Bahia Principe Luxury Runaway Bay Adults Only - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5631 reviews

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  70th Birthday Party Family Vacation

  Our family from Canada, Germany and England (16 of us) all got together to celebrate my husband's 70th Birthday at this amazing resort. We were there for 10 days from March 8-17. We stayed on the Luxury side. You'll be greeted by Spicy D who gave us the best and most hilarious tour to our rooms and filled us in on some of the key points to this resort. The best thing about this resort besides the breathtaking views is the food at the Jazmin buffet. A different theme every night. An unbelievable abundance and variety of food that tasted amazing. You will not be disappointed. A huge shout out to Leroy Smith and Charlton for their outstanding service. They went above and beyond! The Las O Las buffet and the buffet on the Grand side were top notch too. The resort is very clean (absolutely no pests) , rooms are spacious with views you'll never forget. We all had Oceanfront Suites in building 27. Housekeeping did a fantastic job every day and rooms were replenished with beer, water and pop as well. We celebrated my husband's birthday on March 13 at the Picasso Restaurant. You may have seen us all dressed up in 70's clothes :) We had the best birthday party ever!! Another huge shout out to Ashdane from Guest Experience who helped us with our plans and made sure everything went well and as expected. As with all resorts there are some things that need to be improved on and I did mention them in my survey they asked me to fill out. Navigating through the Bahia website for checking in and booking restaurants was difficult for our large group so we waited till we got there to check in. You can book your transfers to and from the airport on this site. That went smooth and recommend that you do it that way instead of private. The resort is BIG...so if walking is not a favorite of yours you can use the shuttle. The elevators are cleaned frequently so you'll notice them to be not working periodically. We used the stairs to the 7th floor everyday to keep in shape! The resort was short staffed during our stay so we were unable to get restaurant reservations for our large group except for the birthday party night. As well these restaurants are not open all the time. For us that was okay, because we enjoyed the Jazmin buffet every night. Yes, you do have to pay for shows but it's worth it. We went to the show about the history of Jamaica through music and dance. It was brilliant. $40 US The staff at this resort are amazing. Tip them well!! They work hard to make your experience a great one whether it's at the buffet, bar, pool or the person who cleans your room. US dollars are preferred but they happily accept Jamaican dollars. And do your research about how much each bill is worth before you tip. $1,000 JMD is around $10 Canadian. $50 JMD is around 50 cents so be careful. If you are looking to do some excursions, check with the resort first before going through a private company. You'll get a better rate. These are just minor issues and like I said all resorts have them. I feel we got the best experience for the money we spent. We had the best time here!! We'd also love to try other Bahia Principe resorts the next time we plan another family trip. I highly recommend this resort. You won't be disappointed. Jamaica is beautiful and an experience you don't want to miss.

  Mar 19, 2025
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  Not very "all inclusive"

  Well, let me start off by saying we are, by no means, all inclusive amateurs. This is, however, our first time at a Bahia Principe resort and we are not impressed. I'd you didn't show up to the property with all of your dinners reserved ahead of time, you will be resting the same food every night at the buffet. I was informed of this ahead of time and was told to use the app to make reservations. That would be great if the app worked properly. It would not let me check in, saying I needed to complete every field. Well, every field was complete and it still wouldn't let me check in. It finally worked the night before our arrival and by that time every restaurant was full. Upon arriving to the resort we tried to make reservations but we're only able to make one at unreasonable time, the last night we are here. The other reservations are at 830pm and 9pm and one of those is at a restaurant we didn't really want to go to but it's something other than the buffet so we'll try it if we have to. We don't really want to eat that late, but if we have to, we have to. It is also pretty bad to have to serve yourself every meal every day if the buffet is all you can get into. It also seems that the employees aren't very well informed. You ask a question and the most common answer is "I don't know if that's possible." We've been to Jamaica 7 times now and this is the first time I've ever been told, "there's a possible." It's usually, "no problem." The other main issue we have here is there are zero hot tubs and the pools and beach ckose at 6pm every day. It's no wonder you can't get a reservation for dinner. They force everyone to go at the same time by closing the daytime activities and prepping for the enjoining activities that start at 9pm every night. So it's either eat at the buffet so you can enjoy evening activities or take the late reservation and miss it all. Hard to call it all inclusive of you can't experience everything fire to poor scheduling and operation. This is the first and last time we visit any Bahia Principe. We can not risk another vacating experience like this one. We will be returning to the other resort brand we usually use. P.s. If you want anything other that bottom of the barrel alcohol, you will be charged

  Mar 16, 2025
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  Save Your Money

  Save your money, advertised as a 4+ star rated resort and it’s far from it. The rooms are in desperate need of renovation, our room had a broken cabinet door, mold around the bathroom ceiling light, the shower didn’t drain and the shower handheld unit was broken and it appears that a 5 year old tried to repair it and failed. Sticky tiled floor that must have been cleaned with dirty water and the list goes on. Food was not good, too many items recycled from lunch to dinner, almost all dishes at buffet were dried out and grossly over cooked and or reheated. The only acceptable items were the stations where you could have something prepared and breakfast was okay. Restaurants were impossible to get into, everything was booked as they’re shared with the residents side so we were forced to eat at the buffet all week. Would never go back, too many choices at this price point.

