Grand Paradise Playa Dorada Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Large, calm beach

Grand Paradise Playa Dorada was renovated in fall 2008, but the ghosts of a scruffy beachfront motel still seem to linger. With a sea-green and lavender color scheme, the soaring, fluorescent-lit lobby reminded me of a 1980s shopping mall (especially with elevator music blaring through the speakers and a large fountain gushing in the background). It feels like a budget all-inclusive that, weirdly, has modern rooms. Not that I'm complaining -- I'll gladly take a clean, comfortable bed and a flat-screen TV over a flashy lobby.

Like at virtually every all-inclusive resort on the north coast, the majority of guests are Canadian. I met an older gentleman from northern Ontario traveling on his own, a man from British Columbia traveling with his grown son, and two teenage girls from the Toronto area on school vacation with their parents. The crowd seems to skew older compared with other resorts -- the evening entertainment during my stay was a jazz band that encouraged dancing -- but I also encountered 20-somethings and a fair number of kids playing foosball in the game room.

Virtually everyone I spoke to was quite pleased with Grand Paradise, particularly the large beach, the food, and the entertainment. When I visited, the atmosphere was much quieter than at some other resorts. But after the casino reopened, even non-guests come to the property.

Fun bartenders at Sinners Bar

When I arrived at the resort, I checked in with ease. But I needed to wait for the bellhop to return from helping another guest before I could go to my room. This became a pattern at the resort. Since it was closed for renovations during most of 2008, the fresh staff is still adjusting and growing while the renovations continue. Throughout my stay, there was never more than one bellhop in the lobby. Though the men were exceedingly friendly and helpful, they always needed to be in multiple places at once -- helping guests with bags one minute, passing out welcome drinks the next. (I never did receive mine, sigh …)

Likewise, the keycard to my room didn't actually work. While I stood jiggling the card in my door, a couple staying in the next room spotted me. "Oh, it took us all day to get our key programmed," the woman said with pity. "Everyone has problems." Getting the issues resolved took 45 minutes, and I held my breath each time I inserted the card into the slot for the rest of my stay.

All things considered, though, the staff is pleasant and helpful. Service at the buffet restaurant is prompt and doesn't feel sparse. Ditto for the bartenders. Alan, the bartender, might be the resort’s most famous feature. Every guest I spoke with and nearly every review on TripAdvisor raves about his showmanship. "Tom Cruise in 'Cocktail' has nothing on this guy," one guest assured me. I'm a little unclear as to why a super-talented barman would choose to sling generic cocktails at a budget all-inclusive, but he reportedly does just fine in tips.

View on a Larger Map

The Grand Paradise is inside the gated Playa Dorada complex. Playa Dorada (“golden beach”) is about 15 minutes west of the Puerto Plata Airport. Pre-set cab fares to various hotels within the complex range from $30 to $35.

Playa Dorada is a gated complex of 15 hotels, a golf course, a convention center, two casinos, and a shopping mall located just east of downtown Puerto Plata. The neatly manicured mini-city has horse-drawn carriages that promenade up and down the main street at all hours. It’s extremely safe and walkable, even at night -- it feels like a gated golf community in the United States. The hotels in the complex range from Casa Colonial at the luxury end to a plethora of budget all-inclusives and time-shares geared toward families and young partiers, like Viva Wyndham and, at the bottom of the list, the Celuisma Tropical. In the center of the complex is Playa Dorada Plaza, a two-story open-air shopping center that caters heavily to tourists with souvenir stalls, sundry and tobacco shops, a playground, and a couple of liquor stores. There are also a few ATMs and banks, as well as restaurants and bars including Hemingway’s, Senor Rock’s, Coco Bongo, and even a Pizza Hut.

Stunning beach view of Mount Isabel de Torres

Grand Paradise sits between the Gran Ventana resort and an empty plot of land. Because of this, it has a larger, more open beachfront than any other resort in Playa Dorada. It also offers stunning views of Mount Isabel de Torres and downtown Puerto Plata, both during the day and at night.

A conveniently located water-sports shack offers a good selection of boogie boards, kayaks, and snorkel gear in addition to windsurfing boards and Sunfish sailboats. All are available to guests, free of charge.

Clean, bright, and modern bathroom

The rooms faintly resemble an Ikea showroom. They even smell like an Ikea! After being closed for renovations from May to October of 2008, the remodeled rooms are a huge improvement from the string of worn-out, musty resorts at nearly every other all-inclusive resort in the D.R. From the platform bed to the cubed (but flimsy) nightstands to the off-brand flat-screen TV, the rooms are shockingly modern.

But my room also felt unfinished. The expansive white walls were completely bare, the closet had no doors, and (worst of all) there was a hole in the wall where the phone jack should have been. (Naturally, there was no phone hooked up.) Like most guests, I also had issues getting into my room. My power also went off twice -- for two minutes each time -- in the middle of the day.

The bed was wonderfully soft, and the sheets smelled fresh and clean.

