Luxury Bahia Principe Ambar Blue - Don Pablo Collection - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

14260 reviews

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  My favorite hotel so far

  Stayed for 3 amazing nights! The staff was so professional and friendly, always willing to help with anything we needed/wanted. The food was so delicious and they had a lot of options! We had dinner at 3 of the à la carte restaurants (Italian, Brazilian and steak house) 10/10 in all 3, the menu had allergens information as well as the ingredients for each dish which made it very easy to order without having to bother the staff too much. Went to the bar and the bartenders were so nice and fun to chat with! They were even dancing sometimes!! The room was a dream! excellent view, very clean (and my partner is very strict about that lol) the Room Service crew was fast and efficient and always answer no matter the time

  Dec 02, 2025
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  It’s just ok. The world luxury is misleading.

  I want to be balanced here as it isn’t all bad. The good - The staff are mostly very nice. Customer service is good. We stayed in a corner swim up junior suit and generally we got good service. There were numerous things in the room that were old and broken. On request we got several of these things fixed or replaced. The question is why weren’t they already done as these were things that clearly had been broken for a while. Anyway on the whole the staff are great. What was surprising was how many didn’t speak good English given their target audience but obviously I respect I am the tourist and the language barrier is my issue not theirs. The property looks nice on face value and the communal areas do feel quite premium but scratch the surface and there are quite a few maintenance issues that could do with addressing. The pool area is nice and again the service from the bar and wait staff is great. The bad The real issue is the quality of the food and beverages. Now I fully appreciate that all inclusive resorts are going to be a compromise but I really expected a lot more, not in terms of quantity but in terms of quality. We ate at numerous of the pre-booked restaurants on site and to be honest it was not good. The food is bland, batch cooked and of low quality. It all felt a bit like school dinners. There is the tendency to take orders for starters, main and deserts all in one go and then it comes out like machine gun fire. I fully appreciate they need to turn tables but you barely get chance to draw breath. We got a cab on the last night to an offsite restaurant as we were desperate for some food with flavour. I don’t think we are foodies as such or especially picky but it really doesn’t present what you would expect of a 5 star hotel. Now to the beverages. This blows my mind a little . For whatever reason mixers are served from plastic bottles that often don’t even have caps and are therefore flat. So you get a spirit and mixer often in a plastic cup with a flat coke. We never got a decent drink. It was ridiculous. In the end we went to the store and paid $5 for a can of redbull just to get something fizzy. And don’t get me started on the beer. Yuk! It’s actually slightly better from a can than the pump. Tip - go to the sports bar and pay extra for a bottled beer, it’s the only decent drink on site. It’s such a shame as they are clearly trying but food and beverage is such a big part of a holiday and it just falls so far short of what it should be. If you’re happy with batch cooked conveyor belt food and flat drinks you will be fine. If you feel 5 star should represent higher quality this may not be for you. We met people who go back to this hotel every year so clearly some people do like it. Unfortunately we expected more so it’s just not for us.

  Nov 30, 2025
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  Great holiday at the Ambar.

  We arrived at the Ambar reception quite late at night after an evening flight. We were checked in smoothly… the night guys English was scant, so very hard to understand wifi code, but he helped us, and ultimately we had what we needed for the moment. Note… fabric wristband with room key embedded… very nice touch. We were able to enjoy a few drinks at the Sports bar before it closed at 2:00. And found our way back to our room in the dark… good sleep. Nice firm beds. Morning light brought everything into focus for us. Grounds are well maintained… beach swept, etc… pet peeve at all resorts… how quickly the shady spots are claimed with towels. So many claim chairs at pool and beach then leave seats ‘taken’ for hours on end… very frustrating. Restaurants all serve great food… we were able to book a la carte dinners first day for the week, and they emailed us our schedule, so no scraps of paper to keep track of. nice. I found it busy… but it’s a big resort, so that’s to be expected… my daughter enjoyed the entertainment in the evenings and went to the disco at Aquamarine a few times. Beach was great for walking… again, lots of people… If you like a busy resort then come to Ambar! Top notch… we quite enjoyed our holiday. Check out was easy and bus had us to the airport in good time.

  Nov 27, 2025
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  Lovely holiday at this hotel

  Just come back from a perfect week at this hotel with my husband. Oh my goodness this hotel is fabulous. From the attention to detail a nice welcome plate in the room to how clean this hotel was the maids were constantly available and nothing out of place. The entertainment staff were friendly Good fun, yet respectful if you didn’t want to join in. The waiting staff cheerful and always smiling. There was always something going on in the evening that would suit most tastes. The restaurants fantastic a tip for you pre book before you arrive to get the restaurants you want. That said we had help from Issac at the enquiry desk who booked for us and recommended a few restaurants that we probably wouldn’t have tried at home. Couple of areas of improvement that the hotel could learn from which we didn’t complain about as it wasn’t a big deal just abit disappointing, when we arrived we were escorted by a lady to our room who said we didn’t have any robes and commented on the fresh paint smell which she said she would come with some freshener with the robes, she never arrived. Then I quickly discovered that the floor to the shower had been freshly painted as my feet stuck to the floor as it wasn’t quite dry. So perhaps honesty would have been better to warn us of this. But like I say we didn’t complain about it when we could have as everything else was wonderful and we didn’t want to spoil our holiday. The issue was fine in the shower the next day. But it was a clear attempt to keep everything to a high standard so fresh paint isn’t an issue in my view. Just perhaps it might have been better not to use that room till the following day. So some other hotel staff can learn from.

  Nov 23, 2025
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  Didnt want to leave - Luxury Ambar

