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Grand Oasis Riviera Maya Hotel & Resort Reviews

Grand Oasis Riviera Maya Secluded resort along white sands, shimmering sea
Address: Km. 251 Caretera Federal Chetumal - Pto. Juarez Akumal, Mexico Tel: 52 984 875 73 00 Fax: 52 984 875 73 16 Email: reservasmex@oasishoteles.com URL: Grand Oasis Riviera Maya	Type of Property: All Inclusive Beach Location: Beach Front (Directly on Beach/Water Front) Island: Mexico No. of Rooms/Units: 288

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Summary of All Property Reviews for: Grand Oasis Riviera Maya Ratings based on answers from a total of 12 reviews 10 is best 1 is worst
Feature	Ranking	Feature	Ranking
Cleanliness of Property	9.00	Quality of Property	8.25
Privacy & Quietness	7.92	Quality of Service	8.50
Courtesy & Hospitality of Staff	8.42	Accuracy of Website (marketing hype) VS. Actual Experience	7.58
Food and Dining Experience	7.17	Price/Value of Property	8.50
Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property)	9.83	Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach)	9.75
Total Property Score: 8.49 out of 10 | Average Star Rating: 3.50 out of 5

• 75% (9 visitors of 12) said they would go back to Grand Oasis Riviera Maya again.
• 83% (10 visitors of 12) said they would recommend Grand Oasis Riviera Maya to friends.

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$529.00 Book by: Nov 14, 2009	$499.00 Book by: Nov 13, 2009	$649.00 Book by: Nov 10, 2009	$619.00 Book by: Nov 12, 2009	$369.00 Book by: Nov 16, 2009	$469.00 Book by: Nov 09, 2009

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I am a travel agent who specializes in cruises, of late I have had several of my clients asking for me to look into all inclusive resorts as an alternative to cruising. This is the second one I have visited in the past four months. To make sure my review/site visit was unbiased I payed the prevailing rate for the hotel. All in all it was a pleasant experience but with some effort on the establishment's part it could have been outstanding.

The resort is about an hour and a half from the airport, there is not much to see on the way. I would highly recommend getting a bottle of water while still at the terminal as I was completely parched by the time we arrived. I took ten pages of notes so I will try to condense them here as best I can.

The set up is very unusual, the lobby that you check into is far removed from the main part of the resort, our room was not ready but we were told we could go to the buffet and were given a map that was in Spanish. No one mentioned that there was a shuttle service so we started walking what I would guess is a half mile to the main lobby. About half way there we were picked up. We stopped to see the concierge and were told that all the restaurants were already booked for today and tomorrow except the brazillian one so we made reservations for that. We went to the buffet which as buffets go was very good, large assortmet of choices,I am just not a huge buffet fan. My husband and son on the other hand loved it. The resort is very pretty with a lot of marble and people are constantly cleaning it. The beach is stunning with beds to lie on and crystal clear water, there are several pools all with a different theme. When we finally got our room it was interesting, the view was to die for right over the ocean, however there was a horrible sewage smell from the drain and the tub was filled with mold. Our servi bar had old half drinken sodas in in and the ceiling fan was hanging from the ceiling with wires exposed. Not exactly what I expected. We had to go back to the front lobby to get a key to the safe which was $5.00 a day which seemed crazy to me. Dinner was very difficult to arrange as space was never available unless you were at the concierge at 7am. Even though we did end up doing that I noticed many tables were empty so I was confused why others were turned away.There is a large european clientelle that is catered to at the expense of other guests. A word of caution if you mind topless bathing this is not the resort for you, it did not bother my family. Two things are the saving grace of the resort. First the beach and the view, it was a gorgeous, clean beautiful beach, great snorkeling, soft powdery sand, one of the nicest I had ever been to. At night I would drift off in our balcony hammock listening to the waves. If I did not have an ocean front room I dont' think I would have been happy at all, but that view was priceless. Second the spa is first class. I tried three different treatments all were supurb and priced about half of what they would cost on a cruise. Would I return here? Probably not, it was resonably priced but we never really felt welcomed. I took over 200 photos if you are interested in any particular part drop me an email and I will forward it to you.

My best hint to would be travelers to this resort is recognize you are in Mexico this is not like Cozumel where english is often spoken, most people could not understand it at all, brush up on your spanish and/or bring something to help you translate. !

