Hi!
I just returned from vacation with family & friends in the Mayan Riviera. My review is broken down into different categories to help readers get a feel for the overall experience, while avoiding too much redundancy with the thousands of reviews on Trip Advisor and other sites.
First, I want to say up front that we had a wonderful vacation full of memories that will last a lifetime. However, there were a number of issues on this trip that made it less than perfect, so I’ll be giving an honest evaluation of both the positives and negatives as we experienced them.
Trip Details
- December 3-10, 2010
- Transat Holidays Package with Royal Golden and Option Plus upgrades
- Roundtrip Vancouver to the Gran Bahia Principe Akumal resort, about 20 minutes south of Playa Del Carmen
- Overnights in Vancouver on both ends at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel
- Connecting flights from Kelowna (YLW) via WestJet
- 10 travelers, 2 families: 4 adults, 6 kids aged 7-17.
- 3 rooms (2 triples & 1 quad)
- I chose this timeframe as I expected it to be a good time to go weather-wise and still beat the high season crowds. It turned out to be a good choice.
- I chose an all-inclusive because I’ve never been to one and wanted to get a feel for the experience (also, a number of people in our group really pushed for it).
- I chose this resort after an exhaustive study of the various all-inclusives available through major tour providers. Gran Bahia Principe is highly reputable and well-reviewed.
- I chose Transat Holidays primarily because they are the only major tour operator that offers the Akumal section of the resort, which is considered to be the best of the three and features the Royal Golden ‘best of the best’ section.
To & From the Resort
Insurance:
Before out trip, we purchased TravelGuard’s Gold Deluxe All-Inclusive insurance – quick and easy peace of mind for the whole trip. Don’t leave home without insurance!
WestJet:
Our trip started at the Kelowna Airport (YLW) the day before our flight to Cancun. We purchased a flight on WestJet and paid the extra $3 per person for seat selection so our group could sit together near the front. Well worth it!
Fairmont Vancouver Airport:
Upon arrival in Vancouver (YVR), we collected our luggage and walked right over to the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel. Extremely convenient! As a Fairmont ‘Famous Agent’ with an IATA card, I was able to get our room for free (one per year) and on the return trip I only had to pay $69. Fairmont Hotels are fantastic (some examples: Chateau Lake Louise, The Empress in Victoria, New York’s Plaza, London’s Savoy) and if you are not set up with them/selling them, I highly recommend it. They even had complementary ‘welcome back’ canapés and drinks for us when we returned from our trip. The suite was outstanding, with plenty of room for five (2 queens and a rollaway). We had a great view of the airport and spent some time watching all the planes coming and going from our 10th floor vista. The lounge at the Fairmont was also spectacular with great food & wine (albeit rather pricey).
Transat Holidays / Air Transat:
When I booked our holiday through Air Transat in September, I was able to take advantage of their early booking promotions including guaranteed lowest prices, unlimited golf and a free upgrade to ‘Option Plus.’
‘Option Plus’ is a program on the flights down & back that provides amenities such as seat selection, extra baggage allowance (30kg/66lbs instead of 20kg/44lbs), priority check-in/baggage/boarding, champagne, drinks, headsets, snacks and a comfort kit (blanket, pillow, etc.). Normally this is about a $75pp add-on.
At check-in, the Option Plus desk was closed. Fortunately the line was small, but still, we paid for it.
Regarding the free golf, there is a bit of a scam – green fees are free and unlimited, but a cart is only free once per stay. Not a problem except for the fact that two people from the same room cannot both claim their free golf cart at the same time, which means that at least one person in the cart will always have to pay the $65 cart rental. Also, club rentals are $45 per person and sharing is not allowed. Bottom line, the three of us that wanted to get in a round of ‘free’ golf would have ended up paying $200+ for the opportunity, so we skipped it.
As mentioned, we also booked the Royal Golden section of the resort. This is a special section of the resort with its own services and the best accommodations (all junior suites) closest to the beach. It also includes an extra a la carte meal (4 instead of 3), free wireless internet, separate check-in/out and a number of other amenities.
