Gala Beach Resort Playacar |
Address:
Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Tel: 52 (984) 877 4040
Fax: 52 (984) 873 1169
Email: infopya@galaresorts.com.mx
URL: Gala Beach Resort Playacar
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Type of Property: All Inclusive
Beach Location: Beach Front (Directly on Beach/Water Front)
Island: Mexico
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 CheapCaribbean.com Reservations - Playa del Carmen Resort Deals
Expedia.com Reservations - Playa del Carmen Resorts
Summary of All Property Reviews for: Gala Beach Resort Playacar
Ratings based on answers from a total of 3 reviews
10 is best 1 is worst |
 |
| Feature |
Ranking |
Feature |
Ranking |
| Cleanliness of Property |
8.67 |
Quality of Property |
8.67 |
| Privacy & Quietness |
7.67 |
Quality of Service |
8.00 |
| Courtesy & Hospitality of Staff |
9.00 |
Accuracy of Website (marketing hype) VS. Actual Experience |
6.33 |
| Food and Dining Experience |
7.00 |
Price/Value of Property |
8.00 |
| Safety Factor (Did you feel safe at property) |
6.00 |
Quality of Beach (ranked closest beach if property is located off the beach) |
6.67 |
| Total Property Score: 7.60 out of 10 | Average Star Rating: 3.33 out of 5 |
- 33% (1 visitors of 3) said they would go back to Gala Beach Resort Playacar again.
- 67% (2 visitors of 3) said they would recommend Gala Beach Resort Playacar to friends.
Start of Individual Reviews: Receive Review Updates Via Email
Nice but NO 5 stars
By: D. Vescarelli from Calgary, Alberta
Date of Visit: March 2005
The location and to some extent the rooms are the only thing giving this property a 5 star rating. Rooms were nice and clean but beds are MUCH harder than one would expect.
All inclusive fridge was limited to 2 bottled beers per room per day. Orders for more were brought in glasses.
Food at buffet restaurants was very average and one or the other of the two wouldn't have bacon or sausages for morning breakfasts.
The made to order stations were SERIOUSLY understaffed causing long waits. 3-4 grill stations would be manned by a single individual attempting to make eggs, pancakes, french toast etc. to order. Drinks were difficult to obtain due to a shortage of all hour stations and those that were open were understaffed. Cold bottled water was not available except at the store for $3/us for a small bottle. The bar nearest the lobby didn't open until 5:00PM and therefore not available for drinks when it should have been. There were only 2 small a la carte restaurants available and as such were hard to book ahead for a suitable time. The Italian one was great but the others were mediocre at best. There was always a shortage of towels and chaises at both the pools and at the beach.
In general, although it was OK , having stayed in other 5 star hotels this place fell short in the food and beverage service areas.
To read FULL REVIEW click here: Property and Destination Rankings
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Great Resort
By: xtlxlg from san luis missouri USA
Date of Visit: November 2003
We spent last week at Gala Beach Paya del Carme. We had a wonderful time at a great resort.
We celebrated our 20th anniversary. We left the kids at home. We are late late late 40's. The resort was surpriselingly full with families and couples from all over the wolrd.
We were upgraded to Gala Gold Club which gave us full ocean view room with balcony overlooking the beach. It was a great room, and the ocean view was sensational.
As other reviews have mentioned the Gala Beach has the best beach of all the resorts on the Play del Carmen beach. Wide pure clean sand with lots of shade trees. To the right of the resort the beach extends with many private rocky coves which you can easily walk to. The property to the right looks like it is part of the palace Golf club, and not developed yet. To the lef of the resort is all the other resort on the beach up to town, Playa del Carmen.
From the Gala you can easily walk on the beach into town. The day
we actually went to check out Playa del Carmen we simply took free Gala resort bicycles and rode on the side walks into town. In town you can walk and shop no problem.
For meals we enjoyed both buffets for breakfast and lunch, and had great dinners at the Italian resturant. The dinner bufet was also great as they cooked to order every night steaks, pork chops, and cicken. Plenty to choose from. No problem. We hardly dressed up for dinner. Polo shirt and jeans. Tennis shoes.
Plenty of activities if you wanted to play. We thought we would return with the kids for the Gala kids club which looked great and well organized and staffed.
The room was great, well cleaned and restocked with all foods and
everynight a new chocolate treat or wine.
We enjoyed our snorkeling trips the most. We did not go to the big parks to snorkel. We went to Akulmal which is about 25 minute taxi ride away USD $25.00. Cost to enter park is USD $6.00 each instead of $35.00 at other large theme parks. The snorkeling there on that day was fantastic. Besides turtles and fantastic angel fish, out by the where the ocean comes in we saw a giant grouperand excellent coral heads. Advice is to get there by 10:00 am as it get crowded with locals and tours from cruise ships.
After seeing all the negative reviews we could not beleive this was same resort they were talking about. Our king size bed was wonderful, and did not notice a hard bed what so ever. We slept fine. Food was great, and pletiful. Most important
'We did not get sick'. And that says alot because we ate everything including ice cream evernight at the buffet for desert.
