| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: August, 2008 |
| The hotel was awesome though it takes you a while to find your way around because it is soooo big, but there are always friendly staff memebers willing to help you find your way. The entertainment is awesome, you form a family-like relationship with all the staff memebers (the fun club in particular) b/c you can spend all day with them if you want. The concierge will go out of their way to ensure a pleasant stay for you. The hotel has a small, man-made beach that serves the purpose but if you want a big beautiful beach you can simply take a 10 min cab ride to Playa del Carmen and find a beautiful beach and great shopping there. One thing I will recommend is that you take a lot of bug spray!!! This hotel is where the jungle meets the ocean and there are a lot of mosquitos. I love the fact that they have two-person hammocks all over the place here so you can hang out with your sweetheart at your liesure. It was peaceful, and completely blissful! I also had a massage and the spa is wonderful, they create a wonderful ambiance for you and their staff (like in the rest of the hotel) are very friendly.The beds are firm but not too hard to sleep on I thought, they were probably best for my back because of the level of activity we had while we were there. The Xcaret park is awesome I strongly recommend you go snuba diving and or do the Sea Trek attractions they allow you to experience the most beautiful attraction of that area the reef! Another awesome attraction was the underground rivers but be ware, you do go into some dark, dark caves and if you are even slightly claustophobic you will feel uncomfortable, but at least do the first quarter of it b/c the views are worth it! The beach in the park is beautiful! It's got clear water and a clean beach with a lot of room to sit and enjoy the scenery. Lastly, don't miss the show at the end of the day b/c it's beautiful! Overall we loved our stay there. We really needed a place that would let us relax when we wanted and provide a |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this resort and at the adjacent park! There is lots of room so you never feel crowded. We only ate at the buffet because the food was excellend and plenty to choose from. You can go snorkeling right at the beach in the resort or hang out at the pool if you don't like the salt water. The beds were a little uncomfortable, but we didn't sleep much anyways. According to out 13-year old son the teen club "sucks", but he still had a blast at the beach. Thanks to other traveller's reviews we were able to successfully avoid time share people. They call it "membership", but it comes out to the same. Tip your maid a dollar every day and your fridge will be full all the time. Hotel transfer is cheaper if you don't book it with your package. We used entertainment plus and paid * for 3 people (round trip). |
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| From: Johnny, Bertram, TX |
| Date of Stay: August, 2008 |
| Occidental Xcaret was a beautiful, huge, family friendly resort. The room was very nice and the staff very helpful. The only disappointment we had was that the pool & beach bars closed at 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. and you had to walk quite a distance to the main restaurant/bar area to get drinks after that time. The resort was beautiful and I would recommend it, especially to families. The extreme size and the bars were our only 2 disappointments, however, neither deterred us from having a great time on vacation. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| My husband and I loved the Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret Resort! We got in late (about 10pm) but our first impression even at night was of a beautiful and friendly resort. We had rented a car and drove straight up to the lobby. A valet/doorman quickly came and welcomed us to the resort. He brought our luggage and our car keys to our room for us. The front desk person was great as well - he gave us an overview and exchanged some money to pesos for us. The next morning, we checked out the whole resort and the property is pretty amazing. Everything is well-maintained, clean, and luscious with fish, parrots, deer, monkeys, flamingos, etc. scattered on the property. There are 5 pools with something for everyone like the pool with the swim-up bar, or the romantic pool, or the lively activity dance-club pool, etc. We always got chairs at the pool - and there is plenty of sun or shade chairs. I liked that you can bring the chairs in the water so you stay cool. Also, one of the best features of the resort is that you can go one day for free to the Xcaret Park next door. This was an incredible experience not to be missed. There is a concierge-type person in each building who can help you with dinner reservations. We went to three specialty restuarants and the "D'Oriental" was definitely the best. But men need to bring long pants to eat in them. You can take a shuttle to different places on the property, and we liked that there is a private and secluded beach. You can see a nightly show which was always of superior quality, and there are activities all the time if you want to keep busy. Staff is friendly! |
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| From: Patricia, Wilmington |
| Date of Stay: August, 2008 |
