Let me start with this resort is great. It is our third time to the Ambar section of this resort. The food is perfect, the service is great, and the rooms are of some of the best standard I have seen in the DR. The beach is endless and if the pool is your thing, there are many to choose from. Please ignore these negative reviews out there. DO NOT write a review if you were bumped from the resort, you have nothing of value to share other than your booking company needs a bad review. DO NOT write your revies based on the flight, the airport, the transfer, the one bad meal you could have recieved in your own city or that fancy martini you counldn't get at the bar. This is the cheapest of the 5 Stars you can stay at in the DR and it is great value for those looking to add a little something fancy in their lives. You will fully enjoy all that this adults only resort has to offer.

We had an excellent time at the Ambar. This was our second time there and we look forward to returning next year.

Overall a great trip, and great value for money. Ambar is just one section of much larger resort -- I mean REALLY HUGE -- you need to take a trolley to get to the main resort lobby! (Unless you really like to walk.) That being said, the Ambar section had enough amenities that you didn't really need to leave, unless you wanted to see the nightly entertainment or visit the club or casino. The Ambar lobby is very lovely (although quiet) and has free wireless access. Many a la cartes to choose from and overall they are pretty good -- just be sure to make your reservations as soon as you arrive, as they fill up quickly. The buffet is decent though. The ocean water can be rather rough (be careful of big waves if you are not a strong swimmer), but there is a nice long stretch of safe patrolled beach to walk along. Ettiquette on reserving the loungers is a bit tricky -- you can't just to go the pool or beach first thing in the morning and throw down your towel and magazine. You have to actually be sitting in your loungers at 8:00a when the towel attendant does his rounds; otherwise, they just remove your stuff and your chair is up for grabs. (We learned this the hard way -- going at 7:00am and thinking we were all set, then returning after breakfast to find someone else in our chairs!) This was the only minor issue we had, and overall a fantastic trip. Would highly recommend this resort.

We found our second trip to the Ambar just as satisfying as the first. Rooms are clean; grounds are stunning; food is good; beach is lovely, tho crowded. Sometimes revelers at the pool were annoying, but that could happen anywhere. Attention to service details is what we've come to expect there. Wish I could speak Spanish better!

We had a wonderful week at the Ambar. Hotel was very nice with beautiful lush grounds, a very nice pool area with plenty of palapas although you do have to get there rather early to get one. Restaurants and food were very good. People were friendly and helpful. Great service at bars and at the pool. Would recommend the Ambar for anyone looking for an adults only, relaxing time.

tout simplement magnifique

had a great time however exchanging larger US bills is extremely difficult

Très beau séjour à cet endroit. Le site est grand et propre, le personnel est courtois. La bouffe est bonne (ne manquez surtout pas le filet mignon au restaurant "Don Pablo"). Nous recommandons ce site qui est le plus bel endroit de voyage en trois ans. Selon nous c'est certainement un 4 1/2.

Best trip i have ever been on. Everything was beautiful. From the beaches, to the grounds, to the rooms, beyond anything i could have imagined.

Très bon séjours ,personnel courtois, représentant du club privilège un peu trop insistant dans l ensemble un très bon hôtel

