Lovely Resort

Travelled to Grand Sunset Princess the week of December 4 – 11, 2022. Our party had six people, two couples and two singles. Age ranges from 28 to 53. There was my boyfriend and I, we’ve stayed at this resort before, my sister and her boyfriend, our friend Mike and my sister’s son in the third room. Overall, I would highly recommend this resort to anyone, the grounds are lovely, there is a lot to see and do, lots of pools, lots of restaurants, ample wildlife to see. I will return again as  [... read more]soon as I can find a carrier that is NOT Sunwing. Our Sunwing flight to Mexico was delayed 3 hours. The plane was available, they just had no staff to fly the plane. It’s frustrating to see your plane sitting there for hours when you know you should be in the swimming pool already. Unfortunately, Air Canada has a monopoly on Pearson and won’t allow Sunwing to use Terminal 3. So, if you ever see on your boarding pass gate B26, that means you go to B26, cram into a tight shuttle bus, it ambles across the tarmac, down a tunnel under the runways, comes up in no man’s land and you end up at the Sunwing terminal. There really isn’t anything to do in that terminal, one sandwich shop but that’s about it. I’m fairly certain it was on that cramped shuttle bus, that I contracted a cold which developed on day two of the trip after which point, I spent the remainder of the week in bed sleeping. Since our flight was delayed, we ended up landing at the Cancun airport later than expected which worked out in our favour as there was no line up to check in when we arrived at the hotel. We got there in the evening and check in for our three rooms was very quick. We ended up in rooms 3006, 3005 and 3003. I guess someone had checked into 3004 before we got there. All the rooms were lovely, we had upgraded to have swim out rooms. We booked about six months in advance as we really wanted a swim out room. They give you direct access to the pool, a nice quiet area that runs past all the swim out rooms and is also connected to the main pool so you can swim over to the swim up bar if you wish. My sister was in 3005, there was some damage on the floor where previous guests had dragged the furniture around. So, I guess cosmetic updates to some rooms would be in order. The rooms were comfortable, I enjoyed the bed and the pillows. I thought the TV was a little small. I know, it’s paradise and who cares about tv (except I was sick almost the whole week so the tv was my only entertainment). Our shower set up, also in my sister’s room, was a little problematic, the seal around the shower door doesn’t really keep the water in so the entire bathroom floor would end up wet. I can see some room for improvement there, it would mean we’d use less towels to mop up the mess. The mini fridge in the room was stocked well, lots of water, soft drinks, and beers. And once a day someone would stop by and knock to see if we wanted anything extra for the fridge. My sister’s boyfriend locked himself out of the safe and had to have maintenance come open it for him, they were fast and friendly. I also had room service one night in the room, prices were reasonable. Another area for improvement might be the wifi. It seemed to work only sometimes in our rooms. My friend seemed to think there was a limit to how much internet you could use. Again, it’s paradise who needs to surf the net, but my point is, the resort wants you to book all the a la carts on their app, you need wifi for that. The Layout: Is great. Everything is relatively flat so it’s good for people with bad knees like me. Yes, there are three storeys to the resort but there are elevators, one behind each lobby and at the opposite end closest to the beach end of the property. The resort is really like two resorts side by side. You’ve got the Grand Riviera Princess and the Grand Sunset Princess. They run parallel to each other. So if ever you think the lobby looks a little off from what you remember, you might be in the lobby of the other resort. They look like mirror images of each other. The great part about this resort is that you’ve got options on how you want to get around. If you like the scenery, walk in the centre of the two resorts, the paths are lovely and landscaped, lots of critters to see and beautiful plants. If it’s raining and you don’t want to get wet, you can walk through the ground floor of the resort, and it’s completely covered as it winds its way past all the hotel rooms. And if you are lazy like me or under the weather, you can catch the trolly. It runs 24 hours a day. You can catch it behind the lobby, ground floor behind the shops. That’s the main trolly stop, it runs back and forth from the lobby down to the beach area. You can also walk on this path as well and flag down the trolly whenever it goes past, they ask which room you’re in and they stop close to your part of the building. If you are checking in or checking out, you can also request a smaller cart to bring you and your luggage to your room or back to the lobby, just arrange it with the lobby. Restaurants: There are two main buffets, they are right beside each other, one is orange, one is green. They serve the same thing as each other so it doesn’t matter which one you go to. They are on the Riviera side. Most of the a la carts are all above the two buffets, so it’s convenient having all everything together. Also in this same area is the spa, gym and disco. And a sports bar with pool tables and great burgers. For breakfasts if you don’t want to trek all the way to the front of the resort for the main buffet, each of the two resorts also has another buffet that is open for breakfast, it is close to the pools and beach. These little buffets also are a la carts in the evenings. Booking a la carts, they want you to use the Princess app too book. Here is my beef with that, it will only let you book for the room you are in. IE, I was room 3006 and I wanted to book for all 6 of us that were in our party, the app would only let me book for 2 because that was how many people were registered to my room. If you want to book for a bigger group or for multiple rooms, you’ll still have to go up to the lobby to the concierge table and book with them in person. There is room for improvement for the resort to upgrade the app so you can book for larger parties. I can’t speak for the actual food at the a la carts because I never visited any because I was sick. I just made it to the buffets a few times, it was okay. I’ve had better but I’ve had a lot worse too. The resort offers a shuttle that goes into playa del carmen a few times a day. It’s cheaper than taking a taxi. I recommend taking the shuttle to Playa and then taking a taxi back to the resort when you’ve had enough shopping. Our friend Mike ended up with lots of bug bites. Not sure what kind or where from. I think he was the only person in our group that went to the beach so that might be the issue. Don’t forget to pack your bug spray in case. The other five of us never got bitten by anything all week. Perhaps Mike is just the tastiest. Of course, he was also the one that ended up pooped on as well, not sure if it was a monkey in a tree or a bird. Do keep in mind that there is a lot of wildlife around so keep your food locked up tight. I saw the coati’s grab people’s bags and run, I’m sure the monkeys are the same. The cats and iguanas aren’t quite as bold. The trip from the resort back to the Cancun airport was painful, there is construction going on and it’s very slow going. Our return flight home was also delayed by 3 hours and even after we landed at Pearson and went through the crowded shuttle thing all over again, the baggage carousel wasn’t working so that was another hour. I was sick and tired and vowed to never again travel with Sunwing. As for the resort, I definitely need a do over on my vacation and am already dreaming and planning on when I’ll return. It’s a lovely resort.