| The Grand Occidental was very comfortable. Our luggage was a little late in getting to our room, but for most part the staff was very accomadating. Getting reservations for the different resturants was difficult. I believe they would rather you eat at the buffet which had a good variety of food. The drinks, although very good, had little alcohol in them so we requested double each time we ordered. The pools were very nice but the beach was fantastic. We enjoyed our visit. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| This resort was so beautiful and clean. We were very happy with everything. We actually loved the man made beach. The breakers kept the rough waves out but the fish in. Lots of places to lounge, hammocks, hanging beds. We spent alot of time there. Liked it alot more than the pool, which is pretty but very warm. Even liked the buffets. The dinner at the steak house was the best though and a nice change. Real drinks too, not watered down at all. We should have told the concierge at our building "no" right off the bat about the 90 minute sales pitch. Started to hope she wasn't there when we went to our room just so we wouldn't be bugged about it. Loved the Xcaret park, could have spent way more time there. It was nice to leave and come have lunch and drinks at the resort and then go back to the park. Olympus (airport shuttlle) did bug us too about coming to arrange our trip back "immediately"-total scam to book more trips-we finally went to chat with them when we wanted to check out some trips to Tulum anyway. We booked a catamaran that sailed up the coast and took us to the ruins. Very nice, but would have liked more time to explore the ruins. Olympus totally screwed us on the airport trip back, left our name off the driver's list. They got another driver to pick us up an hour later, but it was a little stressful thinking we were not going to make our plane. But we loved this resort. The grounds were so well kept and the critters running around was neat (iguanas everywhere by the way-no one mentioned that). The room/bed and staff were great as well. Would stay again. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| My husband and I had a great time. Besides the check-in, everything was wonderful. It was a very family friendly enviornment, and yet it was also a very romantic get-a-way. The food was awesome and the resort was beautiful. Lots to do and see. I will be visiting again. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our vacation. It was myself, my wife and our 3 teenagers (13-15yrs). The kids loved every bit of it. It was hard to get them out of the pool or off of the beach to do anything else. My wife and I do have a few issues. One is the service at the restaurants was not great. We had a few good experiences, but overall the wait staff smiled very rarely and seemed bothered to help you (we tipped plenty). The food however was good and we did not have a hard time finding things we liked. Another issue was there were no bars where our room was that was open past 6pm. The resort is very spread out and the only open bars were at the main area where the restaurants and shops were. Also, getting snorkeling gear was a challenge since the supply was small and the place that checked it out was only open until 3 or 3:30pm. Finally, don't expect a room with a view of the ocean. On a positive note, the resort was beautiful. We were not bored at any time. The food there was good. We especially enjoyed the beef fajitas at Paco's Tacos. Since the resort is part of the national park, there was wildlife around, which we all enjoyed. The pools were awesome and the lagoon was beautiful. We liked how spread out the resort was, because we enjoy walking and the walkways were very scenic. We did attend the sales presentation for the timeshares, but we did not buy, we just kept saying no and received free t-shirts, hats, blankets, etc. If you are not good at saying no, do not agree to attend one and beware they will make it look innocent. |
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| From: James |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| The Occidental Grand Xcaret was a nice hotel. It was clean and the room was large. We did experience some very small ants, but I think that is par for the course in that environment. The grounds, the pools and the common areas were all very well maintained. They had birds, lizards and monkeys you could always see. They also had daily activities and nightly shows. The one thing we were a little disappointed in was the variety of food. The food was all good, but much of it was the same even at the different reservation only restaurants. We were kind of hoping for more of a traditional mexican dinner, but never really saw that. The staff was super nice. Everyone was very helpful. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| Great property, great service, above average food. Plenty of options for vegetarians, which is not typical of all inclusives. The hotel does not have a real beach but has an inlet with ocean water that will work for kids (there are also several pools). For adults, I suggest heading to the adult pool near the ocean. The beds are not comfortable, but other than that the facilities are very good for the price. The free ticket to Xcaret is a definite plus. |
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| From: Alan, Dallas |
| Date of Stay: July, 2008 |
| There are many pools and many bars for fun, and the nightly shows are great, and the XCaret park is a cool place to have fun for a day. The staff is generally very friendly also. However there were many negatives. The first day we were there we booked 2 different dinners at the steak rest and seafood rest with the concierge at our building. After that we were hounded to receive our welcome gift by attending a 90 minute presentation. These people did not take no for an answer for the first 3 days! We even received a call at 8:30 in the morning asking if we would go...this was very upsetting! The first 2 nights were also miserable in a room that didn't cool properly in bldg 20. Since we came on a Friday, we couldn't switch until Sunday. The second room was really nice in building 19. However, it is like sleeping on concrete (so get mentally prepared). The last night we both got sick eating at El Pescador, the fish restaurant. We now call it the Pesca No More since we can laugh about it now. Here comes the kicker of why I can't recommend this hotel... When checking out the last day we had the bellmen pick up our bags from our room to hold in storage. We thought we'd enjoy the last day at the pool before we left. BAD MISTAKE!!! This was stupid on our part, but we left our passports, my wallet with everything, my school ring, and my watch in my bags!! The bellmen put my bags on a bus to cancun aiport without asking us. The problem was that we flew into cozumel and took at ferry over to playa del carmen. When we checked out at 2, we asked for our bags and they were nowhere to be found! They finally figured out that they made a mistake and sent them to the wrong airport. So here we are with NO PASSPORTS! They offered to bring the bags back on the bus but we were going to miss our flight in cozumel because the ferries run only every hour. The hotel did give a good effort trying to change our flight from cozumel to cancun, but they were unable to. Finally, the second manager |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: June, 2008 |
