Which Mayan Palace Location - help me choose.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Thanks to SFX, I am going to 'gift' a honeymoon week to my DDs college room mate using a bonus cert. They would be flying out of Boston.

The certs are good for MP resorts not Grand Mayan.

Here is what I know....

Mayan Palace Acapulco - the Mayan Palace units there are VERY old - when I was there in 10/2008 they were tearing them down to build the Grand Luxe units - and the resort was 25 minutes outside of town...so I am not considering this property.

Mayan Palace Riviera Maya - Mayan Palace units are very nice - as nice as the grand Mayan units here and actually better located then the GMs ..... plenty of things to do and see in this area. I had to cancel my trip to this location but friends went and really liked it.

Mayan Palace Nuevo Vallarta - Mayan Palace units are nice and well located in the resort, close to the beach. A bit outside of town but easily reached by bus....again, lots of nice activities for an active young couple. No access to the really nice 'crazy river' which is too bad but not a deal breaker - really like the restaurants onsite here as well.

Edit just saw there is also a Puerto Vallarta location - anyone stay here before?

Mayan Palace Mazatlan - anyone been here?

Mayan Palace Puerto Penasco - I don't feel it would be 'warm enough' in December.

Is there no Mayan Palace in Cabo?

So what do you think? Pros and Cons appreciated!

[pkfox Member Find all posts View Profile Close pkfox]

PV Mayan Palace

We were at PV Mayan Palace over Thanksgiving. We loved it. Small resort very close to Marina. Easy bus service to down town & old town. If they go tell them not to miss Victors in the Marina, good time!!
Riviera Maya, Nuevo and Puerto Peñasco are away from town. I am not sure about Mazatlan or Acapulco have not been to these. If you can not get them to Cabo my choice would be PV

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

MP NV the units can be Ocean view or near the pool. We liked NV the best so far but we have not been to Cabo, Rivera Maya the units are newer as is Cabo. Is there any way you Can you do Grand Mayan? Acapulco the units and the resort was one of there first so it is old and it is away from the town which is a about a 15 cab ride away. There is IMO a lot to do in Acapulco that they might love and the Romantic restaurants over looking the city is breath taking. I can help you out with any area restaurants and things to do but Cabo just let me know,

[cirkus Member Find all posts View Profile Close cirkus]

You can upgrade a bonus week to GM for a price. I don't remember exactly, but I think I recall it was either $149 or $200 when I did it. I'm sure if you post the question in the Ask SFX forum, Mark will respond.
Bill

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

No Frank, going to stick with the MPs - as I can use the bonus week for that.

I am leaning toward NV or RM - but was curious about PV.

The Mayan Palace buildings in Acapulco are quite old - while the ones at RM ans NV are comparable to the GMs from what I have heard - in fact friends that stayed at both GM and MP riviera maya like the location of the MP units better then the GMs which are further from the beach and said the furnishings/quality was the same.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

You can upgrade a bonus week to GM for a price. I don't remember exactly, but I think I recall it was either $149 or $200 when I did it. I'm sure if you post the question in the Ask SFX forum, Mark will respond.
Bill

Thanks Bill, I am a wonderful person but prefer to keep the cost of my gift to $299 That is why I am looking for the 'nicest' and 'newest' of the MPs - which I believe are RM and NV

also, I know see that airfare from BOS to CUN is around $330ish and to NV would be closer to $500.

These are kids that are definitely on a budget so that could weigh in their decision.

We were at PV Mayan Palace over Thanksgiving. We loved it. Small resort very close to Marina. Easy bus service to down town & old town. If they go tell them not to miss Victors in the Marina, good time!!
Riviera Maya, Nuevo and Puerto Peñasco are away from town. I am not sure about Mazatlan or Acapulco have not been to these. If you can not get them to Cabo my choice would be PV

pk, have u stayed at any other MP location? I ask because I wanted to compare the 'quality' of the units there to other MP locations.
There does not seem to be a MP in Cabo - only GM.

Thank God we are all 'getting' all these abbreviations!

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

No Frank, going to stick with the MPs - as I can use the bonus week for that.

I am leaning toward NV or RM - but was curious about PV.

The Mayan Palace buildings in Acapulco are quite old - while the ones at RM ans NV are comparable to the GMs from what I have heard - in fact friends that stayed at both GM and MP riviera maya like the location of the MP units better then the GMs which are further from the beach and said the furnishings/quality was the same.

