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Reviewed 27 October 2009

I would like to qualify this review by saying that this was our 6th time at this resort and we also stayed once at Palma Real in Punta Cana. I didn't spend a lot of time reading the reviews before booking this vacation as we have stayed here before and felt we knew the positives and negatives. But I did read some today after returning yesterday and it is hard to believe that we stayed in the same resort.
One of my favorite things about this resort is the property. It is lush and immaculate. It is a large property but has tram transportation system to get around although it is totally walkable as well. However, it is actually very fun to ride the tram especially in the rain with its little rain shields. For those that complained that you had to wait 10 minutes for the tram, chill, you are on vacation in the Caribbean, you are not waiting hours and you can go to the nearest desk and ask them to call for a tram and one will appear.
Our biggest decision during this trip was to stay in the reserve vs the older part. I researched it on the web and the rooms looked great in the reserve although we love to be near the ocean. I booked the trip directly through Melia Sol and was told by the 800 number that the Reserve could use all of the Royal Serve amenities although the Royal Service could only use their own. Sounded wrong to me so we followed our instincts. It is simply a matter of taste. The Reserve is beautiful and I think if I was traveling with young children I would only choose the Reserve as the rooms were quite large and the kids facilities were quite impressive from the pool, to the playyard and the large actual building that they had for children. However, if you like to sit on your balcony and listen to the sound of the surf, you won't hear it here. The reserve people do have their own section of the beach and can use any of the restaurants but can only use their pool or the main pool, not the Royal Service Pool. The regular rooms are very nice but seriously need updating. We have been coming here since 2001 and they are the same. Fine, a caribbean spanish feel but a little beat up. My only real problem with them was with the room temperature. I could not get it below 71F which was not quite cool enough for comfortable sleeping. I did call maintenance one day when it was 75 and they put it down to 71 even though I said 71 was still a bit warm. Next time I will be more aggressive with the temperature request.
The Service is quite good. We brought 100 in singles and went through them in a week for tips. Tips are included but this is a poor country and it is definitely appreciated. We don't routinely tip but do so when someone gives good service which quite frankly is most of the time.
The other decision to make besides Reserve vs Traditional Section is if choosing Traditional Section do you do Royal Service. In my opinion yes! But shop for a deal. When we booked the traditional price of Royal Service was 150 more per nite. Little steep. You get a room closer to the water, free internet access in the Royal Service Lounge. Private Royal Service Pool which is small but nice with a its own pool bar, Private Royal Service Beach. Both the beach and pool area have much nicer chairs and lounges than in the regular section. Private check in and check out. Breakfast, lunch, teatime and appetizers in the Royal Service Lounge. Also one item per day ironed. This may not be important but we did this and loved it. And in general just an upgraded level of service. Also Royal Service can use the reserve pool and restaurants but the traditional people cannot. We paid about 1000 more for this for our 8 nite stay and I do feel that it was worth it. However, I will say this. We stayed Royal Service at Palma Real 2 years ago and their level of Royal Service was much better. We got priority reservations in all the restaurants with a little Royal Service Plaque on our table. Our butler made himself always available to us, asking what snacks we wanted in our room. what alcohol we wanted etc. Did we want our jacazzi tub prepared? We didn't even know who our butler was at Punta Cana. So they could step up the Royal Service butler thing a bit.
Restaurants: Please understand that you are at an all inclusive. You are not dining in a 5 star NYC restaurant. But they are not bad. And lots of them in different locations. We stayed at a Secrets last year and was appalled at the selection, food and locations. Literally doors next to each other all in the same building, door a italian, door B spanish etc. There is chinese, (we did not ever eat here in any of our trips), Brazilian (avoid-I will expound later), Steak (not bad), Italian (one of our favorites), Japanese (pretty good), Latin (way too shi shi and couldn't see the food because was too dark-my age is showing)French (always great every visit), Seafood (didn't eat there on this visit), Dinner Buffet (good in past but wasn't open on this visit as wasn't many people staying here), then 2 restaurants in the Reserve which were not bad whose specific cuisine was unclear. Lots of choices. Not a lot of food. Small portions but adequate. Some give you salads but no appetizers, some appetizers but no salad and some both. It was slow when we were there and so reservations were not required which was the first time we ever experienced that. Only 3-4 restaurants were opened per nite but they rotated them and it was all fine. Got to experience what we wanted in our 8 nites. This is my big piece of advice. When you sit down they will give you a wine list which is the wines that cost extra. The cost is ridiculous. Cake Bread Chardonney. 105.00. Don't bother. Maybe if they made it reasonable I might be tempted. You need to ask them for included wines. Sometimes that is a problem. They will play dumb and say white or red. You say you want the menu and you eventually get it. Don't get frustrated, just play the game. The included wines are pretty good and they have a nice selection of different types. The only time we had a problem was at the Brazilian restaurant. When they finally produced the included wine list nothing seemed to be available.Now how can that be when they are at very other restaurant. The brazilian Restaurant was a joke anyway. They literally came around with lamb, chicken and turkey in probably less than 5 minutes and then took our plates along with our sides of mashed potatoes and yams in 6 minutes. We wondered when they would serve beef (apparently never) and then we thought they would give us clean plates but did wonder why they took all of our uneaten food and then asked us about dessert. We walked out and ate at the french restaurant and never went back during our stay.
I am not being negative. This is a beautiful resort with wonderful service, the beach is the most beautiful that I have ever seen, the restaurants are plentiful and decent, the drinks are good, the rooms are comfortable, the pools are great. Someone spoke about bugs. No bugs. Again, where were they staying? Not where I was. You may get a little travelers diarrhea. Not due to food handling. You are being exposed to different bacteria that you body is not used to. I am in health care and for the last 10 years that I have been traveling to DR/Mexico I take Lactobacillus (which promotes the good bacteria in your stomach), twice a day one week before and then continue during your time there. Never a problem so try that.
The shows are hocky but something to do. We don't gamble so I can't comment on the casino. Lots of nice comfortable bars to hang out in at nite.
Great vacation and I will go back yet again. . .