| The hotel itself was beautiful and the rooms were clean. However, the food at the buffet was bad. Not much of a selection and always behind on keeping the trays full. Entertainment; they need to go to other all inclusive hotels and learn. Needless to say, not good at all. The beach; well, it is a water hole. Not your typical beach. Refer to their pictures and you will see what I mean. Lots of other better hotels in playa de carmen then this one. Will not return. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: June, 2008 |
| The Grand Xcaret all inclusive was a exceptional resort and a great value. They have a wonderful pool area (2 of them), game and activities, many dining options, spa, etc. The only draw backs were that the beach is man made because of the rocky coast line and the bed was very hard. I would definately return to this resort if I every go back to the Play Del Carmen area (10 minute cab ride). Also the admission into the Xceret park is included with the stay at the hotel and is within walking distance. |
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| From: Maria, Albuquerque, * |
| Date of Stay: June, 2008 |
| I falled down in the area near to my room. There was water, but they did not have a wet floor sign. I reported the accident and they just said sorry if you need medical care you can see our first aid assistant, but if you require more than that we can go to the hospital at your expense. No one had the courtasy to check if I was doing well or not. This hotel does not have beach!!! That's why it has too many pools. The food and service at the reservation required restaurants was awful. The drinks at the bars were not good. I thought that an all inclusive hotel included national and imported drinks. They only had Corona draft beer. The glasses were plastic. For some reason we lost power in one of our rooms and we had to wait over 30 minutes until some body check the electricity at the room. Same night, the other room did not accept the card key and we had to wait almost an hour for somebody to showed up to check and bring a different card key. We are very dissatified with this hotel/vacation. It is no way we are going back to that place. It is not a five star resort!!! |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: May, 2008 |
| I found this property to be very nice. The location was beautiful. The room was standard as was the food. The service in the restaurants was not good. Only 1 in every 5 food srevicers was even polite.Tis would be the only reason I had to not reccomend this facility. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: May, 2008 |
| The food was OK but we ate at the buffet everyday because to try and get reservations at the other restaurants was impossible unless you did them 2 to 4 days in advance - which we did not know you had to do that. Its very laid back, nothing to do but sit by the pool. To shop you had to pay a taxi $25.00 roundtrip to town as the shops at the hotel were very limited. The lounge in the lobby was beautiful built around the water. Service was excellent as were the drinks. Entertainment in the evening at the theatre was excellent. Overall - if all you want to do is sit back and relax this is the place for you. |
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| From: PAUL, Phoenix, AZ |
| Date of Stay: March, 2008 |
| The Occidental Grand Xcaret is isolated from any highway noise or commercial distractions, giving one a relaxing feeling of privacy. The rooms all have large balconies and a place to sit, but not much privacy from your neighbor, should he/she happen to be on their balcony. My room was usually serviced by noon each day. The hotel is composed of several buildings separately spaced around the spacious grounds, but all within walking distance of the two pools, a small private beach, and the restaurants. For those who don't want to walk, there are shuttles running from the main building to the beach, and stopping at most buildings. The food was generally good, and the buffet tried to have a different theme each night. The specialty restaurants required reservations, and I recommend those reservations all be made on your first day. There are many children's activities, and the counselors are friendly and seem to be adequately trained to care for the children. |
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| From: Reviewer has requested to be kept anonymous. |
| Date of Stay: March, 2008 |
| Our stay at the resort from the moment we got there the the moment we left was just great. We all can't stop talking about the vacation we had. We do plan on going back next year. |
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| From: Christina, Denver, CO |
| Date of Stay: March, 2008 |
| I found that the food was not very good, and it was very redundant even though they had several restaurants to choose from. Also, the staff in the restaurant as well as the staff that was to help with the entertainment were not very friendly or knowledgeable. |
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| From: JOANN, Minneapolis, MN |
| Date of Stay: March, 2008 |
| The grounds were beautiful and colorful. The food was great (except for one meal). The bed was VERY hard and it was difficult to find a comfortable position and difficult to get a good night's sleep. As I was packing the last morning, there was a cockroach on my bed. |
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