Grand Paradise Bavaro Resorts Reviews

I thought that the level of performance professionalism far surpassed the quality of the resort in General. I was very enterained.. The Dance troupe that are employed there are top notch. I was massively impressed with the talent and perfection of the acts they performed. One male Dancer just stood out to me so much due to his smaller stature, because despite this, he held his own so much so that his presence and excellence dominated the stage for me at least! I was in awe of the Young Man's skill and dedication to excellence. Bravo! His Name tag said his name was Eliezer.. He had braces and was a very gracious and respectful man when I spoke to him and gave him a small cash tip. (I only wish it could have been more). My memories of his performances will be the ones I remember and cherish as some of my favorites memories of the whole trip.

Room Number:
4209

Room Block:
building 2

Arrival:
Our arrival was confusing...

Rooms:
The rooms were ok.. very adequate.

Restaurants and Bars:
Restaurants were good... the food was good.. varied.. interesting. But I missed my regular fair..

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
They were well maintained... secure. I felt safe.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
I thought that the level of performance professionalism far surpassed the quality of the resort in General. I was very enterained.. The Dance troupe that are employed there are top notch. I was massively impressed with the talent and perfection of the acts they performed. One male Dancer just stood out to me so much due to his smaller stature, because despite this, he held his own so much so that his presence and excellence dominated the stage for me at least! I was in awe of the Young Man's skill and dedication to excellence. Bravo! His Name tag said his name was Eliezer.. He had braces and was a very gracious and respectful man when I spoke to him and gave him a small cash tip. (I only wish it could have been more). My memories of his performances will be the ones I remember and cherish as some of my favorites memories of the whole trip.

Other Comments:
I wasn't prepared for having to spend so much money to do excursions away from the resort... and I think 2 weeks was long enough to be stuck there. But that's just my opinion.

Well we had a wonderfull time at the grand paradise bavaro,..only 2 things we didn`t like first there was these people working for the resort trying to get you to go in a meeting to sell you a timeshare,..we`ve been hassled before but never like this...then there was the food it was good but they didn`t have any Bacon for breakfast the whole 2 weeks we were there,..and the food was the same everyday for 2 weeks,..beside that it was awesome,..if I would go again hummmm not sure because I love my Bacon in the morning lol,..as for the people bugging me I know how to tell them to go away lol

Room Number:
can`t remember

Room Block:
?

Arrival:
we arrived early so we had to wait for our room,..but after that we were well served by the staff

Rooms:
the rooms were clean ,..the maid always served us great,.we had a great view and everything worked well,..just a few times we heard some noise in the hallway early in the morning,..but thats because they had a 24 hour bar on the resort and lots of younger people were there that week,...

Restaurants and Bars:
bars were awesome we were well served and the staff were nice to us all 2 weeks we were there,....restaurants were good but they had no Bacon for the 2 weeks we were there,..and the food was the same for 2 weeks we were there as well

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beach/pools/Grounds were clean and all was great

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
lots of activities on the resort,....if you like to do lots of sports and exercise,..they had arobic clases in the morning,...volleyball,...pool games for everyone,..etc...

Other Comments:
the only other comment was those people working for the resort bugging you to go to that timeshare meeting ,..that shouln`t be allowed at all we pay to go on a vacation to relax leave us alone,...no means no

Very disappointed, it was suppose to be a 4 star but clearly it was a 2-3 star.
No body spoke English so therefore they just turned and walked away from you.
If you didn't flash money at the Bars, you waited a long time to be served. The room service was only half done unless you left cash. The food was bland, no orange juice in the morning. I personally got very sick the last night there and on the plane home. We had several people sick on our flight from the same resort. I missed the next week of work and now am on anti-biotics from this place. Dirty or no cutlery when we were sent to our table, then we would go for our meals and come back and someone else was at our table.
We were told to reserve for the special dinner's at night but were always booked so couldn't get in, but if you went to the restaurant in the evening and slipped the hostess a fews bucks, they found a table for you.
So much for an all-inclusive.
I've been to Mexico 4 times and never come across thing as bad as this, even at 2 or 3 star resorts.

