samoa island tour. It is at least 3 hours ride. Many groups came back at 9PM !!!! And you leave at 7AM ... Rather pickup a taxi outside the hotel and visit Bavaro shopping center.

Practical advises:
- Gold or Diamond clubs worth max $50 per week per person
- Have 2-3$ in your pocket to tip transporters at the airport
- When you arrive take a 2000 pesos from the ATM machine at the reception. It gives the best rate and service fee is only $3.
- At the main lobby change right away the 1000 bills into 50 pesos bills for tips.
- When you arrive head right away to the (Gold or Diamond) lobby to book your restaurants and pay for the safe. Let the other battle for the languages.
- Tip only when there are a few guests at the bar and stay there a little so the bar men will remember your face
- Useless to tip at the restaurants. In two weeks we never had the same person serving us. Though a good service deserves a tip.
- I have 2000 pesos for tipping and I only gave away 1200 pesos.
- Waiters at the restaurant never remembered that I gave them 300 pesos a day before .... so we just stopped tipping.
- Go outside for shopping. Take a taxi to Bavaro shopping center (10min ride).
- Rum and cafe are good quality and are not too expensive at Pueblo Principe (If you just shop at hotel).
- Nicole's jewelry in Punta Cana is a waste of time (even if free). That's a fishing place for naive tourists. Home made cigars are bad quality.
- Have a walk to Riu beside Bahia. They have several great shopping areas and a beautiful board walk. (Outside guests are welcome ...) We loved to walk there from 4PM to 5PM.
- Be open minded and taste the food at the restaurant everything is good (except BBQ)
- Airport is VERY expensive. A bottle of water is 3-8$ !!! Eat and drink before you cross the security (Though there is no place to buy anything). Zone 2 has air conditioning at the airport.
- Duty-free at Zone 2 has good prices for alcohol and cigars