My husband and I visited Cancun to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Cancun was great, it was way better than what we expected. As soon as we got there and passed customs, we found the timeshare sharks but as I read previously on the reviews I ignore them and went all the way out of the airport and there was the people with the Best day sign (Expedia) or other travel agencies and taxis; we had arranged with expedia transportation to the hotel and everything turned out great, a van shuttle was there waiting for us and then we did a quick stop to pick up other people at a different terminal, it only took about five minutes. The ride to the hotel was fast; I would say it only took about 15 minutes and TADA! There we were. They took our luggage and we were greeted by a lady who said was our assigned representative. She directed us to the front desk where we checked in (it took about 10 min); we asked to be upgraded to an ocean view room and they said that since it was our anniversary they would give to us at no extra cost. Then we met the lady again and sat with her for another 10 to 15 minutes while she explained to us all about the hotel and the services included in our package, she mention something about the hotel having some kind of membership for those who wanted to come back to the hotel and try to offer us a $100.00 coupon to be used at the spa if we attended to a presentation on the following day, we didn’t show too much interest and she didn’t mention it again. We went up to our room, however I was kind of disappointed with room and I’ll tell you why, first of all, the view was not frontal, it did have a huge balcony however and you could still see the ocean but on the left side, not quite what I wanted, second there was water all over the floor, third it was kind of small and it had a door to the next room (most likely good for guests occupying more than one room. Not for me). Even though they weren’t charging me for the ocean view, it wasn’t what I wanted so I requested another room with a frontal view to the ocean (at my expense, which I did have to pay $30 a night, Oh well, that is what I wanted so that is what I got). Now this time the room was incredible, the view was breathtaking; I found this more spacious, and somehow more appealing to my eyes, it also had a huge balcony with a little table, chairs and 2 tanning beds. It did have a fridge with 3 sodas, 3 waters, and I don’t remember what else, didn’t use it much, the bathroom was cleaned, enough towels, a hair dryer, the room was cleaned every day, nice towel arrangements in shape of animals, bathrooms worked okay, hot water okay, good water pressure, I did not hear my neighbors as a read complains about the walls being very thin, bed was hard, but I like that. I could hear music and noise from the pool but keep in mind that I was on the first floor, I didn’t mind because all the noise was mostly during the day when there were activities at the pool, not during the morning or at night. We had a romantic dinner at the gazebo, the original plan was to have it set up in the sand at the beach, but it started raining and they had to change to the gazebo at the pool which also had a beautiful view, and very well arranged and romantic; for those of you that are celebrating a special romantic occasion, if you are interested in this just find out as soon as you check in, we didn’t pay anything for this service, however I’m on the impression that we were lucky and they didn’t charge us, just ask, it doesn’t cost you anything to open your mouth just like we did. The personnel and entertainment staff were great, the last day our flight didn’t leave until 7:00 pm but our checkout was at 11:00, that day we decided to rent a car and go to Playa del Carmen, and go straight from there to the airport to catch the flight. Well, around 3:00pm we were hungry and salty from taking a swim at one of the beaches, we decided to try our luck and drive to the hotel to see if at least we could jump in the pool to take the salt off our bodies, we were still wearing our bracelets anyways, we got there and guess what, they let us use their hospitality room, which had showers and clean towels, and we even had dinner!!!!, they were excellent. There are shows at night, we only went to the magic show, and it was very good, there are different options for eating every night. Breakfast is delicious; Dinner at the Marco polo is okay, nothing out of this world, but good enough. Regarding the food I would suggest for you to try all the foods, you are in a different country and flavors and condiments are different, even the Pepsi has a different taste, so keep that in mind, don’t try to find comfort flavors, use that palate and be open to new flavors and spices, don’t look for your moms food because you won’t find it. In general the GR Solaris is not the Ritz Carlton at Miami Beach, of course there more luxurious resorts and if you are looking for luxury go pay big bucks on of those stuffy, fancy places. The GR Solaris is a small cozy hotel where you can relax and enjoy the beach and sun while being pampered by their friendly staff. Perfect place for a reasonable price, do not go to this resort if you think you are paying too much, you might end up with false expectations, find a good deal and you wont regret choosing the GR Solaris. As for the tipping, they do appreciate any tip that could give, but is not like you have to be walking around with a pack of singles tipping all the employees just for smiling at you. Be generous when you think they deserve it.

As for excursions and days out I visited x-caret, chichen itza, loma bonita horseback riding, ilkil cenote, I love them all, I will write a separate review for each one of them on the trip advisor. I didn’t see too many kids for some reason but the few that I saw looked like they were having a good time. My stay at the GR Solaris was for four nights, I loved it and definitely would go back again I only hope they keep the same quality of service and friendliness. My suggestion: upgrade to an ocean view, it is worth the money, chill, relax, you’ll be in Cancun. I found the reviews so helpful that I decided to write one myself; I am also posting some pictures. Hope I’m helpful.

We had a great time in this hotel we really enjoyed the activities they had to offer all of the employees were great.
We did tip alot but they never seemed as if you had to tip for and were always grateful.
The hotel is clean the food is OK not great but great.
The only thing is that in the Marco Polo resturant, you can not wear nice dress shorts but you can wear sweat pants?? It really should be no cut offsor swiimind trunks as the dress code.
All in all we had a really good time!! The people are great! The bus is easy to use but the drivers drive very fast.The bus ride is only .65 cents. The GR has alot of extras like they take you to town for a night out each night they have somwhere different.

