Grand Palladium Punta Cana Resort & Spa

The resort was really beautiful and the resort staff was fabulous!! This was my second time in DR and I'd definitely go back! Loved that we had access to all the connected resorts and their amenities. Disco was a lot of fun too! We went with four 18 yr olds and they had a great time too! Pros: beautiful resort, friendly staff, air conditioning worked great in rooms, water bottles provided daily in room and upon request, easy travel/direct flight and resort is not far from the airport. Cons: As a picky American eater the food was so so (buffet and restaurant options available) which led to me eating a ton of bread, rice, potatoes, fries etc. (again I'm picky) and the room had a really nice shower/jacuzzi tub combo but it was really high to step into (almost to my hip and just under the sink/counter height) They did have grab bars which I used but being vertically challenged it was tough to get in & out of it. I learned that some rooms had a step stool but ours did not. Tips: bring protein bars/granola bars for snacks or for a taste of home, brush up on your Spanish and have fun speaking it with staff and have a great time!!!

Airline: Copa customer service at JFk and Punta Cana airport was great. The airplane did not have much leg room in Economy which resulted in my knee and back hurting. I think Copa needs to have better dining options because the food was not good at all, especially for people who eat Halal Grand Palladium Punta Cana Resort and Spa: For the amount of money I paid, I think my overall stay should have been MUCH better - Customer service is wonderful all over the resort with everyone trying to please their customers - Room felt humid at all times even with fan and Ac on. Bed felt wet everytime we would lay down. There were roaches and big ants in the room and bathroom, which was terrifying. I wasn't able to sleep till very late due to this -Dining was pretty poor because the buffet was the same thing and not fresh at all times. My friend got food poisoning and is still sick. I only enjoyed the live show food. The virgin drinks were EXCELLENT. The restaurant food could have been better as well. The dessert could have had more varieties -Pool and beach were great, have no complains there I enjoyed my excursions more than my resort. I could have paid way less money for my stay and flight, but this has been a learning experience for future travels. Thanks!

Just returned from a 5 day girls getaway. This was my 3rd visit to Punta Cana and chose to come back based on my previous experiences. I booked this resort because of the location, size of resort and amenities. I will begin by saying that I rarely ever complain (especially in writing and I tend to give the benefit of the doubt always however this resort was absolutely terrible. I will never return to another Palladium property anywhere. I've been to many all inclusive resorts and have never experienced the issues I had during this vacation. Since this was a girls trip we requested double beds. Upon check in we were given king size beds. We were told that all of the rooms had king beds and that there were no rooms with double beds. Which of course is not correct. Rather then argue we just took the King beds because it wasn't worth the aggravation. The air conditioner in the room was not working. We called maintenance and were told someone would come out. No one ever showed. We then found out that we had no hot water nor would the water drain afterwards. So on our first night we couldn't get showers and had a tub full of water that wouldn't drain. Again called maintenance. The drain issue was corrected. The air conditioner was repaired the 2nd day. The hot waster issue was never corrected or addressed despite our numerous requests. The food was absolutely horrible. The service was even more horrible. I did not think the food would be the same as 'home' but some of the food was inedible. For example at breakfast, scrambled eggs weren't fully cooked. Stale bread for toast. Attempted to eat a burger from the grill at lunch but it most definitely was not a burger, same as with the chicken. Had to ask 3-4t times for a glass of water at almost every single meal. I would have gotten it myself if i was 'allowed' but I wasn't and was told that someone would bring it over but again and again that did not happen. The wait for the steak house was over a 2 hour wait to eat at 6pm. If you want to go to the steak restaurant you have to get there at 5:30 when the doors open. Staff - I understand that there is a language barrier and take that into account however to say that the staff was rude is an understatement. Even as I write this I cannot believe how rude the staff at this resort was. And it wasn't just one area or department. There were a handful of people that were nice and helpful but 90% of the staff at this resort were awful. They would roll their eyes at you when you ask for something (yes, I'm serious) They would just walk away or ignore you. Or most common, they would act like you were bothering them or in their way. I could give probably 100 examples of the rudeness of the staff but it infuriated me that as a guest in a resort, I (We) were treated like that. And let me clarify that it was only in the resort that the staff was rude. The locals at the airport and shops outside of the resort were very helpful and happy to have us there. Next, our room was not cleaned for 3 days. Despite our requests and inquiries. The 2nd day we called housekeeping and were told someone would come. They came and gave us towels and restocked the fridge. The 3rd day we went to the guest services at 8am and told them our room hadn't been cleaned. We were told that there is a switch on the door that you have to move to green to have your room cleaned otherwise the room isn't cleaned. We told them that we had no such switch but we wanted the room cleaned. AT 5pm the room still wasn't cleaned. We requested a manager (which wasn't available) and spoke to someone else who told us the same thing about the switch. We again told them there was no switch and asked her to come with us to show us the switch. So she unhappily came to the room with us. During our walk there i asked 3 times (pointing to other doors) asking where the switch was and was ignored. There was NO SUCH SWITCH. We were told our room would be cleaned if we left and they would 'investigate' our issue. Our room was cleaned but it was done in such fury that we were given no towels and things were broken. Another issue is the Hibachi restaurant. We were told upon check in that only that one restaurant required reservations but they had to made the day of beginning at 7am. The first morning we went to guest services to make the reservation and were told they were completely booked and to come back tomorrow. Went back the following morning at 7:15, waited in line and then was told the only reservation left was for 10PM the last night we were there. (which was 2 days after that). The beach - Horrible. There are only a handful of chairs on the check and the quality of the beach was terrible. 80% of the beach is covered in sea weed. You can't walk down to the water without walking through ankle high dry seaweed. There are vendors on the beach and/or walking on the beach trying to sell you stuff the entire time which is extremely annoying when you are trying to relax and enjoy a book. It was very disappointing because the resort is really beautiful and is well tended to. The access to the other resorts via the tramcar was an added plus. I understand that not everything can be perfect and that problems arise and things break however, the way this resort handled the issues and the overall rudeness from most of the staff is unacceptable. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money and vacation time on this place.

The dining options were very disappointing. The breakfast buffet was the only food available until 11am, and the food at the buffet wasn't very appetizing at all. Room service is only 11am-11pm, and the food was yet again very disappointing, leaving us starving all day until dinner. There's a grill at the beach during the day with delicious fried chicken. My husband and I very health conscious, so eating fried chicken everyday isn't ideal. The sports bar food was awful, and we got eaten alive from sand fleas sitting outside. To get a dinner reservation at their most popular restaurant you had to be at the hotel lobby by 7am the day prior, and couldn't do it over the phone. It's vacation, so we never did get up in time to make a reservation. We've stayed at other Punta Cana resorts, and didn't encounter these issues at all. We weren't there for any timeshare presentation, but throughout the stay they continued to pressure us to go to the presentation breakfast. On a positive note the fitness center was large with a vast selection of equipment. The dinner restaurants had decent food. The service was great, but we also tipped them a LOT. Room was very clean. The pools and beach were fabulous, and it was easy to find lounge chairs at both.