We stayed at the GBP, Premier section, from Feb 4 until Feb 11.
Travelled from Calgary through Sunquest/Thomas Cook. 11 PM deprature.
Flight was relatively uneventful. 5 AM breakfest served, not very good. Tourist cards are included in the price of vacation, which cost 10 dollars per person. Unfortunately on our flight they ran out of cards and a number of people, including ourselves had to purchase them in the Airport terminal. Now have to go through the hassle of recouping the cost from Sunquest. Very poor on Sunquest's behalf.
We arrived the hotel aroung 9 AM with the knowledge we likely would not receive our room until mid-afternoon. After checking in our assumption was correct and did not receive our room keys until 3PM. Not a big deal as we were able to enjoy the sun for the day.
We had sent an e-mail requesting a third floor room for ourselves with a Kingsize bed and no special location requirment for the two teenagers that were with us, but they would require two beds. We were given 2nd floor rooms, not a big deal, at least we got our bed choices. We were given a room in the 43 block. Rooms very spacious and maids did a great job keeping it clean all week. We had two maids at different times during the week. A younger one - who kept forgetting to give us hand towels, again not a big deal, were able to ask her for them and were then provided. An older maid was excellent, we had her for 3 days. Always supplied the proper number of towels/linnens and even provided extra beer for acknowledging the tip left in the fridge. One day the toilet seat broke free from it's hinge and she called maintenance for us and was fixed when came back to the room after a day at the beach. Couple of notes about the room - always had hot water for showers with ample pressure - I've seen this as an issue at some other all-inclusives we've stayed at. Also, watch the balacony door closes shut and the electonic devices at the top connect. The connection ensures the air conditioning continues to run - when the balacony door is open, the air condtioner shuts off. Had a problem with the safe we initially got the room and phoned the front desk and with 30 minutes maintenance had come by and fixed it.
The resort is massive , but something again that did not take us by suprise after reading about it on this site. It took us 10 minutes from the lobby to the beach to walk. With all the food we ate and alcohol we drank, we welcomed the excercise.
We walked extensively along the beach and with a doubt our beach was by far the most crowded. We elected to remain by the pool for most of the week but for a couple of days we stayed by the ocean. The snack bar at the ocean is open for breakfast, so came down early and did not have a problem securing chairs along with a palapa. Later in the morning very few chairs available and you can forget about a palapa.
About a 30 minute walk south on the beach is an open air market. We visited it twice and yeah the vendors are trying coherce you into their shops but in my opinion would not say aggressively. Have seen far worse, as an example in Jamaica, where the vendors were so aggressive it made you uncomfortable. They sell the usual crafts and nick nacks along with alcohol and cigars. I manged to pick up a 7 year old amber rum for 10 US dollars, the same bottle at the duty free in the Airport was 17 bucks - so there are bargains to be had - you just need to know you're prices. Funny I found some vendors just gave you the best price right from the start where others wanted to haggle to get the best price they could. So before you buy - check out a few vendors rather being dissappointed you got ripped off.
The only only pool we sat at was the Premier pool which was a 1 minute walk from our room. If you did not have a palapa by 8 am , you weren't getting one. The buffet opens at 7 am so found if you placed your towel down before breakfast no problem. I know people complain about reserving chairs but how do you realistically police it ? If I place my towel down at 7 and then go for breakfast does that mean I should not be allowed to keep my chair ? There are many that put their towels down early and then don't come down to the pool until later but think it would be extremely difficult differentuating? between those that just went to the washroom or to eat vs those who reserved the spots too long in advance. The only complaint about the pool area was the chatter on the speakers, it was constant whether it be from music or talking with the volume turned up too loud so it made realxing at times difficult. We foung the first day we got our rooms at 3, we wanted a nap after the red-eye flight but couldn't until about 530 when the chatter finally stopped.
I also read people complaining about the staff being rude, we found the contrary, where most of the staff we encountered were friendly and offered an "Hola" any time during the
day.
We booked 4 alcarte's as soon as we checked in and were able to secure reservation for all of them with 30 minutes of 7 o'clock either way. The gourmet - really good, had the lobster which was excellent - but word of advice - eat the bread beforehand as the portion size will leave you hungery otherwise. The steakhouse - excellent peice of Tenderloin, done to perfection. The Japenese - again very good and lots of food. The Domincan - not so good, 3 out of 4 ain't bad.
Buffet we found very good and always a good selction of food to please the palate.
They put on a good spread on for the Superbowl at the Peublo Principe with a big screen. They had servers dressed up as cheerleaders handing out canned beer (Bahama light) and nachos through the game, and the beers were plentiful. It started to rain at half time so they announced the game would be moved to the main theater, we elected to watch the rest of the game in the room.
The sports bar was kinda dingy and if there was an upgrade the GBP could invest in, this would be it. We've stayed at a couple of RUI's in the past and they offer things like pool tables, air hockey, big screen TV's and munchies, none of which this resort had.
Did not take in the Disco as it only opended at mid-night and being the fact we're fifty did not feel like partying this late after spending all day in the sun, at one time this wouldn't have been a problem, folks reading this that are our age I'm sure can relate. However, our 19 year old son and his buddy did partake in the Disco and said they had a good time with a wide variety of ages in the bar which is open until 3. After this they went down to what is the snack bar during the day by the ocean which turns into like an after hours bar fromk 1100 PM until sunrise where you can get drinks and food such as hamburgers and hot dogs. They would stay there until 5-530 and at least looking at the pictures they showed me looked to be a good time - I'm sure by now the pictures are plastered all over facebook - a bit of a different era then when we were 19.
Very little english spoken by the staff but in most cases to be a very minor hinderance.
Many different languages spoken by the guests with the most prevelant being spanish, enliglish, Russian and French. Resort would say was mostly comprised with Canadians, Russians and Europeans , not very many Amercans.
Grounds on the resorts were absolutely beautiful and were kept in emaculate conditions, which is a tribute to the numerous groundskeepers we saw through the week.
So would we go back ? In one word - yes.
- Gran Bahia Principe Premier Hotel
