Grand Oasis Palm Resort & Spa, Cancun

THE CONCEPT: This is a very large property. The website doesn't describe how it's run as multiple separate resorts (Grand Oasis / Oasis Cancun / Oasis Palm Beach) with some shared services and multiple classes of guests entitled to use only a portion of the overall services. To upgrade your class (your bracelet color) they'll shake you down for an extra $20 per person per night. The staff to guest ratio is kept to a minimum through this use of shared services. Bars/restaurants are opened only when all others are at extreme over-capacity. FOOD/DRINK: You'll work very hard to take advantage of the "all-inclusive" benefits. The entire service plan is designed to save money by making it difficult for guests to find food/drink and to discourage them further by inserting artificially long wait times before serving any menu order. By day two I was already making shopping runs off resort to bring back food and drink for our rooms. The bad service becomes dangerous due to the difficulty in obtaining water. On random days each room receives a maximum of 1 liter of bottled water (not nearly enough for two people in the Mexican sun). For an extra cup of water you'll need to deal with the bar/restaurant issues described below. FOOD. What the website doesn't tell you about their 7 restaurants is that most of them are closed at any given time, some of them are closed all the time, and at some times all of them are closed. Also, depending on your bracelet color you can not be served at many of them. For most of my 10-day stay the closest food was a 1/2 mile walk across the entire resort. Restaurants are open for only 2 or 3 hours before closing down so you'll spend much time wandering the resort trying to figure out where to find food or drink at any given time. If you sleep past 10:30 AM you've missed your chance at breakfast and will have to wait until 12 noon lunch. They do sometimes have a snack bar open between meals that has a very limited menu of low-quality foods (fries and nasty burgers). Even at the snack bar you'll have to wait 30-45 minutes for your snack that really doesn't require more than 3-4 minutes to cook in their deep fryer. For a sit-down dinner you'll find yourself playing the reservation game. The one guy who takes reservations has limited hours, is often not there even when he is supposed to be, and the undersized restaurants are already fully booked if you don't catch the reservation guy early each morning to make your reservation. DRINKS. Same issues as the food. The bar closest to my room was beach view and could have been very convenient--but it never opened during my 10-day stay. The next closest bar required the $20 per day VIP upgrade charge. The next closest bar was a pool bar that would not serve you unless you were in the pool. About a 1/4 mile away was the main bar that was open most daytime hours but was chaos with 1 or 2 bartenders trying to serve mobs of guests with empty cups. If you want to get your drink on for a day you'll need to hang out near this main bar and deal with the obnoxiously loud club music that will make your ears ring. ROOMS: The rooms look like they were originally built well but then run down due to lack of maintenance. My bathtub didn't drain and it smelled like sewage, the toilet didn't function properly, the air conditioner functioned only well enough to make the temperature tolerable but the fan made an awful noise. There is no sound-proofing between the rooms and halls so at all hours of the night you'll eavesdrop on drunk guys in the hall trying to talk their way into some girl's room. Rooms have a mini-fridges but they don't seem to cool anything more than a few degrees below room temperature. Buckets are used to catch leaks from ceilings in the rooms and common areas. You can always feel better about your room by going to a bar area and listening to the horror stories of other guests who have it worse.

Just got back 2 weeks ago and we had a great time the staff was very polite and they were always cleaning, the pools are awesome and the food was great I would definetly recommend this hotel to friends, I never had a problem with people trying to sell me time shares while I was on the resort, and never had a problem getting a drink if I didn't have money in my hand. Bus stop was close walmart was 10-15 minutes from hotel, night clubs and flea markets was also 15 minutes away. It was an awesome hotel would go back.

For the price of this motel, it was clean and the staff were fun and extremely nice. We had no issues except to get a chair in the sun you have to go early and if you leave your towel it was stolen. Julio was awesome, my 5 year old granddaughter was treated like a princess. I would go back and would stay here again. They were always cleaning the resort. I would not recommend doing the submarine tour though, it is short and in the back the bubbles come up and you can't see anything. It was a great disappointment for the money. I set up Cancun transport and they waited for our late arrival and were there when we asked. The food was okay but there was plenty to choose from. This was worth the time and money.

I feel bad for Total Disappointment, we just had a wonderful time. We had one waiter with an attitude, we just never sat in his section again. The room wasn't large, but was nice with a great shower. We basically only slept in the room, every other waking moment was on the beach, or on tours. Of the 5 resturants, one we didn't care for, the others were great. By the end of the 2nd day we pretty much knew which ones we prefered for which meals. We put our trust with the travel group (Best.... something or other, that I forgot) that our trip was affiliated with and they took very good care of all our needs. The 'hawking' of time shares in the lobby was a turn off (not to mention the rush of them at the airport) but we quickly learned to ignore them. We are still in awe over the great week and our 3 grandchildren had no hesitation in picking this experiance for a return trip over going back to Disney. For those of you that can afford the Ritz, and/or have extrodinary expectations of service, maybe this place falls short, but for the average budget, there was nothing to be disappointed about here. We didn't find the location to be a problem, but we wern't clubbing this trip. The bus transportation was fantastic and cheap, cabs..., not so much.

