Ok, I was compelled to write this because I read one review of a woman complaining she saw an animal under a chair, and the power went out. I shall start from the top..

My and my partner went to GOM for 1 week. We are British, and usually go for city breaks. So this is not a normal holiday for us. Firstly, Thomas cook airlines are bad. Yes you now get more leg room as of 1st may 2008, but the hairs are a bit narrow. Many couples get sat with an aisle between them. The food on board is ok, but you get practically no free drinks.

POP airport is fine. Seems daft to pay $10 to one guy for a voucher for incoming tax, to hand it to another guy 5 yards away. Baggage collection was fast, and it seems clean.

The entrance to GOM is V open! Hardly any walls! But the staff are friendly and speak many languages, and they greet you with a non-alcoholic cocktail. We were assigned room 1302 with "sea view". Basically we could just see the sea through the palm trees! The room was away from construction and on the top (2nd) floor. The maid made towel animals for us a few nights, the aircon was welcome! And the TV has a good range of channels, even showing European football! Premiership, champions league, serie A, etc. ABC, ESPN, FOX, BBC world, not bad.

Mini bar is controlled by an EXTERNAL company. Hence it is not free. I know it seems daft in an all inclusive, but it’s not a problem. You get 2 bottles of pop, 2 bottles of beer, and a large bottle of water daily for free. If you don’t drink them remember to stick them in a drawer so you get a refill. This is great if you're out on an excursion all day as you don’t miss out on the free drinks!

Food was ok. Breakfast is served in the buffet. Loads of fruit, bread, cooked stuff. Bread pudding was nice, bacon is American style. The chef at the front of the buffet will serve you fresh juices or make smoothies. The chefs at the back will cook you an omelette or pancakes (yum!).

Lunch is at the buffet or mangoes. The buffet is standard really, nothing to complain about. There is ice cream to the right of the coffee machines. Mangoes just do burgers, hot dogs, chips, pizza until 4am.

Dinner is at the buffet is ok again. The chefs at the back will make you omelette, pasta bar where they cook the sauce for you, or carve the fresh meat. The Italian is nice, not as cold as people have suggested! Remember it’s the DR take on an Italian! So the food is ok/good, you get given an entree and wine. The Santa fe maxi can is brilliant! I had fajitas and the filling was amazing! I even asked for more to which I was told "no problem my man, in here, you are the boss". Brilliant!

In regards to animals on site remember you are on an island, and the resort is fairly open. We saw geckos by the pool hiding in the shade. Birds will fly into the buffet during the day. There are 2 peacocks that roam the grounds, and you may see ground rodents. It IS an island! It does not mean the resort is unclean!

The pool is good. Goes to a depth of about 5' 10". It is split into three, 1 for "swimming", 1 for water basketball and kids to swim in, and 1 for water volley ball. The entertainment crew does their best to keep people entertained, and a photographer will take pictures of you holding a parrot or some lizards. Be nice and get the pictures done, you don’t have to buy them. We saw some American youths being very impolite to him, and he's only doing his job. You will get approached by vacation club staff. Just firmly, but politely, say no. The towels are on loungers at 7am easily, so get there no later than 730 if you want shade!

The beach is clean and cleaned daily. Again, if you're not there by 710am all the shade will be gone. Whilst we were jet lagged and getting up at 7 (our body locks telling us it was midday!) I think it is sickening that other people stick towels down and go to bed. The beach does get few people selling on it, but the security guard does his best to make sure they don’t pester. It does get windier as the day goes on.

Construction isn’t a problem. Dominicans are so laid back they did practically no work whilst we were there! The nosiest is near the beach, but honestly the helicopters that fly above are much noisier!

The power WILL go down. It’s a third world country practically! It’s annoying that people were complaining about power loss for 30 mins, when the islanders in the hills only get 2 hours power a day. And GOM does have emergency lighting and generators. Our TV reception went on the last night. And was down in the morning still too. It was a little annoying as it was hammering with rain and the room can get boring then!