Date of stay: October 2009
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
    • Value
    • Location
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
1  Thank amn2117
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 24 October 2009

My now husband and I have never traveled outside of the US until it came time to plan our honeymoon. We used a travel agent friend to book and we trusted her, since she had been everywhere. Once she saw our "list of wants" for our trip, she immediately recommended the Dominican. We knew nothing of the Paradisus, or Punta Cana and it turned out to be the time of our lives. The resort was immaculate. It is "eco friendly", so it had all the flowers and trees native to the dominican. The grounds were beyond clean. Our room was like its own condo. Cute patio. Plenty of space for two people. We weren't in our room that much, but it was perfect for us. Food was great....be careful with the restraunt that is NATIVE Dominica food, your tummy might think its prepared for it, it might taste great, but the next day.....trouble. Otherwise, all the restraunts were fabulous. Lots to look at, lots of choices. Great service...fantastik service actually. I've never had service this great. Everyone at the resort is ready to help at the drop of a hat. You do have to pick your dinner spot (when you go to breakfast each day) and make a reservation, but its kinda fun. it helps you plan your day and your evening. Never bothered us at all. Always room wherever you wanted to eat, and you had the choice of early dinner or late times too. Kids are welcome at the resort, but we knew that going in...not my favorite, but didn't notice them much, except at the pool. The kids are prevelant. Upgrade to butler if you can, well worth it, but stay away from the "grand reserve" that's where all the familes stay. Pretty rooms, giant suites but big families stay out there, they crowd the evening tram that takes you around. Which by the way, is awesome. The resort is big enough, but not too big that you couldn't walk it. But it is nice at the end of the night to catch the tram. The casino is fun, but small. Slots aren't worth it at all, but black jack and roulette were very fun. You can split up in there, and never really split up at all. Its something else to do to break up time between dinner and the lobby bar. DO NOT skip out on the "disco" after hours. It was a blast! Maybe not late-night dancing everynight, but you will regreat it if you don't mingle in the disco. My husband is not a dancer, but in that club, he loved it! Be nice to you staff and they treat you like royalty. At every bar we had the best drinks! Fabulous service. Those guys really know how to work their crowd and we loved them for it! Try the Mama Juana-you will NOT be sorry!!!!!!! Yummy. We tell everyone to stay at Paradisus. Beach-GORGEOUS. Food-Fabulous. Service-THE BEST. We will go back for sure, hopefully with a small group next time. We loved every minute.

