Grand Oasis Bavaro Oct. 5th – Oct. 12th
We flew out of Toronto on Skyservice 757 in Row 21, lots of leg room. Uneventful relatively smooth flight arrived ahead of schedule time at 10:20 am, customs was very quick, luggage quick and onto bus to resort with Grande Presidente in hand within about 20 minutes of arrival, 15 minutes later we arrived at the resort.
Check in at the resort was very efficient, with welcome drink in hand, we were greeted by Guest Service Manager Jose Sanz, who registered us and then took us to our beautiful suite and within 15 minutes we were back at the lobby for the afternoon at the pool and beach. I previously emailed resort requesting a room with an ocean view on an upper floor. We got exactly what we requested and more, a beautiful 3rd floor Master Suite, with magnificently polished marble floors, king sized canopy bed, lovely sitting area, an in room Jacuzzi and a balcony Jacuzzi overlooking the ocean and beautiful beach. Quite a pleasant surprise for us. One word describes these accommodations “Magnificent”.
There are lots of lots of shelf space and hangers in closet with an electronic safe available at no charge. The bathroom toilet area was although small size but very adequate with its own privacy door and was flanked by a huge walk in shower with its own privacy glass door as well. The dressing area had two sinks and supplies of shower caps, sewing kit, face cloths, and lots of towels, body lotion, and body gels.
The balcony was a good size with two chairs and round table as well as rack for wet bathing suits, as well there was a very large 2 person Jacuzzi that overlooked the ocean,
Maid service was excellent—usually cleaned by noon. Each night we came back to find a turn down service has been provided and a fresh supply of towels.
Cameleon section rooms which we visited were nice clean and well decorated junior suites considerably smaller than our room, but would have been very acceptable, and there was a lazy river between the blocks for the guests to use and bar service provided direct to your lounger.
Resort is very nice, but needs to be maintained with a bit more TLC in the common area of the resort, but I was assured by Senor Sanz that this area will be renovated as soon as the new addition is opened and operational.
As far as layout the resort is very easy to get around. Grounds are lovely and have some beautiful foliage and plants with a family of egrets and flamingo’s wandering around their own ponds.
The beach was better than I anticipated as I had read there was a lot of seaweed in this location; I had been previously at the resort next door a few years back and had no sea grass problems.
Seaweed was raked up meticulously every morning but more small amounts flowed in as the day went on. This is a seasonal thing in the area of Cabeza de Toro. I had also read previously about all the boat traffic and fumes from the Club Nautica adjacent to this resort, this posed absolutely no problems at all during our stay.
There were plenty loungers available at the beach and the pool with adequate shade available. While the resort workers raked almost all the resort beach area daily the guests need to spend a little time thinking about all the debris (napkins, paper plates, cigarette butts etc.) they left around the loungers on the beach and at the pool. Would you through your garbage on your own backyard or patio area? I think not!
This is not a garbage disposal area; there were garbage receptacles available at many locations on the beach and around the pool. One thing that the resort could do is provide some plastic ashtrays throughout the resorts common area, this would definitely help alleviate some of the cigarette butts that people just crushed into the sand or left in a drink glass near the pools.
As I mentioned in my conversation with Senor Sanz, this becomes an unnecessary resort problem due to the lack of intelligence of some tourists, Senor Sanz agreed that an introductory letter in the registration envelope asking guest to treat the facilities as if it were part of their own home might help rectify this. He also was going recommend that a supply of proper plastic ashtrays be placed in the pool and beach area.
The main pool is a decent sized with lots of palapas and loungers. No problems with the towel game being played as there are plenty of loungers available; the pool was definitely in need of a refurbishment as there were lots of spots where the paint was gone from the bottom and near the sides also. The pool was a popular spot in the afternoon especially if any the sand started to blow on the beach but it was very hot and one had to avail themselves of the water frequently to stay cool. Temperatures for the week ranged between 30C and 32C.
There also was a pool available in the Cameleon Suite area with a lazy river running in between the blocks of rooms, these were in very good condition.
Food and service was excellent in all the a la carte restaurants.
We tried the Italian a la carte, the Seafood and Tex Mexican restaurants and enjoyed them all immensely. The wait staff was very attentive, courteous and polite; it is our opinion that these were the best a la carte restaurants that we have visited in our many visits to the Dominican Republic and rate close to any 5 star restaurants we have used.
The Windows buffet always had something to suit everyone’s palate but was consistently the same everyday. The air conditioning unit was not operational therefore the windows were opened to help with air flow but it was quite hot and did tend to attract some flies.
Entertainment in the evening didn’t really impress us it also started at 9:30 pm and I am an early riser and generally to bed quite early. Lobby bar (Umbrella) and court yard was the place to gather/hang in the evenings for a few evening cocktails under the stars.
Sports equipment was available for all ages at this resort, shuffleboard courts, bocce ball courts, volleyball, tennis, wind surf equipment, hobie cats, kayaks, sail boards, table tennis, pool tables, foos ball and even a ps2 station for the video addicts. In the afternoons the animation team led the games at the beach and around the pool everyday.
The resort while it is listed by most tour operators as a 4.5 star in my opinion doesn’t meet those standards, but was a solid 4.0 star that could be improved with the TLC that I mentioned previously.
We would return if the price was right, I am sure that once the addition is operational and renovation programs which some were in progress are completed this resort will live up to the standards
Hlywud/the Warden
Pictures can be seen here
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/348712/index.html
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