We enjoyed our stay - the location itself is fantastic. Water is calm and warm. If you are looking for swimming, water is shallow and there is lots of grass on the beach. Lots of trees to stay in shade. We went kayaking and truly enjoyed it. Didn't like dirty swimming vests though(mandatory use).
Pools are nice and clean and kids had great time in pool area. Buffet Restaurant is really good, plenty of food to suit everyones taste.
Pools,gardens and common areas are well maintained, but I wouldn't say that for the rooms.
Usually the rooms were not made on time. Clean towels would arrive in late afternoon. Next time I would bring my own pillow and cover, as the bedding appeard to be old and washed out.
All in all, we would like to visit again :)

Lack in Being able 6to Communicate

Voyage agréable considérant le prix payé,très décevant pour ceux qui ont payé plus car ce n'est surement pas un 4 étoiles. Dans l'ensemble satisfaisant a part la literie qui sent mauvais même après l' avoir remplacée ce qu'ils ont fait aussitôt l'avoir demandé(le service est bon et rapide) les serviettes de bain (quantité restreinte)et de plage usées a la corde,les matelas sont en mauvais état et juste passable, tout l'ameublement a besoin d’être remplacé même si tout est fonctionnel, est désuet surtout les téléviseurs qui datent de l'age de pierre avec un signal très pauvre sur la plupart des chaines qui sont en quantité suffisante si l'on comprend l'espagnol. Le site est grandiose et bien entretenu mais manque un peu d'attention sur la plage qui devrait avoir plus d'abri solaire qui est compensé par le grand nombre de place avec chaises soleil. La nourriture est très correcte et variée mais ne devrait pas servir de porc et bœuf si c'est pour être comme de la semelle de bottes tout au long de la semaine pour l'avoir testée chaque jour. Les restaurants a la carte sont très bien en concluant cet hôtel est vraiment un trois étoiles pour le sud sans plus ni moins. Félicitation pour le service souriant et courtois

The room was horrible, not what i paid for and the hotel would not change my room unless i paid. Also, floors in my bathroom where not swept all week and towels not changed or brought to the room when they took ones I had been using. Even better, toilet paper was not restocked in my bathroom twice and i had to steal rolls from the public washrooms which were filthy and un-usable . The hotel gave us 1 room key, and we had to get a remote for tv at front desk then hand it in when we left (stupid), we also had to pay 15 dollars for safe box.

very nice, staff was great, rooms were clean. Food was good.

5 sur 5 plage et alentours
3 sur 5 entretien général
2.5 sur 5 bouffe
Un 3 étoiles et non un 4 !

It was very relaxing. Overall our experience was positive.

When we arrived we received a refreshing beverage. When we got to our room I was in awe at our view right out to the ocean. The grounds are maintained very nicely. Rooms clean. Staff are nice but not overly smiley. Jose at the pool bar was great. Our rep German Herman was great. We didn't care for the safe. Food was good, not great, not bad. We never got sick at all, but German Herman told us at orientation to not eat or drink anything in town or go on tours from in town companies as they don't prepare food properly. We listened and were absolutely fine. It is so gorgeous! Loved the trip!

Great grounds, but they cheap out on everything. No clock in the rooms, you had to go to the front desk to get a remote for the TV. No coffee maker in the rooms. Only place to get a coffee in the morning is the main buffet. The food was average at best with no meals that I can say were great. On the good side was the rooms were always clean and in good condition. Lots of hot water and water pressure. No issue with towels or having the room fridge stocked with water and pop. I loved the beach with the grass and lots of places to get shade. More than enough of beach chairs on the beach and around the pool.
Staff was always friendly and always willing to help out. Beer was cold and never a line up at any of the bars. This is a small resort with everything no more than a 2 minute walk away. I had two teenagers and they loved it, they had a room down by the beach that the kids hung out at all the time with pool tables that were in good condition. The resort in general is very clean and safe to stay at. The a la carts were very disappointing and not worth your time. No beacon ever for breakfast. Very shallow water in the ocean.

we were 3 in our room and they would only give us 1 key !!! if i wanted to stay in the room while they went out i had to wake up and let them in or I would have no power in the room. I have been to many all inclusives and this rule is simply ridiculous. we spent more time running around looking for eachother in order to get the key than anything else. The food was the same all the time. No peanut butter !!! chicken wings for breakfast!! very dated hotel definately not a 4 star. the only good thing was the weather and the trees on the beach. I have stayed at a 3.5 star hotel in Cuba that was better than this place. 1.5 hr bus ride to the hotel. Shows start a 9:45 which I find a little late. the personel is very nice except for the front desk people. no tv remote in our room on arrival had to go get it at reception and they asked me to bring it back on ck out so they purposely do not have remotes in the room. forgot it on ck out and she insisted I go back to the room and get it!!!!! Do not go here

Staff were friendly and welcoming. Beach was fabulous. Lots of activities for entire family.

Check-in at the Grand Paradise Samana was very slow. Although there were 4 people at the reception desk 3 of them were talking to each other and ignored the people waiting. Customer service did not seem to be a priority anytime I needed help.

We travelled with our son who still drinks milk on a regular basis. This was a problem because as the hotel only gives you one key card that runs the lights and the fridge in the bungalow we were given. We requested a second key card twice, and explained the reason why, but were ignored until we complained to our travel rep on the second day. To remedy the situation the hotel stuck a piece of cardboard the shape of the key card into the slot which kept the fridge working. I'm not sure why they couldn't of told us to do that in the first place.

We took a bungalow because of the extra space. It had a loft area which had an extra bed. We found this quite unsafe and never used it at all. The stairs leading up to the loft were open and we didn't trust that our son wouldn't fall off of it. The railing around the loft was quite unsafe - it was the lattice that you see on some decks in Canada and moved if you touched it. There was also no light in the loft so was quite dark. The extra bed that was up there was just a box spring and mattress that was laid on the floor. We ended up hauling the mattress down the stairs and laying it on the floor for our son to use.

Our bed was rock hard and the pillows were hard and lumpy. If you are going I'd recommend bringing your pillows from home. My husband at one point tried to sleep on the sofabed but upon pulling it out we noticed black and brown stains on it so put it away again. We did not have a good night sleep the entire time we were there.

The rooms were cleaned daily by the housekeeping staff and although the rooms were old they did seem to be kept clean. We did have mold around the shower window and the shower wand itself was broken away from the wall.

The blinds covering the patio had had numerous holes in it and let light shine through in the early morning.

The beaches and scenery were beautiful. The housekeeping and grounds crew were very friendly and always seemed to be busy. There were lots of empty chairs available on the beach and lots of pretty spots along the water to play with our son.

If you are expecting a four star you will be disappointed. Be sure to bring change as it is impossible to get change for tips. Go to las careras and enjoy a delicious meal at pescador restaurant - affordable and very good. Ask around, you are not limited to the beach of the hotel if you don't mind walking 15 min. Staff afront desk are not very client oriented Food is just Ok. Beach is short and you won't be able to walk for a long nice stroll.

It's just O.K. Bungalow was spacious and bed was great for comfort. Food at buffet was o.k. but 75% of people going to seafood restarant got sick including us, some severely. Did not want to chance the Italian as the kitchen is adjoined to the seafood. Towel wars went on everyday. Too many guests, not enough towels. Bar tenders at Buren bar and grounds keepers were great. Too far to travel for day trips and very far from airport. Seems to be double standards for French and English speeking people. French treated well and English not so much (and mostly ignored).Not a place I can highly recomend. We will not go back.

The hotel has a lot of potential but has quite a ways to go to become a 4 star hotel. I would grade it maybe a 3 star currently. Everyone we spoke with was sick while there including us. TV didn't work most of the time. Beds were so hard, had trouble sleeping. Employees have to learn courtesy, eg. if you are on a narrow path , they should step aside to allow you (the guest) through first - not plow through and making you move. Sunwing flight was very good, our agent Anis was excellent. Bathroom needs to be refurbished. Towels of better quality should be available. Beach towels should be available more often, we usually had to wait a few hours to get one. They also should be replaced. Generally, it was not a 4 star hotel. We have travelled enough to know what to expect in a 4 star. We do not book anywhere a hotel less that 4 star. I feel the staff and managers need to take a course in PR and courtesy. We did have a few people (staff) that we felt were excellent. You knew they were there for you. There should also be a money changer bank there. We could never get change at the hotel. It was necessary for us to walk into the nearest town to get change.