The staff was extremely friendly and the service was fast and efficient. We were a large group and they did their best to accommodate our needs..whether it was to seat us at one of the restaurants or book an excursion. The shows were fun and enjoyable and there was always a contest going on for a good laugh. Our family had a great stay and I would recommend this resort..especially for the price for an all inclusive visit.

We have never been more disappointed with an all-inclusive resort. The room was marginally acceptable, after we were finally able to transfer from two doubles to one king. The service was poor and the food was HORRIBLE. Although there are five restaurants, 2 are buffet style and waits ranged from 2 - 3 hr waits to eat. Staff was not very personable, and many spoke only limited English. Only one elevator working in two different buildings. No A/C in lobby, hallways or restaurants. No washcloths in room. One day it was after 5PM before our room was cleaned, and towels did not arrive until after 6PM. We would not go back, even if it were free.

Before going out of the country for vacation learn the basic language, most of us Americans are so spoiled rotten that if we don't get our way or not up to our standard of living its automattically crap. I loved this place had a great time beach was awsome with crystal clear water, tours purchased in the hotel to Mayan Ruins, Isla Mujeres, Xcaret, and wave runner rental couldn't ask for something better. If your not going to leave the hotel stay at all inclusive resort because this place is not, allthough breakfast at the hut was great. I really enjoyed myself staying at this hotel and all of what Cancun had to offer. What I wrote to start this review about learning the basic language is so very helpful but try to be funny by using swear words that will only insult the people and not only make a fool out of yourself but put a bad name to the rest of us from the United States. Don't be so spoiled America, and if thats the case, don't ever leave the comforts of your McMansions, stupid BMW's, top of the line clothes and $250.00 nike basketball shoes. Or better yet gamble your money away in stupid Las Vegas who truely are in buisness to take your money and roll you on the street. CANCUN BLOWS LAS VEGAS AWAY!!!!!!!!!!

I'll be short and sweet .... - They overbooked the hotel giving us the wrong room the first night, told us we would get a king bed the next day. We pack up waiting to change rooms at noon, then said it would be another hour – finally by 6:30 and a wasted day we got into our room. - I hope you like repetitive food cause you get the same thing everyday – no variety. - The wait staff are miserable. Good luck trying to get a smile out of them. If you don’t tip they ignore you, and trust me they remember faces. - The bed sheets were stained - They advertise that the hotel is A/I, buts its not. If have to pay for internet ($6/30 min), water, the safe, and at the restaurants any "fine" food is extra, i.e. Lobster. At the end of the week they tried to charge us for water we didn’t drink and threatened to call the police on us. - If you toilet is backed up don’t expect it to get fixed. I waited 2 hours for a maintenance man to come and fix it. When he did he dragged the plunger through our room dripping "stuff" everywhere. I’ll never go back .......

My husband and I stayed at the Oasis Palm in January 2009. As soon as we entered the room it had a musty odor, which lasted the entire time we were there. We reserved a room with a king sized bed, they put us in a room with 2 double beds. We asked for a change, but had to wait for two days, which wasn't worth it for us since we had unpacked and were there for 4 days. We were not supplied with wash cloths, although we asked several times, never received any. The safe was broken, the lock was literally missing. The doors were paper thin. The food was okay, nothing to brag about. One was unable to swim in the beach due to too much oil from the motor boats docked nearby the hotel. The water was oily. The beach was for wading only. Not deep enough to swim. Being an all inclusive hotel, we had to purchase our drinking water for our room, which cost $5.00 a liter. However, we took the bus into town and were able to purchase a one liter bottle for $1.00. This hotel was extremely noisy, due to young adults, who went only to drink all they could. The only plus, was the staff; who were helpful, and courteous. Will not recommend this hotel to anyone.

I had no idea what to expect since it was my family's first time traveling, and we were pleasantly surprised. The rooms were plain but we were only in them to sleep, so what more do you need. The food was okay, only lukewarm at times but edible. Too many children around for our tastes. PLENTY of alcohol! We thought they would skimp on the booze at an all-inclusive resort but they mix their drinks very strong!! Plenty of daytime entertainment, little to no nighttime entertainment. The beach was beautiful to lay on but the water was too shallow, came up to mid thigh in the deepest area. The staff is extremely sketchy. LOCK UP EVERYTHING YOU OWN!! My mother's wedding ring was stolen while she was IN the room and a man had come to fix the toilet!!! The staff at the front desk could care less to help us get it back and find the man who did it. Lock your suitcases and make sure to purchase the safe in the room. Water is scarce, $3 per bottle, so its difficult to stay hydrated. All in all it is a beautiful place to stay, just stay smart and lock your things 24/7.