  Punta Cana - Bahia Principe - Luxury Ambar Overall Experience: 5/5 When we arrived at Bahia Principe we were dropped off at the Aquamarine Lobby. There were carts driving guests around the resort, so we took one to the Luxury Ambar lobby. Checking in at the front desk was easy. We were given information on amenities offered throughout the resort, as well as meal timings. We walked our luggage to our villa once we were checked in. Visibility on the paths at night is limited due to dim lighting, but once we figured out our bearings it wasnt a big issue for us. After breakfast the first day, our Air Canada Vacations rep JOSE (AKA BIG PAPI) brought us into the meeting room to give us an introduction briefing. We were nervous about him trying to sell us on upgrades or timeshares, but it was all useful information that we were glad to have learned. At the end he did give us information on the available excursions and pricings, but we also found that helpful. When we left the welcome meeting with Jose, we were stopped by one of the “Privellege Club” members in the lobby. We were told that we would be able to get a $80 credit for the spa if we filled out a quick survey. He got us on a cart and drove us across the resort to their office. When we arrived we were told to get the credit we would have to sit through an hour long presentation, not fill out a survey. We were upset that our time was wasted, and we were mislead. Hopefully this helps people not fall for the same tricks. Maybe an hour long presentation is worthwhile to some, but we didnt feel it was during our stay. Food/Restaurants: You couldnt go hungry here, the food was abundant and amazing! The buffet (Palmyra) exceeded our expectations by far. There were always so many delicious options to choose from. For breakfast there were all the standard options and more. Deli meats, cheeses, bagels, breads (toasters), different cream cheese flavour options, eggs done scrambled, hardboiled, quiches, egg bites, bacon, an assortment of different types of breakfast sausages, fried salami, hash browns, omelette stations, pancakes, waffles, crepes, french toast, churros, toppings for them, fresh fruits, panini/sandwich station, smoothie station. The giant Nutella pump was a big hit for guests. One of my favourite things was having honey comb every morning with breakfast. There were Dominican food options to try local cuisine. For lunch there were fresh fruits and salads, meats, sides, seafood, pizza, burgers, and stations were you could get cuts of meat and seafood cooked fresh on a flattop. The deserts I tried weren’t great, but the presentation was beautiful. Too many delicious options to list them all! A La Carte - M.E.A.T restaurant: This was easily the best A La Carte restaurant, so good we cancelled one of our other a la carte bookings to come here a second time. We enjoyed the specialty cocktails. The chicken wings were huge, and had a delicious sauce on them. We had THE BEST steak we’ve had in our lives here (the Churrasco steak). The carrot cake and cheesecake were meh. The brownie/ice cream were good. A La Carte - Maiko (Japanese): Would not recommend. Nothing was great, would have rather ate at the buffet that night. Chinatown specialty cocktail was good, but very sweet. A La Carte - Portofino (Italian): The amaretto apple cocktail was delicious. The cream of mushroom soup, burrata capresse, and chicken parm were great. The tiramisu was good, the cannoli was meh. Sports Bar: This place didnt require booking to get in for food. Everything we had was delicious. Most items come with fries, so we had more fries than we could eat. The cocktails were really good here. Service was awesome. There are pool tables and a “punching machine” available to play for tokens that can be purchased from a machine. Tons of tvs playing all sorts of sports throughout the bar. Indoor and patio seating available. Coffee shop: The coffee shop seemed overly hyped up based on the reviews we had read prior to coming to the resort. They didnt seem to have most of the desert options we were excited to try from the menu we saw online. The coffee options were good. Pool/ Beach: The pool was great. It was hard to get a seat. We notice many guests get up early in the morning and reserve spots with towels, and show up later in the day. The pool had music but it wasn’t blasting all day every day. The overall vibe was good. There is a towel station for fresh towels, washrooms, a regular bar, and a swim up bar. There was a booth where for $5USD you could get a big drink served in a pineapple or coconut, charged right to your room, so no cash was required. There were servers walking around the pool deck that checked often to see if they could get you a drink from the bar. There were resort workers that would come around and try to sell you excursions, or spa treatments. We found this annoying because it seemed to happen often, but they weren’t pushy if you declined. The Beach had the white sand and blue water you’d expect. Ambar guests had their own private section of the beach for seating. Again, guests get up early and reserve seats, we found it alot harder to get seats at the beach than by the pool. There were way more people trying to sell you all sorts of things on the beach such as sunglasses, beach bags, hats, clothing, pictures with animals, cigars, excursions, and massages. It was like constant popup ads, it hindered the enjoyment of relaxing on the beach because we had to constantly tell people “No”. The groundskeepers were excellent with cleaning the seaweed that washed onto the shore. The water at the beach was pretty rough, comparable to a wave pool. I saw three people lose their bathing suits in the span of an hour, and a bunch of people getting knocked over by waves. It was fun none the less. Room: The room is modern but some of the finishes were worn. The room smelled musty the first night, but went away for me after that. My wife says the room smelled a bit musty the whole time. There was complimentary wifi throughout the whole resort, and the connection was great. The shower had a rainfall style head, and a handheld shower head. The complimentary body wash, shampoo, and conditioner were nice. There was coffee and a coffee maker, sugar and creamers, glasses and mugs, bottled water, regular and diet cola, orange soda, beer, whiskey, rum, and vodka FOR FREE in the mini bar, restocked every day during cleaning. There was a turndown service every night. Our room had a comfy kingsize bed, a couch, coffee table, chairs, and a big bathtub. There was plenty of closet and cupboard space, but we wish there were more towel hooks along some of the unused wallspace. Our balcony had chairs and a place to hang wet clothes to dry. The outside of our balcony door didnt have a handle, and was pretty heavy. Be careful not to accidentally lock yourself out on the balcony. We stayed in Villa 67, where our friend YSAEL from guest services was eager to help us with anything we needed. Entertainment: There was always something to see or do during our stay. Some of our favourite shows were the fire show, the circus, and the live singing by “El Divo”. The lobby had live music, dancing, and “silent disco” during our stay. There were aqua aerobics by the pool every day. Even if you dont join in, the music is great and its fun to watch. There was a foam party at the pool that we missed, but sounded fun.

  Nov 23, 2025