Grand Palladium White Sand Resort & Spa All-Inclusive, Playa del Carmen Centro

The grounds and pools are the only good thing about this resort. The front desk staff are downright unethical and will lie to your face and rip you off. The rooms we booked were not available upon arrival and we wasted 3 full days being shuffled from room to room each day until we finally were forced to pay more for an upgraded room because there were supposedly no rooms left in the price range we purchased. A complete scam; these people should be in jail! I have been to dozens of all-inclusive resorts, including others in Mexico and this is hands-down the worst place I have been.

I would never stay at the Grand Palladium nor will I ever visit Mexico again. The personnel were not friendly, and sometimes down right rude. It was very hard to communicate with them.Very few spoke a language other than spanish. The food at the buffets were cold. You couldn't go in the ocean unless you wore water shoes or flipper because of the coral reef. Went I went to get flipper the worker was down right nasty.

Check-in: First, we traveled all night and arrived at the airport at 7:30. It’s 1.5 hours to the resort by bus from the airport depending on the number of stops. Our party arrived about 10:00 am to a resort that was 65% full. After traveling all night, most had to wait until 3:00 pm to check in and have no idea why since the resort wasn’t full. Conclusion: check-in sucked. All inclusive booze: This is the worst alcohol I have ever had. Buen Amigo is the brand of tequila and it is horrible. It is not normal alcohol. It must be watered down or contains some mystery ingredient like either. No matter how much of it you drink, the best you can get is a headache. No buzz at all after 8 or 9 shots. The beer on tap was El Sol which makes Miller lite seem like a strong beer. Again, no way to drink it and get a buzz. Seriously, the free booze is a complete waste of time, effort and calories. Food: The buffets were pretty good. I’d give them 7 out of 10. It’s a buffet so set your expectations appropriately. The focus is mostly quantity but the quality and selection wasn’t bad. The 8 a la carte restaurants were a different story. First, you have to wear long pants (men) to these “swanky” joints which was definitely uncomfortable at 35 C (94 F) and 100% humidity. If you were fine dining I could go along with that but these restaurants are NOT fine dining. The only exception was the Brazilian (Rodizio I think). It was quite good with good food and service. We all enjoyed it. The worst is hard to choose. There were more than 40 of us in all who ate at all of these restaurants at different times and here is the consensus: The worst 3 by far were the Italian, the Fish and Rice, and the worst food every eaten anywhere – the beach bbq. If they were not included, you would demand your money back. The beach bbq was not edible and I’m sure would have been shut down by the health department in nearly any city. The chicken was a cinder on the outside and bleeding at the bone. Horrible. The meat (flank steak?) could not be chewed into bite size pieces. Disgusting. All of the side dishes ran out while we waited in line for our first pass and were not replaced. A thousand monkeys with typewriters could have randomly created a better plan for organizing and executing a beach bbq. It was utter chaos. Everyone left and went to the buffet. The second worse is a tossup between the “Italian” and “Fish and Rice”. Fish and Rice had a great setting on the beach and the service was great but the food was, sadly, nearly inedible. If you scrapped off all the rice and the salt coating on the fish, you could get it down. I love salty food but even I couldn’t eat it. There is nothing good to say about the Italian. Our group (which did not include me) waited an hour (no reservations unless your in the Royal Suites) and then it took another 2 to complete the meals which were described as “cold” and “horrible” and an “insult to Italian cuisine”. The Japanese restaurant was like a Benihana so if you like foods covered in terryaki sauce and the sheer camp of clinking knives and spatula launched food you’ll love it. I ate it, others liked it. The other restaurants were somewhere in the middle.

This was a terrible resort. We have visited places all over the world and this by far was the worst. We were told it was family friendly but you have to walk a good 10 to 15 minutes to the pool or food. True they offer shuttles but you still have to walk to a pick up place. We have a 20 month old and a 17 year old and even if you had a stroller there are stairs everywhere with no ramps. Plus you could not take food out of any of the resturaunts so couple that with no room service, it makes for an unhappy child. (Unless you want to pay 20 american dollars for a can of pringles, which I am sad to say we had to do) We had a 2 bedroom suite but the master bedroom had ants all over the bed. We complained but they insisted all rooms had ants. Plus the beds were awful, the floor was more comfortable. During our stay the air condition broke in several of the resturants so that only left one we could go to with out baby. The air was not fixed the entire time we were there and it was about 20 degrees hotter in there than outside so seeing what the other places had to offer was out the door. The staff was not friendly nor helpful and we had to constantly ask for room service. Also at the pool, although the pool was nice, they never had towels. I just warn any families to avoid this place. May be fine for couples or young people wanted to party but definately not a family place. I will never go back nor will I ever stay at this chain again.

day 1- came in late so went straight to buffet. food was cold and not very good, but I figured it was because it was late. We also had to fill out a tremendous amount of useless paperwork. day 2- waited 5 minutes to get high chair for breakfast, staff was not friendly and food was bad again. restaurant wasn't busy. Went to pool and enjoyed it until I went to bar and asked for a drink and got the rudest bartender. I tipped well and they still acted unfriendly. tried lunch at pool buffet and again I encountered the unfriendly staff. they took 5 minutes to get high chair and about 10 minutes for the drinks and the food was very good. IT seems they reuse the left overs from the dinner restaurants to mix up buffet dishes. Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5 -----bad food, bad service and now the constant phone calls for the free gift hook so you buy the time share. Day 6 - noticed an improvement in service but also noticed more Americans on site, which means more tipping. Day 7 - left early and will never return to a palladium property. this is our 3rd trip to the riviera maya in 6 years and this was the worst service. the plus was the landscape and the beach.

The grounds are clean and spacious. Check in was a breeze. Food was great and drinks were strong. We met some crazy americans from Michigan that partied all night and were hard to understand. Hi Rick, Terri, Tom and Vic. Tom I hope that the swelling around your eyes has gone down. I'm not sure how long it will be before this resort will have any Crown Royal on their shelves but it may be a while. Thanks again Vic for translating for us with the staff that spoke little English. I can't wait to have our local bartender make us a "Cack and Joke". I would call this resort a great value for the money and we will go back in a heart beat.

We were at the Grand Palladium in Sept. 06, and have booked for Sept. 07. The staff can't be nicer, the property is simply beautiful. We have talked about it so much to our friends and family that since last year, four couples have gone and loved it as much as we did. I wouldn't even consider going anywhere else!

went to grand palladium 7/08 and had great time, food was good ,beach was great , people and personnel very friendly.Next time we'll stay in the rooms with outside showers,and we're going fishing with the guy on the beach that runs the parasail.

At first my life partner (woman)and I needed to get away... we choose the Adult section of this wonderful RESORT. The staff was alwayes smilling and polite, the food was great, slection of anything was available...and the adult beverages was never empty. The whirlpool on the patio was a wonderful touch...we used it every night...you know what for!!!! I strongly suggest this facility for your next getaway...GREAT VALUE.

I thought that the food WAS EXCELLENT and very well made. The juice in the morning was not so selectionable and i thought breakfast was sorta hard to get water and other service. Lunch was very good if u ate at the bar area. The food at the 24 hour snack bar wasnt so good if u got chicken nuggets. I WONT recomend making guacamole a mandatory thing, ask if u want it. For pizza u should have more selection At least put pepperone. the Italian resturaunt was not very goood. We got the rong food for APPPETIZERS!! The brazilion was great. OTHERWISE IT WAS AWESOME I HOPE TO COME NEXT YEAR. The pools i did not enjoy but that is ok. THE BARS WERE VERY WELL STOCKED I LOVED IT. And i am 12. THANKS