We stayed at Grand Paradise Samana for 2 weeks at the end of November and early December. We were with a group of 22 people.
Check in was pretty simple as you recieved your room and info package on the bus trip to the resort. You only had to go to reception if a change was required.
Reception, I found not overly helpful or interested.
You only get one key per room, which was an issue for us as we aren't always together. The cost for a second one is $5.00 per day and for us staying 2 weeks was going to be costly. The reson for this fee we were told was so the A/C would not be running all day as you have to put the key into the slot for it to run. We opted to not pay for a second key, and any type of card works just as well in the slot.
We did not get a safe as again there is a fee for that, we did not have any items go missing from our room at all. However, a couple in our group had their luggage guy "hook them up" with a safe, only to relize after that he had gone back into the room and re opened the safe and took the money.
We upgraded our room, it was large and fairly nice, however the matresses were horrible!! and the sheets would not stay on the bed because they don't use fitted sheets. The rest of our group had rooms in the newer rooms, they were nice, clean and again had lots of towels. A couple of the rooms had pillow top matresses.
The room was clean, and we always had enough clean towels.
If we wanted our fridge re stocked with pop, tipping was required!
The food was ok, always lots to eat and a pretty good variety, the omlette station was excellent. The alacarte restaurants are ok, as we had a large group, there was alot of confusion in regard to our orders. They were very accomadating in regard to seating in the restaurants, and researved tables for our group of 22.
The resort is very clean, and well maintained.
There are 2 pools, one shallow kids pool, and then a deeper adult pool. Actually there are 3 pools but the 3rd one is designated for French people, who incidently have a entire section of the resort just for them!!
The entertainment was not great at all, we did not attend the shows after the first couple, certainly far below average in this area.
The beach is nice, always enough seating, people do not put towels on the chairs and leave all day, lots for everyone.
There are activities at the beach to get involved in, but nothing around the pool. The entertainment crew were not really interested in getting people involved in activities.
There is insuffecient area for gathering to have a drink before dinner except for the reception area, which is pretty small.
We did 3 excursions, but not through the resort which was very costly. We walked into the little town and found a man named Agusto, who has a business doing excursion privately. We paid $110.00 per person for adults and $50.00 for children for 3 trips, which were zip line, catamaran and jeep excursion. WE DID NOT pay him up front and paid him in 3 installments, each time he arrived to pick up our group, he was paid 1/3. These excursions were SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!!!! He went over and above in every detail, food was excellent, lots of rum and the guide "Peter" was the best. I would not normally book outside the resort, but I felt comfortable with Agusto, and our payment arrangement with him. I would strongly suggest excursions through him, it was well worth every penny and we got more for our money then those who booked through the reosrt. We got 3 for the price of one. Zip line was outstanding, as was the catamaran and the jeep tour.
The price for this resort was great, we paid $988.00 taxes in for 2 weeks, well worth the money.
Overall I would return to this resort for the price we paid, I would not pay any more than that.

This hotel should be rated 2/3 stars. We arrived on Monday and we stayed in building # 7. The building is newer, but the rooms are dirty. There were no box springs on the beds and the mattresses were on the floor. Within 20 minutes of being there we killed 2 roaches. We went to the desk to complain and sent maintenance to spray. While the maitenance guy was spraying, we were killing more roaches. We went back to the reception desk 3 more times that evening and demanded that our room be changed. They changed our room to the # 2 building. This building is much older, but VERY clean. We didn't see any more roaches the rest of the trip.

Besides the rooms, the resort isn't too bad. The buffet restaurant is the best restaurant because there is a variety to choose from. The staff is very nice. The beach is breath taking! If you are going to relax then this place to be.

Started off on the wrong foot when Sunwing changed the ft. times AFTER booking. Arrived home at 2:45 a.m. instead of 11:55 p.m. They basically cost me another day off work. The ft. down was on a plane that felt like a 30 year old school bus. The fact that parents and the staff let kids run up and down the aisles endlessly didn't help. The ft. home was on a newer plane with more leg room and the kids were tired.

I had hoped to dive. Managed to get in one day of diving because the ocean was too rough. The shop was ok. Small but adequate. I want a boat with a ladder! Getting hauled into a boat in rough or calm water is not my idea of fun.

Sent an email to the hotel in advance of my stay requesting a centrally located room to accommodate my 74 year old travelling companion and info. on the dive shop. Never got a response.

The hotel provides guests with one room key card only. After a long drawn out discussion with staff I got a second one on the basis that my companion and I do different things and looking for each other and or going back and forth to the front desk to retrieve the key was NOT an option. When I pay for a room I pay for unfettered access as well. My request to hotel staff, stop this practice. I understand you don't want a key left in the room and the A/C running all day, but this is your problem to resolve, not mine.

It is in everyone's interest to have and use a safety deposit box. I am happy to pay a deposit, I do not like paying a $15 fee!

Lighting in the room is very limited esp. for people who like to read at night. Same on the footpaths in the resort. Turn it up a bit.

Coffee in dining room was awful! We waited until 10 each day to get a cappuccino or espresso from the bar. The availability of wine was hit/miss, more miss. No, not today was the frequent response. The beverage selection advertised but never delivered gin or tequila. The food was...mediocre. The lunch offerings were the same everyday. Add a special or two to the al la cartes pls. Allowing a portion of the dining rooms to be smoking is the same as allowing smoking everywhere. Stop this very outdated practice pls.

We went to Samana to see the whales and we were not disappointed. I went horseback riding. I would caution against this excursion if you are not brave of heart. The trails were very steep and wet and the horses were pushed to the limit. I felt like I was hiking as opposed to riding. The flatter parts were lovely and the horses were cared for and delightful. I expect there are several accidents every year on this excursion.

The hotel is quiet. Families seemed to enjoy it. The beach was nice, bay was sheltered from the waves. Lots of lounges. 1.5 hrs. from the airport. Check in/out was smooth. Staff were pleasant. Request to activity staff. Turn down the music. Look around at the demographics of your guests. Euro techno & rap likely isn't the first choice of the guests.

Had a massage at the resort. Nice. $70. Had one at the beach that we visited after whale watching. Half the price and a great experience. I appreciate that people deserve a living wage but massages are over priced. Drop the price and you'd see me twice as often.

I got what I paid on this vacation but I wouldn't return.

If you want to see why I gave it a 1 star just skip to the end ;)

Believe everything you read on here - Good and bad. There are so many reviews that I thought I'd write about the awesome things you can do while staying here to avoid repeating the same info others have provided.

The best thing about the Grand Samana is that it is the only all inclusive hotel located on the gorgeous beach of Las Galeras. For this reason I would recommend it as a perfect home base while exploring OUTSIDE of the resort.

Since you will be spending money to venture outside of the resort it's very important to get a great deal. We paid $860 Canadian per person (including flight, transfer to hotel, exit cost of $20 and taxes). Also bring money with you, do not expect the hotel to make change for you and the bank machine on site was broken during our stay. If you have US $$ they will claim not to have the correct change. We actually found using DR $ to be easier.

Here are some things we really loved while visiting Las Galeras:
-ATV tour to Rhincon beach (with razor tours) and swimming there while sipping on pina coladas served in pineapples.
-Most scenic/magical restaurant we've ever been to was El Cabito (the owner actually picked us up from the hotel himself)
-Disco at the hotel was well attended and worth staying up for
-Guests at the hotel were very friendly
-The French tour company "Look" kept things interesting on the beach, my bf played beach volleyball organized by them although we were there with Air Canada Tours, they also attend the disco
-Breakfast was awesome with made to order omelettes
-Buy a bottle of rum from the local store since everything on the resort is VERY diluted.
-Most fun nearby restaurant was L'Adventura de John, great pizza too
-Most romantic restaurant - Le Tainos
-Photos on the beach (taken by resort staff) were well worth the $$$

We also heard people raving about the whale watching tour (but not for those who get seasick easily) and the zip line tour.

Skip this hotel if:
-You prefer to lounge by the pool rather than beach (the reason to go here is the untouched beach, the pool is pretty small)
-You want to stay at the resort the entire time
-You require the hotel staff to help you with anything


*Reason for the bad review - I was initially going to give this place a 3 (well 3.5) but as the week wore on I became increasingly appalled by the behaviour of the front desk staff and management. At first I wrote it off as it being more laid back than North America but there were a few times that we simply could not get any help from the resort staff for basic things... Such as towels in our room, help finding a bank since their machine was broken, placing all call to a nearby restaurant (they put us on hold until we called back), calling a taxi (again, we were waiting right in front of them in the lobby for the taxi and they didn't bother to call, booking a romantic dinner on the beach provided by the hotel (we paid $100 for this and literally begged them to book it for us since I'm pretty sure the person we were dealing with was drunk), all beach and pool bathrooms were clogged and I was told by a staff member I had to get mad at the front desk to get them to fix it since they wouldn't listen to him etc...

We weren't really too upset by all this until we realized how everyone else in the entire town was so incredibly friendly and helpful and that it was NOT a cultural issue but was a hotel issue. The worst incident was when we were in a rush to a dinner off the resort but had taken our all inclusive bracelets off for the photo shoot provided by the hotel (which we spent $250 for) and the manager firmly directed the front desk staff (in spanish thinking we wouldn't understand??) not to give us any help or information until we got them from our room - we were asking to call a taxi NOT for any service provided as part of the all inclusive, we also provided our ID's and room numbers.*