TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Here is my honest opinion about this resort. First off the location was convenient 40 minutes from Cancun airport and 30 minutes from Playa Del Carmen downtown which made it easy to explore the town. But about the hotel Let me start by saying don’t go expecting 5-star service. The hotel itself was very clean and newly renovated, the rooms were very nice. Even though we booked a garden room view; we didn’t get that, we couldn’t even see anything at all. I would say the service was poor; we felt like they may have been understaffed. Hand full of employees were great which I’ll name them below and where they worked the rest were unhelpful. When we checked in we were not provided information about shuttle nor elevator, given is a huge resort they had shuttle around the resort that is supposed to come every 7 minutes at times we waiting 10min or even more and there is 2 elevators in the whole resort. The food in the buffet was always a hit and miss. Never the same taste; one thing I did not appreciate is if you don’t eat bacon or pork they did not have a vegetarian section for example if you wanted eggs they will cook the eggs where they cooked the bacon which made it hard for myself and husband to eat certain foods. The room service ended up being extra charge if you wanted to order food to the room which was not the case when we booked our trip. With that when our room was cleaned it wasn’t always restocked with towels, coffee, or water. One of the many times we requested those items we never got them; I had to call them at least 3 times before getting them, we then ended up getting it by 11:30pm which we were in bed my then. The daytime entertainment was poor; no info of where they are held we ended up figuring it out but they were kinda boring the most fun was the foam party. The live entertainment in the theatre was great though. The third-party salespeople were always after you to buy excursions even though you’ve mentioned many times you are not interested but yet they’ll keep walking after you and asking again. At the snack bar the staff were rude; I asked for nacho and they gave me it with pork on it I had mentioned no pork I said well it doesn’t state that on the board so I assume it didn’t have any the server huffed and throw it out; it’s like they’re always ready to fight or argue back with you. The food options after hours at night were there’s little to none except one restaurant, which is the Fifth Avenue, even then it was always busy with lineups because they always had one server serving everyone plus one person at the bar. Generally, we found that there’s only one or two staff members at the bars and at 5th avenue restaurant (after hours restaurant) or 9th avenue coffee shop there was only 1 staff member which made many people frustrated including us. The la Electra restaurant was better than a buffet; my favourite was the Japanese & Mexican. My husband had mentioned to one staff member we are here to celebrate my wife’s milestone birthday, and the staff responded “that’s great” instead of offering something special. He did end up speaking with concierge and they had surprised me with cake in the room which was very nice. Now that being said; like I said the resort was very clean; and relaxing, the pools were very nice and ocean was very nice. if you do not care about service or food then you’ll enjoy this place; be ready to walk at least 10k steps a day!! Special thanks goes to the great staff Jose and Pablo from concierge, who were always ready to help, moises from hikari, Pedro from La Vaqueria, Filipe from Mexican, Electra restaurant was very kind and helping us choose the meal and explaining what’s in it. Samuel from Sunset buffet, Monse from Maya Buffet, Fransico from Maya buffet, Yessica from sports bar were always cheerful and love to chat. Miseal & Benjamin from shuttle service were so kind always happy to pick you up from anywhere even tho you were not sanding at the “bus stop” and explained all The exotic animals along the drive & of course Enrique & Candidione from pool bar (last one before the beach) were always cheerful creating the best non-alcoholic drinks for us! Overall, I would go back to this resort only if they fixed their service stuff and better food options.

I was here on a solo trip and I absolutely loved it. It’s a truly beautiful resort and all the staff are just so polite and welcoming. Special mention to Erik on reception who checked me in. Nothing was too much trouble for any of the staff that I interacted with. Just wonderful manners. The beach had no seaweed whenever I visited which was a plus however the water was murky all the time but that cannot be helped. The food was amazing and I took advantage of the online app and booked my restaurant choices from there. I really had a wonderful and relaxing break and I will definitely be back here

Hotel Grand Riviera Princess — 5/5 Stars We recently wrapped up a fantastic 10-day stay at the Grand Riviera Princess and loved almost every minute of it. The resort gets so many things right. The grounds are impeccably kept, and the beautiful, sparkling pools were wonderful—a touch cool when you first step in, but absolute heaven once you're in. The sugary-soft beach sand was also actively cleaned every single day to clear away any seaweed. Dining was a major highlight. Unlike other resorts that strictly cap your reservations, we were able to enjoy an à la carte dinner every single evening! The concierge made the process super smooth—you can book up to three days in advance and then stop back to book the rest. Across all the bars and restaurants, the service was consistently top-notch. A massive shout-out goes to our bartender, Luis Vargas, who was beyond excellent—easily the absolute best bartender on the resort (10 stars if I could!). Our housekeeping was equally outstanding. Our room was kept immaculately clean thanks to our maid, Maxi. She was so sweet and thoughtful, even creating awesome towel art for us—a rare and special touch that made coming back to the room a treat. The only real downside to an otherwise brilliant trip was the coati situation. The resort is currently overrun with them, mostly because travelers ignore the rules and feed them, so they have zero fear of people. We had a swim-out room, but couldn't fully enjoy the patio setup because we had to keep our glass sliding doors locked from the inside at all times. If left unlocked, these little guys would slide open both the screen and glass doors to get inside—some guests even returned from the pool to find a coati sleeping in their bed! They’d also sneak up behind you at the loungers and knock over drinks for the sugar, which unfortunately attracted swarms of wasps. We saw multiple people get stung as a result. Despite the overly bold wildlife, the resort itself is fantastic, and the incredible staff made it an unforgettable vacation.

We stayed at the Grand Riviera Princess for a week. And unfortunately, the experience was pretty disappointing. The renovated rooms are actually very nice, comfortable, modern and probably the best part of the resort. Unfortunately, that's where the positives mostly end. The buffet gets repetitive very quickly. It's basically the same food every day, and after two or three days you really get tired of it. You would think the à-la-carte restaurants would offer a welcome change, but they were even more disappointing. The sushi restaurant was particularly bad. I ordered sashimi and it arrived still partially frozen. At an allegedly five-star resort, that's pretty unacceptable. The resort also seems chronically understaffed. There are long waits for drinks and service often feels stretched thin. The Wi-Fi is unreliable and constantly requires reconnecting, which gets frustrating if you need to get any work done. Then there is the ridiculous pricing. They wanted US$12 for a bag of chips and US$30 for contact lens solution. At one of the à-la-carte restaurants, they were trying to charge US$120 for lobster. Seriously? At an all-inclusive resort? It feels like they're constantly looking for another opportunity to squeeze money out of guests. One of the biggest disappointments is how little there is to do beyond the resort. We visited Fifth Avenue in Playa del Carmen hoping for a nice afternoon of shopping and exploring. Instead, we found overpriced tourist shops, aggressive vendors constantly approaching us, and an atmosphere that felt uncomfortable and at times unsafe. It was exhausting rather than enjoyable. The whole experience starts to feel repetitive after a few days. Same buffet, waiting around for service, limited things to do, and expensive extras everywhere you turn. It's a shame because the renovated rooms show that some effort has gone into improving the property. But nice rooms alone don't make a five-star vacation. For what people pay to stay here, the food, service and overall experience should be considerably better. I genuinely struggle to understand the appeal of returning here. There are far better ways to spend your vacation money.

The staff, the food, the rooms were great. The only thing I hated was the Mexican raccoons that would swarm the pool areas and drink peoples drinks and food. The staff didn’t shoo them away. It was a lot. Just be cautious if you don’t like small animals avoid.