You know the saying “I need a vacay from my vacay…” that was sort of how I felt last week after visiting the Dominican Republic. It was seriously the best 4 nights, and was much needed, but it did not entail as much R&R time as I would have liked. BUT all & all it was a fabulous trip & we made great memories that we will treasure forever.

A lot of people thought it was just me & Austin traveling together, but there was actually 10 of us. From my 93 year old great grandma to my 17 year old brother, we had the whole gang. I felt like I was in a living version of Home Alone going through the airport. LOL. Seriously we were probably on someone’s Instagram stories watching us frantically run through the DR airport trying to make our flight. HA.

Today I wanted to breakdown where we stayed and give you my honest review of the resort + the Dominican Republic.

We had the pleasure of staying at the Grand Sirenis for 4 nights, which ended up being the perfect amount of time. Heading into the vacation we were unsure of what to expect, as the reviews were all over the place, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised.

When you walk into the lobby you are greeted with seriously the most Instagram worthy decor. I am talking all the palm prints, cute light fixtures and even the most perfect green velvet couch! The decor was extremely up to date, as the resort had recently experienced major renovations. You can imagine the heaven I was in. LOL.

When we arrived to our rooms we were over the moon as they were extremely spacious and super clean! Let’s be real, it’s not often that you get a “living room” area + a bedroom. We also had the cutest balcony which overlooked the pool area. This was awesome for morning coffee!

Now let’s talk about something that was not ranked at the top of my list…. the food. I am not typically a negative Nancy on AMWG, but I want to be 110% honest with you, so hear me out. If you have traveled to other resorts, you probably know that the food typically tastes the same by day 3. And if you’re like me, you live off guac and ice cream the entire time. Unfortunately, this was our experience at the Grand Sirenis. It was not absolutely terrible, but let’s just say I couldn’t wait to get home to a Pizza Hut thin crust pizza & good glass of wine. LOL!

The restaurants pretty much had the same food as the buffet, except for the Mexican restaurant, which actually had a delicious steak. We ate their twice because the guys loved the T-Bones! We also frequented the cute ice cream shop at the front of the property, which had delicious soft serve ice cream. Other than that, the food was somewhat disappointing.

Let’s chat about the service. Management and the spa staff were fabulous, but unfortunately it was super hard to get someone to wait on us at the bars + the buffet. We did make friends with a server by the pool and I would recommend trying to find him if you can. His name was Antonio, he’s been there for over 10 years and he was seriously a gem! I always take a bunch of $1 bills to tip the staff, and it typically helps with the service during the stay, but at this resort it did not.

Things we did:

We were busy with excursions everyday, which we all looked back and said we would have cut one out, but they were fun and we made great memories!

Day 1: Tubing behind the boat (my brothers idea and we were all so sore the next day LOL). It was worth $20 a person.

Day 2 Morning: Combo massage at the Grand Sirenis spa. My step mom and I had a spa morning and we walked out saying it was the best massage we ever had! Seriously beyond relaxing and lasted forever!!

Day 2 Afternoon: Scuba diving off a glass bottom boat. This was extremely fun! It was an all day event from 12p-5p, but we got to ride a boat in the ocean, snorkel with stingrays and sharks + stopped at a party cove!

Day 3: Dune buggies through a small DR town. This was fun, but was probably the one thing we would have cut out if we relived our trip.

All in all, our vacation was great and I would recommend the Grand Sirenis & the Dominican Republic, but just take into consideration the things I mentioned. The beach and pool were great and that was really the main reason we were there anyways 😉

Happy end of summer! I don’t know about you, but I am beyond ready for fall!

All of my outfits are linked below.