Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya Hotel

I will be visiting the resort over Christmas for a family vacation. We are really excited about visiting the resort. I would appreciate answers to a couple of questions. I have two daughters; 16 and 19. What is the night life like at the hotel for teenagers. Being a (over) protective Dad, safety is a big concern for me. Are there many teenagers at the resort (or are there other families with older children planning to be there over Christmas)? I would appreciate hearing from people who have been to this resort or will be at the resort over Christmas. You can e-mail me at tcain610@hotmail.com. Thanks in advance for your help.

This was the most wonderful honeymoon spot! We couldn't have asked for better service, nicer people, more beautiful scenery or a more eclectic group of travelers staying there! The A La Carte restaurants were wonderful, Japanese being my favorite..good sushi, Italian being fantastic...great lobster ravioli and Mexican being actually the lowest quality of food...however still great. Buffets had a large selection of food and the beach bar had great appetizers to tide you over if you camped out on the beach all day. The cleaning staff did a great job on the rooms, mopping every day and even picking up any stray clothes and shoes we had lying around. HOWEVER, the staff seemed to not understand the meaning of the do not disturb sign on 2 occasions where they knocked and came right in. Needless to say, my husband was not the only person to see me in the nude on our honeymoon! A relaxing atmosphere where it was very easy to choose to meet people or seclude ourselves at any time. I sincerely recommend traveling to this location. Thank You also to Jessica & Kurt from St. Louis, Mary Kay & Chris from Canada, Arman & Hasse from St. Louis and Heidi and Matt from Canada. You guys all made this the most amazing vacation ever! -Amy & Patrick Antos - Cleveland, Ohio

We really enjoyed our trip to the Grand Sirenis and had a great time! It started out kind of rocky because the charter flight hired by Apple, Champion Air, did not have us sitting next to each other! I couldn’t believe it and when we tried to correct it, they gave us a big run around. There were many other couples in the same boat. We were one of the first to notice and after a lot of patience we were able to take the seats of someone that didn’t show up. There is a new Apple Rep at the GS and he was very helpful. He called before we left to come home and reserved us seats. So Apple customers, have your agent reserve seats, or make sure and check your boarding passes before you leave the counter. The resort was very nice overall and beautiful despite the very modern décor. They have done a really good job of integrating it into the natural landscape and have preserved two centotes and a lot of other natural elements. The facilities were very nice and I used the business center several times, including at 6:00 am our last morning. The outside doors were locked most of the time, but the inside doors seemed to be open all the time. Transportation-We booked non-stop transfers through Apple for $40 each. It was well worth it and hassle free because they made all of the arrangements. We were in a van on the way down with 3 other couples and it took exactly 1 hour. That was in the middle of the day. On our transfer back to the airport, they had a car for us. It was there 15 minutes early, but that was fine with us. We were the only ones in the car and it was 8:00 am, rush hour through Playa de Carmen and raining. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Rooms-The rooms were nice and roomy. We didn’t have any problems with our safe or the cleanliness. The beds were more comfortable than most hotel beds down there. The bathroom was very nice and I loved the shower! I only used the tub once and could not get the jets to work but was not going to get some one up to fix it right then. The water pressure to the tub was really weak and it took forever to fill. There is the privacy problem that they really need to do something about. There is no way you could share a room with children older than toddlers. The absence of a fan can be a problem as well. I was able to free up counter space on the sink with a hanging cosmetic bag that I hung on the swing arm make-up mirror. It worked out really well. Food-We enjoyed all of the food. We ate at the Brazilian, Japanese, Mediterranean, and the Steak House. We were unable to go to the Italian. We liked them all, but the Brazilian was our favorite, We were signed up for the group seating at the Japanese, but not enough had signed up for our time and rather than wait, we sat at an individual table. They did mix up my husband’s order, but the food was really good. We found the buffet about the same as other Als They had a lot of variety and we were able to find plenty of things that we liked. There were 2 nights where the alacarte restaurants were not open; Friday night for the Lobster gala which wasn’t bad and Monday night was Mexican night, not our favorite, but OK. We liked how the beach bar had snacks most anytime of the day. The service was excellent. They are still pretty empty and so you get a lot of personal attention. We didn’t have much trouble at all with bug bites. A few, but not bad and I am usually very susceptible Beach- we really liked the beach! It is our favorite of all the places we have stayed in the Riviera Maya. There are a lot of rocky areas, but they just add to the atmosphere and give it a lot of visual interest. It is part of an old coral reef and so it is very interesting with fossils and fossilized brain coral everywhere.. There is plenty of white sand, as well and there was plenty of shade and space to spread out. We prefer to be out on the outer fringe and didn’t have any trouble getting where we wanted. The snorkeling was really pretty good right there by the resort. The pools were beautiful, but we didn’t use them because we like to be out by the ocean. We would go back to the GS again, but it will probably be really crowded as time goes on, so that would be a negative for us. I have tried to post pictures that are different than others you may have seen.

