6th time in the Dominincan, 4th in Punta Cana. All of our other vacations to the Dominican were amazing…and we looked forward to returning before we even left. However after this stay we will not return to a Bahai resort, and we will probably not go back to Punta Cana. We will never deal with Transat!!!!! We hope all other vacationers have a great experience at this resort, and it was obvious the fun many people were having…but we feel we must share our experience.
Your Arrival: We flew Air Transat. First time with this company. Lots of leg room, but flight attendants refused to smile. They actually yelled at my daughter for not having her table up, when I told them it was due to the fact they had not collected her food or partially full juice, they snapped it up and walked away. Otherwise…good flight.
We were directed to the wrong bus at the Punta Cana airport with another couple. Drove for 1 hr before they simply just dropped us at the Bahai. They were not expecting us, and after a long debate drove us to the Esmeralda part of the resort. After another 30 min, alot of Spanish and tension we were told we were not staying there. Then we were taken back to the lobby (soaken wet with our Canadian clothes still on) and very thirsty (could not get a drink due to no wrist bands). Another 30 min or so and they found our room with the Golden Club. Keep in mind, I had my Hotel Voucher with me and let everyone read it several times. Finally got the package with wrist bands and we were taken to our room.
Rooms:
Upon entering our room with the Bell Boy, we quickly noticed we had been put in a room that had yet to be cleaned. The family/group before us sure had a good time…the room was a disaster. We knew if we left, we probably were not getting another room and the Bell Boy told us not to worry and to get settled. Hot, sweaty and very irritable…we slipped into our bathing suits in disgust, locked our stuff in our suitcases in the corner (had not been told about a safe) and ventured to the beach…without towels !!!
Restaurants and Bars: You are pre-assigned your 4 a-la-cartes. Which is good and bad. Great to have the opportunity to actually get into 4 during your 7 day stay, but the times meant an early day from the beach in order to get cleaned up. We used 2 of them and enjoyed the atmosphere at both. The main buffet on alternate nights was always good, and very clean. We enjoyed breakfast over looking the Ocean every morning and it was beautiful. Snack bars by the pool and beach crowded and hard to find a table…but enjoyed by the kids several times a day.
The bar staff were wonderful and entertaining at the main pool bar (both swim up and walk up). The male bar staff at the Sports bar very accomodating and friendly. They went out of their way to get the Canada Hockey Game on every night and cheered along with us.
Beach/Pools/Grounds: Grounds lovely. Always people working and quick to say Ola !!
Pools clear and warm. Beach clean with lots of chairs. Towel guy at main pool irritable always and refused to change towels at the end of the day. We didn’t have bath towels so we tried to get fresh beach towels before getting cleaned up for the night but he refused. We ended up keeping them and getting new ones in the morning..only to be yelled at daily for not handing them in for washing over the night. I explained every day our dillema…he simply did not care.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Hardly saw the entertainment staff, which was dissapointing for our kids. They did do alot of activities but due to the size of the resort it was hard to know what was going on when. Staff didn’t cirulate as they did at the other resorts we visited and didn’t try to get the tourists involved. We did see the Lion King and Michael Jackson…3+ maybe. Not sure of the off resort activities since we missed the Transat Tour meeting, and when we asked our rep about it, she didn’t answer but told us to look around.
Other Comments: Our girls (18yrs)were coming home from the Karoke one night and took the trolly to our room. Upon exiting the trolly the driver summoned them to him, and they went. He then opened his phone and showed them a video of a Bull having sex with a woman, all the while talking Spanish to them. They were terrified and ran quickly to the room. Their vacation changed from that moment on…as did ours. We finally went on the long walk with determination to find the Transat Tour Lady the next morning and went through all of our concerns (even though we had discussed them to Golden Club earlier twice with no luck). She was vaguely interested in the room and getting lost issues…but jumped when told of the video stating he would be fired immediatley and wanted more info. We declined at that moment, fearing the girls would be targeted by other staff and agreed to give all info as we signed out. She agreed this would be best for the girls and agreed to meet…however never showed up at check out time and we could not find her…not surprised !! He is still lurking around…… Other concerns: No face clothes. No bath towels for all of us. Room never swept (big insect of some type was dead at the base of our patio doors all week) we left him there as our check. Bar fridge filled 2 times all week..we really only needed the water and had to get our own. Our rep actually told us to brush our teeth with tap water, which in the past was a huge NO. CHECK OUT: Again…no Transat Rep around. Quick and efficiant sign out at the Golden Club. We saw a group from our flight entering a bus at our designated time. I asked the Nolitours rep if it was our flight and he said yes to get the family and luggage. I told him we were Transat and he said no problem. Once on the bus they asked us to leave. We said ok but needed to get our luggage. They said no, our luggage would be at the airport for us when we got there. We refused to get off without it. Finally at his insistence we were leaving, and he quickly said "go sit back and stay" then came and explained numbers (no clue what he was saying, but realized other Transat people on the bus were looking quite concerned ). I wanted to speak with Transat Tours…but could not find anyone. We stayed on the bus…and cheered when we arrived at the airport and new we would soon be in Canada to celebrate our Gold medal wins !!!
It was the best feeling ever to be home…and that is a first for all of us. It is especially disappointing when you go through the propper channels with your concerns and no one cares…hence the reason I am writing this review.