Luxury Bahia Principe Runaway Bay

This is a beautiful resort. The grounds are spotless and well taken care of, the staff are wonderful and cant do enough to please you, the rooms are spacious and beautiful, the food is great! There are so many wonderful things to mention about this resort. The problems for me that will keep me from returning are that the ocean has been blocked off by rocks so you can only wade to your thighs, the water is clear and there are small fish to see....I just prefer to experience the waves and to swim.The pool is beautiful and we did spend much time there becasue it was very windy on the beach. It is very noisy by the pool as this is the adults only side so I did find that it was hard to relax because of the noise and commotion from the intoxicated people...I guess that this is typical for an adults only resort. My biggest complaint was that I had a hard time sleeping because of the constant traffic from the highway and horns beeping (they do that a lot in Jamaica) and the room service carts in the hallway are very loud. I do hate to complain about these things and if you are looking for a party resort with lots of entertainment and action, then this is the place to go. If you are looking for some peace and quiet and a nice beach then look elsewhere.

We stayed at the Bahia Principe Runaway Bay from 7/7-7/14 and we absolutely had a blast! From the moment we stepped foot on the property we were treated like royalty! Check in was a breeze and we got our beautiful room which was decorated for my boyfriends birthday like i had asked for it to be. We stayed in 26719 which is Building 26 Floor 7 Room 19 with a wonderful view! I read some awful reviews about this place and honestly it was nothing like the reviews. Everyone is super nice! Always smiling and trying to make your vacation the best. Jazmin Restaurant It was perfect for breakfast and lunch, always had something for everyone MIKADO RESTAURANT The food was good no matter what resturant you went to but this was probably my least favorite of them all but still gets a 7/10 RODIZIO RESTAURANT LAS OLAS this was such an interesting place to eat and we loved it! Every piece of meat was perfection. 10/10 GARDEN GRILL RESTAURANT All I can remember is that the food was good but nothing to exciting 8/10 DOLCE VITA RESTAURANT Italian food is always great especially when you have unlimited wine to accompany it. 8/10 DON PABLO GOURMET RESTAURANT The food was great but honestly after a few days it's all a blend just because all the food is amazing at all the restaurants. Overall the food was scrumptious, I did feel as if I all the food hit every possible thing I could possibly think & more. The portions were on point so you had enough room for the dessert, drinks were always available and replenished before the glass even emptied. I did feel that I got my money's worth on this trip. It has taken me over six months to finish writing my review because I don't want to come to terms that this vacation is long over with. As July nears I am looking into possibly going to one of Bahia Principe locations in DR. I absolutely LOVED everything about out trip. I definitely see myself coming back one day in the near future. Thank you to all the wonderful staff who made this such a spectacular trip!

