Great vacation.

Beautiful scenery. Large beach with plenty of shadow from the palm trees to take a rest from the full sun, thus no fights for lawn chairs. No loud, aggressive music on the pool. Walking distance along the shore to the nearby village. During my stay (mid March – a bit windy) not even single mosquito nor sand fleas. Rooms are renovated and clean, so is entire resort. Quiet. After dozen of trips to Caribbean, always great but never doubled, this is hotel I would return to.

Very nice resort.

The grounds were well kept and quite lovely. Rooms were very clean. There was hot water in the sink but only pool temperature water in the shower. The fridge was kept well stocked with water & pop. There was a good selection of food and it was all very good.Staff was friendly and helpful. Beach was very nice. There was a short walk into the town.

Great location but needs improvement

THE BAD The hotel in not attractive at all when you pull in. Our room had 2 double beds and when we asked for a king or queen (as we were a couple on our vacation ) were rudely told not available. We had no air conditioning the first night and after demanding to have it fixed it only worked ok for rest of trip. Transat rep would not accept tripcentral prepaid card for excursions. Pool bar staff very rude Two single girls woke up with two male staff in room and were robbed! Could see ligh [... read more]t all around door frame Bed linens were absolute nightmare! They were clean but used mattress pad as duvet and a king mattress cover as sheets on double bed. I guess they ran out of linens? Entertainment was a complete joke No make up mirror THE GOOD Absolutely beautiful beach and landscape Food was great Room was always clean Lots of room and shade available on beach Staff was mostly friendly excluding pool bar and one sour girl at front desk I would return to this resort only if I got a really good deal and it would have to be in select club. The beach is absolutely one of the prettiest I have seen in the caribbean! This resort has a lot of potential , Lots of room for improvement here as it could be turned into a 5 star very easily with the right management. The safety issue was a big deterrent when we checked out and the two girls had been woken up with male workers in their room and things had been stolen....VERY SCAREY!!!

Awesome stay

Stayed at Grande Paradise January 24 to 31 Beach was beatiful and well maintained Food was excellent good variety An expresso bar would be a nice touch!! Room was clean and comfortable Staff were friendly and attentive tips Help All in all excellent for the price and will be back

Beautiful Samana

This was our first time to Samana D.R. and the weather was absolutely wonderful. The hotel was very nice and very clean. There is a lot of work going on when we were there (Jan 15 to 22, 2017) in order to make this resort awesome. The beach was a highlight with beautiful blue water and white sand. Abundance of loungers so no need tyo fight over them. Our room was large and had been redone with a very comfort bed, hot water and a/c. Some of the other quests said that they were having trouble with [... read more] the a/c and others with the water. I think it was because there was so many upgrades going on at the resort. The food was good and the al a cart restaurants were very good. The staff were all very friendly. My only complaint was in the dining buffet area. They could have been more organized. It seemed that the staff were doing all the jobs rather than specific ones. Entertainment was OK. The first 2 nights we were not impressed and they had brought people from the audience and did lame games which we left early. The bars and bar staff were great as well as the all the drinks available. The pool was amazing and always had a lounge chair to relax on. Overall this resort was great. We had a nice relaxing vacation and would recommend it. It was approximately 90 minutes from the airport. A great value for a last minute trip. :)

Amazing beach

The best part of this resort is the beach. New buildings are going up but the rest of the resort is tired. They say they are changing the water system, so hot water was very limited, and usually only in the afternoon. The grounds are not kept up and our "Deluxe Garden View" room faced the back of a fenced in transformer. We would not return to this resort. Good luck getting a aircondtioned room.

Amazing beach

Beach was exceptional. Resort buildings were clean and most have been updated. Rooms were nice. Make sure to book a king size bed ahead of time (there are only a few). Air conditioning worked well. Hot water problems for a few days. Hopefully will not be an issue in the future. Food was good. Could use more selection. Staff need a course on customer satisfaction and friendliness. Select club didn't provide all that was promised. Ran out of liquor a lot. When asking for som [... read more]ething some staff member seemed put out. Some staff were friendly but only a handful. Quiet resort. Not many activities. Good place to relax. Overall we would go back.

