Paradisus Palma Real in April

The hotel was well maintained given its age, spacious and clean and likewise with the guest rooms. The property is large and the buildings are spread out so there was quite a bit of walking for us. Staff were friendly and helpful. Disappointed could not find a coconut drink everyday and was not aware that it was available only on the weekend. The food was average except for the breakfast where there was quite a variety offered. Night shows were ok but not advertised ahead of time. I liked the  [... read more]fact that the hotel was close to the airport although took an hour to get to the airport on the departure day due to numerous pickups and traffic. Overall a good experience and vacation.

Resort does not cater to Gluten free sensititves plus Circle members seem to be treated better than other guest even the guest that paid for the reserve upgraded amenities.

This hotel caters to the circle members better than the other people even the ones paying for the reserve section which is costly. The hotel does not really know what gluten free means. Do not go if Gluten sensitive. One chief at the same restaurant will prepare a gluten free pasta while at the same restaurant on another night and another chief the guest is told that it is not possible to prepare the gluten free pasta. Guest was celebrating birthday (visited April 13-22/26) and got a chocolat [... read more]e bar with a Christmas tree decoration on it! Christmas was 4 months before arrival! Bars - some would give the reserve guests premium alcohol while other bars would not. No consistency. Beach beds - a large amount are old and are sinking in the middle. Beach is beautiful as well as clear sandy bottom. Most staff are happy and gracious to be there. For the same price point as the reserve at Paradisus Palma Real a person could go to the W Punta Cana or the Excellence properties and get better gourmet style food and better gluten free options.

Amazing trip

From the private transfer to the time we arrived wow. From check In to check out amazing. Check In was easy as it was not busy when we arrived Yahoo lol. Bags went on the golf cart and away we went to our room. The concierge took us to the room and the bags followed shortly after. The room was amazing clean and didn’t smell mouldy at all. Next morning was a walk around to get familiar with the resort the it was smooth sailing from there. Beach was beautiful drinks were amazing great selec [... read more]tion. As for the food well I must say it was top notch. We ate at the buffet and the alacarts once we figured out the reservation tablet it was easy. The service was amazing and the staff amazing at the buffet jimbert well he made our mornings wonderful always watching everyone around and on top of his game. Adult pool bar Ari’s well she made our week as well always happy and friendly there is no other words to explain it. Thank you trip central for another amazing trip.

Excellent resort!

I have been to many all-inclusive resorts over the years but this was my best experience by far. The resort is new, modern and beautiful. There are a lot of pools and a lot of variety of things to do, whether you're looking to party or just relax. The beach is amazing, lots of loungers with excellent thatch shades if you want to stay out of the sun. The beach also had a fantastic dedicated margarita bar. The food was excellent both at the buffet and the booked restaurants. There are a lot of ome [... read more]let stations for breakfast which is nice. We liked the Kanna outdoor restaurant for lunch as well. None of our party got the dreaded TD. We took a golf cart to the Casino, it is located at the adjacent sister resort, and we had a fabulous time there. The night-time entertainment was great in the main lobby area, as was the late night sports bar. Overall an excellent vacation and would highly recommend this resort!

Beautiful Resort

The hotel is modern & updated, beautiful appointed rooms & landscaping is well kept with lots of greenery. Great restaurants! Lots of daily activities, plenty of beach & pool loungers with lots of shade. One gift shop.

Beautiful Resort

The hotel is modern & updated, beautiful appointed rooms & landscaping is well kept with lots of greenery. Great restaurants! Lots of daily activities, plenty of beach & pool loungers with lots of shade. One gift shop.

Gorgeous resort

Can’t say enough about this beautiful resort. We stayed in the reserve section adults only and were amazed by the rooms and the care given to being looked after. The an la cartes were great and especially liked that we had our own restaurant in the reserve section.Our concierge Wolfgang was Amazing and looked after us to the max. Would definitely stay there again.

Amazing stay!!

