My husband and I and another couple stayed at the Paradisus from Feb.2-Feb.6. First let me say we had a wonderful time! Compared to other all inclusives, this property was by far the most beautiful! Grounds very lush, beach gorgeous,(strong waves=lovely beach sound), not good for snorkling, had no reef barriers.
The best tip I can give is simple. Ask for what you want and they will give it to you. The staff is professional and friendly. Most of the time we tipped $1 or $2, because they earned it!
We did not want to pay extra for Royal Service or the Reserve, so I requested a remodeled room near the beach. We got a updated room,near beach in building 32(next to our friends). Room had a beautiful gardenview and a lounging bed right outside our patio! Try to stay away from rooms in buildings 20-24, they are on a busy trolley street.
Housekeeping, hit and misses, had to ask for beer to be put in fridge, and they forgot to clean one day and did not leave me coffee packets! I am a very laid back person but this is the one thing I have to have! So I called right before we left for dinner and asked for extra coffee packets and they were in the room when we returned.
Food: overall good. You must make reservations at Sakura, great food and awesome entertainment. Shout out to Santiago, he not only prepared our food, he brought out his guitar and sang and we all ended up dancing.Best night!
Drinks: You must try the local drink mamajuana. Shout out to Juan the swimup bar guy, he makes the best dirty banana monkey drinks! Love him!
Overall, a great time. Just remember this is a spanish speaking country with many guests from all over the world. We partied with Russians, Germans, and locals and none of us spoke each others language, but that was the incrediblile thing, it didn't matter! It was hilarious!
Go and enjoy! We would stay here again. If you have any questions please ask!

-Food - not the best
-The rooms were nice
-Easy to travel around via go carts
- Overall I will give it a C+. I prefer Excellence punta Cana over this resort

My wife and I honeymooned at the Paradisus 11 years ago and loved it. For my 40th bday, my wife and 4 other couples (no kids) wend for 5 days. The location is gorgeous, the staff is fantastic, the food is great, and most of all, the staff (maria) was so accomadting and thoughtful in making the event perfect. With or without kids, my loyalty to this resort is sealed...just as magical as it was 11 years ago!

We are timeshare owners with the old Sol Melia Vacation Club and joined in 2002. I am speaking from a timeshare perspective first. We have always enjoyed our stay at the Paradisus Punta Cana, but sadly, this is the first year we were not so happy. We are always careful about the water there and use bottled exclusively, even to brush our teeth and make coffee. This time several of us, and there were 15 of us, had GI symptoms and some currently are still suffering from it, though not as much.
For us, it seemed Melia is focusing more on the newer timeshare program and disregarding their older members. We used to be able to go the Gabi, but that is now for the newer timeshare people. Our room had some maintenance issues that were not taken care of even though maintenance was called and/or looked at an issue. The alarm clocks always have to be reset because the power to th room is cut off when you leave and reopen the doors. The coffee pot cord could not reach the outlet to plug it in for use. So anytime you wanted to make coffee or look at the time, there had to be adjustments, either in moving items or resetting.
We used to get premium liquor, now we have to pay a surcharge, while the newer timeshare owners do not have to pay.
Half of our party went to the Palma Real halfway through the vacation because they were so disgusted. Service has definitely declined in some of the restaurants, though it depended who was working. We have all agreed that services have been taken away from older owners with no regard for the fact that we have contributed to what the Paradisus is today.

All the above aside, the resort has definitely grown larger and the grounds are immaculate. They could probably add some more transportation at night, but the shuttle was adequate and I did notice a increase in frequency around lunch and dinner times. They changed the restaurant times to 6:30pm instead of the 8pm opening time. No reservations are needed anymore except for Sakura, the Japanese restaurant. Almost all of them were able to accommodate any special requests for meals.
Dress code is broken down to 3 different categories: Resort Casual..can wear jeans and sandals; Resort Elegant, no sandals or jeans, long pants and shirts with collars, women- sundress or dress, sandals ok...the third I can't remember the name but it was just no jeans or sandals, but, long pants and short sleeve shirt okay.
I have given it a poor rating because it is colored with TS experience and GI symptoms.