We stayed at The Grand Mayan in early February, 2012 for a week. It was our first trip to Grand Mayan, Rivieria Maya, having previously stayed at the Mayan in Acapulco, Nuevo Vallarta, San Jose del Cabo and Mazatlan. Rivieria Maya/Playa del Carmen is our favourite compared to the other locations. We pre-arranged bus travel from the Cancun airport to the Grand Mayan by emailing the concierge. The property is outstanding as very lovely, green and lush. Two great evening restaurants on site (above the Jade Boutique/store), Tramonto (Italian) and Gong (Asian)... very good entree and wine selections with excellent service. You should have reservations for both. The Gong restaurant is closed on Saturday evenings. The Havanna Moon restaurant, next to the beach area, is more casual with pizza and burgers. The Blue Fish restaurant at the pool area is a very good luncheon restaurant that closes at 5:00PM. A gratuity of 15% is added to all restaurant charges. We stayed in Unit 3 at the Grand Mayan which is about a five minute walk from the main lobby area and pools. We went to Playa del Carmen (5th Avenue) severa times ( by taxi 245 peso to Playa with return trip of 220 peso). There are numerous shops and very good restaurants on 5th Avenue which is about a mile in length. Our favourite restaurant was called Lateral, just off 5th Avenue.

We "passed" on doing a time share presentation, only being asked twice as the several hours for the 10% savings is not worth the time and aggravation. We have been a Mayan time share owner for plus twenty years.

My only negative comments ..... very hard bed mattress and lumpy pillows, which is common to all their resorts. Also, there is no beach area however numerous pools in the complex.
While we stayed in building Unit 3 ( a short walk from the pools, lobby and restaurants), try to pre-arrange by request to concierge for units 1 to 4 if possible otherwise a long distance from destination and shuttles only run at specific times.

Two weeks here, and came away totally content and satisfied. Extremely pleasant and helpful staff, just enough attention to be nice, but not so much as to be bothersome. Food in the restaurants was top notch. Selena and her concierge staff were helpful, pleasant and always followed up on recommendations and off site dinners etc.

Not only are we going back, we are taking friends and recommending to everyone

Rooms are very nice, hallways are noisy since they are all tile and the sounds reverberate. The beds are very hard, even after we got the housekeeper to put a pad on the mattress. Most rooms are a long way from the lobby- if you don't like to walk or wait on shuttles look for another property. The grounds are kept immaculate and the walks are pleasant walks with beautiful plants and some small critters like iguanas to look at. Rooms are cleaned daily and freshened up in the evenings. Pools are numerous and huge. Adults can usually find an area away from the little ones. The restaurants are all a little pricey and the drinks are weak and expensive too. It's tough to get a cup of coffee here if you don't have a kitchen in your room. The nearest and quickest coffee (about $3 per cup) is in the store which seems like a long way to go early in the morning. A pot of coffee brought by room service is about $10 with the manditory 15% tip added to all bills. We did eat at the Del Logo restaurant for the seafood dinner and show and it was excellent. Dinner cost about $30pp for a buffet, drinks are extra. For dinner we usually take the Playa Shuttle, public transportation, in front of the hotel, across the street from the front gate, and head into Playa del Carmen. Watch the traffic crossing the road - they travel fast on the main highway. The buses are clean, air-conditioned, and only hold about 20 people. They go by about every 5 or 10 minutes. Just watch for a large airport-type shuttle bus that says Playa Shuttle on it and flag it down. If they see you standing by the side of the road, as they approach they will often flash their lights to verify that you need a ride. The final stop is where you get off and back on for the trip back to the hotel, about a 25 minute ride each way. The fare is 20 pesos, about $1.50 US, per person each way. The final stop is at 2nd St and about 25th Ave. The walk down to 5th Ave, where most of the shopping and restaurants are, is only about a 5-minute safe walk. If you want to go to Walmart, just go up to 30th Ave and head north to about 8th St, also about a 5 minute walk from the bus station. Load up on pastries in their bakery there to save money on breakfast! The shuttle that the hotel provides is very nice, but costs $5pp each way and you will have to wait on it and live by their schedule. It doesn't sound like a big difference, but for two persons it will cost you about $17 more per couple each day you go into town! If you get talked into a slick time-share presentation at the property, buyer beware. Plan on 1/2 day out of your vacation, no matter what they may have promised. Take your laptop with you to their presentation and do your research right then and there on the company that handles their sales (not the Mayan Palace!). During their presentation, before you sign anything, read reviews from others that have bought. It may very well open your eyes to promises that are made.

I haven't actually stayed at this Mayan Property in Riviera Maya. My trip is scheduled for May, but I have stayed at several others mainly in Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta.

There is a lot of complaining on this thread, which is driving me absolutely nuts. People complaining of having to wait for a shuttle, being too inconvenienced to wait. Did it ever occur to you to WALK? The carts are there for convenience, but if it is causing undo stress, by all means, get your butt moving and stop complaining.

We all know what timeshare presentations are about - they are aimed towards getting us to spend money. If you do not like them, do not go. And, if you get sucked into it for incentive deals and what have you, then recognize you are a sucker and stop complaining about the experience.

Vacation is what you make of it and despite what people put on this website, your vacation is in your hands. If you are dissatisfied while on vacation on a Mayan property, I would say your bigger issue is with you and your expectations...not the resort. There are so many bigger issues in the world and complaining because you had to wait for a shuttle is just utterly ridiculous when you could have enjoyed a peaceful walk in tropical paradise. Sheesh.