The hotel manager Juan was superb. Very attentive and engaged. The concierge staff Jamie was also top notch. We could not have asked for a better stay thanks to both of them in particular. Very clean and upscale resort with delicious food and gorgeous beach!

A Great Resort

This was definitely the best spot I've visited in the Dominican Republic after going there about six times. The food was awesome, but the nighttime buffet got moved to a smaller beachside restaurant, and the food was cold with limited options. The hotel staff were super friendly.

Very nice resort

Very nice resort very clean. The food was excellent. The service was good overall was very good. We enjoyed yourself. We will be back. I would recommend to my friend to go visit this resort it was a very good experience À la carts were very good we enjoyed every single one of them

Fantastic Resort

We thought the staff kept the grounds very clean and garbage picked up often. The staff worked very hard to provide great service in the dining areas. We had wonderful meals at all the A la carts. We had kids with us so we did not enter any adults only ones. The night entertainment was a very nice selection for all guests.

Amazing resort and amazing staff

My husband and I had a wonderful vacation. It was made so by the wonderful staff and in particular by Fransisco. He made all the difference and quite frankly made our stay absolutely wonderful. Our favorite meal was at the Dominican Republican restaurant and our waitress was fantastic! This was our second time there and will return!

Clean resort, good service, not-so good food, terrible golf course

Between a 3 star to 4 star. Jumped on a Black Friday deal. Check-in was verrrry long when we arrived at 10:30pm as there was a single guy working and a family of 10 was trying to check in under special negotiated pricing. An hour later of waiting patiently, we checked in within minutes. Oceanview room in Building 8 is spectacular and clean. Great view from the balcony. No noise, no loud music and no little kids. The Reserve has two very nice adult pools, bar, and beach front with plenty  [... read more]of palapas. Compared to Iberostar Grand, the Reserve is newer, cleaner and better. But the Grand is better for food and golf (note though that this is pre-COVID comparison and have not returned to the Grand since 2020....the Grand value and food were in decline as well which is why we have not returned there). Sante for breakfast and lunch are good. However, all dinners are by reservation only except for the one buffet, Lunch Box. Flora/Dominican was excellent. Mexican was gross and terrible where some dishes used the liquid orange cheese like in sports stadiums. Italian is bearable. Sante is good but not great as food and soups came lukewarm. Steakhouse was okay for my sirloin but my wife's veal was tough more like a flank steak (I realise that one does not go to the DR for steak). Not sure what the Grand Cana is like but the Reserve is supposedly the Paradisus top level. Beach is what we go to the PC for and is beautiful white sand and the resort folks serve you well. Unfortunately the ocean is horribly littered with plastic and there are many boats, yachts, (very loud motors and loud & bad Caribbean music). etc….perhaps the source of all that plastic as it is not as prevalent at other hotel beach fronts in PC? I would NOT recommend the Cocotal Golf (sure I am playing golf in January). It is pricey even at the discounted $127 USD if you are staying at the resort ($220 regular if you don’t and trust me, you shouldn’t as there are other nicer courses). Everything is extra charges - practice balls are all cracked, etc. I’ve golfed all over and do realize one will pay more to play at a resort. But this course is a joke. Distance markers (red, white, blue) are inconsistent, dog crap, cyclists and non-golfer walkers (signs all over prohibiting dogs and walkers but I guess the condo and home have more power) are on the course, putting greens are scruffy and inconsistent, carts are older and more worn out than at a local public city-run $25 golf course, sand (no rakes cuz more like cement bunkers) is rarity in the bunkers, but luckily good weather, water, fertilizer and very liberal use of herbicide (spraying something while golfers playing) allows the fairways to be acceptable. Melia seems to be building new condos on the course and will have spend big $$$$$$ to improve the course. Maybe that’s why resort tourists are getting gouged for golf. At check-out, the concierge asked my opinion and quickly filled in the blanks on the food, so it must be a common complaint. I might return to give the Reserve another chance as beginning January is still the “quiet” time but likely not. Will try another resort.

