Grand Sunset Princess

If you are looking for a resort the Grand Sunset Princess is not the place for you. I don’t understand how anyone can give this place anything but a 1 or 2 stars and that’s only because we enjoyed the food there in each of the restaurants that we had tried which was the steakhouse, the Asian, the Mexican, the hibachi, and seafood. The customer service in this place I would give a –10 stars. To begin with the day we get there we got upgraded to their platinum service and got taken down to the lobby for the platinum rooms. The girl at the desk (which she’s lucky that I didn’t get her name because I would post it on here along with everything else) told me that our room wouldn’t be ready until 3 pm. Ok so my husband and I went walking around checking out the resort seeing what there was to see. On our way out we saw that they were cleaning our room 5033 and we were like cool we probably will get our room earlier than 3. We went about our way. Mind you this was at like 1030 am. A couple hours later we went back by the room and everything was shut up so we figured it was done so I went back to the lady at the desk and asked if our room was done. The girl was like I told you it won’t be done until 3pm. I told her that we were going by the room and it was being cleaned so we thought maybe it was done early could you check. She looked for a few minutes and then goes like I said it won’t be done until 3. When we finally got into our room I couldn’t believe I upgraded to this room. To start after everything they made me wait for my room saying it wasn’t ready and then there were no pillow cases on the pillows. The wallboard behind the bed was rusty where the buttons had fallen off. There were splotches like it had things that got spilled on the nightstand and left there so it ate away at the backboard of the bed. There were splotches everywhere like the headboard was never wiped down. The shower door wouldn’t shut. The toilet I had to constantly fix it because either it wouldn’t stop running, or wouldn’t flush right. The AC unit never worked the whole time I was there. Their thermostat would sit at 18 degrees Celsius which is 64 degrees Fahrenheit and there is no way my room was 64 degrees. In 90% humidity you would like to get some rest in your room from the heat and I never got any relief. My sister in law’s room was so cool and that’s how I wanted my room. So I tell someone this and they check her room and after that her room was never cool again either. What a joke! My comforter had a red splotch on it like blood. Next I went with my sister in law to make reservations for dinner at their restaurants and I get attitude from the concierge girl. I guess when you get platinum you automatically get 2 dinner reservations for 2 restaurants but I never got that. I told the girl that and she was like you got it it’s in your room you have to find it and return those to me. I insisted that I didn’t have anything and she was like you have it you need to find it. Really??? It seemed to me like she was calling me a liar and over reservation tickets? Really? Couldn’t she be like it’s ok no worries we’ll take care of it. That’s what customer service is right? Why? Why? Does it have to be like that? This is what I paid extra for? To be treated like a liar? Now onto the pool area. The pool water was warm like bath water. Not refreshing what so ever. It’s so hot there and we would like to get into a refreshing pool to cool down. Yeah not so much. Then on top of that the pool has tile missing all over the place so you stub your feet everywhere you walk. Then one day we went to the pool and there was no bartender. At 1030 in the morning there was no bartender and the waitresses were trying to make drinks and didn’t know what they were doing. Don’t judge yes we were looking for a bartender at 1030 we are on vacation. They ran out of plastic cups so we had drinks in the pool in paper coffee cups. The tram service is a joke. One train T-​3 needs to be retired, we can walk faster than that thing moves. I paid for platinum which puts you at the other end of the property which where they are to have a tram or carts that take you back and forth. That’s a joke. I waited 35 min for a tram to come back and forth to get a ride to the other end of the property. One morning there were about 20 of us waiting for a cart to take us to the other end and one cart came that holds 6 people. Really??? So we ask is this the only cart to take us up front and he laughs and said for right now and gets out of the cart and goes in the lobby. Really? In the case that is was the only one he should have been in a hurry to get the 6 down the other end and hurry back to get some more. Not only that the concierge should have seen how many people were waiting and got on the walkies and said we need a couple of more carts down here. This is what I paid extra for? At one point I got a manager (Oscar) and h

Just an awesome experience, great hotel, but the workers, are amazing friendly people, excellent service and, awesome food, I’ll recommend it 200%…there is always pro and cons, that we don’t like but, let’s see the good side and enjoy this place, do your reservations at the restaurants and they gonna treat u like VIP, if u like steaks I would recommend La Vaqueria, awesome Rib Eye, and if u r lucky maybe, Carlos and Danny are the waiters at your table, with a fantastic service and great Service Bars, there’s rooms with swimming pools as a patio, in case you got kids, cus I don’t, but in general Amazing hotel, and special thanks to the Lobby Sunset Bar Crew, Miguel Montejo, Luis Duendaño, Ricardo Richi, Yuliana Morales y Verónica Vero /​Tripad. You guys make feel like home and see u soon…