Did not disappoint

2nd time at this resort. Was as good as the first. Clean, well-maintained, Food was great. Rooms very comfortable. Staff very pleasant and helpful. Beach was good. Some storm damage (I think) but still fine.

I got horrible food poison from Teppayaki (the cook didn't cook the food well) on the last night that I collapsed at the airport which went to emergency at hospital.

I almost died and fainted on the airport floor with the horrible food poisoning from the hotel teppanyaki fish. The airline won't allow me to fly unless I get an emergency doctor's approval to fly which cost me money for medical bills, hotel, taxi, medicine etc. The airport to the hotel, the taxi driver charged us $62 usd but from the hotel to the airport was only $23 usd. The overall resort is pretty good and this was my second visit to this resort. Very impressed with how clean they are a [... read more]nd the food at the buffet was fresh and good overall.

Unique Experience

Rooms were OK,but the WiFi in the rooms can be improved. The beach front is almost eroding for the resort we chose. Lots of stones and pebbles. The beach during night is poorly illuminated. These days many people are vegetarian and hence some more.menu for these people is required, specially if it cod be for Indians and S.E Asians

Very good resort

The Hotel was very clean,all the floors very shining marble.the food was good so many choices of deserts and fruits.The service was good and punctual. The staff was very courteous,they all spoke English.I would go again next year.

