巴伊亞普林西比科巴大飯店 Bahia Principe Grand Coba

Not for families with children. Recommend to look elsewhere

The grounds, the restaurants look nice. Some of the food is of OK quality, there are usually many choices at the main buffet. Some of the staff works hard and they try to serve you well. Many however are just overwhelmed.

This is the perfect example of the resort that could be nice and yet it is ruined by management and their policies. Again: this is not a kids and family friendly resort. Don’t let yourself fooled by the waterpark and other things. -First off, the waterpark has zero food, zero drinks and zero snack facilities around it. You have to walk 10 minutes in the heat in order to get a fresh drink for your kids. -There are no chairs to be found in the shade like ever, unless you wake up early and drop your towels on a few chairs. The shade by the greenery does come with tiger mosquitoes, which bite like crazy all day long (google them if you are not familiar with this bug). -there are some nicer, smaller pools, with a bar in proximity, however the depth of the water is to great there fir small kids, so in effect they are mostly fir adults. -the main buffet closes at 10:30 and until 12-12:30 there is no decent food to be found anywhere on the resort. I’ve been sent away when I arrived at 10:35, with a backpack and with my 2-year-old holding hand. She said to go to “casita”, which is a buffet more than 10 minutes away in horrendous heat and with no food that my kids will eat (they had burgers, hotdogs, ribs, cookies and soft serve ice cream... that’s about it). -the service in the main buffet is often just inexistent. They are overwhelmed and they don’t care. One day our waiter literally refused to bring drinks and my kids kept asking for water. My wife went straight to the bar and they refused to give water, saying that the policy is for the waiter to serve. She has eventually been directed to the hall manager (Jonathan) who came and gave us water. -the staff in general will make no accomodations... as per policy. Asked for cereals at “Casita” (the only 24 hrs buffet)... can’t be done. Asked to take food away for my kids... can’t be done. Even at the a la carte restaurant they refused initially to bring both fruits and ice cream for my kids, they said we have to pick one. -the room on the ground floor had such a strong mold stench that we couldn’t take it and requested to move -the beach was fool of seaweed the entire week, which may not byme the hotel’s fault but it just adds to the insult.

Property let down by rooms and inconsistent staff.

The property and grounds are really beautiful, very well maintained. The pool are pretty great and the bar staff are wonderful. The kids pool too is a nice feature. The Brazilian restaurant is really nice.

So the rooms and the service really let this place down. We requested a crib on arrival, twice in fact. They said if there is one available, they will have it in our room. On check in we where told the same thing, so obviously they didnt bother trying to arrange one before we checked in, one was provided for us the next morning. When it arrived it had no mattress, 2 folded up blankets deemed to be good enough. Also it was so small our 18 month old could climb out, rendering it useless. The rooms are dated, old fixtures and fittings. Our refrigerator was broken, the one they replaced it with lasted a day before it leaked and broke, I asked for a replacement (second last day), they never bothered. Air con was also not working, the had to replace the motor. Lamp shades had mold on all 3 of them. Reservations for the restaurants are a nightmare, we had to queue for an hour after checking in to book (recommended on tripadvisor). This hotel needs an IT upgrade stat, everything is so disconnected. Honestly, how hard is it to provide a system for guests to book restaurants themselves? Last thing you want to do after a long days travelling is queue to book a restaurant. Our first night at the buffet there was a downpour, lucky us sat under one of the spots in the roof that leaks pretty badly. Buffet food is hit and miss, somethings are nice (deserts, soups), somethings are not so nice (beef, pork, chinese dishes).