This was our second trip to the Grand and it was as good as the first. We stayed 10 days from April 30 to May 10 for our 10 year anniversary. If you are DINKs like us, this is the place to go. Everything was perfect. Make sure you say hi to Rigo at the lobby bar and Christian the Star friend. They are both awesome! I went diving with Dressel Divers again and the service was good as always. The harbor was closed a few days due to rough water, but it calmed down. The dive sites south of Playa were still closed from a freighter hitting the reef and destroying it. Hope it opens up soon.

They have a new employee, I think his name is Dino, and he does the fitness and gym activities. This dude is crazy. I did a spinning class with him and he was yelling at me like it was football two-a-days! He can be heard by the activity pool yelling at women doing aerobics. Be careful with him!!!

Only have one beef with the resort, but will not stop me from going back a third time. We ate at the Surf and Turf for and a group of Iberostar big-wigs came in after us and got better service (they had the captain waiting on their every need.) They came in after us, got their food before us and had way better service. True managers would not have put themselves first, paying customers always come first. My wife would not let me say anything.....

The place is remarkable. It has the best beach and best service I have ever been to. It is truely a relaxing top notch place. If you have questions, please feel free to ask me.

We just got back from the Grand on Sunday night. I will try to put our wonderful experience into words - not an easy task! My husband and I stayed at the Grand for 4 days and 3 nights over Memorial Day weekend. We selected this resort after a lot of research and comparison with other area hotels and resorts. We definitely made the right choice! From start to finish, we had an amazing time. We booked through AAA, and flew nonstop from Washington Dulles to Cancun on United/TED. An American Express representative picked us up at the airport and took us to the resort in an air conditioned van. Check in was fast and friendly, and when they found out about our 10th anniversary, they upgraded us to an oceanfront room in building 71 at no charge! We had originally reserved an oceanview room. The grounds of the hotel are indescribably beautiful and very well kept. We enjoyed walking around and admiring the grounds but the staff will take you via golf cart to anywhere you want to go around the entire Playa Paraiso complex. The service was excellent - friendly and welcoming but never smothering. If we needed or wanted anything, all we had to do was ask. The majority of the hotel staff speaks English but it doesn't hurt to take a phrase book along (our choice was the Lonely Planet Mexican Spanish phrasebook) to practice your Spanish! Be prepared for lots of friendly greetings of Hola! We took about $150 in ones and fives along for tipping purposes. The staff works very hard to maintain this beautiful place and meet your every need, so it's appropriate to show your appreciation for great service. Our room was lovely, cool and spacious - marble floors, king size bed, sitting area, dining area, patio, and a big bathroom with his and hers sinks, a jetted tub, separate shower and toilet, and nice toiletries, including thoughtful touches like a sewing kit, bug repellent, etc. The minibar was fully stocked with a variety of drinks (beers, liquors, soft drinks, bottled water, mineral water, tonic water, juices) and snacks, and replenished daily. On our first day, they brought us a fruit basket and champagne with a personal note congratulating us on our anniversary! Ice was replenished daily as well. When we told the bellman that we enjoy rum and Cokes, they brought us a full bottle of Cuban rum! The first night we arrived too late to get a reservation at one of the a la carte restaurants so we went to the buffet for dinner which was very good. Our concierge made reservations for the surf and turf and the Japanese restaurants for the other two nights of our stay. We didn't get to try the gourmet or the Italian restaurants.

A word about the food - please keep in mind that this is an all-inclusive that caters to a worldwide clientele. They must offer a great variety of cuisines, and sometimes offering a great variety can dilute the culinary experience somewhat. Prime example - the Japanese restaurant. Do not come to Mexico expecting to eat the best sushi and tempura of your life - it's just not realistic to expect that. Having said that, the surf and turf was very good and the Japanese was acceptable too. We enjoyed the buffets as well, particularly the breakfast buffets. There is something for everyone there, whether you have American tastes or European tastes. I could have eaten grilled shrimp, lobster, chorizos and those luscious tropical fruits all day long. The strawberries and mangoes had a flavor that you just can't match in the U.S. The hot chocolate and the aguas frescas at breakfast were addictive - my favorites were the pineapple and the watermelon. The guacamole and pico de gallo were delicious and very fresh flavored. My husband really enjoyed a local seafood soup specialty whose name escapes me now. In short - you're in Mexico, so stick to what's local and authentic as much as you can. Try the local products, traditional foods, local breads and pastries, etc. And don't miss the tacos and crepes in the Playa Paraiso shopping center!

About the drinks - there is plenty of variety for both alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks. They are not stingy with the liquor, and it is top shelf. My favorite nonalcoholic drink was "Tiger" - which tastes like a pina colada with strawberry puree. I had several of those at the bar in the main building, across from the check in desk. Remember that since it's an all-inclusive you may be tempted to overindulge in the alcoholic drinks just because you can. Be careful, as you may end up paying the price the next morning! Personally, I didn't want anything to spoil my vacation, especially not a hangover. I am no longer a twentysomething whose idea of vacation fun is drinking all day and night. So I drank in moderation, alternating my alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic ones.

Our favorite place to hang out was the tranquility pool. This vacation was for rest and relaxation and that's exactly what we did. We staked out a cabana (plenty were available), snagged some big yellow beach towels (again, plentiful) and settled in for long mornings and afternoons of lazing by the pool, reading, napping, and enjoying drinks. I don't know whether or not the hotel was at full capacity, but we never experienced any crowding or shortages of towels, etc. - we felt like we were the only people there! The activity pool is saltwater, and more lively with music, a swim up bar, and Starfriends activities like water polo and such. No one will pressure you to join in any activities - you do as much or as little as you like. We also enjoyed the beach - very clean with white sand and plenty of palapas to escape the sun's rays. Take plenty of strong sunblock and USE IT! Cover every inch of your body with sunblock before venturing out in the morning. We saw lots of people walking around with patches of burned skin from all the spots they missed! The sun is strong down there. We brought bug spray as well but we never used it - no problems with mosquitoes at all.

