This was our first time to the Dominican Republic and we had an unbelievable time. I traveled with my fiance to the Grand Palladium Palace from April 19 to the 26th and cannot find hardly anything to complain about. This was the best all inclusive that we have stayed at and we have stayed at several all over Mexico; we also own a time share at the Royal Haciendas in Playa Del Carmen and have traveled extensively to Europe.
The grounds were well manicured and absolutely gorgeous and the deluxe room assigned to us was clean, spacious, and came with a nice view of the ocean. The grounds were huge as four different Palladium resorts are located there. The purchase of one resort allowed you access to the amenities of all of them except the royal suites.
The one thing that stood out to me was the food. Usually at the all inclusives we have stayed at the food ranges from decent to good; however, the food at the Palladium ranged from good to great. The breakfast buffets had a good selection of breakfast foods from the United States and Europe including eggs made any way you like along with whatever ingredients you like. A variety of fresh fruit juices made right in front of you was also nice.
The lunch buffet was good but the dinner buffet outshined it with the buffet at the Bavaro section being the best. If you didn't want buffet for dinner you could go to anyone of the six ala carte restaurants there. We went to the Italian, Mexican, Spanish, Asian, and Steak+Seafood ones and all were excellent except the Asian one which was just alright. We never went to the Dominican restaurant since the thursday night buffet was Dominican. The steak +seafood place was called Arrecife and it was our favorite. They serve a thick t-bone steak that covers your whole plate and the mixed seafood platter there was unbelievable.
The bars at the beach and the pool were ok, but the lobby bars were better. The best bar there hands down was a cocktail bar located somewhere behind the Bavaro lobby called Hemingways. It was air conditioned with beautiful decor, granite countertops and the only place there that served premium alcohol from the U.S.
The pool at the palace was nice and never crowded. While we were there the Palladium was supposed to be over booked but we never got the sense of feeling crowded. The place is so big that it really seemed like off -season.
The stretch of beach that the Palladium occupies has to be one of the prettiest I have seen. I personally think it blows the ones in Cancun and Playa del Carmen away. It has the same white sand and clear, blue water, but it simply has more beach with beautiful coconut trees all over. The Palace and Royal Suites side of the beach is within one minutes walking distance of El Corticeto, a little fishing village/ tourist trap. You will play the towel game at the pool and the beach so I suggest you have reception give you wake up call at 5:00 a.m. and put your stuff on a chair under a palapa and then go back to sleep. You might not want to play this game however, everyone else will do it and then you will just be out of luck. 5:00 a.m. is early enough that you will not only get a chair, but a palapa to sit underneath.
The service at the resort was good but I felt that Mexico won in this category. Tipping does help and really it is the responsible thing to do. These people make about 3,000 American dollars a year if they are lucky and the cost of living is higher than it is in Mexico; by the way, gas is six American dollars a gallon! I am not trying to disrespect any ethnic group or culture but several of the staff told us that Americans and Canadiens were the best at tipping. I am not saying to tip if the service is bad but if it is good then you really don't have a good excuse.
There was a lot to do at this place. The casino was ok. The disco was fun but didn't get going until after 11:00 p.m. The 24 hour sports bar was cool and a great place to get a snack after the club closed at 2:00 a.m. We only saw the Michael Jackson show and that was good. Outside of those places there is a full basketball court along with a tennis court, miniture golf and archery.
One more thing I would suggest is to go on some of the excursions. The one to Santo Domingo, which is the capital city, was great. The outback jungle safari was also great. If you stay on the resort the whole time then you really can't say that you have been to the Dominican Republic. You will never get the feel of the place and really see what it is all about. Also try the local rum based aphrodisiac called Mamajuana, your woman will thank you.

I (we) travel quite a bit for both work and pleasure, and have had the luxury of staying at some wonderful resorts. This was not one of them. If you like staying at a Comfort Inn or Days Inn, then you might think you've died and went to heaven. If you are accustomed to the amenities/service of a Hilton or Hyatt (or high end all-inclusive resorts) - most likely, you will be disappointed.

