Just returned from the Ambar. Spent 2 weeks there. Beautiful resort. Excellent pool. Food at the buffet was excellent, can't say the same for the a la cartes. Biggest issue was the poor quality alcohol. For a 5 * hotel the drinks were disgusting. If you wanted premiun liquor you had to purchase it extra or go to the Bavara next door although the liquors are listed on their drink list(Baileys, Port). When you ask for it, they say its unavailable till tomorrow but for the 2 weeks, tomorrow didn't arrive!!! Interesting that you could get it at the hotel next door and not at the 5*.
The people were quite friendly and if you know a little spanish its helpful.
wouldn't return to this resort .

My husband and I stayed at the Ambar during March 3-10. This was our fourth time to the Dominican Republic but our first time to Punta Cana. We had some reservations about this resort after reading some of the negative reviews but in the first few hours of arrival, I knew I was not going to be disappointed. This resort complex is huge and the Ambar is gorgeous…the nicest of the resorts I have been to (including the resort where I was married in Puerto Plata).

For those who have not visited this part of DR-Punta Cana is beautiful! comparing with Puerto Plata it is cleaner and more industrialized with new building/condo/housing. The airport is quite modern with duty free shopping etc. (i.e. Lacoste and even Wendy’s restaurant!).

Customs was a breeze!! very efficient both entering/leaving the country (again in comparison with Puerto Plata) and a bus destined for the Ambar Adults Only section of Bahia Principe was waiting to take us to our resort. Once on the bus, we were given an information package, which included room keys. We did not have to check-in, went straight to our rooms, and awaited the arrival of our luggage, which took no time at all!

Our room was on the 3rd floor in building #60 (beachfront) with a pool view…amazing! (we requested this upon booking). We were celebrating our wedding anniversary and so a fruit basket, a bottle of rum, and 2 t-shirts were in our room (very nice touch). The room was gorgeous with a very comfortable bed and a beautiful marble bathroom.

The food was out of this world!!...we mostly dined at the a la carte restaurants including the Mexican, Don Pablo Gourmet, Garden Grill (we heard the Italian was not very good). We had several servers…very professional….the main buffet was also very nice with choices to satisfy everyone. If you have IBS or stomach/digestive problems take Pepto-Bismol and other drugs with you (these cost a fortune on the resort!).

The Ambar section of the complex is quiet and basically shut down at 11:00 pm. We took the tram to the other resorts (Bahia Principe Punta Cana and Bahia Principe Bravaro) on the complex for a more lively time. The Pueblo Village is also great for entertainment, shopping, casino etc.

This part of the island is somewhat windy which was great to water/wind sports…the parasailing was great fun...the beach was clean and amazing….there wasn’t any organized activities on the Ambar side but if you went to the other sections of the beach and resort-seek and you shall find!..oh and a word of caution...for some reason I think this part of the island is hotter or the sun is more powerful...my husband had sun stroke...wear sunblock!! (take sun block and sun burn creams with you-very expensive on the resort).

The pool was a little too quiet and maybe in the future the staff will act on the many recommendations and play some music….reserving a chair pool side is difficult. We managed to get chairs early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

We believe in tipping…remember you are in a third world country and it’s a nice gesture. We tipped the house cleaner 5 dollars a day, left a separate tip in the mini bar, and tipped our servers at the a la carte restaurants. We did not want for much as everything was always well stocked. I also brought along school supplies, toiletries and as it was close to Easter, some chocolate bunnies for the children.

This is a beautiful resort! I have no regrets or disappointments and look forward to visiting Punta Cana again next winter!

Just returned from one week at the Ambar. We were two couples who have travelled quite a bit throughout the Caribean. This resort is truly one of the lovliest I've seen The grounds are spectacular as are the rooms and the decor.
The beach is great although you have to get up pretty early to get a palapa for a little shade when needed.
The ADULT only concept here is a bit deceiving. It is more a seniors resort. They literally turn out the lights at 11 and take away your seat cushion and put your drink in a plastic cup and close the lobby bar. This was shocking to all of us. You can get a tram to the Bravaro side of the resort but this should not be necessary in my opinion. There is no music by the beach or pool and no activities to entertain all day long, Quite disappointing.
Having visited other Adult only resorts this was in that respect truly disappointing.

My boyfriend and I stayed at the Bahia Principe from April 12 - April 19 and fell absolutely in love with this resort!!!

Check - in:
We arrived at the Bahia Principe Bavaro at around 10:30 pm. We were served by Domingo who was able to really help us out with finding a very good room. Originally we were booked for a suite in Villa 37 which was facing the construction, on the ground floor, and very far from the beach. Three things that we really did not want. When we asked if there were any other rooms closer to the beach, he quickly located a new room in the Ambar section (adults only). We were very happy to be placed here as we originally wanted to book the Ambar but were not successful. He placed us in Villa 67 Room 301.