Nous revenons d'un séjour de deux semaines à cet hôtel pour adultes seulement, et comme les trois fois précédentes, avons passé de très belles vacances.
L'hôtel est à environ 35 minutes de l'aéroport et le trajet se fait très bien. La section Ambar est située près de la plage.
À notre arrivée, une enveloppe nous attendait pour l'attribution de notre chambre, avec bracelet noir VIP, et tout s'est fait rapidement. Les valises ont été livrées à la chambre dans un court délai. Nous avions une chambre en coin, située dans la villa 60 proche de la piscine, au deuxième étage, mais faisant face à l'Avenue Turquesa, assez passante. Le nettoyage de la chambre, le remplissage du bar, les serviettes et débarbouillettes, service hors-pair. À deux reprises, nous avons dû téléphoner, soit pour un changement de piles pour le coffre-fort, et une autre fois pour un oubli de serviettes à mains(sur 14 jours, pas si mal), et dans les deux cas le service a été rapide. La section Ambar a maintenant 5 ans, mais vieillit bien. La propreté des lieux est irréprochable. Le personnel est courtois, souriant et avenant. Restauration: Buffet Palmyra: beaucoup de choix, belle présentation,soirées à thèmes -nos préférées -Gala et Orientales (makis, sushis, etc.)
Nous avions réservé les restaurants à la carte au préalable par email. "Le Gourmet" dans la section Ambar à deux reprises (excellent) Entre autres, le boeuf est très tendre. "El Olivio", maintenant situé dans le restaurant fermé Portofino, dans la section Ambar (bon).Le "Maiko" à deux reprises dans la section Gran Bahia Principe Bavaro, cette année nous avons pris à la carte, au lieu du "show", où la nourriture est préparée devant nous avec les couteaux qui volent en l'air. Nous avons préféré à la carte car nous nous sentions moins pressés, la nourriture est la même, et nous mangeons en tête-à-tête. Le "Bella Italia" dans la section Esmeralda (bon).
Le midi, nous nous attablions au restaurant près de la piscine et de la plage du Ambar. Le poulet BBQ est succulent. La païla est très bonne, souvent accompagnée par de la sangria au vin rouge, ou blanc.
Le vin servi aux repas, blanc et rouge, sont à notre avis moins bons qu'auparavant. Vous pouvez demander du pétillant et du rosé également.
La plage est magnifique, le sable fin, et est nettoyée régulièrement. La baignade est sécuritaire. On peut marcher aussi loin que l'on en a envie.
Avant 8 heures du matin, aucune réservation de chaises et de palapas. Nous nous installions sur la plage, dans la section privée du Ambar. Nous avons cependant noté que des gens qui n'étaient pas du Ambar, mais plutôt du Gran Bahia Principe, occupaient des chaises dans notre section privée. On aurait apprécié que le garde de sécurité les avise de retourner dans leur section, ce qui aurait libéré des chaises pour nous qui payons plus cher pour le Ambar. Le service au bar à la piscine a baissé d'un cran à notre avis. De plus, à notre première semaine, personne ne prenait nos commandes à la plage dans la section privée. Le service au bar du lobby est parfait, et l'endroit est agréable pour prendre nos consommations. Une partie est pour les non-fumeurs, et une à l'extérieur pour les fumeurs (il y a malheureusement des délinquants qui se promènent avec leur cigarette, ou pire leur cigare, sans considération pour les autres). Il y a une zone WiFi gratuite dans le lobby, et aussi trois ordinateurs à notre disposition, sans frais, un avec caméra pour skyper.
Nous ne sommes pas allés aux spectacles en soirée, car nous préférons la tranquillité.
Nous prévoyons retourner au Ambar car nous adorons l'endroit.

I thought the hotel was okay. We found the restaurant and bar staff were nice, however the customer service at the front desk and stores really need work. We found it hard to communicate as barely ANYONE spoke any english. The food overall was pretty bad and we found the hotel was really geared towards older people. We also found it difficult that there really weren't any non - smoking areas. As a non smoker it's pretty gross to have people blowing smoke in your face all the time while at dinner, at the pool, in the pool...well everywhere.

Friendly staff provided good services.Restaurants had excellent food,clean facilities,comfortable seating arrangements.Luxurious hotels and furniture.Stunning entrances and roomy layouts. Our villa was a dream come true. Beds provided a good night sleep.Clean and roomy.

beau séjour, belle plage, nourriture excellente, pour un 5 étoiles les drinks n'étaient pas fameux, chambre impéccable, service aux repas très attentionné

This hotel is just amazing. This was the third time in Dominican Republic and the best yet. The hotel has everyhting you could want. The rooms are wonderful large clean. The pool and grounds were always clean. There are a number of places to eat so there is never a problem with choices. The only comment would be that since you have access to all the other Bahia properties in the complex always take your map with you. There are some great places for shows and eating at the other sections and this is a very large property.

My wife and I spent the week of Christmas at this resort. Overall, both of us were very pleased and really enjoyed ourselves there. I will comment in more detail on a few different areas.

HOTEL/ GROUNDS: The hotel grounds were immaculate. Landscaping, cleaning and grooming of the grounds was ongoing continuously. The lobby area, buildings, restaurants, were all spotless and in very good shape. The Ambar is one of 5 Bahia Pricipe "Resorts" that are more or less all on the same property. You can use the restaurants, pools, bars, etc. at any of the other ones, but we found they pretty much had everything we needed or wanted, right at the Ambar.