  Mar 16, 2025
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  Great experience overall, large resort with family side and Adult-Only side

  We stayed at Bahia Principe Luxury Runaway Bay March 2-8, 2025. Overall, one of the best all-inclusive resorts we have stayed in. Please note that all Bahia Principe resorts have now been acquired by Hyatt so some of our experience may change when the management takes over in April. Also note that staff and store owners there told us that when we were there, it was an unusually low number of guests for what is usually a busy time. Resort in general: The Luxury resort is the adults-only side of the entire resort. So you have access to the Grand Jamaica resort, which is the family side. They are attached to each other and it is a large property. But guests and children at the Grand Jamaica side cannot come over to the Luxury side. There is a pool that winds through the entire resort so there are lots of chairs at pool side with covered cabanas and umbrellas. It’s mostly shallow for cooling off in. There are a couple of swim-up bars. The beach is also very large, there are multiple areas to access. The center area on the Grand side is more rocky. Again, lots of chairs and umbrellas to sit. Some areas have a bar, other areas there are servers that come and take orders. Note that the resort is not near any areas that you can walk to, such as a town or shopping villages. You need a car or need to make reservations for excursions. Resort is about an hour from the Sangster Airport in Montego Bay. We took the transport that the hotel offers. It is a very large bus and it stops at a couple other resorts, so it was about 1 hour 20 minute trip, but it was not too expensive. There is a spa, which we did not use. And two gyms, one at Luxury and one at Grand. They are fairly nice with multiple machines. They have some classes too. Our Room:was very nice. We had the junior deluxe which is basic, but it is very large, clean, and had a jetted tub. However, it took forever to fill it up. The balcony is also very nice, private, and has a small rack attached to the wall to hang wet towels and swim suits. Also there is a “bar” and fridge that is refilled every day for free. They give you bottled water, bottles of Coca Cola, some snacks. These are replenished daily. They also give you a bottle of vodka and rum, but this is just once, not refilled. Room service is also free of charge. We scanned the menu and it looks like you can get food from the restaurants too, not just basic food. There were only 4 TV channels. Food: On the Luxury side, there is the buffet restaurant, Jazmin, which is very good. Lots of options and the staff are all very nice. Food was always hot and fresh. Luxury side cannot use the Grand side buffet. There are 3 “ala carte restaurants” at Luxury side, where you need to make reservations ahead of time. We used the Bahia app and were able to reserve a week before we arrived, which is good, because otherwise it’s hard to get a reservation. The Picasso was the best by far. Takana is supposed to be Asian food, and while it tasted good, is not really classic Asian (I know, because I’m Chinese!) The Rodizzio is “Brazilian steakhouse”, but it is actually outside under the tent which doubles as one of the buffets for breakfast and lunch. We had a late reservation at 9:30pm and maybe that is why but the meat was not very good. Not hot, and we had to ask for them to come around to our table. The salad bar is basically what was served at the buffet, and so was the dessert. Definitely not high quality like most Brazillian steakhouses. The Grand Jamaica side also has 3-4 “ala carte restaurants” which you can make reservations for. We didn’t get in to any of those. There are some light snacks and water/coffee in each of the two front lobbies during the day and evening. During some hours in the middle of the day, at the pool side at Luxury, there weres some snacks available (nacho chips, fruit, mini-burgers, etc). Activities: - We enjoyed sitting at the outdoor patio at the Grand Jamaica side. Some live music, bar, etc. The Luxury side has a smaller outdoor area near the front lobby, but not as nice. - There are shows every night indoors in an auditorium, but the sound system is so bad you can’t really hear the music well. - There is an older area on the west side of the resort that has some shops. Apparently they used to have a casino and live entertainment there, but it’s not used much anymore, so the shop owners are struggling over there. And it’s not advertised because there are also shops that are part of the resort. We tried to support the independent shops to help them out. Prices are cheaper there too. - Some water sports available, but we did not use any of them. - Plenty of different companies at the resort that offer off-site excursions around Jamaica that you can make reservations with.

  Mar 15, 2025
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  Not the best choice

  Staff was great and hotel was nice. Pools close at 6pm and some pools are closed during the day for no reason. Restaurants are all full and unable to get reservations at any of them. Had to eat buffet the whole trip. If you wanted anything other than red stripe beer or bottom shelf liquor then you have to pay. That's not all inclusive.

  Mar 12, 2025