We saw may of the other resort which also looked great, but for the package we came on American Airlines Vacations, we were totally happy with the Gala Beach Resort and look forward to returning with the kids.
For the money we paid for all inclusive at a very nice clean resort we could not have been happier. Which it was longer..
To read FULL REVIEW click here: Property and Destination Rankings
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Gala Resort Trip review
By: Bridget from Bay Area, California
Date of Visit: April 2003
We just returned from a week at the Gala Resort Playacar. We had a group of 12 9 adults and 3 kids (ages 7,7 & 11). Check in was very smooth they had everything ready. We had requested to have all five rooms close and they were all in a line with only 2 rooms in between us. We were in Room Tower 2 close to the pool and Ola-la restaurant very convenient. The rooms are large and clean but definitely not five star but after reading the reviews, we did not expect that so were quite happy with them. The king bed is wider than the ones we have in California, which was nice, but they are as hard as a rock!!! I like firm beds but by the end of the week, my hips hurt (I am a side sleeper). The maids do come twice a day once to clean and then turn down. We always seem to be missing something small after cleaning (a washcloth, hand towel, extra towel) but the linen closet was across from us and I just got use to helping myself. It is no problem to call and they will bring it but I found it faster to do it myself. The minibar is a joke. It isnt very cold and is very leaky. In fact, the minibar in the room next to ours leaked under the wall and into our closet luckily, it did not ruin my shoes. There were minor maintenance items that I noticed paint on dressers, closet door sticks, etc. but again, my expectation were not that high. The bathrooms were larger than I was expecting with nice size showers. Great hot water pressure but the cold trickled out the opposite of what you normally encounter in a hotel! They advertise four pools which is a little misleading. There is the adult pool and the other three pools are really one big pool with connecting shallow areas. But there was plenty of room in the pools. Not so with the chairs you really do need to get out early and put towels out to reserve chairs. No umbrellas around the chairs just the tables so very little shade at the pool. On the beach, however, the palaypas provides great shade but again, you must get out early to reserve them. The beach was spectacular!! White, soft sand with turquoise green water my dive computer said the temperature was 82 degrees really wonderful!! It was very shallow and great for the kids. We only had one day with a red flag that had a very strong current. Bargain with any beach activity you want to do they said Banana boat ride was $15 a person we got him down to $12 and then watched as the next group got him to agree to $10! We never saw any peddlers on the beach selling items like I am use to all over Mexico a part of me sort of missed it not sure why!!The food at the buffets was okay to good depending on what you got. I am extremely picky about food but could always find something to eat. Again, I was not expecting gourmet food so was not overly disappointed. We did not eat at the Italian restaurant since it didnt seem like any one like it but ate at the Mexican one twice. The food was much better than the buffets and you really do have to get in line at 8 in the morning to make reservations two days in advance. My husband did get food poisoning the first time we ate there he had the Flan for dessert and was sick all night!! Yes, we ate there again and no, he did not have the Flan so we are giving them the benefit of the doubt that it was a one shot occurrence. We were there when the hotel was oversold and expected to have long waits for drinks at the beach or pool. Never happened there always seemed to be some one there to take your orders. We did order two drinks at a time to save time but found the service to be efficient and friendly. Yes, we did tip for drinks and at meals, but only if a waiter had to bring us something. If we got it ourselves, we did not tip.For scuba divers the diving is right from the hotel and I felt very comfortable with the dive master. He checked and doubled checked everyones tanks and regulators. Beautiful and easy dives about 10 minutes by boat from beach. One couple diving with us were staying at one of the RIU hotels and said they were quoted $160 each for a one tank dive our hotel was $68 each for a two tank dive!! First dive had tons of turtles I stopped counting after 10! Second dive beautiful coral walls a few swim throughs, lots of fish. If you have the time, Cozumel is only a ferry ride away and has spectacular diving.
The staff is at the Gala are extremely enthusiastic and hard working. They have water basketball, aerobics, bingo, music trivia, ping-pong tournament, etc. all day long. I now know why several reviews mentioned - AAYAH, AAYAH.... OOOOOH, OOOOH!!! It gets on your nerves but you learn to ignore it! The activities were great and kept the kids occupied. Now, would I go back to the Gala maybe! We talked with a lot of quests that have been coming there for years and most seem to think the Gala is the best on that stretch of beach, primarily for its location and size. PLUSES Best beach, medium size so not too spread out, Good waiters/waitresses, decent (not great) food, nice size rooms, friendly staff, extremely kid friendly, Security very evident. MINUSES older hotel so more run down, rock hard beds, Front desk not good with details, little to no shade at pool, buffet food got very repetitive. All in all, at the price that we paid, we more than felt like we got our moneys worth. No, this is not a five star hotel by American standards (more like a 3 1/2) but more than adequate to enjoy the beautiful Mayan Riviera.
To read FULL REVIEW click here: Property and Destination Rankings
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