Bahia Principe Luxury Runaway Bay — Hotel in Jamaica

Now that I do not have a worker breathing down my shoulder to write a review for them, I've decided to post a review about how me and my newly married husband feel about our experience at the luxury resort. We stayed from April 12-19th, 2025 in building 26 for our honeymoon. Our welcome to the resort was great and we enjoyed the honeymoon amenities upon check-in. The room was always cleaned promptly but at times it was hard to get our mini fridge restocked daily. The two complaints we have about our room was that the traffic from the main road was extremely loud with semis so my husband had to sleep with ear plugs. I'm typically a heavy sleeper but the cleaning and room service staff had carts with plastic wheels that when rolled across the tile floors out in the hallway, sounded like a train was in your room at 6:00am or late at night. When it comes to the hotel staff in general, they come off very pleasant and nice, but quickly turned to trying to sell us weed, privilege clubs, or excursions which we did not appreciate. The towel boys, life guards, pool boys, welcome staff, entertainment staff, gardeners, and maintenance men all tried to sell us weed or anything to get them commission through a side business that they were a part of. We were probably solicited around 15 times a day and we had to assertively decline or else they would keep asking. Some would keep asking us because they would forget that they spoke with us which was strange and made us felt like no workers were being genuine. Me and my husband resorted to finding secluded spots on the beach or pool so we could avoid being solicited and actually relax. The women who weren't trying to sell privilege club packages were the most respectful and did not try to sell us anything. Now for the food, we were very disappointed to find that we could not get any authentic jamaican food. Anything labeled with jerk seasoning or flavors, were very bland and the hotel served a lot of Indian food which was poorly made. The restaurants make you reserve tables when there is little to no customers inside. We could only get into 3 different restaurants in total and had to resort eating a lot of the same food over and over again at the buffets. (I wrote reviews already about Picasso, Dolce Vita, and Mikado so I won't go into too much detail. Just know that 2 out of the 3 were unpleasant). A lot of the buffet food was also mislabeled and burnt. The coffee was very low quality, especially when knowing jamica is known for having some of the best coffee beans. The bars ran out of a lot of syrups and mint for drinks which we thought was strange on the adults side. We had to go all the way to the grand side to finally get a mojito or anything that wasnt strawberry slush. But if you didn't flash tip money, it would be hard to get served. We also had wait staff ask for tips before we were even done with our meal which is not appreciated. The only staff we didn't tip was a woman at Mikado who forgot about our table and we sat for over an hour without our food. The privilege club saleswoman are also very assertive and it's rare for them to accept a "no thank you." They give you the same spiel, tell you look young, and try to entice you to come to their breakfast to get spa vouchers after their pitch. We met a very nice couple from the UK who went to the 2-hour seminar and declined buying into the program for 9,000 euros. The worker was upset with them and followed them to their room until he gave her $40.00 to go away which she said was "not enough." They found it extremely inappropriate and I hope they write a lengthy review on the experience. We hid from these saleswoman the best we could to avoid being asked over and over again. The only reason this resort has good reviews is because every worker begs for one as a marketing ploy and watches you complete it. You will notice the review mentions a specific worker but is a review for the hotel as a whole.

This resort was a huge let down and we wish we had gone to any other resort for our honeymoon,...

