Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda — Hotel in Higüey

Just returned a week ago from a 12 day stay at Esmeralda, Fabulous! 10th July to 22nd. Mom, 17&9yrs I will start with the bad. We stayed in room 94211.. It's extremely noisy right above the entertainment auditorium. The auditorium is small and there is no need to have music that loud. If you have young babies and you want them to have decent hearing , do not attend evening shows. My ten year old could not cope with the loudness of the PA system neither could I. My daughter was fine and she is deaf in one ear. Evening entertaining is ok. Friday 18th they had a beach show with fireworks, was spectacular, we got to watch the island dances again it was eardrum blowing loud. All the other days, it's a hit or miss game. It's more or less than same music and dance. 2. Pool entertainment, there are 2 large pools and separate jacuzzi area.. The pool water is hot by mid day a shower is cooler than pool water. 3. The big filters in the pools don't work and water is cloudy and dirty, I got so paranoid telling kids not to get pool water in their mouths. Day 2 at the main pool, I saw a tampon all washed and not whitein the pool hovering over the non functioning filter, I went and reported it, manager came with me, he said he would send someone to take of it, it never happened. 3. The day time pool music and entertainment is mediocre boring to death, same music 24/7. 4. Aqua aerobic.. My favourite.. Unfortunately was nothing to write home about. Once per day only . 12 midday everyday for 30 minutes and most of the routine not suitable for aqua workout. But it was something to get you off Yr feet. 5. Rubbish pool music.. I love jazz all sorts but not Hispanic jazz 24/7 it's a holiday mixed clientele families, young people!!! Seriously 🙄 it's OK like early in the morning not all day. The food.. SO MUCH WAISTED... Steak was served everyday and most of it was not edible. Most beef cut were cooked inappropriately. The meat you could not cut or chew. The steak was cooked from very cold and straight to the plate. Ribs were fryed .... Not cooked through. 7. Rooms.. The smell of sewer greeted us on check in.. Reported it but did not go away.. Learned that you have to always keep toilet lid down, you can hear next door toilet flush through yrs. But the smell still comes out through the shower and it goes away if you keep bathroom door closed. 8. Room safe failed a few times but they sorted instantly. House keeping... Face clothes were only available on day we checked in gone next day never to be seen again fortunately I brought from home, by day 5 we were one pillowcase short until we left. Day 3 we were down to 2 bath towels.. That was not acceptable. I matched to the cleaning lady and made her we needed 3, 3 people staying in the room not 2. Sorted that for good. Limited resort info on arrival. We had to wait for room be be read middle of the night dinner was still being served nobody bothered to tell us where to go and eat or get anything. Sports bar the staff in there are on a different level like horses with blinkers on 30 minutes waiting for service and only a couple of people waiting to be serviced! You have to tip really well to get any attention.. .. Don't bother trying to get served is like waiting for Jesus to come so most of the times we got drinks from pool bar or lobby bar then watched sports in the sports bar.11. Min fridge goes off when you leave the room so thing don't get really cold. THE GOOD STUFF :- 1. The rooms and beds are extremely comfy and clean mini bar stocked daily according to occupancy 5** beer water, milk, chocolate drink, assortment of fizz pop, nuts, really good filter coffee and teas. Ice bucket in the room, coffee maker in the room. Balcony with 2 chairs and clothes hanging rail. No hair dry. There is skin moisturiser, shampoo, conditioner, bath and shower jell big bottles, face soap no skin exfoliating cloth or sponge. Jacuzzi bath and shower. Runout of space will do 2nd review of esmeralda.will add positive on...

