Great Parnassus Resort and Spa All-Inclusive, Cancun

we stayed at the Great Panassus by default, Tavelocity screwed up our reservations where we wanted to stay. first the hotel is quite a ways from town, requiring more taxi/bus expense. our room was clean but maid service was less than great...we had to call several times to get towels, hand towels, washcloths and bedspread. the food was substandard, especially at the magnus buffet, some of the restaurants were okay but they arent open every day. the bars only had a few choices of cheap alcohol and one brand of beer, dos equis. my hopes grew a bit when i saw the Octoberfest Beer Garden, they also only had Dos Equis... The service was very good and the staff was more than friendly. i enjoy playing pool and was happy to see that they had several pool tables in the hotel but the tables were in poor repair, the cloth was ripped on all of them, they were dirty and you couldnt find a piece of chalk in the whole hotel. i think this would be a relatively inexpensive fix but this hotel obviously doesnt want to spend a dime if they dont have to. To top things off a pair of my wifes shoes came up missing from our room near the end of our stay there, we reported it to the front desk but were told it would take a couple of days for security to look into it, so we're out a $60 pair of sandals! I would definately not stay here again nor would i recommend it to anyone. I will also never use yahoo travelocity again, they were very rude and would not accept responsibility for thier mistake.

Need I say more! We have been to Mexico five times and have never gotten sick. All four of us had severe abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea beginning on the third day! We never left the resort, so whatever we got, we got it at this resort! Went to the Dr. upon our arrival home and we ALL tested positive for E-COLI in our stool! NOT FUN! Will NEVER EVER go back here.

We stayed in three different resorts this summer and this was our favorite. The kids loved the waterslide and mini golf. It is very family friendly, but there are great quiet adult only areas too. The “buffet” was a food court that wasn’t over crowded even though the hotel was completely booked. There was a great selection of restaurants and bars too. The only disappointment was the location of our room balcony. It had a view of the ocean but the industrial noise (AC units for the resort?) was so loud that we couldn’t enjoy it. It seemed that all of the rooms facing the Hilton hotel would have this problem.

We just returned from a week at Great Parnassus with our 3 and 6 year old daughters. The resort is nice 3 to 4 stars, I would say, but average Mexican construction. The rooms were clean and more spacious than American hotel rooms. The bathrooms are huge. The separate sleeping space for the kids (with its own TV) was perfect. They loved the bunks and we loved the privacy. We were on the Hilton side of the hotel which was nice. We got sun all day on our balcony and a nice sunset view over the lagoon, although the Hilton's massive AC units were noisy, but only when the sliding doors were open. The biggest disappointment of our trip was the weather --It was cool, overcast and even rainy for the first 2.5 days of our stay. But once the sun came out we had a great time. The pools are wonderful..drinks were great...kids area a nice diversion..staff was friendly...mini golf was great..and the food, for the most part, was very good. We ate tons of fresh fruit -- the a la cart restaurants were good -- and the main restaurant that's open all day had a ton of choices, including great sushi, a pasta and pizza station, chinese food made to order, fruits/salads/vegetables, and a variety of hot foods. For breakfast we had custom-made omelets and smoothies and there was a huge variety of desserts. Even our kids always found something good to eat. Portofino is probably the best a la carte restaurant but doesn't open until 7pm, so beware if you have kids. The other a la carte restaurants open at 6, but were just a notch below Portofino in quality. This resort was a tad on the noisy side, mostly because it's all wide open in the middle, made of stone and glass, and it was windy outside near the pool, but we went to bed early every night and slept without a problem. There are a few cute stores on site where you can get little trinkets and souveniers or anything you might have forgotten at home. The beach IS rocky but we didn't mind. If you want pristine sand just walk next door to the Hilton. We played and walked on the beach but spent most of our time at the many pools, which are all about 3-4 feet deep, great for kids. The resort is in the hotel zone and seemed safe. It's an easy bus ride into downtown Cancun. I went for runs daily by myself and felt secure the whole time. Overall we got a good price and were very happy with our vacation, though it's probably not the sort of place I would go back to time and time again.

Service is terrible. Never ever ever go to this place. Below are the facts. The beach is all rocks. ALL ROCK !@!! You need to stay way North to avoid rocks. And the sea weed was almost to the point where you need to mow. The entire property stinks of sewage. Not sure where it was coming from but it was pretty strong. The rooms have virtually nothing in them...seems like someone stole all the furnishings. You will sweat like dogs because almost the entire hotel is not Air Conditioned !!! Your room AC will be marginal. Just plan on being sticky your entire week. I can't believe anyone would work there because they are so hot. To see the ocean in our "Oceanview" room, meant leaning over the 11th floor balcony until you could see the beach. We asked to get the room with a view but they would not help. Food is the worst I've ever had...bordering on insulting and inedible. Drinks are terrible, tasting like cheap immitations of bad drinks, watered down and the flavor was poor. Pools are crowded with fat people who have hygiene problems. This is where the low end crowd goes to take baths. (slight exageration) If you call the desk or room service, plan ahead. Call at least 45 min before you need something because it takes them forever. Every day workers empty every ice machine on every floor. This happens at 6am and no matter what room you're in, you will awaken to ice dropping into plastic buckets. The entire hotel is tiled...so echo's and noise will be unbearable. If you like hearing people screaming at 3am.... this place is for you. We had to move rooms because the AC leaked large puddles on the floor. The shower would not drain but they thought that would get better ? :-) The room they moved us into had broken shower door handles, a large jacuzzi that had broken water valves and the room would lose power every morning.... taking them 30-40 min to reset breakers. AND not once did they ask us how our stay was.