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We just returned from our trip Friday night, and was so let down by our resort. I would not recommend GORM to anyone, unless you are Italian. As mentioned in another review, they have definite privileges with their orange bracelets that are not extended to the rest of the guests with black bracelets. 3 such instances are that orange bands are allowed to take bottles away from the bar (beer & wine), but black bands must take "to-go" drinks in small plastic dixie cups. Another is that I was turned away from towel service on the beach at 3 pm one afternoon and told to come back the next day because they had run our of towels, but they magically appeared for the gentleman behind me, who was wearing an orange band, by the way. The third instance was that the breakfast buffet, which closes the doors at 10:30, turned me away because I was 5 minutes late. I begged to be able to take a paper plate back to my room as there were people still eating in the dining room, and food on the buffet, but they said that I had to wait until lunchtime to eat. As I walked away, a couple approached and was told the same thing, but they pointed to their orange bands and were granted access to the buffet.

That's just the wristband issue. The rooms are another issue that made it difficult for us to spend any time in them, except to sleep. there is water leakage (an inch of standing water in my closet and that covered 8 pairs of leather shoes on day 1), the swampy, sewer small that never went away, and the fact that the hot water know didn't even turn on for a whole day.

Will never visit this resort again, even if they offered a free stay.

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Arrived at the Grand Oasis Riviera Maya at 3pm. Were given rooms in building "G" which were small. Asked for other rooms and were given rooms with a jungle view over the air conditioner vents. Noisy when outside but other than that it was fine. The rooms were large. There were 10 people in our party, with 4 rooms. Our AC did not work well all week, but the other rooms were fine. Asked to have them fixed but the AC never worked. Rooms smelled a little musty, had some ants, but didn't let it bother us. The maid service was good. Tipped them daily and put notes in the frig for extra water and soda. Food at the buffet was fine. Some good some not so good. We had no trouble getting reservations for dinner with a large group. We ate at the Italian, was ok, Brazilian good, Mexican fabulous. Smoothie bar great. The staff was very helpful with questions. Wine terrible, drinks were fine. Snack bar is ok but order up on the veranda by the buffet to get service, not by the snack bar. This is not a party hotel which we appreciated. Quiet, nice night shows.
Lots of Italians that have their own travel agent with them on site. They seem to be catered to, but we didn't let it ruin our trip. The Italians were not friendly, but we didn't let that bother us either.
The beach is absolutely the most beautiful beach we have ever seen. Make sure to get up by 8am and put towels or hats or books on chairs at the beach so that you have some for later. Beach towels were slow to come and if you lose one they charge $50 for another. The hotel has swinging beach beds. We tried to get one, getting up at different times during the night, but with no luck, someone always had them. So one night my husband and I went out about 10pm and slept on one of them to have one for the morning. The 4 beds were all taken and security was sitting close by we were fine and it was romantic to sleep on the beach. So try to get one. We brought our own snorkeling equipment and the snorkeling was fabulous. We snuck bread and bananas everyday from the buffet to feed the fish. We had a massage that was excellent. Had some frustrations but overall had a wonderful time.

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my wife and i stayed here for 5 days and had a great time.i read a review from a black lady who imagined that she was singled out,and had bad stay.i enjoyed our time at riviera maya.the service was great,the restuarants were great(make a reservation),and i will return.to that reviewer,this isnt usa.take that shit home.

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We could not have hoped for a better vacation. The view was breathtaking, the staff very friendly, and a variety of cuisine. The property was very clean and well maintained. We stayed for 7 nights and I would have loved to stay for 7 more. The atmosphere was quiet and relaxing which was exactly what my husband and I were looking for. We plan to visit again next year.

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Grand Oasis Riviera Maya is AWFUL!!!!!! It is NOT as advertised. Rooms with an ocean view are OLD and smell FUNKY, new rooms overlook a pool - might as well stay at the Days Inn!! The food is mediocre AT BEST - when it is available. For example - a SUSHI bar that is out of rice - in MEXICO, out of RICE, no less!! Maitre d's at totally empty restaurants tell you that you can't be seated without a reservation but won't take your reservation. There are NOT 7 restaurants nor 8 bars. They have 5 restaurants, if you count the snack bar. Only the cafeteria and snackbar are available without advance reservations. The air conditioning is ineffective and often broken in the common areas. Our water was cut off several times for hours at a time. Security was intimidating and belligerent and generally scary. We will go back to Akumal, certainly. We always do. We love the riviera maya - but we will NEVER stay with ANY Oasis hotel after this horrid experience. Yous should check the veracity of this hotel's claims. They are not as advertised and it makes me wonder about all the hotels on your site.

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Not happy at all with the customer service at this place and even left early and took the loss of money in search of something better. I found it!!! Thank God!!