Hotel was really nice, service and food was great. Had difficult time refreshing our beach towels. Towel exchange center was always out of them. Entertainment was fabulous as well.
Only thing I really didn't like was the special service the 'French' group received. Some of the activities happening on the resort were only for the French groups, and some of us were actually turned away after trying to join in. More awareness about this special French section and treatment on the resort would have been nice.

services were below expections
Food quality was far below exceptable standards

I have some very serious concerns about the very poor quality of this hotel, its services, its safety and food quality.

Room Condition: We arrived at our room and immediately were disappointed. The A.C in our room was not working. We contacted the reception several times. However, the results were the same. Only after 4 times of contacting and talking to the reception staff, the room maintenance staff was sent over to fix our AC late at night.

Further, after a more thorough inspection of our room, there were blood stains on the curtains and the shower head was broken. There was a hole in our washroom ceiling; large enough that we could see the sky. When it rained, the floor in our washroom dangerously slippery from rain water and caused me to slip numerous times. My partner was injured when attempting to get out of the bathtub. He cut himself on a metal towel rack. The metal towel rack was missing a metal cap and appeared to be very sharp at the end. The room was in a dire need of renovations. Clearly, the condition of our room was unsafe and not hygienic.

Food quality: We wanted to change our room, however to make matters even worse, I became very sick from food poisoning and could not move anywhere until the rest of our trip. I was unable to keep anything down, become very dehydrated. I am still recovering. Many other people that traveled with us also got very sick and had to be hospitalized. My partner also got sick. The food was not warm and appeared to be re-cooked from previous days. Obviously, the hotel was negligent in failing to ensure that HACCP standards were met.

Room Service: The room service entered our room daily on four different occasions. The hotel staff would wake up us early in the morning to collect dirty towels, and then another staff member would come and clean our room. Another time, someone came give to us clean towels (which were not so clean). And finally, someone came to re-fill our fridge. While we appreciate this, why was this not done in one instance?

Reception Service: In addition, the service at the reception was unprofessional and unfriendly. There was only one key provided upon our arrival. The second key would cost us additional 5 dollars per day. We asked for a wake up call on a day of our departure but no one called us. The reception never had a proper change to give out and they gave us back the wrong change. We didn’t want to argue with them as we were just about to leave to the airport.

In conclusion, this hotel should not be advertised as a four star hotel. Instead the Grand Paradise Samana should be rated as 2 and half at most. I will be advising my family and friends not to travel to this particular hotel.

This Hotel is VERY French Canadian and seem to cater mostly to the french. The staff was all very friendly,only thing is most did not understand english very well and at times it was a challange communicating. We met some very nice people. It is a good place to go if you want to get away from EVERYTHING.Not a 4 star hotel. 3 star at best

Beau site en général,mais l'hotel mérite 3 étoiles max. Très loin de l'aéroport (2hrs). Bouffe bonne mais redondant, manque de varietes. pas de bacon, ni café latté ou cappucino..repas tiède. très belle plage et site très propre.Plongées est ordinaire et négocier le prix!!!

it appears this place was short of everything. good staff, great grounds, lousy food, can't get extra towels, most things need to be replaced. Would NOT recommend this place.

Kids club was fantastic for both of our kids (ask for Pinky). Good entertainment at night!
Sand and beach marvelous. Food .... well, 4 star resort.