Date of stay: October 2008
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
2  Thank vancil1025
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 21 October 2009

Good:
Free Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Excursions
Clean Beach

Bad:
Terrible Rooms.
No Soap in the rooms. [bell boy gave me a 1/2 ripped smashed soap]
Clogged Bathtub Jacuzzi [they didn't clean it till our 3rd day]
Clogged Bathroom Sink [we had to remove the center piece the whole week]
Broken Radio Alarm
Broken Answering Machine [we could never get our messages]
Broken old fridge in our room but not in our friends rooms [new and better]
Cockroach in our bathroom.
Room Service never showed up for our food order. Called 1 hour and 40 minutes wondering what happened and they said no one was in the room. There were 6 of us in the room at the time. They just cancelled our order.
I asked if they could change our room but they said there was no way they could so I had to stay in this unfit room.
Tour bus driver got hold of our room and harassed us to find out what time he had to come and pick up the entire wedding group and if only the bride paid. He tried to make more money off us.
90% of the wedding group had food poisoning after the wedding dinner.
Sushi Class instructor was 40 minutes late.
Trolley Busses don't come on a regular nor stop at the bus stop at all times. Should be every 5 minutes but you end up waiting over 10 minutes.
Bartenders inconsistent. Some good, Some Terrible so it's a hit or miss on your drink.
1/2 of their a la carte restaurants are closed every day. They go through a cycle.
They seated another couple at our table while we were grabbing our food from the hybiscus buffet.
Plenty of mosquitos producing throughout the resort because of all their still swamp waters. Counted over 30 bites on my legs in less than 30 minutes of waiting for our food at the Dolce Vita restaurant which is built over a swamp water.
Website is misleading. If you want the room with the real jacuzzi, you will have to pay an extra $500. Then you can gain access to the pools with beds in them that you see on their site. Those rooms are very nice.
There is no towel art on the beds =/
Our room key was deactivated the night before check out.
The money exchanger is hesitant in giving over 5 $1 US bills so make sure you have lots yourself already.
Public Relations had a staff member that didn't know the answer to anything asked about the resort. Very frustrating.
After all we went through, we could not get any kind of reimbursement from the paradisus resort management.

The service here is very weak so I highly suggest staying somewhere else than here. The food is okay but unfortunately many of us got sick so there was some improper food handling. When I took the sushi class, I saw round scoops of breaded ice cream just sitting in the bottom of an ice cream freezer and it looked pretty dirty.

For $2000, you would hope to get good service and good rooms but we didn't. In my experience, the Gran Bahia Principe Coba was 100 times better. I've had many clients tell me that they enjoy the Iberostar and Riu Resorts in Punta Cana. I would stay away from Sol Melia only because they lack service.

Date of stay: June 2009
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
    • Value
    • Location
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
3  Thank homiegyrl
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 21 October 2009

Hi me and my boyfriend stayed at this resort from September 15 to the 19. The only regret was no staying longer. I must agree with alot of reviews the Reserve is a much better part of the hotel worth the extra money. We went during the off peak so like 3 restaruant were opening per night only and no reservation needed. I orginally had booked the deluxe junior suite with the jacuzzi. The jacuzzi was a joke because only one person could fix in there and the lady at the front desk had the nevre to say this is a honeymoon suite. Honestly if that was my honeymoon suite I would be so disappointed because the jacuzzi is also your shower and the toilet is in the same room. The only down side of the reserve is that it is on the opposite side of all the hotel pretty much if you want to go the beach and the bar and restaruant you have to take a tram.

The room: the deluxe junior with jacuzzi room was kinda small and outdated no door to the bathroom.

The reservbe spacious and nice. You have a separte living room area as well as seprate bedroom area. The jacuzzi has it own room with a big closet. The bathroom has a shower his and her sinks and the toilet has a small seprate area with a door. The room also has a dvd player and alarm clocks with ipod connections.

The bar: Some of the drinks were sweet but good. Try the blue pina colada very tasty.

