Viva Wyndham Maya March 2010

[scar]

Booked this resort on the Wyndham's own website for what I thought was a great deal last July. They had a pay now option that can save you quite a bit on the price. We got 3 rooms for 9 people ocean view (no real ocean front at this resort) for $91/person/day or $273/room/night.
I did my research and am very familiar with the area as we vacation there often. Really wanted a deal as we were traveling with another family and have 5 teenage kids in our group. Saw a lot of so so reports on VWM so I wondered what we would get for a lower priced all inclusive.

Check in
We arrived at 2:30 pm on Friday March 12 and had about a 30 minute wait to get checked in. Although we still had not received bracelets all 9 of us were allowed to get drinks and food while we waited. We finally got our 3 rooms and unfortunately 1 out of the 3 rooms reeked like cigarettes. Unfortunately that was mine and my wife’s room that we were sharing with our 14 year old daughter. No way were we staying in that room! Went to the front desk and found the young lady who checked us in, Elisa from Italy. She is beautiful and helped us so much. It was obvious that they were at full capacity so we knew this would not be easy. After about 20 more minutes Elisa was able to get us in a king bed rather than 2 queens and a roll away was brought in for our daughter. We were told we could switch to 2 queens the next day. Well we never had to switch as our daughter liked the roll away just fine and we were already "moved" in. Grade - B

Rooms
Rooms were spacious and very clean. great AC and all had a room safe and a stocked fridge that gets checked often. Beds were hard but I was comfortable. Only thing we noticed is the walls are paper thin and noise is a problem. Recommendation - It was definitely spring break when we were there and the Georgetown U. and Notre Dame kids were giving er pretty good. We had to sleep with ear plugs in as they stayed up 3 nights until 6 am! So.... Ask for a room either on the right or left sides of the property that face away from the inside areas (ask to face neighboring resorts instead of the bars/pool area). Our other two rooms faced out and they never heard a thing at night. Grade - B

Bars
Probably the best part excluding the beach of course. You could order all the top shelf booze that you wanted at no charge. even though the resort was full lines were never real bad. Bartenders were very friendly and after getting a few $1 tips service was excellent!
The bar closest to the lobby specialized in martinis and although I am not a martini drinker both wives had their share and they were impressed with the top shelf vodka and quality of the drinks. I found a dark Bacardi I was fond of. Our kids all underage kept the bartenders busy with every kind of non alcoholic blender drink you can think of and busy bartenders never batted an eye. Grade- A

Food
Buffets were average. Something for everyone. The ladies all liked the made to order pasta bar (long line though, seriously need 2 people working here) while the guys always found enough meat to eat. Very good sushi was a big hit one night. As a rule at most buffets, breakfast was the best meal of the day.
Snack bar had great potential but maybe because it was a peak week they always seemed to be out of something we wanted – pizza, guac, or chips. They never seemed to run out of burgers or hot dogs(burgers may have been horse or alligator meat as they were terrible-real funny taste). If we were hungry during mid afternoon when the snack bar was busy(3ish) we would take the 5 minute walk down to the smaller and quieter sister property Viva Wyndham Azteca. They had a much better snack bar and never ran out of the good stuff! Drinks were also easier to get.
( If you’re going with out kids and you want less noise/crowds Viva Azteca would definitely be a better option as it is very nice but MUCH more laid back) They also made pepperoni pizza all the time which only showed up occasionally at the Maya. I like meat on my pizza! Reservations were hard to get for the ala cartes. I was 4th or 5th in line two days in a row and the only times or restaurants I could get were a 6 pm or 9:30 pm in the Italian or Mediterranean restaurants. We had 6 in our group( 3 teenage boys wanted nothing to do with a sit down drawn out meal) and all the others would only take reservations for only up to 4 people. We ate at the Italian one night at 9:30 pm and almost did not get in due to a mix up. When I reserved I specifically told the employee I wanted Italian at the Maya where we were staying but upon arriving they did not have a reservation for us. It seems our reservation was at the Azteca instead. I have to give Juan the manager a huge compliment because after saying no at first and then seeing the disappointment in the faces of the two teenage girls with us, he some how found a way to get us in. Food was good but the 5 courses took forever. We decided that we would cancel the next nights reservation at the Mediterranean restaurant as we did not want to commit that much time to dinner. Grade - C+

