Vidanta Riviera Maya - Grand Mayan - We stayed one week & have the pros, cons & tips to maximize your stay!

Hello fellow wanderers!

We stayed at Vidanta Riviera Maya in the Grand Mayan Resort in Playa Del Carmen in the Yucatan area of Mexico. We exchanged our RCI timeshare points to stay here for one week (7 nights) in a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo with a full kitchen and plunge pool on the patio. We stayed in Building 9 at the Grand Mayan on the second floor from Friday Nov. 26th through Friday Dec. 3rd of 2021. 

Pros: The condo was a nice set up with two large bathrooms including two large tubs. The kitchen is fully stocked to cook (however, we did not cook) but we did buy snacks to have in the condo. There is a full-size fridge, stove and microwave to use along with all of the dishes and utensils required. The condo slept the five of us just fine and could have slept another 5 (although would have had 4 people in the living room on the trundle beds. 

Cons: Our room was overlooking the road which the resort shuttles run on (train of golf carts) from 5am until midnight every single day. The shuttle stop for our building was right next to our room so we heard the shuttles stop and start constantly. They were loud. The noise had us up early in the morning and kept us up late at night. The plunge pool on our patio was cold, too cold to get into so the birds used it as a bird bath. 

We were picked up at Cancun airport by a shuttle that we reserved through the resort. It took us one hour to get our luggage after we landed. We met our shuttle driver outside who said it was a 20-minute wait to leave but we stood there for about 30-minutes waiting prior to getting on the shuttle. From the time we landed to the time we got on the shuttle it was 2 hours. Once on the shuttle, we had a 45-minute drive to Vidanta. They say the shuttle is complimentary, but you actually pay for it through your room charges when you check out. It would have been faster to take a taxi. 

Check in process: The shuttle dropped us off at the "Central Lobby" at Vidanta where they unloaded our luggage from the shuttle and reloaded into carts. Once on the carts, they sprayed the luggage with a disinfectant. We then parted ways with our luggage and were walked through the Central Lobby to the resort shuttle. After a few minutes of waiting and confusion of what was going on, we were directed onto the resort shuttle and taken to the Grand Mayan lobby for the actual check in process. We drove by our building not knowing it yet. Once at the Grand Mayan lobby, we were directed to the RCI counter for check in. We had been up since 3am Pacific time to catch our flights and now it was 6:30pm, we lost three hours in the time difference, and we were tired and hungry. The check in process took forever. Way longer than it should have. They gave us a paper map and told us to download the app. They gave us free drink coupons which got shoved into our bags and forgotten about. They discussed putting money on your room since they are not an all-inclusive resort so that you do not have to take your wallet everywhere with you. If you put money on your room prior to your arrival, they offered to match a certain amount (i.e.: you put $2000 on your room, and they add another $400 to that). They do not offer this bonus at the resort at time of check in. They put a bracelet around our wrist which is your room key and nothing more. You wear it in the pool and shower and ours worked half the time letting us in the room. Once we checked in, we were then passed onto another person who was extremely pushy about signing us up for a timeshare breakfast. Free $25 buffet for an hour presentation and they will put $450 on your room as credit. They were so pushy, and we were so hungry and tired that we just wanted to get to our room. After finally copping an attitude and saying NO for the tenth time, we just walked away and got back on the shuttle to our building. We arrived in our room at 8pm and we landed at the airport at 4pm. After getting to our building, we had to check in again with our concierge and then wait for our luggage to make it to our room. 

Tip: download the Vidanta app! We learned later (our 4th day) that there is a GPS map on the app that shows you where you are within the resort and where everything else is. We walked the boardwalk our first night in the dark trying to get to Salum. Salum is an area along the beach within the resort that has most of the restaurants and bars along with shopping. The signs along the boardwalk are not that easy to follow and the GPS map would have saved our first night in the dark! I cannot recommend this enough. Download the app and use it! I wish they would have explained this to us at check in. But they didn't. They just wanted to sell us another timeshare. 

Tip: The resort has groceries onsite at Jade (a market, boutique, bakery and cafe). Jade is located between the Mayan Pool and the Main Pool. We took a taxi our second day to Walmart in Playa Del Carmen for bottled water, snacks and food for the week. Everything we bought, they sold in Jade at the resort, and we spent $100 for taxis to go to town and back. The Taxis only hold 3 people and we had 5 in our group. So, two taxis at $25 each way = $100 round trip to town. We wish we were told that Jade had groceries at the resort. Would have saved us time and money.