Room:
When we got to our room we quickly realized that Domingo had been VERY nice to us ( I think he thought we were on our honeymoon). We had a corner suite with an ocean and pool view. It was the most amazing room. The corner suites are double the size of the regular suites in the Ambar section. We had a King four poster bed, a dining area, a couch, a desk area, and another sitting area, plus a huge balcony with a table and chairs! As well the room was equipped with bathrobes and slippers, a stocked mini fridge, and a flat screen TV. The bathroom was huge with a jacuzzi tub and a separate shower with a rain shower head as well as a regular movable shower head. Our TV didn't work very well and when we called the concierge they sent someone up right away and within 10 minutes the TV was working again. We also had a minor issue with the bathroom, and again, within 10 minutes it was fixed. Every night there was turn down service with chocolates and inspirational quotes and they always managed to tidy our room again even after they had cleaned the room during the day.

Pool:
The pool was perfect. It was never too full and we never had an issue finding seats. We usually ended up at the pool around 2pm and always found chairs (although they were hardly ever in the shade). The water was always at a perfect temperature and it also had two sections with seats and jets which was very relaxing. The pool was never really full of people and it was definitely quieter than the main pool.
We walked over to the main pool once to check it out and hated it. It was very busy with tons of kids, very loud because of all the people and music that the entertainment staff never seemed to stop playing. Not a very condusive environment for relaxing. If you wanted to lounge on a chair you were practically on top of the people next to you.

Beach:
The beach was absolutely stunning. Always very clean, but difficult to find a chair in the shade unless you got there at 5:30am. We generally ended up at the beach around 9:30am. If you enjoy being close to the water and are a sun baby, there was no issue finding a chair. Again, this was the beach right in front of the Ambar side. If you walked down a little to the main beach area, you'd be lucky to find an empty chair, and it was extremely busy. There were rows and rows of chairs full of people. You literally ended up lying down right next to a complete stranger. And it was very noisy there too.

Food and Beverages:
We loved, loved the food in the Palmyra Buffet as well as the breakfast buffet in Portofino. These were our favourite spots to eat in the morning and the evening. For lunch we ate at Las Brisas buffet a couple of times, but you had to wait a while to get a table. We found that going to the main snack bar Las Olas was better because it was much bigger. We tried 2 of the a la carte restaurants, Portofino (Italian) and El Olivo (Mediterranean). Our reservations were for later in the evening because we waited until the last minute to book the restaurants. I would recommend booking these as soon you arrive at the resort as they fill up fast (4500 guests!!). We had a 9:30 dinner reservations at Portofino which we weren't particularly happy with. Once we were seated we went to the buffet for our appetizers. After waiting for 15 minutes with no one coming to take our main course order I got up and went looking for a waiter. We spoke to the couple next to us that had been waiting for 45 minutes! I'm not sure why the long wait because at that time there were hardly any patrons at the restaurant. The food was good, but we were unhappy with the long wait. The next evening we went to El Olivo which had very similar food to Portofino. At El Olivo the service was much better. The food was great at both restaurants but we were dissapointed with the service at Portofino.
We preferred to go to the buffet as there was more choice and the service was exceptional.
As for the drinks, we loved the Banana Mamas. We did try the Mamajuana after reading about it on Trip Advisor, but a word of caution...it is the strongest drink that I have ever tasted. I couldn't finish it. It's a mixture of a whole bunch of hard liquors. I don't know why anybody would want to drink it.
The service was great at the Ambar bar. We especially liked Manuel. He was very friendly and we always got great service from him.

Entertainment:
We went to the night club a few nights and only stayed late once. They mainly play latin music but if you wait long enough, they play English dance music. We enjoyed hanging out in the Pueblo Principe. It felt like we were in a town square with all the shops and tables. We went to the casino a few nights.
We didn't really take in any of the shows, so I can't really comment on them. They have a house band that plays the same music every night in the main square, so I guess I'd recommend going to the Tropicana theatre to watch the shows as they are different every night.

Resort:
We loved everything about this resort. The grounds are perfectly maintained and everything is always very clean. Every time we looked up there was somebody mopping the floors in the lobbies. The maid service was great. They always left the rooms very clean and there was never anything missing. We never used the room safe, but chose to lock our valuables in our luggages instead.
The resort is very big so we made use of the trams that run on a regular basis. There was also plenty of security throughout the whole resort. They even had security practically standing in the bushes.

Overall we would definitely go back to this resort, but only if it was the Ambar section. If you're not travelling with kids it's worth the extra money to upgrade to this section.
We were a little concerned by all the bad reviews before we left, but other than waiting at one of the restaurants we don't have any complaints. I guess if you were staying in the Bavaro or Punta Cana side you may have complaints about the pool and beach being busy, but other than that we don't see why so many people have such bad things to say about the resort. I'm not sure if they're very picky or don't know how to deal with the staff. It's common sense to be friendly with the staff and you have to have patience with the staff if their English is not perfect. You're in a foreign country, embrace the culture and learn some Spanish!
We loved the resort and can't describe how happy we were with the staff, service, and the resort in general!!!