We recently stayed in a 4 bedroom at the GL Nuevo Vallarta and someone had asked for thoughts when we got back. We stayed in the 4 bedroom at Riviera Maya last year, so I thought there might be interest in some comparisons between the resorts/units.
The 4 bedroom suites in Nuevo Vallarta are all located in the Residence Tower. Set back from the beach, each floor has 4 suites, but one elevator that opens directly into the suite. There is a rooftop pool with pool bar, activities, loungers, etc. The location in the resort means that cart transportation is generally required. However, a perk of the residence tower seems to be that you can have anyone call you and they will come pick you up. They leave when you want from the tower as well. Everyone else appears to need to use the shuttles on fixed routes, which is slightly less convenient. I think all-in the shuttles are better here than in Riviera Maya. The resort is less spread out, and they have a map of the routes posted at each location.
The beach is good, with soft sand and little to no mud/rocks/coral/seaweed in the water. The waves are reasonable. Big enough to be fun to play in but not so strong they are hugely dangerous. We liked the beach better here than RM as well, where the water has coral/rock that makes it difficult to swim. The water on the Grand Luxxe side of the property is murky from the discharge of the Ameca river, we went to the Grand Mayan side for beach time.
The pool activities are great, and a highlight of the resort for us. They have two separate kids pool areas with toddler size slides, one at the Grand Mayan and one at the Grand Luxxe. The GL one required us to sign a waiver, as they also do kids cub/babysitting there. There are multiple other pools, a large waterslide, two wave pools, and a lazy river. The pools are better than Riviera Maya, imo.
For activities, they have multiple huts (joy center) each of which offers a few choices per day. The GL ones had ping pong, while the Grand mayan had billiards and foosball as well. Board games/books are available at all of them. We thought the activities at Riviera Maya were better for our pre-school aged kids. There was more variety and less of them had an extra charge. At Nuevo Vallarta many of the childrens activities (crafts) had an extra charge (~$10 USD/pp) whereas that was mostly not the case in RM. Many of the activities that were available for free in RM were available only in the kids club (paid, drop off) in NV, which isn't why we take family vacations.
The restaurants in NV were fairly reasonably priced. The best value was taco break, which is on the third floor of the plaza shopping building. A burrito (with chips and salsa to share) was ~$6 USD. Pool bar type items were typically $8-$12 USD. We took a taxi to Wal-Mart 3 times over the two weeks ($140 MXN each way) for groceries. The Vidanta app has deals every day, we used the 2X1 pizza both tuesdays we were there for delivery at lunch time. It took 1:20 for delivery, which was long after being quoted 45 minutes. Probably busy because of the deal.
The unit is large and gorgeous. The dining table is larger than some hotel rooms I've been in. Each bedroom has a full private bath, plus there is a "public" 2 piece bathroom. Full kitchen. We had two appliances fail during our trip. (The dishwasher didn't work when we arrived and the dryer blew a circuit part way through). The units here are slightly smaller than RM, but I think the layout is more functional, and I like it better. The unit is a bit tired looking, but I understand they just renovated the other half the units and so presumably this unit is up for renovation soon. It's still great, but is starting to show wear.
As an II exchanger we were charged the $11 pp/pd (grandfathered in). We didn't have to dispute that in any way. We were also not asked at any point during our stay if we wanted to take a timeshare presentation, which I found very surprising. I had to get rude when we checked into the Grand Mayan at Riviera Maya last year to get the tout to accept my declining the offer. I was polite the first 10 "no"s... We received a room on the 5th floor with a great view. There are room floors 1 through 9, so I thought 5 was pretty good as an exchanger.
Daily housekeeping is thorough, turn down service is included, with chocolates and little water bottles. The private pool on the deck is great. We had a great time, and exchanging in through II is exceptional value even with the $11 pp/pd. I will be willing to pay the $630/week in the future.
The 4 bedroom suites in Nuevo Vallarta are all located in the Residence Tower. Set back from the beach, each floor has 4 suites, but one elevator that opens directly into the suite. There is a rooftop pool with pool bar, activities, loungers, etc. The location in the resort means that cart transportation is generally required. However, a perk of the residence tower seems to be that you can have anyone call you and they will come pick you up. They leave when you want from the tower as well. Everyone else appears to need to use the shuttles on fixed routes, which is slightly less convenient. I think all-in the shuttles are better here than in Riviera Maya. The resort is less spread out, and they have a map of the routes posted at each location.
The beach is good, with soft sand and little to no mud/rocks/coral/seaweed in the water. The waves are reasonable. Big enough to be fun to play in but not so strong they are hugely dangerous. We liked the beach better here than RM as well, where the water has coral/rock that makes it difficult to swim. The water on the Grand Luxxe side of the property is murky from the discharge of the Ameca river, we went to the Grand Mayan side for beach time.
The pool activities are great, and a highlight of the resort for us. They have two separate kids pool areas with toddler size slides, one at the Grand Mayan and one at the Grand Luxxe. The GL one required us to sign a waiver, as they also do kids cub/babysitting there. There are multiple other pools, a large waterslide, two wave pools, and a lazy river. The pools are better than Riviera Maya, imo.
For activities, they have multiple huts (joy center) each of which offers a few choices per day. The GL ones had ping pong, while the Grand mayan had billiards and foosball as well. Board games/books are available at all of them. We thought the activities at Riviera Maya were better for our pre-school aged kids. There was more variety and less of them had an extra charge. At Nuevo Vallarta many of the childrens activities (crafts) had an extra charge (~$10 USD/pp) whereas that was mostly not the case in RM. Many of the activities that were available for free in RM were available only in the kids club (paid, drop off) in NV, which isn't why we take family vacations.
The restaurants in NV were fairly reasonably priced. The best value was taco break, which is on the third floor of the plaza shopping building. A burrito (with chips and salsa to share) was ~$6 USD. Pool bar type items were typically $8-$12 USD. We took a taxi to Wal-Mart 3 times over the two weeks ($140 MXN each way) for groceries. The Vidanta app has deals every day, we used the 2X1 pizza both tuesdays we were there for delivery at lunch time. It took 1:20 for delivery, which was long after being quoted 45 minutes. Probably busy because of the deal.
The unit is large and gorgeous. The dining table is larger than some hotel rooms I've been in. Each bedroom has a full private bath, plus there is a "public" 2 piece bathroom. Full kitchen. We had two appliances fail during our trip. (The dishwasher didn't work when we arrived and the dryer blew a circuit part way through). The units here are slightly smaller than RM, but I think the layout is more functional, and I like it better. The unit is a bit tired looking, but I understand they just renovated the other half the units and so presumably this unit is up for renovation soon. It's still great, but is starting to show wear.
As an II exchanger we were charged the $11 pp/pd (grandfathered in). We didn't have to dispute that in any way. We were also not asked at any point during our stay if we wanted to take a timeshare presentation, which I found very surprising. I had to get rude when we checked into the Grand Mayan at Riviera Maya last year to get the tout to accept my declining the offer. I was polite the first 10 "no"s... We received a room on the 5th floor with a great view. There are room floors 1 through 9, so I thought 5 was pretty good as an exchanger.
Daily housekeeping is thorough, turn down service is included, with chocolates and little water bottles. The private pool on the deck is great. We had a great time, and exchanging in through II is exceptional value even with the $11 pp/pd. I will be willing to pay the $630/week in the future.
