Grand Luxxe RM does not encourage cooking

We are at Grand Luxxe Riviera Maya now, and finding that cooking is not encouraged. For example, there is just one kitchen knife in our 2BR unit, no cutting board, no small glasses (just one size of tumbler and one size of wine glass), and no serving bowls. And unlike some resorts, there is no salt and no pepper. So be warned. (Do folks staying at the Grand Mayan, Mayan Palace, Grand Bilss or Bliss have the same experience?)

If you do want to cook and don't have a car, the thing to do is to catch the scheduled colectivo from the tour departure stand outside the Mayan Palace lobby. For $5 or 50 pesos per person, this will take you into Playa del Carmen, dropping you off near the Mega store (where you can buy groceries) or on 5th avenue (your choice). You can then return 3 hours or more later for another $5/50 pesos. (This is worthwhile, as groceries at the on-site store are limited and quite pricey.)

As an aside, the wifi speed in Grand Luxxe building 2 has been consistently a bit less than 2 mbps on both upload and download. I was able to complete a magicjack call, but it was marginal.

On the bright side, the twice-a-day maid service is absolutely outstanding. And the tip (propina) is included at all restaurants and bars, though dining & drinks remain a bit pricey...but good (there is 2-for-1 pricing at happy hour at the Grand Luxxe pool...and perhaps elsewhere). There are also free coffee, tea & cookies served every day until 10 am just inside the building entrance.

bobpark56 said:

We are at Grand Luxxe Riviera Maya now, and finding that cooking is not encouraged. For example, there is just one kitchen knife in our 2BR unit, no cutting board, no small glasses (just one size of tumbler and one size of wine glass), and no serving bowls. And unlike some resorts, there is no salt and no pepper. So be warned. (Do folks staying at the Grand Mayan, Mayan Palace, Grand Bilss or Bliss have the same experience?)

If you do want to cook and don't have a car, the thing to do is to catch the scheduled colectivo from the tour departure stand outside the Mayan Palace lobby. For $5 or 50 pesos per person, this will take you into Playa del Carmen, dropping you off near the Mega store (where you can buy groceries) or on 5th avenue (your choice). You can then return 3 hours or more later for another $5/50 pesos. (This is worthwhile, as groceries at the on-site store are limited and quite pricey.)

As an aside, the wifi speed in Grand Luxxe building 2 has been consistently a bit less than 2 mbps on both upload and download. I was able to complete a magicjack call, but it was marginal.

On the bright side, the twice-a-day maid service is absolutely outstanding. And the tip (propina) is included at all restaurants and bars, though dining & drinks remain a bit pricey...but good (there is 2-for-1 pricing at happy hour at the Grand Luxxe pool...and perhaps elsewhere). There are also free coffee, tea & cookies served every day until 10 am just inside the building entrance.

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We are currently at the Grand Luxxe Nuevo. We do have lots of large square bowls that could work for serving, even though they are probably soup bowls, but they are huge. We have two large bowls that we keep avacados in one and limes in the other. One large knife, a cutting board, a colander and a lot of nice pots and pans. The glasses are not iced tea glasses, but OK. We also have 8 wine glasses that are all the same size (not a problem for us since we do not drink wine). We have not cooked this week, because we did last week where we were and froze some of that to reheat here. When we do cook here, it is stuff like spaghetti or soup. They have never left salt & pepper in the rooms, that is more of a safety issue - you would never know what was really in there. I bring my own disposable ones with me. I also bring some cheap throw-a-way plastic containers and plastic bags. If we are checking bags, I bring knives. When we are just using carry-on bags, I just have to make do with what they have.

We have eaten at the resort more this week than we usually do because we received room credit for doing the update and have used this for the restaurants.

We have had problems with the free WIFI too, and considered purchasing the Premium High Speed Internet so that we could watch some streaming video, but decided the 975 Pesos price was too high for that as we do leave the unit a lot! Our Magic Jack dropped two calls this week. I had to use my cell phone for one call that we really did need to make.

bobpark56 said:

We are at Grand Luxxe Riviera Maya now, and finding that cooking is not encouraged. For example, there is just one kitchen knife in our 2BR unit, no cutting board, no small glasses (just one size of tumbler and one size of wine glass), and no serving bowls. And unlike some resorts, there is no salt and no pepper. So be warned. (Do folks staying at the Grand Mayan, Mayan Palace, Grand Bilss or Bliss have the same experience?)

If you do want to cook and don't have a car, the thing to do is to catch the scheduled colectivo from the tour departure stand outside the Mayan Palace lobby. For $5 or 50 pesos per person, this will take you into Playa del Carmen, dropping you off near the Mega store (where you can buy groceries) or on 5th avenue (your choice). You can then return 3 hours or more later for another $5/50 pesos. (This is worthwhile, as groceries at the on-site store are limited and quite pricey.)

As an aside, the wifi speed in Grand Luxxe building 2 has been consistently a bit less than 2 mbps on both upload and download. I was able to complete a magicjack call, but it was marginal.

On the bright side, the twice-a-day maid service is absolutely outstanding. And the tip (propina) is included at all restaurants and bars, though dining & drinks remain a bit pricey...but good (there is 2-for-1 pricing at happy hour at the Grand Luxxe pool...and perhaps elsewhere). There are also free coffee, tea & cookies served every day until 10 am just inside the building entrance.

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Yeah, I thought the amount of "serving" bowls and things was quite small when we stayed there last year vs. HGVC. I think we ended up using the stainless steel "fruit" bowl as the mixing bowl/serving bowl. At least your internet speed is faster there than when we stayed. It was so slow I couldn't even upload one picture to Flickr. Forget wi-fi calling.