1. The airport/arrival process is seamless except for the cheesy photo the locals snap on your way in (yes - you will stand in line for a crummy picture that you probably won't buy for $8 on the way home...). Be sure to pre-buy hotel/transportation transfers when you book your trip. VIP (yellow shirts) were wonderful.
2. Once on the resort, you will be greeted by staff with very limited language skills (English). Spanish is the primary language, so if you have even basic Spanish skills, you will be farther ahead. Their English is very limited, and that comment stands true for all the staff. Some wait staff speak no English - and they don't even try to. You'll have lots of puzzled looks if you try to ask for more than the basics.
3. The rooms are OK - again, basic. The air conditioning had a hard time keeping the room cool, and the light/AC controls require the room key be in the reader in order to work - meaning if you leave your room and take the key - the AC will shut off. The room gets very musty and damp quickly. The mattress is the cheapest mattress I have ever slept on and the pillows were horrible. We asked for 4 more pillows just to make them a bit more comfortable than a 2x4. The sheets/towels were fresh every day. No turn down service. No fresh towels in the evening (other resorts we've been to give fresh towels 2x/day) . The mini-bar was only restocked 2x for a 7-day stay.
4. The food is basic at best. This resort seems to cater to the European crowd - lots of meats/cheeses/breads for breakfast. They constantly ran out of what I am now calling "American Breakfast Food": breakfast meat (bacon/sausage), potatoes, etc. and you will wait in line for eggs of any kind. Lunch was my favorite meal - better variety. Vegetable salads, wraps, pizza, pasta and french fries were always on the buffet. The ala carte restaurants in our opinion were horrible - everything is loaded with oil and the service is less than attentive. Stick to the buffet. The best meal we had was off-property at the Hard Rock Cafe - USDA Certified Angus Beef (!) and cold Corona. It just stunk that we had to spend $100US for a great meal, when we were staying all-inclusive.
5. The drinks were a major dissapointment. No-name liquor and local draft beer were all they offered. At other resorts we've been to, we got our money worth drinking products like Absolute/Tangeury, etc. The drinks here are watered down (really - they are!). The only alcohol that was decent was the wine served during lunch/dinner and the beer was OK, but you shouldask for a lime to make it a bit better and it gets warm very quickly. Silly little plastic disposable cups that contain one swallow worth of beverage keep you spending time going back and forth to the bar.
6. The pools were nice. Again - drinks in miniscule cups were frustrating. We drank water (in bottles) just because we can carry several of them at a time and not spend our time in line at the bar. I mentioned previously the service was slow - poolside was no different. No one was overly happy to serve you - I always felt like we were putting them out. We only saw a poolside waiter once all week - go fetch drinks yourself.
7. Have lots of patience. The resort does not have a "no saving chairs" policy. At 9am, and I am not exaggerating - the beach chairs are all taken and you have to scramble to find a poolside chair. People claim chairs in the wee hours of the morning (or the night before) and then seldom use them. One day we spent poolside, after finding 2 chairs at 9am. Directly in font of us, four chairs were saved under a tiki hut (premium spot). The people who saved the chairs never showed up (we left the pool at 3pm). We never had the chance to sit on the beach - there were no chairs available. Period. The resort either needs more chairs (beachside espeically) or to institute a no saving chairs policy.
8. If you are modest and not used to "European Style" resorts: this might not be the resort for you. Topless is the norm and people think nothing of it (beach and poolside).
9. The beaches are wonderful and to walk on the beach/in the water was great. You can walk further than your eye can see. And you don't get accosted too much by "locals". Again, I am sure we would have loved the beaches more if we could sit and watch the water, but all we could do was leave our bag/towels poolside and spent 2 hours walking on the beach.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate this vacation expericence at Grand Palladium a 5. Any vacation involving sun, sand and warm weather is great. But it could have been much better. We'll stick to Mexico, or find another all-inclusive resort with better amenities. Feel free to contact me if you have specific questions.

Stayed at the Grand Palladium Palace in January as part of a group there for a wedding. Found it to be a great place to stay, with terrific staff and everything kept immaculate. The grounds are beautiful. The only thing missing was a lack of staff that could speak English.
Went on the Bavaro Runners Tour and had a blast! Our guides, Rudolph and Rapael were great.
The catamaran to Saona Island tour was also well worth the money.
If you enjoy seeing the countryside there is also an all-day trip to Santo Domingo that is very interesting.
The country is beautiful with beautiful people, but I believe if they want to increase their tourism, they MUST do something about their problem of garbage spread all along the roadsides.

The SCUBA was dangerous. THe equipment was faulty.My son was given a regulator that leaked. WHen the group of 4 reached depth, he noted this and showed the divemaster, who did not care. The divemaster promptly disappeared. Then my sons weight belt fell off, causing an uncontrolled ascent. Thankfully, he was OK. The divemaster was not interested. We told the hotel and PADI people. THey did not care.