STAFF: We found the staff extremely pleasant. Most of them were smiling, and said hello whenever we walked by. The staff at the buffet restaurant were exceptionally pleasant, as were the maids, the servers in the lobby area,etc. We found the bartenders friendly and very eager to please (even before getting tipped).

ROOMS: We were given a room in Bldg 70, which is farthest from the beach, but very close to the buffet restaurant, lobby, etc. All of the buildings on the Ambar property are very close to the beach, so worst case you are only a few minutes walk from the beach. The room was nice and clean, maid service was good, and our mini bar fridge was kept adequately stocked. The small fridges werent very efficient or very cold in general, but I believe they do that to try to save energy/ electricity. Bathrooms looked fairly new, everything worked fine, no complaints about anything. We had a top floor (3rd floor) room, noise from neighboring units or from outside was not noticeable. Each room has a small patio where you can sit outside. From what we saw, a room in any one of the buildings would've been just fine.

BEACH/ POOL: The beach is beautiful. We were there one of (if not THE busiest weeks of the year), so yes, it was very busy. You can walk along the beautiful beach for miles and miles in either direction. Sometimes, getting a palapa or even a spot in general was challenging, especially if you got out there too late. The pool was nice and was also busy. Beach/ pool towels were provided. If you went late in the day to exchange them, they were sometimes out, but no biggie, you just picked up your fresh towel(s) the next morning.

FOOD: We found the buffet restaurant pretty good for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For breakfast they had 2 omelette stations, and pretty much anything else you'd want for breakfast was available. We only ate at the lunch buffet once or twice because we usually grabbed lunch at the beach bar/ restaurant down on the beach. Dinner had a good selection of most things, I was hoping for a little bit more fish, but they had pretty much everything else covered, and even served lobster a couple nights we were there. As for the a la cartes, we only made it to two of them. We ate at Don Pablos once at the AMbar and found it to be very good. We also tried the Bella Italia restaurant at the Bahia Principe Esmeralda but did not find it that great. They say the best one is the SteakHouse at Esmeralda but we didnt make it to that one.

Misc: We hit the gym a few times (out of guilt, of course) :) . Overall it was pretty small and didnt have a whole lot of equipment, but it did the trick. The spa was a bit pricey. The lobby bar area was a nice spot to hang out in the evening. They had wireless in the lobby, I believe you could get it in the rooms too but had to pay for it in the rooms. We tried to catch one of the shows one night just for a change of routine but were late and only caught the tail end so cant really comment much on the entertainment. In general, this resort is on the "quieter" side, which served us just fine. Note that the Ambar section is adults only.

OVERALL: Very nice resort.

My husband and I spent Christmas at the Gran Bahia Principe Ambar. We have a million wonderful things to say about this place! Quite honestly, anyone who is on here complaining about it must be the type of people who can never be satisfied. It seemed to me as well that anyone who was 'unhappy' with anything regarding the hotel, just needed to mention it to the staff and it was taken care of immediately. This was not the case at all with us, as everything was completely top notch, but of course there are always those complainers out there! (people who maybe are a little jaded and have stopped appreciating how lucky they are to even be able to travel to such gorgeous places!?)
We could go on and on about this place, but I will mention a few of our favourite things!
*THE BEACH - beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! looooong stretch of white sand, turquoise water. Always plenty of chairs available at the beach regardless of what time we made our way down there. The staff was working all day long to keep the beach in perfect, picturesque condition, even raking the sand throughout the day and picking up any garbage/dead leaves, etc. Another advantage of being at the Ambar section is that you are RIGHT near the beach, as opposed to the other sections who need to travel a fair distance to get to their section of beach.
*ADULTS ONLY - we absolutely loved the variety available to us as guests in the Ambar section. As a guest, you have the choice to stick to the adults only section, or venture down to the other sections of the resort and take advantage of what they offer. This was perfect! The Ambar section is quiet and mellow in the evenings, but just a 5 minute walk away, you can find the nightly entertainment, and more of a 'nightlife'. After spending a few nights at the quiet Ambar, it can be quite a shock how much louder and fast paced the other parts of the resort are, but it's nice to have the option depending on how you're feeling that night. Little 'taxis' run down the strip every 10-15 minutes but we found the walk to be only about 5 minutes.
*ENTERTAINMENT - the entertainment staff at this resort are so talented! We have stayed at other resorts, where the nightly entertainment was "enjoyable", but the shows we caught at the Grand Bahia were a cut above the rest. The best ones were the Circus show and the Micheal Jackson tribute. Just unbelievable!
*UNLIMITED A LA CARTE - most all inclusive resorts limit you to 2 or 3 a la carte choices in a week long stay. Because guests of the Ambar can book at both the Ambar section and the others, there are enough restaurants you could try a different one every night! (the buffet was also very impressive, so we did just go there a few nights...) Our favourite a la carte was the Japanese, but we didn't try all of them.

