Loved it!

Peaceful, beautiful natural location, walk to unspoiled little local town. For us this was the ideal holiday, as we didnt want too much in the way of entertainment or noise, but we had courteous service whenever we needed it. Gorgeous unspoiled natural area, worth the longer travelling time to get here. Very relaxing.

Little Piece of Paradise

This was a 3* hotel and it was one of our favourites. The location was very tropical and resort was low-key. We had a beautiful room in one of the 3 storey buildings beside the 3rd swimming pool. This was almost our private pool as it was away from the main resort and we had our own bar. Around 3:00-3:30 appetizers arrived for those enjoying the pool. The staff were amazing and we had a fabulous time. We were lucky enough to enjoy a 10 day vacation here, which we wish there were more of.

Great Vacation

This resort is in a beautiful location with a great beach. the beach is not very wide, but the water is lovely. The food was amazing and the drinks were very good. I ate at the Seafood a al carte and it was fine. there is room for improvement. The room I have as beautiful and in a great location. I had no complaints about this resort and would return in a heart beat.

Great location,wonderful ocean view room

Lovely little town to walk thru , fantastic beaches just the food needs a little help. I never went hungry though as you can always find something. Take the oceanfront room upgrade, well worth it. Its a three star at best but great value

Not worth the money

grounds were ok,rooms are very sparse ,bathrooms/shower much to small once you are in you can barely turn around,you can totally forget trying to squeeze a second person in.The food is definitely not of 4 star quality in our estimation,so no we would not recommend this property.

A wonderful special vacation

I have fallen in love with the Samana region in the Dominican Republic. The countryside/beach views are amazing as we drove on the bus fromt the airport. People complained about the time it took to get to the resort, but I felt privileged to see this region, absolutely stunning. I also heard so many people complain while at the resort. I do know that we all paid about the same - we did not pay for a five star so why expect it to be a five star. My husband and I have been travelling all inclusive [... read more] since 1987 - we love this type of vacation - eveything is paid for - when you get there no worries. This was our first time at Grand Paradise - we both loved it. The staff were amazing, especially the entertainment staff. Our favourite part of the day was around 4:00 - we would go to the pool and watch the games etc. They always put sandwiches, cakes, cookies, coffee out at the bar. We even took part in the games. At most resorts, it always seemed to be the same people that were picked to participate. We are older and we had a great time. The food was good, there was always something to eat, even if you are fussy. We did hear that a few people got ill, but we never did. We loved the grass area before the beach. Only one small complaint there, difficult to get chairs. People would go out super early and put shoes etc. on chairs to reserve them, but that seems to happen at a lot of all inclusives. There were little things that could have been changed to make it better, but again, value for money - DEFINITELY! We always meet great people as well. I would recommend this resort, especially for those that are on a budget and my husband and I would definitely go back.

Will never come back

We traveled to the Grand Paradise Samana Hotel in Dominican Republic with an all inclusive package from Dec. 9, 2013 to Dec. 16, 2013. It was very disappointing and frustrating at times the poor customer service that we received at the Grand Paradise Samana Hotel. During check in, we were never advised that we can request a remote control free of charge. The room that was given to us had several issues. The first one was the brown water coming out of the faucet in the bathtub. We had to let the [... read more] water run for 10 minutes before in became clear. Secondly, there were no blankets in the room, and we had to use our personal towels in order cover ourselves at night. Thirdly, we only had 12 local channels which were all in Spanish. I don’t know if it was because we spoke in Spanish to reception, meanwhile all of our friends who only spoke English had over 70 channels. When we went to the reception to change the room, the person at the front desk said there were no rooms available. It wasn’t until 20 minutes later, when we showed a picture of the dirty water to the receptionist, that the manager who witnessed the entire situation, decided to do something about it. We explained to him all of the previously mentioned concerns, and he still refused to give us a room immediately. He wanted us to wait until the next day in order to change the room. At this point we showed him the picture of our bathtub filled with brown water once again. This picture was so disgusting that they agreed to change us to a different room immediately. We also asked for a remote control at this point, however we were told that they didn’t have any available. Once in the new room, we had over 70 channels on TV. However, after a few hours the access was restricted to the 12 local channels once again. I went to the receptionist and told him about this. He immediately said that he will add the other channels. We felt that the reception of the hotel, including the manager of reception, discriminated against us because we spoke to them in Spanish and not in English like everyone else, because every single one of our Canadian friends, received the 70 channels from the very beginning. Another concern, was the fact that reception did not have money to exchange for Canadian Dollars. We then requested to use the reception computer for a few minutes to use online banking and transfer money to our checking account in order to withdraw from the ATM. The receptionist said that we were not aloud to use the reception computer and had to pay for WIFI in order to access the internet. However, we later found out that a Canadian couple was able to use the reception computer for exactly the same reason. During the weekend, the hotel was full with locals. When we went for breakfast both Saturday and Sunday at 9am, there was almost no food left, and no more food was being cooked, leaving us very few choices of food. Therefore we weren’t able to have breakfast both Saturday and Sunday. Lastly, during checkout we requested to speak to a service manager in order to bring our concerns to his attention. We were told that there is not even one available manager to see us. This has been by far the worst service we received at a hotel, and we will never return to this hotel or recommend it to our family or friends. Also, Air Transat never advised us that the hotel was under renovations, which added more stress to the already stressful vacation due to the constant noise (drilling, hammering, etc.) We paid a full price for a package hoping to have an amazing and relaxing experience, which turned out to be the opposite due to the circumstances previously mentioned.

Nice area - but problems with food supply

Grounds were very nice, beach picturesque, room, bed, etc. very good. However, food was very bottom end of Caribbean and many people got sick, including us. Our survey of travelers there indicated around 60% had some illness, diarrhea, vomiting in some cases, even some on the plane home. Other reviews going back a ways indicate this is a chronic issue at this resort. Would not go back. Cuba and Mexico have progressed far more than Dominican in the food both in quality, preparation and hygiene so [... read more] very few incidence of sickness. Move up to min. real 4+ resort so you wont miss part of your vacation. Suspect management are not giving the staff proper resources (enough stoves, thermometers, etc.) and training in food prep. Also quality of the food was very poor. Sept 2014 for 2 long weeks. Weather perfect. Beach is small and not enough spots on the actual beach are available, shade is hard to find. Would not go back.

Great trip for the cost!!!!

My sister, 20 mth old son and I all stayed at the resort in the first week of April and LOVED it!!! The staff are all very friendly, although they have a hard time understanding English. We had a beautifully updated and modern room and there was even a crib in the upon arrival!! Would definitely return to this resort!!!!

Good value just not quite 4 stars.

This was my third trip to the Dominican Republic. Having said that, you can expect the people to be friendly and the country to be beautiful. This resort was a little older and in need of some updates. There were plenty of options for even the most finicky eaters. I would recommend the buffet over the ala carte for most nights, but lunch at the beach was always enjoyable. If you are looking for a smaller resort with good food and drinks this is your place. The wifi should have been included (all [... read more]-inclusive resort by definition), but that's pretty low on my list of must haves. Samana was everything we hoped but there are nicer resorts in the area if you can afford them.