Totally disappointed. 2 nd day here. Room full of mosquitos. Sprayed twice still seeing them in the room. Ask for a cash deposit to get more comfortable pillows won’t take s credit card! After 3 rd if mosquitos spraying and discussions brought the pillows
Lunch at the buffets just not that good. Just slammed a mosquito on my bed! Resort is pretty but that’s not special enough. Bars have all different drinks can’t get same drinks at all bars. Beds not comfortable. Pillows flat and transportation in there recommended taxi buses air condition not working in way back from town. Ugh

The platinum experience.
Visited March 17 – 24
Very apprehensive prior to my visit but this is a nice hotel overall. We did book platinum based on reading many reviews on tripadvisor. We are in our early 30’s, no kids. Upon arrival they ushered everyone into a room to welcome you, surprisingly — not a timeshare pitch but rather a welcome «home» message.
They do tend to platinum guests first, we were called first and they gave us our bands and room number. Having visited all inclusive resorts before, we went to the platinum guest service rep and booked our a-​la carts. Note, there is a welcome dinner on Thursday evenings, if you get in on Thursday you will not know of it because your orientation is Friday morning. We booked an a la cart every night.
Our room and large and clean. The platinum rooms have two jet tubs, one on balcony one in bathroom. Our tub on the balcony did not work. Very disappointing as this was one primary reason we upgraded. They came twice during the week but they said there was no issue and stated it did work. Our air condition in the room also broke mid way through but they fixed it the same day.
The platinum upgrade gives you access to two private pools which are very quiet although small. They are not big enough to lounge all day. You also get their «exclusive» towels which means you don’t have to wait in the chaotic towel line. You also gets pillow menu. However, the first day I tried to order pillows and the concierge stated he needed a $ 20 per pillow deposit. I came back later as I had no cash and the new concierge stated it was $ 10 to get the pillow. I asked if I could get a receipt and he said no. I decided not to get a pillow. We were also told we would get wifi but the wifi does not work unless you pay $ 60/​week. Very disappointed with the lack of wifi, they said to us that too many people were connected to it making it slow. Well, get a stronger wifi network. It’s frustrating that when you identified an issue they has a reason, well; guests don’t want a reason they want it fixed!
The buffets are ok. Not my style, a lot of people enjoyed it. I did not see a change of food but maybe I was going to the wrong buffet but it seemed very repetitive at breakfast and lunch. Tip to the hotel, hash browns should not be hard and dry and no one wants to eat a plain fried tortilla shells or nachos at breakfast!!! The breakfast and lunch buffet left something to be desired. There is a fresh omelette bar and fruit which is what I had for breakfast. There is cereal and yogurt as well but my preference had me stay away from dairy down south. Perhaps my personal issue was the salt used in the food. For example, at lunch they had steak but they salted it, why? Also, wished there was more seafood options. I guess the food and beverage manager is cutting costs.
The pools are great, There are four large pools and the beach. The main pool has daily activities. The secondary pool to the right of the main pool is definitely cooler than the main pool however one of the workers said it was leaking and they are constantly replacing the water. The towel seat saving game is very active here but if you are not concerned about getting a cabana, there should be no issues.
The night shows were just dancing in an enclosed theatre with AC, but with a couple drinks they were very entertaining and cheese factor galore.
The a la carts had the best food. We enjoyed the Italian, and the Asian ones the best. Our least favourite was the seafood, we were there 2.5 hrs, there was no AC and the waiter never refilled our water. We ended up just walking out. However, we met people who thought it was the best one on the resort. They also have a band that plays nightly and a disco on site that plays top 40’s music.
Yes the resort is big and you will walk lots, but it should not be an issue. Just an idea of the walking, in one day my iPhone counted over 50 000 steps. But for us, it was never an issue. There is a shuttle that goes from each platinum building to the lobby, so if you had a room that faced the pools there’s a strong chance you would not know there was a shuttle service because you never see them.
Overall, this is a beautiful resort, in its prime I am sure this was a five star but currently I will say it is a four star soon to fall into a three star ranking. The things they promote for platinum are not the reasons why we liked the upgrade as we did not get to use the jet tub on the balcony nor get the wifi. I personally would promote the premium towels, unlimited a la carts and room service more so as a reason to get platinum. What happened to nightly turndown service?
It was a great time, we met some awesome people but I won’t go back to this resort based on the lack lustre food and the beach and paying for things in an «upgrade» we did not receive.
Note: platinum building 4000’s has construction next door. It is not loud as I read in reviews, however they do stand and look into your rooms lo

