I was at Gran Bahia Principe Akumal in Mayan Riviera. Just got back yesterday from a week all inclusive. Previously, I have been to Dominican, Jamaica, Cuba, Cancun, Turks and Caicos. This place was recommended by the travel agent. Apparently her daughter got married here a few weeks before I went (first week of Feb 2012). Here are my opinions of this resort:
OVERALL VIBE: Having been to a Gran Bahia Principe before in Dominican, i expected big. But this place was huge. A bit too huge for my taste. It encompasses 3 hotels- Akumal (where i was), Coba and Tulum hotels. You can travel from one place to another via a small WHITE shuttle cart (bigger version of a golf cart- usually holds about 20 people). These shuttles comes about every 10-15 minutes or so. Each hotel has a main lobby, a general buffet restaurant and also has various a la carte restaurants. They give you a map on day one- you can easily figure out which a la carte restaurant is where. We travelled via Air Transat and opted to attend their welcome meeting the following morning. I found it helpful since they discuss the various excursions, times for return shuttle to airport and other housekeeping items. Its a family resort. I didnt mind the children at all. They have a mini kids club where they do kid activities during the day. Evening time, they have a kids disco and a show for the kiddies before the nightly 9pm entertainment for the adults.
The shows were pretty good. They rotate the shows at each of the 3 hotels so if you miss the show on one night at Akumal, they will probably have it the next night at one of the other 2 hotels. This is not a place for single people - either groups of men or women. Its a family vibe, not really a party type vibe. Saw alot of couples and families in groups. Lots of Canadians, Americans, British and various Latin speaking countries. Many of the local staff there dont speak english- in hindsight, i wouldve taken a spanish-english dictionary.
Near Tulum hotel, is a HACIENDA. This is a small shopping area with the regular tshirts, souvenirs, mugs, knick knacks. Theres also a spa there as well. If you are at Tulum, you can walk to the hacienda. from the other 2 places, its a shuttle ride away- however, take the RED shuttle bus on the way there as its specifically for transporting you to the hacienda- as opposed to the regular WHITE shuttle bus. Near the hacienda is a sports section- you can play tennis and also sign out bicycles for free- for an hour. highly recommend it. especially the two person bike. it was such a riot!!! Theres not much to do at the hacienda though. it occupied my time for about half an hour- all the stores sell the same wares. The prices are a bit high as well- i recommend doing the Playa Del Carmen shopping excursion- which i will now talk about.
PLAYA DEL CARMEN- SHOPPING EXCURSION- costs $17 US-booked through our air transat agent at the lobby of our hotel. it leaves at 4:30pm each day and brings you back to the hotel around 9pm. it takes about 45 minutes via bus to get there. its an area a couple of miles long- full of tourists and has many many shops. lots of local mexican restaurants to eat at. also has italian, steak places, and a Subway store, as well as a Dairy Queen, Macdonalds- but why go to mexico to eat food you can get at home...just saying! The stores were super cool. tons to buy. It feels safe because they section off the area and its full of tourists. as long as you are smart and dont venture off, you will be fine! i would steer clear of buying jewellery and expensive items as our tour guide told us that theres no way of knowing if its authentic or not. They have a Swarovski store there as well.
EK BALAM MAYAN RUINS TOUR- i highly recommend it. it was an all day affair- cost about $129 US. worth it. you get to rappel down into an underground river, which in itself was a great experience. then travel to see the mayan ruins, eat a traditional mayan lunch made by
the locals. very very worthwhile.
COCO BONGO: cost about $80 US. they pick you up at 10pm. bus ride to cancun area and they pick you up again at 330am. I went to Cancun in 2006 and know that they changed the whole coco bongo experience- ie the venue for one. it was still a great show. but i couldnt stand there for 5 hours watching a show. so we walked around the bar district and it was entertaining. lots to see and do to kill time before the bus picked us up. if you havent seen it, its a good time.
BEACH: Based on my previous trips, the beach was a make it or break it factor when recommending this resort. - i would NOT recommend it. I repeat, NOT RECOMMEND this place based on the beach. It was very very rocky. I stayed at Akumal and ours was the better of the beach section. When staring into the ocean, if you keep walking left, you will get to coba section of the beach. Tulum does not have a beach to itself. they are more of a golf place. the people there shuttle down to the beach- which i would find very annoying.
