Wy wife and I stayed at Grand Mayan in January of 2007, she won the trip from a contest at her work. To put it simply, We are leaving tomorrow to stay for our first week of the Time Share we purchased while we were there. While we were there, there was alot of construction going on, we will see what has been completed since then. The Grand Mayan is VERY nice. Every room has a small private pool on their patio. We purchased for MAyan Palace, same resort and ammenities, difference is the rooms and some special extras for Grand. They did not have the shuttle last time we were there, so we took a cab to Playa a couple of times.
By the way, we are form Kansas City also, we are on the Kansas side though. We did not think the food was too expensive, considering you are on a resort...If you choose to stay at the resort all day, you can, or now with a cheap shuttle, Playa is easy to get to. The POOL is AMAZING....right next to the beach, 2 bars in the pool...If you have young ones with you, there are a lot of kids activities every day. Any other questions, just email me at
bmonty72@yahoo.com. I will be there from April 25th to May 2nd. I write post again after we get back!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!