The food: Im not a picky eater like basic stuff nothing to complicated. I am not really a breakfast person had breakfast at the gabi twice. The food is ok. The bacon was too salty both time. The eggs were ok could be better, I didn't enjoy the orange juice at all wasn't good at all. Lunch at the buffet was good to me. The had pasta rice and steak chicken and rice and desserts. I see people complain about ants and flies. There was flies and ants but nothing to crazy. Of course you will find these things you are talking about and open area buffet.

The brazillian restaraunt was good with the steak and tasted lamb for the first time real good. The itlian restaurant was ok. The steakhouse was good as well. The first night ordered room service the ordered chicken it was good to me. We are from new york so there is many different food and taste in this big city. I like basic food so like the gabi and vento which is in the reserve part had a menu that I never heard of most of the dishes so I wouldn't eat there because not really my taste.

The beach is nice the plus in staying at the reserve beach is you have a guy that brings your drinks and towels and snacks to you and the had a guard watching your stuff. Also you have many lounge chairs.

The night entertainment was no for me. The main bar has singers and dancer at night. Friday night the red lounges had a disco party. Also the casino is very small but you can go there. I stayed in the room at night in the jetted tub.

For night entertainment you can also leave the hotel. They have a big casino like not far from the hotel and some travelers on the plane with us told us their hotel take there guest there and you have a great time. Some of the staff at the hotel which is real friendly take you out the clubs or there is a rep from a club that will take you there.

When you go here you must do excursion. We went parasailing very fun. We went zip lining he did it but I was to scared I was a chicken. You get to leave the hotel and see the different parts of this island. We also did the atv trip which was nice they took you to the beach and also this nice cave. When you go on the atv trip you should wear your swimwear because you can swim when we get to the beach also you can swim in cave.
Another thing about this excursion dont book in advance. Book them at the hotel and when they give you a price you can bargain with them. Like for instance the atv trip was 70 per person but another couple we meet paid 60 per person.
All these excursion every time you go out people are trying to sell you things you can get nice little sovinuers always remember make a deal with them for a better price.

The service. The people at this hotel are so nice and go above and beyond. Like for instance I booked my vacation thru Costcotravel.com at a good rate. If you want to upgrade to the reserve when you get there negiotiate with them thats what we did for a better rate.

Even though you dont have to tip. It is is nice too and we did the service they give you they deserve the tip.

The grounds are absolutley lovely and enjoyed every moment of it.

P.s. please excuse any misspelling I didnt spell check. Also I had to do this review because I read alot of these reviews prior to my trip and they were helpful and I hope that they are helpful to you.

P.s if you dont trust the safe you should travel with a master lock in your suitcase and when you get to youre hotel you can put everything in there and use the masterlock to secure your belongs. Also remember if you use this tip you can't use the masterlock at the airport because tsa will clip it but you can place it in the suitcase and when you get to the resort you can utlize it. If you want to use a suitcase lock they sell tsa approve locks.
Thanks it has been nice telling you about my trip and If you do choose this resort enjoy and have a good time.

Date of stay: September 2009
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
    • Value
    • Location
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
3  Thank melli5884
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 18 October 2009

My husband and I arrived in Punta Cana on October 6, 2009 for our 9 day honeymoon at Paradisus Punta Cana.

We were greeted by beautiful grounds, a gorgeous lobby and a courteous bell boy who took our bags. When we went to the counter to check in, we were immediately brought a frozen drink (The Paradisus - delicious!). Unfortunately, when we checked in, they immediately tried to up-sell us on the Reserve area of the resort. This didn't give me a lot of confidence in our regular room. Then we met our "concierge", Leonardo. His sole purpose was to get us to purchase their vacation club. He told us we had to meet him tomorrow morning at 9:30am to give us the list of open restaurants for the next few days. If we had known he was just trying to sell us something, we wouldn't have gone. He was pretty useless.

Upon check in, we received our resort bracelets, room keys, a safe lock and 2 towel cards. We were then taken to our room via tram car. Our room was was lovely. Very clean and cool. It was located right next to the pool, beach and most of the restaurants. The lobby was a 10 minute walk or a tram ride.

The bell boy checked our mini fridge to make sure it was full and it wasn't. He called down to guest services to get it filled, but they never came. We had to call later that evening, but that was the only time we had to call to get our mini fridge replenished.

