We returned tonight from a week at the Bahia Principe Tulum. I was not expecting to enjoy it, but was VERY impressed with our stay.

THE GOOD:

There were 9 of us, ages 4, 6,18, 31, 33, 36, 37, 58, and 58. When we first arrived, they had booked two of our rooms next to each other, and the third two floors up. After requesting a change, that family was moved next to us on day 2. The resort was very clean, and the staff members were amazing! I have seen some say that their staff was not good, but ours couldn't have been better. They were very friendly and hard-working! The buffet food was good, and the Italian Ala-Carte was great! We loved the Brazilian restaurant. The rooms were spacious, ours had three beds. The mini bar was stocked adequately each morning. The activities are very entertaining and the pools are great! The view from the beach is amazing! We went on some excursions. We swam with dolphins at Puerto Aventuras, snorkeled at Xel-ha, and visited Coba, the Mayan Ruins. All excursions were great and value priced! Finally, I have to say that our Apple Representative, Jacob Martinez, was PHENOMENAL! He went above and beyond his duty and helped us with much more than booking excursions. We lost a couple of items while out at the excursions, Jacob personally called Xel-ha daily until we had to leave to see if either item had turned up. Also, he joined us for dinner one night (we invited him), and helped us learn more about the culture. He was very interested in our culture as well. Finally, he made it a point to call our room the night before we left to thank us for allowing him to work for us. He wished us a safe flight home and was very sincere. He wanted to let us know that the next morning, he wouldn't be there as it was his day off, but that he wanted to make sure that we knew that he appreciated the opportunity to work with us. He remembered our names and called us all by name (kids included) every time he saw us.

THE BAD:

This paragraph will be much shorter, as the good very much out-weighed the bad. First off, the air conditioners in the rooms did not cool the rooms very much. The mini-bars were not overly cold, and the beach was VERY rocky. We DID NOT LIKE the Seafood Ala-Carte restaurant at all, but that may just be unfamiliarity with the seafood served. Mosquitoes were HORRIBLE, but that is to be expected! Do not eat at the Snack Bar late at night....the food tastes very old!

THE UGLY:

I liked the title, so I need to come up with something "ugly." My "ugly" comment is not about the resort, but about some of those at the resort. I understand that some people prefer to go topless at beaches, but please people...don't do it at a pool. Most of the kids spend a lot of time at the pools and there are very clear signs posted that say NO TOPLESS! Also, I think that there should maybe be a screening process for topless people....like you are issued a green card if you are allowed to be topless, a yellow card if its OK in small doses, and a red card if you ABSOLUTELY will make people vomit! I'm not a well-built person, which is part of the reason I don't go topless...lets think about it...

OVERALL, I would DEFINITELY recommend this resort to other people!

We've spent the week of June 26th-July 3rd at Bahia Principe Tulum. This was our fourth trip there in four years. Needless to say, we love it there!

It is a little quiet on the Riviera Maya because of the swine flu panic. There is no trace of the flu in the Yucatan Peninsula and there haven't been any cases there. So, don't be afraid to go! The Sea is gorgeous and the water vvery warm!

We went to XCaret for a second time. It was lovely! Don't miss the 7 o'clock show! Plan to spend a full day there, it is great!

I'd be happy to answer questions. As I go there every year, I don't know what people want to hear about this place. So, ask me!

Have a great trip!

We have just returned from our honeymoon at the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum and are slightly disappointed about our holiday.

Firstly i'll explain that Gran Bahia have 3 hotels within the complex. The Akumal, the Coba and the Tulum. Guests have full use of all 3 hotels and shuttle buses run 24 hours a day to get you about the complex. The weeks we were there the Coba hotel was completely closed. This was due to the low number of guests due to swine flu. The Akumal was fully open and the Tulum (where we were staying) had only recently opened.

Be prepared for some lenghty queue's at Cancun airport. Took us almost 2 hours from leaving the plane to get to the coach. Coach transfer from Cancun airport took about 2 hours but we had to drop guests off at 3 other hotels first. Check in didn't take too long but this is where we came across our first disappointment. $5 per day for a safe. A 5 star hotel should not be charging for use of safe. That means that along with the airport exit tax of $52 each we had to set aside $174 before we had even started our holiday.

We had a top floor room (1624) which was of a good size, a massive bed, ceiling fan plus air conditioning so always nice and cool. We had a couple of ants in the bathroom each night but nothing else. Think the top floor helped with that as there were plenty of cockroaches about. It is the Carribean though so cant complain about the wildlife!

I'll now run through the good and bad points of the Tulum hotel.

Buffet restraunt; Food was good but the staff weren't the best. At weekends many Mexicans stay at the hotel and the staff can't seem to cope when its busy. We spent 20 minutes looking for a table and eventually had to walk out. Not impressed about that especially when there were about 30 tables cordened off.

A la Carte; At Tulum the 3 restraunts are Seafood, Mexican and Brazillian. Not a seafood lover so never ate there. Ate at the Brazillian twice. Freshly cooked meat carved at the table. Very nice. The Mexican restraunt was another story. Find it hard to believe the a Mexican restraunt in Mexico could be so bad. The food was nothing short of terrible. We both ordered beef fajita's and what came was a plate of over cooked mush and 5 of the smallest wraps we had ever seen. Didn't return after that. We ate twice at the Italian restraunt at the Akumal hotel and the food and service here was the best we had all holiday.

Swimming pools; 3 main pools situated near the lobby and buffet restraunt. The animation crew are located at one of the pools so it can get a bit noisey during their "crazy games"! Swim up bar at one of the pools with the most miserable bar man I have ever met. Only came downstairs from the main pool bar ever 15 minutes or so and seemed upset that there was a queue. There is a 4th pool, "the quiet one" which is situated away from the lobby area. This is the pool we used most often. Bar man seemed a lot the happier than the one from the main pool!

