I'll start by saying that the people who complain about this resort were obviously looking for things to complain about (we actually met a few of these people when we were there...and avoided them). This was a fantastic resort. My boyfriend and I (in our late 30's) just returned from a weeks vacation and found it nothing short of spectacular. We have been to several resorts in the past and feel that we can comment on lots of qualities.

The beach, the room, the grounds, the food, the staff were all wonderful. It is a large resort but we found it quite easy to get around, either by foot or by trolley, and there was always a quiet place to be found. You never felt as though you were in a huge resort with alot of other people. We enjoyed 3 of the a la carte restaurants - Italian, Fine Dining, and Japanese (which was our favourite), but the buffets offered such a fantastic variety of foods that you could never get bored with the selection.

The water sports were wonderful and we took advantage of the hobie cat sailing nearly every day as we explored the waters around the shipwreck that sits just offshore. There were always palapas/shade to be found on the beach at any time of day...perhaps not prime location, but lots were available. The beach was clean, as it is well raked every morning which made for fantastic swimming.

The entertainment was great as we attended several of the shows. The Michael Jackson show is not to be missed!
It is hard to put into words just how beautiful the resort actually is.

Pictures just don't do it justice however the staff make a huge effort to keep it clean and the gardens are beautiful. Funny story...we met a guy who was testing the cleaning staff by leaving trash around in different places and seeing how long it took to disappear...never more than an hour!

According to several of the other reviews of this resort and complaints about the language barrier....yes, many of the staff speak very little english. Big deal....we are visiting a different country...they do make an effort and certainly appreciate your effort to speak some spanish. There is ALWAYS someone to answer any questions.

One suggestion....when you change your dollars to american, get lots of small bills. It's not easy to change your $50's or $20's for $1's which are great for tips.

Off resort tours...we only did one - the Tropical Storm sunset cruise that included snorkelling(take a banana with you to see more fish) and swimming with a floating bar. Staff was great....thanks Paddy from Scotland :) We didn't go, but the safari tour was apparently wonderful.

If you are questioning whether or not to go to this resort based on tripadvisor comments....ignore the complaints. It's awesome!

We stayed at the Ambar from May25-June 1. We picked this hotel because it was new, adults only, and a 5 star. Well, we were extremely impressed. It is by far the best all inclusive we have been to. And we would go back in a heart beat.

Food- The buffet was amazing. My husband is an incredibly picky eater and he was very happy. We both were. There are so many choices, I find it hard to believe anyone could be unhappy about the food. Food is very important to us, and we like to indulge on vacation, so the Ambar was perfect for us. We did a few a la cartes, and they were okay; we much prefered the buffet.

Service- great service all the time. If you tip at the pool bar they are almost surprised, which I thought was fun.

Beach- Absolutely amazing; breath-taking. Another reason we would return.

Pool- pool was very nice. We took our own floaty, and I would recommend that if you like being in the pool you take a cheap one with you and then leave it there for someone else. There is nothing like floaties that you can buy there.

Drinks-Also very good. We did miss having frozen drinks in the buffet though. They only serve juice, beer, wine or pop in the buffet.

Room- Nicest room we have ever stayed in. And for once, a bed that didnt feel like stone! I have back problems, but I didnt have problems sleeping on those beds at night.

Weather-this is the only thing we didnt like. The sun was shining when we got there, but after flying for 24 hours we went right to bed. We didnt see the sun again until the day we left. Very cloudy every day. The good thing is we didnt get burnt, and didnt need to constantly reapply sunscreen. The bad thing is we hardly even got a tan, and I brought way too much sunscreen. Having said that, the sunscreen at the hotel is extremely expensive, so better to bring more than not enough.

Men must wear collared shirts and pants after 7pm, even to the buffet. They can wear shorts during the day, but their shirt must have sleves on it.

It was nice that the Bahia has a little market place on the resort, so you dont have to walk all the way down the beach to do a little shopping.

I didnt see any bugs while we were there, but I had a few bites to prove that they existed.