I have not stayed at the PV one but I can tell you what I heard, It is much smaller than NV and it is in PV strip but it is on the begining/end of it. You know you can most likely ask Mark at SFX what he would recommend

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I have not stayed at the PV one but I can tell you what I heard, It is much smaller than NV and it is in PV strip but it is on the begining/end of it. You know you can most likely ask Mark at SFX what he would recommend

Thanks Frank, my feeling was that it is a smaller, older property.
Yes, I will be checking with Mark as well.

[pkfox Member Find all posts View Profile Close pkfox]

pk, have u stayed at any other MP location? I ask because I wanted to compare the 'quality' of the units there to other MP locations.
There does not seem to be a MP in Cabo - only GM.

Thank God we are all 'getting' all these abbreviations![/QUOTE]


We have been to Riviera Maya a few times and liked the resort ok but did not like the feeling of isolation being so far from town.
We have been to PV once. We thought the resorts were the same in quality and food and drinks were good and priced alright. We are not Mega resort people. We prefer smaller resorts. We are not big tour people, we go to relax and get away from Minnesota cold. But we like to be able to get away from the resort without taking a 20-30 min cab ride, thus we liked PV with the marina area almost right across the street.
We love San Jose del Cabo and that is where we will return to most, not because it is a Grand but because of location.
I have not found a difference between the three resorts in quality except Grand rooms are larger.

As a note: food and drink at Grand Mayan Cabo are terrible and over priced. We will never eat there again. But we enjoyed very good food in town, and the walk back was enjoyable after a good meal.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

pk, have u stayed at any other MP location? I ask because I wanted to compare the 'quality' of the units there to other MP locations.
There does not seem to be a MP in Cabo - only GM.

Thank God we are all 'getting' all these abbreviations!

We have been to Riviera Maya a few times and liked the resort ok but did not like the feeling of isolation being so far from town.
We have been to PV once. We thought the resorts were the same in quality and food and drinks were good and priced alright. We are not Mega resort people. We prefer smaller resorts. We are not big tour people, we go to relax and get away from Minnesota cold. But we like to be able to get away from the resort without taking a 20-30 min cab ride, thus we liked PV with the marina area almost right across the street.
We love San Jose del Cabo and that is where we will return to most, not because it is a Grand but because of location.
I have not found a difference between the three resorts in quality except Grand rooms are larger.

As a note: food and drink at Grand Mayan Cabo are terrible and over priced. We will never eat there again. But we enjoyed very good food in town, and the walk back was enjoyable after a good meal.

Thanks pk - so u think the quality of the furnishings at PV were similar to Cabo? I know the GMs have that modern look but I do not want to send my honeymooners to a shabby place. That really is my concern - that the resort is well maintained and the rooms do not show neglect.
The rooms in Acapulco had not been updated in quite a while as the Grupo Maya is tearing down the buildings to build more luxurious units.

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

MP NV the units can be Ocean view or near the pool.

We spent Nov/Dec 2008 in MP NV OV high floor in the building with the registration desk on ground floor. My understanding was "Profile A" contracts are more likely to get these units while 'exchangers' get the "Parking Lot/Golf course" view. I am not sure how 'bonus certificates' rank in room inventory considerations but it might depend on total occupancy rates for the resort that day.

Someone wrote on another board that the 3 story MP building closer to the pool has now been torn down. I heard that was planned. I saw a Grand Bliss under construction behind it.

We might want to visit Acapulco the 1st or 2nd week of January. I heard the remaining MP units are only 1 bedroom. We like 2 bedrooms because there are 2 bathrooms even though only my husband and I use the unit.

Does anyone know the number of MP units and breakdown of size 2 Bdrm/1 Bdrm/lockoff at each property. I am confused about the planned destruction of MP buildings to make room for more expensive brands featured on grupovidanta.com (the parent company for MP?).

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

We spent Nov/Dec 2008 in MP NV OV high floor in the building with the registration desk on ground floor. My understanding was "Profile A" contracts are more likely to get these units while 'exchangers' get the "Parking Lot/Golf course" view. I am not sure how 'bonus certificates' rank in room inventory considerations but it might depend on total occupancy rates for the resort that day.