Talk about downgrading from a 5 star to a 3 star in 6 years

We where there in 2016 and bought the Platinum Pkg, we where so please , Hence we recommended to our daughter who also went to the resort. So after Covid, we decided to go again, wow, what a change, the beach has been washed away and the water is certainly not clear and you have to navigate the rocks when going in, so water shoes would help. Our room had big holes in the wall and mildew on the wall as well, we did complain the next day and moved to another room, for all of our inconvenience [... read more], a cheap bottle of champagne was delivered to our room which we never drank. There is not Top Shelve liquor as advertised for Platinum members, Absolute was the best Vodka they had and no Jamison. The food went way downhill as well since 2016, it was like we where in Cuba, the only thing you can get by the pools close to the Platinum area was Taco’s unless you went to the beach No potato chips or any munchies in your room, And in the main store , a bag of potato chips was $8.00 US The À la cart dinners where cold, Premade and average at best , believe me, they rushed you out within a hr tops, we had a Gala dinner for all Platinum members that was advertised as a Surf and Turf, which turned out to be one cold shrimp and a steak that there was no way a sharp knife could cut. All in all, we will not be going back, All the plus side, the grounds where amazing clean and beautiful

Amazing resort

This resort is large but they do have shuttle that takes you from one place to the other I would recommend this resort to anybody we had a fantastic week and I can’t wait to go back… The only downside was the timeshare that they get you as soon as you enter the resort

Love this resort!

The resort and grounds were great. The food was very good. We have been here before. I only had 2 things that were alittle disappointing. There should be an adults only pool area and the theater for shows was too contained for covid. Many places have outside shows, but this resort does not.

Beautiful Resort

This resort was awesome! Even though it was large and my fiancé and I are first time travellers it was easy to navigate. The grounds are immaculate, the service was also perfect, the food was amazing. During our stay we always had Adrian wait us for breakfast and dinner and was very efficient at his job. By our area of pool we hung out at we had Rudy the lifeguard who was always around to make sure we were doing alright. We had a great server getting our drinks at the pool when we weren’t at [... read more] the swim up. Then when we were at the swim up we had Fernando the bar tender help us and make us special drinks. I would come back here again in a heartbeat! We loved it.

Amazing resort

We had a great relaxing trip, we loved the a’la carte restaurants especially the steak house and Italian, we were disappointed in the Mexican which I expected to be fantastic considering it was Mexico. We had a junior suite and was happy with our room no issues what do ever.

My 16th Birthday trip

If your looking to get your steps in you have come to the right place. The hotel is huge. Which means when booking resturants on the hotel app give yourself time to get there. We recommend booking the room with the pool if you love to swim. The the food was pretty good and consistent with delivery and choices. Always make sure you lock your balcony door because the monkeys come looking for coffee and chocolate. We had a monkey with child come into our room, thank God he was pleasant but it was t [... read more]errifying for my daughter. There are other animals roaming around harmless just stay in ur lane. But overall the experience was great. If you love massages check out Spa Del Mar and ask for Lili she made me knew again😁 The only negative feed back I have, if you like cabanas there is alot. But the downside is certain people feel entitled to keep them for themselves for their entire stay. They get up about 5am and secure a spot for the entire day, giving no one else a chance to use one. Thank you Susan. S

Beautiful resort

The resort was absolutely beautiful, the food was great and the people even better, couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon. Everyone when out of their way to make our time there the best possible. Would definitely go back again. Special thank you to a few people that were absolutely wonderful...Andrea concierge, Bernie driver, Ricardo Royal holiday host and Maria also works with royal holiday. Wonderful people, all the staff ty for making our holiday the best ever.

Awesome Resort!

My husband and I have been to many resorts in Mexico but we must say this one by far is our favourite. The buildings and the grounds are beautiful! We also enjoyed the deer and the monkeys right outside our room. It is a paradise for sure! We also want to mention Armando in the sports bar. He is so attentive and hardworking and deserves to be recognized. He made us feel special every time we walked in the sports bar! Thank you for that!

Wouldn’t visit here again

We simply just don’t think the resort reflects what it is rated and what you pay to visit. The grounds are beautiful but everything else could use a significant upgrade. The water park for kids is run down, although our son did enjoy his time there. There are additional costs all over the resort - we had to pay to access water park and to access the buffet (food was left sitting longer as there were less people visiting so instead of paying for better food it was worse than what was offered at [... read more] the main buffet). The rooms are also run down and our bed linens were not changed once during the time spend there. Our bathroom shower leaked all over the bathroom floor. The staff is not friendly at all and they expect you to have money in hand to give you any sort of relatively good service. Long lines for specialty items at buffets (e.g pasta/omelette bar) and not enough variety. A la cartes were difficult to book through app and the food was not good enough to reflect a five star hotel as someone who has travelled to mexico several times. Two of the a la cartes shared the same menu. Also we travelled with our son and while we got to the restaurant first two seperate parties were served drinks before us as we waited for over 25 minutes to be looked after, even after making eye contact with several employees and being ignored and overlooked. The beach is not nice. Riviera Maya is really struggling with seaweed rig hr now so if you travel for the beach do not go here or anywhere on this strip as it is truly suffering unfortunately. Limited night life available. Advertised disco and casino are not in operation. Overall not worth what we paid for this trip ..would have fathered spent a little more to get a lot more from other resorts we’ve previously been to!