New Years

New Years 2016-2017 Filmed and edited by me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJEdx-30oSE I had a good time tho internet was paid for ac worked but couldn't get below 23.c TV antenna broke a couple times from the rain and image was grey

Newly renovated family friendly resort

The hotel was nice. The grounds were beautiful and well kept. Very lush and green with grass, lots of trees and tropical plants. The beach was big and the view was gorgeous. They apparently just finished renovating the first two weeks of December so the rooms were modern and very clean. The layout was very spread out. We stayed near the beach so it was about a 3-4 minute walk outside to eat at the buffet. They have one main restaurant and another snack restaurant by the beach which doubles a [... read more]s an Italian a la carte restaurant in the evening, but you have to reserve your table. The food was okay, they tried to bring variety for dinner but pretty much the same foods for breakfast and lunch. Very much a family friendly resort that caters to people of all ages. The biggest issue we had was the lack of English speaking staff. Only about 5% of the staff spoke any English and even then it was difficult to communicate. We have travelled to many different spanish and french speaking islands but this was the first time we experienced such difficulty communicating. The resort had quite a few activities including movie night on the beach, but 90% were suited to accommodate French speaking clientele. Overall a pleasant experience and a nice resort.

Great stay!

This hotel is under renovations but in a few months it will be a great place to stay! It is a smaller resort but everything is close by. We stayed there with a large group between Dec 4-11th. The view of the ocean is breathtaking. It's probably one of the more private beach front locations in Samana. Food is plentiful and tasteful. We loved our room. We had nightly turn down service; what a treat! Air conditioning in the room was perfect. Hot water available for a shower at all hours of the day. [... read more] The a la carte restaurants were very good. There was a new buffet opening up the week we were leaving- beautiful modern décor. Like I mentioned above once the resort is complete it will be a delight to return to. The resort is steps away from a local town where you can go to eat, drink a few beers, go to the grocery store or shop for a few tshirts, cover ups or trinkets and it is very safe. Make sure you barter with them for good deals! The duty free at the airport is pretty limited to buy some of the things. The deals for the alcohol are the best at duty free for name brand spirits. The free wifi was a treat- some places were a hit and miss but hey you are on vacation, no need to stress about little things like this. This resort needs Caribbean music, more coffee machines at all the bars and an updated theatre to make it a 5 star location. Thank you for a great week!

Great future potential

Grand Paradise Samana has great potential. The location is beautiful, beach is postcard perfect and the pool facilities are good. After changing rooms three times, we were happy. The air conditioning finally worked and we were far enough away from the generator facility so as to not hear the noise. The room was clean, beds comfortable and furniture new. That said, two rooms had plumbing issues and despite asking the front desk for maintenance to come and waiting 6 hours, we finally took a p [... read more]lunger from the maintenance room on our floor and plunged the toilet in our final room ourselves. Staff and facilities still have a few bugs to work out but we feel this could be a great resort after the growing pains are worked out.

Worst Trip of Our Lives

This was the worst vacation we have ever been on and probably ever will be. I wish I had stayed home and gone to work. The facilities are frighteningly poor and the staff just doesn't seem to care. At least they were relaxed, because we sure weren't. We came back more stressed and deeper in debt. Avoid this resort at all costs!

Definitely a 3* Resort - Wouldn't Recommend

We travelled to this resort with a large group of radio station trip winners. We found the drive from the airport a little far, approx. 1.5 hours on windy roads. The resort was under construction, but many of our problems didn't have anything to do with the construction. The electricity at this resort was spotty. It would go out and be out for a long period of time. We've never had the power go out at any resort we've ever stayed at. The first room we had was a double bedroom which was run [... read more]down and in desperate need of a renovation. We requested a king room in order to be more comfortable sleeping and were then moved to a king room which was newly renovated and was very nice. However, we had cold water all week and the view from our new room was of some rundown outbuildings. We understand that not everyone can have a beach view but this view was not very appealing at all. The hotel has a fantastic beach!!! We are pool people and we thought the newly built large pool was wonderful! We loved the varied depths and size. The small, older pool was rather dirty with lots of floating bugs and debris in the bottom. Staff did come and clean it through the day, but it wasn't nearly as clean as the new pool. Our major problem was with shade. I am very fair and burn easily. I need shade and these pools (and the beach) had no umbrellas or palapas. During the week, we saw some unused umbrellas near a storage shed and asked if we could use one at the pool. We were told they were only for use in the buffet (really??). My husband took one to the pool for me anyway as they had stone bases and wouldn't be damaged by water. We used it for a whole day and the following day while sitting under it, the hotel manager came and told us that was security was called and that we couldn't use it. My husband said that I needed shade and the manager told us that the hotel has a "no umbrella policy" at the pool and beach. What kind of policy is that??? The hotel staff came and took the umbrella while we went for lunch. We've travelled to a multitude of all inclusive resorts and we've NEVER been at a resort that didn't have either umbrellas or palapas around the pool or at the beach. Not everyone wants to bake in the sun all day. The food in the buffet and at the a la carte restaurants was very good. We always found something tasty to eat. The Asia teppanyaki a la carte was excellent!! Here are the problems we had: 1) When we were having drinks in the evening at the Select bar, we found that the bar staff was not washing glassware. My husband was served a drink in glass that had fresh lipstick on it. Further inquiry showed that they were just rinsing glasses with water and then reusing them dirty. Likely the reason that a stomach virus circulated among the group over the course of the week. This was TERRIBLE! This practice is unacceptable and left us wondering where else in the food/bar areas shortcuts were being taken 2) The resort seemingly ran out of white wine, beer, vodka and Bailey's (daily). 3) A $30 US lobster dinner was advertised at the buffet but when we inquired were told that the resort was out of lobster. Strange considering it is on a Caribbean island and we were more than willing to pay. All of the staff were very good. They tried to help as best they could. We wouldn't recommend this resort. There are other resorts in Samana that are rated much higher than this one. TripCentral and Transat Holidays should reconsider their relationship with this resort.

