Highly recommended

The resort itself was beautiful and had a long stretch of beachfront. It wasn't too busy when we went so there were always two seats available by the pool or at the beach. FOH staff had a poor habit of smiling and nodding when you'd raise a concern and give the impression they understood and would follow up; then never would. Food was great, even the buffets were decent. Steakhouse and Italian were our favourites.

Beautiful beaches

We had alot of issues with the resort service. When we checked in it took over an hour. When we checked in they had my family in 2 different buildings on opposite ends of resorr. We requested joining rooms with travel agent. Then they couldn't get the bands correct. We ended up in 2 buildings with the pool in between. They told us to come back the next day and they would get us in the same building. We waited another 1hr and they still wouldnt get us in the right building. The transat a [... read more]gent at the resort wasnt helpful in rectifying the issue either. We finally gave up but it was convenient with our family of 5. We did alot of walking back and forth to the rooms. As well my shower did not have hot watee and I reported it to my transat agent to have it fixed and it never did. So my daughter dnd i had to go and shower in my husbands room cause they did have hot water. It was a pain to go to the lobby everyday and wait for 30 to 1 hr for a wifi password as well. I had a family emergency at home so i needed to have it in case we had to fly home. And a couple times they told us to come back another time for a password. We did not appreciate that everywhere we went we were asked to sit in on a presentation to get us to sign up for a time share. I wanted to enjoy my time not be pestered constantly. The food was good. The beach was beautiful

Beautiful beach

We were disappointed in the service at this resort. We did not get our request for second or third floor with king size bed. We were given first floor and had ants! Took three days to get moved, and were given two double beds. The preferred club was not honoured. Constantly being bothered to buy something excursions etc. They try and trick you into buying time share. Service very slow.

Amazing resort

This was our fourth year coming to this resort. It has new owners and the rooms and bathrooms have been completely transformed. Everything is very modern and I loved the shower. It had a big shower head like a rain shower and a hand held. Plumbing is great and lots of hot water. We missed the old style rooms but most younger people I'm sure would prefer them. There is wifi in rooms now but of course it isn't free. The house keepers were good and supplied everything we wanted. We always leav [... read more]e a tip on the bed and in the cooler They have elevators in all the buildings now which is great! The food is pretty good and plentiful. We were disappointed that the new rule for the alacarts is the men have to have long pants and closed shoes. We thought that was not very fair since women can wear shorts and sandles. The steakhouse alacart was awesome. The service was good in all restaurants but again we always tip. One dollar is really appreciated. We noticed this year that very few people tipped. These servers are very poor and need that little bit!!! The grounds are kept very clean and the workers are constantly busy. We miss the flowered hedges. They took them out for some reason. The weather was great and loved the beach and pools

Has Potential

This resort is still in need and presently getting upgraded but are experience was very satisfactory even after a shaky start to our vacation (leaky room, no TV, no beer in fridge) but we moved rooms within the hour and were happy with everything after that. Food was good, service was excellent (resort was not too busy though), maybe could have had more on-site activities going on during the day on the beach and around the pools, night time music/shows were very good. All in all a good experienc [... read more]e and wouldn't hesitate to go back at the price we paid.

Occidental Punta Cana

Hotel turned out to be very nice as they are updating all of the buildings. Check in was terrible talking an hour and a half at 10:00pm which is unacceptable with kids travelling. The rooms were clean an up to date with two double beds and two couches, air conditioning, fridge, safe, coffee maker and tv (which only had local channels). Each building had a concierge to help take care of anything you needed. Beach was fantastic with lots of loungers and shade available. Everything was accessi [... read more]ble as the resort was not too big. Food was good but got a little repetitive by the end of the week. Will not book with Sunwing again as plane was delayed two hours going down, our rep did not show up for the meeting on the first day and was never around, and boarded plane early on the way home only to sit for over an hour waiting to take off while vegetables were loaded. Overall once at the resort it was a relaxing week with great weather in Punta Cana.

Disapointing Experience

The hotel is classified as a 5 star. It was MAYBE a 3. I have never been so disappointed. Our check in was awful, it was completely disorganized there were about 15 people standing behind the counter and no one spoke to us for about 15 minutes and they were doing NOTHING. when they did speak to us the check in was very frustrating and took way too long. THen we got to our room. WE HAD NO CURTAINS... we were on the first floor and you could see right in. We spent the whole first day tryin [... read more]g to explain to someone that we needed curtains. Noone would assist us or come help. It was very annoying and disappointing. Finally after day 1 we were so upset we got curtains. The pool was dirty. There was green sludge in it and the same bandaid floating there for the whole 5 days. The food was alright.. it was not awful it was not great. None of the staff would help you with anything out of the ordinary though, if you had a special request forget it! Our shower in our room was revolting and our bed was completely uncomfortable. I am also sure that other people had bed bugs as a LOT of ppl said they were itching in the beds. I would absolutely never go back and in fact never stay at a Bavaro Again.