We stayed 26 May - 2 June. |They should remove Luxury from their resort name, as it is far from it. Overall the resort was good, it's just that the little things keep adding up. I'll get to them.|The week we were there the sargassum was bad. (Bavaro area) The worse I have ever seen, and this was 4th trip around there. Not the resorts fault, but they were slow removing it, and then it became over whelming, as it kept coming in day after day. We did manage to get an ocean swim our last day June 1st.||The good |The size of the resort is great, easy to get around. Resort was operating at 50% capacity when I asked on arrival.|WIFI everywhere, even had it over at Ambar.|It was nice having 2 big pools (party & calm), plus a kids splash pool. One day the party pool was fouled at around noon and closed till the following morning. That made the calm pool the party pool. |The food was ok, you won't starve. Bacon everyday.|The maid service was good, our room was done every morning. Water and fridge was done every morning as well.|Check in was easy. We waited till we arrived to do it, also made all our a la carte reservation at that time. We opted for 4, and times were between 6:30 -7pm, with 1 at 7:30pm.| Luggage was brought to your room at the same time you were shown to your room. We were in building 95 facing the calm pool and close to buffet. It was a very quiet building at night when the shows start.|Shout out to Yenny our pool server, and Nelson at the lobby concierge desk.|The trams to shuttle you around worked well. Ask at the desk and they will help you. I needed to go to the pharmacy (at Ambar), and they took me over by myself.||The bad or annoying|If your an early riser, no where to get a coffee before 7am.|Towel game is played, but we found 90% who saved spots were there before 9am. There are some who would save a spot and not show up until afternoon, or not at all.|It's the resorts fault for the towel game being played as shade is very limited.|The main buffet is small, with a limited selection. Some items are repeated daily, like burgers, pizza, fries. They catered well to kids tastes. If you want quiet eating, sit in the so called outside section.(still indoors).|The food is never hot, warm at best, and cold by time you get to your seat. | At breakfast, one day there is peanut butter, and none the next. At the |bread /toaster section there were many times with no butter. Morning or night.| Ran out of banana's many times, or not put out. | Staff was very slow to serve you once seated. (some were great and stood out, we tipped them). It was hit and miss. At supper time a group would just hang around folding napkins, became a running joke.|The beach buffet for lunch was small and repetitive. It opens at noon, and one day we arrived at 1:30 and got the last 2 plates in the place. They would run out of things and not replace them. One day they ran out of mustard.| You need to watch what you eat, and this is not the resorts fault but other guests. If there are double trays of food, grab from the furthest from you. Unattended kids would just go to the buffet and grab food off the counter with their hands, also seen adults do it. We actually seen one woman use the back of her hand to touch all the food to see how hot it was. ( pancakes, french toast, crepes area). |BRING YOUR OWN HAND SANITIZER with you and use it before picking your food, and then again before starting to eat.|There are too many 1 step step down areas throughout the resort, and my wife didn't the see the lobby one where the tram drops you off. She fell and sprained her ankle, slowed her down all week. This happened coming back from lunch 2nd day (no alcohol involved, so be aware of your surroundings). They helped a little, brought ice, and asked if we needed to go to the clinic. They did check in with us later to see if she was doing ok. They need "watch out for step" signs posted.||It's a toss up if we would return, the price would have to be...

Just returned from 7 days at the Bahia Principe Esmeralda. We were a multi-generational family of 7. Would never visit this resort again.

Check-in:

Arrived at 3:15 (check-in is at 3). Neither of our rooms were ready. Diego called housekeeping and they told him 10 minutes. He said “it will be more like 45. Go to the sports bar and I will come get you”. We did but the mosquitos were really bad so after 45 minutes and no food arriving, we left. He pointed to the building and said “there is your building. You guys walk but your luggage will be delivered shortly.” Never had that experience before—normally golf carts will transport us. But we walked, in the 87 degree heat, after traveling all day. Definitely not a good start.

Rooms:

Rooms were nice. We paid extra for connecting rooms. Rooms were clean. Air worked well. No complaints.

Food:

Food was just okay. We had vegetarians, seniors, and small kids. Everyone found something to eat, but definitely nothing to write home about. Yurta was amazing-we ate there twice.

Had a reservation for Mikano, but on arrival the staff was just soooo rude and unprofessional (Nilkian, the manager on duty, was so rude and condescending) so we left and went to the buffet.

Staff:

The staff at this hotel are by far the most unfriendly, unhappy people I have ever encountered at a resort (and we visit the Caribbean multiple times each year!). Nilkian was so rude. I went to the front desk to complain and was told “you’re not allowed to speak to management. Tell me your concern and I’ll pass it along to management.”

Customer Service:

Check out was a nightmare. We received an email to use the Checkout Express. We did. Paid the balance and went to the front desk to get our exit ticket. They demanded we pay the balance again. After an hour, we were convinced we were being extorted. We had receipts from the checkout express; we called the bank to confirm the charge was on our credit card. We provided the receipts. We provided our credit card transaction. The front desk flat out said if we didn’t pay again, they would not allow us to leave the resort. We came dangerously close to missing our flight, so I paid again and will dispute the transaction with our bank. I’ve NEVER had that experience before.

Trams were hit and miss. But multiple people we encountered experienced the same “anti-American” sentiment from the tram drivers. I speak/understand Spanish relatively well. (Took3 years in high school and 3 years in college). On multiple occasions, the tram drivers would comment to other passengers “they are American. You know Americans only speak English.” They were quite surprised that I not only understood, but responded.

Kids Activities:

Kids club staff were the true standouts. Although there was a language barrier, they were very friendly and my son enjoyed. Shows each evening were great. Unfortunately, with the exception of the pool and beach, there are no real activities for teens. My 13 year old actually asked if we could leave early on day 5. She was bored.

App:

The app was glitchy and a pain. We found multiple workarounds, but making dinner reservations for more than 6 people (I.e my family) is not possible on the app. Additionally the app had to be deleted and re-installed multiple times during our stay. Guest Experience showed us workarounds but acknowledged that the app is problematic.

Beach:

Beach is amazing. Seaweed was bad only one day but staff was out there raking constantly. Highlight of the resort.

Pools:

Most Pools were nice. The beachfront pool was the best for smaller kids.

The Bahia Scouts splash park is in desperate need of renovations. Paint was peeling. Tiles were missing. Caution cones were stuck inside of broken pool elements.

Drinks were very watered down at the bars.

Overall, I’d never stay there again. We spend a lot of money on vacations each year—good customer service is non-negotiable. Unfortunately the bar is so low at this resort that I wouldn’t even accept a free...