Well my wife and I can say that we have seen this place go from rebar and steel poles to beautiful buildings and palm trees. We got a tour back in July when they were still building the pool and most of the building. It’s amazing what the Mexican people did with this place and all of Cancun after Wilma last year. We need to let more of them come and help with New Orleans. We decided last week after a great trip down to GS the week of Oct 10th to have another wedding(vowel renewal ) for our family and friends in June07 at Grand Sirenis. The rooms are great the food at the restaurants are wonderful and the pools came out just like we thought they wood. I love Oceans I can tell you that the Italian restaurant is the place to do the reception. Ask for a 6pm wedding and then take the 8:30 dinner. They should give you the place for the rest of the night as long as you tip the staff to stay. Transfers I will say that take nonstop transfers or rent a car is the best way to go. I think everyone has covered everything about the hotel. It should be fabulous in a few more months when the other hotel opens.

My husband and I travel to this area approximately once a year. We generally go to AI resorts as a matter of budget. When we saw the price for this hotel we couldn't pass it up & felt as though it was worth the risks involved with a new property. We went via Apple Vacations. Be warned that the transfer from the airport can take forever! It took us over three hours from leaving the baggage claim to arrival at the hotel. On the return trip we left the hotel five hours before our flight (6:30 in the morning). If there is an option for nonstop transfer to this hotel, take it. Had it been just my husband and I, the distance from everything wouldn't have been a problem. However, we took my parents and it was their first trip to Mexico. Be prepared to pay heavily to go anywhere (min $50). You would get different price quotes from everyone (conceirge, rep, front desk), but the bottom line is that you had to arrange for transport via the bell boys. This is a scam. No matter where you plan to go they tell you $50+. I don't know how much the taxi driver actually receives, but the minute you get back to the hotel the bell boys charge the taxi driver and get their share of the fare. We didn't realize this the first time we went out & actually tipped the bell boys for "arranging transportation." The bottom line is that the bell boys were recruited from other established hotels, and they rely on tips. Here there are a lot of Europeans that are not tipping them and few Americans (hotel was almost empty). As such they have to scam to make up for what they are losing by coming to this hotel. Perhaps when they are at full capacity this will cease, but you should be warned. One of the bell boys exclaimed to us "We love Apple Vacations." Go figure. While in Playa Del Carmen we asked a taxi driver what the charge would be to take us back, and the lowest price quote was $15. FYI The apple rep, Mario, is horrible. We had nothing but problems with his service and attitude. We have probably used Apple Vacations more than six times for travel to Mexico, and Mario is hands down the worst rep we have ever had. If you can prepurchase activities via your travel agent at home, do so. Do your research ahead of time and you'll save yourself precious vacation time trying to deal with him. We booked, paid for and were anxiously waiting for a tour that he never called in a reservation for. He did not offer any type of an apology and felt that by giving us back our charge receipt we should have been thanking him!!!! P.S. his price quote to go to Tulum is $50 pp. Even with the bell boy transportation scam, the four of us went there for $110 total including a private guide who spoke great English and admission fees. The bugs were really an issue for me, but I have to say that the hotel was trying their best to stay on top of it. Even though I saw them with sprayers and fogging at dusk, I received numerous bites even though I wore bug spray from home (deet did nothing). I have to say that I loved the natural environment, but prepare yourself for the bugs that come along with that. I too had issue with the cleaning staff. Our bathroom glass doors were also dirty when we arrived and remained as such our entire trip. I did find it a little odd that a majority of our maids were male. My parents also had issue with the number of times that they entered the room on a daily basis. Our safe had a short in the electricity that kept killing the batteries. Two days in a row we woke up for the day to find our safe dead. Each time security had to be called and we had to wait around for a non-English speaking guard to come in and use a tool to open the safe. Then they didn't have any batteries & maintenance was ordered. Had we not been able to use my parents safe, we would have