We had a great time, and enjoyed the serenity of adults only. Although, sometimes the adults in the pool were much louder than any kids would have been! But that is a trade off of an adults only. We went for relaxation, peace and quiet. And that is exactly what we got. I cant wait to go back!

My wife and I stayed at the Ambar from June 01-08.

First off I just want to state that this was an awesome vacation at a fantastic, clean, well serviced and beautiful resort.
The more I hear people complain the more I wonder why people travel. Stay home, have pizza and relax. This is not North America and that should be the attraction. The people are great!

Travel:
Booked through Belair travel in Toronto. Briana you were great! Flew Air TransAT. We were late leaving due to a medical emergency on the flight coming in. No issues. Good flight.
We arrived in Punta Cana with no issues and hit the bus to the resort. Ambar guests were checked in on the bus. Room keys, dinner reservations (which I booked in advance through the great staff at Bahia), resort map, wrist bands the whole 9 yards.

We arrived to a cold drink and cold towel. Nice touch really. Luggage was taken to your room within 30 mins. One thing is that we never saw or heard from a Transat holiday rep the whole time we were there. It would have been nice to get call asking how things are going. It would also be good if included in your arrival package was the time and place the bus leaves to take you back to the airport after your vacation. Just my thoughts.

Staff: 9/10. We only found issues with the front desk. No problems they just seem to be indifferent. Everyone else was fantastic!

Room: Perfect! Clean, new and everything in working order. My wife and I joked that the tiny little scuff mark on the wall by our bed would become a major issue for someone and we would read the review complaining on the how the rooms are falling apart.

Grounds: Immaculate! They work hard to keep up the grounds. They are really beautiful at the Ambar and in fact after walking the other resorts on the family side; I can honestly say that they are beautiful as well.

Pool: We are beach people however the pool is beautiful and we hung around it now and then. The water temp could be a little cooler.

Beach: Beautiful! Great sand, plenty of shade and beautiful colours in the water. No chair issues. We walked down the beach about 10 mins where the waves were much bigger and fun to jump!

Who goes to the DR for the pools???

Food: Okay, the food was good not great but good. Unless you are the fortunate few who can afford g to pay a lot of money for international chefs at some resorts you cannot expect food to be what you would expect when going out to dinner at home for 100-200 per couple (do the math).

There is a good selection and the quality is good. We did not get sick once. That is a miracle for me. Service is good. Too good sometimes as they keep taking your side (bread) plate away.

What I missed about the food at this resort is: No Beach BBQ with fresh fish and the like. That would have been a nice touch. Missed cream for coffee as well.

Summary:

I don't know what else to say. If you want a relaxing vacation with good service, beautiful rooms and villas along with a fantastic beach and immaculate grounds then the AMBAR is for you. My wife and I work long hours like most people and our vacation is very important to us. This was as close to perfect as we could expect.

If you want to find the party crowd you could. What was better? They could not find you!

After reading some of the negative reviews I now believe in two things:

1. People will always find something wrong and vacations are what you make out of them.

2. You should be at a place where you don't have to worry about making the best of your vacation (it just happens) and that is the AMBAR.

Reviews are just opinions. If you read an ad for an apartment for rent and it says "Clean and Modern" then you know it is probably not. If you read reviews from people that say they are not picky or “I am normally very laid back” well, you decide.

We had a great time at this resort. Bottom line is...there is no risk going there, the food is safe, the place is immaculate, beautiful and the people are very nice. You can find better I guess but with so much out there this is like investing in a blue chip stock!

B&M – Toronto, Canada

We booked the punta cana resort, but happily got upgraded to the ambar section(adults only). The rooms were beautiful- marble bathrooms with robes and slippers. We were on the 1st floor in section 65, right in the middle of everything. The pool was so relaxing and nice and cool. The food was good. We choose the Japanese restaurant which was delicious. The hotel choose the the other two which you have the option to change, but we didn't. The gormet restaurant was outstanding. We both got the filet mignion and the have a dessert which comes around. The third restaurant was the Italian. This was my least favorite although the food was still good. I ordered the pizza for an appetizer which was huge!! It was too much food, i hate to let food go to waste. The drinks in the whole resort were top shelf. Half rum with a little coke :)