Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya / Mayan Beach

Wonderful experience at grand Sirenis Riviera. I’m not an all inclusive resort vacationer and had to be convinced. After a week here, I can comfortably say that it was a great time. Biggest plus at this resort are the staff. They are truly pleasant and helpful and genuinely appreciate taking care of the guests. I can only hope that the company takes very good care of them because they hands down make the place a most remarkable place. The food could use some tweaking and by that I mean it could be less fried and more healthy options. The a la carts restaurants are excellent diversions from the all inclusive buffets. As a workaholic, not having good and reliable and cheap Internet was a major draw back, but as I was reminded several times, it’s probably the reason I didn’t end up in computers constantly. Very relaxing with enough culture outings and shopping around the resort (within 30 – 120 minutes).

I wish I could give Grand Sirenis five stars but there is just one big thing that bothers me. More on that later. This is also the second time we have been here booking through Apple Vacations.
It is an hour and twenty minutes from the Cancun airport. You can set up private transportation so your vehicle doesn’t stops at other resorts making it a longer trip. Unfortunately, check in time is 3:00 p.m. We arrived at 11:00 a.m. Rooms are not ready so you have to wait. This also happened the last time we were here. No A/​C until you get in your room. Here’s the big tip-​make sure you have cool clothing and a swim suit in your carry on so you can change and get in the pool or ocean while you wait.
The rooms are okay except there is no privacy in the bathroom (see photo). You can see through the frosted glass where the toilet is and shower stall. They have different buffets and other restaurants which you might have to pay for, French, Brazilen (sp), steak house, etc.
There is a dolphin show every day and you can sign up to swim with the Dolphins. A lot to do here and all in all a wonderful resort.

Hace una semana mi familia y yo decidimos darnos un break y fuimos a este hotel; la verdad mi experiencia es buena pero tampoco fue algo que repetiría ya que hubo varios puntos que no fueron de mi agrado.
1.- Instalaciones y cuartos: No tengo queja, me gustó mi cuarto, y el lugar está bastante nice, la presentación del hotel es buena.
2.- Restaurantes y bares: Honestamente el servicio no me gustó para nada, los meseros muy pocas veces nos hacían caso e incluso, frente a nosotros, no le dieron una mesa a una familia nacional por darle a una extranjera… Yo entiendo el causar una buena impresión pero hay formas, también hubieron meseros accesibles pero de los 6 que me atendieron, 2 me sonrieron ¡ÁNIMO! También trabajé en hotelería y sé que es cansado, pero siempre hay que tener una sonrisa.
3.-Comida: Bah, yo sé que el hotel es all inclusive, pero no está demás ponerle algo de ganas a la comida, no había presentación y las bebidas, estaban bien, no tengo queja.
4.- Shows, equipo de entretenimiento: Las actividades acuáticas eran divertidas, pero el show de la noche tiene deficiencias que no creo que sean correctas. Buenos vestuarios, buenos temas… MAL PLAYBACK, yo entiendo que lo hagan, muchos shows lo hacen, pero nada les cuesta aprenderse las canciones.
5.- Fauna: Me encanta ver a los animales en los hoteles, ahí vi iguanas, mapaches y tejones; se me hace muy lindo verlos e incluso un mapache disfrutó de mi pizza, lo que no me pareció (y no culpo a los animales sino al hotel) es no cerrar los restaurantes, porque los animales se meten a la cocina e incluso agarran las bandejas de comida, cosa que no se me hace higiénica.
En fin, esa es mi crítica, espero mejoren, ya que el hotel es lindo y tiene potencial.

Using welcome rewards from
I ended up paying about $ 100 a day for this all inclusive for a week stay in April of 2015. Not worth it.
Positives included:
1. Stellar housekeeping
2. Mini-​bar re-​stocked with what we wanted as we left a note and tip
3. Bar tenders at outside beach bar are stellar.
4. Free internet if you walk down to Dolphin Discovery
5. Easy to find buffet and beach seating/​lounging.
6. Easy to catch a Colectivo to Playa Del Carmen or Akumal.
Negative included:
1. Sub-​par food.
2. Very hard bed.
3. Large roach in our room which I trapped under the ice bucket then released outside.
4. Overall, the age and wear of the place is showing

This is a 3.5 star rating rounded down mainly due to our poor customer service experience checking out from the hotel.
Great: restaurant staff service and lobby lounge cover bands
Good: room/​pool facilities, restaurant food quality, evening entertainment
Fair: dinner buffet quality, gym facilities
Poor: concierge and bell staff service, availability of restaurant reservations
Overall we enjoyed a solid stay at the Grand Sirenis. The rooms were comfortable but not luxurious. It was annoying that at an all-​inclusive resort there was an extra charge for internet access. The pools, beach and lazy river areas were clean and refreshing (both water and chair areas). We were surprised and frustrated that there were hardly any dinner reservation slots available for the restaurants when we checked (make your arrangements before you arrive, if possible). The dinner buffet is not nearly as good as the restaurants, so luckily we were able to get into the restaurants on stand-​by. The staff service at the restaurants was great, but during other parts of our stay it was not (notably with the «concierge», who it turns out only books hotel dinner reservations but not any activity or sightseeing tours in the area, and the checkout bell staff who rudely told my mother she should carry her own suitcase back to the lobby if it had any valuables in it). The evening entertainment (highlighted by the performances of Broadway hits) was solid.

