Gran Bahia Principe Akumal  Jungle, beach, and shopping at hand |
Address: Playa Aventuras Akumal. Crtra. Xetumal - Cancún, K
Akumal, Mexico
Tel: +52984 8755000
Fax: +52984 8755001
Email: info.akumal@bahia-principe.com
URL: Gran Bahia Principe Akumal
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Type of Property: All Inclusive
Beach Location: Beach Front (Directly on Beach/Water Front)
Island: Mexico
No. of Rooms/Units: 630
Scuba Diving: Dive Resort / Dive Operator Onsite
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| **Gran Bahia Principe Akumal
Summary of All Property Reviews for: Gran Bahia Principe Akumal
Ratings based on answers from a total of 1 reviews
10 is best 1 is worst |
 |
| Feature |
Ranking |
Feature |
Ranking |
| Cleanliness of Property |
9.00 |
Quality of Property |
10.00 |
| Privacy & Quietness |
0.00 |
Quality of Service |
9.00 |
| Courtesy & Hospitality of Staff |
9.00 |
Accuracy of Website (marketing hype) VS. Actual Experience |
10.00 |
| Food and Dining Experience |
9.00 |
Price/Value of Property |
9.00 |
| Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property) |
10.00 |
Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach) |
8.00 |
| Total Property Score: 8.30 out of 10 | Average Star Rating: 3.00 out of 5 |
- 100% (1 visitors of 1) said they would go back to Gran Bahia Principe Akumal again.
- 100% (1 visitors of 1) said they would recommend Gran Bahia Principe Akumal to friends.
Start of Individual Reviews: Receive Review Updates Via Email
Wonderful Time
By: Anonymous from Oshkosh, WI
Date of Visit: April 2007
We were blown away with the greeting upon our arrival at BP Akumal! Gracious and helpful, with chilled mimosas in our fingertips within minutes. We arrived at 1:30, ate lunch at the buffet, booked our reservations for the a la carte dinners, and when that was complete, our room was ready. Great ammenities, delightful drinks, pleasant and hard working staff.
In a nutshell: collectivos are always ready and waiting to transport you along the highway ($2 per person) We went by collectivo to the Tulum ruins and were able to pay US $4.50 per person entrance fee. Great beach, stay the day but arrive early to beat heat and crowds.
We also took the collectivos to the library in the city of Akumal and took much needed school supplies and incentive token gifts that the library uses to encourage and reward hard working students. They have a great need for quality books for children in Spanish. I am going to order some from Scholastic books and send to them from the States. After that, we rented snorkels from Akumal dive shop $9 for the entire day and snorkeled the bay and enjoyed up close and personal with the sea turtles and walked along the beach
Bartering does knock a few bucks off of purchases at the shopping complex on grounds...really barter at the silver shop inside the shopping center (I bought a ring marked for $175 and got it for $100)
50 SPF sunblock and reapply often.
Know that each resort...Akumal, Tulum and Coba are designed in the same manner. Registration, buffet to the left, bar to the right, pool straight ahead.
Take a flashlight to the beach at night and look for hermit crabs. We had them "race" along the striped beach chairs.
We had a fantastic time and life isn't as good back at home...service wasn't superior, but friendly and good enough. Only main complaint would be that the ladies bathroom in Akumal main lobby didn't seem to be able to flush thoroughly or well enough.
Towel art was fantastic and made it fun to see when we returned to our room each night.
I definitely recommend going to this place.
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Paradise!
By: Wendy from Ontario,Canada
Date of Visit: February 2007
This resort is absolutely wonderful. If you picture what paradise would be like this is it.
The flight
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We flew Westjet from Toronto to Cancun. The plane was very small and cramped. I felt a bit claustorphobic. Dinner was a turkey and cheese sandwich on a bun with Helmans mayonnaise. Mustard was available if you asked for it. Wine and beer or liquor were 5 bux each. The plane had screens at each seat to watch tv. There were several satellite tv channels and pay per view movies were also available for 5 bux. You have to use a credit card to pay for the movies.
Private transfer
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We pre-arranged to have a private van drive us from the airport to the resort. This was a little confusing because, at first we couldn't find our driver but after about half an hour we located him and we were on our way. The drive there was hassle free. Took us about an hour vs nearly 2 hours on the bus.
As we drove down the highway, we passed many entrances to various resorts..some looked REALLY nice and some looked just ok. When we finally came upon our resort we were stunned! It was 10X betterlooking than any of the resorts we had passed.
Check in
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Check in was a BREEZE. We entered the Akumal lobby and it was even more beautiful than in the pictures we had seen. We were greeted with mimosa's (champagne and orange juice). This was a really nice touch. The system they have for delivering luggage to your room seems pretty straight forward and hassle free. We had requested to all have rooms in the same building but unfortunately they didnt have any available so we were all in separate buildings. This turned out to not be a problem as its very easy to use the phone to call each other from the rooms to plan things.
The grounds
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Immaculate. We actually saw one guy who worked there picking up individual blades of grass off the white stones on either side of the path so as to keep it perfect looking.