Resort Awesome, Transat Service Horrible

The resort and staff were wonderful. The staff were very friendly as always! Franklin at the beach bar is amazing! The grounds are kept very clean. The food was great! The staff really make an effort to ensure families are treated well! The beach was beautiful and it looks like they are renovating the buildings close to the beach which should be lovely!

Had a great stay!

My friends and I (two couples) loved our stay at the Occidental Grand Punta Cana! We all agree that the staff are what really made the trip fun/wonderful - shout out to Franklin at the beach bar for keeping us hydrated with his special drink mixes and water too (you work so hard!), Wilken at the lobby bar for being so friendly and funny, Alexander who bounced around the restaurants and always made us laugh, and Ramon for all the super fun activities and his amazing dancing skills!! That aside, t [... read more]he areas that we all felt could be improved upon are: The floor of the main pool was rough and we all ended up with cuts on our feet from it by the end of the trip. There were also pool lights that were dangling in the pool, needing repair. The waterfall over the pool bar would have ruined our drinks if we hadn't brought Bubba Mugs - perhaps it's an unnecessary feature? There was garbage on the beach, in the sand. The rooms were nice, but we rated them 3/5 stars in comparison to rooms at other resorts we've stayed at. We were informed the resort will be undergoing renovations and hope this is true as it will make the resort that much more amazing! A few more positives: The night time shows were fabulous and entertaining, the food was delicious and we loved the all night pizza, the landscaping was great, and we also loved the animals that went around for photos! It was good value for the money we paid, and we had an amazing experience we'll never forget!!!

Great vacation! Beautiful beach!! Need of update.

I stayed here with my best friend May 9-16, 2016. Great place!! Needs some renovating.. but they just started so it would be worth checking out once they are complete! Rooms not ready until after 3pm so have to wait around if you get there earlier. Rooms not in great shape and in need of some serious TLC and updated technology/machines, but how long do you spend in your room anyways?! The newly renovated rooms are supposedly better, must pay more for them right now. Great people working here and [... read more] staying here too. Buffet and Asian restaurant pretty good actually! Italian restaurant best of our trip. Mexican restaurant was horrible. Beach is beautiful!!! Pools are very nice too! Spent most of our time at pool and beach. We didn't do any excursions or nightlife activities as we were usually up pretty early but there are tons of nightlife and excursion options though. Great relaxing and fun vacation. Overall, would return here only after all renovations are completed. After update this place would be even more amazing!!

Amazing cleanliness

The resort is huge. A bit of a struggle with language. Some of the workers didn't understand English too well, but we made out ok. Asked for rum punch drinks & sometimes got a fruit punch. Beach is not good for children. Lots of huge waves & an undertow. Never saw a life guard the whole 2 weeks we were there. Air Transat has a reserved spot on the beach for their clients only. Not maned by anyone therefore I had to be up at 4am everyday to get a spot with shade. Not enough shade spots for the si [... read more]ze of the resort. Food was terrific. A la cartes excellent as well. rooms need to be renovated. Bed was comfy, but bathroom sink pipes exploded & water everywhere. Took 3 days for maintanance to come to fix it.

Beautiful Resourt

This resort was ideal for what we were looking for. Spacious, comfortable and the food was wonderful! lots of options. The only complaint was the bathroom, the ceiling above the tub leaked. we had read this in other reviews so we were not surprised. However; I heard the resort was being remodeled this summer. We would definitely return.

Very fun trip!

This was my third time to Dominican Republic and my first time at this resort. I went with my two girl friends. Nice size resort not too big can walk anywhere within 5 minutes. The beach was absolutely gorgeous! The pools were very nice as well and clean. The food was very good especially at the a la cartes, I recommend the Mexican, Italian and Steakhouse. The service was wonderful as well very friendly. The rooms were a tad outdated but comfortable beds. You have to try the late night pizza it  [... read more]was to die for. The only complaints would be that there was always a line at the beach bar and sometimes they were out of even beer and had tiny glasses that were the size of shot glasses. They would get bigger glasses later but it did happen often. Great trip though would come again!

Awesome resort!

