My husband and I returned from an amazing stay at the Grand Oasis May 3rd-May 10th. The closer we got to our trip the more and more the reviews made us nervous. Please do not believe everything you read.

We arrived in the Dominican Republic on May 3rd. We had no trouble at the airport as some reviews had stated. You do have to pay a $10 entry tax in which they give you a card that you hand to another person about 10 feet away. We kept a close hold on our luggage and never had trouble with anyone wanting to carry it for us. We booked Round Trip Transfer with a group called CoCo Tours. It was $40 in a very nice airconditioned luxury bus. They were very well marked, and it was a quick easy process.

When we arrived at the hotel, the bell boys took our luggage and we went right to the desk to check in. Check in went very smooth, and the only thing that we ran into was the front desk people wanting some sort of voucher from us. We booked through Orbitz...which is a whole other review in itself...and the only thing we received from them was our receipt of purchase. They had us listed in their reservations so they just went on without the voucher. We were given the room we had requested minus one thing which was the King size bed. We were given 2 double beds in an ocean view room. We simply pushed the beds together!! We also purchased the safe for our room, even though it is $3/day, I would highly recommend it if you are taking valuables. We also purchased some internet time to let our families know we got there safe. You don't have to use all of your time at once and can keep coming back until it runs out.

After check in we went over to our room, and our luggage was promptly delivered. We were in room 1316, and it was in building 1 on the third floor in the corner. It was a great room and very quiet except for some honeymooners next door one night. There are no deadbolts on the door, but we never had any problems.

The hotel grounds are beautiful, and they are very clean. There is always someone walking around making it better. The construction was no bother, and the only place you really noticed it was at the addition to the buffet. The noise was never bothersome, and it was neat to see them work!

Food:
We enjoyed the food at the hotel, but by the end of the week we were ready for some real food...which is like anywhere you go. The snack bar Mangos by the beach was a great place to go if you wanted a snack, or were gong during normal lunch or dinner hours. The buffet was fantastic. We ate breakfast there each day, and lunch a lot of times. They have the most fantastic selection of Bread, and the best fresh juices and smoothies. We ate at the Mexican and Italian Restaurant 2 times each. I had fajitas both times at the mexican restaurant, and my husband had Ribs and fajitas. It was a very excellent meal. The neat thing was in each of the ala cart restaurants, they have a mini appetizer buffet. The italian restaurant was fabulous too...get there early because it is a small place with limited seats. My husband and I are not drinkers, but they have a fantastic drink called Bahama Mamma...EXCELLENT!!

Pool/Beach:
I am much more of a pool person where my husband loves the beach. We comprimised and went to the beach a couple mornings, but most of our time was at the pool. It was great...people saved seats in the shade early, but I came for the sun, so why get the shade? We sat most of the week in the front of the pool near the lobby, because it was very quiet. On thursday they drained that pool to redo the name on the bottom, so we just moved. No problem at all, and it was neat to watch them work. The beach gets very windy in the afternoon, but my husband loved it! Join in on the games near the pool too...those guys work so hard to make sure you are having a good time!

Entertainment:
The Chocholate Friends work so hard! They are there all day long, always doing something. The pool games are great, and if you tell them no, they leave you alone. The shows are fun to watch too...definitely not a broadway show, but very enjoyable because they work so hard. Friday night they had a beach party on the beah with a bonfire, and everything. Cheek Monkey, Shaggy, and Coffee are great guys!!

Excursions:
We did 2 Excursions while we were there. We booked them again through CoCo tours who were located at the hotel. We went 1 day to ocean world, and 1 day to the Puerto Plata City tour, and the cable car. Both of these were well worth the money, and a neat way to see Puerto Plata.

All in all this was a great resort. If you plan on going here expecting a 5 star resort that is very fancy, save yourself some trouble and go to one of those places. We went to this resort with the attitude that we were going to have a great time, and we did! I would recommend this place to anyone. Please take the negative reviews with a grain of salt because I don't think any resort could make people like that happy!!

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask because I would be happy to answer anything you want to know!

Trust me, you won't be disappointed!!