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Oasis Akumal was an amazing place to stay at. It was small and the staff were the most amazing people I've ever met! If you go there make sure you talk to the animation team and do plenty of activities! There was plenty to do all day and night. However, the night time activities were usually done by 1am. If you wanted to stay up later, the bar on the Italian side was still open. This is a smaller resort so they didn't have a discoteca so if you want to really party go somewhere else.

The resort is divided into the International side and the Italian side. I didnt really notice any problem with this at all and I actually got to know many of the Italian staff even though they didn't speak much english.

The food was pretty good although it tasted quiet different then at home. However you can expect that when you travel.

The night time activities were really fun and everyone could participate. The animation team was so friendly and fun and they would do anything to make sure you had a good time! The daytime activities were also amazing! I recommend taking the dance lessons during the day as Carlos is an amazing dancer and its so much fun! If you go say hi to Carlos, Sergio, Joel, Juan Carlo and everyone else there!!!!!

The only inconvenience was that the resort overbooked and didn't have rooms for us when we arrived. We had to stay at a different resort for one night but that was the only issue.

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Our Trip Report for Oasis Akumal from April 6th to April 16th.

Arrival in Cancun- This was the fastest that we have ever cleared Customs and received our luggage. The total time from departing the plane to and having our luggage loaded in the van was 35 minutes! The drive down to Oasis was very uneventful and only one stop in Playa to drop off a couple at their hotel. Our kids (11 & 12) could not believe how small the airport is for so many people coming there.

Arrival at the hotel- We arrived at 2:30, a little before the check in time, they had the usual drinks waiting for us. The front desk told us that there would be a little wait for our rooms, and gave us our wrist bands. They tried to give us yellow, and I asked as we were frequent guest, the last time we received brown. They stated that this was not noted on our reservation and gave us brown. I asked which building we would be in and they stated “E”. I mentioned to them that I had emailed and requested building A or B. The front desk manager stated that they were fully booked, “but he would see what he could do”. I noticed that our reservation sheet stated A or B and that we were originally assign to building B. A quick $20 slipped to him got us building B and a HUGE room, better than the original room in B with no additional cost for the 10 days. The room had 2 doubles and a great view of the beach and ocean.

We tipped the maid the first day ($20) we were there to get 4 towels and washcloths. He did not speak English and my Spanish is lousy. Somehow I received 8 towels each day and our room was made up by 11 am each day, the other in the building we not done until 4 pm. We had towel art and Kleenex animals each day.

We did find out some information that had puzzeled us on several other trips. The condo rooms with a kitchen in building A-D are privately owned and the condos with a bath tubs and no kitchen are owned by the Oasis. We have stayed in both and find the Oasis owned have better beds and are kept up better.

The food I think is getting better than it was in November and in July of last year. Our kids were very happy with the hot dogs, fries, and hamburgers at the snack bar for lunch. The wife and I enjoyed the lunch buffets. The lunch buffet did not seem to be added to the dinner buffet as before. The trays that were empty were promptly filled even near closing time of the buffet. The dinner buffets were 100 times better than last summer. Each night there was Pork, Chicken and Fish dish, along with the usual pasta and salads. Breakfast was the norm with made to order omelets and the usual breakfast stuff. The bar was as usual great. The house beer is Corona, and you can get just about any frozen drink you want. Make sure you get Raul or Carlos as bartenders, follow them to which bar they are working for the best service and drinks! Also, we tipped the bartenders daily, ($2-$5) and always had great drinks and service. Tip- Bring a big cup from home, we brought our large cups from Wal-Mart, and they filled them to the top with our drinks and you don’t have to run back to the bar as often.

Entertainment- It seems that the spring time is not the season for
the Italians. Nothing against them, but they did not have “control” over resort as they seem to do during the summer. The north end of the beach was mostly the Vero club people and the southern end everyone else. Everyone had a great time and the staff from both the Vero Club and Oasis had everyone joining in activities during the day and at night with the evening shows. The shows have not changed, only the entertainment staff. The nightly shows were the same as July. There seem to be more kids’ actives, but it could be that we notice it more since or kids were with us.

The beach was as usual- AWESOME! Bring your own snorkel equipment. They had a limited amount of equipment and it was worn out. The snorkeling is great, but there still were a bunch of people that don’t have a clue and stood on the reef. Start out at the pier and drift down the beach. There is a ton of different types of fish right at the pier.

The dive shop on property has changed for the better, it now Dive Caribe. Their prices are more in line with the other shops in Akumal. AquaTech down the road has gone down hill. We wasted 2 days of diving with them. AquaTech only wanted to do Cenote diving, stating the ocean was too rough. Cenote diving is double the price of reef diving, and the other shop’s boats were out at the reef. Stay away from AquaTech is all I will say.

