Valentin Imperial Mayan Apr. 26 - May 3 2008

Previous trips to area: Xpu-Ha (XPH), Iberostar Tucan (IBT). References to "others" refers to these properties.

Booked 1 week at VIM through BookIt.com. Included some airfare rebate. No documents sent, all electronic.

Flight
US Airways. Left on time, staff cheerier than before. Flight left on time, 3.75 hours direct from Boston. Got 2 cookies.

Airport
Cancun airport has new terminal (2). Real gates (bridges to airplane), large air-conditioned waiting area in front of customs. Added check-in area a welcome addition with increased tourist traffic.

Transfer
Best Day transfer to hotel. Driver was falling asleep and weaving somewhat. Arrived safely.

Check-In
10 minutes wait to check in. Given refreshing cold towels. Others got sparkling wine, cocktails, they missed us.

Property
Brand new. Nice landscaping. Not so huge, easy to get anywhere. Lagoon and small pools are stagnant water, rather swampy and ugly. Fountains pretty.

The Room
Driven by cheery bellman to junior suite in building 5, ground level, close to pool and the beach. Good size room, nicely appointed. More elegant than others. King size bed VERY comfortable. Foam mattress not at all typical for the area (usually a rock hard slab). Lots of moody halogen lights, finding the right switch always confusing. Ceiling fan over bed. Couch facing TV. Very few surfaces to lay out suitcases and contents. Safe big enough for laptop, a nice touch. Porch area overlooks trees, with 2 chairs and table. Noise from pool workout annoying. Unpleasant drone from massive fans next to Mar and Tierra restaurants. No breeze (probably better higher up).

Bathroom
Good size, with glassed-in toilet and shower areas. Jacuzzi tub. One sink, very little surface for toiletries. Scale to track weight gain. No exhaust fan, gets very stuffy and steamy.

Other issues
AC did not work on arrival. Called for service, was told it was fine. Kept getting hotter, so called again. Finally 2 engineers looked at unit, determined it had not been connected to master system (all the rooms are connected to a master system, so a failure affects everyone). Connected the unit on the spot, temperature was better but not great - OK at night, barely noticeable difference from the outside during the day.

The Room Change
On the 2nd day, we decided to upgrade to a waterfront room (best rooms at the resort) in building 14, 2nd floor. Beautiful room with Mayan-style peaked ceiling, fantastic view of the sea, great cool breeze on the balcony. Better chairs for enjoying the view and the sound of the waves. Shower and sunken jacuzzi tub have spectacular views of the sea. 2 sinks, separate toilet area. When we arrived, the toilet did not flush. Told concierge, maintenance came, said it was fine. It wasn't. No change. Called again, 2 engineers came. Plunged toilet, made adjustments. Seemed OK. It wasn't, stopped working soon after. AC offline again (system failure, not the room), but not as much of an issue because of nice breezes. Director of maintenance examines toilet, fixes it again. Fails the next morning. Finally an engineer finds a big piece of plastic obstructing the outflow. Problem solved, finally.

The Food
1 buffet, 6 restaurants. Buffet open for breakfast, lunch, generally good, some things great (e.g. smoked salmon, guacamole, bruschetta toppings, tomatoes, chili. Almost everywhere margaritas the best I have had anywhere. Meats generally overcooked. Service mixed - sometimes good, sometimes non-existent. Buffet selection and quality not nearly as good as IBT.

