Family Selection at Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort & SPA

“Royal Suites - Why Take a Chance - Final Report”

We returned from another wonderful trip to Royal Suites - Punta de Mita a few weeks ago. We were aware that the Palladium's Vallarta adult only resort offering was being re-organized and decided that we would take advantage of their exceptional offering, one last time. We were not disappointed! Th… more

We returned from another wonderful trip to Royal Suites - Punta de Mita a few weeks ago. We were aware that the Palladium's Vallarta adult only resort offering was being re-organized and decided that we would take advantage of their exceptional offering, one last time. We were not disappointed! This was our 5th trip to this phenomenal resort, and, we're disappointed to say, our last. We have already booked in February 2018 however it is no longer the Royal Suites but will be a new selection within the Grand Palladium. For our forthcoming trip, we initially booked our room selection as a Junior Suites however after receiving a quick tour of the rooms in the main complex, we have upgraded to Master Junior Suite. These are the same rooms as we previously enjoyed as part of Royal Suites. We're unsure about the amenities associated with this section of the hotel come February? Indications were that Punta Mita restaurant and bar will be accessible to all Palladium Resort guests. Our hopes are that the charming tranquility of the pool area will remain - our happy place continues to be looking across the Bay of Bandaras with waves breaking, whales frolicking and cruise ships lumbering... The final days at Royal Suites were pure heaven. If you have ever wanted to experience having a resort to yourself - well sorry, you missed this opportunity. With the construction and re-organizing of the resort, the number of guests during these last few days was pretty limited. The service was exceptional, both around the pool and in the Punta Mita Restaurant. Knowing that changes were happening, everyone worked hard to make sure that our stay was memorable. As with our past vacations, we were given the option to order lobster as many times as we wanted and the kitchen would accommodate requests that were off the menu. The last evenings special order of rack of lamb was exceptional. We are confident that the change over to Grand Palladium will be positive. Even with the pending closure, the hotel group has been making changes to improve. Some that we noticed this time: - upgrade in wine from the previous Diablo (Spanish for the devil, and appropriately named...) brand. The new wine, was great in comparison, both red and white; - the sound system was modernized and the selection of music around the pool and in the restaurant in the evening was much better - the variety of playlists was refreshing; - we read one trip reporters' horror on the fact that the resort was shooting birds. It was interesting that they now have a contracted the use of hawks to control the Grackles (Zanate in Spanish...) around the pool and restaurant area. The new program is highly effective - during the day, the pesky blackbirds are nowhere to be seen. In fact, the restaurant has removed the netting. The view of the rolling waves, sunsets and picturesque cliffs are now un-obscured. A win/win all around as the use of the raptors is considerably more humane. The truly wonderful part of returning so often to this resort by far has been becoming a part of their family. We know that when we return in February, we will be greeted with warm smiles and open arms. Everyone affiliated with the Royal Suites over the years deserve our gratitude and recognition. On this trip, we want to acknowledge some that we thought went above and beyond: - pool side: Carlos, Rueben and Louis and at night Jorge; - at breakfast and lunch: Claudia, Nazly, Teresa, Martin; - at dinner: Luciano, Javier, Daniel, Tino; - butler: a special thanks to Omar for the resort tour and extra tips on some of the great thing to come; - lobby bar: of course, the ever famous Marcelino and his sidekick Oscar. Otro dia en el paraiso mis amigos! It would be great to say that we will be back to Royal Suites...alas, we won't be. We eventually will check out the Royal Suites at one of the other Palladium properties in the Caribbean. For now, as indicated, we will be "Taking a Chance" on the Grand Palladium offering in a few months. Whether great, average or poor - rest assured that our Trip Report will disclose the good, bad and new. Stay tuned... As for the closing of Royal Suites, Punta de Mita - we leave everyone with the following thought: - No llores porque ya se termino, sonrie porque sucedio (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) - Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. (Dr. Seuss) Chicharito y Chicharita

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“Home away from home ❤ Momma /Papa”

We were welcomed back home and treated like royalty from the moment we arrived. It was heart warming to be remembered by so many as Momma and Papa. Omar made our trip so special with all the loving touches and attention daily.From the special treats in our room to our daily visits. Omar is a very s… more

We were welcomed back home and treated like royalty from the moment we arrived. It was heart warming to be remembered by so many as Momma and Papa. Omar made our trip so special with all the loving touches and attention daily.From the special treats in our room to our daily visits. Omar is a very special part of our family and an amazing ambassador for your resort. You are very lucky to have him as a representitve of your resort. We are very proud to have him in our family. Much love Omar❤ Carlos from the Punta bar treated us so special with daily treats and training Papa behind the bar. Reubens and Louis made sure we were always looked after and entertained. All three of these men made our days so fun filled and special. Beatrice our housekeeper was wonderful and worked very hard to always surprise us with a treat daily. The Punta Mita Resturants staff were amazing and went above and beyond to make sure we were looked after and remembered every detail that we liked. Thank you so much. The nightly shows were amazing with so many talented people especially the amazingly beautiful Adrian with the beautiful smile. We are so in love with the Adults only Royal Suites Punta De Mita. It breaks our heart that it will be no more and we ask you to please reconsider closing the Adults Only Side . It will devestate us to have to find another adults only resort. Shirley and Bruce Haley

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“Don't go during off season”