Amazing resort and location, but some areas can be improved

Close to the Punta Cana airport, 25 minutes, amazing location on Bavaro beach with white sand but seaweed can be cleaned up earlier in the morning. Rooms and venues are stunning and very eco friendly but they need to work on their options for people with allergies. Being Celiac, we been to many locations that really go over and above with Gluten Free options and labelling of options on their menus and buffets. They had only one option for Gluten Free bread which was a large sub size bun, and  [... read more]the few items that showed Allergens at the buffet did not match the items below? They do ask if you have any allegies at the restaurants and mark it off on a small little piece of paper but when you sit down to order the staff would see the small paper and many times completely disregarded until I would push it in front of them, and felt that the staff did not take it seriously, which it is. Don't get me wrong, the food was amazing, but I had to stick to items with no sauces and more on the plain side just to be safe. I asked frequently, but only had a few limited GF dessert options. Mainly fresh fruit, which was amazing though. We paid for Adults only Reserve Swim up and two times we came back from golfing to find people in our reserved chairs. It wasn't their fault as there are no signs to indicate "reserved". Definitely a 5* high end resort but little changes can make it even better!!!

Holiday stay.

It is a beautiful resort with an amazing beach and ocean to swim in. The hotel and rooms are beautiful. Unfortunately we had the disappointment of not receiving the ocean front room we had booked in the adult reserve section of the hotel. They did not have a room for us and we were assigned a suite in the family section far away from friends we travelled with. The manager promised to upgrade our experience with perks but we never heard from him. We are to receive a refund for the room differen [... read more]ce but it certainly negatively impacted our experience at the resort. We also had no contact with the concierge appointed to us because we were in the family side. We were very disappointed. Our friends in the Reserve section had unlimited alcohol, charcuterie boards etc. We had none of this though we had paid for it. We felt secluded from our friends. It was not the vacation we thought we had booked!

Resort lovely, dinners a disaster

The resort itself was very nice. It was well maintained and clean. The room was very comfortable. There were lots of seats around the pool and beach. The only problem was dinner. Booking for dinner started a 9 AM and you could only book 2 days in advance. However, at 9 AM you were always told the only time available was 9 PM. The food itself was ok. We had expect better quality.

Very Good could be better

Large beautiful rooms Great beach. Staff was amazing. Some of the friendliest we have had in our 30 years of going to the DR Only negative was the food Booking a restaurant had to be done in person. Since we were not Circle Members or Reserve Guests we had trouble getting spots and mostly ended up at the buffet. Buffet food was average at best

First Time Solo Resort

This was my first time going all inclusive and I was travelling solo. As a solo traveller what stood out were the events on offer, there was a busy calendar of activities ranging from craft workshops to yoga to rum tastings. These were a good opportunity to mingle with other guests and were always led by enthusiastic staff. The evening entertainment was a standout and featured talented musicians, dancers and singers. I would often simply take a performance in without needing to speak to anyone.  [... read more] The facilities are very good. My room was spotless and had everything I expect from an excellent hotel room: a good shower, lots of amenities like a snack bar and coffee, an iron, a flat screen TV and good air conditioning. It was the in adult only portion of the hotel which I highly recommend because the pool here is exclusive to adults, has a bar inside it, and was honestly so nice that I barely ever went to the beach. The grounds are easily walkable, which I was told was a contrast to other resorts like Melia Gardens where you have to get shuttled everywhere on golf carts. The service was up and down, some experiences were wonderful and others were just fine. Basic Spanish is appreciated and tipping is required for better service, this cost me ~$100 CAD over the course of my 7 day stay but meant that I always had a good experience with the bar/restaurants/cleaning staff. If you don't want to tip that's fine but the resort will be full of Americans that are, so service will just be slower. The food was also variable, the buffet was consistently fine and food was hot/plentiful but quite basic. I tried all of the restaurants on the grounds and unsurprisingly the Mexican (Blue Agave) and Caribbean (Flora) were the best. The steakhouse (Mina) and the Italian (Mascalzone) were both mediocre. I didn't get to try Sante as it is for the premium guests only (~$120 CAD per day). Overall the value here is pretty good, I paid to feel safe and not have to think for 7 days and I got that experience. If you want to do anything beyond relaxing by the pool and some light partying then this is not the place for you. Bavaro is a walled off tourist enclave with no readily accessible local culture, and from what I was told it is easy to get taken advantage of when going on trips off site.

