Grand Riviera Princess

I absolutely loved this resort. Great food, buffets were awesome and presented different food each night. The hotel itself was exactly what we expected, the grounds were beautiful, the wildlife was abundant and friendly, and the staff was extremely accommodating. We had the time of our lives and can't want to go back to a Princess resort.

Nice. But...the restaurants could improve their menu and food. Walls very thin. The buffet is great! We really enjoyed that! Also the restaurant on the beach is very nice. We enjoyed eating our lunch there. The staff is very helpful and nice.

I stayed at the Grand Riviera Princess between November 12-19, 2022. I think this resort deserves a lot more credit because my experience was more positive than most of the negative reviews I've read here on Yelp. I've been to many all-inclusive resorts and I would consider Grand Riviera Princess to be one of the ones I've enjoyed the most, despite some cons. However, I thought the positives outweighed a lot of the cons that I am willing to forgive.

Let me start with the pros:
- Room was very clean. Although outdated in decor, the room passed for cleanliness.
- Service was for the most part very friendly. From the bell boys to staff in dining areas to bar staffs. Very great people. Any requests and accommodations were satisfied after calling front desk, and they call again to confirm.
- Food is subjective, but I really enjoyed the variety of food that are available to suit everyone's preferences. For the buffet, there's the "picky American" section that serves burgers, French fries, hot dogs, pizza; the salad section for the vegetarians, and more. There is a lot of options here, it can be quite overwhelming (in a good way) for non-picky eaters like myself. There are also a lot of restaurants that have specific menus catered to a cuisine like Asian, Italian, and International
- Pools are abundant throughout the resort so there's always some pools that are less crowded if you wish to enjoy quiet. The pools closer to the swim-up bar are more crowded.
- Entertainment was okay to good. Some night shows were better executed than others but I give them a lot of props for being able to carry out a different show each night.
- Maintenance was exceptional. Cleaners and landscapers really do a good job making the resort very pleasant for the guests and I did notice their hard work.

Cons:
- The beach is VERY small. The beach chairs were very close to each other so there's not much privacy between families. And the worst part of the beach was it's very ROCKY in the first 30 meters of walking into the waters. I've nearly cut my foot several times while stepping on sharp rocks.
- A small con, but there are lot of smokers leaving cigarette butts in non-designated areas that make the resort less family friendly.

Others:
- There is a lot of wildlife roaming around the resort, like Mexican raccoons, iguanas, cats, and birds. Be careful of the raccoons as they will go through your unattended belongings near pool areas if there's food or drinks.

Staying in the Platinum Suits, we've had our ups and downs during this trip. Upon arrival the bellmen and front desk were very hospitable. However, our refrigerator wasn't working and the bathroom smelled like sewer..our suite came with a hot tub and a jacuzzi out in the very forest revealing balcony, the plants were beautiful but it smelled like crab outside..if it's crab.

I like that we are near by the beach, like I've been researching before our trip. The ocean was full of seagasm...the employee said they clean the beach every day but the ocean is full of sea cum. If you get pass the disappointment they have a lot of beach beds underneath grass huts which are really cute. We didn't go into the water but we did go swimming near the 'Tulum ruins' which is the second largest coral reef in the World and 'Isla Mueras' where the water was clear.

I like that fact that every suite has a pool easily accessible to to the guests. I love the bars in the pool and the buffets that are near by as well. There are bars everywhere, I believe that the front desk bar is open until 4am and room service is 24 hours.

On our second day, we went to Guest Services near our room. Their cappuccino was delicious and Ricardo in Guest Service was very helpful, funny and helped us book our restaurant and order a cake for our friend for her birthday.

On our third day our room keys stopped working, the Guest Services we thought was 24 hours near our room wasn't 24 hours. We waited for a half an hour to wait for a Guest Server but they never came, none of the employees knew what to do so we decided to finally call the Front Desk. Security took about less 10 minutes to help us enter our room.

I know that we are in a different County but I felt like we were being passed around. I called for towels and the lady said they are "closed" and passed me to someone else over the phone who was able to help us, but why did she say they were closed but they weren't? I guess know I can officially say I feel like a "tourist".

Unfortunately, the Buffet and 'Mama Mia' food were disappointing. I'm still waiting on Mexican night tonight because we were told it was exceptional food with live mariachi band. Most of their restaurants were fully booked so we settled at their buffet for dinner quite a few times, not the best but filling.

Home now, the best food they had were the daily tacos they serve near the pool, they have people cooking on a griddle and the tacos were delicious! Esp their sauce, I've never had anything like that in the US! Their drinks in the bars were good too.

I love their live bands and DJ booths they have here nightly near the main lobby. Everyone here has been so nice. Mexico is still not 100% open to operating many things, we didn't get to enjoy many things like the Casio and Night Club they have on property. After dinner, my husband and I hit up the bar for a few drinks then went back to the hotel, bed time was never pass 11pm for us.

The Property is huge and beautiful. They have coaties, alligator lizards, snakes, deers roaming around and birds singing to constantly remind you that you're in paradise.