My husband and I have just come back from the most fantastic holiday ever! The Grand Oasis Marien was brilliant the staff was all so welcoming, happy, and helpful and they worked their butts off in order to make sure the guest had a great holiday. Just before we went we were informed that some building work was going on but we were also assured this would not effect us, Guess what we hardly noticed the building work it was not noisy or dusty etc it had no effect on us or anyone else staying at the grand Oasis. When we arrived at our hotel, we were checked in within about 10 minutes we were given a welcome drink whilst the porter took our bags to our room. The room was fantastic and had a proper double bed which made a change to having 2 singles shoved together. The rooms are extremely clean and spacious. The maid service throughout the holiday was superb. The towels were made into swans and their was a basket with little bottles of shampoo, body lotion etc with proper flannels.
The sun was shining and we got an amazing tan, On the first night their was a tropical storm with about 4 different thunder storms at the same time, it lasted approx 2 hours it was amazing to watch it, after that we never seen any rain for the rest of our stay just sun and more sun. I remember I kept checking the weather forecast before we went and it kept saying rain so I was dreading it, I was just so glad the weather forecast was wrong. The whole place was kept so clean and tidy I never saw a single bit of litter on the floor and both the grass and gardens were always kept nice. We were in block 3 so we had the best of both worlds on our left we could see the beach and the beach bar which is called Mangos, and on the right we had the view of the pool. Their was hardly any mosquito’s in the resort because every evening a member off staff went around the bushes and trees fumigating them also once a week your room gets the same treatment but only if you agree to it, we were told it’s not harmful to us. Theirs also 4 peacocks 2 mating pairs wondering around, we went back to our room on the 2nd day to find them all on our balcony sleeping, so of course I fed them, they were so gentle taking bread and Pringles from my hand, they came back to see me at the same time each day for their food. Entertainment for the little kids was great. Adult entertainment wasn’t brilliant but if you’re like me you will get chatting to other couples and have a few drinks and a laugh with them. Their was adult entertainment but the guy doing it just didn’t seem to be able to keep it flowing the same as they do here, he tried he’s best though and on the odd occasion it was ok.
Theirs 4 restaurants, they were all very good...very organized and Pleasant staff...we were always seated immediately and everything went smoothly we were always asked if we want smoking or none smoking. Apart from the Italian restaurant which is a none smoking restaurant. Crepes was also good, although I was a bit of a dur and didn’t know what crepes are, if you’re a dur like me … they are pancakes. The Ribs in the Mexican were lovely, the Buffet had a different menu each day, and Mangos the beach Bar is open 24 hours a day it was great, the chips were lovely. We went on the monster truck excursion this was also all inclusive so plenty of booze, water and soft drinks to keep you going, It was well worth it and more It was a long drive out of the city but it was awesome, fun, humbling, eye opening and educational at the same time.
We had a great guide he’s name was Oto and also great weather, which also helped.

The tour stops at a school which has 150 pupils in total, but before this stop, theirs another stop to buy sweets and pencils etc if you wish to do so for the kids at the school, the people in the real Dominican are so poor and the kids don’t see any luxury, but if you do get any sweets for the kids here’s a tip by all means give the school kids pencils and useful educational things as they have to buy everything themselves, but watch behind their backs they are crafty and I noticed they all had carrier bags of sweets behind their backs, save your sweets until after the school and throw them to little ones you will see standing on the side of the road for the rest of your trip, these ones get nothing and their eyes lite up and they run with all their might for the sweets. We went through rivers and up and down roads that half the time I couldn’t believe were roads, we stopped at a ranch for lunch which was almost as good as the resort food whilst t the ranch we went to swim in a clean river, I say clean because the water is clean it’s the mud you wade and slip through to get to the water, people pay loads for mud packs it was great fun and there is a shower to wash yourself off afterwards it’s near the toilets. Then we had massive a water fight with the other Monster truck, just before you it’s time to go back to your resort theirs the stop at the souvenir shop which belongs to Monster truck, the prices are good you don’t get ripped off.
Monster Truck sponsors the schools.

