Mexico non All Inclusive advice

[terces]

We are looking at settling in to one resort in Mexico for the month of January, but want to avoid the all inclusive cost - we don't drink enough to justify the cost and would like more freedom to experience restaurants and our own cooking.

It seems that most resorts in Mexico are all inclusive.

Can anyone give me advice as to some of the top resorts that would be available as a standard TS without the requirement to pay for the all inclusive fee?

We like Playa del Carmen and especially Playacar, and also want to spend some time this winter re-exploring PV, Mazatland, Manzanillo and any of the other places that are available for direct non-stop flights from Western Canada.

My thoughts are to buy in to one of the main-stream TS systems using the Mexico resort of choice as our home resort and acquire about 3 to 4 weeks in January in a 2 or 3 bdrm unit.

This plan for us is in defense of trying to holiday using the drastically devalued Canadian Dollar and always having to pay our holiday costs in USD. I know the TS MF's are charged in USD, but at least out other living expenses will be in Pesos.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[easyrider]

My thoughts are to buy in to one of the main-stream TS systems using the Mexico resort of choice as our home resort and acquire about 3 to 4 weeks in January in a 2 or 3 bdrm unit.

That is what we did. We went with UVCI because of the multiple destinations available to reserve, no mandatory all inclusive, the resort size and room features.

The Grand Mayan was a consideration but after staying there we decided that the resort was too big and the kitchen was a mini. These resorts do have very nice restaurants and resort grounds. Many have golf courses and the Maya Riviera resort has a Cirque dul Solie theater and another theater is planned for Nuevo Vallarta. I think this resort has one of the biggest footprints in Mexico regarding destinations. Grand Mayan is the middle tier for this resort group. I think Grand Lux is the top.

Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach was another consideration but the lack of direct resort exchange to other PB resorts means using the one resort unless you exchange through RCI and adding an exchange fee. The rooms are nice with a decent kitchen.

We travel mostly to Mexico's west side and these above resorts are mostly west side. The Grand Mayan has a resort near Playa del Carmen and UVCI has a resort near Cancun which means that in both resort groups , reservations can be made to resorts in different locations of Mexico.

Bill

 

[terces]

That is what we did. We went with UVCI because of the multiple destinations available to reserve, no mandatory all inclusive, the resort size and room features.

The Grand Mayan was a consideration but after staying there we decided that the resort was too big and the kitchen was a mini. These resorts do have very nice restaurants and resort grounds. Many have golf courses and the Maya Riviera resort has a Cirque dul Solie theater and another theater is planned for Nuevo Vallarta. I think this resort has one of the biggest footprints in Mexico regarding destinations. Grand Mayan is the middle tier for this resort group. I think Grand Lux is the top.

Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach was another consideration but the lack of direct resort exchange to other PB resorts means using the one resort unless you exchange through RCI and adding an exchange fee. The rooms are nice with a decent kitchen.

We travel mostly to Mexico's west side and these above resorts are mostly west side. The Grand Mayan has a resort near Playa del Carmen and UVCI has a resort near Cancun which means that in both resort groups , reservations can be made to resorts in different locations of Mexico.

Bill

Bill - what is UVCI? I googled it and came up with the University of Victoria! Also were you able to buy on the resale market?
Ron

 

[pittle]

Looks like UVCI, are all Villa del Palmar so there are place in PV, NV, Cancun, and Cabo.

Mayan World as I call it, includes Sea garden, Mayan Palace, Grand Mayan, Grand Bliss, and Grand Luxxe units. They have pretty much cut off resales with the huge transfer fees and loss of Vacation Fair weeks (extra weeks) and amenities like no pay unless you go, golf, etc. At one time we had 6 weeks with them and many were from old contracts that did keep amenities (these are mostly Mayan Palace ones). They made us a great deal to upgrade to Grand Luxxe and they got the weeks back that they can now sell with the new resale language. They have been doing this for about 8-10 years now so the less expensive ones are really difficult to find now. I do not think any of the Grand Mayan have the old 1 MF transfer and keep your VF week.

Mayan World does have locations in PV, NV, Riviera Maya, Puerto Penasco, Acapulco, and Mazatlan. All of these locations have Mayan Places and 4 have Grand Mayan.

You can get into Grand Mayan, Grand Bliss, and Grand Luxxe using SFX or II with exchanges.

 

[beach.bar.bob]

UVCI = Universal Vacation Club International is the timeshare management company for the Villa Group resorts.
See http://myuvci.com/

The company's resorts are:
Villa del Arco in Cabo
Villa del Palmar in Cabo
Villa del Palmar in Puerto Vallarta
Villa del Palmar Flamingos in Nuevo Vallarta
Villa del Palmar Loreto in Loreto
Villa del Palmar Cancun just north of Cancun in the Playa Mujeres area
There is a new resort - Villa la Valencia - under construction in Cabo in the corridor area
There is also a Garza Blanca resort just south of Puerto Vallarta and new Garza Blanca resorts being built in Cancun and Cabo and one in the planning stages in Playa del Carmen.
Some memberships (those bought in Cancun) have accces to Garza Blanca resorts...other memberships do not.

While the UVC resorts offer all-inclusive they do not require it. They also allow partial stay AI - minimum of three days. We never do the AI - except for a few days in Cancun when we visit there. Too many great off resort dining options especially in the Cabo and PV/NV areas. Loreto and Cancun resorts are a bit more isolated and at least a partial stay AI may not be such a bad idea.

Do a search on this message board for UVC and/or Villa del Palmar for lots of discussion on resales options/ideas. There was just a thread a few days ago.

Good luck.

bbb

 

[easyrider]

Hi Bob !!! Hi Phyllis !!! Como esta ?

The two above posts are really good descriptions of these resorts. UVCI is also known as UVC , The Villa Group and Villa del Palmar. The Grand Mayan and UVC are resales you can still get on sites like myresortnetwork.com and redweek.com .

http://myuvci.com/

http://www.vidanta.com/resort-hotels/the-grand-mayan


Bill