I just want to start by saying some people obviously don't know paradise when they see it. I was travelling with a group of 5 woman and when we arrived we did notice it was very quiet and alot of people older than us and weren't sure we had picked the right resort for us. However within minutes of that thought we had a welcome beverage, quick check in and very friendly staff. The hotel is very anitique looking which was so beautiful and the lobby and halls were all well kept up and flowers rearranged often with gorgeous birds of paradise. There was open spaces all over where you could see the gorgeous ocean view or the beautiful huge yachts in their marina. Also if you looked across the way you seen Barre Navidad which is just a 2 minute boat ride for 20 pesos return. It ran 24 hours and there was shops and friendly people there. I felt extremely safe in this area and we had even been there in the evening. Everyone was quick to say hello and how are you? Was I in paradise? If you wanted to venture a little further you could take a one peso bus ride or 50 peso taxi ride to Melaque which was full of shopping, cheap alcohol if you wanted some to take back with you and Senor Froys right by the ocean where we enjoyed wine and huge cesars. The staff spoke very clear english and we ordered some chicken wings and shrimp to die for. Back to the resort...after our easy check-in we were famished and needed something to eat. We decided to throw on our swim suits and hit the pool as it was very hot and assumed there would be a buffet. When we arrived at the pool the beautiful Nadia was there to serve us. She asked if we would like a menu. A menu at the pool?? She brought us the menu and we were excited by the amazing choices we had, turkey wraps, quesidillas, burgers, hot dogs, fresh veggies and salads. All the food was great for all the buffets, breakfast was amazing with fresh fruit galore, bacon, eggs and all the fixings. The A la cartes were great as well. Antonios was to die for, we ate there twice and the steak, salmon, lobster, mahi mahi were all great as we all tried different things. Nice wines, great service and even a great guitarist playing softly as we ate. It was amazing. We also ate at the Thai restaurant La Terezzo and it was outdoors overlooking the ocean with all its beauty and wonderful staff and again...amazing food. We spent our time after dinners at the piano bar and loved the music and the signers that were there. It was quiet and relaxing but very entertaining. Make sure you say hi to Lidia and Sergio at the piano bar as they are so friendly and amazing. This vacation is by far one of the best memories of anywhere I have been and I have travelled alot. It is a place for relaxation and tranquility. If you are looking to party hard, it may not be the place for you but I do not lie when I say heaven on earth. Hope you enjoy your visit as much as we did. I will go back to Grand Bay Isla Navidad and actually I am looking to go back in March 2013 already. Hope my review helps. Go and relax and enjoy.

We were here for a week - January 16-23 and booked through transat holidays. It was exactly what I was looking for a relaxing quiet vacation along with great food and drinks. We are in our early thirties, so we were definitely a minority, most people are over 65 and lots of golfers. The hotel itself it starting to show its age, but this didn’t bother us, it was a gorgeous hotel nonetheless. It was fun exploring the hotel, there’s a pool on the 10th floor and another one of the first floor away from the main pool. There is also the 19th Hole bar, located outside by Antonios and La Terraza. The mini-golf is a joke, it’s just a regular sized practice green with 9 holes in a circle around it. We had room 417, we would have liked to be on a higher floor so we had an unobstructed view of the marina, but after several complaints to the front desk nothing was resolved, neither was the issue of the King bed we had specifically requested, our room had two double sized beds. Be forewarned, because of the climate and terrain the hotel is located in you are bound to find cockroaches and centipedes in your room – luckily my husband wasn’t too squeamish and dealt with them. Take 4 AA batteries with you if you plan to use the safe. With the exception of the front desk staff and the older bell boy (he tries to tell you no luggage is allowed in the lobby, he is rude and unrelenting!)The service we received on this trip was impeccable. The chamber maids came every morning and every evening, filing the ice bucket for us and the fridge was stocked daily. We only ate at the dinner buffet once, which was small but fine for us. Antonio’s was very good. La Terraza was the outdoor Tai Restaurant, my husband very much enjoyed it, I thought it was just okay. If we hadn’t found so many other great dining options in Barra, we would have eaten more at the hotel, but we like to explore and try new things. We usually ate breakfast at the buffet which again was small but okay. Most lunches we ate either by the pool or over in Barra. At the pool, they serve you drinks right to your chair and will bring you a lunch menu by request. Finding a chair while the hotel was near capacity was not an issue. The food on the menu is soo good, especially the turkey wrap and the burger. Any sized tip was always appreciated. This hotel doesn’t have the typical all-inclusive nightly entertainment, which was fine by me. Almost every night there was some sort of music in the lobby bar which we enjoyed. We either sat on the couches there or sat on the terrace overlooking the marina and Barra, very nice view. Vidal was probably our favorite bartender at this hotel; he would see us coming and have our drinks ready for when we sat down! While here there was an international fishing derby going on and the weigh station was on the hotel grounds so we got to see some pretty large trophy catches, very cool, along with all the different types of fishing boats coming from around the world. On Monday night we attended the Mexican themed buffet dinner by the garden – tonnes of great food to be had. Also another note – bring bug spray, they are happy to supply it to you if you forget. As usual we brought our insulated mugs, but didn’t use them once. The cups here are normal ‘red solo cup’ size and we very adequate.
Barra is a must visit, the water taxi is 20 pesos per person return. The town is very save to walk around and nearly impossible to get lost in. There are two OXXO Convenient stores were you could buy bottles/can of beer or coolers and walk around town with… for this I would recommend bringing a kooze as all drinks sweat a lot in this climate. You can buy chips and pop at a much more reasonable prices then the store in the marina. We ate at el Manglito, right off the water taxi dock to the right. Ask for Maurier – speaks perfect English and knows a lot about the area. Melana’s is on the ocean side of Barra, just past the first OXXO on the main street, it’s behind Casa Chips. There are chairs and tables set up on the beach and patio. The owners adopted dog loves to swim and play and will try to engage you. She is very friendly (see my pictures). We ate at Ambra, just next door to el Manglito, its bright yellow and has Lobster House in red on the front of it. ) It’s said to be the most expensive place to eat in Barra, but also the best. The chef is from France; here you will find the best wine selection in Barra. For 1180 pesos ($94 CAN) we had escargot, Caesar salad, two entrees (lasagna & a crepe, crème Brule for dessert, along with 6 spirits.
We ate at Popeye’s, it was okay, but I wouldn’t go back and would hesitate to recommend them, they are very pricy compared to other places in Barra and so many other places offer better food.
We took a cab (50 pesos) to Melaque and ate at Senor Froy’s on the beach, the food and drinks were great. Watched the Pelicans, there were so many we were reluctant to go into the water but they are a sight to see. The water is much nicer at the beach at Barra. We walked along the beach back to Barra, an hour walk with not much between, and the beach is quite slanted. The best beach in the area is at La Manzanilla, north of Barra about 20 minutes by cab or bus.
We took the water taxi from the marina to go over to Colima to eat at Fortino’s one night, just to the right of the hotel. You could walk but it’s much easier to take the water taxi, again its 20 pesos per person round trop. Lidia’s and Mary’s are the two other restaurant here. Extremely good sea food here; we had 3 lobster tails, two shrimp skewers, and avocado stuffed with shrimp and a few drinks all for under 600 pesos.
There is no beach per say at the resort, just an open lagoon beach which we didn’t see anyone swimming in. We did rent a jet ski from the hotel for 30 minutes for 600 pesos, the one guy took us for a quick tour of the area and also showed us the shallow areas to avoid. Definitely worth the money and bring a waterproof camera, lots of great views. We wanted to do the deep sea fishing advertised on the hotel’s activity brochure for $150/per couple, we went to book it, the price was suddenly $400/per couple. In hindsight we would have asked Maurier to hook us up with an English speaking local to take us out. As I mentioned earlier, we traveled with Transat holidays and our rep Jocelyn was not much help, all the Transat tours needed 6-8 people to run and she does little to sell or help gather more people. If you want to do a tour I suggest talking the hotel staff that speak fluent English and asking them to help you hire an English speaking driver for the day.
All in all we had a wonderful vacation and fell in love with Barra, would we go back to the Grand Bay hotel??… not sure, maybe if the price was right, but we will definitely return to this area. For the most part the service we impeccable, also the wifi mostly worked in the lobby and by the pool and some rooms and was free for all-inclusive guests or Wyndham members.