Our Transat flights were relatively comfortable, especially with the Option Plus service with all of its amenities and seating altogether near the front. The mostly French speaking crew were disappointing however. They were rude and unhelpful and I heard a number of complaints from passengers. It wasn’t until I spoke to them in French that they became friendly to me.
I was surprised that our flight down was 5 hours and our flight back was 7. The captain mentioned a headwind, but it seemed to be quite a big difference and the movies/tv programs ran out after about 5.5 hours.
Our bus transfers between Cancun and Gran Bahia Principe were over 90 minutes each way – not an issue as we were prepared for this after reading the reviews and seeing the distance on Google maps. Our resort was one of the furthest south in the Mayan Riviera – which is great for excursions to Tulum, Coba and other points of interest. The bus was air conditioned and the onboard hosts were entertaining (the cerveza helped too!). It would have been nice if the Option Plus program included either private shuttles or priority boarding/seating on the buses, but not a big deal.
Accommodations / Property
The Gran Bahia Principe (GBP) resort in the Mayan Riviera is actually three resorts (Coba, Tulum, and Akumal) on a giant piece of property along the Caribbean. There is also a fourth area at the highway entrance to the property called the Hacienda Dona Isabela (or just ‘the Hacienda’). This is a large square lined with shops, a bar, ATM and a discotheque.
Getting Around:
Staying at one resort gives you access to all three and the Hacienda. You can walk from one area to another, but it can be a long walk. For example, to walk from our room in Akumal to the Hacienda would have taken 20-30 minutes. To overcome this, the resorts have a system where trolleys come by every 15 minutes or so to pick people up and move them around the property. Unfortunately, at peak times (dinner) the trolleys are often full and the system doesn’t work very well. This led most of our group to agree that the size of the resort is a negative. Those in our group with resort experience said that it was much easier to get around in other resorts they’ve been to.
Rooms:
After reading reviews and seeing that a number of people complained about the beds being very hard, but ‘pillow toppers’ were available on request, I emailed the resort and requested these for all of our rooms. I also asked for good rooms close together. When we arrived at our rooms we were delighted to find that our requests were met. Having booked the Royal Golden package, we knew we would be getting rooms close to the beach, but we were especially pleased to find that were given rooms in buildings 66 and 67, the very best accommodations in all of the GBP resorts - right on the beach with ocean views! Just to clarify, rooms in this resort are separated into multiple small buildings. Each building consists of 18 rooms (three storeys of 6 rooms each). Buildings 65, 66 and 67 are the only ones that are right on the beach and closest to the Royal Golden lounge, pool and other amenities.
All three rooms were junior suites which consisted of a king bed, a large twin bed and a single day bed. They could easily accommodate 4 adults. You could even fit two kids on the twin if you wanted. With the pillow toppers on the beds, we all slept very comfortably.
The bathroom was comfortable and nicely appointed. The free mini bar was always stocked with cans of beer, pop, bottled water & chips. There was also a small safe in the room, but a special key was required for rental at $5 per day.
Resort grounds, common areas:
One word – immaculate. The staff were constantly seen gardening, painting, cleaning and keeping the resort beautiful.
Service
We were initially impressed by the service. It seemed that politeness and tips went a long way. We always left a couple dollars on the bed and another dollar or two at the mini bar each day. All issues were fixed quickly & with a smile. However, as time went on we found that the large number of ‘little issues’ were abnormal – almost to the point that we suspected that things were intentionally left undone in order to get extra tips for having them fixed. We had to ask them to come to fix the toilet, replace a Jacuzzi part, replace three different light bulbs, facecloths were missing some days, towels on others, our mini bar was left empty one day, our bedspreads weren’t there another, the coffee carafe was missing another, etc. Every time we made a call someone would come take care of it within 15-20 minutes and gladly accept a tip for their efforts. Suspicious – and not what one would expect for a 5-star property.