Room Number:
9114

Room Block:
9

Arrival:
When we got close to the Airport, we had to circle for 45 minutes as the airport was too busy. Then when we landed it was wall to wall people trying to get through. No direction as to where your Bus was to catch to the resort.

Rooms:
I was told by other guest that teir rooms were terrible. Our's wasn't too bad. We did request, ocean veiw & king size bed, didn't happen, no explanation.
Only one key card per room which is redictulous, if your there with a friend and one person stays in the room for whatever, the other person can't get back in the room without disturbing the other person. Their excuse was they didn't want the air-conditioning on all day, well how are you supose to keep the room cool so you can sleep at night? (the key cards activate the air-conditioning & lights)

Restaurants and Bars:
Not very good service unless you showed cash.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Not too bad.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
???

Other Comments:
Public washrooms were dicusting, full of crap, wouldn't flush, same as urnels.

Normally, I let my wife write the reviews, but I feel it is extremely important to warn folks as this place is not safe for any human being due to contamination, infestations, and horrific building codes and potentially for loss of life.

I will skip the all the warnings about the food and restaurants, as most people are aware of what to eat and what not to eat. The only thing I would be extremely concerned about is what you are eating off of. On many occasions, I found cutlery, dishes, cups etc completely filthy and were not clean at all. In fact, I watched with my own eyes at a bar on the beach the way the cups are collected and subsequently cleaned, and they are not sanitized properly. They are merely rinsed in a bucket and given back for other customers.

The bathrooms are deplorable throughout the hotel, with toilets overflowing constantly full of feces and urine. There are no towels or soap or disinfectants in the bathrooms whatsoever, which is a huge breeding ground for e-coli and other diseases. I refused to use the washrooms in this hotel as they were never clean.

As for the pools, there was a constant scum on the surface, full of debris, and one day, I watched a family of ducks swim all over the pool, which would suggest that there is not enough chlorine in the pool to ward them off....In addition, the pool is full of sand and light fixtures are hanging within the pool...(I have pictures if required).

As for the buildings and rooms themselves. This place reminded me of WWII barracks somewhere in Europe. The rooms were full of bugs, as we were asked on a couple of occasions to leave the room so they could fumigate, as well as there was mold growing on the ceilings. We also experienced the constant flow of water out of our ceiling as there was a leak somewhere on the floor above us. The water flowed freely in the light fixtures and around electrical outlets....As well, I found several fire extinguishers throughout the hotel that were empty and expired. There was wires sticking out of the ground with no protection from water and the light fixtures were merely wired together with tape.

The grounds are full of debris and garbage and the walkways are cracked, uneven, nonpainted and make the place look horrible.

As mentioned earlier, many people from Sunquest Roulette on this trip were told it was a 4 star hotel...this is not true....this may be a 2-3 star at best and there is no way that people (approximately 80% of the plane) should be sick. I can understand diarrhea, but these people were violently ill, including myself upon return. I am now on antibiotics and have been sick for 3 days....The illnesses described are more in keeping with e-coli or food poisoning.

We are going to be contacting Sunquest and Itravel 2000 as we feel we were lead astray on the roulette and that we were falsely represented on our vacation. We will keep you informed of any prog

Room Number:
5214

Room Block:
5

Stayed Feb 6-13, 2012. Of 6 of us, 4 were sick with diaherra and throwing up and were in bed for 24 hrs. The food at the buffet was the same every day. Since returning, 2 people had to get medical treatment - 1 is on antibiotics for ecoli infection and the other is on IV in hospital for chronic diaherra. Can only assume it was the food. Beach was wonderful, rooms were ok. 4th trip to DR but not best visit. Avoid this resort unless you want to waste a day in bed. Will never go back and would not recommend.

