Review of Resort in Mexico

Hubs and I just got back from our 2 week vacation in Mexico, where we stayed at the Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya. We were extremely excited as last year we enjoyed our trip to Mexico immensely. This resort is rated at 5 *'s, however, we felt the service and feel of the resort gave off more of a 3 * feeling. We definitly would not stay at this resort again.

Pro's :

- The room was great. It was large, spacious, had a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi tub.
- Air conditioning system in the rooms kept the room comfortable and not damp and musty like some resorts
- Free safe in each room was a bonus (most resorts you pay an extra fee for this service)
-Spa was amazing (We did the water circuit twice and the tezemecal)
- Provided robes and slippers in each room
- Room service was included from 11-11 which was great
- El Patio (Mexican restaurant) had delicious food
-Ikebana (Japanese restaurant) had great atmosphere and delicious food as well.
-La Gira Rodizio (Brazilian Food) was great too
-The beach was nice, lots of beach chairs and a gorgeous view with ruins.
-Frederico and one other waiter were the only decent waiters at the resort and the only ones we tipped
- Cleaning staff were excellent and friendly
- Ice cream shop was the perfect treat
- The lazy river was relaxing
- We seen lots of iguanas and even a monkey
-Our westjet rep Lili was amazing

Con's:

- Our welcome drink was warm juice which was disapointing
- We were booked into a room with 2 double beds (We asked for a queen or king during our booking, and with a few complaints they managed to find us a king bed the next day)
-Our original room was so far away from the restaurants, theatre
- The resort was huge, it took us 45 min to walk around the whole resort and you needed a shuttle to get to the spa which was in the middle of nowhere
- Concierge's tried to sell time shares and were always asking your room #, even if you weren't in that block of rooms and just walked by.
- You had to book the spa/restaurants through the concierge.
- The nightly entertaintment was sub-par, we only watched 1 show and a few min of another in the 2 weeks we were there.
- The drinks were watered down until we complained, then, depending on the bar tender, they got better
-There was a lot of construction and maintenance going on while we were there
- Due to heavy rain, the main lobby had some roofing fall, blocking off half the lobby until it was fixed
-No rainy day entertainment was available
- The resort itself had a concrete jungle feel, it lacked flowers and charm.
-Buffet food was mostly cold (another complaint we put in) and another common complaint we heard in the lobby
-Buffet food was repetative and the same old every day, unless you hit a theme night (mon,wed, sun). The best theme night was Japanese
- We had to get our shower and patio  door repaired in our new room
- Many of the fancy showerheads didn't work (common complaint we overheard in the lobby)
- House wine tasted horrible and always seemed to have fruit flies in it
-The cajun restaurant was horrible, we ordered the jambalaya and it came out with cut up hot dog as a garnish on top (mentioned it to our concierge and he said we should have ordered what he told us to and that he heard nothing good about the jambalaya)
- The steak house was ok, it was middle of the road, nice change from the buffet
- Even though we had special reservations for the A La Carte restaurants, their desserts werent any different or better then the generic buffet, except for the Japanese restaurant
- It was hard to make reservations for the restaurants as they werent open to often
-We had the French Restaurant given to us (it was an extra $60 Canadian per person) and it was horrible, we were so glad we didn't have to pay for it.
- The bars all closed early except those in the lobby, which even closed by midnight.
- There was never a restaurant open all day, each one open and closed throughout the day. Breakfast was from 7-10, lunch 1-3 and supper from 6-10. Nothing was open after 10pm or between 3-6pm.
-There was a lack of things to do past 5. Everything shut down around 5 or 6, so you had wait until 9pm for the show in the theatre.
- There were no roof top views or restaurants to lounge at
- The floors were extremely slippery when wet (horrible mix when you add rain or even the thought of people coming from a pool) I bailed once down a set of stairs and had a nice bruise on my leg the whole time I was there.
- Staff didnt seem overly friendly
-The beach sand was full of coral and sheels so it felt rocky on the feet, and the beach was smaller then we thought.
- Apparently there are 2 different hotels, the cheaper and more expensive one and there seeemed to be no difference between the 2 other then how much you paid to be on the more expensive side. Everything was shared between the 2 resorts so dont waste your money to stay at the "nicer" one

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at a 4.5 * resort last year so much better. The service and activies/entertainment was beyond comparison compared to the resort we stayed at this year. I would recommend the Catalonia Yucatan beach resort and spa