We just returned from a 7 night stay, and let me just start off by saying this resort is even more beautiful than the pictures!
From the moment we arrived on Sunday evening we checked in and they offered us a welcome drink, check in took about 10mins and we were escorted to our room. We also brought our 17month old and when we arrived in our room there was a crib allready there, the room was really nice with a huge jacuzzie and sitting area, we where in the tower next to royal service. The first night we arrived we could not get a reservation for dinner so we went to the buffet. The buffet is just OK, tons of food, something for just about anyone, our baby was very happy with everything there..lol
The pool is awesome very big and has a great swimup bar and the bartenders are so cool. FYI if you want a bali bed by the pool you have to wake up very early!! I didnt really learn till the third day when i woke up at 5:00am to reserve one!! (ITS WORTH WAKING UP TRUST ME) oh and if you like the gym here is a tip the gym opens at 7am and is very crowded till 1100am, I wake up early anyways so i tried my room key at 6am and it had opened the gym door, so if you feel like going early and beating the crowd use your room key and turn the lights on and workout!
The ocean was filled with allot of seaweed they cleaned every day but i guess its that time of year?
OK THE FOOD....never had a problem getting a reservation!
BANA BISTRO good appertizers but thats it.
Japanese Grill AWESOME and allot of fun!! we went there twice
Market grill: Great steaks and great Lunch!!
Vento: very good food and Great service! (tip: we tipped very well and they told us we didnt need a reservation for the next evening!)
Tip...take the desserts from the buffet after dinner and walk over to the coffee bar and have a mocha!
Overall the food was great, it could be better but thats because we are used to eating the best in the states! oh and forget the mall outside the resort its very expensive and not worth it trust me we wasted two hours of a sunny day there! this resort was great!! If you have any questions email me!

We stayed at the Paradisus for our honeymoon. It was AMAZING! We found a timeshare offer to stay here and we weren't sure what to expect. The meeting didn't take a minute over 90 min (as promised)....they did pressure quite a bit, but that's to be expected. Even my husband who was very scepticle about us having to go to the presentation said it was worth it.

We stayed 6 days, 5 nights and every day was another day in paradise. They kept saying they were going to switch our rooms or do something special because it was our honeymoon and never did, but both my husband and I agreed that it didn't matter because even our regular room was beautiful.

Our Room:

*Flat screen TV
*Nice view (you could see the water from the corner of our balcony, but it was not an ocean view room)
*Lounge area and Table
*Beautiful Draped Island Canopy style Bed
*Large Jacuzzi Tub (big enough for 2 with room to spare)
*Multi head shower

Restaurants:

*Passion - this was our favorite because it was very intimate and romantic. No children and exceptional service and food.

*Tampankayi - Fun, great food, good entertainment, and a good way to meet others.

*Sushi - Good Sushi

*Market Grill - Wonderful Steak and Lobster!!! It was very good.

*Breakfast and Lunch Buffet - Very good food for a buffet, I couldn't have been happier. There was an assortment of fruits, veggies, cheeses, salads, soups, appetizers, sides, steak, seafood, and much for ....and all for lunch.

Entertainment:
We watched a hispanic show and it was ok, but we didn't go to any other entertainment shows.

Sports:

We booked a sailing trip and it was very nice and worth the $35/person....very reasonable for 1.5 hrs. And we saw lots of neat fish.

we tried windsurfing but it was too windy, not possible.

Catamaran- very nice and peaceful out on the water, the only thing that wasn't nice was that they sent us with a spanish only speaking teacher for our instructional class.....we couldn't understand anything, and tried sign language...lol.. :) -we figured it out though.

IN ALL:

Our room was beautiful, nice, and romantic. The drinks were very good and free!! The beach was beautiful, and you only have to take a stroll down the beach to find a handfull of huts with souvenirs. We never left the resort and didn't regret it!!! Everyone treated us wonderfully and we could not have been happier!!! It was a perfect honeymoon! IT IS AS BEAUTIFUL AS THE WEBSITE SHOWS IT TO BE!!

Another add on: The hotel has a team of professional photographers found downstairs at a desk across from the activites desk. We booked a photo session. He took us to about 10 different locations around the hotel and took about 250 photos. There is no sitting fee and you just go back to the desk when they are ready, view them, pic your favorites, or all and they are $8/ picture...they even gave me a free CD of the ones I paid for so I could bring them home and make more copies. It was wonderful because now we have beautiful, professional pictures to remember our honeymoon! :)

I would recommend this hotel to anyone. If you aren't happier here ....then you are probably the type of person that would not be happier anywhere!!!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Adrien

We just returned from a 3 night stay at the Paradisus Palma Real. Like another reviewer, we did have some problems with our check in that took 3 HOURS to resolve. That said, once we did get our room straightened out, we had a fabulous stay. The resort is absolutely beautiful, the staff is very friendly and the beach is beautiful.

The beach was full of seaweed right in front of our hotel, so we walked a little bit down the beach to a cleaner part and went swimming there. The water was beautiful, just wish is was as seaweed free in front of the Paradisus.

The pool and swim up bar is great - the pool is absolutely huge and never felt crowded. The hotel was full and we never noticed any part of the resort being full or crowded. It is a very large resort and the garden areas are beautiful.

That said, a few negatives:

1. They really push the vacation club sales and continue to pursue you all the way through your visit. They aren't unfriendly about it, but they definitely are aggressive in their sales pitch.

2. The "adults only" restaurant, Passion, is a definite must be missed. The menu was limited and odd - we thought the Gabi Beach restaurant, only available to vacation club members and Royal Service Guests, was the best.

3. The spa is expensive!!! The massages were great, we had them outdoors, but a pedicure for $78??? That's ridiculous.

All in all, a great trip. We went kid free for a little R & R, but it definitely would be a great family or couple vacation spot. We would go back.

My husband and I went with another couple in June 07. We had nothing but problems since the day we arrived. Our rooms were not ready when we got there. They tried to give us a room with double beds and offered to "push them together". Anyone who has ever slept like that knows how uncomfortable that is. With the amount of money we were paying for this trip it was totally unacceptable. They tried to tell us that they do not guarantee king beds. Ha! After endless fighting with management we got a room with a king bed. We opted for the royal service...what a SCAM! The "personal butler" that you are supposed to be assigned is NEVER around and your lucky if you get something that you request 2 days later! It was such a waste of money since all the things that he supposedly could provide are easier to get yourself! We travel to Mexico quite a bit and this was our first time in the DR. We found it highly lacking as far as service and hospitality goes. Most of the staff barely speaks English (or maybe they pretend not to when you have a request or complaint!) We are reasonable people, we just expect a certain calibur of service when paying so much for it. We tried to go parasailing and had to wait an hour on a boat for them to come and refuel. Then, after three days, they had us checking out even though we were booked for five days! I showed them the confirmation given to us by the travel agent but they still tried to get us to change rooms! The whole resort is very poorly run and very disorganized. The restaurants were above average... I have to give it that. We also loved Neftale, an amazing bartender. The casino was a good place to go at night since there is absolutely nothing else to do. It just seemed like everyone else that we met at the resort was from NY or NJ. I love my hometown but I went to the DR to get away from it for a week. The pool was overrun by loud drunk brooklynites during the day which is why we opted to stay in the private pool area most of the time that only Royal Service guests had access to. Next time we will just go back to Mexico where the service is outstanding and they aim to please.