We traveled from the midwest to this hotel on Superbowl Sunday and left the following Thursday.

First off, the review of this hotel's grounds being impecable are absolutely true! We've been traveling to all inclusives for about 15 years. This place would rate near the top. Not at the top, but near it.
It's very similar to Palladium in the Riviera Maya.

Grounds:
Size- It's a large hotel, but easily accessible from any walk no more than 5-7 minutes from end to end. We're in our late 30's/early 40's and the walking was not a big...at all! (we didn't take the kids with us on this trip, that DOES make it an easier walk)
The Hotel is divided into two. The right side is called Sunset, the left is Princess. Same hotel, it's just a different designation when identifying the property. The Ala Carte's are directly under the main lobbyies on the ground floor, as are two of the 4 buffet restaurants and the gift shops, the sports bar, and the gym/spa.
The main courtyard (where some of the night time entertainment is held is immediately behind the lobbyies.

Hotels are arranged on the sides and Ocean end of the resort. Shuttles run every 15 minutes from multiple stops.
The grounds are some of the nicest/cleanest grounds we've ever seen. Faux Mayan statues line the forest filled main walk of the hotel to give it an extra feel for the area.
Multiple pools to choose from depending upon if you want to relax in relative quietness, party it up like you're on spring break, or just hang out and occasionally use the swim up bar.
There are two more buffet restaurants near the pools close to the beach. Also the buffet restaurant on the Sunset side near the pool by the beach doubles at night as the Fondu Restaurant---this is the only Ala Carte not located near the lobby.

Ala Cartes: one nice perk is that you can reserve up to 4 nights of dinners at a time. It's not a daily fight like at some resorts.
We ate at the Japanese, the Fondu, the Steakhouse (grill).
They were all good, as were the buffets, but all in all very typical of what you normally get at every all inclusive that you go to. I've had worse, but this food was what you would expect. I don't quite understand people who say the food was terrible or that it was the best ever. The steakhouse, to me, is comparable to a Ponderosa. It'll do for the time being but I wouldn't pick it to go to back home. The Fondu was my least favorite because it wasn't like a normal Melting Pot type of place. The Fondu is used more of a dip than a method of actually cooking your food.

Rooms:
We stayed in a Junior Deluxe with a king sized bed. Typically, the mattress and pillows were hard but after a night, we were use to them. The rooms themselves are very large and well kept. The safe worked fine and I had no problem with anyone taking anything. If you're traveling with kids and use a TV program to help chill them out every once in a while, you better bring a portable DVD player. There are 3 english speaking stations. CNN, FOX, and a movie channel that only shows action packed R rated movies. Bathrooms and showers were spacious and well kept.

Beach:
This is where the hotel needs to do something.
The beach can be divided up into 3 segments. as you walk out on the beach, the adult only quite area is to the left. The problem with this area is that there is so much seaweed, its unusable. Seaweed is knee deep and about 4' wide all along this stretch. Seaweed is infested in the entire ocean in this area so you can't even get into the water---at all.
The middle section of the beach is where they have the designated, roped off swim area. no seaweed here, but they've allowed 11 beach vendors to set up permanent shop. Jewelry huts, tattoo huts, massage huts, braiding huts, etc. are located right near water's edge and block the entire view and you are constantly hastled by the workers.
To the right area is another Chill Out zone that you have to pay extra for. The problem is that this area is so rocky, you'll need water shoes.
I really like to snorkel but this resort it completely un-snorkable.
If I had to choose, I'd stay at the Palladium even thought that's a larger resort with a lot more walking.

just came back after a 5 day stay here - just outstanding - grounds were beautiful, pools sparkling, food was great - lot's of variety at buffets - make sure to do request cooking show teppanyaki at the asian - also dined at the mexican ala carte -both really good as well - we had a regular junior suite - really nice - the whole resort was kept up - super clean - the staff if great - know that only 1 place available for limited food from 2 til 6 is on the beach - beach area has some rocky areas but the ocean is supposed to have rocks - walk down the beach a bit for a really plain sandy area - anyone who is complaining about this place is obviously a cry baby - lots of walking - the place is huge - wish we were still there

Hubs and I went here for a long weekend over Easter. It was his first time out of the country and first time at an all-inclusive resort. We really enjoyed ourselves. The beach and grounds are beautifully well kept. There isn't much night life. I didn't like the dinner reservation options. The choices were like 5:00 pm or 9:00 pm, also you couldn't make reservations in advance you had to call every day. Highly recommend taking the bus to Playa Del Carmen-- That was the best day, we went shopping, swam in the ocean, and had lunch on the beach. We also booked a day trip on a Catamaran and went swimming with sharks, on the boat we visited 3 different islands. We would definitely go back to Playa but maybe not stay in the hotel. Also, like many other reviews stated there is A LOT of walking. Very frustrating to walk all the way to the beach and 10 minutes later needing to use the "restroom" TMI I know, but hopefully useful info ;)

Where to start, My wife and I just returned February 8 2012 from a 10 day stay at the Grand Princess Rivierea, we booked through westJet Vacations and our excursions through Best Day at the resort. Like you've read this is a big resort, the staff is always doing some kind of cleaning and maintence to the place, They do an excellent job on the grounds and all the marble through out the resort. We read the reviews before we left and personally I do disagree with some of the negative comments about the staff. For all the time we were there from grounds keepers to the people who clean the rooms every time we walked by them they always said hello and were always very helpfull, not all the staff are fluent in English mostly Spanish, the people at the check in desks, tours, waiters and waitresses are more fluent in English.

We arrived early in the morning due to flight delays when we arrived they offered us a free upgrade to our room and found us one within an hour of arriving even though we weren't scheduled to check in until the afternoon. We had no problem with the buffets they offered, there was always tons of food and different combinations for variety, we found all the alacarte
restaurants quite good, They had shows every night with different themes we found the shows to be quite good also, we booked our tours through Best Day at the Hotel and they used Go Natural tours we went to Telum, Cenote swimming, and Chichen Itza the tours guides we had were awsome, knowledgable and hilarious at times.

Rooms: No complaints at all cleaned every day air conditioning always working. About day 5, I left the safe open by mistake when we returned that evening I couldnt get it opened, turns out when they came to clean the room they noticed the safe open called security, they took inventory and put their own lock on until we got back, Passports, credit cards, cash ALL THERE.
This was our first time to Mexico and we would definately go back and would definately stay there again. We are in our 50's but we enjoy walking so it wasn't a big deal touring around on foot. It was about a ten minute walk from the entrance to the beach. The other tourists we met were all very friendly and out going and as usual there are good and bad, the only reason I say that is people leaving their drinks in the pool, in the sand on the beaches This place has trashcans and ashtrays approx every twenty five feet why people throw their cigarette butts and empty or half full drinks anywhere baffles me. Over all AWSOME TIME will return

Gary, Edmoton Alberta, Canada