24 hour snack/bar; AVOID AVOID AVOID!!! This was terrible. Used it when we first arrived as very near our room. Limited snacks made to order and was OK the first time as we were very hungry after been on the go for almost 14 hours. Had a burger and beer and although not the best it was eddible. Went back a few days later and ordered food. The bar man shouts the order to the chef and you wait. Food is put onto the bar a you return to collect it. Problem is as the menu is limited you can have 7 or 8 people ordering the same thing so no one knows who's food is who's. Thats presuming the chef has bothered to make your order up. Countless times my food never turned up. Now for the truely disgusting bit about this snack/bar. Whilst standing opposite the beer pump I asked for 2 beers. The bar man picked up to cups (plastic as bar is next to the quiet pool) and walked to the other end of the bar. He then leaned into a chest freezer and reappeared with 2 full cups of beer. They must find it quicker to fill a bucket (from where we dont know) and then allow staff to dip there hands into it to fill up customers drinks. Not the most hygenic from the country where Swine Flu originated. On a second occasion a friend of ours ordered 4 beers and the bar man produced 4 have filled cups from under the bar a proceded to top them up from the pump. Just how long they had been under the bar we dont know. Our same friend ordered a burger and the bar man tried to give him one from under the bar. Again, how long had that been sitting there?

Mini bar; Mini bar was OK. Supposed to be restocked every 2 days although the first week we only had it filled twice. You get 2 cans of beer, sprite, coke, diet coke, water and 2 cartons of juice. I had taken out my 2 beers one day but only drank one. Had forgotten it was still in my bag the next day and the mini bar was restocked. I put my spare beer back in so now had 3. Never touched the beers in the bar and when the mini bar was restocked 2 days later the guy actually removed one of the cans! Unbelievable!

Staff; They were a bit hit and miss. Some staff couldn't do enough to help you. Some just couldn't be bothered, especially those in the buffet restraunt. Witnessed a few people tipping staff before they had done anything. It seems the might of the American dollar brings out the best in the staff. I feel that a tip is reward for good service, I shouldn't have to tip to receive good service. That seems to be the way though so if you want staff to know you are there an early tip seems to work.

Entertainment; Shows on nearly every night. Some done by the animation crew, the rest done by outside performers. The best was probably the most surreal. A Michael Jackson impersonator performing on the same day his death was announced. To say it was standing room only was an understatement!

That covers most things at the Tulum hotel. As this wasn't the best we spent most of our time at the Akumal hotel. The difference between the hotels was night and day. The Akumal staff couldn't have been better. It was aslo qiueter at weekends. Seems less Mexicans are put in this hotel compaired the Tulum. Only bad point I found at the Akumal was the buffet restraunt. Nothing to do with the food but the air conditioning. The food area was very cool and this means if you pick something hot dont hang about looking for other food as your hot food will be cold by the time you sit down.

That covers the hotel, now a word of advice for those who book with Thomas Cook.

We were advised to take a small amount of Mexican peso, a small amount of US$ and the bulk of our money as US$ traveller cheques. This is what I had planned to do anyway, however, the hotel will only exchange money into Mexican peso. Not a big deal you may think but if your planning on booking any of the excursions via your Thomas Cook rep, they charge US$. When they work out how much it costs in peso they use a different exchange rate than the hotel. We booked 2 trips at a total cost of $300. By the time the rep had used her "special" exchange rate it had cost us an extra £50. My advice is simple. If you plan to do some excursions, take plenty of US$, not travellers cheques.
As for the excursions avaliable, they are on the expensive side although we did decide to do 2 of them. First one was the Mayan ruins tour of Coba and Tulum. This is far cheaper than the Chichen Itza tour and for those who are unaware, you are no longer allowed to climb the temple there. You are allowed to climb the temple at Coba which is the 2nd highest in Yucatan (Chichen Itza is the 3rd highest) and is the only one you are allowed to climb. We were told by our rep that there was no swimming on this trip but once we were on the coach our tour guide told us that after the Tulum ruin tour we could go for a swim in the sea at one of the most beautiful beaches in the area. We were not impressed with our rep for telling us about the non swimming. On what was one of the hottest days of the holiday and virtually no shade at the Tulum ruins we couldn't go for a nice refreshing dip in the sea.
The other excursion we done and I cant recommend this one highly enough. Its called Rio Secreto. Only 30 mins from the hotel and not to expensive. Rio Secreto is a 90 minute guided tour into a flooded cave. You are supplied with a wet suit, life jacket, water shoes and hard hat with a light on it. The sights in the cave are simply stunning. A must do trip!

That concludes my review of the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum. One more piece of advice other than the US$ cash, if you find yourself booked into the Tulum, chance your arm and ask for a transfer to the Akumal.

my partner and i stayed at the gbp tullum from the 15th of june till the 29th june 09 our stay was fantastic from start to finish this place is paradise!! the buffet is great but i would advise u to use ur 6 trips to the on site (2 week stay) resturants the dolce vita is amazing! also take long trousers and a sleved top for the gents as this is the dress code in the resturants. there is plenty to do in this complex and everyone is so friendly and helpfull. the beach is a bit rocky only in the water though so take some beach shoes to wear going in. you can get a strong box in ur room for 5 dollars a night which we done just incase yje rooms are spotless and large the whole place is amazing. my partner had a bad accident on the second week but the staff took care of our every need and made this a truley memorible holiday i would highly recomend this hotel to abyone it was a pleasure to stay there would go back in a minuet