This is our 2nd time to visit the Occidental, and our experience was wonderful, and we will return again. We stayed in building 23 on the 2nd floor, and although we heard a few complaints from some in other buildings, ours was wonderful. The room and balcony were beautiful, and the mini fridge was restocked daily, plenty of bottled water, and our housekeeper was amazing, and kept everything very clean. The bathroom could use updating, as the water from the shower would leak onto the floor, no ma [... read more]tter how careful you were, but that would be the only complaint I would have about the room. I found the king size bed, very comfortable. The grounds are beautiful, the food is amazing, in the buffets and at the a la' cartes. The beach is beautiful white sand, and kept very clean. (the only thing, I might suggest, as we went on the Transat preference club and were supposed to have a section of the beach specifically for this club, would be to have the area marked off better. We could never get a place under one of the huts as it was always reserved by people who shouldn't have been there, different color arm bands. They would reserve with their towels early in the morning, and maybe not even get to the beach until late afternoon. We were told at our orientation, to let security know if this happened, however, we really felt it was honest mistakes by them, as it wasn't well marked, and didn't want to embarrass them. A rope dividing to closer to the beach with a better sign would have prevented this). The night shows were a great improvement, over last years, even having an early live show for the children, very much enjoyed. The staff, everywhere, were very friendly, happy and pleasant. Truly a pleasure to interact with them. I couldn't have enjoyed our stay, any more then we all did.

Occidental Grand Puna Canta

There are not enough washrooms located around the resort to accommodate the amount of people. The washrooms were not always in working order especially the women's. We had to fix our toilet in our room several times. Furniture in rooms was well used but apparently it is suppose to be upgraded soon. We could not regular our AC. When entering our room and the AC came on we would get a foul smell. Not sure what is used to water the lawns but it was VERY FOUL SMELLING! We would have to take another  [... read more]route to the beach as the water was laying on the walkways and since we didn't know what it was we did not want to walk through it and get it on us. Beautiful beaches and lots of chairs. Good food and very clean. Friendly staff.

Beautiful beach

Beach was beautiful, food was good , grounds clean , rooms definately need work . The light was hanging on wires , air conditioner leaked constantly , toilet didn't work properly . Was under the impression that we would have a Transat room but was not the case.

THIS IS AN AMAZING RESORT WE WILL BE GOING BACK

We loved everything about this resort, We have been to a lot of places but this is the first time we said we would come back to the same resort. We read a lot of review before some things were like the reviews but some things were not. You have to go to this resort to see the beauty and the worm friendly people.

Needs work

We were suppose to have a separate check-in desk. Noone was working there so we had to wait in the lineup for 30 mins + to get checked in. Staff was not very friendly. Resort was nice. The room we had was a good size. Very dated. Lights with cords cut off or no bulbs. Broken drawers. Couch was dirty. Bathroom was large but needed some updating as well. Tub was dirty. Lots of bugs. Power went out in the building (not the resort) one night. About 5 hours before it came back on. Two nights in a row [... read more] we had no water from approx. 1am-7am. Was not impressed with this. Went to customer service area to see what they could do and they turned us away. Buffet - food was pretty good. Service was not. Most days we had to keep pestering just to get a glass of water. Most of the restaurants were the same as well. It seemed like the only ones who got service were the groups of ladies. The Steak restaurant was the exception. Food was delicious and the serivice was outstanding! Lobby bar - would it hurt you to smile? Always felt like we were bothering them when ording a drink. Waited over 20 mins (with tip in hand) one night to order a drink. Gave up and went to the bar by the theatre. The guys are that beach bar we always great! Smiling and always friendly! They always has a long line of people but you never waited long to get served. Late night pizza - AWESOME!!! Overall we still had a nice relaxing time. The beach was nice, the pools were nice. The layout of the resort was nice. We walked around it a lot during our stay.

Extremely clean

This resort is amazingly clean outside and inside. The food is awesome and tons of variety. Everything is easily within walking distance. The biggest down fall with this resort is the week we were there anyone that got a sunshade on the beach kept it. They would leave personal belongs and towels over night to save it and that was from one end of the beach right through to the other side. This was very frustrating as it didn't matter what time you got up you would never get one and there were lot [... read more]s. We always found a chair and a tree to get under but the resort should be policing this. The shows were average I find them the same everywhere I go I'm not a fan of them at all. The disco was so much fun at the resort we didn't leave the resort to go to Coco Bongo in Bavero but they say that's a good time for $60. There are lots of people tying to sell excursions on the beach they say to book through the resort for everything. The boathouse at the resort has people in red shirts walking around trying to sell you on excursions through them and tell you the other company down on the beach rip you off. We sat all week watching this and come to find out the other company sells cheaper and you get in the same boat at the boat house at the resort, we found this very sneaky. We were a group of six and all had a wonderful time no sickness no waiting in big lines for food. You can't go wrong with this resort.

Nicest resort I've stayed at!!

I was a little hesitant about this resort because the price was so amazing. I quickly fell in love with it. The a la carte restaurants were amazing and the buffet had a large variety of foods to choose from eg. fish, chicken, salads, pasta etc along with the best desserts I've ever had at a resort. Both the grounds, pool area and rooms were clean and well kept up. I have travelled to the Carribean over 16 times and this was the nicest beach yet. Soft, silky sand and easy access in and out of the [... read more] ocean which is ideal for young children and the elderly. I would highly recommend this resort.