When I wrote my review on the Grand Bahia Principe Jamaica resort, I stated that I was going to write a separate post on the service that members of my wedding party and myself received. The provided service to us during our stay had to be some of the worst service we have received in our lives. I have been involved in, and witnessed several incidents and altercations that have disappointed me on how the Grand Bahia staff and management handled each situation.
Before I talk about the details of these incidents, it is worth mentioning that the majority of the staff at the Grand Bahia Principe resort have been helpful and friendly. The housekeeping, bar, and maintenance staff were amazing, and they kept the resort as welcoming as it can be. I also had a pleasant experience at the Japanese a la carte restaurant, where the service was fantastic. The servers were prompt and professional, and our chef was accommodating to our dietary needs.
Our experience at the Japanese restaurant was in direct contrast to our service at the Italian a la carte restaurant, which was slow and terrible. When our party of twelve arrived to the Italian restaurant, a prepared table was waiting for us, where we sat, and the waiters took our orders (the restaurant ran out of pizza, which is ridiculous). It took a half an hour for our appetizers to come to us, which was unusual. It took another hour and a half for our main course to come to us. During our waiting, we were trying to get in contact with our servers, who seemed to forget about the party of twelve that they were supposed to serve. We were becoming increasingly angry, as when we tried to get a hold of our servers, they were ignoring us. One server kept giving us bottles of wine as apologies for the wait, but it did not calm the anger. After our main course came out, there was much complaining from us toward the servers for the unbelievably slow service. After a few bites of my main course, I decided leave the restaurant without waiting for my dessert.
I have also witnessed poor treatment towards one of the best friends of the bride by the Grand Bahia Principe Jamaica management, and it highlights how shambolic their policies and resort design is for people who need mobility assistance. She unfortunately sprained her ankle during an excursion, and could not move properly for the rest of her stay at the resort. In order to rent her a wheelchair, the resort a deposit of $250, with a usage fee of $30/day, which is an obscene amount of money. The resort also did not have any crutches or any other mobility assistance devices. With this setback, the bride arranged for pickup of her best friend to the wedding gazebo at 3:45pm for the wedding. However, the staff member did not come to pick her up until 7:30pm, so she missed the entire wedding and much of the reception. The best friend was pissed, and when I went to go check on her in her room, I overheard their other friend engage in a heated conversation with management over their poor treatment. It is incredibly disheartening to hear that because of the best friend's foot injury, Grand Bahia management failed to accommodate for her ailments and could not even bring her to the wedding.
It is also worth noting that on the day we were supposed to leave the resort, a bellhop was called in order for them to take the girl's (the one with the foot injury) luggage down to the lobby so that the luggage can be loaded onto the bus. Of course, no one showed up, so we had to go to the room and take her luggage down ourselves.
The last incident I will detail is the most damning of them all, as not even the Grand Bahia security cannot be trusted. During a night out at the Bahia Principe Village, a woman was wandering alone, and she was clearly quite drunk. As she entered the disco, a man who worked as a stagehand disassembling the stage followed her into the disco, and shortly lured her out. As they were walking, two other stagehands followed behind. After a time, the woman informed members of our wedding party and authorities that three men raped her. We informed other members of security and the police about the incident. I do not know what was the outcome of all this, but it is shocking to hear actual employees of this resort engage in such behaviour.
These experiences much of the Grand Bahia Principe Jamaica staff and service as slow, disorganized, predatory, and ill-equipped to handle certain situations. Women should not have to feel unsafe walking around the resort at night, and staff should certainly not take advantage of women. The resort needs to revise its policies with assisting guests with mobility issues. There needs to be a redesign of the resort for people with mobility issues, and for people who cannot ascend stairs or cannot walk long distances. The resort needs more ramps and less stairs. The resort also needs to have a range of mobility devices available for guests to use, such as crutches. Because of the overall awful experience with the resort service, I cannot recommend the Grand Bahia Principe Jamaica resort to anyone, and I will not stay at this resort again.
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