Myself, my wife and our two best friends were here from 14-28th October. Our trip was to celebrate my 50th Birthday.

I have hummed and hawed about whether to put a review on but have decided to do so. I believe that the purpose of tripadvisor is to get an unbias personal opinion so with that in mind please read on.

This was the first time we had visited a Gran Bahia hotel and thought that with this being their flagship property we had chosen wisely. We will probably not choose this chain again.

We had done a lot of research before deciding on Cayo Levantado. We thought that we would be delighted with our choice as we are seasoned travellers and have experienced some poor but also amazing holidays in our time.

I will not go into great detail as other reviewers have covered accomodation quality etc very well and I would agree with all the positive comments totally.

Please do not underestimate the effect that the transfer from Puerto Plata to the hotel will have. We travelled with Thomson Holidays from the UK. The Rep Jessica dies a great job here.

Our issues were on two fronts, the food quality in all restaurants except Don Pablo was very patchy at best, I must say that Jose Luis Rodriquez is amazing, he is so professional and I only hope that the company fully appreciates the calibre of employee that they have in him.The Mediterrean being the only passable alternative during our stay. The food quality in the buffet restaurant especially was extremely poor, we had read reviews of people getting unwell on holiday and can now understand why, we could have eaten uncooked pork and also cold and then reheated chicken amongst other dubious choices, food that was meant to be on offer would not be replenished, even when we asked and were told momento nothing appeared, I personally waited for 30 minutes before giving up on the hope that my " momento " was up! This really is a shame as this could be pretty easily rectified with a bit of quality control, all it would take is a dedicated staff member to oversee this while walking around checking on the restaurant as they do.

The other letdown was the drinks service at the beach and bottom pool area which was very hit and miss in service, we would get a drink given to us then a three hour gap before we would see the waiter again, there needs to be a decisiion made I think as to whether there is a service on offer or not, it was easier to go and get our own drinks rather than wait for another to be offered.

There seems to be a bit of mimicking by Gran Bahia paying homage to the Secrets chain in some areas but they cannot quite achieve the excellent standards that we have received with them.

Please do not allow this review to put you off from visiting this beautiful island but manage your expectations accordingly.

We stayed here for two weeks from 28th Oct -11th Nov and wish it was longer, from the moment we arrived untill we left we had an amazing holiday, the Island it beautifull and very well maintained. The Management and Staff done everything they could to make us welcome, we had a room in the main restaurant area and it was more than i expected, huge room with a sea view which was well equipped with drinks in our mini bar daily ,fresh fruit, tea & coffee, lotions, clean towels and linen and little chocolates on an evening. The restaurants were all fantastic which served amazing food there was lots of variety and taste and we certainly didn't find it repetitive. The pools and beach were great and we never had problem with finding a bed. All the staff here were so pleasant, helpful and smart, the Animation Team were superb and so much fun!!! We will definately return to "Paradise" again. Many thanks to Alexis the General Manager and Stephanie in reception, from Julie and David from England.

Stayed for a week from 8th November knowing it would be hit and miss with the weather due to the time of the year. However after a tropical storm hit on Saturday morning it meant cancellations of the trips we had planned that meant going on the water. However there was still plenty of things to do in the hotel and if you want to just chill out and relax you can stay around the quiet pool, which for the week I was there remained quiet. There was an American Wedding party who made the most of the free alcohol, but they stayed down on the beach and other pool, which was fine.

The food was amazing, even the buffet was very impressive too which considering there are 3 impressive a la carte restaurants was a great suprise, especially as I had my doubts with what was to offer because of the price we paid.

The staff are very keen to please and make your stay an enjoyable one, but didn't pester you too much.

Outside of the resort it's a very poor area and if you go to Samana town to visit the small number of shops you will be pestered by the locals trying to take you on trips etc, just to try and make some money.

Overall the holiday and resort was very impressive, even though the weather did it's best to ruin that.

THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM: THE HOTEL SHOULD SAY IN THERE ADVERTISEMENT THAT THERE IS MUSIC ON THE PUBLIC BEACH FROM 10 PM TO 2 AM IF NOT RAINING ONLY AND CANCEL IT IF THERE IS RAIN.

Explanation of this statement: We spent one week at this luxury hotel thinking it would be calm but because of the rain and a big wedding occuring that week, many many people were complaning and changing their rooms because the management transfered the disco in the main building every time it would be raining but it rained almost every night so hard to sleep. Also, after every disco night, those people from that wedding would make noise coming back to their rooms at 2 o'clock in the morning.

This hotel is not suppose to be a party place and to please a few people, the management made hangry many people. I heard many people saying they would never go back because of that noise and it's to bad because it is a beautiful hotel with very nice employees.

So, MANAGEMENT, think about using my advice in my first paragraph of this review, it would help your hotel, a lot.