I just got back from 5 days/​4 nights (February 2016) at the Grand Sunset Princess and we had an amazing time! For a small fee, we upgraded to the platinum suite, which was located very close to the beach and pools. The upgrade included free wifi (otherwise $ 20-​$ 25/​day), premium liquor in the room, larger room, a couple free souvenirs in the room (beach bag and coasters), reserved area on the beach, etc. (see full listing on website) — well worth it to us! We also had access to the platinum lounge, which had a concierge to assist with questions and restaurant reservations. All, but one, of the individuals working the concierge desk were pleasant. We did encounter one male individual, never got his name, that had a negative attitude and appeared annoyed at some of our questions — we avoided him when we could, but all others were delightful.
We ate at La Hacienda (Mexican) and Mama Mia (Italian) in addition to the buffets. Buffets were okay, restaurants were good! The hotel staff made it seem difficult to change reservations, but we were able to get what we wanted each night. My advice would be to make reservations upon arrival, but we were able to make them day of with a little persistence!
For those wine drinkers — the only place we found to get a glass of wine was the lobby bar, buffets and restaurants charged for wine. (we didn’t drink much vino!)
We loved that they had multiple swim up bars and a variety of pool areas. We spent most of our time at the pool, but the beach set up reserved for platinum was nice and they had bottled water — drinks started later at the beach though ;)
We saw lots of wildlife — birds, monkeys, lizards, and others. We didn’t have any in our room, but people we went with came back to the hotel one night and they had a little lizard friend — they never did catch him! (And they checked, he didn’t come home with us!)
Resort is big, so be prepared to walk or wait for the shuttle (which runs every ¹⁵⁄₂₀ minutes)
Overall this resort was very good and I would recommend!
Note: Wifi outside of the platinum lounge was spotty, but we did have it in our rooms.

Read the reviews and was skeptical about staying here because of the off reviews. So here goes my review. A friend and myself celebrated our birthdays here. This was a month ago and I wish I could return right now!!!
We both booked Villas. And it was worth every penny. I found a good deal online and still cant believe I got all that I did for that rate.
Anyway, the villas include everything: 24 hour room service, top shelf bars, fully stocked bar in my room and they made sure i had soda and waters daily. Super nice almost outside but not outside shower, jacuzzi tub. Balcony and you can pick which restaurants you want to eat in if you don’t want room service or buffet meals.
The japanese steakhouse was kind of cheesy, food was so so. The brazillian steakhouse was really good, really good. The buffets were hit and miss, some things were good, i never had dinner in the buffet. so i guess if you stay and don’t get a chance to go to the restaurants then yes it would be a sucky trip.
The grilled chicken on room service was wonderful.
People making comments in reviews about the wait staff, well I will say this as a courtesy, no matter what you should ALWAYS tip. I saw alot of people waiting for drinks and it was because they didn’t even leave a buck! Its pesos. Our dollars go far in Mexico. If you can’t tip a worker 2 bucks for drinks, you should probably stay home. I was called by name on my 2^nd day in until I left and I literally may have spent 60 bucks tipping for a 4 day trip.
My service was excellent, from the greeting of the front desk with the champagne toast to my final day I fully enjoyed this place and I will be returning, but only if I can get another villa. lol

The place is decent.
I wouldn’t recommend it to a friend.
«Not all that shimmers is gold»
It’s pretty on the outside, but not too much substance when you get down to it.
We had a pretty and big room with 2 beds, nice sized balcony, nice view, but the beds were super uncomfortable and so were the pillows.
The fire alarm in the room blinks relentlessly and really bothered me and my friend at night.
The staff is super friendly.
The food is decent…
It is a buffet.
I don’t know any place with an outstanding buffet.
I wouldn’t stay there again,
But it was a nice experience while it lasted.