been stuck with our passports, money and jewelry all day long. This issue was never fixed & when we left the safe was still broken. If you are a non-smoker, you will be in the minority here. Additionally, as of our stay there were no non-smoking rooms. Being that we were there either week seven or eight after opening, our room should not have smelled as bad as it did. Already the curtains (three sets), couch and furniture reeked. Our sheets were OK the first two nights, but somehow night three we received blankets that smelled horrible. I requested and received better smelling sheets from then on. With the exception of the specialty restaurants, there is an abundance of smoking everywhere (buffet restaurants, theater, pools, lobby). Bring candles or spray if you don't like the smell. Try to map out your week and make reservations for the restaurants when you arrive. By far they are much better than the buffet. The Italian & Steak were great. We made reservations for every night except for Friday when all of the restaurants were closed. The lobster night is OK if you eat fish, but if you don't order room service. The only option besides lobster (poor quality) is chicken or beef with cold french fries. The dinner here was worse than 95% of the lunches. Also, even though it is in the buffet restaurant you must dress up for this dinner. My husband had on docker shorts and was denied entry. When we were there, the ice machines were not working. To get ice you had to order it from room service. There was no charge, yet you should tip them. The nightly shows, gym and business center never started/opened on time. I know this post took a negative turn, but I should say that perhaps by next year this should be a great place. Every day I saw more and more progress, and with a larger clientele I believe the service will improve. The pools were the best I've seen, the gym was excellent and has everything you could need, and the food was plentiful and of good quality. The staff was depressed by the lack of guests (tips) & it showed in everything they do. However, I watched corporate managers roam the property day and night, and they kept everyone on their toes. I don't think that this property will be very popular with Americans, but only time will tell. Overall, if I ever see this hotel listed for the same price we paid this year, we would consider returning.

We stayed at the Grand Sirenis the same time as the Indiania people who wrote a review previously. We had a group of 12 family members. We have all been at AI Resorts before so we have something to compare this AI Resort to. Let me say that none of our party experienced anything missing in our rooms or that our suitcases had been gone through during the entire week we stayed. We did not use the room safe because it would not open for us. The cleaning staff did a very nice job, and were extremely friendly, although most spoke limited English. We got cute towel sculptures every day, and left a tip for the maids everyday. We did not get charged for the slippers or the robes which we brought home with us. My 15 year old daughter stayed with us and the room was a little inconvienant with the hole in the bathroom wall. The rooms were beautiful,and spacious, although a couple of people in our group had problems with their room key, air conditioning & lights. The staff upon notification immediately tried to fix the problems. The pools are awesome, clean, and huge. We felt like we had the whole place to ourselves most of the time. There were a couple of mornings the staff were pulling small sidewinder crabs out of the pools. The lazy river was filled but they were working on it the whole time we were there. No current to push you around. It will be great when it is finally fixed. It pretty much circles the entire complex. In the afternoon if you are around the horseshoe pool watch in the rocks for the little lizards to come out and sun themselves. They are harmless. We got a laugh out of them. They liked the fruit slices from our smothie drinks. We ate at all the restaurants except the Japanese (ran out of time). The Brazillian, Mexican Italian and steakhouse were fabulous! We did not have a good experience at the Mediterrain. Our orders were all messed up, not served at the same time, (Two of our party had to wait 20 minutes to get their meals after all the others were served) and the waiter argued with one of our party members about Lamb being served to him, when he ordered steak. The waiter insisted it was steak, and it was lamb. It was identical looking to two other members in our partys' plates who ordered lamb. This wouldn't of been a big deal, except he gets deathly sick from lamb. The waiter never offered to take it back, or exchange it for something else. One plate of food given to the wrong person was taken away from them, after they had started eating on it, and then directly