We booked this as a late deal (£720 all inc).
Firstly, the airport was hassle free for us. From plane to transfer bus must have taken no longer than half an hour which is a bonus. The airport has recently been done up - its a very clean and nice space.
The weather was amazing the first week with a nice breeze, however the second week was cloudy with regular downpours.
The rooms were in need of a revamp in my opinion, these rooms did not represent the 4 star rating. Everything was really basic. A hairdryer and mini bar are in the room - the mini bar is filled up everyday, however, regardless of whether or not you have a "do not disturb sign" up they will still knock and enter your room. One thing I will say is that the rooms are clean - I couldnt fault that.
We ordered room service on out 7th night (extra charge of $5)and this resulted in food poisoning - it cost $50 for the doctor to come out and then an additional cost for medication etc. I obviously wouldnt recommend room service!
The club is just "Ok". The Italian restaurant is the best. Med restaurant comes a close second. I would say steer clear of the buffet restaurant "Casa Bella" - it seemed to be the same thing every night! (even when there was meant to be themed nights).
All in all, apart from the food poisoning, we had a great holiday and met some great people.

I use Trip Advisor a lot; we love to hear what others have to say about destinations we choose for our family vacations. Some have been on the money, others have been a little off but overall, they have helped us to see what we have to look out for or forward to.

We just returned from our trip tonight and I wanted to write this now, before I forgot anything . . . . This is a long one but I don't want to leave anything out, so if you don't want to hear about our week long stay, move on to the next review.

From the time we got off the plane, we were bombarded with timeshare pleas and pushes. I had remembered this from our last stay in Mexico and politely said "no thank you" but of course that wasn't enough. I had to be a little rude and actually walk away from the person in mid sentence. Once we found our transportation to the resort, it started to get a little better, but wouldn't you know it, upon checking in we discovered that the ocean view 1 bedroom suite we requested was not available and after checking to see if there were any 2 bedrooms available we were given building #9 (with a view of the put-put golf course and children’s club). I was alright with that after such a long flight, all I wanted to do was get my suit on and get to the pool, but then we were assigned a person that was going to tell us a little bout the resort and how to get around, make dinner reservations, where to find the desk for excursions, etc., we were again bombarded with the talk for time shares and how we could have a free something if we gave them 90 mins of our vacations time. I politely agreed thinking we could do the jungle tour for free and still do a few more later in the week, at our own expense. We sat for the timeshare talk and before anything was said I told the guy that I had sat thru one before but didn't appreciate being pushed or pressured, he agreed and said this was not going to go like that . . . He lied! We were almost done until his boss decided to join and almost go over the whole thing again, when I told him this all sounded good but that we weren't interested but would think about it for sometime in the future (as my husband and I have talked about getting a place) he wouldn't talk no for an answer. I finally had to get up and walk out, leaving my husband to explain my dislike for being pressured into spending our money and time. Our 19 and 6 year old kids were waiting in the room to begin their vacation, and their parents were spending it having their arms twisted. After that unpleasant 2 hour battle, we finally began our vacation. Back at our room, I found that sitting on our balcony wasn’t going to be the pleasant experience I envisioned, as there was a nest of birds who took offense to me sitting there and chose to dive bomb us until we went inside. After calling the front desk to complain, they sent someone to take care of it. I felt a little bad, because they had to knock it down – but hey, I paid good money to have a balcony I could use so I got over my guilt. Of course the birds wouldn’t let me forgot because for the next two days, they acted like the nest was still there and terrorized us by making fly bys at us. They finally got tired and left us alone.
THE POOLS - the activity pool left a lot to be desired, it needs to be re-tiled and some rule needs to be set about kids hanging at the pool bar - no room for adults to sit, drink and hang out, with all the small kids gathering around and making a mess of the drinks that ordered but didn't drink! Getting a lounge chair was pretty easy, just get up early - around 0830 -0900 and place your towels in the chairs. I would recommend that you bring our own, as if someone takes one of the hotel pool towel, you don't get your pool card back and are charged $25.00 for losing it, which leaves you to think about taking someone else’s and that creates a domino effect (as that happened to my brother in law, whose towel was taken). The other pool was nicer, although there are no activities being done there, it is not as crowed and there are better choices of loungers. There is only drink service at "quiet pool" (the adults only) which is fine, if you don't mind standing in line with many adults and some kids, who don't seem to get the concept of waiting your turn.
THE FOOD - the Bella Vista was the best of all the restaurants, the food is excellent and the atmosphere is wonderful. The M&M bar is there too, and you can get the best martinis and very nice tables for adults to sit and enjoy. I wouldn't recommend the Mediterranean one, as the menu is less to be desired, nothing on the menu was that appetizing and the wait; once you put your order in, took forever. The CasaBella, which is the buffet restaurant and the most popular only because you need no reservation. The food was alright, but the daily menu needs to be rethought. It seemed to have the same thing everyday, even though each night was a different theme. I do know that we weren't in the states and the food is different but at least make it tasty and appealing. The desserts were awful; the cakes were soggy and not very flavorful. It is hotter inside then it was outside, which didn’t help you enjoy the meal and if you ate outside, the flies ruined the meal for you.
ACTIVITIES – The zip line excursion was definitely our favorite. For $75.00 USD, you experienced 10 different lines and the meal (which isn’t included) was great. The guides were fun and friendly and made the whole experience more exciting. My 6 year old was so happy to do them with just a little help from the guides, as they did the line with him and made him feel like a big boy. He had a ball, and we have pictures to prove it (which they take on the first line for $6.00 each or a CD for $25.00 USD).
We spent most of our time by the pool or playing golf (the men) at the nearby Nicklaus course, which they found very challenging. The ladies did the spa thing but we weren’t that excited about it, as the facial consisted of our faces being pushed and probed with the technicians’ fingers and no facial cleanser or mask. We had the herbal mud treatment, which was great but only one shower worked in the whole spa, so we spent some time waiting for the only working one while we waited on the side covered in green mud.

