I am not high maintenance, unreasonable or hard to please but I have to say that this resort fell far short of meeting my expectations. I have to been to a Grand Bahia in Dominican as well as all inclusives in Mexico and Panama and I found that this particular resort does not come close to anything I've experienced before. The following areas are seriously lacking:

1. Service- Horrendous. Seriously you get better service at MacDonalds. Staff constantly asked for tips for everything (maids, wait staff, bartenders ect). One of the grounds crew actually asked us to get him a beer from our fridge. Staff are apathetic, slow and rude. I only found them to be friendly when they were not working (ie: loitering) or when they were asking for tips.

2. Cleanliness/ Maintenance- For some reason the bars smelled strongly of sour milk. The sports bar smelled so disgusting I was actually checking my shoes to see if I stepped in something. I was frequently served coffee in dirty saucers (like stained with someone's old sugar all over it). Dirty tablecloths happened quite a bit. In our room, the bathroom door handle was completely broken and stayed that way all week despite calls to the front desk. Bar staff rinsed out what looked like used, dirty glasses and refilled them right in front of guests at the Lobby bar.

3. Ala Carte Restaurants- ridiculously difficult to get a reservation at a reasonable time because all the restaurants are “fully booked” anywhere close to dinner hour. The one time we did manage to get a 730 pm reservation, the place was barely half-full, certainly not near “fully booked”. The second reservation was for the “Grill”. They refused to accommodate us before 930 pm (again because they were soooo busy) and when we showed up the place was deserted. Like there were 2 other tables. And then they started to clear away the desert buffet before we were finished because they all wanted to go home. The last reservation we made was “lost” by the staff and again, they refused to accommodate because they were "so busy" (again the restaurant was empty).

4. Entertainment- we went to the “show” one night and didn’t bother to go back. It’s really just a bunch of people dancing around to bizarre music choices in budget costumes. For 2 hours.

5. Food- average at best. Popular buffet items were always in short supply and not replenished quickly. Food at breakfast looked like it was yesterday's lunch (the chicken and hot dogs in particular). The house white wine is foul. Red is not bad.

Really this place is only palatable if you are drunk most of the time. I have never been on a vacation before where I was counting down the days till I could fly home. Stay away from this place if you want to feel like your vacation money was well spent.

We first visited the Gran Bahia back in 2008 on a family holiday and have been back every year since! I normally struggle when travelling as I do not have a very strong stomach and have to be very careful what I eat, but with a buffet resturant and 4 other 'bookable' resturants on site, there is pleanty to choose from and I was not ill once! The food is amazing, very well presented and always very hot and very tasty!

There is plenty to do within the complex, there is a shopping area which is handy for picking up small souveniers etc. With it being an all-inclusive hotel the water sports and other activities are all free! (Or at least you get a taster)...

The rooms are HUGE and very clean, cool and comfortable. Fresh bedding every day, a mini fidge with water, soft drinks and crisps in, complementory every day. A TV with mostly US programmes/channels but why go to Jamacia and watch TV?!

The beach is very clean, the staff are naturally very friendly and helpful. Always served very quickly at the bar, even during the evening entertainment! Entertainment team where spot-on with getting everyone envolved without being too much!

Perfect holiday!

Great place, I was expecting more than the all inclusives in Cuba and Dominican, but never expected to be so satisfied. Clean, great food and drinks, animators are very friendly and inviting. If you should be looking for a place for a WEDDING. Well this is the place. I wasnt there for a wedding but if I ever get married in a all inclusive I would deffinetly consider this one. Not so kid friendly though. I have seen places with great play areas for kids and water slides in the pools. Dont expect much for the kids here. The JERK chicken by the beach is to die for. As for excursion: We did the river tubing activity which was great because of the animators, the jerk chicken on the island we stopped by durring this outing was good too. The drive up the mountain is more scary than the tubing down. We found this one was worth the price. We also did the Dunns river, which was a great experience, If you can make it there on your own you will save alot of money. This excursion included a visit to a poterie store, a small garden and some shopping at the Taz Mahal in Ochos Rios. That wasnt worth the extra, if you want to go to Ochos rios Taz Mahal and not be rushed and go to the flee market it only costs 15$ through the hotel. The last excursion we did was the zip line with the bob sledding, Great site, but once again if you can get there on your own, through a taxi service at the hotel, you will save alot. All they do is drop you there and pick you up, and you have to go to all the hotel to pick up people and drop off people, we waited a long time for them to pick us back up. All in All I recommend this place.

Went back to this resort again -Jan 27th to Feb 3d, but took friends who were 1st time Caribbean travellers!
Big improvment from last year - found out they are under new management - now ALL staff are much friendlier .
As far as negative comments from other travelles that say the beach is not nice, resort is too big, carpets are stained & smelly, - more people need to read their travel books or go on line - if anyone looks at pictures, you can easily tell that the resort is big !! - but it's helpful to walk off calories after eating a big meal & consuming lots of calories in the drinks !! - If you have mobility problems, you should be checking the info provided or asking a travel agent - do your homework!!! - there are elevators here also !!
Yes the carpets are somewhat stained - looks like bleach - but not a dealbreaker for choosing this place - I'd rather have carpet than tile - when bellboys are rolling luggage carts down the halls @ 2 in the morning with late arrivals !!! Also you're in a rainy, damp climate, of course they might smell - not hard to figure that out !!
Beach is coarse sand - but water shoes are needed in the water anyway, so if you're going for a walk- wear them !!
Food overall good - lots to choose from - hard to please so many different nationalities !! I'm sure that European will expect different foods than Americans, Asians, Brirish etc. - if you're that picky, stay home !- If you want real Jamaican food, stay with a family instead of a resort .
Our least favorite was the Italian - but we didn't go hungry - not always happy with certain restaurants at home either so why should a vacation resort be any different.
Overall resort can't be too bad- met 1 couple that has been there 24 times over the 5 years that it's been open- I wish they would adopt us !!
Our guys did golfing twice - once @ White Witch - very expensive but wonderful course & views - worth the money & you're on vacation- did Bob Marley tour- they enjoyed & very informative about religion & overall Jamaican life - the actual tour guide makes the trip sucessful or not .Did Dunns River Falls climb - chickened out on the steep part, but aparantly that was the easy part - my legs are too sort, so that didn't help. - Shop vendors pushy
up top, but we were warned ahead of time by bus driver & tour guy.
Overall comment for any resort - if it says guys wear long pants & shirt for dinner - DO IT !
The info in the travel books say it & it's posted in front of each restaurant. Before entering the morning buffet, 1 woman was asked to wear proper cover up - her butt was NOT covered !
Would definetly go back, but would also like to try someplace different - who knows.