Arrival:
In pouring rain after midnight. Check in was fast but could only provide 1 key to room and had to go back next day for safe key, cost $20.

Rooms:
Not bad, seemed pretty clean. Never any hot water.

Restaurants and Bars:
avoid buffet restaurant. Same food every day. No variety. Omelets were good. Never any bacon or orange juice. Steak a la carte was delicious.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beach was amazing but get your lounge chair early or you will do without.

We were quite apprehensive about the Grand Paradise Bavaro after reading the reviews and having "drew" the resort in the SunQuest "roulette". Our experience is tempered by 6+ visits to various Punta Cana resorts and lots of other Caribbean destinations over the past 12 years. We have stayed in 5 star resorts as well as much lesser properties so we can judge this resort with clear eyes. Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the resort, had a positive vacation and have few real complaints.

Room Number:
5320

Room Block:
5

Arrival:
We flew SunQuest Vacations via Thomas Cook from Halifax on Feb. 6 arriving in Punta Cana in a tropical rainstorm. The aircraft was the usual "bus" in the sky but we had a reasonable chicken meal and a small complimentary glass of wine on board. The airport arrival was smooth and we were soon referred by the sunquest rep.to our bus transport. The offers from local porters to carry our bags was no worse than usual and a polite "No gracius" was all that was required.

Rooms:
We arrived with a lot of other vacationers hence check in took about 30 minutes. The desk was not organized to Delta/Fairmont standards but they got us checked in and tagged with the resort bracelet. The room safe at this resort is an extra $20 US for the week but that is not unusual at DR resorts. The bell staff had our luggage to our room quickly (it was pouring). A small tip ($2)was appreciated. The room was clean and well equipped and close enough to the beach to see it to the left off the balcony. This was in the older section of the property but the room and location was fine. I can see how some picky travelers might consider the building worn but who spends a lot of time admiring the furniture when at all inclusive resorts? The room had a new flat screen TV, two double beds and a balcony with table and chairs. As we were Sunquest Plus the room had beach towels, a complimentary bottle of rum, fridge stocked with water and soft drinks. The bathroom had the usual face clothes, bath towels, shampoo and soap.

Restaurants and Bars:
The main buffet was OK, the food OK. If you are going for a high cuisine experience forget it and go somewhere else - but there was lots to eat, fresh fruit, tomatoes and cucumbers. Maybe after two weeks you might get a bit tired of the buffet. There were a few frustrations in the buffet: mainly slow and disorganized setting of the tables and water service. At breakfast I noticed that the bus teams were not assigned zones and hence coffee/water table service and clean-up was spotty at best. Perhaps the resort should review its training program. The staff were polite although I saw a few "guests" being rude to them. We enjoyed the beach buffet for our lunches - nothing fancy but again : OK salads, chicken, pizza, burgers etc...
We ate at two a la cartes: The Steakhouse and the Italian. The food was good and service passable. I like to have ice cream for desert - regrettably there was none available.
The bars: Lobby bar OK but slow, The Pool bar was my preference One bar tender, "Juan Carlos", knew how to make a Coco Loco and although he did not smile much his service was super.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The grounds at the GPB were well kept and the flowers and shrubs beautiful. We toured the newer Premier section and found the train transport efficient. It appeared the rooms and pools were newer in this section but we were glad to be closer to the beach. We ate at the buffet one night and had no complaints about the food or service. If newer means something to you this might be the place to be. It seemed that most guests in this area were Francophones.
We enjoyed the SunQuest Plus reserved beach area - One did have to be up early to get a Palapa! You can't just show up at the beach a expect a chair at 10 AM. The beach at Punta Cana/Bavaro is wonderful and the ocean warm with a nice sandy bottom.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We don't stay up very late hence took in only one show and did not go to the casino. The entertainment we did see was basically a Michael Jackson show. The show could be considered a bit amateurish but it was no worse than other resort shows we have seen. We booked a free shuttle through the SunQuest rep to a local mall where cigars ,rum and other souvenirs could be purchased. The resort gift shop had most of the same items but the prices were very very high. Example: a bottle of Barcelo Imperial Rum was $48 -at the off resort mall it was $21.
The resort animation staff ran the typical beach programs, yoga volleyball etc during the day. They were not rude or intrusive.
The resort had a pool side "Dominican Party" one afternoon with dancers and special drinks - It was colorful and lots of fun.

