We just returned from 10 days at the GR Solaris, and found it to be wonderful in some ways, and mediocre in some others.
First the good; Our room was excellent, with a great ocean view. Housekeeping was great as well, keeping us supplied with towels, beverages, and towel animals at turndown most nights. We travel with our two teenage girls, and they loved the turndowns at night with the accompanying chocolates. The place was very clean throughout, with the exception of the upper pool in the afternoon. The concierge staff, especially Enrique'(Henry) was amazing, among the best we have experienced anywhere in the world. We also can't say enough about the lobby service people, solid all the way down the line. Most of the service people were friendly and helpful, and the shows at night were great, not Broadway caliber, but entertaining, especially for families.
The mediocre parts of this resort, in my opinion, are really a result of trying to cater to a younger, more outrageous crowd. There are three pools, upper, lower, and adult. There is only one bar to serve all three, and the bartenders, while competent, are somewhat testy, which is understadanble, considering the volume of liquor they are pumping out, and the number of drunks yelling at them. There is virtually no wait staff to be found to refresh your drinks, especially at the lower and adult pools.
The food, as has been mentioned here countless times, is spotty at best. The sit down restaurant, Marco Polo, tries too hard to be a gourmet experience, except that the food doesn't make the grade. The ambience is fine, as is the wait staff and the presentation, but the times we were there, after dinner, we shuffled off to the deli to find something we recognized to supplement our dinner. One night after Italian night at Marco Polo, I went back to our room with a bowl of Ruffles. And I generally don't eat snack food. There are enough options to satify your hunger, just don't hope for a good dinner at the end of the day.
The entertainment staff was okay, except for every sentence had to have either a sex or a tequila reference in it. I'm all in favor of both, but it got old pretty fast. Also, the lobby bar at night was so loud, we could hear the (bad) lounge band on the eighth floor.
There were a lot of little annoyances, but who needs that on vacation?
In my opinion, this is just a little fine tuning away from being an excellent resort. Get a few more service people, tone down the booze and sex references a little, and kick the food, (especially the dinner food), up a notch, and I would reccomend it strong
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC