Heading to Baha Mar, Tips to Make Your Trip Fantastic
Grand Hyatt Baha Mar is made up of three resorts, Grand Hyatt, SLS, and Rosewood. It includes a water park, tennis, and pickleball courts, and more. There are so many things to do and you have to plan ahead to make sure the trip goes well. Make sure to download the Baha Mar app to get started.
1. Make Reservations weeks in advance
We did not make reservations and that was a BIG mistake.
On our second night there, we went to a few of the restaurants and no one had any openings. We went to Fil’a and they told us we could wait to see if someone did not show up for their reservation. Luckily for us, people were late to their reservation and we were able to snag a table.
For our third night there, I made reservations, sadly at 5 pm. Since we did not make reservations in advance there were only super early reservations or really late ones that we could make for any restaurant if they even had any openings. So if you have specific places that you want to eat, make the reservations in advance. They open 90 days in advance.
You can make reservations in the app, called Baha Mar.
If I were to do this trip again, I would want to try Marcus, Carna, and Cleo.
You can also make reservations for the cabanas if you are interested.
2. American Express is not accepted everywhere
While you can charge everything to the room since it is a cashless resort, I paid for everything with a credit card so that I can watch my spending. Some places did not accept American Express. I wanted to utilize my American Express Gold because you get 4x the points at restaurants. When I was not able to use my American Express Gold, I utilized my Chase Sapphire Preferred and received 3x points for each restaurant purchase. I used this card because there is no foreign transaction fee.
3. Must Have Toiletries
Make sure to bring sunblock and any other toiletries you will need. Everything at the resort is so expensive. I wanted to get a waterproof case for my phone and they told me it was $26.00. I was shocked!
Sunblock was $35.00.
Here is the sunblock I utilize.
4. Get your own cab from the Airport
Reserving a cab through the hotel costs more than grabbing a cab outside the Airport. We were quoted almost $80 by the hotel when we inquired. Instead, we opted to get a cab from the airport and that cost us $40 heading there and $45 heading back! They do upcharge depending on the driver. Leaving the hotel he charged us $40 initially, then $3 per person after 2 people, then $1 for each additional bag outside of 1 piece of luggage each.
One of the good things you can do when you get a cab from the airport is to have them stop at both the grocery store and the liquor store so you can grab snacks to cut down on the cost at the resort. If cutting down on costs is important to you, there are tons of ways that you can cut costs at this resort.
5. Floor 7
If you do not want to walk through the casino each time you head outside, get off on the 7th floor. You can take steps or an elevator from there to access the pools and beach.
The casino is really cold, so once I realized that I could skip it altogether by leaving through the 7th floor, that became my route to head to the pools!
6. Check your room bill daily!
Before heading to the resort, I had joined a Facebook group and saw individuals complaining about being overcharged and things being added to the bill that they had not approved. I decided to combat this by always taking a copy of the receipt and paying for everything by card that way if something showed up I would be able to show that I paid the bill on my credit card so they could remove it!
Conclusion
I really enjoyed my time at the resort and if I went to the Bahamas again, I would definitely consider this as an option. I would probably make a reservation at one of the adults-only pools because I really wanted to see the infinity pool but was not able to.
Related Post
How to book a trip to the Bahamas with Family on Points
How to save money at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar
7 Kid-Friendly Activities at Baha Mar
Baha Bay, the Water Park at Baha Mar
Swimming with the Pigs in the Bahamas
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I gasped at the cost of sunscreen! Good tips!
These are some great tips! Especially around making reservations well in advance, I wouldn’t think to do that! Also, the price of that sunscreen is insane! 😱 Thanks for sharing these tips!
Great tips and I really appreciate the honesty from your own experience! Thanks!
Great tips – I often buy sunscreen at my destination as it can be pricy here in Canada too – but that would have been a shock! I love the tip about floor 7 – it is sometimes sooooo cold in those air conditioned casinos like that.
Yes figuring out I can leave out on floor 7 was so helpful! It was sooo cold