Luxury Bahia Principe Runaway Bay

I stayed at this property twice. Once on the Grand side and recently on the Luxury side. There is absolutely no difference in the rooms which is ridiculous. How can they have a luxury side when the rooms are the same as the grand rooms? And the rooms on both sides need to be updated! The only difference in the Luxury side is you get a few more amenities, a butler which is ridiculous as I only saw him once or twice, and I think on the Luxury side you get 24 hour room service. I do have to admit the Luxury Lobby is really nice, but other than that I was not impressed. I was really disappointed in my stay at the Bahia Principe this time around. Don't stay in building 24, the A/C needs to be fixed in most of the rooms. Also, the last time I stayed at this property, there were more food choices at the breakfast/dinner buffet and the food was really good. We didn't bother to make reservations at any of the restaurants because the food was really good at the buffet last time. This time the food was just average. Don't even get me started on the drinks...all I can say is WHAT ALCOHOL?? The carpets all over the resort are filthy and need to be replaced. The hospitality just wasn't that great. The maids barely cleaned our room. I had to go to the maid's room to get towels, because they forgot to leave fresh towels and the maid who answered the door seemed as if it was an issue. The most enthusiastic employee was one who was trying to sell timeshares or their version of timeshares since I was advised it's illegal to sell timeshares in Jamaica. Overall, I was just disappointed in my stay at the Bahia Principe this go around. I'm not even that picky of a person, but I definitely noticed a difference in my stay 2 years ago versus June 2018. I hate to say it, but won't be visiting this resort again.

It was a rainy day and we went to the presentation... We joined and we were sorry almost immediately. They lied all the time! But the most important thing is that it is NOT WORTHY! You can book only after 6 months! - they said that we will benefit right away - big lie! After six months there were no rooms available for the hotel we wanted! So we went after a year and a half! DO NOT JOIN!

We just checked in today and our room was not ready at check in time. Once we arrived to our room, we noticed that the patio door is completely off track, and will not close. In turn, the air conditioning won't turn on. Maintenance's response was that the door can't be fixed. The front desk will not switch our room, so we have no air for the whole week. I am beyond pissed.

This resort is JUST AMAZING!!! We just got back on Sunday. Though we travel quite frequently, we’ve always been apprehensive about all inclusive, hence never taken one. This was our first one and it blew our mind. All I can say is that every good review here is true to word. However let me fill you in on some not to great aspects: Ala Carte – the restaurants are just ok. They're not bad, mind you. But considering the rest of the resort quality and service is absolutely delightful, the ala carte restaurants don’t measure up. When I go there next year, I will avoid Takara and Don Pablo specifically. The Brazilian grill and the Garden grill were slightly nicer. The Tenpanyaki experience was not bad. And I even forget what the other 2 restaurants were (not memorable haha). The buffet though is SUPERB! Our shower was blocked. The water wouldn’t drain. The response was very quick and admirable. So was the concern. But eventually the problem wasn’t fixed. Since we were in that room for 5 days already and we got so used to that room and packing and unpacking seemed like a tedious task at that time, we just stayed on in the same room for the last 2 days. We overcame the issue by timing our showers. And in between my shower I would take the “draining time� to do the nail scrubbing etc. This wasn’t pleasant. The folks are really nice and very friendly. However while some were genuinely friendly, some put on an act of being so. The resort must spend a lot of time and money training their staff to put on a friendly exterior, which is very nice. But this also meant that slightest variation in interactions would bring forth their true nature, which was not always warm and friendly. And on the other hand, some took their “joking and kidding� to the next level. I am a very jovial and engaging person by nature. And I felt like that. So my more reserved husband felt it slightly too much for his comfort. Having said that, none of it will stop me from going there again. Just that I will be better prepared. And people, please….please….tip the workers generously. They really work hard for a very low salary. We spent $180 dollars tipping. Just a dollar or 2 for every service you receive. The grill person, the omelette person, the towel guy, the entertainers, the people who tirelessly sweep and clean the corridors and the lobby…while we tip the servers, we tend to forget these people. Just tip everyone. Just tip!

The staff are friendly and the grounds are nice however they have some bad policies, like charging us for days when part of our group wasn't there. We brought this to there attention and we were told there was no way to know if the other guest was there or not. So I asked," then what are the wrist bands for?" Obviously they know when people are or are not there. We had days when we didn't have any room towels. And nights when food was ordered through room service that never arrived. And, they are militant when it comes to leaving the property. I wouldn't stay here again.