My husband and I were looking for a relaxing, romantic getaway. We had our hearts set on Mayan Riviera but were talked into Cancun last minute....do we ever wish we had not listened!!! We selected Grand Oasis Viva Beach based on the promo material quoting it as a 167 room hotel that is relaxing....The hotel is more like 700 rooms with amenities for a 167 room hotel. Although the rooms were clean they were nothing special. It was the loudest hotel we had ever stayed at. If you didn't get a lounge chair by 9am you were out of luck for the entire day. Kids EVERYWHERE. The party by the pool (where our room faced) usually lasted until 4am. Definitely NOT relaxing. The most upsetting aspect was the lies on the website describing this laid back, upscale hotel. I felt like we were in some bad Springbreak movie....EXTREMELY disappointing!

This is the first time my husband and I came back from Cancun disappointed. This hotel apparently has lots of disgruntled employees because they all lacked customer service. You ask for a drink and they look at you with anger....as if you are bothering them. No one comes around to ask you for drinks, nor do they come around during breakfast for coffee or dinner. I left home with lots of money because I did not tip anyone....The sushi bar took more then 30 hour to prepare you meals as well as the other restaurants. It was a plain mess.........................we were very disappointed. The elevator was on its own agenda so we took the stairs often. It just seemed that the workers did not care.....the only good thing was the housekeeping. It is nice hotel but when the service sucks who wants to go back? I would rather go to a 2 star hotel knowing I was going to be treated better.

Ok so I have read probably 50 reviews about this place after booking it, and was scared somewhat of what to expect etc...

I will be uploading some photos and videos, youtube account youtube.com/MartinLovesLori and photos on photobucket.com/MartinLovesLori

We stayed in Room 331, from Feb7th to 14th 2009. We were in the Grand Oasis Viva section, with Black wrist bands.

Beaches:
the beaches were always packed during the sunny hours of the day, goodluck getting a chair anytime after 9am, cause 95% are already occupied by towels before i care to wake up.

Some rocks near the water line, but very clean sandy beaches from there to resort. Plus once your in the water, the calm waters go to your waist for about 200 ft out.

Food:
The buffet for breakfast was always good. I always arrived before 830-9am so the food was always fresh.

Lunch again with buffet was always handy, the Sushi bar was always packed and took forever to get a table and even longer to get what you ordered. Once it arrived it tasted great, except the salmon sashimi tasted like raw smoked salmon. Not what im used to in Vancouver.
Dos lunas Al a carte lunch was very very good, a bit of a wait aswell, but food was worth it.

La Sarape we had for dinner one evening, once again food tasted good once it arrived. the small portion appy and first course was eaten up in 2 mins and waiting another 20mins for second course.

The Steakhouse thing for Black wristbands we ate the first night we arrived, was nice change from buffet style, cause 90% of the food you get was at the buffet, but the meat was served fresh by the server from a rotisserie thing, and he cut the meat off onto your plate.

The VIP lounge was also very nice compared to the Oasis Troth of people getting the pool bar or lobby bar booze.

Top shelf liquors were present, and fully knowledged bartenders were there too with the hardest of orders fulfilled.

The wristbands were getting noticed and alot of people were not allowed into the VIP area with purple wrist bands. Felt good having the Black bands.

The Room:
All new Rooms, king size bed, 26" Philips LCD TV, MiniBar, Double sink Bathroom, Shower, Tub, Tile wall bathroom, marble floors, huge sliding window, good view, and 24hr room service.

The staff:
Bring a translator software on your phone or PDA it really helps, and shows that your making the effort. A funny "lost in translation" moment was; Wife asked if there was a giftshop in the hotel, and the waitress brought a Straw for her drink... lol.. and second time was, " are you finished with your food? No im still working on it.... OK. {and she takes the food away}.

Location:
We never took a Taxi at all, the bus was way too convenient. 6.5 pesos to ride, 13 pesos for two people. but make sure you pay with pesos, cause they treat US currency 10:1 on buses.. not 13-14:1 like other places. 5 min walk to party central, 5 min bus to downtown or any place on the strip.

I could talk on and on about it, I had a good time, and will probably go again to this location for the grand oasis viva, If not, I will try the Grand Oasis resort. went there for the day and it was alot of fun.

We had a great time at this hotel. The rooms were lovely, clean - the food was good and the beach was wonderful.
We were concerned about all the negative reviews but believe now that there are obviously a lot of negative people out there who like to pick things apart to death! A trip is what you make of it. It's Mexico. A third world country. The Grand Oasis is not a 5 star hotel and it was not perfect - but it was nice and we were there to enjoy the sunshine and relax and that is what we got to do. Considering that the hotel was fully booked during the week we were there, the service was good. I would definitely say it was good value for the dollar and I would go back!
Was the food gourmet quality - no. Did we have to get up really early to get a couple of choice chairs under a palapa - yes. Did we have a fabulous time anyways - YES!