given to the rightful owner across the table! Our whole group ended up walking out of the restaurant. Definitely would not recommend the Mediterrain restaurant. Hopefully they will get their stuff together soon. The Friday night Lobster buffet was okay, it is cooked differently (grilled I believe) and not what most people expect. The other restaurants are closed that evening so unless you go in town you don't have a choice, but they do offer other selections besides the lobster. We ate at the pool buffet in the afternoons, like the other reviewers stated, the food was good, though luke warm, but the service was excellent. The waiters and bartenders remember everything you like, and don't like, and all of them went out of their way to be friendly and helpful. I cannot brag them up enough! Bring money to tip them for their great service. We ordered room service one afternoon and got the Mexican plate and it was excellent and hot. No extra charge for room service on our bill. Juadelope (sp) the cocktail waitress at the poolside bar was very friendly and taught our crew great Spanish! Again, Like the other reviews I must caution anyone coming to the resort about the concrete areas and bathrooms around the pools. One gentlman really took a header on the marble floor in the bathroom when I was walking in. Be Careful, and wear shoes. I didn't expect the weather to be as hot and humid as it was. Everyday it was 95 degrees and humid. Unlike Jamacia it doesn't cool off even in the evenings. Spent most of the time in the pool. Loved the swim up bar and the cool water jacuzzi. We did take one day and rented a taxi to go into Playa De Carmen to shop. Our taxi driver was nice, contracted by the Hotel directly, but he scared us a first when he pulled into an old warehouse just across the street from the hotel for us to shop. You could tell he was friends with the people selling their stuff at the place, after 5 minutes we left and went into Playa De Carmen. You can get things pretty cheap if you barter with the shop owners, and it is expected of you to barter. (Tip for you... Shop the merchants that come in on Thursday nights at the Resort and save yourself the $50 taxi faire). Most of the stuff we found in town was identical to what they brought in at the resort and you don't half to walk 10 blocks with merchants pressuring you to "come see my shop". Our taxi driver met us at the end of the shopping district, and took all of our purchases back to the van for us. We were kind of worried if we would see him again. (Tip ...Don't pay for taxi service both ways up front, and agree upon a price before getting in the taxi). Let the driver know he gets 1/2 now, and the other half when you return safely. A few of our party members had a problem with their taxi driver charging them double the price when they arrived back at the resort. The conceirge at Grand Sirenis took care of the problem right away. Shoes are neccesary on the beach, not only for the sharpness of the rocks, but we experienced biting ants by the beach snack bar. We enjoyed the shows in the evening at the resort. Wished they would of started a little earlier than 10:30 though. Not many people attended them. Being in the hot sun all day, drinking, and then a big evening meal does a lot of people in. I think we went to all of the shows except one night. The house band is great, and the dancers were very good, my favorite show was the impersonaters, Micheal Jackson, Dolly Pardon & Madonna were hilarious! Although the comedy show with the audience participation was a memorable evening for my brother-in-laws who gave up their shoes, shirts & pants! The bartender in the showroom area whose nickname is "BABY"is quite a character himself. Watch out for his tequlia shots. If you would like to plan a day trip, "Xcaret" was wonderful. We booked it through Mario, our Apple representative, (who was at his desk everytime we stopped by) suggested it to us. Stay for the whole day and the evening show and get the buffet in your trip purchase, it was excellent. Xcaret is huge and has a little of everything to offer you, Mayian Ruins, awesome beach, snorkeling in the lagoon, swim with the dolphins, zoo, acrobats, aquarium, sea turtle preservation program, Mayian villiage, snorkeling/swimming in a underground river, gift shops, and a Spectacular evening show that tells the history of the Mayan culture through song and dance. I have to say this place was one of the highlights of our trip to Mexico. Be forwarned though, it is in the jungle, and therefore wild animals are present, and the cobblestone paths in the back by the aquarium and ocean are not lit up in the evening. We got in that area at dusk and it was pretty scarry trying to find our way out. All in all it was a great trip, and I would definitely go back to the resort, it would be fun to see how it changes in the next couple of years.