We will be back again this July, for the price and location you can’t beat Oasis Akumal.

Chris & Vickie

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The beach and reef are the best on the Riviera Maya. We walked up and down the beach, and were thrilled when we realized how much better our hotel was. We even went into Playa del Carmen, and the beaches there didn't compare! Food got a little boring, but it wasn't bad - it just wasn't great. Drinks were ok, but don't expect a normal margarita - they do cheap out a little. But, all of that was fine with us because the location was unbelievable. Another issue ... they told us when we arrived that they didn't have a room for us and we had to go to Cancun (but they would give us a week free for doing this). We refused, and they eventually found us a room. This was very stressful, and they won't guarantee you this not happening in the future. We would go back in a second, but I wouldn't want to be put in this position again - especially after driving there from Cancun, kids waiting to play, etc. - they really need to correct this. The Italian issue was not a problem for us, however, the hotel segregates them on one side, and then they have separate dinings/shows - this was ok, because they spoke Italian at these shows, etc.

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We have just booked our 21st trip to Club Oasis Akumal. It's very different now than our first trip. There are not as many rowdy Texans there as before. (we are rowdy Texans) Like I've read in previous reviews the food is just so so. However, the beach is awsome, the scuba diving is good. The staff at the resort really keep us coming back. Some of the staff have worked there since our first trip. This will be our 11 year old daughter's 4th trip. We just turn her loose on the resort and feel no worries. We know the staff will keep an eye on her and she usually has a 'best friend' in about two hours. They may not speak the same language, but, they have a blast. The entertainment at night hasn't changed much so that no longer interests us but if the right group of people is there, who needs the entertainment. We always stay in the condos right on the beach. Don't expect a ritzy, party resort. It's a great place to go and get on 'Mexican Time'. The daytime entertainment staff are hard working and there is never a lack of things to do during the day. Again, the staff is the greatest. We have stayed at other resorts in the area that had newer rooms and better food, but, they could not come close to the beach and the staff that you will find at Club Oasis Akumal. This trip we are going with a group of our friends (22). Hope they enjoy it as much as we do.

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This is a great area. The Caribbean is beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the resort staff and Mayan people are the sweetest and most helpful people on earth. There is also a wonderful international mixed of clientele from Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the USA. Listening to the different languages being spoken and observing people of from different countries is a great experience. And please... completely ignore all the chatter you hear about 'The Italians'! They are wonderful, fun loving people. If they tend to keep to themselves it's because the speak Italian and NOT English!
In order of food quality, the buffet lunch is best, breakfast is second, and dinner last, so make reservations to eat in the 'menu' restaurant for dinner which is very nice.
It's an older resort but it's kept very clean and the beach, cove and reef is by far the best in Akumal.

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a resort on the decline. One of the first in the area with a great location but facilities have be eclipsed by other new and more modern facilites. All in all a small local resort that has its own charm.

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I'll start with the good and then move to the less good.

One the plus side, the facility is very nice, with decent rooms. Building E has no view, but its still convenient to everything. The snorkling right off the beach is really, really good, and the location of the resort makes it an easy trip to several of the good local sites. I visited Chichen Itza and several cenotes and had a FABULOUS time. Highly recommend the 'Cancun Lines' tours. The tour agency that booked our trip also sent an agent to help us book side trips (Gogo Travel / Olympus tours). These folks were good. The food was fine. If you decide to travel on your own, you can rent a car, but if I suggest avoiding the resort taxis. If you go to the main road outside the resort, there are vans which will move you from place to place for roughly $2 a person.

On the minus side, the resort is a fairly long trip from the airport. Our group was 6 people, and travel times ranged from just over 1 hour to 2.5 hours on a van. Oasis Akumal is also a resort that clearly caters to Europeans, not Americans. I didn't find them to be openly rude, but for the most part they kept to themselves and ignored the few of us that were there. I was told that there are certain parts of the resort and beach that the Europeans consider 'European Only', which we ignored. The staff was ok, but the woman who handled tours and such for the resort was unpleasant. The drinks were not good and the bartenders were not particularly friendly. Making any kind of phone call (even local) is very difficult and costly. US calling cards don't seem to work, nor do cellphones. There were several instances of woman going topless on the beach (fairly normal for Europeans)which didn't offend me, but perhaps would not have been good for families.

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We came back from the Club Oasis Akumal after spending 8 days this was our 1st trip there.

