Grand Riviera Princess All Suites and Spa Resort

We stayed in the Platinum Riviera building and really enjoyed ourselves! The check in was quick and easy, although we were early and had to wait a few hours for our room. There is a little bar there with snacks and really great wait staff, couches to hang out on while you wait. The pool area at the platinum is small but very nice and comfortable. It was nice having an area away from the busy-ness of the main resort. Our room was large and nicely appointed, with a good mattress. I will say the pillows were quite hard, but they do have a 'pillow menu' if you wanted to change. The spa bathtubs in and out of the room were also quite nice. The in-room safe worked perfectly (as I saw many reviews stating they didn't work). We used room service once and the food arrived hot and was very good. The main pool areas had lots of loungers but they all were taken by 7 or 8 am every day. Often times, chairs with towels on them sat empty all day long. The resort needs to do a better job of "policing" the chair savers..... not cool. The pool water was a bit low, teh jetted areas weren't working because the water was below the level of the jet. But the water was warm, which is something I really like. The store near the pool has an air compressor so you can fill your own floatie. My favorite pool area thing was the fajita "truck"! Everyday they made fajitas and it was the best food! Beef, steak, chicken, fish, all kinds of options and all the toppings, delicious! The beach is very large and has tons of shady areas and palapas, loungers and comfy beds in the platinum section. The service in the platinum area was fantastic! The main beach area only had one bathroom, so that was a bit of a wait all the time, it was faster to walk back to my room to use the toilet. The food down at the beach was really good too. My only complaint about this area would be the ocean itself. There is no breakwall or reef so it was very rough, lots of seaweed washed up, and a crab or something pinched my toe the only time I did venture into the water! The only restaurants we did not eat at were the italian and japanese. The only one I would say not to bother going to was the gourmet - it wasn't that great. But, we dined at the gourmet near the platinum side, there is another one up at the main building and it was likely much better as several other people raved about it. The buffets were good, very clean and the food was kept hot or cold, no worries about food borne illness (I am usually the one who gets the upset stomach). Lots of selection and many things I've never had before which was nice. Service was pretty good, however, if you order a cocktail or drink other than wine, it seems to take a long time. The a la cartes were very good, great service and they didn't mind if you changed things by only ordering appetizers. The service at the a la cartes was excellent! The resort is VERY large, so there is a shuttle to take you back and forth, but if you walk up the middle of the resort it doesn't seem as far and is a lovely walk with lots of wildlife. We went into the Chill Out just to look around and it didn't seem like anything special and so we didn't bother eating there or using their services. The cab company they use is awesome, went into Playa del Carmen one day and had a great driver with lots of suggestions for what to do and where to go. We felt very safe with him driving. He came back to get us when the depot called him. We also used the cab service to go back to the airport, and man it was fast! We made it there in record time I am sure but again, very safe and it was less than the Super Shuttle cab we took on the way to the resort. I forget exactly how much, but Super Shuttle was around $67 and the resort cab around $50. The spa is OMG fantastic, the hydrotherapy circuit is amazing with super strong jets (I thought my fat roll around my gut might blow right off, alas, it's still with me). The massages we booked were awesome, very relaxing and great for sore stiff muscles. All in all, a really great trip. I wish the ocean had of been nicer (calmer or a reef installed) as I prefer to swim there vs the pools, but for the cost of the trip this was a really good value!