Other Comments:
The bottom line: The resort does not deserve the poor reviews some have given it. If you want a 5 star Hilton/Sheraton/ US style experience go there if you want a basic Dominican all inclusive lay back vacation the GPB will do the job. The Grand Paradise Bavaro may need a few upgrades and benefit from some training of dining room staff but it was a good experience for us and worth the money. In short "The sun shone, there was lots of vitamin R and the beach was exceptional".

Room Number:
8104

Room Block:
8

Arrival:
We booked with Thomas Cook/Sunquest. No issues with flight, arrival in Punta Cana or bus ride to the resort. We arrived in Punta Cana at midnight with travel time and check in we were in our room by 2am - anyone who complains about checking in after midnight should not have booked that flight. Only issue with check in was they only had one person working and there were at least 40 people checking in. People need to have patience - remember you are on holidays!

Rooms:
This was our 4th visit to this resort and our first time staying in the premier section as we had stayed at the beach the last 3 times. Rooms are rooms...they are clean and the bed is comfortable...what else do you need? When we travel we spend our days out at the pool and on the beach and only use the room for sleeping...it is not the Ritz but if that is what you expect then book somewhere else.

Restaurants and Bars:
One of the main reasons we keep going back to this resort is because of the food. Beach or Premier buffet for breakfast are equally good - lots of selection. For those Canadians they don't have bacon at breakfast regularly but again if that is a make or break for your vacation then go somewhere else. Beach buffets or Premier buffet for lunch are all good, again lots of selection. We have enjoyed all the a la carte restaurants. Our favourites are Taino (traditional Dominican), Malanger (international), Seascape because they offer outside dining and for the $10 extra per person the Japanese is something not to miss. We have never experienced any issues with the food and frankly if you do it probably has more to do with what you washed it down with! and I don't mean the water rather excessive alcohol. We did miss Barco which as the boat bar located by the casino but the lobby bar and beach bar are great. The swim up pool bar located in the Premier section is great never really busy and the staff is friendly. We didn't attempt the disco this year as in past it is full of kids and the activity co-ordinators, smells like stale beer and vomit - not our cup of tea!

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
What more can you ask for...the beach is beautiful! Pools are clean.

Other Comments:
All in all another great vacation! We have always found the staff friendly and accomodating. Those who have issues with the staff may want to think about how they spoke and treated the staff. We travel alot and we keep coming back to this resort because of the staff. I am in the hospitality and I believe "you get what you give" therefore if you are rude and unfriendly expect the same in return it really doesn't matter how much you paid.

This is our third trip to Dominican, we have been to Santa Domingo and Sousa and this resort was about pa to the other resorts. Found the resort to be too big although there is a shuttle running every 5 minutes

Room Number:
9104/9105

Room Block:
building 9

Arrival:
We stayed at this resort from Jan 21-29, 2012 arrived at 1am on Sun Jan 22. By the time we got our luggage and got to hotel it was close to 2am. Check in was a nightmare, one staff member on duty to check in approx 40 guests, this took 2hrs. Learned upon check-out the staff member that checked us in was a trainee.Kids were starving and nothing open except for sports bar which had a few sandwiches on a tray that had been sitting there for hours covered in flies.

Rooms:
Finally got to our room at about 4am. We had booked two adjoining rooms and we were shocked when we saw the room.....it was beautiful, spotless and very modern and renovated.