June 2025 report I have been to several all inclusive resorts, and this one is the worst! Got to the resort in the 11 a.m. hour. The females at the front desk, did not greet me with a smile, not friendly and short in answering questions. They made me wait over FOUR HOURS to give me access to my room while others who arrived after me were given keys to their room. The rooms were filthy! There was hair in every step I took, the balcony was facing a cement wall with goats and construction (was not a garden view). The balcony door did not lock and a hole was drilled into the door to create a fake lock which also did not work. The light on the balcony was also inoperable. The shower door was broken. During my shower, water got all over the floor as a result. After dinner that day, I went to the front desk to report the issues. The female worker had the AUDACITY to tell me I can grab my luggage out the room at checkout and wait another three to fours to get another room which was UNACCEPTABLE. I advised her I would stay in the unkept room until the next room was available and asked the room be ready by 3:30 as I had already planned activities for the next day. Due to their negligence, I had to forfeit my excursions for the day as they called the room early the next day and requested I move out the room immediately. No one came to get my luggage or assist. Since I don’t do elevators, I was forced to lug all my luggage back to the lobby by steps! I was not directed to the next room and AGAIN no one helped with my luggage. Front desk staff were the absolute worse! I finally get to the next room which initially looked ok. More hair was found throughout the room, the refrigerator was FILTHY! The lights did not work on the balcony. The dresser door to access the refrigerator is decaying, the electrical outlets in the bathroom did not work, the small tv in the room presented nothing but static. Also, construction of some sort was being worked near my room. Early in the morning, all I could hear was drilling and banging. I called the front desk staff requesting to speak with a manager and the female worker LIED saying, managers do not take calls. I wanted the manager to hear the loud drilling and banging but because the front desk staff would not transfer the call, I again had to pause on the activities for the day to report the drilling. The manager also indicated the front desk is supposed to transfer the calls if a manager is requested. At this point, I am livid! I decided to make the best out of the experience since it was paid for. While the guest service manager did come to the room to validate if I was being truthful, he offered me a cheap Jamaican rum and an insulting 25 minute massage for the inconvenience. Note: no one came to clean the fridge during the entire stay. The food is mediocre and overall terrible experience! Go at your own risk, but it appears the reviews you read may be paid for people to write. (The same with YouTube video influencers). With many guest reporting similar issues, it appears nearly impossible that anyone is giving them good reviews. They need to drop the word ‘luxury’ from their name. I would compare them more to a motel, than I would a luxury resort. I will be posting this on ALL their platforms to try to alleviate anyone spending their earned money in such a disastrous place. Try Negril or Sandal resorts. Again, don’t say you were not warned! Not recommended. Rating is -10. I have pictures and videos if anyone cares to see them. Please reply to this post if you’d like to...

So this is my second trip to a Bahia Principe resort (the first one was in DR). First things first, this hotel is beautiful, the staff is very friendly and helpful, the food is amazing and service (room service, cleaning service) is top tier. Bahia is one of the best. With that being said I need to also highlight my personal experience… Upon Landing, it was a bit confusing the find our transportation. There’s no real direction to show you where to go. We went outside and had to go back in to get a wristband because we passed by it. They said it was a25 minute wait for our ride but we were picked up about 5-10 minutes later by Amstar. The ride was a comfortable one until about 30 minutes in we stopped moving (got picked up at 5:15 pm) the driver thought there was an accident ahead but every car was passing us on the side. After an hour of being stuck he asks a driver going the opposite way what’s going on ahead and they say there was a beach party. Our driver finally decided to drive up to try to get ahead. Our friend was celebrating a milestone birthday and had made reservations for her dinner at the hotel at 8:30. The ride would typically be 45 minutes to 1 hour from the airport. We got to the hotel at 8pm!!! Upon arrival we were given a room and told because we didn’t specify that we needed two beds we only had one king size bed and would have to wait 3 days for a two bed room to be available. We were offered a cot but I was not going to have one of us sleep on 1/3 of a bed when we both paid for this room. No where in our booking did it ask to specify if we were a couple so idk why they would assume we were but there are two ppl in a room and that should have been asked instead of assumed. We took the room anyway because we had no choice and hurried to get ready in 28 minutes. We missed half the day and almost didn’t make it because the driver was running out of petrol. We were there from august 3rd -August 7th. The 6th was Independence Day and ppl could get day passes for ppl who weren’t staying at the hotel. We know ppl in Jamaica this isn’t the first time we’ve been there. Several ppl told my friend there were no day passes available for the day then around 3pm she went and asked again since we saw ppl come in who weren’t at the hotel and someone else told her they did have passes for $100 and they had to leave by 6pm. There were excursions that you could do for 1 hour for free- nothing was available. There are two sides to this hotel, adults only and family side but I could not tell the difference. Whenever I turned around there were children and families on the adult side but if we had to passed by the family side to get to the nude beach, we were asked by other visitors to cover up because our bathing suits were too revealing. I paid to be on the adult inclusive side so I would not have to deal with children seeing me in a thong… quite embarrassing. Lastly the nude beach is on the other side of the hotel… near the family side… if you are at the beach with family and you swim out, you can see the other side… the nude side of the beach so that experience was short lived because we were worried kids could see us. The adult side should be near the nude beach so it prevents adults from passing through the family side. Overall the experience at this hotel was good but those hiccups cost us a day lost and what could have been some awkward situations if we didn’t make the...