Let me start by saying that I went to this place knowing it was very new and would have some "issues". Everyone that has been there agrees that the place is hugh and beautiful. That much is true. Let me start with the rooms. They are everything that everyone has said. Lots of room, beds are comfortable and great air conditioning. There is limited drawer space to put all your clothes and no place to put personal items in the bathroom. We managed to make do...living out of our suit cases most all week. The overhead shower had great pressure but you can either use the overhead shower, the wall shower (which had no pressure) or the spray hose one at a time. There are glass doors for the shower and the seprate toilet. We were in room 1110. This bathroom was cleaned everyday, the job cleaning was not so good. Let me just say that the glass doors were filthy when we checked in and stayed that way dispite the maid "cleaning" everyday. The room was very dusty when we arrived and there was pubic hair on the bathroom floor near the toilet. I am not a super clean freak and this may not have mattered to me so much but the maids were in and out of our rooms 3 sometimes 4 times a day! Which brings me to my next comment. Make sure that you ALWAYS use the safe. I forgot to take my purse with me one morning for breakfast and someone took $140.00. This was 100% my fault. I should not have forgotten it. But I have also been to mexico 6 other times and have never had a problem before. I went there with 10 people. Everyone commented that there were things eaither missing from their rooms or their suit cases were gone through. The cleaning crews are from an outside agency. The Apple Rep Mario A, was of no help to use. It appears that Apple does not offer many of the outside activities that Funjet does. Unless you are interested in only what Apple offers, Mario will not offer you any assistance of any kind. Be Aware of the beach flags. Some of my party booked a snorkling trip for the next day and was assured that the snorkling was the best. After reaching the island they were told no snorkling because of the conditions. Mind you, this was a snorkling trip, the only reason to go. Mario knew the beaches had been red flagged for a couple of days. He could have warned my group of this. He did not and there were NO REFUNDS. 85$ x 4. What a waste of money. Also...there were several times we tried to find him during "office hours", which by the way he posts on his desk, only to not find him there. Food: Lobester night is Friday night. I did not care for the way it was prepared. Lobester Thermdor. I prefer my lobester broiled. But the service was great. Most of the food is good. The Tulum is a buffet. Always open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Get there within the first hour of service for the food to be fresh. There is a lot of repeat food everyday for breakfast and lunch...but they try to mix it up a bit for dinner. The Mexicon and Italian resturants are the best. The beach bar has ok snacks. Wings being the best. There is a resturant next to the pool that is also a buffet. Breakfast and lunch are good. At night it is the steak house. Good steaks! Drinks: Mixed drinks are kind of bland. Plenty of alcohol at all bars. Only top shelf is at the Lobby bar. Internet is free. It is the second to the last room on the left down the long hallway next to the lobby bar. Shows are ok. Nothing great. But the people are nice, nice, nice! They try real hard to please everone. And the shows don't start until after 10PM The beach parties are good. Pool: Very nice. But be VERY CAREFUL getting out of the pool. The sidewalks are very slick and you will be on you butts before you know it. They come around to take photos with a monkey on Monday, Parrots on Wed and Iguanias on Friday. These are great photos and they are only $7.50. They took a group photo for us that was really nice. They will take these photos anywhere you want, by the pool, in the jungle or on the beach. Beach: Nice. Can be a bit rocky in places. Snorkling was great near the Mayan light house. (second day in we were able to snorkle there because the beach was not red flagged). Plenty of bright colored fish. I am sorry if I have left anyting out. But if there are certian things you want to know I will be happy to tell you. All and all....this place needed more time. There are somethings they could have left out and used the money to add to other things. Robes (one size fits none) and the slippers (that they throw away after you use them but will charge you if you take them) could have gone to better quality alcohol. So beware. If you think you are getting a 5 star, think again. Maybe in another year. But by then they will be as big as the moon palace and will lose much of it's charm.