Tip: The resort has a shuttle that takes you to Playa Del Carmen for $6 per person each way. They leave the resort at 9am and every two hours after that. However, we were trying catch the shuttle back to the resort from town and the shuttle was full when we got there. We waited while they got another shuttle, and it was full also, so they took two of us in the shuttle and three of us had to catch a taxi back (we made them charge us the same price as the shuttle for the taxi - $18 one way for 3 people vs $25 cab fare). 

Itinerary:

Day 1: Traveling from West coast to Cancun and checking in

Day 2: Breakfast, taxi to town, Walmart for groceries and Cirque du Soleil - Joya

Day 3: Pool Day (Mayan Sanctuary pool, infinity pool and beach time

Day 4: Spent entire day at Xcaret in Playa Del Carmen, an eco-park

Day 5: Pool Day (main pool) and sunset cruise

Day 6: Full day in Playa Del Carmen

Day 7: Torrential rain - stayed in and ordered room service all day

Day 8: Check out and travel home

Pros:

Resort is absolutely stunning, Covid precautions are taken seriously with mask wearing and constant sanitizing of hands along with having temperatures taken daily, every single staff member we encountered was beyond friendly and welcoming (even pushy timeshare guy was overly nice), resort had everything that you needed (even though we didn't know it at the time), GPS map on APP was amazing once we figured it out, resort never felt crowded, plenty of space for everyone, condo was large enough and accommodating, they have shuttles if you do not want to walk, covid testing on site with appointment via the app - $25, shuttles to and from airport, shuttles to and from town - Cancun or Playa Del Carmen, plenty of pools to choose from and plenty of restaurants and bars to choose from, room service was great and they deliver pizza to your room, beach was beautiful and ocean was warm, 2 for 1 happy hour seems to be all of the time.

Cons:

Pools are not heated and water was cold, noisy room being right on the road and next to the shuttle stop for our building, it was a 20-minute walk to anywhere in the resort or a wait time for a shuttle, average day walking around the resort was 3-5 miles on our tracker, check in process was too long, we didn't get enough information about the resort during check in, the timeshare guy called our room every single day trying to get us back down there, it rained a lot during our stay, Vidanta's tour company Cancun Bay (more below) and overall the resort is just massive and we only saw half of it.

Excursions:

We booked one full day at Xcaret and a sunset cruise through Vidanta's tour desk and they book everything through Cancun Bay. Cancun Bay is also their shuttle service to and from town and airport. 

Xcaret - We were up at 5am on Monday to catch the shuttle bus to Xcaret which made multiple stops along the way. The ride was an hour long at least and the tour guide on the bus talked over the loudspeaker the entire time, sharing information in Spanish and English. We pulled into the parking lot at Xcaret after dropping the first batch of people off at Xplor. Tour guide gathered us together and then sold us water-proof cell phone cases 2/$50 for floating the underground river. She advised us to reserve dinner during the main show, but dinner was sold out by the time we got there. Xcaret opens at 8:30am and we were not cut loose on our own until 10am. The main show starts at 7pm and the river alone took 2 hours. We had to be back on the bus by 9pm or we missed our ride home. The buffet lunch was included in our tour; however, drinks were not, and we spent $56 on four drinks in souvenir cups that we didn't ask for or take with us. Xcaret was a good time and is a beautiful park with dolphins, turtles, rays, sharks, bird sanctuary and cultural shops and shows but the park is so big that we only saw half of it in our one-day tour. We would recommend buying your tickets online yourselves (including dinner with the main show) and taking a taxi there to maximize your time and getting there when they open and leaving when they close. We recommend visiting Xcaret but not via the tour desk at Vidanta. Do it on your own! The park is absolutely beautiful, but we ended up spending the afternoon walking in torrential rain and we were soaked all afternoon. Check out our video of Xcaret on YouTube: Wandered Off

The sunset cruise that we booked via Cancun Bay at Vidanta's tour desk I would not recommend. The shuttle picked us up on time at 4pm from Vidanta but we made two other stops along the way. Our cruising destination was south of Playa Del Carmen so it should have been a 30–45-minute drive but we sat at one resort for almost a half hour waiting for a couple that was late. We arrived finally at the cruise destination around 5:30pm and the sunset was at 6:05pm. We stood around waiting for another shuttle that was also late. But while we stood waiting, we did see a random spider monkey walking down the road. That was fun to see and something you don't see every day. We finally got on the boat and started sailing as the sun went down. It was disappointing. The staff on the boat were friendly and entertaining but the open bar was not worth it. The drinks were not good, and our appetizers came in the form of a bento box with Salame and cheese and two people shared one box. The sun set quickly, and we spent most of the time on the boat in the dark. I would not recommend this tour through Vidanta. We had a great time still, but we experienced way too many cons on this tour. 