The Rooms
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Our room was 5616 which is on the second floor of building 56. It is quite close to the akumal lobby. In fact its really close to everything. I recommend this building for its central location.
The room was spotless! Marble floors, gorgeous bathroom with jacuzzi tub, a separate sitting area and a couch. The tv was mostly spanish(obviously) but we found some shows in english too. The view from our room was of a large grassy area with palm trees. Beyond that was the 24 hour snack bar which always had nice music playing. Beyond that we could see the ocean. Just barely but we *could* see it.
The Beach
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It is true that there is a large rocky section of the beach on the one side..but don't let this deter you. Straight out from the Akumal lobby and to the left of that all the way over to the tulum side there is a HUGE stretch of awesome white sand beach. Swimming in the Ocean was wonderful and the snorkelling right there in the resort was amazing!!! I honestly couldnt tell much of a difference between the red flag days and the green flag days..it was never too rough to swim. If you want beach chairs and a palappa you should be out there by about 7-7:30 to reserve them with your towels. We each took turns being the early risers to go out to the beach first and get a spot. I was expecting to see a lot of topless women at the beach but i think i only saw 3. LOTS of speedos on men though...eeek.
The pools
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BEAUTIFUL!!! I had so much fun in the pools. There are so many different sections to swim in. My fave spot was the pool with the swim up bar. Francisco is the main bartender there and he is soo nice. I wish the different pools were all connected so that you didnt have to get out and get back in to journey to other sections of the pool.
The drinks
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Out of this world!!! I have never tried so many new fancy drinks iny life. Our favourites were the "miami vice" and the "bahama mamas" but the cerveza and tequila shots were awesome too. Next time i would bring a large, insulated mug since the drinks are pretty small and by the time you get back to your spot at the beach, the drink is half gone or melted and you have to go back again. An insulated mug would solve this prob. The house wine is not very good but it is drinkable and better than homemade wine you would make at a wine kit store.
The buffet
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The food was soo good! As i had previously read, i didnt really see too much of a difference between the different theme nights they had but there was always different things to choose from. The guacamole is great. The fruit is magnificent. The omellettes at breakfast are to die for.
One problem we had most mornings is that bacon was always in a different location and sometimes there were long periods of time with no bacon. If you inquire to the egg guy about the bacon, he will look at you blankly and say "no bacon" thats if he answers you at all. Also, watch out for food thieves! There is a toast machine where you put your bread in and wait for it to go up and through the machine and it drops out at the bottom. Some people like to steal other peoples toast instead of making their own. Also, at the made-to-order egg station you ask for your eggs and then wait for them. One time a woman came up and held out her plate and took one of my eggs while i just stood there dumbfounded. When i asked egg guy to make me another egg i just got the blank look again and he went on to the next person. It was actually pretty funny. I highly recommend the flaming coffees at dinner. It's amazing to watch them make them. There are different kinds to choose from. The bahia principe one is VERY good. Im sure they are all good though.
The A la carte restaurants
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We booked at Tequila (mexican), Alequin (gourmet), and The oriental.
Unfortunately my husband and i somehow got too drunk at the pool bar in the afternoon to make it to our 6pm reservation at the mexican restaurant. The rest of our group said it was AWESOME and we really missed out.
The Arlequin was the best. Amazing food and fabulous presentation. The atmosphere and service were amazing. I cant imagine anything on the menu being less than wonderful. Our group REALLY loved the mushroom soup with scallops.
The oriental restaurant was smaller. I was really tired on this night so that might affect how i felt about the restaurant. The food was really good. I got the tempura shrimp and veggies. I dont know if i would pick this restaurant again when we go back-probably not.
Xel-Ha
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This was the only excursion we went on and it was SOOO GREAT! Definitely go there if you like snorkelling and seeing lots of fish. The water there is absolutely beautiful. There are a lot of little private lagoon areas you can swim in and swimming in the underground cave was really cool. I thought i might feel clausterphobic in the cave but its not like that at all. It's beautiful.
The food at xel-ha was ok. We ate at the international restaurant which was PACKED. The buffet was nowhere close to the buffet at our resort but they had prawns and a nice shrimp dish that i filled up on. Beer was corona.mmmmmmm Corona is so good after drinking Dos equis every day.
Summary
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I would recommend this resort to anyone who was looking to go to Mexico. I can't wait to go back next year.
For pictures and video, visit my website at
http://jumpygurl.is.theshyt.com/mexico/
This reviewer did not enter property or destination rankings.
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Gran Bahia Principe Akumel Mexico
By: Mrs Norwood from Nottinghamshire, England
Date of Visit: June 2006
We are an english family of three. Just returning from this beautiful resort and we have no complaints unlike our American cousins. Please be aware that they can never be satisfied and unless something is American made its not up to "American Standards". This resort has very hard working staff, many of them speak English. My suggestion to the complainers of the language barrier is to learn some spanish before you go. The mexicans do all the hard work when it comes to communicating and people complaining about the lack of English speakers in this spanish speaking country ought to be ashmed of themselves. And by the way you do not have to tip these people for better service. I think it is insulting to suggest they will only give good service if they get tips. We did not tip apart from when in the a la carte restuarants. The service was excellent at all times.
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