We have just returned fro a wonderful 10 night stay at the Grand palladium Kantenah. We stayed in room 4531. The room was spacious, bright & airy. We had e-mailed the hotel to request a high level floor in a quiet position & that is exactly what we we were given. Some reviewers have stated that the rooms are not up to five star standard. Yes the rooms are not exactly Grand, however we felt that they complemented the natural theme of the complex, and we were more than happy. We even received a phone call from reception to ask if everthing was ok with the room, Not had that before! The complex is huge,and spotlessly clean.We loved all the wildlife and it was great for early morning strolls.We were never bored. You soon learn to find your way around, there are maps to show you were you are. The transportation system is fantastic. A train runs between all the main lobby's, and there are buggies to drop you off to your room, if you dont fancy walking. The beach is lovely too just exacly what you would expect to see in the carribean. The food is fantastic in the 3 buffet restaurants, & there are plenty of a la cartes, including Chinese, Mexican, Brazillian, Japanese, Italian, Meditranian. Our favorite was, Ribs & More. Try the New yorker steak just melts in your mouth. You can visit all these as many times as you wish. Finally a word about the staff. I have never come across such happy, smiling,well presented, hardworking staff, on any of my travels. They are a credit to this excellent well run Hotel.

Our experience at the grand palladium royal yucatan suites was in one word- awesome!! We went through apple vacations. Our apple representative were very helpful- thanks geraldo! He helped us plan an excursion to jungle maya which I highly recommend!
The Grand Palladium is a very large resort and we stayed in the adults only section which was nice. We had our own restaurant is the royal section- el jardin. They were open for breakfast and dinner. The omelets there were delicious as well as the fondues were my very favorite. There were some perks of being in the royal section. There was top shelf liquor, your own golf cart service, unlimited towels, and free lobsters at ALL restaurants!! The staff was excellent. The bartenders were very friendly and remembered your drink orders after a few days. Jose Luis in the royal lobby was a wonderful bartender, as well as the two at the royal pool. They would serve you drinks poolside. The golf cart drivers also served as entertainment. Pedro was always ready to take us where we wanted to go. The beaches were beautiful and the pools were very clean. There was maintenance crew was daily updating and maintaining the resort.

Overall, great relaxing vacation at the grand palladium through apple vacations!! Will be back for another vacation in the future!!

Elise from Pennsylvania

went for 2 weeks in november with family and i must say ive never seen so many people in one place with broken bones. the lobby is amazing but problem is the floor is marble and is exposed to the elements. a combination of sand and rain on these sleek floors makes for disaster. family member broke her ankle on our 1st night there. a poor lady fell in the main lobby after getting off the shuttle which was escorting her daughter who had fallen earlier and was in a neckbrace. ocean is beautiful but the shore was covered in rocks. you had to crawl on your hands in order to prevent your feet from getting cut up. wont be back!

This was our first trip to the region – family of four – kids 7 & 6 years old. Rocky start but improved greatly.......

Check In: The reception staff at the Riveria are not the most welcoming or the most efficient. We were missing a number of items from our white envelope, including cards for the beach towels. If we had a question or wanted to exchange currency, we found it a much more pleasant experience dealing with the staff at the Colonial reception.

Rooms: We stayed in building 66. The rooms are very spacious, with a jetted tub, sink, two double beds and a sofa bed. The shower and toilet are separated from the main room by glass doors.

We were escorted to our room by a very helpful Club Car driver. We immediately noticed that the cover was missing from one of the beds and the sheets were stained. The driver called housekeeping and told us someone would be on their way to replace the sheets immediately. Thirty minutes later I called reception as no one had arrived at it was now 11.30pm. They told us housekeeping was not aware of any problem but they would come over right away. Having waited a further 30 minutes I called and asked to speak to a manager. I was told they would call me back (which they never did). Having waited 1 hour 20 minutes someone finally arrived and changed the dirty sheets. As mentioned in other reviews the bedding needs updating – I don’t mind it being old but it has to be clean!

The kids were really excited about using the jetted tub as we do not have one at home. Their excitement was short lived when they saw the black gunk that came out of the jets. We tried running water through the jets a further three times with no better results. I did ask the housekeeper if she had anything to clean the tub but all she had on her cart was “Shine Spray” no sign of disinfectant or ideally bleach!

We were on the second floor of Villa 66 – there are no hand rails on the stairs – there was a permanent sign saying the floor was wet (and some of the time it actually was). Unfortunately on one occasion one of the children slipped on the stairs and badly grazed their leg. We went to reception and within minutes a security guard/medic was taking care of the wound.

Getting About: Yes the resort is huge and it took me a few days to get my bearing. There are a number of ways of getting around; the covered walkways through the mangrove are really unique. There are Club Cars/Golf Carts running to the villas and all reception area of the resort. We had no problem getting anywhere.

Kids Clubs: There is different activity planned every day (in one hour increments). My kids went there for a short time most days – you sign them in but I was never once asked to sign them out (this made me a little nervous). Also, they are taken from the Kids Club to the pool as noon every day, the staff are supposed to apply sunscreen to each child before they go – my youngest (6 yrs old) is very fair skinned and burns easily so I made sure that there was sunscreen available for him. Needless to say it was not applied and he burnt! There is no Kids Disco although it is advertised every night – the staff said that no-one ever turns up for it so they watch a movie instead.

The Food: We loved the food – there was lots of variety at the buffet and we also enjoyed the A la Carte Restaurants – the Mexican and the Ribs and More were great!

Bar Staff: One word! Awesome! Quality of the alcohol was very good and the staff were very friendly.

Shows: Night time shows were amazing – great entertainment staff and the Dancers were terrific.

Beach & Pools & Salt Water Pool : Excellent!!! White sandy beach on one side to rocky pools filled with beautiful fish on the other side. Pools and pool areas were very clean with lots of sun bed availability.

Wildlife: Amazing. Crocodiles, iguanas and fish galore

Recommendations:
Bring one dollar US bills – tipping in not necessary and very few people were tipping but everyone loves money!!
Bring ample sunscreen – we ran out and it cost $35 dollars US ($9 Walmart)
Bring a Spanish phrase book – surprisingly very few of the staff spoke English and I spoke even less Spanish but at least I tried!

Relax & enjoy!