Beautiful resort but cold food and terrible service is a problem

WE are a well travelled coupled who have been to the DR many times and are well travelled through out the world. We stayed at Palma Real for two weeks with our family. Eight adults and three children. The grounds, common areas, beach, pools, rooms, location are all excellent. You could not want for anything better. I would say well above a 5-star resort. However cold buffet food, bribery vs tipping and poor service are what takes this to a very frustrating experience and makes it very hard to [... read more] recommend to anyone. Food and meals are a very big part of an all-inclusive resort for most people. This resort did not live up to expectations. The buffet is a real issue, everything looks great and there are unbelievable choices but.....unless you get food from the grill which is cooked in front of you all the other food is cold or luke warm. At breakfast cold bacon, sausages, potatoes etc. We did not eat lunch. At dinner all vegetables were cold. Some of the buffet staff are pleasant but others look and act like they hate their job. Specialty restaurants were great if you could get a reservation. Excellent food and service. They were always booked per the reservation clerks. In the two weeks we were there we only could get one reservation through our concierge and that cost $50 up front. Interestingly enough the restaurants were never full and after a few days we discovered with a little or big bribe to the maître d’ , she was always able to get you in almost immediately. Rooms are beautiful but the service is terrible. Sometimes the room would be made up....sometimes not. Sometimes you got the mini bar and water refilled and sometimes not. The same with in room snacks (aero cookies and DR chocolate bars), towels etc. They most common excuse was you had the do not disturb sign on your door knob all day. The other issue with this resort is that there are many levels of accommodation and memberships ranging from basic through Nikte, to Circle to Black Lounge to Privileged and on and on. Most areas are accessible to most guests but there are many areas and restaurants that are only available to the higher-level guests. It makes for a real class distinction. It also makes it very confusing as to where you are permitted to go. Especially in beach areas, lounge areas, pools and restaurants. Our accommodation was next to a Circle only area with a restaurant and bar that had a 100-seat capacity. In the two weeks, we only counted 3 or 4 people using the facility on a few days. Other than that, it was empty with a daily staff of eight just standing there all day. While we in the buffet…….Trying to get a cup of coffee from a server at breakfast was the biggest challenge of the day. My ultimate point is the difference between bribing and tipping. I have no problem in tipping well for good service, but it grinds me the wrong way to have to tip (bribe) before you even get the service. This is a resort that believes in and condones Bribery for its concierge services and access to its specialty restaurants.

Not what it’s cracked up to be

Ok so overall we had a great trip but there where some issues The good Beautiful resort Great breakfast service (if you found the right area) endtito was fantastic Beach service was great thanks Raoul!! Adult only pool was great Buffet was mostly the same but good A carte (if you can get in). Great The bad Most staff didn’t speak any English Had to drag info out of staff on check in (is the room ready? When to come back?) Most staff didn’t seem very happy the first few days [... read more] Room wasn’t made one day The ugly Impossible to get a a la cart restaurant, and they were at maybe 50% capacity Had to us 30 min every day to try and get them. Only mangers to get to 4 Every time you try to get a reso there is none available or after 9pm Concierge was useless (3 of our group had them and they all failed) Too many levels (circle club, reserve, nikite reg). Concierge booked our group with a kid at adults only restaurant Kids in gym Kids in adult only section Overall will never return unless they fix the a carte mess