My husband and I were at the Grand Sirenis resort from September 27th to October 4th. We went through Apple Vacations and had no problems with the flights or transfers. It does take a little longer to get to this resort than it did the other times we have stayed in the Riveria Maya, but no big deal. Most of the features of the resort have been mentioned, so I will just give you my opinions. There has been a lot of discussions about the bathroom situation. Yes, it is weird with the opening from the sleeping area into the bathroom. Kind of cool actually. The bathroom is private, sightwise, but not soundwise, if you get my drift. It didn't really bother us. The toilets are high however, so my feet dangled a bit. I thought that was weird. But the room was very nice and they kept it very clean. Only one towel docoration, but we did have male cleaner. Could that be it? No big deal as we have seen enough towel decos over the years at other resorts. They are always cleaning. The place is immaculate. Temperature of the food. It's fine for the most part. The stuff in the pans was usually warm. The stuff out on the counters (pizza, etc) was not. I think it is because of the number of people there. The turnover of the food was not that great because there were so few guests. But the food was great. We ate at the Italian (2 couples in the place), steak, Brazilian, and Mexican. All very good. The waiter at the Mexican is kind of overwelming, plus they are plying you with shots of tequila and drinks. Good meal, but I went to bed early that night. The Italian was probably our favorite. We had planned on going back there the last night, but ended up at the buffet. The Friday night lobster dinner was very good. I think some people may have been disappointed because they were expecting Maine lobster. It's the tropics, they serve warm water lobster! The staff at the resort are really great. But they are bored! When we talked to them, they said that the whole Riveria Maya is slow because of the hurricanes from last year. We had decent weather, it usually rained a bit during the day but not much. Monday and Tuesday it poured around 9:00 AM. Of course Monday was the day we snorkled, so the water was pretty murky. But I think the snorkeling is good, and very convenient since you don't have to schedule a time to go on a boat. Once and awhile, crabs get into the pool. I heard they were attracted to the lights at night. Usually the staff will get them out and release them. We usually hung out at the lower horseshoe pool, sometimes it felt like we had the place to ourselves! Guadalupe and Angelica (sp) were great pool waitresses. Guadalupe was always wanting to learn new English words, and she helped us with our Spanish. Good wings at the beach bar. The smoothies at the Health bar are also delicious. Robes and slippers are a great touch. Bartenders are great. The staff was very good and made sure everything was taken care of. For example, our first morning, they knocked on the door at 8:30 to clean our room. We realized we didn't have a 'Do Not Disturb' sign, so we talked to the desk, and we had one immediately. Thanks to Jaine (activities/entertainment) for helping us out (she knows why). She is a great person, if you get a chance to talk to her! We would go back to this place in a heartbeat and would like to see it once it has been up and running for awhile. Hi to Simon and Annie if they read this!

We stayed in Grand Sirenis for a week in October. After we booked we were initially nervous about the lack of reviews and pictures, but now that the vacation is over I could add my own thoughts about the place. It’s not the first AI we stayed in the area so I have something to compare to. The modern architecture is very unique: StarWar like at the entrance but over all very impressive with grandeur and the amount of natural stone used. Rooms are nice and have about every basic necessity. Bathroom (being open to the rest of the room) we found romantic but if you are traveling with kids might create some uncomfortable moments. (A small minus here – absence of strong fan in the toilet.) Hotel property is huge! Whatever is built is very spread out. Contraction is visible and you could hear it in the background but it didn’t bother us at all. The atmosphere was always quite and peacefully. Being off-season and the hotel just opened it was almost empty. But even with full occupancy I believe, it would still be a very quite resort. Service at GS is just great! Cleaning all over the hotel is constant starting at 7am to the late night. (Sometimes seems excessive.) Everyone is super helpful. Get friendly with the bartenders they could be a good source of information on local attractions. Please tips the service – it’s very much appreciated. They would remember what drink you like or where you like to sit at the restaurant. I agree with the previous reviewers about that quality of food: it could be hotter and beef dishes could be a bit softer. At the ala-carte restaurants, besides more exclusive attention we didn’t find the food any more special than in the cafeteria. Overall everything was delicious and very diverse; even if you are a picky eater you could always find something you would like. Drinks were good (our favorite - mojito). Overall we were impressed with the high quality of liquor. Night shows were just okay: dances are not professional and they could use better costumes. I believe with a flow of visitors shows would also improve. During the day there were constant activities of you like those: beach volleyball, water aerobics, etc. On the beach you could do snorkel, kayaking (jet sky, diving, fishing trips are at extra cost). Beach is very clean and privet. You could use water sues for sensitive feet as getting into the water could be a little rocky. Being an experienced diver I would rate snorkel as below average. There is little to nothing fish and corals close to the beach are dead. OTHER ACTIVITIES: We booked through Apple Tours (because they had the best deal for the hotel) but rented a car for a week of our stay there. It was not only $100 (plus insurance) for a small Dodge and it was definitely worth every penny. Not only we got to the hotel quicker (about an hour drive) but also on leaving the hotel we took our time and didn’t have to get to the airport at the crazy hour or four hours before the flight. You do have to be careful driving in Mexico: beware of the potholes and drunken villagers, otherwise there are lots of signs and driving even with a small map was very intuitive. On our own we visited archeological sites Chichén Itzá, Coba, Ek Balam and cenotes. It cost us close to nothing if compare what we would have spent on each trips with bus tours guides, plus we avoided being dragged to very souvenir shop on the road and the whole hustle of being with a group. Just to add, we do not speak Spanish and we had no problem getting around. (If you plan to drive don’t forget to bring your favorite music disks; we were very happy with iPod+ radio transmitter). INTERNET: We connected our laptop to the internet in our room; there was no charge for that. With all that in mind the hotel is new and it will take them some time to improve their food and entertainment, and I am sure they will! I recommend to take a chance on Sirenis, you won’t regret! Thanks for reading this and Bon Voyage!