It’s just ok, Cuba is just as good if not better!
For the price you pay for this resort (double Cuba)
It’s not worth it!
Here in Mexico you might have 10−20% more variety but the Quality is definitely not better!
I’d rather pay half the price and get just a little less variety with the same quality.
Regular buffet with choices of meat, fish, chicken vegetables etc etc etc…
The Sunset buffet is beside the Riviera buffet with the same stuff.
The service is good and they really want to keep you happy.

I stayed at the resort for 5 days and 4 nights. I had a wonderful time. At check-​in, I was upgraded to a pool outside of your patio ground level room. This was great because the room (6000’s) was outside the main pool that has the entertainment (DJ and MC). The room was very nice and clean.
The resort is huge so it took a day or two to get used to where everything is located. The beach had a lot of seaweed so we spent most of our time at the pools.
The food at the buffet was great. There was plenty of fresh fruit for each meal and made to order omelets for breakfast. We enjoyed the dinner reservations. The Japanese dinner was good and entertaining, the steak dinner was nice with a very big steak, the Italian dinner was a little disappointing because the pizza tasted like one of those microwave Celeste pizza. The buffet pizza tasted the same as the gourmet dinner pizza at Mama Mia’s.
The alcohol tasted different there was Hennessey, Svedka, Absolut and Jack Daniels. I drank from sunup to sundown and never got wasted. Well, one day I switched to Tequilla shots only and was pretty twisted.
I enjoyed the trip to 5^th Avenue. I went at 9am and came back at 1pm. I wish I could have stayed longer. My suggestion is to go early in your trip, like the first morning, because you will want to make a 2^nd trip. One for shopping and one for just trying the food and walking around.
Jose and Andres at the main bar was great. I highly recommend them.
My suggestions: bring plenty of change to tip (we had all 20’s), bring your own bottle of alcohol for the room (the all inclusive drinks are watered down and heavy on the chaser, way too many calories), and bring a deck of cards for spades or board games for the 24 hour sports bar, wear the bug repellent Off when you go to sleep at night, I was attacked by mosquitoes and I was awakened by the buzzing sound in my ear all night.

We spend 2 wonderful weeks with all inclusive in this resort everything’s are good.
Rooms = top
Room cleaner = top
Food/​drinks = top
Employees = very friendly
Here is a vet good place to spend the best holiday times, we hope to come back again
Greetings from Germany

I had a bad experience with this hotel the minute that I arrived. To my surprise, the travel agent that we had booked our hotel stay with Exodo Travel in Lynwood, CA had booked my son as a 12 year old instead of 13 years old (at the time of our travel). Since, my son was now 13 years old I was informed that I would need to pay an additional $ 475.00, for the higher rate that the hotel has for travelers that are over 13 years old. I explained to Montserrat at the Check-​in desk at the hotel, that this must be some type of mistake, since all the birth dates were provided to the travel agent. Montserrat did not care to hear my explanation, her main concern was to get the additional money.
Exodo Travel booked the hotel through Apple Vacation, who happen to have a remote office in the hotel. I went to Apple Vacation to see if this all could be straighten out, but because we had arrived to the hotel on a Saturday, Exodo Travel could not be reached. Therefore I was forced to guarantee the payment to the hotel and leave a credit card on file. Montserrat was advised that the matter would have to be resolved until Monday.
On Monday, the travel agent was reached (Exodo Travel), to our surprise, she would not take responsibility for her mistake. Travel agent would contact Apple Vacation to try to see if there was anything else that they could do. She asked that one more day be allowed to get the matter resolved. Meanwhile Montserrat called and harassed me for two days for me to go and authorize the payment.
Finally, on Tuesday, I got fed up and went to the lobby of the hotel and asked to speak to the manager, I believe his name is Quatemoc. He was even more rude them Montserrat, I tried to explain to him the situation and told him, that I never, gave the hotel the impression that I would not pay the additional charges and that for a matter of fact, they already had my credit card on file. That I did not understand why Montserrat kept on calling and harassing me during my vacation, That they had ruined my vacation. He told me that Montserrat was calling me because of his orders and that the hotel should not have given me the keys to my rooms without the additional payment. He demanded that I make the payment immediately.
Since, Apple Vacation, had already mentioned to me that they would be able to get me a lower rate. I told the manager at the hotel that I would be making the additional payment, if needed, to Apple Vacation. He demanded that I walk with him to Apple Vacations remote office, which was located in the hotel, so that he could insure that I made the payment that instant. I refused to go with him, I told him that he was not going to escort me around the hotel as if I was a delinquent or a criminal. That I would go and pay the money that I did not need to be escorted.
I went directly to Apple Vacation to get the matter resolved. They informed that the travel agent had responded and that I would not have to pay any additional charges. I told them the harassment and embarrassment I felt with how the hotel staff made me feel. Apple Vacation kept on apologizing to me. They mentironed that they would be making a complaint against the hotel as well.
To my surprise when I arrived back to the U.S. I discovered that my sister who had made the initial reservation with the travel agent Exodo Travel, had paid the additional charges in the U.S. Exodo travel actually billed her an additional $ 515.00. My sister was told that the hotel was trying to collect over $ 1000.00 from me. Which was another lie.
This was suppose to be a stress free vacation, but unfortunately it was not.
I will never stay at this hotel again or at any facility affiliated with them!

