December 2nd - 8th, 2007

I would like to consider myself a "glass half full person", but I feel the Play Del Sol Grand's glass is slowly emptying. There were several aspects of the resort that were in ill repair. The hot tub was broken during our stay. Several of the excersize machines were inoperable. They advertise cable TV, CNN, ESPN, Showtime, etc., but all that was available were a handful of Spanish speaking stations. The electrical outlet next to the nightstand was not working, so the alarm clock that was plugged in to the outlet was useless. The food at PDSG was mediocre at best, although the Italian restaurant within the resort was pretty good. We ate breakfast on the patio and were dismayed to see birds eating remains of leftover meals off the plates on tables. After our waiter showed us to our table, I pointed out spills on the placemats and he proceeded to just turn them over, though the spills had soaked through. The help was pleasant, but did not go out of their way to please. After checking in, we went to the pool bar to have a drink, and were told that we missed happy hour by 45 seconds. We joked with the waiter about giving us a break on the time, however, he did not joke or even smile as he told us the rules were the rules. So out of principle we declined to order anything. It was a lose-lose situation.

The next morning at the very same pool bar, my wife asked for a glass of water to take some medicine and was told the bar would not be open for another 15 minutes and would have to go by a botte of water in the resort store, even though she was standing next to a stack of plastic cups, right next to a water faucet. Again, rules are rules!

If I were a owner at the PDSG, I would demand a break down of how the maintenance fees were being utilized. My wife and I are owners at the Royal Resorts in Cancun and are accustomed to excellent service and facilities, so perhaps my criticism may seem harsh. This resort has potential to be top notch, but it has a long way to go.

Just returned from Playa Del Sol Grande PV. We had read reviews and were wary of the Construction noise. We were in building 2 - room 2302 and didn't hear a thing. It was all happening on the even side of the building. The rooms were very large - our one bed unit had 2 bathrooms and a sleeper sofa. They were somewhat sparsely furnished but very adequate and the whole resort was very clean - always staff cleaning everywhere you looked.

The location was superb as far as view and it was right on the beach. It was a little far from anywhere else for us and if we wanted to leave the resort we were taking taxis or buses. The gym at the resort was very poor - the equipment was mostly broken. We found the mini-mart at the resort to be expensive (eg. $1.00 for a postcard) so we only bought milk there and shopped in Bucerias. There was a busy activities program something going on every day which involved loudspeaker announcements for Bingo, wateraerobics, tequila volleyall, waterpolo, etc. etc. For us, this was a pain as we were trying to relax but a large number of guests did participate in the activities so we may be in the minority. On the beach we were constantly disturbed by the beach vendors so no peace there either.


However, we were NOT bothered at all by the timeshare sales personnel. At the airport we put our heads down and walked through the throngs of salespeople out to the taxi desk at entrance. At the resort, we went to the Concierge desk and told them we needed info on the area but didn't want to attend a presentation - and they were absolutely fine with that. In fact, when we go to our home resort we have much more trouble. They are charging a daily $3.50 per room fee for maid service and "other staff" which we weren't expecting. Also you still have to tip the bar, food and bell personnel.

There are no laundry facilities at the resort - there is a laundry service but no self-service facilities. Clothes take a couple of days to dry because of the humidity.

The food at the resort was okay - breakfast was $12.00 for the buffet - not the best in the world but fine, pool bar had really good shrimp burritos and the Italian restaurant was fine. We went to Bucerias several times - Marks (upmarket and good), Meslun Bay and Mar y Sol. All good, the latter 2 on the beach - beautiful for the sunset. Also went to Nueva Vallarta to Guidos and to Laguna - both very good.

Great resort. smaller, quiet. great beach access right there, infinity pool was sublime. hot tub was hot, the pool warm. taxi to town is about 150pesos. can take the bus right out front the resort which is 15 pesos. very safe. can do baby sea turtle release 5 min walk up beach. small quaint town bucerias is about 20-30 minute walk up the beach. nice small flea market and nice seafood restuarants right on the beach for a sunset dinner.
rooms were clean, well maintained. if you are a tv freak you will be disappoointed because all the stations are in spanish..but who goes to the sunny south to watch TV ?
tons of tours to do. read all the brochures befor you decide then chose. you can be as active or not as you want.

We were wary of the Playa del Sol Grand after reading some reviews, but were pleasantly surprised! The key for us was that immediately after checking in to a terrible room location (directly overlooking the HUGE construction project next door) we went the very next morning, before 10:00 am, and requested ocean front. The bellman had told us that 30 rooms were checking out the next morning by noon and that we should be able to move. Sure enough, we moved the next day by 11:00. Our new room (7604) was perfect...directly on the ocean! It
cost us $300 for 6 nights to do this but it was the best money we spent!

The pluses of this resort:
--excellent pool--infinity edge to the ocean, smaller areas for kids
--great beach--smooth, soft sand for miles
--great kids club--Elizabeth is awesome
--very, very relaxing
--Cardinalli's Italian restaurant is outstanding and not very expensive
--walk to Bucerias is easy and Mark's and Red Apple Cafe are great

The negatives:
--beds were very, very hard
--A/C made a strange noise when the fan was on, so we had to sleep with it off
--poolside menu is limited, gets old
--construction next door makes some rooms truly terrible, and those are reserved mainly for timeshare trades (which we did). The construction starts before 7:00 am and they use flood lights to work until 9:00 pm or so. Watch out for odd numbered rooms in buildings 1 & 2. If you get an even number in those buildings you have a garden/
pool view but are opposite the construction

The resort is not in PV, but we didn't care...we just went to relax on the beach, not sightsee or shop. It's great for families with kids and we would definitely go back!