Vidanta Riviera Maya Update April 2018

[Eric B]

Just checked into a Grand Luxxe 1 BR suite from an SFX exchange. When we checked in, they looked us up and asked if we were owners; once that was confirmed, they volunteered that they would be giving us the appropriate wristbands for access to the GL pool. Overall a quick and painless process that we didn’t even have to ask for; kudos to the staff. Our unit was actually ready when we got there, so there was no wait until 5:00.

On the downside, the Lazy River isn’t done yet, and neither is the work at Salum for the new market. Current estimate from the check in staff is September, so hopefully they will be done when we come back next February.

We noticed some construction going on by the Bliss buildings where there had been some demolition happening in January. It doesn’t look close enough to be related to the Lazy River, but we’ll have to investigate further. It looks more like the size of the hotel building that came out. More to follow.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Just checked into a Grand Luxxe 1 BR suite from an SFX exchange. When we checked in, they looked us up and asked if we were owners;

the Lazy River isn't done yet .... hopefully they will be done when we come back next February.

More to follow.

Hope the time travel machine is working too < " Update April 2017" - ? >

LOL - could not resist noting your posted year

******
Enjoy - It was nasty "on and off" snowing today in Greater Toronto (seemed like late Nov 2017 - not April 6 ,2018 )
My wife said she wanted to head to the airport and catch the first plane to Puerto Vallarta.

 

[Eric B]

Oops; hopefully someone knows how to edit that. Have to admit I didn’t look at my calendar before typing that....

 

[vantovidanta]

Thanks for the update I will be there Sept 28. Hope no hurricane

 

[Eric B]

Thanks for the update I will be there Sept 28. Hope no hurricane

2018, not 2017, right?

Please update us on their progress on the Lazy River & Salum. There were a few non-owners in the van with us from the airport that seemed to have gotten the GL owner wristbands, too; ran into them at the GL pool, which is owner-exclusive now. Seems like they’re relaxing that a bit now that the high season has tapered off a bit and giving access in exchange for a sales pitch. Not really a problem for us; there are only 6-8 people besides us at the pool now and it’s an awful big one. No problem getting a spot to relax, though there were a few staked out with towels when we got here this morning.

 

[Eric B]

Ok; parts of Salum are open. There’s a Joya store, a few other souvenir & hat kind of shops, an ice cream stand, a tamale stand, and a coffee/pastry stand. The ice cream is pretty good. Most of them are open in the late afternoon & evening; the coffee one is also in the morning. They’re doing live music there, too, in the evenings starting around 7:30. Haven’t checked on the physical condition of the lazy river yet.

Also, when we were here in January it looked like they were tearing down a building by the Bliss ones; now it looks like they’re putting it back up. We’re doing an update this morning and will be asking about that.

 

[Pizza67]

Ok; parts of Salum are open. There’s a Joya store, a few other souvenir & hat kind of shops, an ice cream stand, a tamale stand, and a coffee/pastry stand. The ice cream is pretty good. Most of them are open in the late afternoon & evening; the coffee one is also in the morning. They’re doing live music there, too, in the evenings starting around 7:30. Haven’t checked on the physical condition of the lazy river yet.

Also, when we were here in January it looked like they were tearing down a building by the Bliss ones; now it looks like they’re putting it back up. We’re doing an update this morning and will be asking about that.

Thanks for the updates Eric. We'll be there later in May and had been wondering about the new area (Salum). Some of the emails from the Vidanta Traveler made it sound like the restaurant was open?

 

[Eric B]

The restaurant there, Quinto, has been open for a while, at least since we were last down in January. They have a breakfast buffet for GL guests there. Not sure what other ones are going in, but the pictures on the walls in front of the part under construction make it look there will be more dining/bar options.

 

[Eric B]

Spent the morning in our update today. The latest info is that Vidanta has divided up the Luxxe level into another tier, the Deluxxe, which includes the Jungle Luxxe suites and the new ones going into Nuevoi Vallarta near the studio and 1BR Luxxe lofts. The building that was torn down and is being replaced near the Bliss buildings in RM will be the lobby for them.

They've started marketing the Estates, which are the tier above the GL Residences. There are a limited number that will be "fractional ownership" and come in 1 BR, 2 BR, and 4 BR 2 story versions. I'll post floor plans later. They'll be located pretty far inland behind the Cirque theater, but come with the use of electric golf carts for which valet parking will be available on the resort. The 2 BR one is ~4500 sq. ft. Fitbout will be similar to the 4 BR Residence units. The 2 BR & 4 BR ones come with a platinum tier of membership, which will make them attractive to the luxury crowd.

It looks like they're making progress on the Lazy River, but it won't open until "manana." .Someone speculated that it would be September, but there still isn't plaster on the walls yet, although there was a great deal of heavy machinery activity when we walked by there.

They've made quite a bit of progress on a large building near the theater that is supposed to become a grocery store as well as another large building that will be part of a water park before the start of the Estates.