Food — pretty bad and flavorless. When you think all inclusive it’s usually a good thing unless you’re coming here. They have about 7 restaurants, 5 of which require reservations (Mexican, steak house, Italian, Sushi, & a fake Beni Hanas) and 2 are buffets. The buffets were pretty bad and even the special restaurants were whatever tasting. For the special restaurants they give you a menu but have the option of only trying one item from each section, i.e. Appetizer, soup or salad, main course and desert. My friends would order different things so we could try everything but still not that great, however better than the buffet. By the end of trip I stopped eating there cause it was pointless and just snacked on fruit. (FYI– eating bananas attracts more mosquito bites so beware.)
Liquor — they have their own cocktail menu but you can always make your own drink. The alcohol is off brand, and they give you these tiny white cups. My friends and I always tipped but we still had to tell them to make the drinks stronger… so tipping was pointless. A lot of smart people brought their own cups from home and would tell them to fill it up so they didn’t have to make multiple trips to the bar. The gift shop sells plastic mugs but the small one started at $ 28. Shit is pricey.
Hotel — the hotel is pretty and has plenty of pools. The only positive thing. FYI if you want a covered chair by the pool then you need to get up around 7am and go throw a towel on it. They say you can’t reserve your chairs however everyone does this and the staff doesn’t stop them from doing it either. The room doesn’t have a mini bar but they stock the mini fridge with water bottles, 4 sodas, 2 beers and a club soda.
Staff — honestly if you don’t speak Spanish then you’re not going to get helped properly. Luckily two of my friends are fluent in Spanish and we had them asking all the questions. I tried speaking with the staff from time to time but they only understand the basics in English that pertain to the most asked questions. Not even the front desk was fluent in English. I asked if the hotel had a business center and the lady looked confused… so my friend had to translate for me. And they consider four computers in the sports bar area that cost $ 20/​hr a «business center».
Site seeing — they have a designated area where you can book excursions, but if you want to take a taxi into cancun then good luck. There were 5 of us and they were trying to charge us $ 130 one way. WTF!!! So instead we took a 10 min ride to Playa del Carmen for $ 50, where you can find some real tasting food. thank you baby Jesus. There’s little shops to buy souvenirs and even a small mall with stores like Forever 21, Bebe, the Body Shoppe, and other shit I don’t remember. The taxi ride back was only $ 40.go figure. When we got back we noticed that the hotel had brought vendors in to sell their merchandise (every Thursday the hotel does this). We noticed that a guy was trying to sell us a backpack for $ 60 and my friend had just bought it for $ 16 at Playa del Carmen.
Overall — I’d take my ass somewhere else.

Ok, so I have to be base this review for the food at the resort itself, breakfast buffet was not the great, pancakes and bacon looked funny… The lunch and dinner were average at best and the restaurants were okay. Maybe to some people they wld love it because it’s all inclusive but not for us… Even though we got all inclusive package it’s okay for the drinks especially, lucky for us we stayed in the Platinum suites, literally 5 minute walk to the beach, where you have a special area at the beach only for Platinum members!!! So my wife and I have no complaints as far as the hotel ammenities and service
Service and quality at Platinum were great, you have ur own Private pool and welcome to anything they have… A for the hotel but C for the food…