As for checkout, we were supposed to be able to do everything at the Royal Golden lobby, but it turns out they wouldn't allow guests to checkout at their desk. We had to go wait in line with everybody else at the main Akumal lobby. Not what we were told when we booked and paid for the Royal Golden upgrade.
Food
My busy lifestyle forces me to eat at restaurants frequently which I guess makes me a bit of a food ‘snob’, but I also think it makes me fairly knowledgeable on the subject of dining out. That said, I found that the food at this resort ranged from decent to terrible.
Buffets / Snack Bars:
Food at the snack bar consisted of burgers, hot dogs, pizza, etc. at a quality level likely below FDA approval in the US or Health Canada standards. I know that’s harsh, but it’s the truth.
Food at the buffets offered more variety, but was still pretty lousy. The kids asked us ‘why does everything here taste like feet?’ if that gives you an idea. When it comes to food, I don’t like the idea of ‘getting used to it’ but that’s pretty much what happened. We eventually got used to the low quality food and managed to enjoy it. For the record, I am very adventurous with trying new/exotic foods, so that wasn’t the issue.
Some quick examples – breakfast sausages were actually some kind of cheap cut up wieners, the sushi rice was crunchy (either uncooked or days old), the milk was sour, and what ‘good’ food they had was usually in low supply or only showed up on the odd occasion, leaving people to fight over scraps.
That leads me to something I noticed quite a bit – the phrase ‘we’re out of _____ today’. So many items we wanted at the buffets and restaurants (that they had on the menus/signs) weren’t available. It was always the higher end/demand items – bacon, ice cream & tacos at the buffets/snack bars, premium menu items at the restaurants. One really got the sense that they were cutting corners to save costs. Again, not something one would expect from a 5-star resort.
A final note on the buffets – each resort has one main buffet and they are all quite large. However Akumal also has a second smaller buffet near the Royal Golden section and we did not realize that there was a bigger one near the main lobby until the second last day (our own fault, admittedly).
A la Carte Restaurants:
We dined at four…
1. Dolce Vita – Akumal – Italian. Appetizer buffet quite nice. Entrees pretty good all around. Chicken was excellent. Desserts were a letdown.
2. Don Pablo – Tulum – Mexican(?). This restaurant is considered to be one of the resort’s three ‘gourmet’ restaurants. I had the surf & turf, which consisted of a small steak and two small shrimp. Not impressed. Also, the service was abysmal. We had a reservation for 8:00, but they didn't let us in until 8:15. Our order wasn’t taken until 8:40. The main course showed up at 9:30. Dessert came at 10:15.
3. Gran Tortuga – Tulum – Brazilian. Easily the best meal we had at the resort. A variety of meats were served to us in on swords in a traditional and fun Brazilian style. Everything was quite tasty including the passionfruit mousse dessert.
4. L’Arlequin – Akumal – French. Another ‘gourmet’ restaurant. Several reviews claimed the filet mignon here was one of the best dishes at the resort. It was good, but a Keg or Ric’s Grill filet back home puts it to shame.
Overall, food at this resort was a letdown (but it didn’t spoil our fun!). I can tell you that the food on a 3-star cruise line is easily superior to the food at this 5-star all-inclusive resort.
Entertainment
As we were a group with kids who enjoyed doing our own things, we didn’t go to most of the shows or the discotheque, so I can’t say too much about the entertainment. The only entertainment we did take in at the resort was the Mexican Fiesta at the Hacienda. This is a special show put on every Thursday evening. The Hacienda is apparently not officially owned by GBP, so there is a cover charge of $15 per person to get in. I would say it is worth going to if it was included in our ‘all-inclusive’ price, but some people may not find it worth the extra money. It was fun and cultural featuring Mayan and Spanish performances and some carnival-style games.
Other Resort Experiences / Helpful Tips
- The morning after we arrived there was an orientation from Transat Holidays. It was a one hour briefing on resort amenities and local excursions. Missing it wouldn’t have been an issue as we were already well-versed from reading reviews. The only important thing we needed to know was to pop by the Transat desk at some point prior to the departure day to confirm our return transfer/flight.
