Grand Mayan Acapulco

[Myhottoddy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Myhottoddy]

Will be visiting the the Grand Myan starting Jan 13. Any recommendations for travel from the airport and less expensive transportation to grocery or Walmart is appreciated. Also dining recommendations to avoid busting the budget.

Thanks
Tom

[mlbyron Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mlbyron]

re: gm aca

We really like the SeaGarden restr. A trolley takes you from door to door,
takes about 5min. Taxi to Walmart 15min. has subway & pizza & ice cream.
taxi is supposed to be less(will negotiate) if you use the ones off to the left of the lobby instead of the ones allowed at door.
Owners have free transport from airport by resort($15 ea. non owner)pre arranged.
Otherwise get the taxi or van outside the terminal. Inside is said to be more-
beware of timeshare/taxi inside. When we were there bus service wasn't a choice outside of town. It looks like that will change as the area is growing.
mary

Will be visiting the the Grand Myan starting Jan 13. Any recommendations for travel from the airport and less expensive transportation to grocery or Walmart is appreciated. Also dining recommendations to avoid busting the budget.

Thanks
Tom

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Will be visiting the the Grand Myan starting Jan 13. Any recommendations for travel from the airport and less expensive transportation to grocery or Walmart is appreciated. Also dining recommendations to avoid busting the budget.

Thanks
Tom

Shoot I think I just threw out the phone # for the private driver we had. They were cab drivers that are working on there own. I will look to see if I still have it but I don't think so.

[pittle Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pittle]

If you are a beer drinker - go to OXXO instead of the Sea Market. You can use the free trolley. Prices are less at OXXO.

We also like the Sea Garden restaurant for lunch or dinner.

There is an Italian restaurant not far from the resort. I cannot remember the name of it. Ask folks around the pool for suggestions.

[Myhottoddy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Myhottoddy]

Fellow Jayhawher

Thanks for the beer drinking tip. 1971 KU Electrical Engineering

Tom

[marcmuff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close marcmuff]

I posted this about a year ago after our trip to Acapulco: May still be useful.

This was our first trip to Acapulco and our first time in the Mayan Palace anywhere. We got our 1-bedroom unit on Saturday in a very bad location - Room 139 - Construction going on outside the patio door (Monday-Saturday). We all (4) stayed there Saturday night. I also had a 2-bedroom reserved for Sunday. They were going to put us in Rooms 121 and 122 - they are on the gound floor in the building they are demolishing - about 4 units down from the destroyed units.

I offered to pay more or do anything to get an ocean view - so she finally talked to her supervisor and, if I agreed to give up the 2-bedroom unit (I had to sign off on that), they would give me a room with a partial view. We were on 6th floor in the Uxmal Building. I don't believe they care much for RCI exchangers. LOL. The advantage to having the unit Sunday to Sunday was that we could stay in the room after the others checked out at 10 a.m. Saturday. We left about 1:30 p.m. The staff still can't figure out why we were leaving early and why they couldn't clean the room as usual--even though we checked out at the main desk.

I hope you who are going in the near future have good luck getting an ocean view. You need to be persistent and even take a tour if necessary. There is plenty of paperwork you can take and show the sales people when they start telling you a bunch of lies and that you don't know what you are talking about.

We probably won't go back to Acapulco because the air fare is more than Cabo or Mazatlan, but I wanted to go at least once. My husband said he wouldn't go to another Mayan Palace. Like I said there was no hot tub and the pools closed at 7 p.m. - and there was no swim-up bar.

They only asked us once if we wanted to take the "tour" - not sure what they were offering, but I was holding out for cash. LOL. They never called back and I didn't want to appear too eager, although I had plenty of ammunition - paperwork from EBay, Cheap Rentals on RCI, etc.

I was able to convince one man we met on the shuttle not to buy at MP. He was staying at the Sea Garden. He did a google search on the internet at the store while I was there and came up with a whole page of "Mayan Palace Lawsuits". He was eager to tell them "no way".

I talked to someone who was staying in higher rooms in the "demolition" building (Units 521 and 522, I think) with her parents who were owners. Guess they had an ocean view and she said the noise didn't bother them. The only way to get from that building to the pools etc, inside the grounds was to go out to the road and come in through the main gate or the "north" gate, which is where we caught the taxis.

From looking at the map they gave us, it appears that it is the Bonampak Building they are demolishing. I don't know where the Marisco Restaurant was located, but it was closed when we were there.

I don't know if the new construction is for the Mayan Palace or not. The building just to the north of our building looks almost completed and it is tall (as you can see from the pictures). Also they filled that "round thing" with water while we were there, but don't really know what it was. Maybe a huge hot tub. By the way, there was no "hot tub" outside at the MP and the pools closed at 7 p.m.

