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Lazy River coming to Vidanta Riveria Maya (2017)

holdaer

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I just read this on Vidanta's website. The long awaited and abandoned lazy river will now be available exclusively to Grand Luxxe guests.

Here is the article:

Soak Up the Fun
With the debut of the Jungle Suite Towers comes another exciting announcement: the opening of a Grand Luxxe-exclusive Lazy River. The Lazy River will wind around the resort hotel and offer guests of Grand Luxxe Jungle Suites an even more exhilarating way to admire their beautiful surroundings. This much-anticipated attraction was designed as yet another way to celebrate the astonishing scenery of Vidanta Riviera Maya, allowing guests to interact with, and admire, the jungle landscape in a variety of ways throughout their stay.
 

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So to recap, the unfinished Mayan Palace buildings and the unfinished Mayan Palace lazy river is now Grand Luxxe only.
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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So to recap, the unfinished Mayan Palace buildings and the unfinished Mayan Palace lazy river is now Grand Luxxe only.

Not a surprise

GL Jungle Suites & GL lazy river ( aka - the partial build / 10+ year old Mayan Palace (never opened) additional units ) is actually a very efficient repurposing of developer "sunk money " .

That said - I wonder how many folks pre -2008 were sold RM Mayan Palace TS contracts (in part ) based on the lazy river they could see was under construction .
I bet there are a couple of TUG threads somewhere in the archives that mention this

*****
found & added - from March 2009 - thread -Grand Mayan Riviera Maya
" lazy river still 6 months or so away " {Mikenk}

I am sure there are other legacy updates -

*****
See - Vidafel /Grupo Mayan /Vidanta sales people "never lie" about future building & projects .
it is the alternate universe time lines that are the problem .
 
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MuranoJo

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Can anyone tell me where the unfinished '10-year-old Mayan Palace additional units' referenced above are located? Are they the older ones that snake out to the road, or were they they ones intended to be Bliss?
 

pittle

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So to recap, the unfinished Mayan Palace buildings and the unfinished Mayan Palace lazy river is now Grand Luxxe only.

My thoughts exactly!

MuranoJo - I copied this from Google Earth. The buildings top center are the ones that were nearly complete Mayan Palace units in 2005 when we went right after the hurricane and the lazy river was almost done then. I saw ithe lazy river from our MP upper floor unit one time in 2007 and someone posted a picture years ago, but I think they dug it up and now have rebuilt it. (They did that in Puerto Penasco). Anyway you can see it near these newly renovated Grand Luxxe Jungle units.
https://pittle.smugmug.com/Timeshare/Sample-Gallery/i-vsprSc4/A


A
 
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pittle

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Not a surprise

GL Jungle Suites & GL lazy river ( aka - the partial build / 10 year old Mayan Palace additional units ) is actually a very efficient repurposing of developer "sunk money " .

That said - I wonder how many folks pre -2008 were sold RM Mayan Palace TS contracts (partially ) based on the lazy river they could see was under construction .
I bet there are a couple of TUG threads somewhere in the archives that mention this

*****
found & added - from March 2009 - thread -Grand Mayan Riviera Maya
" lazy river still 6 months or so away " {Mikenk}

I am sure there are other legacy updates -

*****
See - Vidafel /Grupo Mayan /Vidanta sales people "never lie" about future building & projects .
it is the alternate universe time lines that are the problem .

A picture of this in June 2006. It has been in the works for ages!
https://pittle.smugmug.com/Mayan-Palace-Pools/n-gFLmc/i-JGZ2Tqm/A
 
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bizaro86

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I assume this will be available to all Grand Luxxe guests?

But then probably shouldn't assume anything with vidanta
 

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The first unfinished MP building, that's the one perpendicular to MPs lobby building did become a Bliss building. All the others are becoming Jungle Luxxe.
 

holdaer

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this new map shows the new Grand Luxxe Jungle Suites (circled in red) below the lazy river.

upload_2017-11-4_10-55-9.png
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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The first unfinished MP building, that's the one perpendicular to MPs lobby building did become a Bliss building. All the others are becoming Jungle Luxxe.

So on the map holdear posted - I assume the Bliss building is the building immediately to the left of the three buildings circled in red . (??)
 
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holdaer

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That is my understanding. Family members booked Grand Mayan but was offered an upgrade to GL Jungle Suite if they would attend the sales presentation. They took them up on the offer. The GL Jungle Suite balcony didn't have a dipping pool but was nice and had a swing on it. It also appears that Vidanta didn't have enough sales to support the Bliss buildings, so 3 buildings were repurposed to become GL Jungle Suites.
 

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this new map shows the new Grand Luxxe Jungle Suites (circled in red) below the lazy river.

View attachment 5055
Thanks, that's really clear to me now.