Restaurants

* Lobster pot - grilled lobster tail OK. Small portions. Food cold.
* Mexican buffet in courtyard - not impressive. Limited selection.
* French (L'Alsace) - Onion soup boring, bland. Chateaubriand was marbled (!), ordered rare, served blue. Scallops stringy, portion for a hobbit. Vegetables OK. Skip it.
* Japanese (Ginger) - Excellent. Tempura nicely done. Sushi excellent. Sea bass cooked perfectly (unlike most meats and fish which are cooked to death at other restaurants). Soba noodles flavored beautifully. Fried ice cream and fried bananas very tasty.
* Mexican (La Hacienda) - Our favorite. Wonderful chicken mole. Very good grilled beef in a hot stone bowl entree, shrimp appetizer, tortilla soup. Desserts OK. Mayan coffee delicious, and a great show in itself.
* Tierra (beef restaurant by the sea), for lunch - Nachos OK. Kobe beef burger looked like burgers at buffet, nothing special. Little buffet OK, sauerkraut for hot dogs surprisingly good. Food probably brought in by cart from the central kitchen via a hidden loading dock in the back, lukewarm.

Generally - Would have liked to see more Mexican variety. Lots of people eating hamburgers and french fries - perhaps this affects the choices.

The Sea
Nice beach. Swimming area roped off, a few feet north of the path from the hotel. Great sand, no rocks inside ropes. Water in low 80's, very clear.

The Pool
Large. Nice swim-up bar. Plenty of rafts to lie on. Chlorinated salt water, refreshing.

Nice Touches
No towel cards. Concierge at each building helps debug problems. One touch calling for service, food, whatever (dial 0). Internet in rooms (bring a long cable).

Wish List
More selection of Mexican foods (XPH much better at this). Buffet at dinner. AC that works consistently, makes the room really cool (our second room had this). Wireless internet not just in lobby.

Other activities
We stayed mostly on the property. I did scuba. We canceled our snorkeling trip when my wife didn't feel well. Musical acts provided by the hotel rather pathetic.

Scuba
Dove with WetSet in Puerto Morelos. $15 taxi ride from hotel, 10 minutes. Paul runs a great dive shop. Personal service, nice people, no cattle boats. Book from outside Mexico to avoid taxes.

Check Out
We saw a girl dragging her suitcase to the reception area in the hot sun because her bellman did not arrive. Leave plenty of time. Bellman was late for us as well, ask for him to arrive 1 hour prior to van arrival time and call immediately if he's not on time. Did not get check out card from staff at reception when we settled the bill, porters at departure area didn't seem too surprised.

Final Comments
The property was a mixed bag but generally very good. Ocean front room was my personal favorite compared to other hotels. Food average by Mayan Riviera standards. Staff tries very hard. Beach above average. Natural beauty not up to XPH, IBT standards, may improve as trees grow in (hurricane wiped out many of the trees). Lagoon and stagnant pools need work, could breed mosquitoes in the Fall. We would not return, not because it wasn't a pleasant experience, but because there are lots of other places to try.

My husband and I stayed at the valentin from April 28-May 5,we were a little worried reading some of the other reviews about the water and electric,but we had no problems. We got to the Valentin and recieved the warm towel and glass of champagne.we also recieved an upgrade to an ocean front suite,our room was beautiful,bldg 13 and was close to both the beach,2 restaurants and the main swimming pool. The first day we took a couple of the bikes and road around the property getting a feel for everything,nice grounds. The activity center has table tennis,air hockey,foos ball,bikes,roller blades and darts that you can play. The gym is across from the activity center but is pretty small,not a whole lot of equiptment,they do have some classes though,they are listed on your paper you get with turn down service the night before. The food was really good,breakfast buffet,lunch either buffet or one of the 2 restaurants by the beach. We went to the Japanese one night and were talked into the habachi part,which was a blast,met some really nice people and really enjoyed the meal. My favorite was the french,least was the lobster pot. Also they have a small lunch menu at the pool bar,you just have to ask,its small,hot dogs,chicken wings, ect. . We also did an ATV excursion,on the beach,10 min from the resort which was alot of fun. Went to Playa one day,fun little trip lots of places to eat and have a drink and touristy shops. Overall great place to go,but hope that if we go again they will open another beach bar on the swim side of the beach and keep the pool bars open later than 5 pm...oh and just an fyi,bring chapstick...just relax and have a good time...

