Paradisus Grand Cana - All Inclusive

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2531 reviews

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  A comprehensive review of Paradisus Grand Cana

  I vacationed here 25th Jan - 1st Feb. I enjoyed my vacation (the weather was fantastic) but all in all I would not return to the hotel because it did not fit my idea of a Caribbean vacation. The good: - beach + beach set up is fantastic - rooms are great - drink options are good The bad: - the food - the hotel does not have a particularly relaxed Caribbean "vibe" - you will hear the (average at best) live entertainment in your room at night if your room faces the hotel (it finishes around 11pm) I also personally did not like the design of the hotel (it has a minimalist, modern open design). I in fact much preferred the design of the neighbouring Melia hotel Zel Suites (which is also cheaper). More details: The beach: - It is a 10-minute walk away, the walk being very pleasant and green (also a regular cart in operation) - There are multiple sunbeds + a towel hut for use of hotel resident (We had zero issues getting a bed at any point of our stay, although I think the hotel was not busy) - The sea and beach itself are fantastic. Not too cold, clean with pure white sand. There is also a constant breeze meaning it never gets unbearably hot unless one is lying right in the sun. Note however that the beach is on the Atlantic so if you want clear warm seas you need to head to the south of the island. - There are a lot of vendors who will try to sell you stuff every 5 minutes. This is due to the beach being public (all beaches in the DR are public). It would obviously be better if they were not there, but I did not find it too off-putting. Note they are not that pushy (I suspect at the hotels insistence) - There is a hotel bar right by the beach from where one can get drinks. The room: - Rooms are huge with great big balconies (although that being said, we never used the lounge/sitting area, nor did we hardly use the balcony as we preferred other locales) - The beds are super comfortable - Mini fridge is well stocked - If your room faces towards the centre of the hotel, you will hear the entertainment at night (we managed to block it out by putting some white noise on speakers that we brought with us) The food: - The food is not good (both buffets and restaurants included). I have no idea how other reviewers can say otherwise. It is not fair to say it is inedible but you can easily cook better at home. Food is also pretty much the same each day. You will not get excited by any of the food. - The Buffet. There is a large variety but it is mostly rubbish. Your best bet is to stick to the live cooking stations and pair it with some side salad, rice and beans. There is also a good omelette station at breakfast. For dessert, stick to the fruit which is very good. The other desserts, which have close to zero flavour, are not remotely worth the calories. - We ate at the steak house, asian and peruvian "fusion". Steak house is just buffet food + steak by which I mean I am pretty sure the majority of the food on the menu is just sourced from the buffet. One of the starters was just a bowl of melted cheese lol. Food at Asian restaurant was on par with a high end (e.g. M&S) microwave asian meal back home. For the Peruvian, I have no idea what they were even trying to do but the end result was a poor attempt at sushi. I honestly think you are better off sticking to the buffet. - I should also highlight I am not a particularly fancy/fussy eater. Indeed on two excursions we had a typical DR lunch of chicken, pork, rice + beans and it tasted great. Simple food cooked well. A 5* hotel really should be meeting that level at least. The drink: - Drink set up is very good. Five different bars and a wide range of cocktails available. I expect the hotel hopes the drink options will make up for the bad food. The entertainment: - I did not really pay attention to the nigh time entertainment (I would prefer a more relaxed vibe) but from what I saw it was of no higher quality then you would expect to see at a local pub

  Feb 22, 2025
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  POOR start, but rest of stay was EXCELLENT

  Stayed in a Swim out Suite Feb 11 to 18. We had booked a Pool View room but were assigned to a garden view swim out in block 3 that had a great view of the busy roadway passing by the resort. The VIP check in staff insisted that was all they had, hotel at full capacity, pool view /garden view all the same etc. Air Canada is the only Canadian carrier that specifically list swim out room as POOL view. They continued to argue that Air Canada was wrong even when I showed them the web site listing. After two hours of arguing up to supervisor level we eventually got our pool view room just across the hall from the other room in block 3. NOT a good impression to start. HOWEVER, from that point on everything was excellent. Staff in all areas made us feel spoiled and pampered, food every where was great to excellent, with the exception of Origen, the buffet. For such a high end hotel the choices were limited and repetitive and getting a cup of coffee, never mind a second one was hit and miss. It was not because the hotel was at capacity ( I call BS on that) as rarely did I see more that 15 to 20 tables occupied during breakfast. We ate dinners at Karnica (steak) twice, Tori (Tempayaki) and Mangu (Caribbean near main pool) twice and food and service were top notch. Lunch at Alula ( seafood etc at the beach) also very good. Just about anywhere on the resort including the beach, they had lots of roving servers to bring drinks and sometimes even came across the pool to our room . Alcohol choices were almost unlimited and top shelf as well as beer. The swim out suite was amazing with over 1300 sq feet of living space, lots of towels and refrigerator was well stocked and they would substitute beers etc as requested. First stock was , coke, sprite, orange juice, milk, lots of water and Heineken. Presidente, and Corona. On most days I had up to 8 Corona in the fridge. Swim Out rooms /VIP come with a Concierge and we were taken care of by Gabriel C Batista. Beside showing us to our room and explaining everything to us he stayed in touch daily by phone with a good morning greeting every day, made all our reservations and often met us at the door of the restaurants . We saw him sometimes a couple of times a day, he came looking for us to ensure all was well and responded to any questions or needs quickly. The beach is a very short shuttle ride in a stretch golf cart on a continuous loop between hotel and beach. Lots of padded lounge chairs and palapas, towel hut, drink service , a small food truck for hot dogs and snacks and Alula restaurant for formal lunch ( not a buffet) and soft sand all around. We did not hang out at the main pool as we had access to the large swim out and great seats, beds etc at our room, but it seemed well covered with Bali Beds and was very big. Beautiful well maintained grounds and premises added to the enjoyment. Overall I would have given this resort a 6 out of 5 but for the poor beginning and the surprisingly lower quality buffet restaurant.

