We spent 6 nights at the Gala Resort (4/14 - 4/20) and had the time of our lives. I booked this trip back in January for my parents, husband and 9 year old son. After reading some of the reviews I was a little worried but... I do not know what those "negative" reviews were talking about. The Gala is wonderful! From the restuarants to the rooms , to the beach - there is nothing to complain about. It is clean, the staff is friendly and hard working. The beach is beautiful!!! The food was good. We ate at the Mediteranian and Italian and both were good. The buffet restaurant was good too. We never had a bad meal. My father is a very picky eater and he never had any problem finding things he liked. We met people from all over the world. My son met a boy from France and although they could not speak the same language they spent the entire 6 days together and had the time of their lives. What a great experience for a 9 year old! We did one excursion to Tulum and Xel-Ha that we really enjoyed it. I cannot say enough about this place. My parents are still talking about how great it was. We were all very sad to leave. We would DEFINITELY go back to Gala.

My spouse and I were guests at the Gala Resort from April 17 - 24, 2004. I had read many reviews on Travel Advisor and must agree with some of them. First, the Gala is not a 5 star resort it falls about a 3 star. The positives about the facility are that it has the most beautiful beach which is covered with palapas and palm trees for those of us who like to sit on the beach and enjoy people watching and reading while ordering drinks from the beach service. Warning- you must be on the beach reserving your palapa by 7:30 am or you will not get one. Just leave your towel and a book on the beach chair and no one bothers it . The weather was beautiful also. In the 80's with very low humidity until Friday when someone turned on the oven. The resort gives a very nice appearence and is by far one of the cleanest I've ever stayed at . Someone is always cleaning something and the pool and beach areas are spotless. The room we stayed in was average with cracks in the marble floor and bathroom vanity. The shower head needed to be replaced and the stopper for the sink would not let the sink drain.The maid service was inconsistent with us never knowing when someone would do the room. Sometimes turndown service and making up the room occured at the same time. Don't let anyone tell you that the water from the tap is drinkable. It is not. A hint to this might be the bottle of water in the bathroom so that you may safely brush your teeth. However , I had e- mailed the resort and advised them that we would like to be in a room away from the children and with a beach view and they were very responsive to give us a room with a balcony that looked up the beach toward the open water . So we had a better view than the Royal Club- which is the $ 70 a day upgrade.So now for the down side. The food and service with the exception of the Italian restaurant was mediocre. We did not eat in the Mexican restaurant but did eat in the seafood restaurant which was average with very little seafood on the menu. The steaks and beef are just not good quality- fatty and tough at times. Steak night consisted of a piece of steak about a quarter of an inch thick with fat all around it. There is a wide variety at breakfast and they do make omletts, french toast to order and pancakes. All food served outside specialty restaurants is buffett style and high in starches - well it is Mexico. All food has a Mexican influence. For example, we ate in the Italian restaurant and has minestrone soup with celantro in it. They do not have Sweet and Low nor do they have brewed decaf coffee. We could not obtain bottled water to drink without buying it in the gift shop. They do not supply it in the refigerators in the rooms. We had to request that ours be stocked upon arrival and was advised that they were surprised that it was not. - We had beer disappearing from our fridge. We started our with 2 and each day would have only one left and we did not drink it.The overall quality of service is poor. The staff makes no effort to accomodate your requests. The concierge desk was not helpful. If you would like to go to a specialty restaurant you must make your reservation at least a day ahead and you may only make one reservation per day - no exceptions. Although, we met a couple who walked up to the seafood restaurant and asked to come in and were admitted. There are supposed to be no children under 7 in the specialty restaurants after 7 pm. Rules are applied inconsistantly . They are strict about wearing long pants and no shorts to eat in these restaurants. You will see many emty tables but have been told there is no avaiable space by the concierge. I must keep in mind that this is a kid friendly place and families may do very well. My spouse and I were celebrating our 33 rd wedding anniversary and may have done better in a different environment. Americans were in the minority when we visited. We found mostly Italians and Germans. We would not return but must admit that it is a great place for families who may be seeking a cheaper vacation and have children old enough to mix with children who may not speak their language.

The Gala Resort had been highly recommended to us by our travel agents and certainly there were a lot of favourable posted reviews that influenced us.