We had a Great room (202B2) in the “B” building 2nd floor. The room was small in comparison to the patio that was huge and had AWSOME view! The only complaints were the stairs… and a “wonderful sewer smell” that we smelled every morning on the way to breakfast, it did clear up by lunch. I think the room we had in the condo section was just a 'room', no living room or kitchen. It was part of the condo that faced the ocean, which did have a kitchen, but no bedroom. Across the hall from us was a 'real' condo that was privately owned. It had a kitchen, living room and a bedroom. Looking at the design our room was their bedroom. In our opinion the upgraded room was not worth the extra money with us by ourselves, it would when we bring our kids. We did here of a couple of people complaining about their rooms on the Italian side and Building E and they were upgraded free.

By far the best rooms are in building A-D. We met several people that were staying in building E and complained about the noise from the bar and the mosquitoes. In addition, there were several Americans staying in the Italian side. Their biggest complaint was the drunken Italians making noise at 1:30 in the morning on the way to their rooms.

The food was typical “3 star” nothing fancy. Our recommendation is to get lunch and dinner early; they do not seem to replace the empty trays later in the evening. Also, the concierge (she said it was for the Vero Club patrons for lunch and dinner) told us that we could not eat at the Tucanes restaurant. We told here our package included ALL restaurants and she conceded that we could eat there. The lunch and dinner was by far better in this restaurant. One thing we did notice is that the Europeans smoke like chimneys… they smoke at breakfast, lunch, dinner and on the beach, one cigarette after another, the smoke can get overwhelming after a while and this is from an ex-smoker. They can also be rude and try to push their way around while in line. We had one or two instances of this and we stood our ground and they did get the hint, we did not have any trouble after that.

The beach and water was AWSOME!! We got our chairs on the beach early every morning and did not have any problems. The snorkeling was great; we would start out by the pier and drift down the reef to the end of the resort, doing this for hours at a time. We did see some of the other guests standing on the reefs which really ticked us off. If you do not bring your own equipment, get to the Marina early to get the resort equipment, all was gone by 10:30. We went Cenote diving and reef diving with AquaTech which was right down from the resort. The dive shop at the Oasis wanted $15 to $45 more for the same dives, and they were not open everyday. It seems they keep their own hours. While we were there, we got to witness turtles laying eggs on the beach several nights and the hatching if some baby turtles one afternoon. This is something we will remember for the rest of our lives!

The entertainment people were good, nothing fancy; they did have different shows each night at the Akumal Bar. The bartenders you really want are Raul and Carlos, they could make any drink you wanted and remembered what you were drinking. We followed them to the Turtle Bar and at night to the Akumal Bar. The others were O.K. if you wanted the basic Pina Colada or beer, but do not try to ask them to make anything else, as they spoke very broken English.

The prices in the gift shop were very high, we walked down the beach to the Bahia resort and shopped in the plaza and got excellent prices, the place is huge with just about anything you wanted. At the plaza, they also have an ATM and an Internet Café along with a sports bar that had the Baseball games and NASCAR on TV.

Over all we like Oasis Akumal, and will be returning this winter with our kids. For the price, it is a great deal.

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We are planning our eighth trip to this resort. If you like a beautiful beach and a laid back atmosphere, this is the place. We have a 12 year old son who always finds a friend . We let him have the run of the place and have very little fear for his safety. This is not the most luxurious place, but is very comfortable and we feel right at home. The beach is among the best around. The staff is very accomodating, and we see several of them on repeat visits.

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Just got back from Yucatan vacation. Stayed in 5 different places, but this was handsdown the best. Safe, fun, relaxing and squeaky clean. Great food and incredible staff.

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I took my 21 year old daughter on a sudden holiday and we both had the times of our lives (2 females).

The hotel staff were very accomodating in every aspect. Knowledgeable of local tourist information and very willing to go out of their way to make or meet any needs that we wanted (trips, taxi's, money exchange, dietary needs etc.)

The food was good, fair variety.A definite plan to build into your stay is booking the reserved restaurants (no added charge) for menu dining.

One of our day trips we went snorkeling and found that we could see and have just as much fun at the resort (save the money and take advantage of your own beach front.) Many safe and must see day trips and sights to make near the resort at minimum cost if you just ask around and walk out to the highway and flag the vans down. Give it a try it's worth every penny.

I have travelled to numerous places and islands and feel this is the best rounded vacation I have every had. I have 3 boys at home (14,16,18)and it will be a great trip for them as there is much to do, safe environment and just a little to far for them to venture off on their own into the cities.

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