All in all, as long as you get the shade early, the experience was pleasant! If I graded the hotel on European standards it would probably be 3 stars. And compared with the best hotel I’ve been to (observatory in Sydney, aus) then it can’t hold a candle to it! But it has charm in its own being, is cleaned constantly, and the staff are friendly and helpful. Learning a bit of Spanish will do wonders, and we didn’t tip any bar staff, but still got HEAVILY alcoholic drinks! Bahama mama is great! rum infused, sweet tasting, easily drunk!

Seriously, if all you want to do is lie in the sun all day, read books, and eat/drink, then you won’t have complaints. Start comparing it on a European scale, and that’s when you'll see cracks! Just enjoy it! We did!

Drop me a PM if you have any questions!

The Grand Oasis was amazing! My friends and I aged 15-21 stayed there for a week in May 2008. The staff was always friendly, helpful and welcoming. The food was great especially at the Italian restaurant.
Let me say though, when it rains in Peurto Plata, it RAINS! The resort collected 3 or 4 inches over some of the pathways after it rained. But even after a mini hurricane-type storm, (at least it seamt so for us Canadians,) all of the water had dried up by the morning.
The staff keep the Oasis in tip top shape at all times. They painted the edges of the pool at night, mowed the lawns everyday and of course the maids did an awesome job in cleaning up our messes.
I would not recommend going to downtown Puerto Plata though, you will get hounded like you could not believe! I would much rather recommend to shop at the Blue or Orange market just down the beach. But always keep in mind that you can always bargain the prices down over 50%!
We're definetly going to go back! Amazing resort and totally worth the money.

OMG....its quite pathetic how bad some of these reviews are. Me and my family stopped in the resort recently...and absolutly loved it!!

Some people just can't be pleased...the entertainment staff are brilliant...they work so hard and i can say our stay wouldn't be the same without them. They do try and get people to participate...but once they no you dont want to will not persist as someone had previously stated... and as for dragging you our of your sun bed...thats just not true. They put on a fab show everynight...and yes occasionally they mite not be as great as the last...but these people work none stop...and some go to uni on their days off and learn a language when they get home at night....so who could blame them!

The food was always good...tex mex was our favourite!! Great steak if you look carefully at the menu.

Pool was great, didnt really go to the beach because the entertainment was at the pool.

And the chocolate dance song is brilliant...i can guarentee you will be singing it after a few drinks and be lovng it!!

PLease dont hesitate to go to this hotel i guarentee if you are not a whingy person who hates fun, you will really enjoy it!!

Stayed at the Grand Oasis from April 16th-23rd. This resort was abseloutly amazing in everyway possible. Despite alot of negative reviews on construction it did not affect or bother me one bit during my stay , you can barely notice it.

Rooms: we stayed on the 3rd floor in building 3 , we had no trouble except getting over the stairs after a long night haha , the air conditioning worked perfect , maid kept the room very clean everyday , there is a miny bar in the room .. you are aloud 2 coke and 2 beer , everything else will be charged to your room .. even the water , we made that mistake so be very carefull with that . The beds were very comfy and we had a beautiful view from our balcony.

Resort Grounds: very well kept up , there was a small amount of construction around the grounds with things being dugg up but it didnt bother us at all. The pool area is huge with different sections to swim in , the daily pool games/ areobics are in a different section if you dont want to participate. The Beach was beautiful ... never had a problem with seaweed always well kept.

Food: The main buffet had a good breakfest , but I found it served the same food everyday pretty much for lunch and supper the entire week , so if you dont like the food then you are pretty limited ... although Mangos ( which is the snackbar ) is always open and serves hotdogs , hamburgers , nachos , fries , pizza ect.... we ate here the most , and it is open late in the am which is always a plus. There are 3 a la carte resturants ... Mexican , Italian & Creperie ... all 3 had amazing food and great service.

Staff: everyone on the resort were very friendly and helpful , check-in was a breeze and we were taken to our rooms right away , aswell as checkout. The front desk people are willing to help you with any problems. The anamation team were great , definitly meet Cheeky Monkey , Shaggy and Coffee ... they were so much funn and will take you out at night to local discos if you want to go , the cab ride to the playa dorada complex is only 7$ , go to cocobongo ... its the place to be !!

Overall everything about this resort was great , I have abseloutly no complanits only that the buffet selection could be better with more variety each day , other then that it was perfect!!!!!
wishing I could be back right now laying in the sunn :(