about small things. We could not find any fault with this hotel and staff. We ate all our meals at the buffet. The staff are attentive, but are very busy clearing the tables and attending to guests, so if you need a drink, get up and ask for one.The food was satisfactory and at times beyond our expectations, the lamb chops were delicious. The location of this hotel is ideal for a quiet and restfull vacation, the beach is beautifull and if you were up before 7:00am you will find a premium spot on the beach. We would grab coffee at the bar across from the buffet and head to the beach. By the way this bar has a coffee machine so coffee can be had anytime of the day, also the snack bar will give you coffee to take out. The room was very clean and had more then enough towels, and "faceclothes" even if we didn't use them. The only downside were the guests that left their drink cups in the sand and around the pool, and smokers that used flower planters as ashtrays. Now that's rude!!!!

The resort was nice, but nothing fabulous. After staying at 5 stars it was a bit of a let down. The pool area was nice but the beach was kind of sad. It's protected and a little out of the way so the there weren't any crashing waves like you would find a little further away.

The rooms were nice, modern and always clean. The bathroom is solid marble and very roomy. We were given "black bands" when we arrived which was nice, but certainly not worth the upgrade if we would've had to pay. There was a separate buffet (which was exactly the same) and a VIP lounge (that was totally empty our entire stay).

All in all the resort was nice, but we probably wouldn't go back. It's definitely not a 4 1/2 star like it says on some reviews. More like a 3 or 3 1/2 at best.

I'll write a long review with hopes to address all travellers concerns as well as past reviews. We paid $ 2800.00 canadian to book this vacation.

First off, if you can arrive in Cancun at night, you'll have a better chance getting a room at the hotel! Once you grab your luggage and you clear customs at the airport, don't stop and talk to anyone inside the airport asking you if you need help. These people are all time share reps and some are dressed as travel operators to confuse you! Head straight for the exit and your travel operator rep will be outside with the shuttles that are up and running. You may have to wait awhile for your shuttle to take you to your resort. If you're comfortable, take a taxi ($30.00US) and you'll get to your resort much quicker!

Now for the resort. There is a Grand Oasis Viva Beach and there is also the Oasis resort. Both are in the same building. If you stay on the Oasis side, you get the purple bracelet, if you stay on the Grand side, you get a black bracelet, which gives you access to everything. When you walk in to the main entrance, the Grand is on the right side and the Oasis is on left and they use the same front desk.

One thing, for all travellers booking with an agent or travel company, ie sunquest, sunwing, conquest, expedia...etc. you need to be aware that even though you booked to be on the Grand Oasis side of this resort, the front desk will try to put you in the Oasis side which has about 400 rooms. The Grand side is the new side of this resort with 167 rooms. The Oasis resort has been around since the 70's. The Grand Oasis side used to be the Sens Del Mar, which was renovated and completed in late 2008 and is now known as the Grand Oasis Viva Beach which is attached to the Oasis side.

When we got there, we were told that the grand side was all booked up and we would have to take a room in the Oasis side. I came to know the reason why by cornering one of the front desk staff. The front desk staff are instructed first and foremost to book the Grand Oasis Viva side with travellers who have booked directly with the hotel itself or Oasis hotels online! Once those reservations are accomodated, they fill if any, remaining rooms with all other travellers who have booked with an agent or travel company. So just because you're booked for the newer side of this resort, unless you're willing to speak up once you get there and not take no for an answer, you'll be sent to the older side of this hotel. I wasn't going to put up with that since we spent the extra money to be on the newer side!

Once that was taken care of, we went to our room which was terrific! Yes, the hotel can be noisey but keep in mind you're surronded by marble everywhere which echoes the sound. We got a room with a king bed, mini bar, plasma tv and double sink bathroom. For those complaining about the faulty mini bar fridge.....The fridge will keep the beverages cold if you turn it on!?!?!? Make sure the knob is cranked to the right and you will not have an issue. The A/C in the room was great and never failed. Be patient with the hot water as well, not only in the room but at the hot tubs as well. Turn it on and let it flow and you shouldn't have an issue. If you do run out, it usually comes back within an hour as we found out. The water pressure in the shower isn't the greatest either.

The sun doesn't hit the Grand Side till about 10am or so but you should still get up early to grab your chairs. The hotel gives you two towel cards if you ask for them. The trick is grab your towels and keep them with you for the next day because you can always get fresh towels the next day once you head out to your chairs. I got up at 7am and got the best seats available and then we went to breakfast and went to the sun at about 10am. Breakfast and lunch are great at this resort, lots of food choices and fresh fruit available. For those liking steak, the steak the buffet serves some days at lunch, although still good, is fast fry steak and not your typical steak you would find at The Keg. The buffet dinner is ok but would recommend you book dinner in one of the restaurants. Dinner reservations can only be made on a daily basis, you can't book the whole week once you get there. So if you know you want to eat at a restaurant on a certain night, on that day, see the concierge desk across from the front desk after 9am and make your reservations. If you have the chance to venture off at night, a short walk from the hotel right across from the RIU Palace, there is a pizza place called The Seahorse Pizzeria! We ate there 3 nights in a row for dinner. Excellent pizza and pasta and 2-4-1 beers!!! The waiter comes up to you and asks you come in for dinner! He was great! The shows at the resort and overall night life at this resort isn't great by our standards by not horrible either.

