On my current journey to Punta Cana Dominican Republic I stayed on the Bahia Principe Luxurious Esmeralda lodge. Bahia Principe has fairly a number of inns within the Dominican Republic. Those in Punta Cana are all on the identical property. There may be the Bahia Principe Grand Punta Cana, Grand Turquesa, Grand Bavaro, Grand Aquamarine, Luxurious Ambar, Luxurious Esmeralda, and The Bahia Principe Fantasia Punta Cana.
After researching these inns and among the RUI inns which had been subsequent door, we determined to go together with the Bahia Principe Luxurious Esmeralda. The pictures had been good, the YouTube movies had been constructive and as well as, it was near the seashore and the worth appeared honest.
Our Room
The Luxurious Esmeralda is among the smaller inns within the group of the Bahia Principe line up in Punta Cana, however no matter that it does have rather a lot to supply. It has 570 rooms, 5 eating places and three bars, a spa and though the lodge doesn’t point out that it has a health club, there may be one subsequent to the spa that it shares with the Bahia Principe Fantasia. It additionally has 2 swimming pools, a Jacuzzi, in addition to a water park, and giftshops.
We stayed in a Junior Suite Deluxe that got here with both 2 full measurement cover beds or 1 King, however we requested on the entrance desk for a room with 2 beds and one thing on the higher flooring. Every constructing goes as much as 3 flooring and there aren’t any elevators, so preserve that in thoughts.
We bought our room with the two cover beds (facet word: the curtains on the cover doesn’t cowl the whole mattress) it additionally got here with a settee which I’m not positive if it’s a settee mattress or only a common couch. Whereas reserving on the web site it didn’t point out that there was a settee mattress within the room however websites like reserving.com and Expedia mentions a settee mattress, plus I additionally took the freedom of calling to search out out and after being placed on maintain for someday I used to be instructed that they do include a settee mattress. Truthfully, it seemed like a daily couch to me with detachable cushions. I’m not positive how comfy somebody could be sleeping on it.
There was additionally a a small desk with chairs, a dresser, tv, desk, a closet that had a secure and a pair of bathrobes. There was additionally suppose to be slippers however we didn’t discover any. There have been 2 comforters within the closet as properly, hangers, a iron and a desk high ironing board. After taking down one of many comforters, I discovered a ball of hair in it, so I requested new ones and used that one for the toilet window as a result of the curtains for the window weren’t lengthy sufficient. Extra privateness please! 🙂
The lavatory had each a bathe and a separate jacuzzi fashion tub, a double sink self-importance and the bathroom had it’s personal personal stall inside the toilet. The room additionally had a mini fridge loaded with 2 packs of nuts, sodas, 2 cans of beers which had been restocked every single day should you used any however not the nuts. We additionally had a patio with a view of one of many RUI inns.
My fundamental points with the room are one, it wasn’t geared up properly sufficient with electrical shops to cost our gadgets. First we had an issue discovering them, aside from the one subsequent to the lamp on the dresser. After I requested one of many housekeepers he confirmed me one behind the nightstand between the beds and one behind the dresser the place the tv was, each of which you would need to draw the furnishings away from the wall to see. I feel that could possibly be hazardous.
The subsequent factor I discovered a difficulty with was the tv, I feel for a lodge of that measurement the television was small about 20″ and the channels weren’t that clear and most of them had been in Spanish. I do perceive that Spanish is their fundamental language but it surely could possibly be blended up extra. Plus, there was no information to let you know the place to search out what so we needed to flip till we discovered one which we had been okay with which turned out to be the cartoon channel. It wouldn’t have been my first selection.
I suppose you perhaps saying, we had been there on trip why do we’d like the television, however there have been occasions earlier than mattress after we chilled and simply wished to look at some television earlier than going to mattress or simply wished to look at it after we weren’t out and about. It wasn’t an enormous deal, nevertheless, nothing to discredit the lodge for. One factor I discovered to be fascinating although is that there have been no wash cloths within the toilet, the small ones, they usually didn’t appear to know what I used to be speaking about.
Eating
So far as eating goes, there are 2 fundamental eating places which serves up improbable buffet meals, Los Geranios and Jazmin. Then there may be Takara an oriental restaurant, Bella Italia an Italian restaurant, and Rodizio Arrecife a Brazilian fashion restaurant positioned by the seashore.
You may go in for dinner on the 2 fundamental eating places and choose from quite a lot of decisions laid earlier than you, every night the employees attempt to combine up the delicacies. My first night, I had a seafood casserole, with fried squid, some pasta, roast fish, and spring rolls, plus there may be at all times fruits, greens, and dessert. Additionally, you will discover meals like pizza, fries, and fried rooster. There are waiters within the restaurant who will take your drink orders.
For breakfast I’ve seen boiled eggs each rooster and quail, scrambled eggs, corn on the cobb, bacon, French toast, and extra. There’s a smoothie station the place you’ll be able to go to have your smoothies made simply the way in which you prefer it and identical to for dinner you’ll be able to request juice, tea, or espresso from the waiter. It’s also possible to request sure issues to be cooked as there’s a cooking station there throughout breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The opposite eating places talked about are reservations solely. I didn’t eat on the Bella Italia or the Takara restaurant however we did make a reservation for the Rodizio Arrecife. At this restaurant the service of the meat appears to be the spotlight. The servers takes an enormous skewer or sword of meat to your desk and ask if you want any and if sure they slice a bit of the meat unto your plate. This fashion of service known as Espeto Corrido. We got a menu with the road up of meats however that evening we didn’t get any rooster or sausages, it was 3 rounds of steak. For the 2 of us we solely bought one plate of facet dish that consisted of a small piece of corn on the cobb, a scoop of rice, some grilled greens stacked on high of one another, a bit of broccoli, and what seemed like a baked potato. I imply that might suffice for one particular person, however for 2, oh no. I didn’t trouble to eat something from the plate. Oh and earlier than that we bought some fried plantain chips which had been very arduous.