Restaurants and Bars:
The buffet was ok, tables were never set and you had to continually ask for cutlery. Most "americanized' food we had ever had in Caribbean, although fruit was limited. We got to pick two a la carte and we chose italian and steak house. The italian restaurant forgot to put our order in and the steak house ran out of steak the night we were there.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
This resort definitely has to impose a no reserving rule on chaise lounges, unless you were up at 6am and got to pool or beach by 7am you did not get a chair. We watched many a day where reserved chairs were never occupied all day. The beach was really crowded at the resort, but if you looked either way down the beach to the other resorts they had all kinds of chairs and open space. This resort was roped off at the property edge and chaises could not be moved past these ropes. So as a result you had people sitting within 10 inches of your chair. Kind of disappointed at the beach as I had heard they were the nicest in Caribbean. We think the beaches in Cayo Cocoa Cuba are far superior.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
We did not partake in any of the activities on the resort and only booked one trip off the resort to a cigar factory , flea market and shopping centre. This was ok. The shopping centre directly outside the north lobby of the hotel was actually a flea market where every store had the same thing and everything was "cheapie, cheapie, almost free" as the store owners told us, but good for souvenirs.Stay away from the casino, there are about 20 slot machines and a few tables. Played the slots and got 3 cherries in a row and was told it wasn't quite on the line so they weren't going to pay out!!

Other Comments:
Make sure you take sun-tan lotion as it costs $48.00 US in the gift store in the hotel. Also the female staff in the gift store were so unbearably rude. My daughter was looking at a bathing suit when we noticed a stain on it and upon further investigation realized it was a used bathing suit. In fact all the bathing suits on the rack were $50.00US and all were used!!!!! Another rack held bathing suits for $150.00 and these had the manufactures tags still on them. My daughters both had there sandals stolen at the beach and we laughed that they would be for sale in the gift shop the next day.

I usually take all reviews with a grain of salt and think how bad can it really be, but I have to say this resort was disappointing for me.

Didn't talk to anyone who was happy with the resort and loving their experience.

Room Number:
9344

Room Block:
9000

Arrival:
Bit confusing finding the correct bus and seemed to take a long time to get going.

Arrived at resort ~9 am. Check in took a very long time and of course room wasn't available until later in afternoon. Changed into swimsuits and made the best of everything, but was disappointing to not be able to get towels from the pool that first day.

Rooms:
Clean but very run down. Ceiling was leaking and plaster crumbling from it. Asked for a cot and an extra double bed was brought into the room. Toilet level was a little iffy, my 7 yr old couldn't get it to flush. A big plus was that the water pressure was good and we always had hot water for showering. Started with only 2 towels but afterwards the maid always left us plenty. Door to balcony didn't lock, so was a slight concern.

Restaurants and Bars:
Buffet wasn't great. Surprised to never see yogurt or icecream, and fruit was limited. Often a struggle to get a cup, bowl, or utensils. Entire family had travellers diarrhea the whole trip, so something wasn't agreeing with us.

Were able to try 3 ala cartes. Had no trouble booking and the food was good in all and a nice break. Really enjoyed our experience at the Asian.

Nothing spectacular about the bars. Usually found the one at the main pool too busy to ever get anything at. Ran out of straws for some reason at one point.

My biggest complaint about the food was the lack of a "snack bar" where something could be grabbed to eat by the pool. Didn't like having to dry off/clean up/put clothes on the kids everytime they wanted some french fries.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beautiful beach & water and very nice pools. Beach was kept clean. Chairs by middle pool need to be replaced/added to as was near impossible to get a decent one there. Grounds are attractive.

Public washrooms closest to beach were kind of gross, ones at other pools were definitely better. All the bathrooms only had paper towel for about 3 days of the 2 weeks we were there.