  Feb 22, 2025
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  Great stay

  Great stay! We had a family concierge swim up suite, travelling with our two daughters, ages 3 and 5. The swim up suite was so worth it - we’re not sure we would book without now. It was so nice to have a more private swim space and we spent a lot of time in the water. Not fighting for lawn chairs was great. The water park was a huge hit. Areas a separated by depth of water/‘thrill’ level of the slides. We were really happy with the 2 feet deep pool where we could just watch both kids play without worrying too much about risk or water depth. We had a ton of fun taking kids into the deeper pool for the bigger slides with us close by. It was perfect for our kids - for older kids (age 10 or above) it might feel a bit more tame. Family concierge (shout out to Gustavo!) was totally worth the price. So convenient and easy to arrange anything, including dinner reservations or excursions. He did a surprise foam party for our kids one night which may have been the highlight of their trip. The family concierge only activities and hours at the water park were well worthwhile. We would definitely do this again. The beach was a bit more crowded/busier than I anticipated, but I think this is likely because we already live on the ocean and are used to very small crowds (because the water is cold so not many people hang out there all day). It is public, but the people there selling tourist wares were generally very polite and respectful of us if we declined to buy anything. The walk to the beach was very short and the kids got a kick out of seeing iguanas and lizards along the way. We took the golf cart transit a few times - it was quick and efficient. This is a wonderful resort for families with small kids!

  Feb 21, 2025
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  You get what you pay for…

  Pros: Large rooms that are very clean and stocked well daily with bottled water and snacks. No one works harder than Leo as a pool server. The servers that were good were great and it felt like they really wanted you to really enjoy your time. Cons: You cannot see the ocean from this property. It’s a golf cart ride away that loops every 10 minutes. Tori was the only a la carte restaurant we found ok. All of the off-menu places were D- at best. I really can’t understand the folks raving about these restaurants but also know food is subjective. We really enjoy dining typically on vacations and as such tend to avoid AI for that reason. The buffet was okay and where we ended up mostly but it got old fast. It felt like a college dining hall after a few days. The family concierge (Raul & Patry) was a joke. He was just a sales guy. He was always telling us he’d make things nice for us and never came through. They do help with reservations so perhaps if we enjoyed those restaurants more it would have seemed more beneficial. They would text us the activities each morning and mostly weren’t helpful beyond that. Having family concierge does allow you the left side of the beach with padded chairs (albeit inconsistent service) and access to the water park 1 hour before every one else. Our kids loved the park and we found that to be the biggest benefit. The last night, our concierge came and found us and asked us to go on a tour to listen about becoming a circle member. No way we were falling for that. It was clear the concierge experience was built up to that. We got spend 7 days in the sun for very cheap compared to other islands and resorts we’ve stayed but I wouldn’t go back to DR or this resort. Never a waste to get out of the cold but overall but worth the consideration to return.

  Feb 21, 2025
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  A beautiful family vacation

  We have been to this resort, and others at the property for almost a decade now. We had a really great vacation! There seems to consistently be poor reviews about food and other things, which we did not experience. Our concierge Thaina was great and got us our preferred restaurant and reservation times every night (she did mention they added an earlier time slot which will hopefully assist with what reviewers complain about). We did find the service sometimes slow, but we’re traveling with someone with severe food allergies so that’s to be expected. The servers were on top of food allergies which was reassuring. Thaina brought cute touches for the kids, blew up our pool floats and overall made the trip very enjoyable. We highly recommend using a concierge, especially if it’s your first time at the resort. We’ve stayed at this property the last 3 times we’ve traveled to the area and we toured the property when it was being built. The resort is beginning to show some wear, which needs to be addressed to continue to maintain the luxury brand they work hard to promote. We did have some minor maintenance issues with our room which were addressed when we brought them up. We love the property, the restaurants and the service and we will be back again next year!

  Feb 20, 2025