Let me start by saying that this is a very nice property. I expect that the price will jump after all of the construction is completed and some of the rough spots are ironed out. For reference, we have also stayed at the Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar and the Grand Palladium. Transfers: We booked through Apple Vacations and upgraded to non-stop transfers. This worked really well going. It only took up about 70min to get to the resort. Coming back all of us in the van were baffled as to why we had to leave the resort at 5:25am when our flight was not until 10:40am. All of us were on the 10:40am flight. We arrived at the airport 4hrs early??? It took all of 15min to register for our flight AND get through security. Why have non-stop transfers but leave at the same time as people making 5-6 pickups along the way to the airport? Oh well. Service: All of the staff persons were encountered were very pleasant. Occupancy is down right now in the entire region, so I think there is more staff than guests at the moment. People are eager to please and very nice. I know the resort is all-inclusive, but bring some singles to tip with. On the beach, the waitresses would generally ask to replenish drinks before my glass was even empty. Rooms: Very, very nice. Spacious, clean and pleasant. For us the open bathroom was no big deal. The air conditioner works very, very well. We had to turn it off at times because we were cold. General comments on the property: The property is very nice. There is still a lot of construction at the front, but it was unnoticeable to us when we were at the pools or the beach. BEWARE – many of the surfaces are very slick. The concrete-looking surface around the main pool does not look slippery, but when your feet are wet, it is! Also, wherever you see marble, expect it to be slippery when wet. Bars: Overall the drinks were very good with lots of options. Consistency can be an issue among different bartenders, but that’s the case anywhere. The lobby bar has the highest quality liquor. If you want a good dessert-like drink, try to Coco-Loco. Yummy! The Lemonada Electrico is good too. It tastes like a lime popsicle (made with vodka). The beer on tap is Corona. Pools: We didn’t use the activity pool at all. It’s really big though. It wraps around in a huge horseshoe shape. Generally we are beach people, but we did come to the swim-up bar in the main pool several afternoons. The GIANT cold water Jacuzzi is also a nice place to have a beverage. Beach: The beach is nice. Tons of palapas, and waitresses serving drinks. As others have said the pieces of shell can be rather large. Rough on tender feet. I’m generally not a water shoe person, but on this beach I think most people would use them getting in and out. It’s quite rocky everywhere along the shore. I wore my snorkel fins getting in and out. BTW…the snorkeling is awesome. You have to go out past the swim ropes for better viewing. I would not rate it as great snorkeling for beginners. When we were there the current was strong at times so you really needed to be aware of your surroundings so that you didn’t wind up in a bad spot against the rocks or corral. Food: The ale carte restaurants were better than those at any other AI that I’ve been to. Hands down. We ate at: Mexican (twice), Japanese, Italian, and Brazilian. Also the desserts and baked goods at this resort were leaps and bounds better than those from other AI’s I’ve been to. The buffets were the worst of any AI I've been to. The biggest problem is luke-warm to cold food. Correcting this will greatly improve the quality. When occupancy is low, the resort would be better off doing more cook-to-order food so that it doesn't sit in a warmer for 3hrs. Buffets work much better when the food turns over quickly. Final comments: • Mosquitoes. There are definitely around. Bring some bug spray. The resort sprays for mosquitoes (sometimes at very odd times, like when people are in the pool bar – um, mosquito fog smells nasty), but it’s the jungle • For those wondering, I don’t think you will ever need big thermal mugs at this resort. Even when occupancy increases, waitresses will bring drinks to people at the beach or pool. • I can’t offer much for those with children. There were a few kids there, but not many at all. • Would I go back? I would. The property is very nice and should only get better over time. This property is best for people looking to relax. It will never be a big party resort.