We just came back from the Bahia Principe Explore Legend (formerly Fantasia) - family with two elementary school age kids. We did the Oniero dinner show the final evening. Prior to that, the experience was fine, but not special. Posting this extended review because I there is enough there to hope Hyatt will look at feedback and make changes to make it a more uniformly positive experience.
Pros:
1: The beach - very nice. If you are low on melanin, the heavily shaded sections are perfect, with ample loungers (even considering resort “vulture culture”) and that beautiful Punta Cana sand and water. Seaweed was present but not excessive. Towels and snacks rights there at the beach, along with wash-off showers. ONe of the best beaches we have been too.
2: The pool and water park for little kids: The kids adored the pool (which also has a swim-up bar for the adults). It is big, and they do run family appropriate activities. The water park is not suitable for older kids, but for 9 and unders it is perfect. If your kids are older or need bigger thrips, book elsewhere. (Also, the other Bahia water parks are smaller but for the same age range).
3: The Bars: They are there throughout the property and offer a wide variety of drinks, often with mid-shelf liquor included. The bartenders are knowledgable pros.
4: The staff: Ranged from professional to enthusiastic and friendly - I have to commend Bahia on solid hires.
5: The Oniero Dinner show: Really, a meal (with some entertainment) followed by a fairly spectacular post-dinner show, with music and acrobatics. There are a couple obstructed views (we had one, but a kind waiter had us move for the show), so maybe avoid over-booked times. This was the most special experience that we had on this trip - the performers are exceptional and to see that level of athleticism from so close, with well designed sets and theme was great. The food was solid, but it is a fixed, shared, menu, so make sure your family like what is served (or go to the buffet before/after). Note, right now included with a 4 night or longer stay, but am extra charge for a shorter stay.
The mid:
1. The rooms: They are perfectly acceptable and clean. But as many have noted, they show signs of wear and tear, with things like cracked tiles, chips on wood, our had a pull broken from the drapes, etc. The safe occasionally stopped locking (but trying a different code seemed to reset it). Beds are comfortable, everything was usable - no complaints, per se - just not anything to write home about.
2. The food: We dined at the Greek, Nomad (Mongolian), Rodizio (Brazilian), Garden Circus (for Oniero) and all the buffets and grills. Nomad and Rodizio were very good, if you like meat. The Greek was “ok”, as was the Garden Circus meal. The buffets were very hot-or-miss. We had some really good (and cooked in front of you) shrimp and scallops, mini-ravioli, and breakfast staples (French toast, crepes, hash browns, made to order omelets, bacon, etc.). Lots of other items varied from kind of tasteless to “edible”, and plenty were not appealing - including very meh burgers, hot dogs and pizza. Quality of the fruit was mixed, too - pineapple was consistently excellent, the rest not so much. Prepared dessert was also generally in the “edible but meh” range - often looking more appealing than tasting (but sometimes not looking that appealing) - though a couple items from the reservation restaurants were very good.
Also, while the staff was good, they do make you ask for things like drinks (rather than telling you what they have / what you can get). Often lacking signature drinks at the reservation restaurants (though when they had, they were very good).
3. Non-Pool/Beach day activities: The minigolf is ok, but could use some shade. it is also smal, and no turf on the course makes it harder (bad for little ones who get frustrated). A tiny playground by it, fine for a few minutes, nothing more. They had a cooking cookies class for the kids (both in and not in kids club), but mostly in Spanish and we don’t know what ever happened to the cookies. Supposedly some bikes somewhere, but no clue how to borrow them - and they don’t tell you. Ditto really about most amenities and activities - you have to do the work to look / ask / etc., not self evident. One basketball court, pool tables but had to pay, tennis courts, but not much else (missing the oversized chess, cornhole, ring toss, etc., that you see at many other resorts).
4. The trams: fine, but inconsistent timing and not clearly marked routes, also some showing a lot of wear.
The cons/dissappointing things:
1. restrictions on use of other Bahia facilities: Older reviews talked about us8ng other pools and water parks. That is still kind of doable … but they have security at times blocking you from, say, walking through Esmerelda to the beach (forcing you to go a longer way on the tram route) and give you the sense that you might be kicked out from the other pool or water park at any time. It left a bad taste, given that one of the draws of a big complex is the notion of having access to a larger set of facilities - limiting to the Fantasia makes it actually seem limited and small.
2. the non-Oniero entertainment: I think folks will have varied experiences here, depending on timing, but for us - until the last night, there literally were no meaningful evening shows. The last night there was a dance performance (after we had just seen Oniero) - and it was good - but the calendar was empty the prior 3. There is a cute little light show at the castle twice an evening, but that lasts for 10 minutes or so. We have been to several other all-inclusives, and this one had the least in terms of entertainment - by a large margin.
3. no hot tubs: some jacuzzis (pool temp) and the room jet tubs (not deep enough to be hot tubs).
4. A Serious Lack of Ice Cream: they advertise the castle bar as having some sort of ice cream place…. But it is just a bar with maybe some vats of mix ready for milkshake. Not a good ice cream on site - just some scoop your own at the buffet and one soft serve machine at the waterpark kiosk. For a place that consistently gets to 85 with hot sun on top in the day, targeted at families with kids, to have no good ice cream? Major oversight.
5: Kids club: oversold in adverts - two rooms without much in them, lacking strong English speakers which made my kids too nervous to try it (meaning no parent alone time)…. For a place aimed at parents with younger kids… big miss.
Relatedly, the fact that there weren’t complimentary tubes or toys or anything, and instead hugely marked up things for sale (for short trips) was also a turn-off.
Bottom line - Oniero was special - the rest is “fine”. We felt a bit let down prior to Oniero, not in a “this is unacceptable” way, just: “we could have booked notably better at the same price point.”
Oniero elevated the experience - enough that I would recommend it for other families with young kids for short (4 night or so) stays. But had it not been for that, I probably would have recommended looking elsewhere - not because it was bad, but just because you could easily do better. Maybe Hyatt will make the changes to push towards making this place a more sure-fire “yes.”
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