I just returned from a week’s stay on the Luxury side. I went for my 50th birthday celebration with a friend. I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m going to state facts and it’s up to the reader to decide for themselves if they can be categorized as good or bad. We were both very excited. We read all the reviews and the resort looked large but the Luxury side looked a bit smaller and we were excited – no kids. When we arrived we were a little late because of a missed connecting flight and in the airport, we quickly realized we were not given any instruction by the resort of where to go or what to do to catch our transport. After being on hold for nearly 30 minutes with BP customer service, we learned we needed to call the resort directly, which we did not know we were not already doing. After being on hold another 30 minutes, disconnected and calling back, we learned we needed to go to one of the numbered desks inside the terminal and check in. And so off to the resort we were. Check in took about 30 minutes. We were assigned to block 25 on the 5th floor. The balcony overlooks the “activity� pool. There appears to be 3 pools but they are really just one big pool separated by cement with bridges. Everything on the luxury side seems to surround the activity pool (blocks 24, 25, 26 & 27). There are exterior rooms, and their balconies look out over the front gardens or side of building – facing the road. The next day, we went to the Nude beach. This apparently is a completely nude beach and not just topless – I didn’t see the rules but the security guard who stood over me for 30 minutes trying to convince me to take off my bottom made it very clear that them’ s the rules. So, nude it was – this was only the first day, however, the security guards rotate and no other guards made such demands the rest of the week. The beach is manufactured as in they’ve pumped in sand. The entry to the water on the Nude beach is VERY rocky. There is no sure footing. It is also rocky in the water until you wade out a little. Of course, too far out and you’ve exposed yourself to everyone on the other side of the privacy fence being nekkid and all. The beach bar was in close proximity to the Nude beach but unfortunately they didn’t most of the alcohol that is listed on the “included� list and only the cheap stuff. You have to take your own bottle from the room if you want the good stuff. In fact, I found this to be the case most days at most bars – I was hard pressed to find Absolute vodka at ANY of the bars or Jack Daniels. I only was served the cheap stuff at all bars. So, the first day on the Nude beach and we decide to adjourn to our rooms late afternoon to rest and recoup and prepare for the evening festivities. ONLY because our balconies face the activity pool there was a constant and incessant screaming into a microphone from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.. When the activity director didn’t get an enthusiastic enough response – the screaming got louder…I SAID ARE WE READY TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!, etc. If not the screaming then the 3 second loop DJ, who played 3 seconds of a song interrupted by a SAY WHAT, SAY WHAY, SAY WHAT…and then another 3 second loop of another song…and repeat. This happened every day. After the 2nd day, we went to customer service to ask to be moved and expressed our frustrations with 3 second DJ and screaming microphone to be told that there was a mandatory “decibel per hour, per activity� and they did not have any other rooms that didn’t face the activity pool. The beach is small and there are not enough umbrellas or chairs and no servers to fetch you drinks and the beach view is obstructed by a big rock wall. You literally cannot see the ocean if you sit down on a chair at this beach. We spent some pool time at the pool adjacent to ours with the canopies. It was quieter but lively. There are no servers here either. You must use your feet and legs to get drinks. The only al la cart we ate at was the Hibachi grill and it was pretty good. Probably the best meal I had there. The room service menu is VERY limited for all meals. The food on the hot bar in the buffets was luke warm at best. There was a wide variety of items on the buffets but a lot of the same thing every day. There was only one chef to make omelets at the beach buffet, which caused a very long line. There were two in the main buffet. We took advantage of a couple of movie nights but also had to either bring our own wine or get up and go to the outside restaurant for a to-go cup of wine. There was a variety of entertainment from swimming routines to dancing to Michael Jackson impersonators. There was a DJ on the beach bar – the 3 second loop DJ with a “CAN I GET A WHAT-WHAT� in between each 3 second song. I did three excursions. The snorkeling – very nice reef – not a lot of fish. We did the cooking class – that was fun – our tour guide Donovan was hilarious. We did the Luminous Lagoon. This is a nighttime swimming excursion and you make a lot of movement in the water and it glows. It was a good 40 minute drive to each excursion. So, in a nutshell – premium “included� liquors are not readily available, there is a great deal of noise from 1 – 6 at activity pool, food is so-so but plentiful. Checkout took a very long time. There was only one guy checking out people with charges to the room, while 4 others stood around doing nothing. I found out on the way to the airport that this is THE largest resort in ALL of Jamaica.

I was lucky enough to visit the Luxury Bahia in early February for my birthday. My friend and I had previously been to Jamaica several times and had stayed in MoBay. However, that hotel wasn’t available so we decided to branch out and try the Bahia. So glad we did! The staff went above and beyond to make sure I had a great birthday. The dinners at the resort were really good - especially enjoyed the Brazilian steakhouse and Don Pablo. The rooms and pools were nice and we never had a problem finding a chair to lay by the pool. Best part was the staff. Everyone wanted to make sure we had a great time. We spent a lot of time at the lobby bar and everyone there got to know us and remember our drink preferences. I got a special birthday drink from Omerio on my birthday and he made the best chocolate martinis (with rum cream - per our request). Wish he had been out there more often. Also wish the lobby bar had been open 24/7. This was one thing we missed from the other resort we have stayed. I would definitely return to the Bahia!

My wife and I are active and I our 60’S and enjoyed how spread out everything was so we could get in our 10000 steps a day. I went to 7am stretching and yoga classes the 9 days I was there. Larone does the classes sun-fri and I enjoyed his humor and desire to wake us up. Some of the classes were On the beach which was amazing! Larone explained all the dynamic stretching exercises before we did them and encouraged all of us young and old to let go of thoughts and just breathe into the workout. I always felt so ready to go for the day a free his classes. Food: Don Pablo was great make reservations early usually takes 3 days before reservation opens. We loved los olas for breakfast could always get seat by oceanfront. Thursday nites in Buffett not to be missed if you love Lobster! Glad I made reservations at Don Pablo for sat and Sunday as menu choices at Buffett were Meh.. So far did horseback ride in ocean with chukka farm. That was a highlight especially With laughter when people didn’t follow directions and their horses started doing there own thing. The staff there did a great job as their were some hilarious histrionics. My wife and I have lucky to travel and this vacation is in our top 2 #Ayahsonice