We travelled to Mexico and stayed at the Grand Palladium White Sands resort from February 11th - 18th. It was our first time in Mexico and at the Grand Palladium. Previously we have stayed at the Gran Bahia chain in Punta Cana and Jamaica.
Wow, the wild life makes it seem like I am somewhere tropical, besides the weather.
The rooms were clean.
The staff friendly, and the food very good.
But! And this is what the lower rating comes down to. The upkeep of property...lounge chairs broken and discarded into bushes at the adult pool area. Washrooms were lacking necessities such as toilet paper and seats! Important especially for a woman who sits for all occasions.
The beach area...this is a big factor for anyone who is planning on swimming in the ocean. It smelled so bad, like sewer and bird poop. The beach is very rocky so if there is any wind at all, it is dangerous to go in. The few areas that were relatively rock free had so many people clumped together that it was hard to just swim and have fun. Spent most of our time at the pool area if we could find seats that weren't broken.
The pools had a lot of debris in them, not encouraging to go in.
I would definitely go back to Mexico but not to thenPalladium :-(

After reading reviews here I was a bit nervous because people either loved it or hated it! We had a late check in so no delay in getting checked in. We were told we had been upgraded to the Riviera Suites, had been warned about this happening and it wasn't good.(made me even more nervous as I was the one who booked this resort for everyone) When we got to our rooms we were very surprised they were great! It was clean and huge, we apparently got the Governors Suits! The next day toured the place on our own and were very pleased with the whole resort. It was quit relaxing and clean.
The food was a bit of a disappointment on our first dinner reservation. But it went uphill from there. The meals seem to get better.The staff were great we had quit a few laughs with them.
The only thing I would say is negative about this resort is the inconsistencies. For it having the high star rating it has it is very inconstant. I know this sounds petty but beds not always turned down, coffee not left in the room, dirty dishes not taken away, these things didn't happen every day but there was always one or another happening. Also the fridge did not keep drinks cold.
The beach, yes, there are rocks but we just wore our water shoes and were fine the water was beautiful well worth the rocks!
Would I go back probably not but I wouldn't discourage people from going either. Overall it is a nice resort.

I went there with my girlfriend and my family. We enjoyed this place from arrival to departure. Check-in was a breeze, welcomed by a smiling young lady. We were early and had to wait till 3pm for our room so we were directed towards the buffet to have lunch. After lunch we were ready for our rooms and a very friendly young man who drives the shuttles helped us with our luggage and drove us to our individual rooms. The service was fantastic, food was wonderful something for everyone. The buffet was always fresh, the a la carte restaurants were fantastic, we tried all of them. The grounds are very clean and the guys are always cleaning.The size of this resort did not bother us at all, we loved the walk. The pools very nice a lot of entertainment going on. The beach was gorgeous. Other then the view from the salt water pool, was not a big fan of it. One suggestion to this resort, stop watering down your alcohol. Overall we enjoyed this resort, and would definitely return.

We visited the resort 2/24 - 3/1, 2013. Our children are both 12 years old. Overall, it was a fantastic resort for our family.
- We were in Villa 57 - a perfect location. We were right between the pool and ocean. I highly recommend asking for this location. The resort is HUGE. If you aren't in a good location, be ready to walk, walk, walk. They have staff driving golf carts and they will take you from place to place. However, you can't always find one.
- The buffet was average. A really large selection. I don't recommend going when it first opens as most of the hot food was cold. Breakfast was by far the best meal of the day at the buffet. The made to order omelets were fantastic. Don't forget to tip a buck or two here and there. They really appreciate it.
- We ate at the Japanese, Chinese and Italian restaurants. The first two were WONDERFUL. After waiting an hour after ordering our food, we walked out of the Italian restaurant. The service was horrible and drunk people were stumbling all over the place.
- The main pool was fantastic. It isn't deep and the kids could swim all over without us worrying about them. There was no problem finding loungers.
- My kids loved feeding the fish every day, seeing the alligators and taking the boat ride around the resort.
- The beach was great. Rocky at one end and really smooth at the other. We found lots of coral. Beware of jellyfish and sting rays. We weren't warned about this until our second to last day. We didn't see any though.
- The beach restaurant was great for snacks. We loved the jalapeno poppers. There were weddings going on almost every day and were fun to watch from a distance. PARENTS - some guests have no problem sunbathing topless. Actually, one woman was literally posing for an hour topless while were sig other took pictures.
- Lots of guests smoked. This was annoying.
- The rooms were average. The bathroom was a lot better than the sleeping area. The floors were never mopped and were really dirty. We left tips at the beginning but it didn't get us anywhere so we stopped.
- We did an excursion with Lomas (sp). They were in the lobby. A terrible experience. The trip they recommended was not age appropriate for our kids. Nobody had a good time.
- The resort is 1 hour from the airport and 1 hour from shopping. A good location.

Overall, a really nice trip with few exceptions. Don't stay here if you hate to walk. However, stay here if you like variety. You certainly won't get bored. The staff were very friendly and anxious to provide excellent customer service.