Grand Palladium Colonial Resort & Spa - All Inclusive

We were upgraded to the Royal Suites. It was fantastic. The rooms and all public areas were sparkling clean. The private pool was private, calm and relaxing. The staff is amazing. Excellent place to stay

watch the sunrise, walked the beach swam in the ocean and pool everyday. read under the palapalas

We went for a friends wedding and had a wonderful time. I like that you don't need to carry around money.

We went to relax and enjoy the sun, sand, and sea! This hotel had a wonderful beach- full of palapas and palm trees. The pools were very large and the food was very good. The staff was "working"-not rude, but not overly friendly either. There is something for everyone and this resort offers a lot for the price- better food than the competition, free spa services, etc.

Altough the staff are nice, and the pools are fun, the beach is great. I will not come back to this place. It is impossible to have a meal at the a lar carte restuarant unless we have dinner before 7pm. And the service is super slow that during our one week trip, we ended up making to the Japanese, Steakhouse, Italian and the service is so slow that one of us needs to take the kids back to the room (before a total melt down). And the food in the buffet is not bad compare to the a lar carte. Which makes me wonder, it is just worthless to have the hour long wait (they do not take reservation unless you are a VIP or stay at Royal suite). The Japanese restaurant is horrible. The rice is not cooked during our visit. Asked for wasabi to go with the raw fish, and ended up getting a wasabi that was mixed with mayonnaise. We waited for one hour to get in, it is totally a waste. The buffet is good, it is just that we ate there 3 meals a day, after couple days, we kind of sick of it. Their no reservation system make me wonder they do not like family with young kids. We went to one of the resturant and ask if we could put down our room number and come back half hour later (so that we might be able to get the table sooner). Was told, no, there is no waiting now, we could just come back and get a table. 20 mins later, we showed up, and was told, sorry, you need to wait for one hour. It is impossible to plan our dinner at all at this place, unless we hit the buffet every nights. I don't mind the buffet, it is just that we have young children, I ended up been the server to get their food every meal. I want a vacation, that is the reason that I come to an all inclusive, by hitting the buffet every meal, I ended up walking up and down to get food for my kids. It is very tiring for me. It is a fun place, good live music every night & nice people but too bad that we ended up very upset every day at dinner. I would not come back to this resort.

-Enjoyed the pool with the butler service, enjoyed the salt water pool. -Nothing, I wish I could have stayed longer. -Previously we stayed at the Mayan Suites in the Colonial part of the resort which are nice but after going Royal, can't go back.

A tropical storm hit during our trip which made the marble walkways very slippery to walk on. They were constantly brushing them off, but couldn't keep up with the rain. We found it very difficult to get service at the bars and tour kiosks. Many rude people that would just walk up and start speaking spanish. Didn't matter if we were waiting for ten minutes, they got served right away. We were with our kids for a family vacation and to our surprise found topless women on the beach. Not sure if they were supposed to be there, but noone was telling them otherwise. The grounds are beautiful, but bring your walking shoes. We were close to the beach and pool, but about a ten minute walk to the bars, lobby and food. The snack bar near our room was supposed to be open late with food, but we found out that they close it for dinner until midnight and you have to have reservations. The other snack bar was at one of the sister resorts you needed to take a shuttle to. The buffet food was the best I have had at an all inclusive. The restaurants were wonderful as well, but could use more wait staff. We spent 2 hours in Rodizio...most of the time waiting for food. We loved the shopping in Playa Del Carmen. Xcaret was nice, but beware of the biodegradable sun block...it does not work the best. We were in the sun for three hours and got bad sunburn.

Visited Chichen-Itza ruins and it was fantastic except for the long ride.

Beautiful facility, relaxing, extremely clean and well run. Staff was very friendly and accomodating. I enjoyed the mix of indoor/outdoor. Restaurants were enclosed but marble walkways (outside) were covered. All inclusive is the way to go - as you could get food and drinks about anytime. The entertainment at the main stage and bands in the lobbies were very good. Sports bar there also and club for pre-teens/teens. Pool area with beach access was breathtaking! Offered Salsa and other dance lessons as well as aerobics out by the pool. Had tennis/golf/archery as well. Great vacation!!! About 1 1/2 hours from airport.

This is our second stay along the Riviera Maya in an all-inclusive. The last time we stayed at the El Dorado Royale. We had a great time there, but our stay at the Grand Palladium was even better (and much cheaper than the El Dorado, which has gone way up in price since our trip in 2003). We paid a little more to stay in the Adults only section in the "Royal Suites." We picked this section because of the 24 room service and the huge jacuzzi on the patio. We took advantage of the room service for breakfast almost evey morning. (Food was good, portions were huge, although sometimes order was mixed up). On first night, the staff filled up the jacuzzi for us while we were at dinner as per our request. Nice touch! Pools were spotless and numerous. The big one at the center was truly impressive. Salt water pool is also available. Beach area was beautiful and spacious. (Snorkeling was good first day on beach, not so good the rest of the time). Beach a bit of a walk from "Royale" section, but you can request a tram to pick you up and drop you off anywhere on the grounds. Royale has its own section reserved on beach too with covered outdoor beds. There were about 8 restaurants to chhose from in addition to buffet areas and beach snack bar. Easy to make reservations and get in to each. Food was above average in most of them. Staff was friendly and there were shows every night. A bit of a drive from airport (1 hour), but overall it was worth it to get to a mroe secluded area. Fully stocked fridge in room. Can go through an entire bottle of tequila or Jack Daniels with no extra charge. Overall, this place was fantastic!