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The Grand Sirenis Resort REVIEW by - leducgardener
We are a group of six adults ages 50-60, 25-30, who have just returned from a week stay at the Grand-Sirenis Riviera. This is our 6th time staying at an all-inclusive in Mexico.
I am compelled to write this review because I believe this hotel has some serious issues that need to be worked out. I was very excited about booking this hotel because it sounded so superb and after it opened some negative reviews had me somewhat concerned, but we always have a good time in Mexico and we thought "How bad can it be?"
I have never complained about any resort we stayed at previously, but I believe this resort has too many problems for anyone to simply say it will all work itself out.
Let me start my review. Our check-in was smooth and pleasant. Bell-boy took our bags and they arrived within 10 minutes to our rooms. Had difficulty in finding our rooms, this resort is huge and arriving at night really complicates things. Walkways and pathways are not well lit and very slippery tile surfaces. Be careful. We were in the 1800 building, lovely, close to the beach, on the main floor, right next to the conceirge desk. Someone had already been in our room, messed up the bed a bit, but changed rooms because they had requested a king size bed. We told them this was not a problem since we all wanted to be together. My room request for this was granted. After unpacking, we checked in with the conceirge to book our a la cartes. We were told that we could only book one since the people arriving on the weekend flights had already filled up all the a la cartes and they were all booked. I believe this is a problem of arriving on Tuesdays and also because we are a group of 6. He told us to go and speak to the manager at the reception to see if they could do anything. We decided to go and eat and when walking back to the main lobby, my sister-in-law fell on the stairs (we had not had anything to drink at this point) by the adult pool. It is pitch dark there, no lighting at all. After our meal, we went to the front desk to explain our situation and were told that they could not do anything about this. They told us that they took new bookings on Sunday after 3:00 p.m. and to try then (remmeber we are leaving on Tuesday). Next day at our orientation with our Sunquest rep, we brought this issue up with her and she told us she would look into it for us and to see her later that day. We did and were told once again that nothing could be done about this. Two more days passed and we decided to ask our conceirge to see if anything had changed. It was a different person this time and she was able to book us into our three a la cartes with no problem. There is a real disconnect on this issue. Nobody seems to know exactly how the a la cartes are to be booked. Those of you arriving on Saturdays need to line up right away and be prepared to wait a long time in line to book the a la cartes. This process continues until Monday. What makes it so slow is that the conceirge also has to answer the phone constantly to deal with all the room issues and then call the appropriate personnel to come and deal with the problems.
We found the resort to be very well laid out, but be prepared to do lots of walking. The design is very unique, but unfortunately very cold. There is no color anywhere, just big slabs of white concrete. The main lobby area reminds me of being in an airport. The couches are the most uncomfortable things I have ever sat in. The metal bar stools are even worse. The noise in the main lobby bar at night when the show starts up, plus the background music blarring and then the competing music from the bar and disco t the Mayan beach make it impossible to have a quiet conversation.
The rooms however are breathtaking. The biggest rooms I have seen. The hole in the wall is a big issue, but you all know that. Found it very difficult to have people come and visit in the room since you can see everything that the person in bathroom is doing. Maid service was good. Facecloths seem to be a problem for them. We had to ask twice for facecloths, never got them, then simply took some off the laundry cart and put them away on the drawers to use as needed. I believe these huge rooms are a real bonus for families. Tons of space in the room. The metal patio furniture gets very hot during the day. We used beach towels on them all the time.
They were not using towel cards when we were there and this was a bonus since we always had two on the patio chairs. However, sometimes they would run out of towels.
Our biggest complaint is the food and the service. Believe everything that is written about the food. It is really not good. We are not picky eaters, have never complained about food in Mexico, but at this resort it is really bad. Thank God they let you have four a la cartes because that is what saved our week. The buffets feel like you are in a hospital cafeteria. No color, no decoration and no service. You are not allowed to get your own coffee from their thermoses, but it will take them forever to serve you. These waiters and waitresses work very hard, but there simply isn't enough of them. Tipping does not make a difference at this hotel. The staff are simply overworked, undertrained and know very little English. It is difficult for them to clear the tables, reset them and tehn try to serve you your beverages since they rely on the same people to perform all of these tasks. Nothing will change, no matter how long they remain open, until they change the way they staff their buffets. The good side to this however, is that you will get superb service at the a la cartes. Do not expect to have any type of rapport with the waiters since their English is very limited. They are always pleasant, warm and smiling, but unfortunately their limited English really prevents them from making any type of contact with you. We speak some Spanish, but found this resort to be the first place that we didi not have some type of rapport going with some of the staff.
The service at this resort is also a big concern. Like I previously mentioned, staffing and language are a huge problem. But, there seems to be a cold indifference to guests that I have never before experienced. I think that the whole area must be experiencing some real staffing issues as they continue to build these mega resorts who must be fighting for qualified staff. Frontline staff that deal with the guests daily should be able to speak a certain level of English and you will not find it here.
The staff are continuously cleaning and the resort is immaculate from top to bottom.
The bars close at midnight and the disco is in the Beach lobby and it close at 12:30. There are two beach nights that close at 1:00 p.m. In other words, this place is dead, dead at night. Other resorts ususaly do close their bars around midnight or one, but then the disco kicks in and stays open ususally until three or so and there is always a bar there.
My suggestion to anyone going to this resort is that if you got a good deal and I mean below $1,000 for this resort, then go for it. But we paid $1598 plus $269 taxes (cdn) and really feel that we did not get great value for our money. I do understand the term "soft openings" for new resorts, but they have now been opened for six months and some things are more than "simply a few bugs that need to be worked out".
In closing, I would like to say that our group still enjoyed ourselves, we simply did not let all of the above issues ruin our trip.....but we will never again stay at this resort our recommend it to any of our friends.
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