Grand Oasis Bavaro Suites Rating: 3.5 Pearls

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Book now by phone with Hotels.com – Call 1-800-246-8357

The quiet pool houses the main social scene

Opened in late '08, the 450-room Grand Oasis Bavaro was only two months old at the time of my stay. The modern hotel is an upscale version of its sister, the property-sharing, 457-room Grand Oasis Punta Cana resort. With just one restaurant on-site and a shared beach with Grand Oasis Punta Cana, guests of Bavaro will inevitably end up socializing with Punta Cana guests.

The pool, the main social scene, is pretty quiet. Families and middle-aged couples relax in the lounge chairs, play cards and read. There's a bar open during the day, but the most action you'll see here is the bartender singing along to his tiny boom box.

The clientele is heavily French, so much so that the Dominicans selling necklaces, cigars and paintings speak to tourists in French first, not Spanish or English. Staffers do speak English though, unlike at some D.R. resorts, so English speakers should have no problems.

Grand Oasis Bavaro is relatively expensive compared with most all-inclusives in Punta Cana. Dreams Punta Cana Resort and Spa is in the same price range, but if you're looking for a modern hotel with a little more style, check out Sivory.

Friendly bartender

Check-in was easy -- though guests check-in next door at the Grand Oasis Punta Cana. A porter assisted me with my luggage over to the Bavaro in a golf cart, even though the two hotels are right next to each other. After dropping off my bags in the room, the porter offered to take me to the buffet after I asked where it was. This was very much welcomed. Often, staff members simply point in a direction and give a few instructions in Spanish about where to go, which inevitably means getting lost. The front desk staffers were also very helpful with special requests like how to work the safe (which costs extra) in the room. Bartenders, at both the Bavaro and the Punta Cana properties, were friendly and always quick.

Service at the Aqua restaurant and at the buffet was always prompt and friendly. The chefs, grilling outside at Aqua, were happy to pose for a picture and seemed genuinely happy to interact with guests.

However, my requested extra towels never arrived.

View on a Larger Map

Bavaro is an area that is commonly considered part of Punta Cana. Grand Oasis Bavaro is right next to Grand Oasis Punta Cana in Punta Cana on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic. Both hotels share facilities and guests rarely leave the resort.

The beach

On the Grand Oasis' stretch of beach, there is plenty of room to play and lounge. A healthy number of chairs and shady palapas umbrellas are spread along the beach so it's not hard to grab one, even mid-day. The roped-off area for swimming, however, is fairly small. Only a small area of the beach has a sandy bottom.

There's a beach bar not too far away and there's also ping-pong tables right on the beach. There's also a water-sports shack that offers the standard array of activities.

Although the beach lies directly next to that of neighboring Dreams Resort and Spa, I met a friendly security guard monitoring the border between the resorts. Where some resort beaches seem to allow free flow of guests from surrounding areas, the borders around this beach were clear and monitored, so it felt safe and exclusive.

The Standard Room

Just opened in late '08, the rooms at the Grand Oasis Bavaro are still very clean and have high ceilings and modern furnishings, like this couch, which looked like it came from Ikea. All in all, the rooms feel like a Caribbean version of Ikea.

All buildings are on a pool, either with a grassy lawn or a wooden walkway in separating them from the pool. Rooms come with two queen beds or a single king. Upstairs rooms have balconies so if you're looking for privacy opt out of the ground-floor room.

The king beds have a funky headboard with a mini-canopy. It's a platform bed that has a comfortable mattress and white cotton comforter. There are throw pillows and regular bed pillows too.

The terrace has the giant sliding doors which allow for a great breeze during the day. Unfortunately, there's no screen door to keep out the bugs at night. To correct the problem, I spotted this guy spraying, but it seems like a screen door would be a little safer. Floor-to-ceiling curtains mean full privacy or complete lack there of -- in the ground-floor rooms, other guests sun a few steps away, by the pool.

The bathroom is top-notch, compared to other Dominican all-inclusives like the Majestic Elegance or the Gran Bahia Principe Cayacoa. It has a Jacuzzi tub, a separate shower room, a big bowl sink, and private toilet.

The flat-screen TV worked perfectly in my room. But there was no iPod stereo or DVD player.

The minibars come stocked with free beer, soda, and water, but snacks, like the Twix and Ritz Bitz, cost extra.

My main criticism: I had to slay a cockroach with a thick paperback book. These pests are fairly common in the tropics, but rarely seen. My room was on the ground floor, only steps away from the pool, so it may be prone to getting critters.

Tennis at shared Grand Oasis Punta Cana courts

Each building at Bavaro is built on one of four pools. These pools are are all shallow, but perfect for dipping. The pool area is very quiet, especially compared with all-inclusives like the Barcelo Bavaro Palace or Bahia Principe San Juan Resort. The only music here comes from a little boom box in the poolside bar (and in my case, the bartender who sang along with it). The pools and lounge areas are smaller than at most mega-resorts, but guests rarely have trouble finding a place to recline.

There's also an even quieter adults-only pool, where no kids are allowed and topless sunbathing is to be expected. It's closer to the beach, has its own bar, and has a hot tub built into it.

During my stay, a new massage tent was just finished and workers were also working on a lap pool, the fourth pool at Bavaro.

The tennis center featured lessons, equipment for rent, and two dirt courts. An odd assortment of posters outside the center specified rules on the court (no swimsuits, reservations expire after 10 minutes) and advertised tennis pro Gregory Rivera (the instructor).

The gym is equipped with a handful of machines in poor condition. The air conditioning works and the facilities are fairly clean, but the carpets, machines, and free weights are no less updated than the '80s workout posters framed on the wall.

Kin Ha Spa offers a long menu of expensive spa services. The facilities are clean, and the spa itself is relaxing. A steam room, a sauna, hot tubs, and pools are also available for use.

A strip of on-site shops sells a variety of snacks, sunscreen, gifts, and resort-themed clothing. The same variety of paintings, sculptures, jewelry, and Mama Juana liquor bottles are sold at the stands set up along the beach and near the pool on the resort.

Above the lobby, a small tour center houses a cluster of tables and notebooks where salespeople pitch the various safaris and activities that guests can sign up for. None of these tours are included in the all-inclusive packages.

The casino and entertainment theater are conveniently located next to each other at the far side of the resort. I saw nary a soul gamble at the handful of slot machines and tables inside the casino. Likewise, the night entertainment was OK, but the audience seemed disinterested and tapered off as the show continued. A disco is also located on the second floor of the lobby building, but the nightlife there, too, was drowsy.

The sand provides hours of entertainment

While Bavaro does not have any specific kids' activities, parents I spoke with still liked it and recommended it. They noted the quiet and the fact that the in-room couches can double as beds. But for more kid-friendly features, check out the Majestic Elegance.

The pool areas are also enclosed so it's easy to keep an eye on the kids. The buffet offers basic, kid-friendly foods like sandwiches and french fries.

Just opened in late '08, the Grand Oasis still looks great -- clean rooms, pools, restaurants, beach, and grounds. And, if it were not for the one cockroach I saw in my room, I'd say it was super-clean. I found one reviewer on TripAdvisor who saw roaches too.

The Aqua restaurant

Grand Oasis Bavaro has just one restaurant, Aqua, a slightly upscale buffet with descent service. In addition, guests of Bavaro have access to the restaurants at the Grand Oasis Punta Cana.

Aqua is smaller than most all-inclusive buffets, but the food is generally a higher quality. During my stay, it was Caribbean barbecue night, at which they served seafood shish kebabs, cooked to order.

Windows Restaurant, the main buffet at Grand Oasis Punta Cana, serves a midsize selection of the same buffet food as most resorts. Though there are few cooks' stations, guests can prepare their plates to their own liking at extensive salad and sandwich bars. The fruit selection offers whole apples, pears, and bananas alongside the sliced tropical options. The fresh foods are a refreshing addition, but Grand Oasis isn't immune to the complaints made in most Dominican resorts: After a week or two, most guests long for the food back home.

There are three a la carte restaurants -- the American Grill serves Tex-Mex, De Mario's serves (you guessed it!) Italian, and Mare serves seafood near the beach. None of the restaurants requires reservations or enforces a strict dress code -- this makes for relaxed dining but can also mean a wait during prime dinner hour. There's also Akeru Japanese Lounge.

At lunchtime, there's also a smoothie stand and a fresh grill station set up on the beach for snacks and lunch in the sand.

Overall the food is better than the average D.R. hotel.

Bavaro has a pool bar that's open during the day and shuts down around 6 p.m. By this time, guests start making their way down to Aqua for dinner, or one of the numerous restaurants at Grand Oasis Punta Cana. The pool bar serves brand name liquor, Stolichnaya vodka and J&B scotch, along with the standard no-name Dominican swill.