It was the most fantastic holiday ever at Paradisus Punta Cana. What made it even more special were the people in there. I would go back anytime because of the service Jose, Maria, Ange, Romon from activities provided, and from restaurant side of it the best service was from Anthony Diffo and Maria Oltiz.
Thanks to those people for making it more special.

In total, very good. The staff and setting make this place special. All the staff from the waiters to bartenders and the event coordinators are what made the trip. My wife and kids really enjoyed their hospitality, warmth and dancing!

Food was fine, while buffet for breakfast and lunch, there are plenty of other options for dinner including Japanese, Italian etc.

The resort will try to hard sell you on a vacation club from the beginning, just don't be afraid to push back. Its your vacation!

It's our third time at a Melia resort (1 time at Paradisus Palma Real and 2 times at Paradisus Punta cana). This time we stayed at the "reserve" because it seemed nicer and had dedicated area for kids.

What we liked:
-Beautiful grounds and landscapes
-Great pools (clean) and kiddies pools
-Kid Zones
-Concierge service (for restaurant reservations)
-Gifts offered to our kids
-Accommodation at the reserve (big family concierge 1 bedroom suite, on the 3rd floor)
- Staff in general is very nice (you need to speak a bit of spanish)
-Casino on site and another one also 5 minutes away outside of the resorts (if you like Craps)
-Themed restaurant (Sakura and Terra did not disappoint)
- Public Bathrooms are everywhere really clean!!!
-Cellular phone was given for the duration of our stay
-Wifi in our room and on property for free (good quality and reception)
-Beach chairs (with cushions and umbrella) were reserved for us everyday first row in front of the ocean

what we did not like:
-Being tricked into signing for a Melia Club Card upon check in (we did not at the end)
-Food is really below average (buffet at Gabi by the reserve was ok, and Sakura and Terra were nice, but aside from that the rest was really poor) and we are not picky eaters!!
-Room service takes forever and always came cold (even coffee in the morning) to be fair, one time we asked for an item that was not on the menu for our kids (mash potatoes) and they did a fresh one just for us, so they are nice anyway.
-Concierge was nice and helpful but we would have liked to get the gifts on the first day since it included a set of kids bath supplies and few toys (our stay was 4 nights).
-Room on the 3rd floor without elevator (hard for stroller and 2 kids with a large beach bag) although in the end, we were glad we were on high floor as we like to sleep late and they was no noise coming from the pool.

At the end of the day it all comes down to the food. Back in 2004 there were lobsters and a lot of choice of buffet food of top quality, now no lobsters (maybe at royal service?). We did had a nice vacation and we would comeback, but they have to do something about the food. The reserve is really a great place to stay because it has everything for kids, it's also quieter even if it's not right on the beach (you can walk 10 mins or take a shuttlem the reserve has EXpress shuttle running all day long to the beach and restaurants without any stops). If you do stay at the reserve, consider to be by the kids pools because you will have less noise from the pool bar at night (if you put your kids early to bed).

A+++ to the Kids Zone team, they are caring, sweet and very nice.

Stayed Nov 22-25 for a wedding

The level service and everything else at PPC is inconsistent....

Check in
Kind of slow. They were very nice to accommodate my request to have a room on the second floor. They assign someone to talk to you after you check in to give you general information of the resort. That person also invites you to a breakfast and tour (probably the time share pitch I have read about in other people's reviews). When you decline the tour, the person tells you that you HAVE to participate because it's part of their job and insist that you meet them. Beware

Rooms
We got the standard deluxe suite. Meh. The decor  was okay, but nothing to write about- good or bad. 
I will say that there were a few hiccups, though. We did not have a router for the wifi when we checked in. Someone was sent to check it out and installed a router which worked for about 24 hours. When we called to let them know the wifi had stopped working , they didn't send anyone to fix it for another 24 hours despite the fact that we called about it 3 or 4 times while it was no working. 

We also had a water leak from the ceiling in the bathroom by day 2, but nothing was done about it while we were there. 

Housekeeping was very late as well

Food
We ate a Fuego the first night. We had the tasting menu and everything was very well executed. The service was great as well. We are also able to try Sakura, the hibachi restaurant, which could be improved greatly. The fried ice cream was good and that was about it.  We ordered room service a lot because the only options before dinner are buffets ($5 charge per order) which was just okay. The other food we are was at the wedding which was between okay and good. 

Service 
Sometimes good, sometimes not so much. There is no cocktail service at the beach or pool so if that's what you are used to, don't go there. Some of the staff members were nicer than others. We had prompt responses to our issues in the room at times and other times it was not. Like I said before-inconsistent.  

Layout
The resort is large, but the fact that you are told that everything is far and you need to take their 'bus' makes its worse. We stayed in building 14 an found out that we could actually walk to the main lobby as well as the beach plus most of the buildings our family were staying in. 
Waiting for the bus for 10 minutes was quite annoying. 

Check out 
BEWARE OF CHARGES FOR LOCAL CALLS. They tried to charge me $28 for a few local calls to our transportation company. I was never told there was a charge before checkout. When I called the from desk to ask about local calls they told me how to dial and then offered to connect the call for me. THAT'S IT! So when I checked out and received a bill for these calls I was very upset. They ended up discounting the bill after much discussion, but I was still made to pay  $10 for the calls. 

Other random things
BRING AN INSECT REPELLANT!!! I cannot stress this enough. The mosquitos are HORRIBLY ferocious. 

Gabi beach restaurant and bar is modern and gorgeous

You have to pay for top shelf drinks. Example: Grey goose costs $8, but Stoli is included

Staff handles weddings very smoothly. 

The beach is great!

Overall the resort was okay, but I would not go back.