Well, this was our first visit to Cancun. It was a short trip, only 5 days but we definitely made the most of it. This resort looked great online, and it was kid friendly, so we booked the all inclusive package through
.
It was our first all inclusive trip and I must say, that’s the way to go. However, I would definitely pick a different resort next time. The landscaping, architecture and décor were all very impressive. The design of the hotel was great. It’s a huge property but nothing is too far away to walk. There are plenty of pools and direct access to the beach. However, none of this is what I had a problem with.
To begin with, it was the food. It was bad. There were plenty of different types of restaurants to choose from, but the taste was lacking in every one we chose, especially the 2 buffet restaurants. Nothing was flavorful, it was all very bland and low quality. I felt like I was eating because I had to, not to enjoy it. Not to mention that you had to make reservations for dinner in person at the desk behind the lobby. They would not take reservations over the phone so you had to walk all the way there just to make a reservation that wasn’t even available! Although they had 5 restaurants to choose from, only 1 of them had an open spot. In addition, every time we walked in this area, or the lobby in general, we were HOUNDED by people trying to get us to sign up for a timeshare presentation. We had to avoid the area altogether after day 2. Then they kept calling our room to schedule a time. It was very intrusive and annoying.
They do not offer free WiFi, like I was told upon our arrival. You must purchase a $ 20 card for 24 hours of use, but then you can only use it in the lobby. Plus, one day, the housekeeper left our door open! Luckily my wife came back to grab something so I doubt it was open very long but anyone could’ve just come in and taken our stuff! To top it off, we found a dead cockroach in our room on the last day. So, as it turns out, the cons far outweighed the pros. We definitely won’t return here next time.

Mediocre food, nice but clueless staff, rude and uncaring management.
There are a BUNCH of resorts up and down beach so you can do much better.

Este hotel es uno de mis favoritos de la Riviera Maya, un complejo muy completo, pensado para familias y parejas, cuenta con 3 secciones, una totalmente para adultos y las otras 2 para familias.
El hotel a pesar de ser de los más grandes en Riviera es uno de los hoteles con mejores tarifas, instalaciones, más visitados y disfrutados. Me encanta porque todo el corredor desde el cualquier lobby a la playa tiene decoraciones muy al estilo maya. Sus instalaciones son mexicanas modernas, tiene un buffet esplendido encuentras de todo fruta, quesos, panes, yogurt, huevitos, tocino para el desayuno y para la comida carnes que las preparan a tu gusto y algún menú del día y por la noche abren los restaurantes temáticos mexicano, japonés, fusión Italiana & Francesa, es obvio que no te podrás aburrir.
Cuentan con sin número de locaciones para bodas, imagínate que planees tu boda en un sitio tan paradisiaco como este definitivamente es una excelente opción para visitar, a mí en lo personal me encanta ir de pase día aún no he tenido la oportunidad de hospedarme pero desde la entrada ves el buen servicio a todos los clientes.

The pools were clean and the landscaping superb. The food was allinclusive resort quality 3 star. This property is not what the brochure says it is. We visited in October and several restaurants and bars were closed. Difficult to get reservations at specialty resturants even though there was space due to the fact that the property is purposely understaffed during this time of the year.
Check in process half an hour 2 agents 100 guests checking in. Luggage delivery from checkin at 10pm after three calls to «Service line» recieved luggage in room at 3.30am. Great start.
Room was Junior Suite, had to call 4 times during our week stay due to toilet defective. Lights on sconces on walls did not work or were intermittent/​Maid service good.
Expansive property lots of walking.
Bars were short staffed when at peak hours. Management here doesnt care about customer satisfaction or they are just not competent and should be replaced. To operate at the staffing they had was explained by employees who kept telling us it was not high season.
If not high season do not charge full rates because you are not providing full service.
I guess we get spoiled at Starwood, Melia or other Mexican properties and have a higher level of expectation. Reported our frustrations to local Sunwing representatives along with others. Not good value for $.
Paid wifi slow and signal spotty in our area of the resort 7000 block.
Entertainment at night and during day around pools average to very good.
Did not attempt to upgrade to their Platinum level given this visit. Probbaly go back to more professional operators or Hard Rock next time
.

