We’ve just returned from our 2nd visit to the Bahia Principe Luxury Ambar. We chose to go back after we really enjoyed our visit back in 2019.
The airport hasn’t changed, it’s still generally chaotic both on arrival and more so on our departure.
On our arrival at the hotel we had a warm friendly greeting, although on this occasion there was no welcome drink which was disappointing.
The hotel rooms are spacious and well laid out although it was clear the rooms need a freshen up and some things were showing signs of needing repair. Not sure why the wardrobes are designed as they are, my wife had long dresses, and the hanging space doesn’t accommodate this, so the dresses would be all crumpled at the bottom. Easy fix – remove the top shelf and raise the rail.
The room included a well stocked mini bar, which was restocked every day, bottled water, beer etc and there’s complementary toiletries. A big thank you to the cleaners, turn down maid and Butlers (Block 67) for sorting our rooms.
I contacted the hotel before leaving the UK, I’d been advised to do this as a returning customer. I wanted to let them know we were celebrating my wife’s birthday, I was told it had been noted and there would be a welcome gift in the room on our arrival, just like last time they let us down in this department.
After several days we started having a problem with our water pressure, it would literally trickle out of the tap and the shower wasn’t much better, we reported this to guest relations and on the second evening sat in our room waiting for someone from maintenance to come and have a look, 1.5hrs later nobody showed. The next day we reported the issue again and reported it to the TUI Rep, who said he would get back to us, there had now been a number of other complaints. It turned out that there was an issue with 3 blocks and they we’re actively trying to find/fix the problem. After 4 days (Now day 7) the water pressure seemed better.
The resort itself is big although we didn’t venture far from the Ambar, we had use of all the Al a carte restaurants throughout the resort.
It’s not for everyone – but the gym was one of the best we’ve used during our holidays - lots of top quality equipment CV & Weights and apart from one tread mill everything was working and available.
On arrival we knew about booking the al a carte restaurants through the app - it was almost impossible to get a reservation in our first week unless you wanted to eat at 22:00hrs, not great especially if you’re only there for a week. We managed to make sensible reservations for our second week, although we had a 19:15hrs booking for the Maiko Japanese restaurant - two days after making the booking someone had changed the booking to 22:00hrs, we complained and basically was told nothing can be done now. Luckily I kept checking for cancellations and we managed to get in earlier. Tip: once you’ve made your reservations take a screen shot of them. If staff change your booking you can prove you had it booked and they need to put it right.
Food: generally we found the buffet food ok at both restaurants, there was lots of variety although our main issue was the temperature of the - should be hot food, at times it was barely warm. If you want hot food get it from the cooking stations.
Although I did see on several occasions people taking back their food because it wasn’t properly cooked e.g. lobster.
One particular evening when we ate in buffett restaurant, we were shown to our seat and the people on the table next to has clearly come straight from the beach, beach towels in hand and the clothing they had on was not appropriate for an evening meal, they also had music playing from a speaker. Come on Hotel sort this out, people playing music at their table and wearing inappropriate attire and bringing beach towels into the restaurant on an evening should not be happening.
We tried a number of al a carte restaurants –
Restaurant Yurta Mongolian – the food was good (it should be, you pick your own ingredients) but it was absolute chaos, the idea is you pick your own ingredients and sauce before it’s cooked on a large hot plate, unfortunately there was no instruction on this and we observed people stood around wondering what to do. The main issue we had with this restaurant was that after selecting our food our plates where separated and our food was ready/served at different times (please bear in mind they’re cooking about 10 plates of food at once so no excuse to split two plates of food), I’d almost finished my food before my wife’s arrived, we should have been served at the same time - not what I would call al a carte dining.
Restaurant Limbo Gourmet – this is supposed to be the best they have and it comes with a dress code, which we knew about from last time and it’s clearly stated on the hotel website, so we packed accordingly and made the effort on the evening only to find people in there with t-shirts, shorts and flip flops (some looked like they’d just come off the beach). If the hotel is going advertise a dress code then please enforce it, a lot of guests had clearly made a real effort and got dressed up when it really didn’t matter. Very disappointing that the hotel is letting its standards slip. As for the food it was ok.