- Chemuyil Bay is a fairly well-kept secret. Just walk south along the beach beyond the resort property and you’ll find a beautiful snorkeling area and sandy beach that few people know about. I saw lionfish in the wild here – a first for me. I have a marine biology degree, so I get excited about stuff like this.
- There is also a protected coral reef in the Tulum beach area. Snorkeling is allowed as long as you don’t touch the corals or disturb the fish. Found a stingray there.
- Snorkelers/divers should know that the resort doesn’t allow guests to go into the water after dark (although Chemuyil Bay is off property, so I guess that wouldn’t be monitored)
- Also, the resort has a flag system at the beach: Green=calm, Yellow=a bit choppy, Red=quite wavy. Most areas of the resort on most days were red flag days, but the waves were really not all that significant – 2 to 4 feet at most. I know during Red Flags, no snorkel/boogie board/etc. equipment is available, so I highly suggest bringing your own.
- There are motorized water sports and scuba available on site. Jet skis are $65 per half hour.
- Overall, I didn’t find the snorkeling here to be nearly as good as Hawaii. Less visibility and biodiversity. But still fun…
- There was a lot of wildlife throughout the resort - iguanas everywhere during the day and coatis everywhere at night. A coati looks like a cross between a raccoon and an anteater. - I read a lot of reviews about how hot & humid it is in the area. Apparently we were there during a ‘cold snap’, but that just meant ‘perfect’ to us. It did get cool at night, so I would recommend checking the long term forecast for Playa del Carmen and bringing a warmer outfit if needed (or just buy a poncho at the Hacienda).
- Speaking of clothing, the a la carte restaurants have dress codes that require long slacks for men (no jeans, shorts, t-shirts or sandals)
- Even though there are signs everywhere telling people not to ‘reserve’ pool chairs, they do get hoarded anyway. There are lots of chairs available, but the best ones (i.e. closest to the bar & activities) are always taken up fairly early on each day. - Drinks are obviously very watered down and the resort is set up in such a way as to make it somewhat inconvenient to drink a lot of alcohol (lineups, limited bar hours, etc).
- One note on the spa services: The ladies in our group got pedicures at the Bahia Spa. They said it was nice, but the pedicures were not as good as one could get back home for the same price ($40 for a classic pedicure).
Excursions
First, I should note that the Mexican government no longer allows Mexican businesses to exchange or deposit more than $1500 in US funds per month, so more and more places require payment in pesos and will not accept U.S. cash.
As for getting around outside the resort, there are two main options: $30 each way to most nearby destinations for a taxi or $3 each way per person for a collectivo. Collectivos are the equivalent of a local bus service. They are 15 passenger vans that run north/south between Cancun and Tulum throughout the day and evening. You generally don’t have to wait more than 5 minutes to catch one on the main highway just outside the resort. However, as we were a group of 10, we were always able to hire a private taxi-van for the same price as a collectivo.
We went on three excursions…
1. Tulum – 10 minutes south of the resort. The ruins were an easy 700m / half-mile walk from the Tulum market dropoff. The Mayan ruins in Tulum are the only surviving walled city from the Mayan era. It is well worth a visit. There is also a beautiful beach there which can be accessed right inside the ruins/park, so bring swimwear to cool off in the sea.
2. Playa del Carmen – 20 minutes north of the resort. We went in the evening to do some shopping and eating in the 5th Avenue pedestrian shopping district. I hadn’t been there before, and I was expecting an old-fashioned Mexican market area. However, I was surprised to find it was much more comparable to an outdoor Miracle Mile (Las Vegas), or Pointe Orlando or Downtown Disney. We ate at Senor Frogs and it was one of the real highlights of our trip. They entertained us every minute we were there and made us feel like the only people in the place. I can’t recommend it enough - a total blast!