We stayed at the VIM April 24 to May 1. We had been to Iberostar once, Secrets Capri 2x and Excellence Rivieira Maya 2x so we had a decent frame of reference on Adults Only all inclusives.

All the prior reviews pretty much cover what you need to know. A few things that we used a comparison points.

Didnt think the breakfast and lunch buffets at VIM are a good as at other places - not enough "interesting/ non Americanized" type food/fruits etc. What they had was certainly good but didnt wow us. They had kind of what you expected. Felt the lunch and dinner places were fine- lots of it simply personal preference on what cuisines you like - Thinks Capri and Excellence rank a bit higher. The only food related thing we were not crazy about was that in the Japanese restaraunt, if you wanted sushi, you had to sit at the sushi bar. If you sat at a table, you got a limited menu. My wife doesnt like sushi, I do, and when we sat at the sushi bar, you could not order off the regular menu. The staff was nice about it but its really just a strange policy

Bars- VIM is the best. More bars then you know what to do with. While my wife got ready for dinner, Id get a maritini (or 2) from the main lobby bar around 6pm every night and on most nights, I was the only person in there. It got to be that as soon as I walked in, the bartender (Fillipe) would turn around and grab the bottle and start making it. In addition, the beach bars and swim up bars were never crowded and the staff remebered you. Not that you are trying to get hammered, but its nice to know you can a drink easily

Vibe- Very mellow- they way we liked it. Plenty of space and quiet to just do nothing.

Ground and construction. Nicest common bathrooms of any where stayed so far. They are built to be open air so they dont get that "sulfur" smell. The Lobby and restaurants were very nice. We stayed in a basic room and felt it lacked a little "polish" and they tried to jam too much stuff in the room.. A same category room at excellence is nicer and bigger.

Service was good/friendly/ fast. Loved Franquie/ Eddie and Freddie at the bar at the south end of the beach.

We are still trying to figure out if we loved it or just liked it. There wasnt anything that we hated, no problems with the AC or Hot Water, staff was nice and service was good, - so no reason to not go. For those that love the Adults Only AIs in Mexico, its definately a viable option. We try to go down every year and this will be one of the places we consider-- Probably just depends on the cost at any given point in time vs other resorts

We were referred to this hotel by our travel agent, as she visited the month prior, we trusted her review and just told her to book it. After I went online to read reviews, and I must say I was a little nervous because the reviews were so mixed, and people were saying the service was bad, food bland, boring no nightlife. barely a 4 star etc... ..... I was nervous.... but she reassured me.
Looking at pictures online there wasnt much info and I really dudnt know what we were getting into, and I was thinking we should have just doen our usual at a 6 golden apple in the Dominican.

I cannot say enougth good things about the Valentin! This was the BEST resort we have experienced. For the record we have traveled extensilcy throught the carribean (Domincan Republic being our most frequent return) and like I have mentioed we have stayed at 6 apple resorts.
The service, the food, the no hassle attitude here, was AMAZING!
Out all of my trips to all inclusive this was the 1st time I was able to have a Chocalate Martini or any kind of Martini.
We were there the week of Easter and the hotel was fully booked, but we never felt like the resort was crowded. No reservations are required at any restaurant, the most we had to wait was 20 mintues (and this is becaseu we wanted a specific table-outside), they give you beepers so you can go to the bar.
The beach was gorgeous and never a problem getting a chair, however my husband did have to get out beofre 0700am to claim a palapa- but even those opened up during the day.
We met so many great people, and enjoyed the food drinks, atmosphere.
The hotel does have a few quirks to work out, since they are so new, but nothing that could even intrude on a vacation. For example our phone didnt work when we got to our beatiful ocean view suite. But they fixed it right away, no issue. We had a beautiful jaccuzi with a window that opened up to the ocean, it was absolutly amazing! This place is going to get very $$ fastt, I resomend goign while its still affordable!