The bathroom was equally clean, bright, and modern. It came stocked with a nice selection of toiletries, although there was no blowdryer. A bellhop told me he would have brought me one if I'd asked the front desk, but since I had no phone, I was too lazy to go all the way down to ask. My favorite bathroom feature was the large tub, which had ample space for storage or seating at its rear. I had no problems with hot water or water pressure, though a number of guests on TripAdvisor complain about a lack of hot water. Apparently plumbing problems were attributed to the city rather than the resort, but they were major inconveniences nonetheless.

Most rooms come with a balcony, which includes two chairs and a table made from a plastic-wicker material. The clean marble floor matches the bedrooms, and the railings are made of a modern glass. In my room, the balcony looked out over the gabled roofs of the lobby and further on to the parking lot. The resort also has so-called “attic rooms,” which apparently offer more space but don't have balconies. The oceanview suites, naturally, have great views of the water.

Outside the room, there was a roof leak in the hallway. I could have easily slipped on the puddle at night, but housekeeping never bothered to clean it up.

Pool's huge swim-up bar

The main pool is nothing special. It has a swim-up bar and a separate Jacuzzi, but it’s far less flashy than the massive pools at the nearby Iberostar or Gran Oasis Marien resorts. There’s also a children's pool that’s decently sized but quiet.

I was impressed that the pool area never felt crowded. Plenty of lounge chairs were available throughout the day, though competition was clearly intense for the few modern pod-chairs scattered in the shade.

The central building, which houses the game room, disco, indoor stage, and Italian restaurant, also houses a gym. The main building once housed the casino, but in order to curtail the flow of non-guests around the property, a new casino was constructed near the entrance.

The open-air game room, which includes two pool tables, two foosball tables, and a Ping-Pong table, was always buzzing with guests. There's also a bar area, conveniently across the hall from the disco. The resort also has a tennis court.

Like all the other nearby resorts, Grand Paradise affords easy access to the Playa Dorada golf course.

The Kids' Club

Like many resorts, Grand Paradise had a colorful, gated kids' club area. It includes a PlayStation 3, more foosball tables, and a flat-screen TV for watching DVDs. There’s also a decent-size children's pool. It's a fun resort for kids.

By the beach there's a basketball court, shuffleboard, mini-golf, and a horseshoe pit. Board games are adjacent to the swimming pool and buffet restaurant. I was impressed with the rainy-day selection -- Battleship, Scrabble, Monopoly, and Connect Four.

When I arrived, an activities staffer greeted me while he was picking up Reebok steps from a just-completed aerobics class near the pool. The staff members, clad in orange polos and name tags, mingle with guests at the bar, at the pool, and during the entertainment. Some nights they put on shows, but mostly they work to get guests up and dancing.

Spotless room

The rooms at Grand Paradise are quite clean. During my stay, the recently renovated hotel had the hotel equivalent of a new-car smell. But after reading so many rants from prior years on TripAdvisor and dealing with uninterested housekeepers myself, I could easily see this place falling into disrepair by 2010.

Then again, I have no problems with the grounds or any other area of the resort. In fact, the beach is spotless. When I went out for an early-morning walk, a groundskeeper had just finished raking the entire thing. I noticed that staff members are quick to switch ashtrays and the common areas are kept clean. (There is also a separate smoking area to keep the smoky smell in check -- a rarity in the D.R.)

I never spotted this problem, but multiple TripAdvisor reviewers complain about bartenders not washing cups properly. Bookitbaby14 wrote: "I would recommend bringing your own cup (or do not watch them 'washing' the cups). Basically they dump out the leftovers from the used glass, run it under cold water for a second, and place it back on the bar for the next use. If they ever get a stomach bug going around this resort, it will spread like wildfire because you are basically sharing glasses with everyone."

Great quality, variety at the Hibiscus Buffet

The Hibiscus Buffet is impressive. When I visited for dinner, a chef was cooking rib-eye steaks to order, and both the salad bar and meats looked fresh and surprisingly appetizing. There was also an attractive cheese plate set up in the middle of the room. I found myself going up for seconds to pair it with the doughy and delicious fresh-baked bread. During breakfast, I enjoyed the made-to-order omelets. The coffee service was prompt and attentive (this is rare in most all-inclusives). I happened to dine with a guest who tipped me off about the fresh pizza made at lunch at the beach bar. Sure enough, I was able to snack on a mushroom slice before departing that afternoon. The dessert selection included not only an ice-cream bar but also delicious pastries like churros and chocolate kisses.

For dinner, a la carte restaurant reservations need to be made between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. There are two options: Michelangelo, an Italian restaurant in the basement of the disco building, and Eden's Grill, set much more appealingly along the water. Menus for both restaurants are fairly standard -- pasta at the former, grilled meats and seafood at the latter. The guests I talked to had no complaints about the restaurants, but all were big fans of the buffet.

The resort also offers a midnight snack until 1 a.m., a feature missing from many all-inclusives.

Generic Liquor

A step beneath the cheapest all-inclusives, even the rum at this resort is the generic, "Classic" brand. I was kind of floored since the national brand, Brugal, is offered pretty much everywhere. Fortunately there is plenty of Presidente beer flowing. At one point, a bartender pulled out a special bottle of mama juana from below the bar to offer me a shot.

Again, the resort's most popular feature is the star bartender, Alan. His acrobatics and bottle juggling offset any low-grade liquor headaches.