It was actually faster out by the pool area for some reason.

We'll be at the Nuevo Vallarta in January so we'll see how the two compare.

--Kevin

hurnik said:

Yeah, I thought the amount of "serving" bowls and things was quite small when we stayed there last year vs. HGVC. I think we ended up using the stainless steel "fruit" bowl as the mixing bowl/serving bowl. At least your internet speed is faster there than when we stayed. It was so slow I couldn't even upload one picture to Flickr. Forget wi-fi calling.

It was actually faster out by the pool area for some reason.

We'll be at the Nuevo Vallarta in January so we'll see how the two compare.

--Kevin

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WIFI is AWFUL in NV - the next time we will pay the 975 Pesos per week. You will not get a connection at the Luxxe pool. A gal near us was "going off" on that this morning. It is so slow right now that I cannot download email - it times out. I was shocked that I was able to open TUG! My husband asked me if I had responded to an email from someone (he saw it on his computer) the email came more than 2 hours ago according to Webmail, but still has not shown up on Outlook.

We have also been having problems with our Cox email since we have been here. We get it sooner or later, but cannot reply or send. I have been able to send using another account that I have, but it sure is a pain and now people have another email address for me that I do not share with many people.

I think most/many Mexican resorts would prefer that guests subscribe to their All Inclusive plans, with a second choice as far as they are concerned is buying restaurant meals. Anything to separate guests from their money.

Last year we had a week at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay.1 BR unit. 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 sets of flatware. No cookware, no oven, 2 burner stove. No groceries allowed on the bus from PB Mazatlan where one could at least catch a bus to a store. wi-fi was said to be free in the deli, but I was never able to get any better than a weak, spotty signal. I eventually bought a day here and there for access resort wide. We were guests of some nice folks at a Super Bowl gathering there who were on AI. I had I don't know how many Margaritas there, and finally had to order a beer to feel anything.

We won't be back there, opting instead to a smaller VRI resort backed up with a few weeks in a 5,000 sq ft VRBO house in the centro historico for the upcoming Carnaval.

Jm

However, Vida does not offer AI. And to me, that's a good thing.
Poor Wifi, however, is not a good thing for most visitors. Though I believe it's fairly common in MX.

I know I'm one of the exceptions, but I try to leave email and social media behind when I vacation, so it doesn't bother me as much as others.

We were at the GL (in the Mayan Riviera) 11/7-11/14. We were on the first floor of bldg 2. Our wifi was fine but our cell phone connectivity was bad indoors. I have a mexican Telcel phone and my iPhone. I had to make a business call-- I made it from the bench outside of the bldg as it kept dropping inside the villa.
As to the cooking utensils-- I do not cook on vacation, so everything there was sufficient for our breakfast needs. We always rent a car so we always go out for dinner. We actually drove into Cancun one evening-- it's only 30 minutes.

We were in Building 2 on the 7th floor. My cell phone worked great outside on the deck.

We have moved to Buganvilias Sky Suites this afternoon and for $60 we have really great WIFI for 3 devices. That is important to us because I am the Guardian for my mother and need to have ability to be in contact. That is why we brought our Magic Jack. I also am the administrator for our church website and need to receive information to update it on a timely basis. When we are gone multiple weeks, we have to be in touch.

Other than WIFI (and the "update") everything at Grand Luxxe was awesome!!!

We have a vacation coming up at the Grand Mayan, and it will be our last timeshare exchange EVER. We have fallen in love with Mexico but not All Inclusive style. We prefer the little boutique hotels right where the action is, not mega resorts. Our styles have changed over the years, especially now that we are comfortable with the surroundings despite our "Spanglish". Even though the Grand Mayan (and Mayan Palace and Grand Luxxe) are not All Inclusive you do get the feeling that they are trying to trap you and your money on their property. Probably the worst is the Grand Mayan in Nuevo, I felt like a mouse trying to get out of a maze just to see what was outside of the resort. I told hubby, I'm tired of spending money and playing the timeshare game to be somewhere I really don't WANT to be. This year we're drawing from our last bank and it will be to supplement a one month vacation on the Rivera Maya. Isla Mujeres, Merida, Tulum....and what I call my "pool" vacation at the Grand Mayan.

Neesie said:

We have a vacation coming up at the Grand Mayan, and it will be our last timeshare exchange EVER. We have fallen in love with Mexico but not All Inclusive style. We prefer the little boutique hotels right where the action is, not mega resorts. Our styles have changed over the years, especially now that we are comfortable with the surroundings despite our "Spanglish". Even though the Grand Mayan (and Mayan Palace and Grand Luxxe) are not All Inclusive you do get the feeling that they are trying to trap you and your money on their property. Probably the worst is the Grand Mayan in Nuevo, I felt like a mouse trying to get out of a maze just to see what was outside of the resort. I told hubby, I'm tired of spending money and playing the timeshare game to be somewhere I really don't WANT to be. This year we're drawing from our last bank and it will be to supplement a one month vacation on the Rivera Maya. Isla Mujeres, Merida, Tulum....and what I call my "pool" vacation at the Grand Mayan.

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There are some wonderful restaurants not too far from the Grand Mayan. In Puerto Morales is John Gray's Kitchen. It is exceptional. In Playa del Carmen El Fogon has great tacos, Yaxache has good Mayan food and I heard OhLaLa is good. You do not have to eat on property!