This hotel was horrible! The food was awful. It took them 45 minutes to find my reservation - which I had a printed confirmation of. The staff was not friendly and did not seem to like Americans - at all. The building could use a remodel. The bed is hard as a rock. The towels appeared stained or not clean.

We booked this All Inclusive (A.I.) resort package through Orbitz, and it has been a nightmare especially when we were told we did not pay for A.I. even after showing our confirmation, and even after talking with an Orbitz Rep., still hassling with refund. The grounds are beautiful, and as others said watch out for all the stairs steps as the resort is on a cliff, the rooms are equal to Motel 6, and it's a shame as it was great I'm sure at one time. The food is ok, well presented but limited, same menu for lunch and dinner, there is a buffet breakfast. Staff unfriendly. Best suggestion if you want to stay here (please don't) but if you do, don't get the A.I., instead enjoy all the resturants within walking distance, especially Munchkin's great great food and drinks, also Casa Cowboys across from the Holiday Inn (which by the way would be a better place to stay). If you're going, e-mail us for a few contacts we can connect you with. There's some great people there. We plan to go back next year, renting a house or condo, better rates, check online at whatsupmaz.com.

My wife and I spent the first week of 2008 here. First the GOOD. Make sure you get an ocean front room. The view is fantastic. The rooms are very large and quite adequate. Also, the hotel grounds are well kept and in a very nice secluded area. You have your own small private beach and if you walk to the left (south) you can also walk the beach for miles and see other hotels. The entire staff, especially the waiters and bartenders are very good. So good, we were glad to tip them even though tips were included. Now the BAD. It is only one thing, but a big thing for someone who really enjoys eating. The food is really poor. There is very little choices and it is seldom good. By far the best food available is when there is a morning chef to cook you up a fresh omelette. The second best, believe it or not, is to get a freshly made hamburger at the snack area. It is better than anything on the limited buffet. Instead of looking forward to our all inclusive meals, it was almost torture to go eat. So, if food isn't real important to you (but drinks and location are) this will be a terrific place.

I went to Mazatlan the last week of December. I am going to cover a lot of aspects here since I was a guest and have insider information since I speak Spanish. FOOD: The best you can do here is breakfast, and don't show up at the tail end of the time period of availability because who knows what will be left. The remainder of the meals are a mystery. If the "chefs" are brave enough to stand in the common area, they have serious problems answering questions regarding what the foods are, so I've basically termed foods as "mystery meat", "mystery stew", and "I know this is the 3rd time I've seen this fish". You're better off dining out. Plus, everything is incredibly salty, you may already know that this is a primitive way to maintain food, and they're using it quite liberally there. If you venture into the fruit area, the thongs used to pick up the food are always left in the food, so it's not sanitary. As for veggies, good luck finding fresh ones, tomatoes and lettuce are hard to come by. I think that's enough on this topic. DRINKS: If you like wine, forget about it, when it's available it comes out of a huge jug, the worst quality. Tips are included in the package, but that doesn't stop the server down at the beach from walking around with a necklace of US dollars, and if you don't tip him every time, he stops coming to you. Oh, and the bartender is not always there, so sometimes you have to hang around and wait, I actually got myself a beer on one occasion because it was a ghost town. SERVICE: The staff is seriously stretched at this resort. The waiters are very professional but seriously overworked. Sometimes the dining hall would just be filthy, used dinnerware every where, they just couldn't keep up. No matter the guest population, the staff was kept at the same level. Keep in mind that weddings take place at this resort, so when there is one, the same staff is used, and obviously pleasing the wedding party is the priority. I was also informed by them that this resort is one of seven owned by the hotel owner, and this resort is considered his lowest priority. The reason for this, it's sad to say, is that this resort is considered to be used primarily by locals therefore the owner doesn't feel that the standards need to be too high. Well, he/she needs to get on the ball because I spoke to many of the guests, and the culture is not to complain, but when you get them talking, they're more than willing to share their views...and they weren't positive! ENTERTAINMENT: There was one great "band", a duo, more like it, that did a great job of singing/playing music, the nights that they were there. I be-friended them as well. However, they're not there every night, so, that's the extent of the "entertainment" the resort supposedly offers. The hall that they played music in was filthy, the couches are stained and the tables are never cleaned off, so there are drinks and overflowing ashtrays everywhere...gross! The next day they're cleaned, but there's no one responsible for upkeep during the evening. BEACH: The beach is very rocky and the surf is very rough, I don't recommend vacationing on beaches located on the Pacific, it's not user-friendly. It was my first time doing such a thing, and I never will again, I'll stick to the Carribean and Atlantic going forward. And, again, it's not clean. There are drinks strewn about, cigarettes and some trash in the sand, tons of rocks so walking barefoot is not recommended and the chairs are sometimes downright gross. They run out of towels frequently and you always have to have a stupid card to trade in for a towel. ROOMS: The room was ok, clean, livable. The only annoying thing is that you have to sign a receipt for the TV remote and hair dryer. I mean really, I have no interest in stealing a remote or a hair dryer from the 1970s, thank you very much. TRANSPORT: The primary taxi type is what they call a pulmonia, and if you think that sounds like some kind of pulmonary disease, you're right! You will definitely have something along those lines after riding on one of those things...take the bus instead. Do these people know about global warming?? There's so much pollution on the main strip you can smell it in the air. I don't know how people jog along that strip, it's terrible. SURROUNDING AREA: Look, folks, there really isn't much to do around the area. The historical district can be done a couple of hours, there isn't much going on there. Other than that, there are no excursions worth doing unless you're into furniture factories. All of the shops have the same old mass-produced stuff, things that you can buy in any other touristy town in Mexico. OVERALL SUMMARY: Just skip Mazatlan all together, folks. There are so many other interesting/beautiful places in Mexico. If you're looking for something that's calm, safe, etc. try Puerto Vallarta. I recommend not having Mazatlan be a vacation destination. Good luck in your travels!