Can't tell you about the evening entertainment. Since we were all about relaxing and catching up on the rest we've lost caring for our toddler son, we didn't have any late nights. But rest assured there are plenty of things to do after dark - the nightly shows, dancing at the disco, you name it.

Check out was effortless, and we were picked up by the American Express van and taken back to the airport in plenty of time to have lunch, buy souvenirs, and board our nonstop flight back to Washington Dulles. A perfect vacation - if only we could have stayed longer! This was our very first trip to Mexico but it certainly won't be our last. We were very impressed by Iberostar and plan to return to the Grand (or the new hotel they are building next door to the Grand), and we also plan to bring our son to one of the other family friendly Iberostar resorts in Playa Paraiso - probably the Paraiso Lindo, according to those trusty Tripadvisor reviews! We will be recommending Iberostar resorts to all of our family and friends.

My husband and I have traveled to many all inclusives in Mexico and the Caribbean. We have stayed at other adult only properties as well. This hands down was the best!! From the moment you arrive to the time you leave you are treated like royalty. We were upgraded to an OF-- what a nice suprise. The butlers and conceirge services were very efficient. We ordered room service once for breakfast, it arrived promptly and was hot and very good. The staff around the pool was wonderful, friendly and making sure everything was to your liking. Food was very good and you had the option to go to the other hotels in the complex which we did. Did not take advantage of the spa, but my husband did golf 3 times and loved it. Great course and very professional staff.

I stayed at the Grand from 29th April until 13th May with my boyfriend. Overall we had a good time but due to our high expectations we were a little disappointed with the few inconsistencies we experienced while we were there.

I’ll just briefly go over the things we really liked about the place although most of them have been mentioned before. The property is stunning and beautifully maintained. The pool areas are large with plenty of sun beds available throughout the day despite the towel reservation game that goes on (which we never participated in). The beach is large and beautiful and our end (in front of building 71) was very quiet. You never feel like the hotel is crowded even though it was apparently 90% full in our first week. The staff are very friendly and genuinely seem like they like their jobs and like the tourists. The food was generally much better than you experience elsewhere. There was a large selection available at the buffet restaurants and I liked the fact that you could choose food to be cooked in front of you ensuring that it was hot and cooked the way you like. We also absolutely loved the spa pool and gym and used both daily.

Now I’ll move on to a few disappointments and other observations. There seemed to be a bit of an issue with room service when we were there. On at least 4 or 5 occasions our room service orders never arrived or were incomplete. I’m not exaggerating, it became a bit of a joke in the end. It started on our first night with drink orders that got lost and had to be reordered and then food that never turned up. We ended up waiting for two and a half hours on our first night and things were still missing. Another morning we ordered some breakfast by calling room service from the phone in our room. When it hadn’t arrived after an hour I called our concierge who advised me that she would look into it. When I didn’t hear from her after another half an hour I went to see our butler who advised me that there was no record of our order and perhaps I’d not phoned the right number. I had pressed the button marked ‘room service’ on our phone and the lady who answered said ‘room service’ and took our order so I’m pretty sure I did it right!

We also found that when we ordered drinks around the tranquillity pool they often didn’t arrive even after asking two or three times over a few hours. This did however improve dramatically in the second week when the occupancy was lower. Again, in the breakfast and lunch buffet sometimes we were waiting for 10-15 minutes before our drinks orders were taken but we were on holiday and I didn’t mind being patient. We were annoyed one lunch time when a table of 6 men were being looked after by 3 waiters but we couldn’t get anyone to take our drink orders. We also had to ask several people several times for extra water and fruit juice in our room when we were ill.

We did however experience some excellent service in our two weeks. There was a young man who served us on the beach outside room 71 who regularly brought round water without us having to order it and the service at the evening buffet was also brilliant. We just felt that often someone would promise to bring something to our room in a particular timescale and then never appear which did get frustrating. The Grand is also the type of place that is designed to wait on guests completely rather than guests being able to help themselves. This being the case, if they are busy it is inevitable that guests will have to wait longer.

I really think that these issues were mainly because the occupancy was high in our first week and they were struggling to cope. We did tip generously throughout the two weeks even when things were late or incomplete so I don’t think that was the problem.

The only other thing I feel I should mention was that we were a little disappointed with the a la carte restaurants and felt that the buffets were much better. The steaks were good at the surf and turf but my chicken and shrimp starter did contain a piece of chicken that was completely raw in the middle which put me off a bit. We also both suffered food poisoning after visiting the Japanese restaurant. We eat sushi regularly at home and have a very varied diet and hadn’t eaten anywhere except the Grand up until that point so we do believe that something in our Japanese meal was responsible. Again, I’m sure we were just very unlucky.

I do think that I ruined the holiday a bit for myself by reading too many reviews and setting my expectations too high. If you go expecting a beautiful property with above average food and inconsistent service then you’ll be satisfied. I just chose to believe the good reviews and disregard the bad!

Oh lastly, we’d booked a standard junior suite but decided to upgrade to ocean front on arrival. We were quoted a price of $120 a night and told that they couldn’t do it for any less, even though I was a repeat Iberostar customer. Because I’d read in reviews that other people paid $50 a night I did manage to negotiate it down to $60 a night but they wouldn’t budge any lower than that.

Would I return? No. Only because there are so many other places in the world to visit and the Grand wasn’t quite perfect for us. I seem to be in the minority though. My advice to anyone who has already booked would be to stop reading reviews. Feel satisfied that you have booked a hotel of a high standard and then go and experience it for yourself.