Please note, they're are time share people all over this hotel and some are dressed as Oasis employees. Two gentlemen we ran into at seperate times were Jerry and Oscar. Both of them come across as extremely helpful but try to sit you down to book you on a day trip to go and check out the newest Oasis resort with the promise of a free vacation!?!? Stay away, unless of course you want to part with $ 50.00US and lose a day of your vacation. Fortunately for us, we just walked away once they mentioned the money part of their sales pitch.

The grounds and the beach are kept clean on a daily basis. If you're an early riser, you'll see staff everywhere cleaning, buffing, polishing. We tipped our maid, bartender and room service staff. They're all friendly and appreciate the tips. These people don't make that much money doing what they do so if you can, tip them and help them out! The vendors along the strip can be very annoying and obnoxious and will try to do everything they can to get money from you but realize that they too don't make a lot of money selling their crap at flee markets and believe me, it 's crap!

The day you leave, take a taxi to the airport. The shuttles at times are late showing up and you could risk losing your flight back home. Overall, it was a nice week away from the everyday life. This resort isn't perfect but definitely not terrible as some reviews have made it out to be. Definitely will go back. Like I said, if you don't like what you're getting, speak up and they will accomodate! If you choose to not say anything......then you may not actually experience the Grand Oasis Viva Beach side of this resort!

I hope this review helps!

John and Erin
Hamilton

Stayed at the Grand Oasis Viva Cancun, Mexico from February 26th-March 5th 2009
The resort was modern (plasma screen TV in our room, marble washrooms), very clean, our room had a prefect view to the ocean and pool area. The food as expected was "ok" nothing to write home about (only had two a al carte restaurants, snack bar and 1 main buffet) and of course people should not drink their water (bottled water was fine …..buy water from across the street cheaper then in the resort).
Apparently there are 2 bracelets colors; black & purple and apparently black is better. I did not know what this meant but I had the black bracelet and we receive a mini bar in our room a different colored towel, possibly nicer room and think that’s about it.
The mini bar in our room unfortunately did not work and the drinks were warm – hey we can’t get everything we want in life. The weather was great and the ocean was crystal clear. Spoke to a lot of people who stayed there & I noticed that people who had stayed in 5 star resorts ... properties like Riu or Iberostars were a little disappointed and the others who had not loved their stay as they had nothing to compare it to.
Overall our stay was quite good … its more like a party hotel – lots of teens or kids ranged from 18-25yrs old, mind you there were older people as well. Not sure if it’s the best place for families with small children however they did have a little pool attached to the adult pool which my 3yrd old son loved.
It’s a "stay at 1, play at 8" yet the closest Oasis to our hotel was a 10mins bus ride (Oasis Palm Beach – more geared for families with young kids) and the others were approx. 40 mins away (closer to the downtown strip).
The staff were very friendly..... you tip they are your best if you are still treated ok. I got sick our 2nd day not too sure from what I believe it was from drinking a beverage mixed with their ice ... I am also pregnant so it can have something to do with that as my husband and son were fine ....mind you we stayed away from all the seafood, any items washed with their water, etc.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION - very disappointing:
Our tour operator was Conquest Vacations. When we arrived at the airport in Cancun our flight was approx. 20 minutes late and no one from Conquest Vacations was there to greet us at the airport. A gentleman first directed us to a booth where a man was trying to sell a free item to attend a 90mins presentation and of course we said we were not interested. From there we looked around and saw no one from Conquest Vacations. We were directed to speak to several airport officials (uniform and walkie talkies) and at the end of it all - we told no one from Conquest was there to pick-up us up and these gentleman would arrange for transportation and the cost was $70.00 U.S. I thought the price was OUTRANGEOUS as I had been to Cancun before & new the hotel was no more then 30mins from the airport and new it should cost no more then $20.00… however we were tired, it was night, I was with my 3yr old son, no one else was around and you just want to get there. So we went with the gentleman (who claimed he worked for Conquest) – he also told us that our money would returned at the hotel. Of course when we arrived at the hotel the clerks there said I had to speak to the Conquest representatives who arrived the next day.

The next day the Conquest representative said that we had been scammed and I would have to take up the matter when I returned to Toronto. She said that some other people came in on the same flight and were picked-up however she did not know what happened to us. This matter upset me greatly, due to the danger …. In this day in age we could have been kidnapped … it was very scary ….myself being 5months pregnant, with a 3 yrs old son and my husband. This is my 3rd time to Cancun and my 8th vacation and never had I ever gone to a destination without being greeted by the tour operator. Not to mention you do not want to begin the start of your vacation feeling cheated or scammed. I want to inform others so they keep their eyes open.....we were out $70.00 better money then our lives.

Other then this incident again all the staff and people we came across were very friendly, so it would not be fair to knock Mexico or Cancun based on this one situation.
I also do not want to knock the resort. I generally do not return to the same resorts however we walked into the Riu Palace (we stayed their in the Mayan Riveria for our honeymoon @ it was amazing) and it was beautiful here as well.
There is a huge difference between a 4 to 5 star resort in terms of menu selection, entertainment, etc.
All in all we enjoyed our stay and would definalty return to Cancun again in the near future
Have a great trip !!!!!