Whereas we waited for the meals we went to the salad bar to get some salad since we weren’t positive what sort of restaurant it was and nobody got here to take our order or something of the kind. Additionally we requested for pina colada and we had been capable of get them, they tasted good however they couldn’t discover a single straw for us to drink with so we ended up grabbing some spoons from the salad bar. My brother wished to return to the buffet the place we had been consuming for a lot of the week, but it surely was near closing time.
Along with the eating places on the Luxurious Esmeralda you may as well make reservations at different eating places on the different Bahia inns, the selection of eating places you’ll be able to ebook could be discovered on the Bahia Principe app.
Leisure
One factor I can say for positive is that staying on the Luxurious Esmeralda you’ll not be simply bored as a result of there may be at all times one thing occurring. Throughout the days on the seashore you could find actions like frisbee, jenga, and volley ball. A few of these are prized competitions the place the winner is awarded a prize in the course of the nightly present. Someday whereas sitting on the seashore I used to be requested if I wished to hitch the salsa session, I don’t know what occurred to it although as a result of the employees member by no means got here again. I imagine they could not have gotten sufficient contributors.
Within the afternoons they’ve actions for teenagers like dance classes and clowns, then in a while within the evening, for the adults there may be, signing, dancing, acrobatic reveals, theatrical dance performances and so forth. Throughout sure occasions when it’s simply music taking part in members of the leisure employees would come and seize you to bop and earlier than it there could be a bunch of individuals doing the bachata or merengue. In addition they have video games for the viewers. On one of many nights we had been there there was a seashore occasion and generally there are different occasions occurring on the different inns or the Bahia Village that you may attend.
The Seaside
The seashore is shared with all the opposite Bahia Principe inns, plus the RIU inns. Nonetheless, the areas are sectioned off for who belongs the place. For instance one facet of the seashore had an indication for The Fantasia lodge. Throughout our keep the seashore was not very clear, it was full of sea weeds throughout and the water itself was tough and seemed a bit darkish, it could have been because of the sea weeds.
Whereas lounging on one of many seashore chairs at some point there was a employees with a machine making an attempt to wash up the weeds, which I feel may have been a hazard particularly with children operating backwards and forwards. On our final morning there the sand was a lot cleaner however the water seemed darker. That was a flip off for us so we didn’t go into the water in any respect throughout our total keep.
You will see that that there are numerous distributors on the seashore, so be ready to be approached ever so usually about shopping for souvenirs, excursions, or jewellery. One man had a monkey and simply put the monkey on us and requested to carry our cellphone, he took our photos after which ordered cash from us and I’m not speaking about $20 both. He wished 6000 pesos which was $111 USD to be actual. I felt like we bought hustled and I used to be not too glad about it.
As well as there are additionally water actions like diving, kayaking, snorkeling, and parasailing obtainable on the seashore for 1 hour and relies on availability.
Extras
We booked our airport pickup and drop off with our lodge room for two individuals and the worth wasn’t unhealthy in any respect. The corporate utilized by the lodge has a desk on the airport and we bought a minivan only for the 2 of us to take us to the lodge. The identical firm additionally has a kiosk on the lodge the place we may buy our excursions. We did the Journey Boogies which included us visiting a cave and driving ATVs and likewise we selected the Santa Domingo journey. You’ll find out extra about that tour right here.
Once we first arrived on web site as a result of our lodge is within the again by the seashore we had been dropped off on the fundamental lodge Bahia Principe Grand Punta Cana. We instructed the bellhop the place we wished to go they usually took us there in a cart, the journey was about 5 minutes. The check-in was not too unhealthy, we had been offered with a complimentary beverage. I’m not positive how I felt concerning the concierge who checked us in although, He didn’t appear very pleasant and I couldn’t inform if he had an issue with us or that was simply his persona.
After check-in we had been escorted to our room which was not too removed from the foyer and the Jazmin restaurant. The bellhop took our baggage upstairs so at the least we didn’t need to raise them as we stroll up the steps. Trying out was a unique story. The foyer has a big lounge space the place you’ll be able to sit and luxuriate in espresso and different self serve drinks, there may be additionally a bar there and also you if you wish to you could possibly do some purchasing in both the cigar store or the close by reward store. There may be additionally a visitor companies desk and a tour desk contained in the foyer.
The lodge additionally has complimentary Wi-Fi which I’d say is so-so. Which means it wasn’t that nice and it wasn’t that unhealthy. Whereas laying in mattress we may get some issues achieved, like examine our emails and browse the net, examine Instagram and even make video calls, however as I walked in the direction of the patio the sign would get weaker. If you’re on the lookout for higher service the lodge does provide premium wi-fi for a worth.
Every of the swimming pools are giant and are positioned one at every finish of the lodge property and the jacuzzi within the center. Every pool has a swim up bar. The pool closes at round 6pm.
As talked about earlier than you’ll be able to make reservations at different eating places positioned on the different Bahia Principe inns on the property. It’s also possible to buy groceries on the Bahia Village which is in entrance of the Grand Punta Cana. There may be additionally a tennis court docket and an space that was arrange like an American Ninja park (in case you have ever seen the present you’ll perceive) lol, that seemed as if it was closed on the time. There may be additionally a medical facility and a on line casino.
Total I actually loved my keep on the lodge and it’s someplace I’d keep once more. To see my video assessment of the lodge please click on right here.
