We stayed at the Grand Oasis Marien from April 19th-26th, and my husband and I got married there on the 24th. We had a group of 15 adults and 4 children ages 2-5. We absolutely loved this resort and cannot understand all the bad reviews. Yes there was lots of construction going on but it was not noisy or bothersome and we stayed in building 4, which is next door to construction. The food is all excellent and I am a picky eater. The buffet wasn't huge but it was good, especially at breakfast time. The snack bar we loved!!! They always had french fries, pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and nachos with cheese. The Italian resaurant was excellent, have the cheesecakeand cappucino! We also really enjoyed the Tex Mex, I recommend the chimmichangas. We didn't try the french a la carte but a few others in our group did and enjoyed it. It rained 3 times during our trip but never for more then 30 minutes, then the sun would come out and it was hot again. It is true that the power goes out occaisonally, but who cares? We weren't spending the day in our rooms so it made no difference to us. If you really need an alarm clock that bad bring a 9 volt battery! Our wedding was absolutely wonderful, and the pictures are gorgeous! The staff are amazing and go out of their way to make the guests happy. The pool is great, especially if you have kids because it starts shallow and doesnt get too deep, and the beach was nice as well. The pool opens at 9 am, and the staff are out cleaning it before that, but they are finished early and you can sit by the pool anytime you want. The rooms are clean and well kept, as are the hotel grounds. We did the Ocean World excursion, I did the seal lion encounter and my husband did the shark encounter, both excellent. There is also a dolphin show and a snorkelling reef there, it is a great excursion. There is the Orange Market about a 15 minute walk down the beach to the right where they sell lots of souveniers, much cheaper then the gift shops. Barter with these people, they expect it! We did so and paid one third of what was initially asked of us. They are a bit pushy though so we didn't stay there long.
I cannot say enough great things about this resort and I hope to get back there in the future, especially once the construction is completed because it will be beautiful. If you are looking for great service and a nice relaxing vacation, this is the place to go!

After reading all the reviews I was wondering if I had stayed at the the same resort as everyone else who had provided glowing reviews. My two girlfriends and my arrival to the resort went fairly smoothly, checked in quickly and were promptly taken to our room with an ocean view. The view also included a view of the enormous construction next door and the guard who patroled the area with a rifle...We jumped in our suits and hit the beach which was beautiful. Next we checked out the pool, which was warm and very clean. What we failed to realize was how pushy the staff was. There is no relaxation at the pool, as the staff is either hustling you to play games (BINGO and shuffleboard) via microphone that is broadcasted through the entire resort, or physically yanking you out of your chair to participate. When the microphone is not blaring, the same three songs day in and out can be enjoyed. The issues with the staff continued throughout our stay. The inability to communicate in english is fairly discomforting as well as the loss of electricity daily. If the resort is conserving electricity, at least tell the guests so we can plan around the outage, instead of being caught in the shower with shampoo in your hair when the lights go out. As a vegetarian, there were zero options. If you are also a vegetarian, fill up on breakfast because lunch and dinner offer one option each, pasta or tomatos and cucumbers. Also, don't bother with the spa, it is currently under construction, along with the entire property. (As a New Yorker, I was looking to get a break from the sound of the pounding hammer). We went looking for a polish change and ended up with our feet on the woman's lap as she slapped polish over my whole toe, instead of just the nail...All in all you get what you pay for. Mediocre service at best with edible food to sustain you so you don't starve. The beach is nice, the rooms are clean and the pool is lovely, you can really find that anywehere...

We stayed at the Grand Oais for a week. It was beautiful. The grounds were well kept. The pool was very large, and there where several chairs. However, if you want a shady spot, you have to get out kinda earyl b/c they go fast. The thing that sucks is they don't start cleaning the pool area until after people are already out there. We would have to get up and move, and wait for them to clean our area. The room was nice, nothing out of the ordinary. The maid service was friendly and started out very good. We left a tip in the middle of the week, and it gradually got worse every day. We had some ants in our bathroom, nothing major, but still! They fumigated while we there, and they disappeared for a couple of days. Another downfall for me, was they allowed smoking pretty much everywhere. I hate the smell of smoke, especially since I am pregnant. Every time someone one would start smoking by the pool or at the beach, we would have to get up and go for a walk or something. In the mornings, I would sit out on the balcony and read a book, but after a little while, someone near by would start smoking so I would have to go back into the room. The service at the Mexican restaurant was terrible. You would have to wait forever before someone finally came and got you a drink, and took your order. The service at the Italian restaurant was outstanding, along with the food. There were alot of older people and families at this resort, however I was very surprised because it was pretty quiet and very relaxing.

The worst part overall was being bombarded every day by the Vacation Club sales people. The first day they approached us, they inquire about what we thought about the island, and hotel, and we thought they were just being nice and making sure we were having a good time. They then proceeded to ask if we got our free hat and t-shirt. When we responded "no," they took us over to this small building, and waisted about an hour of our time trying to get us to buy into their hotel. The worst part about it is, they tried to get us to open a credit card. On vacation, in another country? I don't think so. When we responded "no" they siad, "but it is the American way!" I couldn't believe he was telling me that. Unless you are actually thinking about buying into the resort, when asked if you got your free hat and t-shirt, just say, "yes." Oh, and they make you wear a bracelet, and if you are a member of the club, it is yellow, and if not, it is purple. That bracelet is how they know to talk to you. I finally took the bracelet off a couple of days before we left.

Lastly, I highly recommend that you don't book any excursions until you get there, because everything offered is only done once a week. We booked 2 things through Orbitz, one was a spa package, which ended up not being at the spa in our hotel, but one 30 miles away, so I couldn't go to that. The other was the Domican Alps, which ended up only being on Friday, which was the day we were leaving. After we got there we met with Judy, from Coco tours, and she was excellent. She is in the room where the computers are.

Overall all the island is beautiful! I had a very relaxing time, and my major complaints would be the smoking, and Vacation club people. I would recommend this if you have never been to the Domican before.

I booked the hotel in January, when it was #6 in Tripadvisor ratings. A week before we were leaving I checked the reviews again and was very disappointed to find it fall in the ranking. Still, I hoped for the best. We flew JetBlue and we booked private transfer and everything worked out great. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. We were given room on the second floor in the building close to constructions (and we requested a crib so they knew we had a small baby) and there are no elevators. We asked for another room on a first floor. Our request was granted but we had to wait for a day. We decided to walk around the hotel and hit the beach. The construction was everywhere: not only new buildings but also extensions to the buffet and snack bar. There also was some construction on pathways, which was particularly annoying since we had a stroller. Thankfully, the pathways were fixed in a couple of days. We went to get the towels - they told us they were out of towels (it was about 4 pm). This turned out to be typical. Next day we were moved to another room on the first floor. We had to wait for people to move from that room to the other room. Something must've been wrong with this room with suspected. Sure enough, it was. It was the first room in the hallway and you could here everybody passing and talking at any time of the day or night. The fan in the bathroom was not working, but we did not even bother. Over a week of our stay the electricity went out at least 4 times, sometimes for as long as half an hour. So don't bother setting alarm clocks - they'll be reset. A couple of days before the end of the stay the hot water stopped running. Again, we did not bother to complain, hoping it will come back. It never did.
On the plus side, the beach is nice, the pool is ok and the food in the buffet is pretty good.