Stayed at theGR Solaris for a week, and it is a very nice all inclusive resort.
FOOD: Food was typical all inclusive quality. Always found something to eat at every meal. Don't go if you want a high quality
speciality meals made to order. If this is your preference you will be disappointed as other have stated.

ROOM: Room was very clean, and nicely decorated. We had ordered a ocean view room , and received what we ordered without problem. Note: floors in all rooms are completly tiled, which was a surprise to some guest.

STAFF: Staff was great. We did get the time share sales pitch, but I did not find them to be very pushy. They will ask more than once, but always give them a firm no. The nightly shows were very entertaining and were worth the time. they started at 8:45 and were over by 10:00.

Beach: Beach was a diappointment. The beach is very rocky, and there is not much of it. Most of the people spent the day at the pools. But our group did swim and spend time down on the beach everyday.

POOLS/GROUNDS/ The pools and grounds were kept in great conditions. Always found everything very cleaned. The towel hut though did repeatly run out of towels. We always kept ours to the next day incase they did not have any, instead of turning them in at night and getting the towel card back.

Final Thoughts: You must go to the Royal Solaris for the non-motorized equipment. This was not explained at the time of check in and we did not learn about this until our last day.
All of the locals were very friendly, and helpful not just those working at your hotel. Never had a bad experience with anybody. ( not talking about the vultures at the airport stay away from them}
The bus system was very easy to use in the hotel zone area, Always buses going by. Did not try using them out of the hotel zone though. The Mayan Ruins trip was well worth the time.

My wife and I stayed at this resort from October 12th through the 15th. We live in Mexico so we flew on Volaris into Cancun from Mexico City. Flight was uneventful. The room rate was $196 (US) per night. Do not stop for the hotel pitch at the end of the jet way, they are time shares and they DO NOT need to stamp your passport. Took Grey Sky vans to the GR Solaris and if you book round trip you can save about $15 US.

Upon arrival at GR, get ready for the “Pitch”. This is unavoidable since they have to tell about all the amenities you are going to be receiving during your stay. Once up to the front desk let me say that they could use beginning level sensitivity training for the entire desk staff. I have traveled extensively, but I have never been treated with such apathy as I had at this front desk. Upon our attempted check-in at 1PM we were told our double bed room, not king, that we had reserved would not be ready until 3PM. The desk person never apologized and after some checking and five minutes of computer typing latter, our room was changed. Then you get the wrist band, so if you like feeling like you are in the hospital for the entire trip, then you are in luck. Why they don’t use a badge system that is removable is beyond me.

Then we returned to our pitch person, which, she was nice, took about 10 minutes and we made an appointment for 8AM on Sunday for the whole 90 minute grand presentation. The pool area is a bit loud and would equate it to a cruse ship with activities going on pretty much all day and into the evening. There is a private pool area just for adults. The beach is not that wide. Only 20 feet from the resort wall till the ocean, and then large rocks stuck out from the hurricanes from this season. No chairs so if you are looking for a beach, look elsewhere.

The drinks are medium shelf, but the mixers they use are lower quality. Beer was not bad. As we check in at 3PM we find that our room is on the forth floor facing out the front of the hotel, BUT has two double beds, and is right out from the elevators. Return to the front desk, we are then told there are not more king beds in non-smoking, but one on the smoking floor. The solution, push the beds together. We acquiesced.

The “stocked mini bar” three bottles of beer, thee bottles of water, three bottles of soda.

The shower I took at 9 AM on Saturday and was not even warm, even though I had it on the highest setting of hot water, the hotel ran out of HOT water. Going to the reef that day, went to the pool area to get 2 towels only to find out that they had run out of towels at 10AM and would be a while before clean ones came in.

If you travel by bus to the strip out of the hotel zone, it is 6 ½ pesos per trip. Do not give more than exact change. I was stiffed out of 30 pesos by the drivers a few times not expecting me to understand the currency, and was given the correct change once I said I was shorted.

We canceled our sales pitch for Sunday at 8 AM on Saturday eve, only to be called 4 TIMES on Sunday, EVERY half hour starting at 8 AM because she works on commission and if we don’t show she does not get paid. We were tracked down in the dinning room at 10AM during breakfast by her, and asked why we were not there at 8AM? She even acknowledged that she got our note we canceled and yet still called 4 TIMES. We told her our concerns and she begrudgingly walked away.

My wife got sick on Monday and since we are living in Mexico, I am sure it was not “the water”. Buffet style food service in the temperatures in the heat can quickly go bad, but she was violently ill from what I have to believe was a food borne illness.

Given all this, the rooms were clean. The hotel staffs, outside of the front desk were very helpful. If you have children I would recommend this resort due to the child friendly atmosphere. I do not feel that I was taken, and I do feel I got what I paid for. I feel that service based industries should take care of you to some degree, but the sour experience at the front desk was poor.

Grey sky picked us up 5 minutes early to go back to the airport, so I would recommend this service to anyone who needs transportation. It is cheaper than a Taxi by about $60 US for round trip.

If you are looking for the Hilton, this is not it. I would recommend to people to pay for the room at the Hilton, then food and drink ala cart. If you want a cruse type atmosphere this is the resort for you.