My husband and I were looking for a top all inclusive to stay at for the March break where we could bring my 6 year old daughter. A kid's club was important to us, as was the quality of the food and ambience is key as well. We got two out of three.

The kid's club was the best run children's club I have seen. The activities were outstanding and I could barely get my daughter out of there she enjoyed it so much.

Generally, the buffet was very impressive. We made it out to Playa del Carmen for dinner one night and realized there are a lot of alternative places to eat in that area that we unfortunately didn't have the chance to visit this time around.

The tennis courts were very well maintained and hard courts and a type of clay court were available.

We probably won't return to Gala primarily because of what it is missing - charm. There's no little swim up bar, no bar or funky restaurant on the beach to sit and chat with your fellow visitors. There was, frankly, no place to hide. Many all inclusives I've been to prided themselves in their little tropical paradises filled with fragant flowers and meandering paths. Nothing like that exists here. No benches overlooking the water, that kind of thing.

It was manicured and perfectly well kept up and that is great if you like that kind of thing. Also we like to be able to upgrade to a suite - so that a bedroom is separate from the rest of the space. I don't know how other parents do it but having a sleeping child in your room where you're trying to watch TV or listen to music, or read or even entertain, it is impossible in such a space. No such upgrade options were offered to us there.

The rooms are nice but not particularly lovely or special. Much has been made of the haciendas which were fine but not if there was a family of 12 going for a late night swim outside your balcony door.

So yes it is a good hotel and five stars to the kid's club but if you're looking for a piece of heaven along with it, this wouldn't be the place for you.

My husband and I returned from Gala Resort yesterday and want to share our experiences in hopes that our comments are as helpful to you as past comments were helpful to us! We loved this resort because of its small size, friendly and courteous service providers and absolutely gorgeous beach property. Gala exceeded our expectations in every way! The food was quite good and we took advantage of each specialty dining restaurant. Il Brocolino serves Italian food and I had a terrific pan-seared shrimp meal that I'm still thinking about! The Mexican food at Los Alcatraces was perfect and they serve delicious California wines, too and the Mediterranean food at O LA LA really savored the garlic and olive flavors of the Mediterranean region. All these restaurants are included in the price but make sure to make reservations in advance. We usually made them one day ahead of time at the concierge desk in the main lobby.
The main dining area is The Gran Festival Buffet which is more casual and does not require reservations. I wasn't expecting too much from the restaurant because my past buffet experiences have not been the best but this was quite good! They served a large variety of food but also mixed things up so you didn't get bored. Our last night there the buffet dinner offered chicken cordon bleu, beef wellington, a pork entree, grilled fish, a turkey carving station and a pasta table where you selected the type of pasta and sauce. It was awesome! And that was just the entree portion! Fresh fruit, vegetables, local foods and desserts abound!
The beach at Gala is breathtakingly beautiful! Our last day we paid extra and had 1 hour massages set up right on the beach. Between the sound of crashing waves and the soft music playing we didn't want to get up off the massage tables!
Our favorite aspect of Gala is the superior and friendly service. Everyone is so nice!! Our room was spacious and well kept and the housekeeping people turned down our bed for us every night. They kept our mini-fridge well stocked (also included in the price) and made sure we always had bottled water in our room. When we go back to Gala (the next time we will definately bring our children!) we'll bring about $100 in small change to tip people. Gratuity is included in the all-inclusive price and nobody there expected a tip but we were so happy with the job they did we wanted to leave extra money but we didn't have as much small change on us as we wanted.
We have a few suggestions....1) don't go to Mexico with the same expectation you would have traveling in the USA. Some people complained that "this isn't like home" and that's because it isn't home. It's a foreign country with cultural differences and the more relaxed you are about that the sooner you'll experience Mexico's relaxing, laid back approach to life. You'll love it! 2) Brush up on your high school or college Spanish. Everyone in this area speaks English so you don't have to worry about that, but we had so much more fun bumbling our way through in our broken Spanish...we had alot of laughs!! 3) Try to take advantage of the local sites. The Maya ruin called Tulum is only about 1 hour south of Gala and it is just beautiful! It's located right on the Caribbean so you can swim and snorkel there, too. Also there are many ecological parks such as Xcaret and Xel-ha that provide awesome snorkeling experiences and have many animal exhibits that the kids will enjoy.
This area of Mexico is a natural beauty and we're blessed to have had the experience---hope you are too!