We saw 3-4 weddings. they were taking photos on a grey rocky ground. the water in the back reminded me of lake ontario- there was nothing attractive about it. Of 7 days, we had 3 days of sunshine-the rest was grey and raining. On the grey rainy days, the beach accumulated alot and i mean alot of seaweed- the water was grey and not transparent. i know the weather cant be controlled- but the beach looked awful. on the sunnier days, there were small sections of the beach which looked clean and proper down-south appeal. however, throughout the entire length of the beach, they have wave barriers- because the water was very very wavy. these barriers were big black walls blocking the waves from coming to the shore. it was NOT esthetically appealing at all. looked like big black rocks in the water. not good for photos either. So, if you are looking for an awesome beach, this is NOT the place for you. When you get into the water, it was very rocky in some parts- not the powdery soft water we all work hard and expect to feel during that glorious week holiday we look forward to!
POOL: they have a couple of pools near the beaches. The Akumal pool seemed to be smaller- shallower. The Tulum pool was very big. Just fyi. Both had bars nearby. Not much of a wait to get served. Bartenders worked very hard. Didnt venture and see the Coba pool.
FOOD: Food was awesome. it catered to everyones needs. for the kids, they had a special section with plastic winnie-the-pooh plates. We had a vegetarian in our group and the food selection was really good. There was steak, chicken, pork, etc... Huge selection of salads, veggies and all sorts of dishes. They also had the regular western fare of hamburgers, fries, hotdogs. as well as mexican enchilladas, tacos, etc...
Desserts were not that great- a bit bland. Their fruits were very sweet- pineapple was very tasty, as were the watermelon and oranges. The only a la carte we ate at was mexican- very good. The people we spoke to all seemed to like the steak house restaurant. They also have italian, brazillan and japanese - which also seemed to be a hit. I think there was around at least 8 a la cartes. and for the regular person you could pick 3- some people with fancier prestige club memberships had 4 they could book.
They have ample bars, near both beach and pool. They also have lounge bar areas- which are indoors. you can get drinks during the day and evening- this is where they hold the nightly entertainment. they also offer tea and coffee during the day and sweet treats to munch on.
We went to the late night food area after the Coco Bongo trip-around 4am. the staff there was rude and said he had closed up most of his restaurant. couldnt understand enough english to know what we wanted to eat- a simple sandwich. so we went to bed hungry. not impressed by that.
MONEY: They use pesos. approximately, one CDN or US dollar is roughly around 30 pesos- give or take a bit on the exchange rate. just so you are aware. Be aware that if you use their local ATM machine, there may be a $10 US or more charge for the transaction. Also, when trying to make change at the lobby, they only give you pesos- regardless if you offer CDN or US money. I would recommend you bring lots of $1 bills with you. They will take either pesos, cdn or us money.
ROOMS: The rooms were very clean. They kept up with the maintenance. Usually our rooms were cleaned about 11-12 noon. There is a mini fridge in the room with their local beer, pop and a bottle of wine. They had a bag of chips in there and one fun-size chocolate bar- no matter how hard i tried to get them to restock the chips and chocolate- they failed to do so. but the beer was stocked daily. Someone comes around usually mid afternoon- when youre out and about and restocks it- although a couple of times they didnt.
The use of the safe is not included in your room- we opted to use the safe- and paid about $36 CDN for the safe- they give you a lock and key which attaches to the safe. so its not a digital numbered safe. King size bed with a tv- they have local british news channels which had regular football matches on tv, as well as cnn. and some local spanish stations. about 6 stations have Gran Bahia Principe stuff around the clock.
Bathrooms have a built in clothes line above the bathtub as well as jacuzzi jets in the tub (too bad i figured it out on the 6th day!)
STAFF: Extremely friendly and very very hardworking. They are always on the go keeping everything neat and tidy. The grounds are immaculate. They clean up the table very quickly and efficiently. They dont hustle for tips like at other resorts. Always ready to please. Very impressed.
Overall, the beach was a break it factor for me. i wanted a sunny sand and ocean type of trip. i found it busy, there were too many people in this huge resort. the beach was not attractive and i would not recommend it again.
Any qu, i would be more than happy to answer.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
