Hello, Travel Bugs! Jhon and I stayed three nights at the Bahía Príncipe Luxury Ambar all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, and this was our experience.
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Arrival
The Luxury Ambar is located beachfront in the bottom left corner of the Bahía Príncipe complex and is not reachable by car.
You are dropped off at the Grand Aquamarine hotel lobby and transported to the Luxury Ambar by electric cart.
This was our 17th stay in a Punta Cana all-inclusive resort, and it started with a swift check-in. We pre-checked in on their website, making our in-person check-in only a few minutes long.
They gave us cold face towels and a welcome drink which made an excellent first impression.
Pit Stop at the Coffee Shop
Since we arrived early and our room wouldn’t be ready until 3 PM, we decided to grab a quick snack at the coffee shop.
We love it when resorts have a coffee shop within their amenities; this one was no exception.
It became our favorite spot in the hotel. Here you’ll find sweet and savory snacks, coffee, hot tea, iced tea, and the best cookies we’ve had in a long time.
Pool Bar and Lunch Buffet
We then headed to the pool bar with a wet and a dry side to do my piña colada taste test. The Luxury Ambar piña colada gets a solid B+.
For lunch, we went to the larger of two buffet restaurants, Palmyra, located in the lobby building. Palmyra is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The restaurant is big and beautifully decorated. It has the luxury vibe we expected due to the resort’s name.
The buffet itself is small, but it has a good variety of food. The food we tried was delicious, but the pizza dough could have been thinner.
The service was exceptional as in the rest of the resort; one server, in particular, stood out. If you’ve stayed at the Luxury Ambar, you know who we mean when you hear the words “coffee, coffee!”
After lunch, our eyelids weighed about a ton, so we had some shut-eye time in the peaceful lobby.
We got lucky, and at 2 PM, we were assigned our room on the second floor of building 66, near the lobby.
We booked a Suite Junior Deluxe room and paid $128 per person per night. The space was ample and very comfortable, but more on it later.
Day Entertainment
The entertainment team was very active in the Luxury Ambar, and later that afternoon, Jhon played one of the games they organized, a minigolf game by the beach where the winner got a bottle of Dominican rum.
There were other games during our stay with bigger prizes, like a free couples massage at the spa.
After the game, we went to the pool, where a foam party had started.
People of all ages got really into it, which made it a lot of fun. The Luxury Ambar is an adults-only hotel and is usually expensive, so we were surprised by the younger-than-average crowd and the party vibe.
I wouldn’t describe it as a party hotel like the Riu Republica or the Royalton Chic, but it’s definitely not a quiet hotel either.
The Pool
There is only one pool in this resort. It is big and lively, with music always playing in the background.
The hotel is small, so one pool is enough; however, seating is scarce, and it’s hard to find available lounge chairs by the pool.
Our favorite feature of this pool was the water faucets which gave great massages.
Snacks
After the foam party, we went snacking at Las Olas Beach Restaurant. This is a shared space with guests from all the other resorts in the complex.
We could’ve gone to Las Brisas Beach Restaurant, exclusive for Luxury Ambar guests and therefore less busy, but we didn’t know this then.
Jhon’s snack was very good, but mine was not so much.
Dinner time!
At 7:30, we had dinner reservations at Portofino, the Italian restaurant. Service was excellent, and our appetizers arrived within minutes of ordering.
Jhon’s carpaccio was delicious, but my salad was average. Our main dishes took almost 25 minutes to arrive, which is a long time to wait in an all-inclusive specialty restaurant.
Jhon’s shrimp fettuccini was just ok and had only four small shrimps, and my ravioli were too thick, and I left most of them on the plate.
They redeemed themselves with fantastic desserts; the tiramisu and the cream puffs with ice cream.