Restaurant Portofino Italian - we found this restaurant to be the best and most consistent, we ate here twice and both times really enjoyed our food/experience.
Restaurant Naan Indian – This restaurant offers a set menu and we checked it was suitable then made a reservation, the first course was really nice although it went downhill from there, the food was cooked but cold, and we were served a fish course which we’d not expected as this was not highlighted on the menu, so it ended up been wasted, which could have been avoided if the menu was correct and had the fish symbol next to the course, as all the other dishes had a food symbol you had an idea what was been served. We fed this back to guest relations so hopefully they’ll update the menu. One course - Chicken Nawabi had boneless chicken thigh - this was a waste of food, I didn't see anybody eat this, be better of serving chicken breast.
Restaurant Meat – The food was ok I had the Ribs which were tasty but the chewy membrane had been left on which wasn’t pleasant and the steak wasn’t what we expected in a steak restaurant - it was a bit underwhelming.
Restaurant Maiko – Japanese Teppanyaki – we enjoyed the food and experience with the live cooking taking place right in front of you and the interaction with the chef.
Now the hotel had signs posted around the pools which showed the basic rules – clearly to make sure everyone has an enjoyable experience. See Photo.
Now it clearly stated no reserving sunbeds and yet we saw people putting their towels out on the beds just before they were clearly going to bed (around midnight) – wow.
Boom Boxes/Loudspeakers – again it stated no loudspeakers and yet there were groups of people who couldn’t resist playing loud music from their own personal devices.
Guests were getting bottles of corona from the bars then sitting around or in the pool with these glass bottles, really – if one breaks (which we did see and had to get someone to clean it up) and someone gets cut the hotel would be in big trouble, - don’t serve glass bottles from the pool bar, we saw this happening with wine bottles as well.
In Summary:
This hotel is not 5 stars. Don’t be misled by the word Luxury in the title of this hotel because it’s far from it -
No Cushions on the sun loungers, stained beach towels, broken parasols etc.
On an evening we were often served drinks in plastic beakers from the main lobby bar, I expect this during the day around the pool but not in the main bar on an evening.
Food overall was not of a 5 star standard.
They Have dress codes and other rules but don't enforce/manage them.
We found the entertainment team very hit and miss, one day they would say hello then the next, look at you and walk straight by.
Music was played really loud around the pool for about 4-5 hours a day (and when this went off) Music would be played by groups of guests around the pool areas and when this happened they would then try and talk over the music so they got even louder.
WiFi very hit and miss.
If you want a relaxing chill type holiday this is not the place for you – there is no getting away from the noise unless you go to your room. If you want a party seen then it’s probably for you.
If you like more refined things in life then I would avoid this hotel.
No here’s the main reason why we’ll never return to The Luxury Ambar – of all the hotels on this resort you pay the most to stay at the Ambar, during our visit in 2019 guests from other parts of the resort were not allowed in – except on an evening for the adults only al-a-carte restaurants.
Unfortunately, this has changed and every day we had a stream of people from the other hotels using Ambar loungers, the pool or passing through, this included kids, now please bear in mind this is “Adults Only” and you choose adults only for a reason.
Each hotel has its own-coloured wrist bands so anybody who wasn’t wearing a red one stood out a mile. We were told by guest Relations and the TUI Rep that only guests from the Esmeralda could use the facilities at the Ambar. Pity they didn’t enforce this, we often saw people with purple, green and yellow bands using our hotel facilities. And when guests would point this out to the Pool/bar staff they just didn’t seem interested. We often saw people with red bands walking round unable to get a sun lounger because they were taken by people who shouldn’t have been there.
We spoke to lots of repeat guests, some had been 25 times and they all said the same thing, things have changed and not for the better and they won't be returning.
The staff work hard but they’re just not interested in dealing with these issues and ensuring the rules that the hotel has/displays/says are upheld.
Tip – if you still want to go to this resort book one of the cheaper hotels, save a small fortune, and then use the facilities at the Ambar, because they just didn’t care about ensuring the Ambar guests have the best experience they could have.
