My only complant is the regular Mayan Palace room furniture is showing its wear. I have been an owner for 10 years , love the property and the amazing pool. the staff is exceptional / warm friendly , and very helpful. The resturants are great/ moderatly priced,snack bar, grocery store and gift shop. you won't go hungrey and it won't bust your budget.
Going back in March

I have stayed at other resorts along the Mayan Riviera. This resort falls into the same vein as the others. It is large and sprawling, well manicured, multiple restaurants, beautiful golf course. It is VERY difficult to get into the water as it is primarily exposed jagged rock at water's edge (if you have water shoes, take them along). Additionally this area does not have a protective reef off shore thus the water tends to be rough all the time - just not a good place to get into the water and play. That said, I believe the beach area is beautiful and well maintained, lounge chairs and palapas available every time we went. The pool is huge, it appeared more people were hanging out there than the beach and even then there were ample loungers available.

I can't address the food well as we only ate 3 meals there. I would say the food was good, but nothing to get excited about. We did the Mexican Fiesta on Thursday night - fun, but wouldn't do it a second time. They had some live music at different restaurants throughout the week, we went to once, I wasn't overly impressed.

What made this resort stand out to me was the staff. I know resort staff are suppose to be pleasant and helpful, but this staff did an exceptional job doing their job.

I doubt that we will return there for a long period of time because there wasn't anything that jumped out as something I can't find somewhere else (except the staff). That said I do believe it is worth while trying for someone that has not been in the area before.

Stayed here for New Years 2012. It was enjoyable, and the accommodations were clean but nothing special. For some reason the layout of the resort is perpendicular to the ocean and I don’t think there are any views of the ocean which I thought was kinda odd. Plus I think there is upwards of 20 buildings, so if you are at the far end it’s a long walk to get to the beach – you wouldn’t want to forget something. We were about half way (right by the lobby) and it was at least a 10 minute walk to the ocean. We only ate lunches at the resort as we were always out for supper but the food we had there was good. It was convenient to have a little grocery store there as well even if it was overpriced. Overall it was well maintained and a nice spot to stay, but I think I would try something else the next time.

Evening entertainment very poor to nonexistent. Inquired 2 different times at concierge desk about nightly entertainment and was told that they only had the Mexican fiesta nite that week and you had to register for the buffet and show and the buffet was $60/plate even for children. The only other nite there was once Karaoke but since they couldn't find the cord for the first 30 minutes it would only last for 1 hour. The other issue that I was very upset with was that we had booked 2 tours prior to coming to the resort and was then told that the resort would not allow tour buses that had been booked prior to coming to the resort to pick us up at the main lobby since we did not book thru the hotel. We had to go out to the front gate on the highway. They were supposed to have a shuttle to take you there but shuttle never arrived after waiting for 45 minutes and the other time it was at 7am and shuttle only runs from 8a-11am. So both times we had to take a cab to the front. Also spoke to the front desk because it was supposed to be free shuttle to Walmart/Playa del Carmen but they said no and charged $10/trip and with 5 people!! When I complained I was basically told too bad. There was also shuttles buses to the pool area that were supposed to run every 15 minutes but they were very sporadic and after waiting 45 minutes one time I just opted to walk. This was ok for me but when you have children with you it can be quite a hike.
There were also no chairs to sit out on the small veranda. Asked if we could get some chairs and we were told they don't have them. Pools were wonderful but we were told twice that we could not use the covered lounge beds unless we went to the buffet breakfast and got tickets and since we didn’t have the necessary tickets or something we had to get off those beds . Buffet breakfast was $30 each which I thought was very expensive and since there were 5 in our party it was just too much.
We wanted to take the bikes and take a bike ride but it was $10 per person to use the bikes for 1 hour and then it is only to go on a guided tour of the property led by one of their workers. Not worth paying for that!!
The rooms are very spacious but the beds are extremely hard. So much in fact that we were fighting over who got to sleep on the couches. Kitchen is so small that cooking in it is almost impossible. Two small burners and a small fridge are all that is in the kitchen so it is very difficult to use.

This was the first time that we have opted not to do the all inclusive and it was a big mistake. I found they nickle and dime you to death and I found the prices to be way to much. I also did not like the way they automatically add a 10% tip so that you have no control over whether you tip for good service or not.
I definitely would not stay at this resort again. It is situated out in the middle of the country not close to Playa del Carmen or Cancun so that if you want to do anything you need to take a car or taxi- around $70-105 round trip.