Someone wrote on another board that the 3 story MP building closer to the pool has now been torn down. I heard that was planned. I saw a Grand Bliss under construction behind it.

We might want to visit Acapulco the 1st or 2nd week of January. I heard the remaining MP units are only 1 bedroom. We like 2 bedrooms because there are 2 bathrooms even though only my husband and I use the unit.

Does anyone know the number of MP units and breakdown of size 2 Bdrm/1 Bdrm/lockoff at each property. I am confused about the planned destruction of MP buildings to make room for more expensive brands featured on grupovidanta.com (the parent company for MP?).

When we were at GM NV in Jan 2009 the steel skeleton on the Grand Bliss was up.
And they were HEAVILY sell upgrades to MP owners as they plan on tearing down all/most of the MPs to make way for the Luxe/Bliss building.

Yes, I know about the parking lot views but they seem to treat exchangers from SFX more like owners....so we will see - I don't think early December is a busy time.

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

What a nice gift. I think any of the Mayan resorts would be nice. If you stay at the Mayan Palace level and dont go to the Sea Garden> But I will say we walked through the Sea Garden a year ago when we stayed at the Grand Mayan in Nuevo It is not the Grand Mayan but I would stay there. I think the Mayan Resorts charge the owners a refurbishment fee every 5 years so they maintain their properties.

When you give them this gift warn them about the relentless timeshare talks in Mexico. (The ones at the Mayan Resorts are notorious) Tell them that the 90 minute presentations can take 6 or 7 hours. Tell them about resales when they can afford them. The timeshare sharks prey on honeymooners and the final offers of vacation clubs are no bargain. Warn them about the airport how the OPC sharks will lie to them and say they are the official transportation and they are going the wrong way. My wife after over 10 years of going to Mexico started to fall for their crap of you are going out the wrong door. We came in a different terminal than usual in Cabo than we normally do and she fell for it.
Tell them to enjoy their honeymoon and not be victims.

Also perhaps you could let SFX know it is a honeymoon and perhaps the resort could try to give them a nice location for their room.

[pkfox Member Find all posts View Profile Close pkfox]

Thanks pk - so u think the quality of the furnishings at PV were similar to Cabo? I know the GMs have that modern look but I do not want to send my honeymooners to a shabby place. That really is my concern - that the resort is well maintained and the rooms do not show neglect.
The rooms in Acapulco had not been updated in quite a while as the Grupo Maya is tearing down the buildings to build more luxurious units.

In my visits to the 3 Grupo Mayan building; RM, PV and Cabo the only signs of neglect was the quality of the food at Cabo.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

...Mayan Palace Riviera Maya - Mayan Palace units are very nice - as nice as the grand Mayan units here and actually better located then the GMs ..... plenty of things to do and see in this area.I had to cancel my trip to this location but friends went and really liked it.

So what do you think? Pros and Cons appreciated!

Having spent 8 weeks at the Grand Mayan-Riviera Maya, I don't see why you said the MP units are better located than the GM units. It all depends what you want to be near. There isn't a lot of difference like Nuevo Vallarta but the GM units at Riviera Maya are a little better located than MP. Of course it all depends on which building you get as there are 13 GM buildings and a bunch of MP buildings.

We have also stayed 2 weeks at the Grand Mayan - Nuevo Vallarta plus other stays in Puerto Vallarta.

Our favorite is the Riviera Maya location because of the resort and much better attractions in the area. The resort has more activities than NV. One big reason I would pick the Riviera Maya location is there isn't that much difference between the amenities available to MP guests vs GM guests. The only difference of any value is the units. The GM has their own pool but most people, including ourselves, far prefer the Mayan Palace pool. The MP pool is better located, much larger and has lots of stuff going on. There have always been a lot of younger people at the Riviera Maya location. Also the MP pool(s) at Riviera Maya are much better than Nuevo Vallarta.

The Riviera Maya area has many great attractions like Xcaret ( awesome ), Xel Ha, Tulum, cenotes, etc.

MP guests at Nuevo Vallarta don't have access to the lazy river. However the beach at Nuevo Vallarta is much better than Riviera Maya.

We have spent a lot of time in Mazatlan and have visited Cabo but not at Grand Mayan/Mayan Palace. We don't like either place.

Taking everything into account, my choice would be Riviera Maya.