I'm surprised the buildings circled are/were unfinished MP units, as the aerial footprint looks larger than the typical MP building.
 

pittle

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Thanks, that's really clear to me now.

I'm surprised the buildings circled are/were unfinished MP units, as the aerial footprint looks larger than the typical MP building.

But, all of the buildings in the line from the pool to the highway are MP buildings. There are 20 of them. The 2 that are at a right angle in the middle are Buildings 9&10. We stayed in 10 once. They built the 3 that were circled in 2004-2005 and the other 8-10 on the far right top were nearly finished in November 2005. We could see them when all the trees were stripped of leaves during the hurricane. We were there 3 weeks after the hurricane.
 

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DSCF0708.jpg
I took this photo of one of the models that were on the ground floor of one of the RM Grand Mayan buildings in January, 2008. This was before the introduction of the newer Vidanta offerings of Bliss, Grand Bliss and Grand Luxxe. This was supposed to be the RM Mayan Palace complex. Current Mayan Palace buildings 1-21 run in the photo from lower right to the top middle.
Of course, all this changed with the new building levels that were introduced.

PS Note that the beach is at the top and the highway is at the bottom of the photo. The never finished MP buildings and lazy river are on the left side of the photo. Those are the new Jungle Luxxe buildings (three of them as of now, more to come?).
 
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T-Dot-Traveller

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View attachment 5062 I took this photo of one of the models that were on the ground floor of one of the RM Grand Mayan buildings in January, 2008. .

Some or all of those models are likely still there . I saw them in Feb 2016 - when (I was looking for something else) and ended up in the Mexican National sales area .
I thought they might be the ones that are no longer at the MP PV Marina BUT likely Grupo Mayan had more than one set made if you took the photo in 2008 .

added- Ron , I really like your pictures of the models .
I just realized that you took this in Riviera Maya . The models I saw in 2016 were / are in Nuevo Vallarta . ( ground floor of the Grand Mayan that has the M. National sales location )
 
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rpennisi

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For historical reference, I took this photo the same day, in January 2008 of the Nuevo Vallarta complex model. Note the Sea Garden at the far left and the "yellow and orange" Mayan Palace buildings on the bottom right, that were torn down soon after to build the first Grand Luxxe buildings (Punta and pools)
DSCF0711.jpg
For newer folks to Vidanta, this shows how easy and short the walk was from the Grand Mayan to the Sea Garden (before the wall was built). In fact, they used to run carts along the road from the Grand Mayan to the Sea Garden.
 

qb_bc

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So on the map holdear posted - I assume the Bliss building is the building immediately to the left of the three buildings circled in red . (??)

Going from memory from my visit in 2016.

The leftmost building of the three circled is the Bliss. We stayed in that building.

The two buildings left of the red circled are Mayan Palace. The one nearest is all rooms, while the second one to the left left of the red circled area has the lobby.

In 2016, when we were in the Bliss building there was a lot of construction. The half of the building (measured from the elevators) nearest the Mayan Palace was closed and they were working on the rooms. The other half of the building was Bliss accommodation.

I'm now wondering if they converted all of the three buildings to Jungle Grand Luxxe. If so, what are they doing for Bliss owners?

Every visit is a surprise:ponder:
 

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So to recap, the unfinished Mayan Palace buildings and the unfinished Mayan Palace lazy river is now Grand Luxxe only.
Ridiculous. and the its DEEP in the Mayan Palace jungle.
 

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Ridiculous. and the its DEEP in the Mayan Palace jungle.

I understand GL RM jungle may not be your cup of tea BUT it could be a great exchange for someone else .
Not everyone wants the beach / oceanfront . Some folks want a nice unit , pools / lazy rivers , good onsite restaurants & lots to do on resort etc .

Personally - we are fine at PV Marina Mayan Palace & NV Sea Garden due to the smaller scale resort footprint ,non AI status , and the ability to easily go off exploring by local bus . Vidanta offers this for us ; as well as many other varied ( non AI ) options to enjoy a vacation at their 7 resort locations .

IMO - GL RM Jungle is being added to accomadate additional exchangers . The land and " infrastructure " were already paid for , and Vidanta wants to keep growing . The unfortunate fall 2017 hurricanes removed units from the 2018 snowbird mix in the Caribbean and Florida and this gives any resort with available units an opportunity to fill them with exchangers .

IMO - this is parallel to the plans to build the 3rd Grand Bliss at PV - Marina on land that has been owned by (Vidafel / Grupo Mayan ) / Vidanta for 30 + years . There - the target market is existing (long time ) owners who think :
" Big Nuevo " is to hard to get around and prefer a smaller scale .

I think this shows a developer making smart business decisions / that also can benefit owners
due to the RTU float week format of Vidanta contracts .
 