My husband and I decided to stay here for our honeymoon. We went in October 2017. We decided to stay here because it was a good price and a friend of ours had recommended it. I'll start with the negative and get to the positives. It was off season and since the hotel was at 30% capacity, you coul… more

My husband and I decided to stay here for our honeymoon. We went in October 2017. We decided to stay here because it was a good price and a friend of ours had recommended it. I'll start with the negative and get to the positives. It was off season and since the hotel was at 30% capacity, you could tell that the staff were not on their A game. Our maid/turn down service was inconsistent. Some nights we got turn down service. Others we didn't. It was a gamble. There were buckets and mops lying around the hallways abandoned almost everyday. If we had the "do not disturb" sign on the door, the staff would barge right in-not at all good on your honeymoon. One day after asking the staff to leave they took wall measurements for about 20 minutes with us sitting there confused an dumbfounded. Another time, they let themselves in to measure distances from the wall to the smoke detector. It was weird how many people would just barge in. We were very concerned about our belonging and eventually our own safety. In addition, the hotel was under renovation. When trying to get to the specialty restaurants, staff members had no idea where dinner was served and we ended up getting lost and confused on our way to dinner quite a bit. That being said, some of the restaurants did not have air conditioning so it was very hot! The main buffet was terrible. The food had clearly been sitting around all day. The food at the "sports bar" probably wasn't up to health code either. The ice cream machine was broken the entire stay. There is no bar in the actual sports bar. There is a pool table and an extremely old Foosball table in which the ball gets stuck in-it's time to upgrade. The t.v. was a big projection screen that is hard to view. Needless to say, we were very disappointed in the "sports bar". The themed restaurants were really delicious though and their staff did an amazing job. The oriental food was delicious and the restaurant had a romantic atmosphere. We ended up eating there more than once for sure! The restaurant on the Royal Suites side was hands down AMAZING. The view was beautiful, the staff was so nice and the food was outstanding! The staff at the pool deserves all the praise as well. They came by very frequently and offered more food, snacks and drinks. Armando, Louis and Carlos were the best people hands down. They were so kind and just amazing. The food and drinks were great as well. The pool had a beautiful view of the ocean and was quiet and relaxing. The swim up bar and pool were fantastic as well. The drinks were great and quick and often they put out snacks in the afternoon. Great views of the ocean and they had live music in the afternoon which made it a really fun environment. The beach was nothing spectacular as far as beaches are concerned-it was a bit rocky and full of seaweed but the saltwater pool made up for it. The beach bar-terrific. The shop that let's you have rentals was helpful. The day we wanted to take surf lessons, the instructor showed up said "he had a meeting" and left. Luckily, I've been surfing before so I took a board out but we were sad that my husband didn't get to share in the experience (he wanted me to enjoy but there were large jagged rocks that people kept crashing into and without an instructor he did not want to go). The lobby was nice except for during the renovations everyone used the Royal Lobby. The staff were helpful. They let you borrow movies which was great because some nights were rainy. We enjoyed that! THE SPA WAS INCREDIBLE. Since we were at The Royal Suites we had open access to the spa. It was so luxurious. There were indulgent soaps that smelled amazing, saunas, a cold tub, hot tub, steam room, Turkish pool with many water fixtures and many places to sit around and relax. It was gorgeous. The only thing I wish was there was more shade at the Turkish bathtub because I burn easily. We bought a couples massage and it was very relaxing. They have an app so you can easily make friends which is nice too. We really feel that this place was not great for a honeymoon but would be great for a family trip or a get away with other couples!

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“Secluded Getaway and Seaside Dining”

Our flights home were canceled because they connected in Houston in the week of severe flooding from Harvey. We were guests at Iberostar Playa Mita but wanted to try something different for our unplanned extra two night stay. We checked out, called a taxi, and headed to the Royal Suites by Pallad… more

Our flights home were canceled because they connected in Houston in the week of severe flooding from Harvey. We were guests at Iberostar Playa Mita but wanted to try something different for our unplanned extra two night stay. We checked out, called a taxi, and headed to the Royal Suites by Palladium. The Royal Suites is adjoined by the Grand Palladium, and they may have been two completely separate properties at one time. There are about 100 rooms on the Royal Suite side; the Grand Palladium covers a much larger area and has many more rooms. During our short stay, the Grand Palladium entrance and lobby was under construction, as were some of the rooms on the Royal Suites side. There are no elevators on the Royal Suites side, so we requested a ground floor room. The room did not offer much of a view, of course, and was situated close to the theater. Thankfully the shows don’t run very late. Air conditioning, bedding, shower, and Wi-Fi were all spot on. So was the food. The Punta Mita restaurant was lovely; one of the things I’ve come to enjoy is dining with a view of the sea, and this does not disappoint. On our first morning we had tableside crepes for breakfast. We had dinner at the steakhouse on the Palladium side, and the steaks were exceptional for an all-inclusive resort. The waiters at the Royal Suites pool did their best to make everyone feel welcome, and I even enjoyed a Mexican IPA with my lunch at the Punta Mita restaurant. Unlike some other resorts, any outdoor salad bars are covered and refrigerated. The meals at the Punta Mita are all cooked to order and served, which adds a nice touch of elegance over buffet style. Given the access to this small luxury, we did not try the buffet on the Palladium side during our stay. Perhaps this is a different experience when the place is not under renovation, and I have to give kudos for the excellent food and service, and while not likely we will return to this property, if we did, we would definitely stay on the Royal Suites side.

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