Overall, we wouldn’t go back, it was alright, but we have stayed at better resorts and much more fun. My teenager didn’t find the teen club very interesting and the disco left a lot to be desired by her. Of course my 6 year old was just happy to be in the pool, and abandoned the kids club, as he said it was for babies – I think he was the oldest one there. If you have little ones, then this is the one for you. I can’t see how a group of adults could really enjoy themselves with all the “runaway” kids that made the bars their homes. If I stay in Vallarta again, it will be closer to the city, if at all.

The staff is very nice and is always smiling. Our first impression of the resort entailed hordes of time shares people.Big waste of time and shamefully allowed by management. We did not know and we politely agreed to go to a presentation. Very pushy sale tactics. The hotel does not have AC in common areas like the buffet dining room, hallways and front desk. May be the AC in the buffet is broken, but it was very hot everywhere. The room temp is either too cold or hot and humid as there is not a way to regulate the temp.Several rooms are like this (we had 3 families there). The foods are edible and poor. Processing time takes a long time. They do not allow guests visiting from other facilities into your room. I would not give this resort a 4.5 stars like some did. The most it can earn with us is 2 stars passable performance. The dedication of the staff makes up for the lack of amenities and modern technologies. They have to record and write everything and manual work takes a long time. I have been at other places with better conditions and services. Conclusion, not recommended.

1st, if you've never been to Puerto Vallarta you need to know this about the airport! When you arrive and get your luggage, you will have to walk thru a hall to get to your transportation. That hall is full of "transportation people" (ha) they trick you into thinking they are your ride to your Resort. DO NOT STOP! They are time share people. Continue to the 2nd set of glass doors and that's where the REAL transportation is. Me, spouse, & 12yr old son stayed at The Marival Grand along with another couple and their 3 yr old. Once you check in, you get hit by another Time share person who says is your Activities Coordinator and offers you money and free excursions if you talk with them for 90 minutes. (We didnt do but met someone who said it was really 4 hours and the City Tour stopped at every Relatives shop and took several hours also). Nuevo Vallarta is very clean and you see people sweeping the streets, picking up trash, & etc every day. There is a free trolley that takes you with in the Nuevo Vallarta area only and you can walk around feeling safe. The beach is golden brown and the ocean is fairly rough: yellow flag every day for 7 days. The weather is hot but breezy so it doesnt feel so bad. It is hard to see the mountains due to the "haze" in the mornings but you can see the outline later in the day. The hotel was also very clean. Our room's A/C wasnt working and we had to complain 3 times and ask for Mgmt before someone came but they did fix it and all was okay after that. It seems all rooms have a very nice view with partial or all ocean. They are stocked with bottled water and Pepsi, Pepsi Lite, & 7-up (the only sodas the Resort carries), and the beds are extremely hard. They do not offer a topper. You have to pay $2 a day for a lock to your safe and will be charged $100 if you lose the key. There is a TV in the room but only receives 2 English speaking stations and 1 the audio was messed up on. Local calls are a dollar. The bars serve Sol & Indio beer and do have premium liquor such as Johnnie Walker Red, Absolut ,Grey Goose Vodka, & Jose Cuervo to name a few. However, if you dont ask, they wont mix your drink with it and the drinks are weak so you have to ask for a double. The food was typical Mexico food (not so good) in the buffet but the specialty Italien & Mexican were excellent and only open for dinner. There is a Mediterranean restaurant but we didnt go. You can make Reservations, online, 7 days prior to arriving and I suggest you do so or go straight to the Concierge when you arrive. They say casual/formal no pants but everyone was wearing shorts and such. There is a snack bar by the kiddie pool open 12-5 and a snack bar in the middle; open from 12pm-2am with a brick oven pizza added. You have to ask for your pizza as it was never full or had something weird offered. The pepperoni was good and the burgers, hot dogs, fries, & chips/salsa/guacamole good also. You can sit down to eat breakfast & lunch in the La Pergola (as opposed to the buffet) but the food is the same and takes an hour to get it. There are 3 swimming pools and none were adult only. 2 have swim up bars and are not very speedy. They also continuously ran out of cups. They play sports in the main pool,at different hours of the day. (beware the staff gets pretty rough). They also kept running out of beach towels by the pool so get yours early. We never had an issue finding a chair or a palapa at the beach. There is no Teen Club as stated. They do have a 10x10 play room with a ping pong table, foosball, 1 Xbox360 hooked up to a 13" t.v., and a small pool table. There are 2 double tennis courts, horseshoes, and shuffleboard. They offer kayaking and boogie boards also. There is a rockclimbing wall but we went 3 days at the times they stated they would be there but no one ever showed up; the same with the archery. We attempted the adjacent Disco and was told it was for a private party and couldnt go in. They have nightly entertainment in their auditorium at 9pm which are very very old fashioned dance routines. All in all it was a nice fun time and was probably one of the better Resorts there. If you decide to do an excursion, book with Vallarta Adventures online and it is about $20-$30 cheaper per person. You can ride the free trolley to the end and walk across the street to it or take a cab for $3.00. If you venture off into Puerto Vallarta and take a bus, be prepared to stop several times for workers on the side of the road and dropping people off everywhere. There is a bus stop at the corner and it's only a few dollars but a longer ride there. It's worth checking out the town but the shops are not cheap. The beaches are very rocky all along and it looked like Nuevo Vallarta was the place to stay for beach access. We have been to different areas of Mexico before and this was one of our best experiences. If we were to return, we would probably stay at the same Resort. Realize a 5star in Mexico is not the same as a 5star in USA.