We stayed at the Mayan Palace, Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico for 2 weeks. The check-in went very smoothly and the bell hops are great. They take care of you and getting taxi's. Only got two calls to go to a presentation. Our trip was through RCI so we had red bracelets indicating we were not owners. The grounds are lovely but no benches to sit down. Wear good shoes as there is lots of walking. They do have golf carts for seniors/handicap that can take you to the Sea Garden. The Grand Mayan is off limits until after 7pm. Cannot use the pool there. The train was broken when we first arrived but was fixed by day 4. The pools are clean and taken care of but the depth is only 4 ft. Cannot really swim! I can't say enough about the activitiy staff. Plenty to do and fun variety. They really make an effort for all ages and good activies for the children. My husband loved all the volleyball (water/beach). Nuevo Vallarta means you must take a taxi. $3 to Paradise Village Plaza. The Sun Market is reasonably priced. Mega is a large supermarket via a $10 taxi ride. There is a new free trolly at Paradise Plaza which takes you to the Sea Garden.
Our biggest hassle was having to move rooms after one week. The Mayan Group sold and the Yellow bldg. is under major renovation. We were moved to the Blue bldg., 4th floor with an awesome ocean view. You have to pay for internet even if you have a lap top. $7 for 1 hr. The hotel boutique is extremely expensive but there is a small Sun Market outside the Grand Mayan by the parking garage. You can take a van from the golf restaurant , Green Break, which will take you to the Taco Break outside the ground and they will pick you up. This is a well kept secret!
Three great restaurants outside the property: La Lugana and Los Coras are not to far from the main entrance.(($6 round trip taxi, but worth the price) In Bucerias(($22 taxi), Meson Bay on the water. Great food and music too!
Took a day trip on Vallarta Adventures to Marietas Island. Forget snorkeling. Can't see a thing. The divers said you could not see anything until 35 feet.
My husband enjoyed parasailing, $40.
The sad part of our vacation was the smoke and pollution hanging over the mountains. Fires in the mountains and they burn garbage all the time. Only saw one complete sunset for 13 days. The haze is terrible and the water is dirty with gas and fuel. Obviously there are no controls for dumping.

Our stay 5/10/08-5/16/08. My husband, his sister, a friend and I had the suite (two bedrooms/2 bathrooms). We were in the blue building on the ocean side - 2nd floor. We couldn't see the ocean through the Palms - but at least it was a better view than the parking lot! It is a tad bit further to the pool - but it's still a manageable walk. (I have RA and my sister-in-law MS and we were fine - just a little slow!) We recommend the blue building if you like quiet - the yellow and red buildings (which are scheduled for rebuilding) as noisier because of the proximity to the pool.

We are owners of Mayan Palace/Riviera Maya and decided to branch out to a new location this year. This place is beautiful! The grounds are kept very well. Customer service was wonderful and food was great. We ate at the beach restaurant the first night. Food was awesome and waitstaff very attentive. We then found the Lobby Bar - great entertainment and drinks. Pretty much the same cost as a good drink in the states. Check out the happy hours to economize!

We ate at the pool snack bar and found the burgers to be very good! We also ate breakfast at Del Lago the day we left. As expected, food was great. Lots of fresh fruit and other items to choose from. The buffet is a little expensive - but we figured with the plane flight back to Denver, we wouldn't have the opportunity to eat until later that evening. Glad we did that...because we were correct.

There is no swim-up bar at the Mayan pool, although there is one at the Grand Mayan and the Sea Garden. Hopefully with the remodeling, they add this to the pool.

The only negative thing we found is that there are not benches to sit on throughout the property! Even in Riviera Maya there are benches that you can sit on to enjoy your surroundings. It would have been nice to have something here. Because of the lack of benches, we didn't do a lot of walking around the complex because I can't walk that long without resting my knees. They need to install benches!!!

Vallarta-Adventures has some great excursions to choose from. We did Rhythms of the Night and the Jeep Adventure. Recommend both of them highly! Jeep Adventure has a lot of walking - which they don't really tell you...so be prepared. It was awesome though.

We attended the "owner's update." They were polite and did not pressure us into anything. We were also back in our unit within 3 hours (including breakfast)...not like the 5-6 hours we experienced in Riviera Maya two years ago (with a rude bunch of people!). Getting the 10% off our bill was worth it. We did not subject our traveling partners to the sales presentation - which would have given us another $100 off the bill. They weren't going to buy and we made that clear upfront. The sales people paid for their breakfasts and they were cut loose. Nice touch.

We will definitely go back to this resort. We only hope that they will take our suggestion about the benches. That is the only complaint we had,

Great hotel complex in Nuevo Puerto Vallarta. It is located about 20 minutes by car from the Airport by car.
We had an appartment with 2 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms and the six of us were confortably.
Since you are in the lobby you see it is a different place with plants and birds everywhere. The costumer service attention is great and all the employees were very friendly and helpful.
The hotel grounds were kept very well and there were at least 7 different restaurants inside the complex. Food was great and not expensive, though I would recommend to at least eat out in Puerto Vallarta once or twice to try a different, less "Americanized" falvor.
There is a small but complete gym. If you are a golfer, there is a nice (though not too exciting) course. Nice for families with children since there are lots of services for them.

Lobby and 1 bedroom oceanfront suite was great. Yet with such perfectly manicured and gracious grounds, including birds & iguanas, it was just weird there was NO PLACE to sit a spell and enjoy the surrounds. Not a single bench anywhere on the grounds, not along the loooooong third mile walk to the pool. Not even at the front waiting for the valets to fetch cars and taxis and luggage. Not a bench to wait for the little trains. None! When unable to walk (I have some minor mobility issues) I secured occasional (as available) golf cart rides but carts were blocked from getting very close to pool by permanently installed boulders along the pathways. I guess they figure anyone staying there is a perfect athlete? Pick the Sea Garden if you are not up for long hikes everywhere. Or stay at a much smaller place.
Pool and italian made loungers were very nice. From within the pool it was possible to check out the vendors' wares along the ocean walkway. No deep water in the pool but it was big and well kept. Ocean was marked by red flag so no swimming for the week we were there. We had to drag dining chairs onto our little balcony but it was fabulous to have a kitchenette and twice daily maid service.