We stayed at this hotel end of Jan. 2013. The food was very good. The beach was excellent. The suite we had was first class. Two washrooms, two balconies. The hide-a-bed was very comfortable. I would definitely go back or recommend! Special thanks to Carlos Conception at customer service who was always there for us!

We went on February 3-10, 2013 it was our first time in the Dominican. We were two families for a total of 8 ppl. The resort was really nice, really big. Upon arrival we were greated with great hospitality, and check in went smooth. The buffets have a great variety of food, and the a la carte restaurants were truly something to visit. Other than the beautiful weather and the resort the ANIMATION TEAM really made our stay memorable. Super friendly, super funny, amazing talent indeed, Socrates, Chistopher, Alex, Carlo, Jimmy and Juan, Francesco and the rest of the gang always knew how to get us up and interacting with all the activities that were being held on the resort. We travelled with children and everytime they would see the animation team they would run up to them and want to wrestle and play with them....and the team really interacted with the kids. The shows in the evening showed that alot of time and effort went into them truly spectacular. will we be going back to that resort next year...DEFINITLEY!!! Sandy and Michel

Just got back from a week with my family at the Grand Paradise Bavaro and it was absolutely one for the books. Like many others, I'm sure, we grew worried once we read some of the negative reviews of the place on this site. I can only speak of our experience, and compare it to the other all-inclusive tropical resorts we've visited, and that said our time in Punta Cana was thoroughly enjoyable, relaxing and everything we'd hoped it would be. The weather was hot and beautiful every single day, the incredible beach and swimming in bright blue water (getting delightfully mangled by the killer waves was an absolute panic, we laughed so much) were such a highlight, the staff was friendly and accommodating on the rare occasion when we needed them, and the food was definitely above-average. Having also recently stayed at a 5-star in Cuba, where the food was absolutely abominably bad, we all had full plates and stomachs daily in Punta Cana, with no adverse effects or illnesses of any kind...again, a pleasant change from our stay in Cuba. The only real complaint that we had during our stay was that, with two days left in the trip, a large group of seemingly privileged and abhorrently ignorant Spanish students flew in one night to celebrate spring break, essentially turning the hallways of our building into an impossibly noisy dormitory until the wee hours of the morning. However, after several guests, including our party, complained, resort management posted security throughout the unit the following night so that we didn't miss a wink of sleep. All of the other complaints we've read on this site are, from our experience, completely unfounded. You have to get up early if you want to snag yourself some shade on the beach but chairs were always readily available, rooms were simple but clean and comfortable (who wants to be in their room when the beach is so awesome anyway??), service was relaxed but overall pretty great (except in the Italian and Seafood a la carte restaurants, where it was absolutely impeccable, and both of which come highly recommended), and the grounds and pools are really, really beautiful. Apart from hanging around the resort, we embarked on two half-day excursions: a dune buggy drive to another amazing beach and through the Dominican countryside, and a pirate ship trip to swim with nurse sharks, snorkel in the sea, and interact with stingrays. The former was a fun afternoon, though the men of the group would've definitely appreciated a little more leeway to open up the dune buggies (we were restricted to driving along in single file with the other members of the excursion group), but still worth the $70 per person price tag. The latter, at a price of $104 per person, seemed like a bit of a cash grab. The boat trip was a really loud and noisy party-type of excursion that just came off as tacky, the swim with sharks a murky, crowded and rushed affair, and the snorkeling a chaotic experience due to fairly rough water that day. The interaction with stingrays was cool but not as heartwarming as similar ones with dolphins, as you might expect. Considering the six of us collectively paid more than $600, it definitely fell short of our expectations. In hindsight, we all agreed we probably should've just stayed on the beach drinking caipirinhas back at the hotel. :) Go, have fun and enjoy your vacation! We would absolutely not hesitate to return to the Grand Paradise Bavaro, particularly with word that it has been bought by Sunwing and will undergo renovations later this year. It's hard to believe that our next visit could be even better!

We stayed January 29 to February 05 2013 this was our first time to Punta Cana we have been to Dominican before Porto Plata, it is nice their too but once you go to Punta Cana beaches you fall in love softer sand clear water, once we step our foot into the lobby it was nice and and clean with a big line up that we thought their was no end we were wresless from the long flight and the 40 minute ride we just want to get our room change close and go see the beach since we got their about 5pm we could stil soack our feet in the ocean. When it was our turn we were treated well it Angel who helped us he was very helpfull we asked if we could get beach front room he looked up where we were going to stay and he said it was on the other side but he would look up to see if their was anything available and their was wich it was a better location that we were going to be at we stayed in the room 5117 wich it was in the main floor from the hall way we could see the beach wich it was a great sight. We walked the grounds that were very clean we saw that it was cleaned dayly grass well maintained green with flowers great trees great vews to take pictures wich i took alot of them in the grounds it brings me great memmories, like is said the beach is amaising but you had to get up early to get beach chairs under the hut becouse the sun in Dominican is supper hot or else you dont get any shade when you fill to hot since my husband likes alittle shade but that was no problem . The only thing we were not to happy was to wait to be seated for all meals at the buffe with so many empty tables around that needed to be clean first before being seated once seated the waiters did not pay atention to you unless you tip them then you would get anything you would want coffe beer water, if not tiped you would finish your meal before you would get any drinks we only got one realy nice waiter his name is Emilio he had energy and he was happy it looked like he liked what he was doing he was singing along as he was helping us he was a happy camper, Over all the food was very good their is tastes for every one if you are not picky you wont go hungry. After you eat they have night shows that great we enjoyed watching it evevrday a new show, also their is afternoon shows in the pool and excercise too the show was fun to watch they try to keep all the gusest very happy. our room was very clean with all the faucetts in working order we also had hot water all the time we had clean towls two times a day once the room was being clean and at night time around 7 wich we never had that before just when cleaning room. The only thing we would change is hire more waiters to clean the tables so the guest dont have to wait to be seated should be walk in eat and leave other wise we dont have any complaints we loved everything about it certanly will go back and tell friends about it hope to see you again very soon.