Playa Del Carmen:

We spent a day and a half in town. First time we took a taxi and were dropped off and picked up at Walmart. We walked down to fifth avenue which is the pedestrian only avenue full of shops, bars and entertainment. One more block down is the beach. Walmart made us wear a mask, sanitize our hands and they took our temps prior to entering. The second time we went was for an entire day and we took the Vidanta shuttle down. They have a hidden drop off and pick up location behind a gate behind a store. We felt safe walking around town and ate and drank the avenue away along with shopping. TIP: random men on the street will see your Vidanta bracelet and will approach you "hey remember me, I am your waiter at Vidanta, and I am here on my day off working for my family's shop" "come check out my family's shop". It is a ploy to get you into random shops and then you are pressured into buying something expensive. Beware of these people and keep walking or hide your bracelet. Overall, we loved Playa Del Carmen and will be back. Check out our video of Playa Del Carmen on Youtube: Wandered Off

Cirque du Soleil - JOYA:

We booked this dinner and show prior to going to Vidanta, through Vidanta's website. We chose the dinner show and even picked out our seats. We have five people in our group and tables only sat four, so we had a random seat selected at the table next to the main table, but we were ok with that. When we got there and got our tickets, they were for seats with no table and just appetizers and champagne which is not what we signed up for. We talked to the ticket booth, and they were no help. We think they switched us because of the number in our party. So, we sat behind the table that we chose and watched it sit empty the entire time of the show. They even brought out dinner to that empty table and then took it back when they realized that no one was sitting there. It was frustrating and we were starving with plans of eating dinner at the show. They only charged us for the appetizers and champagne but that did not make it right. The nice thing is that JOYA is on site at Vidanta, although a long shuttle ride within the resort. The show was excellent, and we highly recommend but we would splurge next time and get the VIP dinner table because part of the show is literally on your table. Also, some of us didn't drink champagne and it was $10 for a bottle of water. The overall venue was beautiful. 

Vidanta Grand Mayan overall:

We had a great time. Cirque du Soleil JOYA was great to experience in Mexico and the resort was absolutely beautiful. It was truly a paradise. Would we go back? Yes, now that we know the ins and outs of staying there. We only saw half the resort and now that we know our way around the resort our next time will be better spent relaxing vs finding our way around. We would recommend booking tours on your own and taking a taxi to maximize your time. 

We had decided to not put money on the room ahead of time due to there being five of us, each paying our own way. We thought it would be too complicated to figure that out afterwards. But halfway through we ended up putting everything on the room because it was easier (room service and pizza were automatically on the room), and we figure it out in the end anyways. Everyone kept tabs on what they spent. TIP: download a currency exchange app prior to going. It helped us quite a bit while shopping etc. Everything at the resort was in Pesos. In town, it was US Dollars in some shops and Pesos in other shops. All restaurants were in Pesos. Of course, everyone took the US Dollar. We did not convert currency to Pesos at all, but we were given Pesos back as change. If you have a family staying and one person is paying, I recommend putting money on your room and taking their added bonus of a room credit. Well worth it. We also would have done the timeshare presentation for the $450 room credit, but he was so pushy we stayed away. 

While checking out, you will receive your room bill in Pesos. You will need to go through it as they charge you for the coffee and water in your room regardless of you using it or not. You have to tell them you didn't use it. Make sure the charges are accurate and it can be confusing because there is a lot to go through on the bill, in Pesos. They also include gratuity and your airport shuttles in this final bill along with a room tax. They took a $500 deposit from us and charged us $450 at the end in room charges. 

We decided to write this blog and share our experience via our YouTube channel: Wandered Off because out of all of the research we did prior to going, we did not find anything helpful in the manner of tips, pros and cons. We truly hope to help you maximize your time at Vidanta Riviera Maya so that you have a more relaxed vacation than we did. We felt time crunched and rushed during our week at Vidanta and we experienced so many mishaps that we hope to help you avoid those moments. 

We have posted three videos on YouTube. One of Playa Del Carmen, one of our full day at Xcaret and one of the Vidanta Resort including JOYA and the sunset cruise. Please check out our videos at Wandered Off on YouTube and consider subscribing to our channel. Please like and share our videos as well. We truly appreciate it! Please send us an email if you have any questions at all. We'd be happy to help. 

Thank you,

Wandered Off

Chris and Brandi (although Chris stayed home this trip and Brandi went with their youngest daughter Makenzie, sister-in-law Alisha and nieces Madison and Justine)