ALL in all, fantastic resort, beautiful location, 5* all the way!!!

Very good hotel,The food was beyond our expectations.The hotel staff was wonderful & very friendly.The only problem was the lighting in the whole room&bathroom not bright at all.

This is our first time to this hotel. It is a clean place, staff are nice.The food is delicious. No main complain at all except the windy weather. the service in hotel is very good. The internet is OK, although we experienced the network error at the last day in this vocations.:(

N othing new for us, we've been there 6 times

This is a gorgeous Resort !!!
It is a HUGE complex of 4 resorts. Its so big that you have little carts that drive you around from one end to the other. The AMBAR section is BY FAR the best one to be at. Far better service but most importantly, UNLIMITED a la carte restaurants.

PROs: Must go to AMBAR section to get the better service. Amazing rooms, Great location, very nice / fun beach

CONs: The only really bad I can say about this resort is that it is FULL of people from Quebec. They are LOUD, self centered and dont care about others. Air Transat flies there directly from all accross Qc.

LOOBY: The lobby is gorgeous and a fun place to have a nice casual drink (from the full LARGE 3 pages menu) after dinner to finish off the evening.

BEACH: Very nice beach, minimal sea weeds. Nice waves. May be hard to find a chair on the beach or beside the pool. The whole "reserve your chair with a towel rule" is senseless and should NOT be implemented. Bc lots of people reserve more chairs then necessary, even if they are away for a few hours.

ROOMS: The rooms are gorgeous. Beautiful suites with an amazing bathroom. Building 60, 64 and 67 face the ocean and the large pool. Can be a bit noisy. My preference is building 61. If you want to have total privacy, but a bit further from the path ask to be in building 68, 69. Your maid will also keep your mini fridge stocked at all times

FOOD: For a resort down south, the food was good. Most a la carte restaurants are very similar except for the Japanese and Don Pablo. Japanese is authentic with good sushi and Don Pablo is the classy french one. My preference was the Steak house in the Esmaralda section. You do notice a difference in service and food quality when you go outside the AMBAR and Esmaralda section. The Punta Cana and Bavaro restaurants are a bit less classy. The buffet at Ambar is good. Beside the beach, you will find a similar outdoor buffet. Food at buffet is often not as warm as you would like it to be. BTW, the desserts at all restaurants are good and fun. Mini creme brules are Very good.

Staff: Jorge Abreu at the Ambar reception area is an AMAZING man. He truly understands customer service. He will do what ever he can to make your stay memorable. Stephanie at the Guest services is a very nice lady. Every one else throughout the resort are usually pleasant. Like anywhere, you will always find one or two that are not as nice as others. No one compares to Jorge. He is way above everyone else.

Entertainment: I have been to many different resorts. The nighlty shows here are fun and not cheezy (except for one night, avoid the men vs women night). They have a great circus show similar to a mini cirque du soleil (but better bc its free and run by locals). The Michael Jackson is also very good.

Location / Excurions: The resort is very close to the airport (30 mins Max) It is also VERY close to many fun excursions. We did Snuba, Boogies and a wonderful / relaxing (not a kids drinkfest) catamaran ride with Lorenzo. He is NOT from DR, therefore, never in a rush, no overhead and just wants to make your excursion memorable. I woull highly recommend catamaranreef with Lorenzo. He also took us to an amazing Snorkeling location where we saw THOUSANDS of fish (bring your bread and bananas to feed the fish).

This a WONDERFUL place to be !!!

The Ambar meets all expectations,great rooms,service,food,beach,pools.I will definitely be back.It was heaven on earth!

Although there were a few things that were not in the hotels control (weather, population at the resort) for the most part we were quite disappointed with the hotel.

