We stayed at the Grand Mayan recently and had a great time. There were 7 of us that went (all 24 years old, some married, some single).

Positives: The resort is amazing, the staff is wonderful, the rooms are very clean, the restaurants are all nice. The staff is great - you never even have to leave your lawn chair if you don't want, and all the food is great - we went to every restaurant at the resort - Tramonto is fancier - but great food, Del Lago is wonderful, but a little spendy for the buffets - definitely try the breakfast buffet, Havana Moon is cheaper, but fun atmosphere. Also, try room service - it is reasonably priced and very good.

Negatives: It is hard to swim in the ocean right out in front of the resort, but we brought strap-on sandals and were able to do so. Do not take the shuttle into Playa Del Carmen - we did so and the taxi company blocked the shuttle bus in and wouldn't let us leave for 3 hours because apparently the taxi company and the shuttle company are at some sort of war to fight for customers. The Federal police ended up coming and put us in taxis back to the hotel. We requested to speak with a manager after the incident as we and our groceries sat on the bus for 3 hours, our friends worried why we weren't back, and we were scared and didn't know what to do. THe resort ended up giving each of us 2 free breakfast buffets - so a total value of $300 for our experience. Anyway, something to consider if you want to go into Playa (which is fun...and definitely worth it as groceries are so cheap there) is to just take a taxi round trip. 5th Avenue has plenty of shopping, awesome restaurants, and the beach is wonderful (pack your swimsuit).

Tips:
1. Pack comfortable sandals for walking!!! I recommend "Reef" sandals.
2. Pack strappy sandals for swimming in the ocean. I recommend "chacos or tevas"
3. We learned near the end of the week that if you walk up the beach around someone's personal residence (we had to walk in the water as they put a cement wall into the ocean) to the next resort over - they have a sandy beach and it is sand all the way out in the ocean - it was definitely worth the walk (nice for swimming). They have lifeguard towers right in front of where everyone was swimming. It is kind of a long walk - but worth it if you want to swim and play in the waves.
4. The snorkel trip through the resort is fun. You sign up at the activity shack on the beach. They take pictures of you and your group and charge you for a cd. A cd cost us $30 (so don't pay more).
5. Order the drink that comes in a pinnapple at the pool - it is great!

Have fun.

We stayed at the Grand Mayan from May 11th - 18th, and our stay was very enjoyable. All the staff were nice and accomodating, and the rooms were immaculate and very beautiful. Housekeeping came twice a day to tidy up and did a good job.

The grounds were also really pretty. It is true that the property is very large and buildings 8 - 12 are a 10 to 15 minute walk from the pool area. However, we never had to wait more than five minutes for a shuttle and were not bothered by this at all.

We ate at Tramonto twice, which was decent food in a fine dining atmosphere at very reasonable prices. Also ate at Havana Moon and Balche Snack Bar, and thought the food was really good. At Balche I highly recommend the Havana Wrap, yummy! Room service was also very good.

I highly recommend renting a palapa if you are going to spend a day by the pool. You have to go early in the morning to reserve it, lining up by the Balche Snack Bar by 6:45/7AM the latest. You can reserve for same day and the next day, but no farther in advance than that. It is $30 for the day, but if you spend that much in food and drinks they will take the $30 charge off your bill at checkout. Check your bill when you leave as they "forgot" to take it off ours until we asked. The palapas are great, you get a double bed as well as two lounge chairs and your own waiter for the day. Ours was right by the second pool bar and our waiter Victor was outstanding.

Just a note if you are looking for a wild time in Mexico: this would not be the resort for you. It is mainly older couples and families with their kids, so not too much of a night life unless you travel to Playa Del Carmen or Cancun, both about a 30 minute cab ride. We weren't looking for anything to crazy so this was fine by us.

All in all, we had a great stay and I would definitely stay here again.

My husband and I are owners at The Grand Mayan and this year we brought a total of 15 family members and friends during the week of 17-24 May. Not one of us was disappointed with our stay. We were all in Building 1, which made it very convenient to all the amenities. I do have to admit that if you are in Buildings 8-13, it is a distance to the pools, restaurants, fitness center, spa, and beach; however, there are shuttles to get you around if you don't want to walk. During one of our morning walks, we encountered Flamingo Island and two crocodile enclosures, one at the 19th Hole and the other near Building 8. As in all other reviews, the beach is rocky, but we are "pool people" so that didn't bother us. It was unfortunate, though, that we had very windy weather which prevented our 20-year-olds from going out on the jet-skis, but volleyball games in the pool kept them occupied. We also took advantage of the daily pool bar Happy Hour (2 for 1) and the "drink of the day." Most of our dinners were devoured at Havana Moon where we also danced up a storm to the music provided by our favorite Rock Band: Mobile. They're amazing! Another pleasant surprise was the new Habanera Grill, an "on-the-beach" dinner buffet and grill. The steak was out of this world, not to mention the chicken, ribs, burgers, hot dogs, and fish! The Breakfast Buffet in Del Lago didn't disappoint us either. Can you tell we all like to eat and drink? Our excursions consisted of Xel-Ha and Chichen Itza, both of which were fun and amazing, and both of which were reserved through the travel agency on-site at the Mayan Palace. It's so convenient to book everything through them. Another day, we took the shuttle into Playa del Carmen only to find out that although they dropped us off at the Mega Store, they were not coming back to pick us up! That was the only "catastrophe" of the entire trip. We found out that it was something "political" in nature; therefore, we had to resort to hiring 2 taxi vans to bring all of us back to The Grand Mayan. Truthfully, it was fun having 15 people there, but it was also a transportation issue, as you can imagine. As a side note, The Grand Mayan has not yet recovered from the fire they had in January. The new shops, pool, and Grand Mayan Lobby are all still under construction with, I believe, an estimated completion date of 6 months. It will be amazing once they do finally finish it. Well, this review is a lot longer than I thought it would be and I still haven't covered everything. Suffice it to say that we all absolutely LOVE The Grand Mayan. Your stay will be what you make of it. Enjoy!

This resort was beautiful and the people were very nice and helpful.
Our disappointment was the size and the distance that we had to walk to get to everything. The beach was horrible.....rocks and boulders everywhere that it was not a beach at all.

The pools were beautiful and we enjoyed them.

Beware of the 90 minute resort spill.......it took 3 hours and they were very pushy and kept you captive.

Unit had no dishwasher or washer-dryer and it was very expensive to wash your clothes.