Used the train frequently and didn't run into any problems with it.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Found activities off resort rather limited for small children. We did Mega Truck tour and enjoyed it. Tried the "Manati Park" - not great, the shuttle bus holds you hostage at it and the vendors are extremely aggressive there. Walked across to the market and again found the pushiness overwhelming. Otherwise all trips involve long bus rides, boats, snorkeling, etc - not great with a 3 year old.

Didn't make use of kids club as 4 was the lower limit and didn't want to separate the kids.

Used some of the gear (boogie boards, snorkels, balls, ping pong etc.) and had no trouble ever with access.

Evening entertainment was well done.

"Ladies" in main lobby gift shop were unbelievably rude. Guys at jewellery store were awesome though.

Other Comments:
Many of the other travellers were unbelievable rude. Our first 4 nights a group of young men took it upon themselves to destroy the resort when they'd return from their boozing. We were woken up every night between 4 & 6 am to the sound of light posts being kicked over and metal banisters being torn off the cement stairwells. Doors always sounded like they were being slammed.

Usually I love a 2 week holiday, but by day 5 was wishing we had only booked one week and was wondering what on earth we were going to do and eat for 9 more days. Seemed a bit better the next week and weather was beautiful.

Choose to do the roulette, so was not sure what hotel we would be staying in. We were given a room that smelled very musty. The key lock to our door did not work, had to get it fixed when we arrived. The ceiling was full of cracks, and the toilet made the loudest noise ever when it was flushed for at least 2minutes. Could only flush it in the morning, too loud to flush at night. The drinks were terrible, could not drink them. Did lots of tipping but did not get any better service, lots of bar tenders were rude and ignore you. Food was average, the beach was beautiful and kept clean. It is a big resort, had to take a train to get to main building and beach. If you stay, be sure to pay the extra and stay in the first unit, closest to the beach. Activities did not change daily, same thing each day. Would not recommend this resort at any price. Toilets on the resort were dirty, and we were never close enough to our room to use the bathroom there. The train did not come every 10 minutes, had to wait over a half hour one night.

Room Number:
7902

Room Block:
Unit 7

Arrival:
We booked with Sunquest and it was extremely confusing at the airport, lots of people trying to drive you to your hotel. Had to find the bus that we were supposed to take. People were very aggressive at the airport, make sure you remain firm and say no to any requests.

Rooms:
We made numerous requests to be moved, our neighbors above and beside us partied till all hours everynight. Called security numerous times but did not seem to stop the noise. The room had a musty smell, very strong. The toilet made the loudest noise ever when it was flushed, said it would be fixed, but never did. Even the maid cringed when it was flushed. There were no ants, or bugs in the room. The room was fumagated while we were there. There was a shortage of towels so kept the same ones for the whole week.

Restaurants and Bars:
Had to book daily for the a la cartes, was not worth the wait in line. Most times there was no room. had to pay to eat at the sushi bar. The buffet was the best place to eat.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Did not use the pools.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Did the outback tour, would not recommend it. The tours are very expensive and if you have done one, they are pretty much all the same. Could not leave the resort, no town close by to walk to. There was an animation team at night that put on good shows. The magician was excellent. There were a few beach parties that were fun. You could walk quite a ways on the beach and it was very safe.

Other Comments:
The resort was very safe, left my personal belongings anywhere and no one touched them, could leave your beach chair for hours and come back and everything still be there. Room key, money, camera, no one bothered with your stuff. The beach is beautiful. I do not need much to make me happy, but I had so many complaints through out the week. The staff was not friendly and did not even acknowledge being tipped. The drinks were awful, and again I can pretty much drink anything, but there was just no attempt to make a nice drink. I would get a strawberry daquari, and not even bother to put the grenadine in it to make it somewhat red. I had read the reviews beforehand and they were awful. Did not believe them to be true, unfortunately got there and they were all true. Did not meet one person there that was positive about the resort. I would definitely NOT recommend this resort, even if you get it at a good price. It is not worth it. I really wanted to go home by the Wednesday of that week.Would not do the roulette again with that hotel in it.