3. Private day trip to Coba, a cenote and a Mayan village. We had the good fortune of connecting with a man named Luis Fernandez, our taxi driver when we went to Playa del Carmen. Luis gave us an incredible deal to take us around on a private day trip and be our driver and guide for the day. We accepted his proposal to go to the ruins in Coba, swim in a cenote, eat an authentic Mayan meal, and visit an authentic Mayan village. As arranged the night before, Luis met us at the taxi area just outside the Hacienda with a very comfortable 12 passenger van fully stocked with complementary beer, pop and snacks. And off we went:
a. Coba ruins: We opted to go to these ruins and not Chichen Itza for a couple of reasons. The Coba ruins are only about 45 minutes from the Mayan Resort area, whereas Chichen Itza is 2.5 hours each way. Also, the Coba ruins feature the tallest pyramid in the northern yucatan and visitors can actually climb to the top the pyramid instead of just look at it from behind a barrier. We were not disappointed. The view from the top of the pyramid looking out over the Yucatan jungle is spectacular. The Coba ruins are spread out over a 6km (4mile) stretch, so be prepared to walk a lot. Bicycles are available to rent on site for about $3, or a bicycle ‘rickshaw’ ride is also available for about $8 for those with mobility issues.
b. Next, Luis took us to a cenote about 15 minutes away. Cenotes are a special feature of the Yucatan peninsula, which is connected underground by a vast system of underground caves with lakes & rivers throughout. The cenote Luis took us to, called Multun Ha, was only discovered a year ago. I asked Luis what to expect when we got there and he just said ‘trust me’ with a smile. When we arrived, there was a small showering station (all visitors wanting to swim must shower first to keep the cenote pristine) and what looked like a large well with a spiral staircase going down into the ground. We were underwhelmed at that point. However, 78 stairs down we were blown away by the sight of an immaculate underground lake that opened up in front of us. The cave was basically a huge sphere with stalactites hanging from the ceiling and half full with the clearest water imaginable. It was about 60 feet to the bottom, but we could see it clearly. The water was the perfect temperature for swimming and we all had a blast exploring and diving off the little dock that was recently built there. Aside from our group there was only one other small group there with us. Thanks to Luis, we had a truly unique experience as opposed to visiting a tourist ridden swimming hole.
c. Mayan meal. Luis then took us back to Coba for a traditional Mayan meal. A good experience. I really enjoyed the chicken wrapped in a banana leaf. Again – an experience that most tourists would miss out on.d. Finally, Luis took us about 15 minutes down another road into the jungle to visit a little Mayan village. These people are very poor and survive on a few dollars a day per family, living in small huts with dirt floors. We were given a tour of their village. The little kids were adorable playing with the local monkeys and we were glad to help them out by buying some of their handmade clothes and crafts. Another valuable memory thanks to Luis’ knowledge of the local area.
I highly recommend contacting Luis for a private escorted excursion if you are visiting the Mayan Riviera. I have all of his contact info, and you can also find him on Facebook. His page is called Tours Riviera Maya and his phone number and email address are posted there.
First, I can’t claim to be an expert on all-inclusives as this is my first one, although as a travel agent I have done a lot of research on the subject – reading reviews, selling packages and listening to client feedback. Second, I went into this trip knowing I wasn’t going to be able to fully ‘unwind’ since I went both as a parent and as an unofficial group coordinator.
I think the perception I’ve come back with on this trip is that when it comes to quality of service and dining, cruises are a far better value. I might be wrong, but I get the feeling that a 5-star resort is equivalent to a 3-star cruise. So, personally, I think I’d recommend a 5-star cruise like Celebrity (with a drink package add-on) over an all-inclusive every time as the better value. Of course it does come down to client preference and every case is different. I also have a better feel for the psychology behind the term 'all-inclusive', which is really a bit of a gimmick to get people to go to these places thinking there are no limits. Not true – ‘you get what you pay for’ is a better way to look at it.
As travel agents, I think it is important for us all to understand the difference between low price and good value. The Gran Bahia Principe does offer a good value, but I’m convinced that a high end cruise is still the best value in the industry. We need to keep pushing people in this direction and let people know that the bitterness of low quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price.
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