We just got back from a wonderful 4nights/5days at the GR Solaris from June 6 through June 10th. Although it rained everyday with that tropical storm that hung over the Carribean, we found the hotel beautiful and clean and the staff so eager to please. The reviews on this post were so helpful on our trip.

Check in was easy and although initially we were disappointed we did not get a ocean front room, the view of the lagoon and golf course was beautiful and we enjoyed people watching. Also one night we did get to see a gorgeous sunset on this side when the clouds broke for a few minutes.

Bringing 100 dollars in 1 dollar bills made it so easy to tip superior service. I don't get service like this in the US where they expect a tip so I was very happy to tip the staff and they do not expect it at all. We were told that if the staff gets named 100 times in the comment cards they give you for checkout, they get a bonus so make sure you fill out the cards and name your favorite staff! We tipped bartenders and Antonio at Marco Polo was a doll where we ate every night and were greeted by name. Also Juana at breakfast greeted us every morning also by name and had mimosas waiting at our table. William the pool bartender is the best and someone else mentioned the rainbow shots...wonderful. Make sure you all try it. We loved Marco Polo, never made reservations and only had one evening where we had to wait 15 minutes. Never ate anywhere else and the food was good.

Bring sunblock! Even with rain and clouds, it is easy to get burned quickly. I brought 50 and reapplied often. There is no shade which would be an improvement to the hotel. We did have lots of clouds to shade us though:)

Hotel was very clean. We did not experience some of the problems I read about. Our beds were very comfortable, airconditioning worked well and was quiet and we did not hear our neighbors but we only were in the room to sleep. Also did not notice any bothersome construction.

We did venture out with the hotel staff to CocoBongo ($35.00 and included open bar and transporation to bar). I definitely felt my age (40+) but as an experience it was good for me to see what teenagers are doing these days. Parents Beware! I learned that I will never let my 18 year old high school graduate go alone to Cancun because there are many sexual innuendos in the dancing and dangerous drinking is out of control. Let them get a year away at college first. We rode back on the bus and most of the kids on the bus were passed out etc. DANGEROUS in a foreign country. On the other hand, I felt very safe with the bus system and the drivers were very friendly and seemed to make sure the kids were OK when leaving the bus.

Best shopping I found is downtown by the Walmart (about 15 minutes further than the clubs). I think it is called Market 28 but find someone to help you find it since the area was a little scary but safe once in the market. Start bartering at less than half their initial price. Know what you will spend.

Overall, I gave the GR Solaris 4/5 stars but a wonderful value for the price. Not a good beach area...if you are looking for wide white beaches to hang out---go to Aruba!

I would definitely stay at this hotel again if I would go to Cancun.

This solaris is a 4 star missing a few things to make it a 5. I found the pool is not very child friendly make sure you take floaters if you are traveling with small children. They do have a child's pool attached to the rest of the pool but too shallow for the 4 and over kids. The rest of the pool is all the same depth...leaving it a little too deep for the 4-8 year old non-swimmers. The food is not bad could be better . The service is excellent . To be an all-inclusive I found the shows to be very nicely presented, compared to other ones I have seen. Try dinner at the Marco Polo restaurant (that is the one that requires reservations). The Kids club was excellent for my children. The care taker was great ...she would have activities plan all day for them. My 5 and 8 yrs old did not want to leave the kids club. It's not for all kids but if they like to interact with other kids they will love it !
I love that they have activities for the adults all day to keep everyone of all ages entertained... but they also have the quiet pool if you want some time alone. The beach was too close to the wall of the hotel. Overall it is a nice, clean, friendly hotel . There are things that could be improve

A group of 11 of us (6 adults/5 kids) stayed at the GR Solaris from May 30th through June 3rd in Cancun. The place was very clean, and also very cozy. The hotel was "full" when we checked in but never seemed very crowded. There was never any problem getting chairs at the pool or near the ocean, even though it was a holiday week. The ocean was red flagged the entire time we were there, but the kids managed to play awhile each day in the waves on the beach. The pool area was very pretty and looked out over the ocean - a plus for us! We walked to the resort next door and it was very very crowded. We did not get any time share pitches, as we had been warned about.

The food at the GR Solaris was as you might expect for an "all-inclusive" type resort and maybe a little better than other all-inclusives we have stayed at in the past, though far from great! The grill at the pool had decent food for kids (hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, etc.), but wasn't open long enough in the evenings for the kids to eat there instead of the buffets. We liked our drink waiters for the dinner buffets - they were always bringing "try this" type drinks to our table. We tipped our dinner waiters each night. If we didn't get enough for dinner, we just ordered room service later. We ate lots of ice cream! None of our party of 11 ever got sick from the food or water. We avoided certain things at the buffets though - mainly all fish or seafood. We did not eat or drink anything away from the resort. Breakfast was by far the best buffet. The guys liked the omelets.

