We stayed from Jan 25-feb 2 2012. Air transat poor planning left us sitting waiting in the lobby for 6 hours before we could check in. I do have more complaints about air transat and would never ever travel with them again.
Here are my hotel issues
Issue number 1- when we arrived we could not check in (arrived at 9am-check in at 3pm) No secure place for our luggage therefore couldnt wonder too far and had to carry all valuables with us. So left us waiting for 6 hours with not much to do
Issue number 2- No bracelets for us when we arrived, seemed like there was only one person who had access to the bacelets and they werent there so had to wait almost 4 hours before we could get one, meaning no drinks or food till we had one.
Issue number 3- Front desk staff EXTREMELY rude! Usually took standing there for long periods of time to get their attention (even when not busy) and usually met with some sort of attitude. This happend the whole time there.
On the good side the service staff in the restaurants and maids and cleaners were all very freindly and did awesome. The resot itself was nice well kept.
Overall would not go back there....Or punta cana. Nothing really to do around the area. If wantitng to go to the dominican I would choose Peurto Plata instead.

We stayed here from January 27 - February 3. Overall, we had a positive experience..but as other reviewers have mentioned, there are a few minor problems. First off, when we booked this trip with Transat Holidays, we had booked with the Bavaro hotel, but we ended up being assigned a room in the Punta Cana hotel (all in the same complex though) WHen I questioned the Transat rep the next morning, she said it's all the same....but afterwards I thought well that's not really true, as I had chosen Bavaro based on their glossy brochure and that's what I should have gotten. We also didn't get into our room until 4:30 pm, although check-in is supposed to be 3 pm. We had arrived at the hotel well before checkin time of 3 pm, so were not surprised when advised our room was not ready. We went off to have lunch and explore the grounds, but returned to the Bavaro lobby shortly before 3. We would check with the front desk every 20 minutes or so to see if our room was ready, and the only reply was that they were waiting for a phone call (I assume from the maid). We found our other dealings with the front desk and the concierge similary frustrating. Most all the other staff we encountered during our stay, from the maids, waiters, bar staff, etc; were very friendly and efficient, it was only the front desk and concierge that seemed to be a problem (this at the Bavaro). This wasn't the case with the front desk staff at the Punta Cana lobby, who were most helpful. When we didn't know where the Catholic mass was being held on the Saturday evening, one of the staff walked us over to the small church himself.

The room itself was nice, although a bit cramped as our room had a jacuzzi very close to the bed, and only a small table and a single chair on the other side of the bed. We did get a chance to see what the junior suite looks like, and it is much larger, still with a jacuzzi tub, but it's situated in the bathroom.

We were supposed to have the following in our room upon arrival as part of the transat "premium plus' package: beach towels, gift, bottle of rum, slippers, robes and fruit platter. The only item that was in our room upon finaly getting there was the robes. It took 3-4 days of badgering the concierge and Transat rep to get these items. I have written an email to Transat to complain about this...no answer as of yet.

The beach itself is nice and very long - great for walking. Unfortunately the whtole week we were there it was quite windy, and so much cooler at the beach, and also the sea was a little rough and there was quite a bit of winds blown in. We are beach people, so this was somewhat of a downer.

There are a lot of small pools over the complex, but the loungers are usually all gone by early morning (what time do these people get up to put their towels on these chairs? it must be very early). I sure don't come on vacation to get up at 6 am to reserve a chair...fortunately, there was no problem getting a lounger at the beach, so that's where we spent most of our time.

The food was very good overall...but the beef was not. We stayed away from it after the first few days. The buffet had a great selection of everything, and had theme nights each night (Italian/gala/Mexican, etc:). We ate at 5 of the a la cartes, and with the exception of the International where we had really tough and fatty steak, the rest of the meals were very good. We ate at the Spanish, Mediterranean, Brazilian and Japanese. The cocktails were very good, especially at the Hemingway bar which was only open in the evenings and where they had international liquor. I especially liked the coco loco and the passion colada, as well as the non-alcoholic banana smoothie. Yum!!

There is a spa on the grounds, and you can make use of the small swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna there at no extra charge. There were usually very few people there, so it was a nice place to go for an hour or so at the end of the day to just relax.

We did have a walk around the Royal suites Turquesa area, and if we ever return, this is where I would like to stay. Much quieter there, and they have their own private pool and restaurant, etc; There were even a few swim-up suites.

So overall, we did enjoy ourselves, but not sure if we would return due to the windy beach.

We have just returned from a week at the Grand palladium bavaro. this is a massive resort that is very well maintained. Beautiful grounds and so many amenities. We had a fantastic stay (25th Jan to 1st Feb). the weather wasnt the best during our stay but we still had a brilliant time and managed a sun tan!
We spent most of our time around the Bavaro pool which is lovely. Quite quiet (except when a large wedding party turned up) and excellent service around the pool for drinks. The entertainment staff in the afternoon were very good (especially Kenia, Arris and Emilio) and got lots of people involved. The only problem with the pool is reserving of beds - we soon realised that if we didnt get up at 7am we wouldnt get a bed. One day we put our towels down at 5.30 as we were up and there were already beds reserved. The management should sort this out ASAP.There was no shortage of beds on the beach but as it was fairly windy we avoided this most days.
the beach was absolutely gorgeous and the sea was lovely and warm. It was nice having a snack kiosk which served drinks and chips, burgers and chicken. all that you needed!
Rooms - our room was pretty basic but very clean and our mini bar was always restocked each day. No complaints here.
Food - The buffet food was fine but after few days got pretty boring and repetitive but that was our own fault as we couldnt be bothered to queue for the alacartes. We went to the Brasilian (1 1/2 hr wait) which was very nice except some of the food was very raw. We thought the service in the mexican was awful (didnt get offered a drink for 20 mins) but the food was quite nice. The staff didnt seem to care much and brought us different things to what was on the menu and didnt restock basics such as nachos etc.
The best alacarte was the steakhouse by the beach - steak was amazing and so was the service.

Would not hesitate to come back to this beautiful resort but would like to be able to get up at a normal hour to get around the pool. Surely the towel staff could montior this. The kids club looked amazing as well so may bring the kids next time!

We visited this resort Jan. 27-Feb. 3/12. The weather was overcast but then the sun came out. Much better then cold weather in Toronto. We arrived at the resort at 1:00pm and it took us 4 hrs. to get our room. Thanks to our Transat rep. he had us upgraded to Jr. Suites. We were in block 35, great location so close to the pool, beach and front lobby.

I have read lots of reviews and negatives about the food but don't go by them.. We ate at the a la cart for Italian which could have had more Italian dishes but I was fine with what they offered. The Steakhouse (near the beach) was good. The other days we ate at the buffet. The buffet was huge with a large variety of food to please everybody. They changed the theme each day.

We made reservations was our Transat rep. to go Zip Lining and it was a thrill of a lifetime. If you get a chance you must go.

The Cons
When the maids were cleaning the rooms they left the doors open. At night we found to have mosquitoes in our room. We also found the beds very hard.

My friend went to the pool every morning around 6-6:30 to get a hut, other words you were out of luck.

All in all the resort was awesome and we would definitely go back.