DO NOT STAY HERE! I was attacked by a Mexican raccoon and had to be sent to urgent to be treated for rabies. The hotel then refused to reimburse for the costs of the treatment. I was sitting a picnic table when I was attacked unprovoked. It is ridiculous to feed guests in an area that puts them at risk of a potentially deadly disease and even more unfathomable to punish your guests financially by refusing to compensate them for the treatment that the resort doctor recommended.

The property is amazing I don't know why it have such a bad review because i was there July 28, 2023 and the cleanliness , the amenities, the spaces, the buffets the restaurants everything was amazing, i had such an incredible time, and someone i would never forget is Carlota from the buffet she did our omelette and i was telling her i wanted to eat TOSTADAS but she told me that's only at night time, she went above and beyond and did it for me. I recommend this HOTEL 100% I'll rate it 20/10 I'll come back soon !

DO NOT STAY HERE! A member of my group was attacked by one of the animals they let roam the property. We are left with thousands of dollars in medical bills and they refuse to even reimburse us for the stay!!

We stayed at this resort to attend our friend's wedding. During our friend's beach ceremony I had left our stroller on the bridge that leads out to the beach. Staff had blocked off the area so I assumed it would be safe. When I returned to our stroller my phone was missing, and later I found out money was also taken. The entire wedding party witnessed my anxiety attack, the stress and panic I had when it was gone. We were all in disbelief, who steals a phone these days?!  At one point we thought maybe one of the wild monkeys took it that's how desperate we were for an answer. We looked all around the bridge, the beach and the nasty water under the bridge for hours! We tried calling it and it had been sent to voicemail. We tried "find my iPhone" and it was unable to find it, because it had been turned off. 

I asked staff at the concierge a few times during the rest of our stay if a phone was turned in to lost and found, I was always told, no. I also tried calling the property after we got home just to see if maybe someone found it, also no. Once I returned to the US and got a new phone, I found out I had lost all the photos I took the first 4 days of my 18 month old son's first trip to Mexico. I lost important work items, etc. Not to mention it cost me $1k to replace the phone. As frustrating and stressful as it was, it was also a financial burden. 
I almost let it go until the wedding photos came back. And lone behold in the background of the bride walking down the aisle, on the bridge - the ONLY person on that bridge because it had been closed off to guests - is one of a resort maintenance employee standing directly over our stroller, pretending to be nonchalant, sneaking around it and reaching into the stroller!!! I have physical proof that he blatantly waited on that bridge till no one was paying attention and took my belongings. I am absolutely FURIOUS and in disbelief!!! I promised the resort I would not go to social media or travel sites until I gave them a chance to redeem themselves. After numerous emails back and forth, I basically got a f"ck you response, we aren't liable and that there was no proof! Are you kidding me?! Look at the photos! What a joke! 
Do NOT go to this hotel. The food sucks, service is slow, and the resort is too big with little to no access to elevators for stroller and wheelchair guests - which we had both. The room floors are so slippery, one of our friend's took a bad fall in her room and had to have towels laid down the entire trip so it wouldn't happen again. I can't believe we wasted our money on this property and even more disappointed that the resort took zero responsibility for their staff's actions.

My husband and I stayed here for a wedding from October 14-18, 2023 and we will never return to Mexico after this trip.

Cons:
- The food was absolutely atrocious. The buffets were gross and the restaurants had possibly the worst food I have ever consumed. By the second night, neither of us were hungry because the food was so unappetizing and frankly, inedible. They did not have actually authentic Mexican food anywhere on the resort.
- I got extremely sick with food poisoning/parasite whatever you may call it and was completely bed ridden for our last full day there. Unsure if it was from the awful food or the water. We just drank the provided bottled water.
- The rooms were not clean. Our friends room was filled with mold.
- Everything was super overpriced, but that isn't too surprising for a resort. (Ex. 15, 4x6 prints were $182 USD).
- The check in process took about 45 minutes total. We waited in line to check in for about 30 minutes in the blistering heat. There is no AC in the lobby due to the open air concept. The people at the desk would ask a question, go into the back room for 5 minutes, and then come back out. After 45 minutes, they told us the room wasn't ready and to come back in an hour. We returned an hour later and they made us wait in line for another 20 mins just to hand us the room keys.
- No elevators - not a problem for us but it could be for others.
- The Mexican raccoons were obnoxious. All over the trash bins, pool areas, everywhere. One actually ripped through our screen door in our room, climbed onto the dresser in the room and stole coffee packets and tore them to shreds on our patio. They steal your food and drinks and are not easily frightened by humans.

Pros:
- The pools were nice
- Service (besides check in) was fine. Staff was friendly.
- The Amstar desk for excursions/transportation was very helpful!

Needless to say, that was our first and last trip to Mexico.

My family and I have stayed at this resort twice now and it definitely hasn't had any upgrades within the years. The resort has family club but doesNOT feel family friendly at all. Very little access to elevators for strollers and the one available is extremely SMALL. If you book an ALL INCLUSIVE you should be able to receive that treatment but here at Princess your chances of getting a reservation at a restaurant are VERY LOW. We came here with our 3 kids and not one night were we able to get a reservation for dinner. Very disappointing. We did address our concerns with lobby staff and nothing was resolved. My family and I will not be returning, i will search for an actual family friendly resort.