Staff: some were friendly but most were uninterested in helping out, didn't speak english well, and did not enhance the visit at all. I understand that they may not like their job for any number of reasons, but, a smile never hurt anyone.

Food: My fiancé and I were eating vegetarian (plus fish) when we were there and this was by far the WORST resort we have ever been to in terms of food options and quality. The fish was flavourless, dry, and rubbery. The cooked vegetables were mush, oily, and bland. It is possible that the meat was delicious but we didn't eat any so hard to say.

Restaurants: The restaurants were unimpressive. Most had the same options with very slight variations. Some staff were very friendly, but most were uninterested in being there.

Beach: Nice beach with lots of chairs. However I saw people stealing chairs even with towels on them... Not a resort specific issue i'm sure...

Room: Our room was tired and old and needed lots of work - water damage, cracked tiles, clear evidence of patchy repair jobs.

Over all we had a good time because we tried to stay positive. However, if you are going in expecting a true 5 star experience with all the bells and whistles and gourmet food you will be disappointed.

Very satisfied. Would have extended stay if space had been available. Staff in the "Palmyra" restaurant are the best I've ever seen, bar none in all of my travels. Leonardo, the manager is a true maestro- staff performance is like a ballet. Pool restaurant is also excellent.

we had a lovely relaxing vacation

Nous avons eu un très bon service que ce soit pour les repas ou la chambre .. il y avait beaucoup trop de monde pour la grandeur de la plage et ainsi qu'à la piscine..il devait se lever à 6 h. du matin pour aller réserver nos chaises à la plage (un peu désagréable)

Nous en étions à notre troisième séjour au Ambar et nous y retournerons sans aucun doute l'an prochain. Tout est parfait, les suites sont impeccables, la propreté est A1, la nourriture est assurément la meilleure de tous les hôtels que j'ai visité dans le Sud, le personnel est courtois et nous ont reçu avec distinction... au 3e séjour, nous portons un bracelet noir au lieu du blanc, ce qui indique au personnel que nous sommes des clients réguliers et ça nous donne droit à un service encore plus attentionné de tous... totalement extraordinaire!!! La plage est superbe et à perte de vue... En résumé, je peux vous assurer que nous avons trouvé notre petit coin de paradis pour se reposer... on s'y sent comme chez nous!!! Endroit à conseiller vivement, n'hésitez pas!!!! Bon voyage!

Arrivée: Personnel tres courtois, ils s'occupent de tout.

Chambre: tres propre. lit hyper confortable, salle de bain de grande dimension. Conciergerie parfaite, aucun point négatif concernant le ménage.

Repas: n'avons fait que le buffet, tous les repas, bonne variété d'aliments, thématique tous les soirs.

Plage: Anormal que nous devions nous lever a 7hrs pour avoir chaise avec palapas soit a la plage ou a la piscine.

Hotel en général: impressionnant de voir la propreté de cet hotel. Tu y vois constamment un employé travaillé et entretenir absolument tout.

Tres beau complexe.

The hotel was clean, friendly, and the food was fantastic... always a variety..

Le site des Gran Bahia Principe est très grand. Il faut donc aimer marcher parce que les spectacles, disco, casino et autres sont loin du Ambar. Cependant, il y a des navettes qui passent régulièrement.

Comme dans plusieurs hôtel de cette taille, les gens sont très irrespectueux et se réservent des chaises et à la piscine et à la plage. C'est donc la course à la chaise si l'on arrive passé 10h00.

La nourriture. Au buffet, je m'attendais à mieux, compte tenu du nombre d'étoiles, mais correct dans l'ensemble. Le restaurant Bella Italia est très bon, le Don Pablo également. Le japonais n'est pas mal, mais il n'y avait plus de sake. Belle surprise, le vin de tous les jours. Pas un grand cru, mais très correct.

Le personnel est gentil en général. Ils offrent un bons service, mais ne sont pas très avenants pour la plupart. J'ai trouvé qu'ils n'étaient pas très chaleureux. Certains sont carrément impolis, notamment au Casino où trois croupières très déplacées se moquaient délibérément de l'habillement d'une jeune fille.

Compte tenu du prix (un peu plus de 1200$), je ne suis pas totalement déçue. Cependant, quand je réserve dans un 5*, peu importe le prix, je m'attends à un service 5* et ça n'a pas été le cas cette fois-ci.