If you smoke tobacco buy it from the airport it’s the only place to buy it from, you can’t get it in the Dominican Republic, you can only buy fags. Also if your buying tobacco from the airport on your return home don’t make the same mistake as me, don’t buy from the first shop you see it’s the most expensive. The key for your apartment is a swipe card you put it into the little white box as you walk into your apartment and it turns on the brilliant air conditioning and lights. The shower, I couldn’t work out how to turn it on, where the water comes from the tap pull down the little ring that looks like it’s part of the tap. The water pressure is great. Theirs also a pull cord washing line above the bath.
Porters don’t get a wage they rely solely on tips between 5-10 dollars is pretty much the norm, the general staff at the resort get 15 dollars wage per day not a lot for the hours they put so they will be grateful for any tips they receive as well, only thing is, if they get a tip from you right away they will wait on you hand and foot to show gratitude so I waited until the last day as I didn’t go on holiday for a slave. Don’t forget your 20 dollars per person to pay your exit fee at the airport b4 returning home, you should also be given an immigration form to fill in both on your flight their and another b4 you leave their. They all take both dollars and pesos in the Dominican Republic I got the feeling they preferred dollars though. Oh and don’t forget to get your tourist card it’s better to get it b4 you go it cost £10 each no visa is required just a tourist card.

We was their from 7th – 14th May 2008 for my husbands 40th and we will go back again. we booked through thomson fly online

I just want to keep this short and simple. This resort was wonderful! I would go back in a heartbeat.

The FOOD was excellent both at the buffet and the a la carte restaurants. If you want to be sure to get a table at the restaurants...simply go early. They open at 6 or 6:30 pm for dinner and are usually pretty busy between 7 and 8 pm.

We loved the ENTERTAINMENT guys "Coffee" and "Cheeky Monkey"! They were funny and friendly and really made our stay by the pool more fun.

I found the RESORT itself a little small compared to other resorts I've stayed at but it is without a doubt one of the CLEANEST. The staff work day and night at keeping the it NEAR-IMMACULATE. That said, does size really matter???

The ROOMS were COMFORTABLE and the bathroom SPACIOUS. We tipped our maid $20 u.s.d. up front the day after check-in and about $3-$5 everyday after. We were well taken care of.

About the MINI-BAR in the rooms: The INSTRUCTIONS AT CHECK-IN were clear...the hotel provides 2 beer and 2 bottles of coke free....everything else will be billed to your room.

Our rooms were in building #3 and they faced the CONSTRUCTION. While the noise was a bit of a nuisance, it didn't bother us enough to request a room change.

My one word of caution: JEWELLERY. There is a lovely jewellery shop on the resort with some beautiful gold and silver jewellery (but this goes for any jewellery shops you might stop at on any tours you take i.e. Amber Museum etc). BUYER BEWARE. I bought my sister a silver ring with a cluster of larimar stones for her birthday only to find out later in Canada when she went to have it sized that it was not made with REAL STERLING SILVER. Its not cheap so make sure you know what you are buying.

I hope this review was helpful.

It has been a few months now since our return home from the Dominican. Our stay was for 5 nights, there were 4 of us. Myself ,my hubbie and our 15 and 11 year old daughters. The resort was beautiful. The grounds manicured to the TEE!! The workers took pride in their work...each and every day....from dawn till dusk, they worked.
Our only real gripe was the food. The Buffet was okay, each day was different but seems like nothing to brag about. The different Ala carte restaurants were also okay...one bad thing is that one will close each night, and you will just be left to guess which one. The Mexican grill was good.....but the wait was ridiculous. We were seated immediately, but the wait staff were unorganized. We first were seated in a SMOKING AREA...as soon as we smelt smoke....we asked to move...the head waitress told us there were no more tables....but I could see different. We told her we would just leave, then she proceded to find another table. SO...that put a damper on our eveining. The Italian Restaurant was good...very organized and Pleasant staff...we were seated immediately and everything went smoothly. We did not try the Crepes....but each night there were many people there.
We had an issue with our Towel count. There were four of us and we were left three towels each day....our daughter speaks Spanish very well....so each day we left our maid a note and money or a gift to keep us in stock. Gotta do...whatcha gotta do...to get what you want!! We did the dune buggy excursion which was lots of fun......dusty but worth the fun. A fellow couple told us of a city tour with our driver and guide. We would not do that again. The guide has his own set agenda, and places to take us. We did not like that. Do just be careful who you trust to drive you around. Nothing happened to us...but we felt uncomfortable being harrassed to buy souvenirs and CD's and oh yeah...the Jewerly!!! We learned our lesson...and would do our own shopping next time....alone.
Overall, our trip was nice to just rest and relax. We would not return here. Our vacations in Mexico have been awesome, so next time....we know where to go!!