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RussellSun

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I think this shows a developer making smart business decisions / that also can benefit owners
due to the RTU float week format of Vidanta contracts .[/QUOTE]

How does this benefit owners due to the RTU float week character of Vidanta contracts?
 

T-Dot-Traveller

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I think this shows a developer making smart business decisions / that also can benefit owners
due to the RTU float week format of Vidanta contracts .

How does this benefit owners due to the RTU float week character of Vidanta contracts?[/QUOTE]

Answer:

Vidanta contract are RTU float week(s) - so there is no ownership of a specific week , unit or resort location
Contracts written since 2011 are for 10 years of a registered week , renewable in 10 year increments - as a residence week . ( for up to 9 renewals / 100 years )

IMO -Residence weeks are RTU solely based on availablity . Registered weeks have (some kind ) of "senior position" to Residence Weeks .
IMO - registered weeks are like flying with a reservation and residence weeks are like flying standby . Both get on the airplane as long as there are seats .

As long as Vidanta keeps building and growing - everyone gets a seat .: AND it is not an old & rundown unit or situation .

IMO -Vidanta's reservation system is very sophisticated in how they manage occupancy levels based on existing owner ARP , new owners , exchangers and cash flow needs .
What allows them to keep "everyone" happy in the big picture - is the addition of new units to the resorts AND their system of building for peak snowbird
season with build costs in pesos and MF income in $ USD .
 
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RussellSun

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How does this benefit owners due to the RTU float week character of Vidanta contracts?

Answer:

Vidanta contract are RTU float week(s) - so there is no ownership of a specific week , unit or resort location
Contracts written since 2011 are for 10 years of a registered week , renewable in 10 year increments - as a residence week . ( for up to 9 renewals / 100 years )

IMO -Residence weeks are RTU solely based on availablity . Registered weeks have (some kind ) of "senior position" to Residence Weeks .
IMO - registered weeks are like flying with a reservation and residence weeks are like flying standby . Both get on the airplane as long as there are seats .

As long as Vidanta keeps building and growing - everyone gets a seat .: AND it is not an old & rundown unit or situation .

IMO -Vidanta's reservation system is very sophisticated in how they manage occupancy levels based on existing owner ARP , new owners , exchangers and cash flow needs .
What allows them to keep "everyone" happy in the big picture - is the addition of new units to the resorts AND their system of building for peak snowbird
season with build costs in pesos and MF income in $ USD .[/QUOTE]

I think their system is not that sophisticated because they misclassify people terribly. They misclassified us on our first visit and put us in the worst room possible. It still leaves bad taste in my mouth and has made me suspicious of their system, customer service and whether they treat owners with respect. We were treated like criminals almost. They made us go to a sales presentation to get an upgraded room. It was horrible. Then they tried to sell us a package that was well below our level of travel style. We actually wanted something better and more expensive. Imagine that! But the salesperson was trying to convince us to buy their cheapest program. Why? I have no idea. We finally upgraded from the Bliss Entertainment to Grand Mayan to Grand Luxxe on that first visit since we would never stay in the Bliss and Mayan Palace. Grand Mayan would be questionable so we rescinded on that package and asked for a Grand Luxxe package. I do not think Vidanta does a very good job of target marketing and their computer system has absolutely no idea of how to place people in the right rooms based on their ownership level and future sales potential and upgrade potential. I think Vidanta's model takes a very short term view of its owners. The sales people are trained to make a buck today and do not look at the big picture of matching members with the best product in the short term and upgrading them over the long term as their needs change. The sales people are rude and insulting too. They said some of the rudest things to us. I won't repeat them here. This did not just happen by one salesperson but by several in various capacities. It is still amazing to me that I bought anything. I doubt I will upgrade unless they improve their customer service and give us good rooms when we start visiting. We are new so we have not yet visited since joining. We shall see if they deserve their AAA 5 Diamond designation or not. Many resorts on the AAA list do not deserve to be on that list. I wonder if Vidanta bought its AAA designations. Many travel awards are promotional and companies can buy the awards with advertising dollars and donations. The Grand Mayan certainly does not deserve to be a AAA 4 Diamond resort. The furniture in the Grand Mayan Nuevo Vallarta is worn out and the terrace pools are dirty.
 
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pittle

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RussellSun - did you buy an actual unit or just the Trial Package? I cannot tell from your post. You have several thoughts running in the same paragraph.

Rooms are assigned on your equity value - $$$ that you have spent to get to the level you currently own. There is a pretty complicated method that also includes how long you have owned with them. There are 3 levels of ownership at the Grand Luxxe depending on these factors. As someone who has owned numerous units at all levels of Mayan World since 1999, I think that it is a fair enough system for owners. Someone with multiple weeks will get the better room assignments than someone with one week.
 
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