We (a group of 10 family and friends) stayed in The Laguna Villas September 4-11, 2018, to celebrate my daughter’s 30th birthday. My husband, daughters and I have stayed in the Villas several times previously and are huge fans. We were excited to share the “Villa Experience” with the friends/family that were traveling with us this time. Approximately a week in advance of our arrival, I sent an email to the Villas’ concierge letting them know how very excited we were to be returning and also asking that our groups’ rooms be located as close together as possible, as well as to request a dinner reservation for the 10 of us on the evening of our arrival, my daughter’s birthday. On September 2nd, we found out, via a social media fan page, that the Villas were closed for remodeling for the near future and that guests were being relocated to the Platinum Yucatan Princess next door! Although I’m sure the PYP is lovely, it was not at all what we had envisioned for this celebration and were not thrilled that we had talked guests traveling with us, who had never been to Mexico, into visiting a completely unknown, to us, resort. I reached out to Ana J on their Social Media team for confirmation from the hotel that this closure was accurate. It was accurate; Villas closed and guests being relocated to PYP. I expressed how disappointed we were, but Ana was gracious and assured me that our stay at PYP would be wonderful and that we would be well taken care of. Still not ready to give up, I sent an email to the Villas’ concierge asking what the anticipated timeline for the closure might be and if there was any chance we might still be able to stay in our much-loved Villas. Gabriela Valencia responded right away saying that they were doing everything in their power to make a few of the Villas available for us, but the chances were slim they would be ready upon our arrival. We decided to make the best of it and just be excited about the PYP. The night before we were to fly out first thing in the morning, I received another email from Gabriela stating that they were scrambling with final details to make a portion of the Villas ready for occupancy and that they WOULD be able to give us the rooms as we requested! She also confirmed the birthday dinner reservation for 10 our first night! I was beyond thrilled and relieved! At check-in, we were greeted as if they were anticipating our arrival and were also immediately handed an icy cold glass of bubbly. The newbies with us were so wow-ed! We were all assigned rooms in Villas right next to each other! Again, excellent customer service. After unpacking, we all headed to the Villas’ pool and were warmly welcomed by Manny, our most excellent concierge. He made a point to tell us that they had worked incredibly hard to get a small portion of the Villas and some of the surrounding lagoons ready “just for us”. I assumed that this was a tiny exaggeration to make us feel special, but seriously, for the first couple of days of our stay, we were the ONLY guests there! It felt like we had a private pool, our own private bartender and server (big shout-outs to the great Juan and José), as well as being looked after by Manny, our Concierge Extraordinaire! Seriously, what kind of resort goes to those lengths to assure the happiness and satisfaction of their guests? A great one, and Grand Riviera/Sunset Princess is truly a great one! Would also like to mention the tremendous service we received from Ruben in La Vaqueria and also from Miriam in both La Vaqueria and La Hacienda (busy girl)! Oh, and I mustn’t forget Claudia on the Entertainment Team. My daughter, Alex, may be her biggest fan! She was so fun, friendly and engaging. Tremendous asset! Breakfast in the Chill Out section for Villa guests is new since our last visit and we loved it. It’s great when a resort is able to mix things up a bit every now and then - it keeps things feeling fresh and new for repeat guests. Taco cart and burger carts were also new to us this time and big thumbs up for both! We have stayed at many resorts on the Yucatan Peninsula - some much more expensive, some less expensive - and the service and care we received this trip go above and beyond what we’ve ever experienced. Thank you, Grand Riviera/Sunset Princess for a wonderful vacation! Can’t wait ‘til we’re back for our fifth visit! Five stars! ??????????

I read so many reviews before coming so I feel like I have to write how my experience was. I was stunned when we first checked in at how huge this resort is. It's like its own little village. Every inch of it was beautiful and there are workers everywhere working very hard. We stayed in the swim out room which was really great. The only con was that there were always people outside on the chairs across from our room so we had to keep the curtains closed if we wanted to change, etc. My biggest complaint was the food. We had great service and the food came quick at every restaurant we went to, but the food just wasn't very good. We paid about $100 for a meal at the chill out so we could get access to the beach club. We really liked the beach club, there were always chairs available and the drink service was great. The food at the chill out was okay, but we still could have gotten better steaks at Texas Roadhouse for a third of the price. The a la cartes and buffets were also disappointing. We honestly didn't enjoy the food at all. I look forward to good food on vacations so that was a real bummer for me. We also found it difficult to find chairs at the pool. We would get up at 10 am to go to the pool and not many people were out, but every chair would have a towel on it. We always managed to find 2 chairs somewhere, but once my boyfriend got burnt and we needed chairs in the shade, they were impossible to find. So if you have a bigger group and especially if you want a chair in the shade, you have to get up early and reserve chairs which we didn't like.

Here and mid-way through our trip. Platinum has been disappointing to be honest and I am pretty easy going. No welcome drink or cool towel upon check-in and no orientation from concierge. Computers were down so keys weren't working for two days and couldn't book any dinners ahead. When I went to book our 'special dinner' I was told 'it was last night'. No one said it was only once a week or offered to book it upon check in. The concierge support staff are indifferent and there is no effort to apologize, make it right or offer an alternative. Not sure the upgrade is worth it honestly. I've vacationed many times at Moon Palace at the concierge/member level and Grand Riviera Princess has a long way to go to approach their level of service. The resort is lovely but I couldn't recommend Platinum at this point in our vacation.

Check in could be quicker. Waited in line for a long time. The room we had was fantastic. Huge balcony. The bar staff at family club was fantastic. We did tip but were treated like royalty even before we did. Perfect resort for kids. AMAZING pools and bartenders/all staff were super friendly. We left a note in our fridge with a tip for extra beer and they left us a lot, not to mention a bottle of tequila and champagne. Beach is great. The sand is fabulous. The foam party is so fun. They could clean up the seaweed. Buffet is mediocre-good. Mexican was fab but vaqueria wasn’t good. We loved all the grills by every pool/beach. Don’t have to go far to find food. Resort overall was well maintained clean and our experience with the resort was fabulous. Only con we found was the medical service. The dr was absolutely lovely, but have to go to the hospital for testing for any prescription. I was worried my kid had a chest infection and I was told we would have to go to the hospital for a chest X-ray ($$$). I personally met 3 ppl whose kids got hand foot and mouth disease there. Instead of prescribing antibiotics, they were told they would have to pay 800 US to get tested at the hospital and medication on top for 500 USD. This IMO, is a complete rip off, cash grab of tourists. We were also told you can’t get antibiotics without a dr prescription. My husband jumped in a cab and returned from a pharmacy with amoxicillin in hand in 20 minutes. You CAN buy it OTC. Use your own judgement but be careful.