Wow. I am not sure where to start with my review, I want to keep it to the point as I could rant for an hour.
We flew from Calgary to Cancun for a wedding at this resort on Sept 26^th. (last week). We arrived at 2:45pm for the 4pm wedding via Taxi from Playa Del Carmen.
When we arrived at the gate, we were told by the security person that there were no weddings at the resort that day. We were told we were at the wrong resort! I had spoken with the bride two days before and had brought the printed invitation with me, so there could be no room for error.
The guard made 2 calls to the front desk, and was advised repeatedly there was no wedding. I then asked to speak with the front desk myself. I spoke on the phone with someone, spelled out my friends last name and was advised that yes, she was staying at the hotel. I stated that we needed a day pass for 3 people and needed to get to the wedding. I was told that I would be put through to her room — at this time it was 3:30pm — 30 minutes before the wedding — I stated there is NO way she would be there.
They looked at my invitation and told me there was no bicycle festival being held at the hotel — there was a bike built for two detail on the invitation. I had to spend time translating this to the front desk.
They asked me where I got the invitation. I said IN THE MAIL, IN CANADA. WHERE I FLEW FROM FOR THIS WEDDING.
The person ignored my urgency and put me through to the room where it rang off the hook. I hung up and had the security guard call back. The person on the phone said that there was no one staying there by the name I gave previously. They hung up on the guard.
I had the guard call back again and this time he was able to get room #9101. Thank god.
I asked for the phone again and was told that I could still not enter, I had no day pass. I asked to speak with the wedding planner. The wedding planner came on the line and said that I had to get the passes FROM THE BRIDE!!! I was so mad I started screaming at the guard to let us up.
He let us up in the cab. We were met by staff there that told us to wait in the giant line up of approx 25 people to get a pass. With no time to change and no pass, I said «screw this» and stormed down the stairs toward the beach — in my horrid street clothes with my partner and 7 year old in tow.
They sent security after us like criminals, making a scene in the giant lobby. We argued for 5 minutes or so and were then allowed to bypass the line up to get a wrist band.
They actually STILL made us pay $ 90 USD per person after all the stress and embarrassment. The head of the concierge would not provide me with any management information. He laughed at us to our faces when we said we would miss the wedding and told us to take the train there as it was a 15 – 20 minute walk to the beach.
They also let us know that the wrist band was set to expire at 6pm — 2 hours later!!! They made us leave ID at the counter for collateral.
I asked for the GM’s name, and the guy said «sorry he isn’t working now». I asked him if he was refusing to provide his name, he said «yes». I shook my head and I asked for the corporate head office number. He wrote it on the back of my wedding invitation. I will be calling as well as sending this review.
He then smirked and said it was our fault that we arrived at the hotel too late!!!
We rushed to a bathroom and slipped on our wedding clothes with 5 minutes to spare.
Someone took pity on us and gave us a ride to the wedding site.
… As a note for the wedding, they refused us coffee at the wedding dinner… we had to go get it ourselves from a reception in the lobby a 5 minute walk away.
We returned to the desk at 10pm to get our one piece of ID. Regardless of the fact that we told the person handling the transaction that we only had ONE piece of ID, he would not return it as he was adamant that we had left two. 5 minutes of arguing later, we received our ID.
We hopped a cab and headed out. We were then detained at the gate for 5 minutes because the SAME guard as at 2:45pm had no idea who we were or why we should be leaving the resort. I finally lashed out at him and he looked shocked that it was «me again»…we were allowed to leave.
There were 60 guests at the hotel for this wedding — I spoke with about 30 of them, who had NOTHING good to say about the hotel and the general theme being they’re severely disorganized. People were let into rooms that were occupied with NAKED guests in them.
Disgusting organization.
Stayed September 2014, travelled with family

I stayed at this hotel for a week around my birthday recently.
What I enjoyed about this place is the all inclusive element. It’s similar to a cruise in that you have access to restaurants and the food (and alcohol) is included. There were activities in the evening, such as shows and markets on the plaza. I just liked that I could sit anywhere, enjoy a beer or a cup of tea, and just enjoy the view. There were restaurants liked more than others, but overall found the food to be delicious and diverse. And plenty of alcohol!
It was a lovely hotel, if not huge. My mother has mobility issues and we were closer to the lobby so if we wanted to go to the beach we had to utilize the tram. The drivers were great, picking us up and dropping us off by our room.
Such friendly and accommodating staff. The room was lovely with the waterfall shower and balcony. I will say that the humidity was awful so everything felt damp in the room. We were in desperate need of a dehumidifier!
My wish upon landing was to have a drink in hand the moment I got to the hotel. I’m happy to report someone handed me a drink as soon as I stepped foot into the lobby. Points for that!
Overall, a nice experience at this hotel.