Terrible experience!
Jan.11-14
This resort has been advertised as an ocean front beach resort. Not so!! there is no beach there at all! there is a channel with river water at the front where a lot of motor boats circling between the island and the city of Barra and the hotel had dig some kind of pod and let that water to run near and that is it! you can't swim in that water (some kind of gray foam all the time present near the shore) nor to sunbath ( when I've asked local employees about possibility to swim there they laugh at me!)! to get to a good beach you'll need to take a water taxi to Barra ( about $2.00 a person round trip) and than a taxi to another city with a nice beach and a few restaurants (which we did and enjoined very much). We came with a 3 year old child and this resort is absolutely not suitable for children of any age! this resort is a simple senior citizen house . average age was 65+. they come to golf and get drunk at night. After 5 pm its absolutely nothing to do there. No entertainment but a piano and a guitar player ( 3 days a week) and a small place to gather together. imagine you kids watching old folks getting drunk day after day after day ( we came for 2 weeks stay). It was only one restaurant open for breakfast with limited food and line ups for eggs preparation stations, no fresh vegetables at all. People where coming and living with out even testing the food (some were calling the food a vomit right at the front of a manager). At lunch time it was a different bar open near the pool with limited food as well (even thou you can order its still a fast food ). and out of 2 restaurants a la carte one is not allowing children under age of 12 to enter it at all and the other one is on the open terrace with a lot of wind and we had to put blankets over it was so cold!!

There is a marina there but so what? do you want to spend your vacation watching the yachts all your vacation?

the resort is located so that after 1 pm shadow is every where! No grounds to walk around at all either!

And yes! the major for us-all rooms stink! Mold stink is everywhere! we had to change the rooms 3 times and the smell was even in most expensive room ($1500 a week). My wife was sneezing all the time! Our clothing still stink even after we have come back home to Vancouver. The "old people house "smell if you know what I'm talking about!

After 3 days of stay we've demanded to be transferred to another hotel and were granted the transfer to Blue Bay Los Angeles Locos. Had to pay additional $200 charge by Airtransat but that was a different story.

We were a bit hesitant going to Mexico but upon our arrival at the Grand Bay we were pleasantly surprised. This is truly a grand hotel. The Landscape and scenery are awesome. The reception staff was very helpful and check-in was quick and easy. Our room was clean and comfortable and all recreational amenities were easily accessable.
We enjoyed a variety of meals at the pool side buffet and at the Grand cafe. The full course dinners at Antonio's and Terraza restaurants were delicious.
A special thank you to Marcela, Ernesto, Jorge ,Yolanda and all the friendly staff for the great dinners and pleasant stay.
"Will return in a heart beat"
Napanee, Ontario.

experience.