Wait six months before going here

I will start with the good things first . The beach and grounds are gorgeous.the pools and select club are great. The a la carte restaurants,especially the tapanaki restaurant were good. Now the not so good stuff. The renovations that were supposed to be complete are not. A good portion of the resort is under construction. Our room was being refurnished and decorated while we were in it. We were not happy about random people in and out of our room. When we arrived our door lock was not fun [... read more]ctioning correctly and we had to spend the first two hours of our trip sitting in our room with the AC off and the door open while they fixed it. The AC leaked. To the point where when we opened our door the was water all over the floor. This repair took six days to complete,but at least it worked . We went 2 days without hot water and the electricity was very spotty on a couple of days. I must say the Jarous from trip central was amazing trying to get the hotel to make things right for people. We also had to keep asking for beach towels and finally got them the third day. I think though in six months time this could be a great resort. They need to work with their front desk staff on better customer service and we would consider going back after everything is completed.

Grand Paradise

Needs a lot of work to be done on the grounds the rooms. Food was good. Some of the service could improve with moral kindness to show that they are at least happy to see visitors. They need room service as well as a swim up bar. Also provide water and beer the same everyday throughout the stay and not just provide one day and not the other. Play music everywhere people love music build moral keeps people happy.

Under renos

The renovated areas of this resort are beautiful. Half the resort is still quite dated, but they are working towards a newer, modern resort. The staff here were very friendly. We found that many amenities weren't readily available, but if you asked - you could pretty much get whatever you wanted! The beach here was beautiful.

Beautiful

The hotel was very nice. The air conditioning took a couple days to cool down. It was clean. The staff are working hard to get all the construction completed and were polite. We had several difficulties with the key card not working and had to go to customer service to get it reprogramed. Only given one key card for entrance to room. The shows were nice but did not always know where they were being held. Pools and pool bars seemed to close early at night.

Has Great Potential

Overall, it was an ok resort. On the plus side the beach was amazing, very beautiful and that is where we spent the majority of our time. The grounds were decent but they were still under construction so there were parts that didn't look that great. Staff was friendly although they only had usually one bartender per bar and sometimes you ended up waiting longer for your drink. Also, if they ran out of a certain alcohol there was no attempt to get some more. They ran out of beer several tim [... read more]es or vodka. Not that it was a big deal but other places we have been to if they ran out of something they would do their best to get it to you right away from another bar. Food was decent and I highly recommend the Japanese ala carte ....Leonardo was great! Overall it was a nice getaway but it has the potential to be much more than that.

Nightmare with bugs

Hi dear tripcentral and thank you for allowing me to tell you my experience to this resort. It was awful and my dear fiance had to sleep with the bugs, spiders were on the walls and we had to change the room 3 times....we had to hear everyday construction noise around our building...morning drilling and hammering in the walls, running out of beer, and other beverages, bad service, I can go over and over with all these things... There were few good things too, the beach is amazing, the palm tr [... read more]ees the views and the weather were beautiful...but when it comes to infrastructure/management and service....oh gosh. I will never ever go to that resort.

Beautiful resort

Very clean great service amazing food beautiful beach great amenities .not a lot at this point for children but it's being worked on at moment and will definitely be a beauty A bit of a far ride in from airport that was my only complaint