We just returned from a pleasant week (booked through our timeshare Mayan Palace) at Sea Garden. I was somewhat concerned after reading some of the reviews however I tried to keep in mind the positive ones. We are Mayan Palace owners so perhaps that helped. However when we arrived (requested high floor w/ocean view) and did get the top floor of main building but "mountain" view-w/lots of street noise. They did move us the next day to the opposite side, and more updated side - not ocean view but lower and that was ok. (warmer)

The second small BR has now been changed to a 1 BR (by RCI)which we used as an extra "den". They have changed the furniture in there to include a small table and lamp - pleasant, plus a nicer bed if needed - for a small child perhaps.
Yes the furniture is not as comfortable as it could be - they call it Mexican Modern - and the bed was firm, but not too hard. The kitchen looked as if it had been recently updated and nice. Small refrigerator but quite adequate. Small balcony but we could still sit there and enjoy the afternoon sun if we wanted.

The grounds were beautiful and everyone was extremely kind and polite. They even gave us a free dinner (with wine) of our choice because of the inconvenience of having to change rooms. Again I think perhaps it may have had to do with being Mayan Palace owners. We were just adamant from the beginning regarding our room.

We did go to the free breakfast and presentation - but were not highly pressured to buy. We just made it clear we could not. We got some nice discounts including a city tour which was fun. However, if you go on this "free" tour, which was much longer than stated - be aware that at the end they take you to a restaurant buffet at the end and don't tell you until halfway thru dinner it costs $20 each (heard this from someone else staying at Sea Garden) We were glad we had decided to take the bus back to the hotel before getting to the restaurant. We had not been told anything about this beforehand.(King David Tour company)

We have to say King David did do a good job in many ways. Their guides were very knowledgeable and nice. Before our trip we contacted the hotel regarding transportation from the airport and they put us in touch with King David Co who offered a free bus (very nice and new) to Sea Garden. We paid just $9 ea on the return.

Even though we are not "tour" people we did take their tequila tour one day and it was really nice. Not only did we see how it is processed and offered tastes, but also went to a lovely little village with a wonderful bakery and delicious lunch (reasonable - we were told beforehand lunch cost was not included) We got back at the time were were told. We can recommend it.

The pool areas were nice and didn't really have trouble getting a lounge when we wanted. The beach was lovely for walking a long way. Too many chairs/lounges too close together though so usually sat further away. It was cooler than usual so didn't swim - main pool not heated. No heat in the rooms - cold at night.

Food in the restaurant & by the pool was very good. Excellent service. We went there several times. Their small grocery store was quite adequate but for more and less expensive things took the bus to Mega, cab back.

We had been to Mazatlan before and it is growing a lot out in the "newer" part with another Marina, residences, timeshares, hotels, etc so in a couple years that will be quite nice. It is quite a big city with much older areas so prefer either Cabo or Puerto Vallerta. However, did enjoy our week. Depends a lot of what you want to do. We like to relax, walk on the beach, enjoy nice dinners and quiet places.

Our neighbors booked this trip through their RCI timeshare-it was last minute, so we took what was available. After reading the reviews, I was really nervous. I was expecting this place to be a dump!
Upon arriving, I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel staff was courteous, friendly, and helpful. Our room was great. It isn't the Ritz Carlton, but it is clean would have been big enough had we brought our entire family of 7! The only problem I could see with the rooms, are that in the "master bedroom", there is not much room to walk around, due to the size of the bed. Our friends said their bed was hard, but I didn't have a problem with ours.
The pool, beach, and restuarants were clean and the staff was always helpful and friendly.
The Conceirge at the hotel was awesome (Izzy). He gave us a lot of recommendations and was so fun!
I would highly recommend doing the Huana Coa Zip Line Tour. It is awesome!
Restaurants--Pancho's!! We ate there several times--It has great variety and a nice view.
Joe's Oyster Bar was almost a little scary--I love to dance and have drinks, but I can't say I found a good place to do that while we were there, unless we picked the wrong places and the wrong nights to go!
The Mayan Sea Garden is further away, and about a 7$ cab ride into the Golden Zone. Almost every cab ride we had was good, friendly and helpful. I speak very little Spanish, but enough to be able to communicate with the cabbies that didn't know English.

All and all, we had a great vacation, and I would choose the Sea Gardens again.

Booked via RCI for one week. Arrived at front desk and could not get the room that we had arranged. They also wanted us to attend a breakfast to sell us their timeshare package, which we refused. The rooms were fair, clean. Bed and pillows were hard.
Pools were cold and weather although sunny was pretty cold. Coctails were expensive but they had daily 2 for 1 specials and beer was pretty cheap. Dining at the hotel was expensive when compared to all the other places we went to and the food was ok. Lots of great places to eat downtown with shrimp served anyway you could imagine. The dining was definately better in all of the resturants we went to downtown. Staff at the hotel were always very nice and helpful and recommended many of the resturants we went to. Beach is brown and sea in that area is also dark. You get a whole bunch of local people who swarm you selling all sorts of stuff...pretty much the same as downtown. Always bargain for a fair price and you'll get it. I think that if I went to mazatlan again, I would stay downtown in the golden zone since that's where all the action is. It cost 6 us dollars (60 mexican) to go from our hotel to downtown in a golfcart. The bus is 8 pesos and ran every 15 minutes. They offered several tours. We went to stone island and the trip was okay, nothing spectacular. If you do go, make sure that Jugo is the tour guide. He was very entertaining. The Jungle tour I would stay away from.
Overall, I would say that emerald garden is not the best...but certainly not terrible.

February 15-23, 2008
We stayed in the new Mayan Palace building. It is furnished in modern cheap, however the kitchen is nice and clean and well appointed. It is not on the beach and does not have an ocean view except in 2 rooms on the top floor one of which is reserved for the "sales pitches." For the first two days, we overlooked the roof of the reservations area, then moved to the street side of the building, higher up and overlooked a construction site. Staff was marginally friendly, front desk staff uninformative, never told us we had to sign up 48 hours in advance for trip back to the airport and refused to make it right even though they admitted it was their fault. We are owners and have been treated very well at other Mayans so we were very disappointed. . I would never visit this one again. No spa, gym old and dirty, activities cancelled and even it they held them, no one told you where they were. Too Americanized. "Ola" always got a "Hello" in return. The "Mayan" update which they swore wasn't a sales pitch to upgrade was only a sales ptich for an upgrade. Food was marginal and expensive. Steak night we couldn't eat the steak, too tough. As is usual, the maids are the saving grace, very friendly and very attentive. Eat at Playa Bruha, great lobster.