This hotel was just ok overall. I traveled with my husband and two sons - ages 12 and 8. We had a lot of trouble checking in - the front desk staff was just awful and they didn't really want to deal with us to answer questions or anything. Our flight arrived in Cancun around 10 am - so we arrived at the hotel way before check-in and they would not allow us to check in a minute before 3pm. We sat in the lobby, which was hot and smelled like sewage. Then at 3pm the front desk told us that our room was not ready and to come back at 3:30, then at 3:30 they said come back at 4 -we said NO WAY - I have never seen this at any other hotel in my life. They took us to the wrong type of room at first, but then the bellman called the front desk and had our room changed for us and took us right to the other room without making us deal with the front desk again. Basically, the only air conditioned area of the hotel is your room. The hotel was loud -there seemed to be children running the halls all night long and nobody did a thing about it. Our room was nice - but the Hilton, next door, has really loud AC units and out on the balcony we couldn't even hear each other talk. The fans were also loud even with the balcony doors closed. The food was just ok - nothing wonderful. We could never find the late-night snacks they said they had and if you wanted a soda after 10:30 pm - you either had to wait 45 minutes for room service to bring it or go to a bar. The adults only restaurant was closed every time we tried to go, as was the Sanctorium (which they didn't tell us was only for club level rooms) and the Mexican restaurant was only open for lunch. The lack of Mexican food was disappointing being that we were in Mexico and all. We ordered room service for breakfast one morning - they were late, which was bad because we had an excursion planned for that day, and they didn't bring us half of what we ordered. We ended up having to go to the buffet to wait in line and be late for our excursion. The last 2 days of our stay the hotel was crowded and we had to wait in line for EVERYTHING and usually couldn't find chairs to sit in at the main pool. We were lucky to be staying on the second floor so that we could use the steps, because getting an elevator was impossible. Sometimes it was difficult to even get a soda and they didn't offer bottled water at all - you had to buy it in the lobby gift shop. I don’t know what kind of alcohol they were using, but it had no effect on me or my husband, which I was happy about, I guess, because they kept serving my 12 year old son alcoholic drinks. Internet is $6.00 per hour. The beach here is worthless - it's all rocks, so you can't swim. My boys loved the water slides, but the staff screamed at my son because he collided with a child that decided to just stop himself in the middle of a slide and sit there - after that they didn’t really want to go back there. The non-motorized water sports they say they offer are off site at some water park. Besides the front desk staff and some of the bartenders, the rest of the staff was great. The hotel entertainment staff were wonderful. If I go to Cancun again, I probably wouldn't stay here.

We have two boys age 10 and 14 and they had a blast... the staff offers lots of sports and activities. the food wasn't great but it wasn't bad. It was a great way to spend Christmas

This hotel was HORRIBLE! If you want to have a great time in CANCUN- don't stay here!! There is NO beach to relax; it is full of rocks, the service is not good at all. Actually I must say that the service was the worst we had experienced in the vacations my husband and I have been on throughout the years. We have been to Cancun several times, and I must say this hotel ranks at the very bottom of them. The workers were very rude as if they did not want to be there. One bartender (by pool area- on concrete) would literally make us wait for like 10 minutes for a drink, and then have the nerve to slam our drinks down when he finished preparing them- that was so no customer friendly. Then there was the oriental/asian restuarant the waiter there was again, by no surprise, rude as ever and only checked on us once (and that is when he took our order). My husband and I had to travel every day to the sister hotel, Golden Parnassus to enjoy the beach. This was a hassle. Make a long story short... if you are like us and don't mind spending the extra money to stay somewhere you are treated like customers, and have access to a beach, then don't stay here! We will never stay here again nor will we recommend to anyone!

We just returned from a five-day stay at the Great Parnassus. We went with two other couples that also had two kids each. Ages range from 9 through 16. We had a great time. The entertainment staff was absolutely wonderful. They kept it interesting at all times. My kids had so much fun they are still asking each other, “What would we be doing if we were still in Cancun right now?” The adults also had a blast. We were always kept entertained with water aerobics, water polo, pool basketball or my favorite, tequila volleyball, to mention a few. The food was very good. I did not have a meal that I did not like. My only complaint was the Mexican restaurant was closed for renovations. The Portifino, (Italian), Big Ben, (steaks and ribs), and The Samurai, (Japanese) were all very good. The choice of breakfast items also seemed endless. They included any kind of omelets, fresh fruits, and eggs to order. The shows at night were very entertaining. The staff that works the pools, kids club, and spa put on a great show. I can’t believe how talented these people are. They are always very friendly. They all know your name just after a couple of conversations. The teenagers (there were four, two boys and two girls) had a great time at the teen club playing games and dancing each night I’m already ready to go back!

The food was horrible... across the board. I went with a large group. all said the same thing.. very disappointing. Overall trip was great thanx to their entertainment staff. The entertainment staff did a great job of trying to get everyone to have fun.