One night was steak night. They ditched the buffet style of serving and tried to wait tables. It was a huge mess and some people waited for hours in line to eat while others finished up. I hope they won't try that again!! Our waiter looked like he was going to cry and it took us over 3 hours to get dinner and eat it! Most of the wait staff did not seem to speak much English and it was very hard for them to comprehend or keep up. Some of our steaks were great, some were not.

There wasn't much there for kids to do after swimming time. The game room was very tiny and most of the electronic equipment was broken. There was a pool table and a ping pong table in there that had alot of use by our 5 kids for the 4 evenings we were there. The nightly show entertainment was pretty good, the singers in the bar lounge were fine but repetitive. We were usually tired after a day in the hot sun so turned in kind of early for us. Take LOTS of sunscreen - 30 or higher - and re-apply!!! Some of the idiots in my group burned themselves the first day and then were miserable.

We used the public bus which stopped out front of the hotel every few minutes several times to go downtown various places to shop - 80 cents each time you board. We also hired an independent catamaran captain to take us on a 4 hour snorkel trip one day from the Carousel at the other end of Cancun from the Solaris. It took us quite awhile to arrange this, but finally accomplished it through the hotel tour desk.

Some of our group went to the hotel's marina and were disappointed in what was offered and how long they were allowed to use it. A bigger group came along and they were bumped off what they were using after just a few minutes.

Our room was fine. We couldn't get an ocean front room, but we still had a tiny slice of ocean view from the corner of our balcony. The walls were very thin (you could hear suitcases being zipped next door!), but our neighbors were fairly quiet. Our room stayed too warm, and others in our party had rooms that were too cold. The shower didn't have much water pressure, if that is important to anyone! We never received any washcloths after the first day, even after repeated calls to housekeeping. We did get rollaway beds immediately after asking for each of our 3 rooms. Our room fridge was stocked once a day, but if we could catch a maid in the hall they would usually give us more bottled water.

They made a big deal out of if we lost our towel cards or wrist bands they would cost us $70 each, but my son misplaced our room card and they replaced it no problem for free (maybe his tears helped!).

The alcohol was plentiful and the bartenders were nice, but the guys in our group swore the drinks were "watered down!!" Of course, they are big Texas drinkers! Ask for a rainbow shot at the pool swim up bar from William - great!

One last note - at the airport if you are going to do any duty free shopping, for some reason you need your boarding pass to purchase from any of the shops after going through security. This made no sense to us! We split up and some went to shop and some went to gate with all the boarding passes. No-one got to buy anything!!

I would go to the GR Solaris again. Some of our group of 11 would not.

I researched vacatons until my husband's head was realing! We finally book our stay at the GR Solaris in Cancun. It was a great experience and the staff was excellent. Chris Ruiz (aka Tom Cruiz) was a pleasure. I especially fell in love with Antonia from the Marco Polo resteraunt. He was a kill! The bartenders were wonderful and always had a smile.
The hotel is less than a year old and very nice. I had read some reviews before we booked that criticized the drinks and food. I don't know if they improved or the folks who weren't satisfied were upscale snobs or what, but the food was excellent with many choices. I even invited Frank who was the omelet chef, to come home home with us! The drinks were great too. If you tipped the bartenders, they were even better!! One night, we were downstairs with another couple we met and the bartenders were introducing us to different shots. What a hoot!
The hotel offered many activities. Marlena at the poolside was psychotic! I wish I had her energy. She made sure everyone had a good time. if you wanted quiet there are other pools or the beach to go to. Speaking of the beach...It had the most beautiful white sand I have ever seen in my life. The water in Cancun is gorgeous also. We also found out the last day (probably because we weren't paying attention) that they have a bus that goes out every night to a different club. It sounded like a good time and a great way to meet people from the hotel and get a price break in the process. They also had nitely shows and a buffet with the show. There were several places to eat at the resort, but we were so busy, we only ate twice a day.
The all-inclusive was definately the way to go. We didn't have to pay out a dime (or peso) for anything. The staff does not make you feel like you need to tip, but we wanted to. They were all so sweet.
The only downside was that they didn't have internet access for my computer in the rooms. ( I really wanted to e-mail my sons and send them photos) They do have internet to access for a small fee next to the lobby. This was fine and I emailed my boys every day. The other issue I had was that there was not a laundery facility. One could have the room staff collect it and wash it, but it was quite pricey and I really didn't want anyone doing my laundry for me. I guess I have my pampering limits! We just went and bought more clothes...Darn!! These were really the only real gripes we had, which are pretty minor anyway. Beware of timeshare folks....they are sneaky. We got caught in two, but we also got to go to Chichen Itza for free and we took the jungle tour for free thanks to the time share folks. So if you have the time, it can really save you some bucks. I felt we would never have enough time, however, and was not ready to leave at the end of our week stay.