Hi JP,

I probably write my review tomorrow, but I will tell you that it will be a positive one. I was joking with my wife on our first day that the only title that I can think of for my review is "Ya'all crazy!!" I must have said that for the first three days as we thought the resort was absolutely beautiful and we had a fantastic experience! I really didn't understand all of the bad reviews. ( I still don't) Who knows maybe we were one of the lucky ones. I will say that although the reviews on here made us nervous about our choice in resorts, I very much think that they, along with these forums, helped us prepare.

To answer a few questions...Extra Ala carte?? On a night when we didn't have a reservation, we walked past all of the restaurants just after the scheduled seatings. When I saw an open table I slipped the maitre 'd a five spot and viola! Worth a try.

Volleyball an accident waiting to happen? I didn't think so. I played a few times and it was fine. If you're worried about the sand, just don't dive. This is a resort full of vacationers, all ages, shapes and sizes. We are all there to relax and have fun. Serious volleyball really shouldn't be played here anyway. I played barefoot and never had any issues. The games were as they should've been.. Fun and recreational.

The resort itself is huge. There are many short cuts once you get they lay of the land. You can be as social or private as you want to be. Finding a space to yourself was never an issue. I have never seen so many palapa's at the beach and pool in my life. There was a language barrier as some has said, but we were in Mexico, what do you expect? They try very hard to keep everyone happy. I am sorry to say that that is just not possible with some people and we saw that first hand. All I can say is too bad for them. Like others have said on here, if you do not sweat the small stuff you will have a great time. We did. And if you were missing or needed anything, they took care of it. Contrary to what others have said, they really did try hard to make your vacation an enjoyable one. Service was not an issue for us, in fact we thought they did a good job!

The nightlife was very limited but there is music and dancing in the beach lobby bar after the show, and on Sat and Wed there is a beach party at the snack bar on the beach. (we had a great time at these!) That was plenty for us as after many drinks and fun in the sun we were ready for bed anyway.

The only excursions we went on was a day trip to Playa del Carmen. Great time and place to visit. We didn't stay for the night life but we did hear it lights up at night if that is what you are looking for. We also did Selvatica, a zip line tour in the jungle. This was awesome! Too much fun! And one day we did a day trip to Yal Ku Lagoon in Akumal which is absolutely a beautiful place!

I am happy to say we did meet some (Not all) of the group we met at Grand-Sirenis.com. We hung out with two couples from there most of the week. We had a blast with them and it was great fun meeting the people we talked to before we got there. I think that we all had a positive opinion of the resort.

If there is anything you would like to know just ask.

Ski2112,

Wow.....thanks for the great info. Can't wait to read your full review. Was it hard to book the A la Cartes? I heard that they book up by Sunday, and we don't arrive till Tuesday. Are the A la Cartes open on the nite of the "Gala Buffet"?

What building were you in? Did you request anything (building, view,etc.) before your arrival?

Thanks

We didn't have a problem booking ala cartes but we arrived early on Friday morning and we were able to book for the following week. Arriving on Tuesday may be a problem but my advice is to be stern about the fact that they garauntee 4 reservations. If that doesn't work, get with your travel rep who is at the resort. I found that they were very helpful. You may have to settle for the later seating (Like 8:30) but we found that it stays light out until 6:30ish so by the time we headed off to our room, used the jacuzzi tub and got ready, 8:30 isn't that late and when you were done, it was time for the show.

Yes you can book an ala carte on the gala night and I would actually recommend it. We booked the steakhouse that night and we asked the waiter for some lobster and they brought in a platter and put it out with the appetizers on the buffet. Bonus. I ended up having filet mignon, with jumbo grilled shrimp and lobster! It was great!

We requested an ocean view room but didn't get it initially. It was quite a process to get moved. If it not on your voucher you probably won't get one. We ended up on the 2nd floor of the 2700 building which is considered ocean view, through the trees. Still it was very nice! Our friends had a jungle view and a pool side and both were just as nice so I wouldn't fret it. If you are on the beach side of the resort 2600 - 2900 are semi ocean view on the 2nd and 3rd floor and pool side are in buildings 2800 or 2900. On the riviera side I would try for the 1800 or 1900 building.

Hope this helps!

Thanks SKI2112

One last question for you...

did you taxi it to Yal-ku?? We were planning on going there and thought maybe to collectivo it to akumal and then maybe snorkel a bit there, then head over to yal-ku, either renting some bikes or getting a taxi from akumal. Does this sound conceivable to you?? We have decided on Yal-ku over xel-ha, the pictures just look way too amazing!!

j

No offense taken Crowls33. Thanks for the info. One more question (and I won't even pretend it might be the last) regarding taxis. I have heard that if you get them through the resort they are much more expensive, but what other options are there? We arrive on a Friday evening, and are meeting some friends in Puerto Aventuras for a boat excursion at 9:30am on Saturday. We will need to take a taxi Saturday morning, basically being very uniformed about all things Mexico, etc.

We had 6 people so we just took a taxi from the resort to Yal ku. A taxi to Akumal is 8 to $10 or $15 all the way to the lagoon. The collectivo is $2 per person to the village. I suspect it would be about $5 to take a taxi from the village to the lagoon as it is about 2 km. The only problem we ran into was there were no taxis at the lagoon to get us back. Fortunately for us a jeep stopped and picked us up and drove us to the village. All 6 of us! LOL! The girls crammed in the back seat and the guys hung off the back bumper. It was hilarious.

I heard that Taxis were cheaper at the entrance rather than the actual resort but we found that it didn't make a difference. And you can barter with them.

Remember you can always barter with the taxi drivers,

I would recomend the Collectives, 2$ pretty much anywhere you want yo go!

we took them everywhere!

-Deven

www.grand-sirenis.com

Hi Folks:

I've been following this great thread for months now, were heading down for the first two weeks of April. Does anyone know if you should use anti malaria drugs?, in the area around the Grand Sirenis? I haven't seen any comments on this subject, any thoughts?

I don't think there is any need for malaria pills..........................

I don't think this is anything you would need to be concerned with. Never seen or heard any anyone having this issue when we were there.