We visited this property for the first time in October 2016 and couldn't wait to come back ! This time was even better.
Check in was great. Since we visited in 2016, Vidanta has installed the central lobby where everyone checks in upon arrival. The bell boys take your bags and even groceries (we stopped at the supermercado on the way down from Cancun) and deliver them to your room. They even refrigerated the cold groceries for us in the interim. The staff at the central lobby brought us cold was rags and bottled water while we water from a cart to take us to the GL main lobby for room check in. That was about a 10 min wait and a 10 minute (very slow driving) ride on the cart. No complaints. At least we didn't have to walk all the way there!
Once to the GL main lobby, check in was a breeze. We were again given drinks while we waited (champagne for the grown ups) for not even 5 minutes. We were initially assigned to a 2 Bedroom suite room in Tower 3, 3rd floor. The room was beautiful with a great view (jungle with some sky) however it was both bedrooms had King sized beds. We are a family of 6 including 4 teenagers, so a group of mostly adult sized people. So only two actual beds was not going to work for us. The bell boy had arrived with our baggage and i explained to him the problem. He helped us out by calling the main lobby to explain. Thankfully and graciously, the staff relocated us to a different room - 2 bedroom villa - in Tower 2. That had two doubles in the second bedroom and an additional sitting room with 2 trundle beds. So everyone had a bed! This one fix set the mood for the rest of the time there to be amazing! There was a persistent water leak in the ceiling. We just put towels there and three nights in a row a maintenance worker came to fix the leak. It finally stopped after the third try. Again, no worries, staff did their best to make everything perfect.
We loved every experience "on campus" that we had. In 2016, all we could talk about when we got home was eating at Burgers Custom Made again. Well that was the first place we went after settling into our room. I'm happy to report that it is just as amazing as it was in 2016. We also went night swimming in the Grand Mayan pool which is super fun since it is so big. You can play hide and seek for hours!
Also new to the resort since our last visit was the Beach Club and Salum. We spent almost all of our resort time in these two places. They are just absolutely gorgeous. Both days at the Beach Club we were given large cabanas with loungers, couches and tables to eat at. We ordered food and drinks poolside during happy hour each day and loved it.
One day we decided to visit the Grand Luxxe pool since there weren't many people there. But we were quickly "reprimanded" for being a little to rowdy for the other people. I understood though. We were throwing a ball back and forth and swimming all over the place. No worries. We picked up and went to the Grand Mayan pool to play around and had a fantastic time. The Joy Club was there entertaining people and we even played a bit of volleyball in the pool. Great time. I will say that the poolside service here is so slow its not even worth ordering. We waited over an hour for french fries, chip and salsa and soft drinks.
The beach was nice. We didn't spend too much time here since the surf was high and the staff would shoo us out of the water every time we went in. Bummer. But we played smashball and paddle ball in ping pong at the beach. It is rocky almost the entire resort ocean frontage so bring shoes if you want to go in the water. otherwise the beach sand is really soft and they keep it clean of debris and seaweed. They've installed what appears to be nets out in the ocean past the breakers to catch the seaweed before it comes into shore. It works well.
We ate at BCM (twice), Limon y Sal, Del Lago and Salum three times. With the exception of Del Lago for breakfast, every time was delicious. I especially loved that in the Salum area you could sit out closer to the beach and order anything from all of different restaurants. One night was maki rolls and poke bowls, one night was street tacos, and another was ribs and chicken wings. You can find anything you want to eat somewhere on the resort. Some of the other wonderful restaurants we visited previously but didn't make it to this time are Tramonto, Gong, Quinto (went there in the Nuevo Vallarta location) and Azur.
We went to the owner's "update" meeting which is really the sales team trying to make you buy something. We knew what it was going in so we stayed strong and got out unscathed with some discounts on our bill and to Jungala. We did not however go to Jungala. It looks like it would be fantastic but even with the discount its still a little to expensive at $50 per person. We live in the Denver metro area and have season passes to a water park that is 4 times bigger than Jungala so this wasn't where we wanted to spend our money. Others may want to check it out. Also didn't do Joya (Cirque du soliel) again since they haven't changed the show since last time.
Overall, it was amazing. There isn't anything about this place that I don't love even down to the wooden walkways through the jungle. Just LOVE it! And I can't wait to go back!