I'll provide further info on the exchange options for the Estates later as well. It doesn't sound like they'll be available to exchange into via outside exchanges, but the contract structure is quite similar to the other GL contract structures.

 

[Eric B]

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/fQPPD6dPhpm7BoMQKc1xS9ocihOgefkJfCt97kRFVL

This is a link to pictures of the floor plans for the Estates, the current status of the Lazy River, and some of the menus from and pictures of the Mexican marketplace.

 

[jssquared]

Eric. Thank you so much for the information and pictures. New user here, but have been reading the forums for quite some time. I own an Estates contract (been a Vida owner for 8 years and have progressed all the way up the flow chart from Villa to the Estates - hitting pretty much everything in between) and can confirm your information. A couple of additions, the 4 bed total square footage will be in the neighborhood of 10,000 sf with huge patios. The Estates will also be built in Nuevo Vallarta, probably even before RM. They will be situated across the Ameca River, closer to Puerto Vallarta. The intent is to be on the other side of the river so the beach will not be impacted by the runoff. Also, gondolas will be built to transport guests from the Estates project to the main resort. There was some talk that RM would have electric boats to take you through the canal system, but not sure if that will ever come to fruition. Also, talk of a Cirque Academy where guests will be able to work with some of the Cirque performers and trainers (like at Club Med Punta Cana but on a larger scale). Estates will be in East Cape as well.
I would be glad to answer questions but am cognizant of confidentiality issues so may need to be a bit general.

 

[Eric B]

Interesting to hear that. We didn’t hear about the boats, but it kind of makes sense. I do remember seeing the docks in Nuevo, but thought they had given up on that as a previous effort. We’re back down on that side a few times this summer and fall, so I’m sure we’ll hear more. Thanks for the info!

 

[jssquared]

I still keep hearing about the boats in NV. There are actually a number of docks that have already been built (at least some of the infrastructure). There has been a ton of earth moving along the Ameca river. I was told that most of this is flood mitigation, but it sure looks like more than that. At times, we have also heard about a river walk along the Ameca and a nature walk on the island/bird sanctuary in the Ameca.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Eric. Thank you so much for the information and pictures. New user here, but have been reading the forums for quite some time. I own an Estates contract (been a Vida owner for 8 years and have progressed all the way up the flow chart from Villa to the Estates - hitting pretty much everything in between) and can confirm your information. A couple of additions, the 4 bed total square footage will be in the neighborhood of 10,000 sf with huge patios. The Estates will also be built in Nuevo Vallarta, probably even before RM. They will be situated across the Ameca River, closer to Puerto Vallarta. The intent is to be on the other side of the river so the beach will not be impacted by the runoff. Also, gondolas will be built to transport guests from the Estates project to the main resort. There was some talk that RM would have electric boats to take you through the canal system, but not sure if that will ever come to fruition. Also, talk of a Cirque Academy where guests will be able to work with some of the Cirque performers and trainers (like at Club Med Punta Cana but on a larger scale). Estates will be in East Cape as well.
I would be glad to answer questions but am cognizant of confidentiality issues so may need to be a bit general.

Dear jsssquared ,
Thank you for posting & welcome to TUG , as more than a reader .

I few years ago when Vidanta opened Cirque in RM - someone posted " pigs are flying " . Folks had heard sales talk about it for a number of years and few believed ...

It would not surprise me if your post turns into reality >>>>> one day.

We are happy owning the little house( Mayan Palace) in the growing neighborhood : but I am glad Vidanta has the vision to " fly "

 

[pianoetudes]

I do remember seeing the docks in Nuevo, but thought they had given up on that as a previous effort.

Is the dock for the transportation to the Park?

 

[Eric B]

No data; jssquared posted above that they’re for transport to/from the Estates to/from the resort via gondolas. If they do that it would make sense also to go to the park, but last word I had was transport between the resort & Park would be by train. I would guess they’ll restrict the gondolas to Estate owners as part of the exclusivity.

They also mentioned in RM that there would be an Estates exclusive part of the Salum area.

 

[Eric B]

Added some pictures from the market near Salum that’s open now; we had tamales, corn & ice cream there tonight. There’s a band playing there in the evenings M-F starting ~7:30, but it hasn’t been publicized much, if at all. We listened for a couple of sets and made up 1/3 of the crowd for most of the time unless you count the staff in the stands.

For seating if you want to give this a try (and I recommend it), there are two sets of wooden benches with very small tables and seat cushions built into the stairs, or metal chairs and tables at the bottom of the stairs. In order, I’d suggest snagging the wooden benches, the round metal chairs or the straight-backed metal chairs. There’s also a pile of artistic looking rocks at the base of the stairs with a concrete ring around it you could perch on. Not sure how long this will stay a “secret,” once Salum opens they’ll probably push it. It’s worth a visit for the small crowd and relaxed atmosphere now, though the service at the elotes & tamales stand still needs some work.