We stayed at the Grand Sirenis for 4 nights /​5 days stay while visiting the Riviera Maya region for a nice (and unfortunately too short) vacation. I will be adding a similar review to the traveler’s choice review site: TripAdvisor, but wanted to make sure I gave my opinion here on Unilocal as well.
The resort is beautiful. As you walk in, whether you are staying on the Mayan Beach side or the Riviera Maya side, you are taken away by the grandiose of the lobby. Most of the hotels in the area have common areas that are pretty amazing, and Sirenis is no exception. As an all-​inclusive resort, the food options are good and endless. The main buffet, though closed for a few hours between meals, has so many options you always leave full and happy. In addition, they also have a la carte restaurants with 4 seatings nightly — but you need to make reservations with your personal concierge — which are located in each building on the ground level, open from 730am-​730pm.
One negative aspect of the Sirenis, which thankfully we did not experience as we booked thru Expedia, are the sales tactics used to get you to sit thru a promotional «brunch» or «presentation» for 90 minutes (or more) to sell you a timeshare or other part of the resort. While they may give you some sort of what may seem to be a deep discount, it isn’t worth eating time away during the vacation while you could be visiting Chichen Itza, Tulum, or a local Cenote (underground river /​watering hole — amazing!!!). I’ve only heard stories about them taking more than 90 minutes and using tactics that you may feel guilty walking away without making a purchase. Just allow yourself to relax and enjoy the resort and you’ll be much happier. Trust me, the extra hundred bucks or whatever it may be for you is worth it.
Sirenis has several bars around the property: one next to the beach, two in the main building, one at the theater, one at each of the pools, and of course drinks available at all the a la carte restaurants. I’m not sure they have drinks at the buffet… and no alcohol is available at the spa. That said, many of the drinks are with cheap alcohol, and can be weak. The best tasting drinks are the mojito, sangria, mimosa, rum/​diet, or even just champagne by itself. They do have premium liquor, but they tend to save it for their premium guests. But if you get along with your bartenders and they get to know you… well, some bartenders can be a little more proactive. Plus, even though gratuities for the resort are fully included for the most part — additional tips will still go a long way ;).
The spa is beautiful. I highly recommend the hydrotherapy — considering it is a mini version of Spa Castle (Flushing, NY, and Dallas, TX) if you are familiar. With 4 pools featuring various water massages, followed by a jacuzzi and cold plunge, followed by various saunas, steam rooms and showers with aromatherapy — and only $ 350 MXD per person (exchange rate currently approx $ 1 USD /​$ 13 MXD), it can’t be beat. Plus we were lucky enough that they were offering a 2 for 1 hydrotherapy when we were there! The massages were also great, but the hydrotherapy was the highlight of our experience at the spa.
The Sirenis is a very large hotel, and as many hotels in the area are dubbed, the Sirenis is a megaresort. All of the rooms for the most part are the same, and most have a large opening between the room and the bathroom. Some rooms have a frosted glass in that large opening, and most do not. As many TripAdvisor reviews have noted, you don’t really want to hear and see everything your partner does in the bathroom. Fear not, it is a little misdirected — There is a still a frosted door for the shower, and for the toilet. While many rooms are oceanfront, and many are not — the majority that are oceanfront are still a distance away from the ocean itself, and a have a lot of greenery between you and the ocean. At an additional $ 20pp/​night (4 nights, 2 people, $ 160 total), I’m not sure it was totally worth the additional cost, but we went with it and it was nice.
Some final notes: They do have an on-​site dance club, and dolphinarium. Both are away from the main parts of the hotel on opposite sides of the property as to keep the noise level away from the hotel rooms. Unfortunately the dolphinarium is next to the spa, however, so keep that in mind when making your appointments.
The pools are great, and they do have entertainment at the pools — in the few days we were there they had a tequila water volleyball tournament, a ping pong tournament, and a throw a football thru a life ring tournament at the Mayan Beach pool. Additionally, they have a lazy river thru the middle of the property — it’s not too lengthy but definitely a nice quiet and fun 10 – 15 minutes.
Overall, we really didn’t have a lot of complaints as the positives at this property outweighed the negatives. I would stay here again, but would want to check out another resort next time.