When we were getting settled, they brought us a complimentary bottle of champagne and a fruit basket. We ordered room service our first night bc we got in late and just wanted to get to bed. We both got beef tenderloin w/ rice and vegetables. It wasn't great, but it was edible. I thought the food in the restaurants would be better. Boy, was I wrong.

The next day we had to meet with Leonardo. We're not morning people, so this was highly annoying. He was busy with another couple when we arrived in the lounge area and told us to get some breakfast and come back.

The breakfast buffet is frightening. "Exotic" doesn't even describe some of the items. Everything was mislabeled (cucumbers were labeled "lettuce", etc) so I wouldn't touch anything I couldn't identify. Keep in mind, It's about 90 degrees w/ 100% humidity and the food is sitting in an open air buffet. Everything was sweating. There were ants in the syrups and honey. Flies on the food. It really was gross.

There was absolutely NOTHING appealing on the breakfast buffet. The fruit had no taste and was warm. The orange "juice" was warm and wasn't even real orange juice. It was some kind of sugary sweet orange drink. The eggs were runny and how could you trust eggs that were sitting out like that? Maybe we have a different standard of hygiene and food quality, but I just don't see how anyone could find this food acceptable. The only good thing I can say about the Hybiscus breakfast buffet was that the service was good. Water glasses were always filled and the staff was friendly.

I knew we wouldn't be up for breakfast most days. I figured we could survive on toast until lunch if I had to... After staring at our empty plates for breakfast, we headed back to meet with Leonardo. He spoke very little English, but I expected this. Communication was difficult. He had me write down the list of restaurants that were open until Sunday (we arrived Thursday). He then tried to sell us vacation club and get our info. We declined and told him we really just wanted to get out to the beach bc it was so hot. He then tried to give us a free dinner at the Gabi club so they could up-sell us on the reserve. He told us that we had to meet back with him on Sunday to get the list of open restaurants for the next week. He also told us we had to come back tomorrow morning to get our coupon for our free dinner. We never went back and he didn't bother us the rest of the trip.

We then went out to the main pool. When we went to get our towels, they tried to sell us excursions. Annoying. The main pool is huge with a swim up bar. It is very warm, but it wasn't crowded at all. The resort as a whole wasn't very crowded. The pool was clean and there were plenty of chairs. The music was island music, techno and some American pop. The bartender at swim up bar didn't make the best drinks, but it was good enough. The split the majority of our time between this pool and the beach.

Lunch was in La Palapa (which is also Marino, the "seafood" restaurant in the evening. I will not even get into the revolting lobster dinner I had from there, but I will post a picture). Another open air buffet. This one was on the beach. Beautiful scenery! Food was disgusting. Again, sweating food, bugs, and indescribable, unmarked cuisine. I couldn't believe that we had 8 days left of this food. I couldn't even eat salad as the the lettuce was wilted and sick looking. I ended up eating a lot of cucumbers and balsamic vinegar. My husband ate bread and sometimes cake, if they had something decent. The only pleasant aspect was the staff.

Dinner was at the chinese restaurant. It wasn't good, but it was the most edible meal we had the entire trip. We ordered fried wontons, dumplings and sweet and sour chicken. It came with minute rice. Seriously...Instant rice. Oh well. I had a pretty bad headache from not eating all day. That in conjunction with the heat cut our first night short. Also, all the restaurants are open air and it is HOT and HUMID all the time. This makes dining slightly uncomfortable, especially when you're starving.

To sum up the rest of the trip, we were hungry the entire time. 2 days before we left, we spent $50 on snacks in the gift shop and ate those until we went home. We couldn't stomach any more of their food. The room service all starts tasting the same and whatever you do, DO NOT ask for a grilled cheese.

We enjoyed ourselves during the day in the pool and at the beach. If you can, go over to the reserve pool. It's cooler and no one will hassle you if you keep a low profile. The resort was beautiful, the service was good, I can even deal with the up-selling, but I would not recommend this resort to family or friends because of the poor quality of food. It ruined the trip for us. You can't enjoy yourself when you're hungry all the time.

Date of stay: October 2009
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
    • Value
    • Location
    • Rooms
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
4  Thank BellaPussington
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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