Everything I had hoped for

This resort surpassed my expectations. It appears to be running without any obvious covid restrictions. Masks are worn at the buffet and when entering the restaurants. Lots of cleaning continuously happening. I had a few special requests due to mobility and I was accommodated. I did speak with others who didn't have a great experience with accommodations. Food was always very good. Majority of the staff were extremely courteous and helpful. I gave a lot of well deserved tips. Beach was c [... read more]rowded however there were always chairs available. My only complaint was bartender service at the lobby bar and one of the pool bars. These 2 bartenders who appeared to be experienced, older gentlemen who may have been in charge were giving obvious preferential treatment to the younger crowd. The pool bar was the worst of the 2. Young pretty girls were the focus. 8 people were served a head of us and for obvious reasons. And after the 8th person he went back to the first group he served and continued to chat and joke with them totally ignoring us. Finally another bartender joined him and he served us. This treatment did cause some discussion amongst guests waiting to be served and ones who finally got drinks. We just did our best to ignore this as we weren't going to let a couple bartenders ruin a perfect trip.

Grand Sunset Princess Trip review

The Grand Sunset Princess was everything they promised and more. The staff was adequate, helpful and ready. Before reserving this trip I had read reviews about staff and grounds not up to standards. This was not the case. When I checked into my room I noticed a burnt out light bulb over the bathroom vanity. Within a day it was replaced. The buffet was always full of a variety of fresh, awesome foods that could please anyone. The buildings themselves were well maintained, and if there was somethi [... read more]ng amiss it was quickly rectified. If I could give a recommendation to the hotel management it would be about the bartenders and their attentions to younger and more endowed patrons. As a more mature customer (not in a bikini) I found I was overlooked by the bartenders, even with a hefty tip. When I mentioned this to someone, the very next day the bartenders were asking "who is next?" That is how efficient this hotel is to correct a wrong doing. Thank You for a great relaxing time in Mexico. I will be back.

Great Resort

I enjoyed my stay. The swim out suites could use some up keeping on the stairs down. The suites were a good size, bathrooms were modern. Grounds of the resort were clean as were the pool areas. Overall very nice resort.

Beautiful resort!

The resort suits everyone’s needs from that being a family with kids, adults looking to relax, or friends going for a good time. There are many different pools for all different activities. The beach area is very clean and has tons of beach chairs for everyone. After walking along the beach this resort does an incredible job keeping it clean and ensuring you are able to swim in the area. The service throughout our stay was great regardless of the tough times with the pandemic. The range of res [... read more]taurants and buffets to choose from allowed for variety every day. Ensure to book ahead for the a la cartes as they are amazing! We were at the resort for a week and didn’t leave once. There is always something to do. The best part was the animation entertainment staff. They did an amazing job running programs throughout the day at the pool and the beach. Lots of games/challenges for kids and adults. The shows they hosted in the evenings were great and a good variety for kids and adults. They put up events in the main plaza after every show while made for a great end to the night. They were all very welcoming and inclusive to the crowd. Erick from the animation crew was our favourite, great energy and a love for his job! I highly recommend staying at this resort. Despite the challenges and it being inevitable for everything to be amazing this resort was well worth the trip.

Great Resort

This was our third time here, and we plan to make a fourth trip in the near future. I would highly recommend this resort to anyone looking to relax at a high end resort that is clean and has great service

Beautiful Resort

The hotel grounds are beautiful. Good food, but could be warmer. The snack bars by the pools are excellent. Good drinks. Pools are cold. The beach was nice. House keeping does a great job. Mini fridge always stocked.