Although the ride from the Samana airport included 2 stops to drop off vacationers at other hotels, and we had to wait an hour for our room to be prepared, this was a beautiful vacation. I made an effort to learn some fundamental Spanish in the weeks prior and perhaps this explains in part why the staff were absolutely amazing. Smiling and friendly. Unobstrusive but available. The room was clean and comfortable. The beach area was large and we never had trouble finding lounge chairs although the water was perpetually turbid due to the fineness of the sand. We walked into the town of Las Galeras several times, as it is only a 5 minute walk down the beach. We always felt safe and rarely got solicited by vendors. The Politur (Tourist Police) was ever present and the locals are happy and welcoming. The buffet at the hotel was good. Plenty of variety and the local specialties are delicious (e.g. fish, rice and beans, fresh fruit and any chicken dish). The package included 2 dinners at the a la carte restaurants, Seafood and Italian. The Italian was good but the Seascape (Seafood) was extraordinary. I had a whole fried fish that was cooked to perfection. I believe the resort is owned by a French company. There are many French guests through an agency called Lookea that also had staff on hand that catered specifically to them....dance lessons on the beach, volleyball, etc. It certainly helps if you can speak French, as I do.
We went on 2 excursions booked through the Air Canada Vacations rep Joel Luna, who is at the hotel every morning for a couple of hours. He's a great resource and can help you avoid a lot of pitfalls. We did the Walk the Plank Zipline, run by American expat Bart Griffin, an eco-pioneer and all around jubilant soul. We also did an ATV trip to Playa Rincon, a famous and idyllic beach. Both cost around $100 and were worth every penny.
Last word of advice...relax, learn some Spanish, tip the staff (even $1 USD is much appreciated) and smile. Dominicans are in many ways like Canadians...modest, polite and generally very friendly. We plan to return many times again.

This is my second time back. I have never gone anywhere twice however it fulfills all my personal requirements.
Lots and lots of trees and lush greenery, beautiful safe and clear beach. The views are awesome. The staff are great. Very friendly and work super hard day and night. The resort is kept very clean and the food is simple but good with enough variety to satisfy. It is rated as a four star and could easily be with a bit of money to renew some wore out lawn and dining chairs. Great Family resort for the kids. Not too formal, very family friendly. The evening shows are well worth watching, very entertaining. There's something for everyone, kayaks, archery, areobics, disco etc etc. Have fun if you go. I can't wait to go back.

I would like to advise you first that I do not usually like to complain due to the fact that I am actually on vacation and should enjoy no matter what. See the following for a truthful evaluation of this resort.

My boyfriend and I went to this resort for the price and apparent reputation of the Grand Paradise chains. We were quite disappointed.

Check-In
Check in was quick and very friendly the 2 young ladies at the front desk are amazing and always smiling :) you must pay $15 for a safe key but well worth it and you enter your own passcode into the safe so I felt it was very safe :) You will get towel tickets...DO NOT LOSE THEM or you will have to pay. These have to be brought back at check-out. Don't forget to bring back your remote and safe key as well.

Room 5305:
Here's the disappointing part. Although our room was beautiful and large and the bathroom was spectacular we did not have a showerhead for 2 days although we went to front desk every day asking for one and when we did get one we didn't have a support for it that took another day to get. There was no soap which we had to ask for and got the next day, thankfully I always pack my own soap. We had to ask for towels twice. We had no blowdryer for our full week stay which we asked for every day. Bathroom was kept very clean every day :) As for the bedroom we had no telephone in the room for 4 days and asked every day for a phone. You will need to go to your room, look at your TV find the make and then go back to reception to get a remote for it. Bedroom was kept very clean the chambermaid was very meticulous which was greatly appreciated. Don't forget to tip her and/or bring her a little something as a gift for her or her children. The room was aparently an oceanview which we asked for as an upgrade for my bf's birthday which they accommodated without problem but because we were on the top floor we could not see the ocean due to the palm trees...no biggie there :)

The Restaurants:
Buffet:
Food was always good but always the same not much change even on the theme nights. Breakfast, I went to the omelet counter and had it made fresh every morning. You can get over easy and sunnyside up as well at that counter. There is a crepe counter made fresh as well...I didn't try them though. Lunch, we ate lunch at the Beach Buffet every day except for one day when we went into town...will touch on that later. Lunch at the beach buffet had pizza which was good, warm at best though, hamburgers and hotdogs...not bad choice we enjoyed it. Dinner buffet also had a pasta counter which was made fresh and quite tasty. They served chicken, beef, pork at the buffet...again warm at best but decent and you could always find something to eat :)

A La Carte Restaurants (both in the same building as the beach buffet):
Italian:
We went once, I had the Canaloni, very nice...they have a wonderful salad bar as well.
Seafood:
We went for my bf's birthday, they had flowers set around the tabletop, I had the seafood platter, it was very good. The servers all came out at the end of the dinner and sang happy birthday and brought a fruit plate to the birthdayboy :)

Beach:
Absolutely wonderful!!! There's a lot of seaweed in the ocean though so if ou don't like seaweed either don't go or there are spots that have none. There are plenty of beach chairs but you have to make sure they backs are adjustable there were a lot that were broken. Beach entertainment was predominantly for the Lookea Club which is the "French" section. Our room was off of that section as well.