I had the absolute pleasure of staying here to attend my dear friend’s wedding.
The resort is huge. No, really HUGE, and they are still expanding it. It’s divided into two parts– Sunset and Rivera. I believe Rivera is Adults only.
We stayed in Sunset and our room was close to the beach and the Chill Out Lounge– which is an open/​semi outdoor restaurant and spa & where the wedding reception was held.
Rooms:
Our room was gorgeous and spacious. Large tub/​Jacuzzi in the bathroom and one outside on the deck. There was also a separate shower stall that had great water pressure and temperature, which in my opinion are very crucial when traveling. There was a seating area that had a love seat, two chairs and a coffee table. The television had limited channels, but who the heck watches TV when you’re in Mexico? Not I!
We ordered room service every night. They have a limited menu only consisting of club sandwiches, fries, nachos, hot dogs and hamburgers. Being a vegetarian I only ate the fries and nachos which were oh so good. The resort has the absolute best guacamole that I’ve ever tasted. Ummmm.
Dining:
There is a restaurant next to the platinum lounge that was delicious. It is an open buffet for breakfast and lunch, but requires reservations for dinner. There were plenty of vegetarian options here. I believe it’s called Las Olas. Other than here I only ate at the Sunset buffet (there’s also a Rivera buffet). It was somewhat average because I could only eat rice, spinach salad and fries. Everything else was meat. It looked good, but no point in throwing always 1.5 years for what looked like a deliciously, perfectly seasoned chicken breast right?
There were a plethora of restaurants, which all require reservations, a 24 hour sports bar, various snack stations, and lobby bars on both sides of the resort. I heard the steak house was one of the best restaurants on the resort.
Swimming:
So many pools. Adult only ones too. Swim up bars included at many of them. This is perfect because they don’t get too crowded like the Holiday Inn.
We only lounged for one day at the pool in the Platinum lobby. this pool is smaller, providing an intimate setting and includes lounge chair service. The pools are a fabulous place to drink, fall asleep, wake up and snack on chips and guacamole, drink some more, then pass out again.
Wedding ceremony:
Gorgeous! The wedding and cocktail hour was on the beach and the reception was in the Chill Out Lounge. At night the lounge was equipped with colorful lights which created a festive environment great for celebrating. Everything was absolutely gorgeous. I think destination weddings make everyone feel the love 10 times more because they’re intimate and you are able to celebrate a joyous occasion on beautiful beaches with white sand, clear blue water and all inclusive food and beverage.
Additional notes:
— The ride from the Cancun International Airport is about 30−40mins.
–It’s important to tip when you are being serviced at the resort. The employees are very pleasant and work really hard at accommodating all guests.
–Mosquitoes galore in our room. I woke up one day with about 6 bites. The last night was the worst. Ugh. Itchy itchy itchy.
— The power randomly kept shutting off in the middle of the night. Not a big deal, but it happened about 6 times between 1am-​5am on the last night… hmmm I wonder if the mosquitoes had anything to do with this.
Overall I would highly recommend staying here to anyone that wants a relaxing, beautiful experience or for anyone that is planning a destination wedding.

All in all this is a great vacation spot for couples, especially young couples. The sprawling compound boasts multiple pools, with at least 3 swim up pool bars from what I saw, a glassy green ocean and white sandy beaches that are well maintained, and a knowledgeable staff. The rooms come equipped with a balcony, small fridge that is re stocked every day, AC, a standing shower and toilet separates from the bathroom with fogged glass. Marble is abound and the resort grounds are well maintained. The apple tours may be a bit pricey, but trust me it’s worth it. This resort is an all inclusive– meaning that the low to mid shelf liquors and beer are free as well as the buffets and some of the restaurants if you can get a reservation on time.
The buffet downright sucks. There’s no doubt about it, but the restaurants make up for the lost ground. Everything in the gift shop is overpriced and cannot be talked down so plan on doing your shopping around 5^th Ave. the tipping is also a little out of control, be sure to bring lots of dollar bills (or 200 pesos) because a lot of the bartenders won’t make change in the hopes that you will just give them the larger tip. The nightlife gets a little dull at the resort but the wildlife during the day will definitely make up for it. And for some reason they have a large number of cats roaming the resort (I assume to take care of rodents). They are all very friendly and I had to convince myself several times not to take one home with me in my luggage.
If you are a couple looking to have a good time, a small friendly group of four, or looking to get married on the beach, this is the right place for you.