The Grand Mayan building is really nice. The Brio on the lower level has a spa and steam room and exercise room, etc. We didn't use any of that.

I think it is okay to drink the water at MP, but we didn't like the taste of it, so we bought bottled water several times at Wal Mart and once at the Mayan Store (near the Sea Garden - free shuttle to get there). I think it was about 40 cents for a 500 ml bottle at Walmart and 50 cents at the store. There was one bottle in the bathroom and we used that. I think they charged 120 pesos for that. Coke Lite (bottle) was 90 cents at the Mayan store and (I think) 60 or 70 at Walmart.

We went to Walmart several times. $5.00 taxi there and back - it's best if they wait for you or come back because the other taxis don't bring you directly back to the "north" gate where we caught the taxis. That gate (probably the employees' entrance) was only a few hundred yards from Unit 139 where the other couple stayed and the ice machine was right across from their unit. Inside the small building where the ice machine was there was a laundry room and they also sold ice cream bars and cones, etc. there. We got ice cream three nights when we were playing cards.

I mostly wore shorts and tops or sundresses over my swimsuits the whole time we were there. You can't get into the Mondo (in the Grand Mayan) with a swimsuit, however, even if it isn't wet. I wanted to go to the Cyber Cafe, but only had a swimsuit and coverup, so they wouldn't let me in.

When we went to the El Mirador to see the Cliff Divers I wore a long skirt and top. The men wore shorts - We ate at La Perla Restaurant there. It was $39 per person for the 3-course dinner and show. The food was wonderful. We paid our taxi driver (taxi number 1212) $40.00 and he took us there (about a 35 minute drive) and was there to take us back. We even had to make a stop at Wal Mart on the way home.

That is the only time I left the resort area except for the trips to Walmart. We bought souvenirs (even clothing - shorts, tops, t-shirts) at Walmart. I don't enjoy the beach vendors and definitely didn't want to go downtown to the market. They did have a few beach vendors in front of the resort but nothing I wanted to buy.

They were selling jewelry (beads) and key chains, etc. at a table right where they do the ceramic painting and I bought a few things there.

[samsarmy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close samsarmy]

My wife and I stayed there last November. You can negotiate a cheaper cab fare at the resort itself if you go just 100 yards out to the street, instead of using the cabs at the front entrance. You're still a 20 minute-ride from town and the fares can add up during a week.

We walked 15 minutes one-way to Wal-Mart to buy groceries. The cab fare GM wanted was $8 each way I think. Cabs in the street took $5.

Mike

[rklein01 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rklein01]

We were fearless and rented a car.
It's a short easy drive from the airport to the Grand Mayan/Mayan Palace .
And there's a nice chicken restaurant just outside the entrance at the main road (which would be a mile walk down the access road from the lobby if you didn't have a car).

We also drove to a disco in the Diamante district (about 5 miles from the resort), and into the center of Acapulco (about 15 miles and serious city traffic), and to the cliff divers (about 20 miles on the far side of Acapulco) and once to a fancy restaurant in the City which we only found by pulling up to a taxi stand and negotiating a couple of dollars for him to drive to the restaurant with us following behind.

So we saw a lot more than we would have without the rental.

[samsarmy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close samsarmy]

We were fearless and rented a car.

Yeah, that was a lesson learned for us. If we go back, next time we'll get a car. The resort is a good ways away from town.

Mike

[Myhottoddy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Myhottoddy]

Back from Grand Mayan Acapulco

Thanks for the fore warning on the bait and switch routine. We had a reservation for the Grand Mayan (Jan 13 -20). So sorry the room is not available, we can give you an ocean view studio in the Grand. I went balistic and the clerk agreed to move us to the 1 BR GM on Sunday and provide us with 2 meals for two adults for the inconvience. I did not trust him and asked for the deal in writing. They did come thru with the 1 BR plus about $100 in meals which tempered my displeasure. The "studio" does not have any kitchen facilities, not even a coffee pot. The BR was very nice but maid service was inconsistant at best. We agreed to the 3 hour sales presentation since Sunday was mostly wasted with waiting for the room change. This was the longest sales tour I have done. I thought MP would pay us to take a week in the end!! The reward was two tickets to the Havana dinner show worth about $49 each.

I mostly drank the GM water and used the ice machines. Not sick this time.


Tom

[rklein01 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rklein01]

Our reservation was for Mayan Palace Acapulco 1-BR. At checkin they offered an upgrade to GM 1-BR if we'd agree to take a tour. When I said I'd just stay with MP, they said actually that room was next to construction and we wouldn't be happy there, so I gave in and took the GM.

The tour was just a string of untruths, so we certainly didn't buy anything. [Make sure especially that you don't fall for the final offer that the 'owner's representative' gives you at the end.]

Actually we were glad we took Hobson's choice, since the GM is really fantastic.