The Lookea Club is a group of buildings catering to the French from France in the most part...there is a beautiful pool in that section as well as a pool bar and their own entertainment in the evenings.

The Pools:
There are 2 main pools which we did not go to but looked very clean and there is a pool bar there as well.

All in all it was an ok vacation but I will not return there.

Je crois que l'hôtel a besoin d'un directeur qui se souci des clients, il est là mais ne salut pas les gens. La nourriture est bonne au buffet comme au resto à la carte, plus de goût qu'à Cuba et incluant pâtes, porc, poulet, légumes variés, boeuf (pas tendre comme chez nous, un peu normal partout dans ce pays)si on veut manger comme chez nous on ne doit pas allé en voyage! Au déjeuner aucun matin avec du bacon. Les serviettes ne sont pas toujours dans notre chambre au départ de la femme de chambre. Ils reviennent plus tard (pas très pratique) pas de télécommande de télé non plus, il faut allé la chercher à la réception et la rapporter si on l'oubli, il garde ton passeport! Notre retour était à 17:00 et incapable de conserver la chambre plus tard que une heure et même en payant. Le personnel est gentil, les sections au buffet un peu trop grandes pour eux certains ont de la difficulté à fournir.Les animateurs sont gentils et essaie de faire participer les gens, les jeunes filles sont un peu favorisé mais c'est un peu normal ils sont jeunes aussi et ça n'empêche pas les gens de s'amuser. La ville de Las Galeras est tout près, une marche agréable,sortir par la réception et marcher tout droit vers la mer, tournez vers la gauche, on ne peut pas se tromper. Un resto bar est tout près tenu par un Français très gentil, il offre du poisson frais ou de la langouste. Juste à côté un kiosque de toile et de souvenir, vous devez négocier et si vous retournez, il vous donnera un cadeau. Nous avons payé 680.00 et si on ajoute le 15.00$ pour le coffre et le repas qu'on doit payer dans l'avion (air Canada) et au retour à l'aéroport (car à l'hôtel le resto ferme vers 15:00) Donc au total un 725.00$ était correct pour cet hotel car à mon avis il ne faut pas payer plus de 800.00$ ça ne vaut pas plus.j'ai souvent voyagé et il y a des 4 étoiles mieux que cet hôtel, je le classerait plus 3 et demie.En janvier c'est venteux (période la plus fraîche de l'année) et pluie intermitente. Amant du soleil y aller un peu plus tard comme mi-février ou mars.

Hotel mal géré, ce n'est pas plus qu'un 2 étoiles. La première chambre que j'aie eu, pas de bain, pas de télé fonctionnel, le coffrêt de sécurté brisé et le téléphone absent, à plusieurs soupé, aucun vin ne pouvait nous être servis, pourtant un tout inclus...Aucune variété dans les repas même si il affiche des thèmes de repas tout les soirs.

Very good value for money - warm water, sandy beach, nice variety of food, obliging staff. Not really a 4 star resort, but with 3 star prices, you should not have 4 star expectations. Nice excursions available if beach volleyball and sunbathing get boring.

Resort was as expected, no real problems. great value for the price.

In general, we had fun. However, (1) there is not much to do around the hotel. (2) The animation team is pretty boring. There are actually 2 teams - one for the French guests and one for all others. It seemed that the french team was more fun and entertaining... (3) Housekeeping was terrible. One morning they took our towels and it took me about 5 hours and 3 phone calls to get the clean ones. (4) It was very hard to adjust the water in the shower. (5) Sport bar equipment was often broken and we could not get the new one... But in general, you get what you pay for...