After researching many hotels and reading many reviews, I decided to stay at the Grand Palladium and I could not have chosen a better hotel. Contrary to what others said, the hotel was amazing.

The restaurants were very nice, even the buffets. They did serve similar food each night, such as the pastas, but the did change the types of meat, due to what kind of night it was (Italian night, Mexican night, etc.). I am definitely a very picky eater and I was happy with the food. There was always something for everyone.

The pool area was nice, although I didn't spend much time there. Too hot; rather be at the beach. The beach was gorgeous and it was so comfortable. There are huts to sit under so if you need some shade, it is avaliable. Also, there is a great breeze on the beach, making it so nice to just lay and relax all day. There are many activities to do on the beach. Parasailing was fun, but I did not feel comfortable going into a boat with a stranger, driving to another boat, switching boats in the middle of the ocean, and after parasailing waiting for that same boat to return to bring you back. It was just a hassle and very awkward.

The disco at night is nice and fun, but they mainly play Spanish music; can't complain, you are in THEIR country. The sports bar is great because it offers food 24/7. The restaurants and buffets were on a schedule which was kind of annoying, but oh well. And there is no room service that delivers food, which was also another hassle. But it really is impossible for there to be room service since each building contained about 15 rooms.

The loft suite was very nice, the jetted tub was cleaned everyday, our waters were stocked everyday, as well as many towels. If you tip the housekeeper she will take care of you.

Very nice people but it definitely is hard to understand if you don't speak their language. Once again, you are in THEIR country, so you cannot complain. The majority of tourists there were from Europe (German) and from Spanish speaking countries. Almost no one spoke English. As for the staff, the reception, the waiters, and most of the staff do try to accomodate although there is a barrier with language. The souvenier shop salespeople and the supermarket workers spoke no English. Just a heads up for people who get angry at this.

All in all it was an amazing trip. The food was great, the beach was amazing, the room was spectacular, and the staff was very friendly and always helped us out. The only thing I disliked was the outsiders from the DR who came in to sell their things to us tourists. They basically harass you to buy their things, but that's anywhere.

everything was fine until we were told on our first day that all the pools close at 7pm. this is a very large property with numerous pools and its unbelieveable that they would close all the pools so early when the sun is still brightly shining. they actually called security on us because we just thought the bartenders were joking when they told us to get out so we swam away laughing. but they were really serious.....also, don't be too loud or you'll be told to be quiet. there were 6 of us there for 6 days and the last 2 days we all spent in the bathroom. the food is generally repeated throughout buffets but it's decent. the drinks all have banana which got boring. all in all the beach was the best part. would i stay here again? probably not unless they livened it up more. from the beginning of our stay it was apparent that we
were at an old folks home. boring vacation!

We spent a week at the Grand Palladium Palace May 24-31. We had ups and downs during our stay but mostly ups.
First the downs:
Check in was a breeze, we got one of the buildings we requested and were escorted to our room by a very friendly bell hop. Upon entry I found the room very hot. The bellman told me to just call the front desk and they will have the temperature lowered to make the room cooler. So we called and were told that someone would be up right away. We unpacked a bit and decided to go for a swim and figured someone would come up and change the temp. while we were gone. Three hours later we returned to our room and still no one came. Called front desk again and told someone will come soon but again two hours past and no one. We were getting ready for dinner and finally someone showed up. He went up the ladder removed a tile in the roof and tried to change the temperature but came back down and told us it is broken and that he would try and fix it. He told us to go for dinner and the problem would be fixed when we returned. My husband tipped him and thanked him.
We checked with the front desk after dinner and they said it had been fixed. However when we returned later to our room it was not fixed. There was warm air coming out of the vent. We decided to deal with it in the morning. When we approached the front desk the next morning after a very stuffy, warm night in our room about being moved to a new room they were not very helpful. They insisted that the problem had been fixed even though we invited them to come to our room and see for themselves. Anyway after sending two more maintenance guys to our room to try and fix the problem we think that maintenance finally told them it was not fixable and finally they changed our room. They realized their mistake and upgraded us to an oceanfront room which was very kind of them. As we were moving one of the maintenance guys showed up and ended up removing the whole air conditioning unit from the ceiling. I'm sure this is the reason for the upgrade as they realized we weren't lying about the AC not working.
Once this whole situation got sorted out the rest of the stay was only ups. Just disappointing that it took all of our second day before it got sorted out.
Ups
Our new room was great. AC worked fine and our room was very clean. The pillows were very uncomfortable and my husband had to fix the leaky showerhead but these are just minor details.
The resort is beautiful. The grounds are immaculate and clean.
The staff in general are all very nice. Our maid was wondeful did a great job in our room and always so friendly.
The same goes for the staff in the restaurants. Always smiling and very attentive. It was hit or miss with the bar staff but no big deal.
The restaurants:
We ate all our breakfasts at the Palace buffet. It was fine. Always a wide variety of food to choose from. Fresh juices which was a nice touch.
For lunch we ate at the buffet by the Palace pool and also at the buffet by the Punta Cana pool. They were both very good. A variety of food at each: made to order pasta, grilled burgers, chicken, pork chops, fries, pizza, different types of fish dishes, rice dishes etc...
There was always fresh fruit and ice cream machines.
For dinner we tried the Asian, Italian, Mexican and Steak/Seafood a la cartes. Our favourites were the italian and mexican. Our least favourite was the Steak/Seafood as the steaks were undercooked and very fatty. No big deal.
We also enjoyed the buffet at the Punta Cana section 'el behique' for dinner on two occassions as it seemed more relaxed, dimmer lighting and quieter than the other two. The food was also very good. Pastas, chicken, fresh vegetables, rice dishes, a variety of fish dishes, fresh fruit , desserts etc...The dinner food seemed the same at all the buffets for dinner as we walked through the others and nothing was different. We just liked the dining area the best IMO.
The beach was beautiful and yes my husband got up at 5:30 every morning to get us a Palapa. However he likes seeing the sunrise so he thinks that if you're out by 7am you should still find a spot as some mornings he was out till then and there were still spots.
We enjoyed the pool at the Palace and never ventured over to the others. The swim up bar was great and we enjoyed many different types of drinks. Only wished they had blender drinks also. Oh well.
The animation team works hard day and night to keep the guests happy. They deserve a lot of credit.
Would have been nice to see some activities for the kids at the Palace pool but only once did they do something.
The activity centre at the Punta Cana section was great. They have badminton, volleyball, tennis, paddle ball, mini putt, basketball, soccer field etc... . We enjoyed it a few times and there's even a refreshment centre for when you need to cool off.
This area was great for our kids and us too.
Overall our stay was a memorable one. We enjoyed the Palladium and would consider returning one day, as all the ups made up for the downs.
If you have any questions feel free to send me a PM and I'll try and answer.

The weather and views are amazing. We stayed at the Palladium Palace for two weeks from the 13th May 2008 - the food, waiters and bar staff were excellent, expect to tip. Off site was not a good experience as many people expect something from you and market traders were constanstly bombarding you. We lost our wedding ring and were quite sure it was amongst the towels taken away by the cleaner, the help and support from the senior management at the palladium was appalling and they would not allow us to put up anything on the notice board offering a reward and their opinion seemed to be that we could just claim for the ring off our insurance. I don't they could grasp the importance of losing the ring..
its not as if it was a camera and the ring cannot be replaced as it was bespoke. The rooms were not to a good standard, decor is dated, compared to the rest of the hotel.