 

[Pizza67]

Sounds fun, looking forward to seeing it next month.

 

[heckp]

Eric. Thank you so much for the information and pictures. New user here, but have been reading the forums for quite some time. I own an Estates contract (been a Vida owner for 8 years and have progressed all the way up the flow chart from Villa to the Estates - hitting pretty much everything in between) and can confirm your information. A couple of additions, the 4 bed total square footage will be in the neighborhood of 10,000 sf with huge patios. The Estates will also be built in Nuevo Vallarta, probably even before RM. They will be situated across the Ameca River, closer to Puerto Vallarta. The intent is to be on the other side of the river so the beach will not be impacted by the runoff. Also, gondolas will be built to transport guests from the Estates project to the main resort. There was some talk that RM would have electric boats to take you through the canal system, but not sure if that will ever come to fruition. Also, talk of a Cirque Academy where guests will be able to work with some of the Cirque performers and trainers (like at Club Med Punta Cana but on a larger scale). Estates will be in East Cape as well.
I would be glad to answer questions but am cognizant of confidentiality issues so may need to be a bit general.

We will be checking in April 28th apparently in 1BR Jungle luxxe, I read a lot about construction around Jungle luxxe, is there a building I should request to be at least far from construction noise? Thanks

oops sorry quoted the wrong one

 

[heckp]

Eric. Thank you so much for the information and pictures. New user here, but have been reading the forums for quite some time. I own an Estates contract (been a Vida owner for 8 years and have progressed all the way up the flow chart from Villa to the Estates - hitting pretty much everything in between) and can confirm your information. A couple of additions, the 4 bed total square footage will be in the neighborhood of 10,000 sf with huge patios. The Estates will also be built in Nuevo Vallarta, probably even before RM. They will be situated across the Ameca River, closer to Puerto Vallarta. The intent is to be on the other side of the river so the beach will not be impacted by the runoff. Also, gondolas will be built to transport guests from the Estates project to the main resort. There was some talk that RM would have electric boats to take you through the canal system, but not sure if that will ever come to fruition. Also, talk of a Cirque Academy where guests will be able to work with some of the Cirque performers and trainers (like at Club Med Punta Cana but on a larger scale). Estates will be in East Cape as well.
I would be glad to answer questions but am cognizant of confidentiality issues so may need to be a bit general.

We will be checking in April 28th apparently in 1BR Jungle luxxe, I read a lot about construction around Jungle luxxe, is there a building I should request to be at least far from construction noise? Thanks

 

[Karen G]

Oops; hopefully someone knows how to edit that. Have to admit I didn’t look at my calendar before typing that....

I do! I do! and I changed it to 2018.

 

[tselios]

We will be checking in April 28th apparently in 1BR Jungle luxxe, I read a lot about construction around Jungle luxxe, is there a building I should request to be at least far from construction noise? Thanks

We are in building 2, and every afternoon there is a constant pounding jackhammer. Not good, if you like naps. Also, if you want a little rest after your day at the pool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wrxdoug]

We are going on an SFX exchange to a 1 BR Grand Luxxe in June and did I recently read they are not allowing exchangers in the beach club now as well as grand luxxe pool? We exchanged our 2 BR London for this only to have all these things changed a few months before our trip is aggravating to say the least. Not sure if you can answer this since you are owners on the SFX exchange. We knew about loss of GLX pool since Dec. but how many other things are they changing now.

 

[Eric B]

I believe they were letting exchangers into the Beach Club; someone else posted on that.

 

[pittle]

I believe they were letting exchangers into the Beach Club; someone else posted on that.

I am here now and when we checked in to The Grand Bliss yesterday, we were told that as exchangers, we were not allowed to use the Beach Club. We used SFX and made the reservations 18 months in advance for a 2 week stay.

I talked to the gal that wants you to tour/update and she said that they wanted to have special amenities for members. I told her that we were owners using some use or lose weeks and chose this resort because of the Beach Club access. She said we should have come as owners. She also said the update would be short because they did not have any more GL units to sell - they just wanted to tell us about the resort. Right! We still declined.

We are on the first floor of building 4 which is not far from the Central Lobby. The unit is OK - it has handicap accessibility on the lock-out side. I have thought about asking to downgrade to GM Buildings 1-7 just so we would be closer to the restaurants and pools and could walk instead of taking the shuttle. The GB is not on the main shuttle route. We were told to walk over to the pick-up area between GM 8-9 for pick-up or walk on the pathways. It is a LONG way to the regular beach front pool from GB on the walking paths when carrying things for a day at the beach. We got there too late to get a shady spot today because we went to the grocery first thing, so we just came back to our deck.

We have 2 weeks here and in less than 24 hours, we have decided that we will not return to Riviera Maya. It no longer has any appeal for us - we have spent 3-4 weeks here years ago and loved it. Now it is just jungle views and very little breeze on the deck. At least the deck is shaded. The dipping pool is fairly cool.