Beach
Ah, coming from northern Wisconsin this is really what we go for. We normally go to Akumal and day or night trip to Playa but we heard the beach restoration was going to really improve the beaches so we thought we would give it a try. (We stayed at the Xaman Ha condos, just south of the ferry dock in PDC in 2005 and they had zero beach then!) I can verify that the beach is now so wide in the PDC/Playa car area that you need binoculars to see from the front part of the beach near the resort to the water! The sand is very nice and the water is incredible. The bluest, greenest shades I have ever seen! There is lots to do as there was always a volleyball game going on along with catamarans and kayaks we used several times. Also took advantage of the parasail shack right next door. ($60 for about 20 minutes) Lots of people and lots of activity as people were constantly walking this awesome stretch of beach both to the north toward Playa and too the south. Grade - A

Entertainment
Good staff, maybe a little to aggressive. All the usual as I mentioned kayaks, catamarans, volleyball. Also had goofy games, bacci ball, dance lessons etc. We were usually at the bar when the show was going on and could see and hear the shows but the only one that really drew a crowd, including our entire group of 9, was the disco show - it was very good! Grade B

Pools
Main pool-Gross! We would not even go in. It was always very full and we heard one of the Spring Breakers brag to her girlfriend how she had just peed in it. Also seemed to be a film on top of the water. WVM really needs a bigger or cleaner pool as I can see this as being a huge deal breaker for some families/couples.
There was a small adult only pool in the back of the property that I am almost reluctant to tell about as we really enjoyed from 4 – 6 pm every day. The younger crowd never found it or weren’t interested as it typically only had 30 or so people and was quiet and relaxing and it had its own small tikki bar with an awesome bartender that aimed to please. Again, drinks at this place were very good. Grade- C- (small adult pool in back of property saved this grade!

Grounds
Very clean and well kept. Huge court yard with lots of seating between the lobby/bar and the beach/snack bar area. One night they had a Mexican market set up with some very interesting items. Decent weight room and a trapeze with high swings/netting that the kids liked. Grade B+

Location
Excellent! It was a 20 minute walk to PDC either via sidewalk or the beach. Right Across the road is a small strip mall that has some very nice Mexican arts and crafts and lots of other things including necessities. Grade A

Price
Are you kidding me! less than $100/night/person!! We got our money's worth. Could of stayed at many of the others on this stretch of beach for a lot more as i checked several times before booking. Grade A

Overall grade- High B
For the price it might even be a B+ but the pool needs to be cleaned up ( I hate to say this but more chemicals?) and the snack bar needs to keep up. Neither of these are probably even a problem except the month of March and Easter week when they are at capacity.
If we go back next year which is probable if the price stays about the same, I think we will stay at the Azteca and play at the Maya.
For less than $100/person/day we think we definitely got our moneys worth of food, drink, entertainment and lodging.

With the restored beach this stretch of AI's in Playacar is the place to go for those looking for action, people watching and lots of activities. Playa del Carmen is a 20 minute walk or $5 taxi ride away

If someone who reads this can tell me how to attach pics I may try but so far I have not been successful. I use a Mac and the photos are in I photo and I think they are too large to meet this sites requirements.

Don’t hesitate to ask any questions.

The second part of our trip was for four days right on the beach in Tulum in a private villa we rented.

[4wheeled]

nice report scar. good details

for some reason i'm picturing you as Sgt. Friday from Dragnet...."Just the facts ma'am"


to add pictures, upload them to photobucket.com. it is free and easy. then just copy the: IMG Code, for a pic and paste it in your message.

[sueann]

Scar, thanks so much for your detailed and informative report! We'll be staying at Viva Maya in June and you answered lots of questions for me. The unknown is always a little scary and VWM had some not so good reports lately at Trip Advisor.

I could only think of one question for you just now, and others may come up later......

You booked through Wyndham and I wondered if the level of service is different if you book someplace else, we used Sam's Club. (You mentioned a stocked mini-fridge, and I've not noticed that anyone else mentioned it.)

Thanks again, looking forward to your photos!

[scar]

Scar, thanks so much for your detailed and informative report! We'll be staying at Viva Maya in June and you answered lots of questions for me. The unknown is always a little scary and VWM had some not so good reports lately at Trip Advisor.

I could only think of one question for you just now, and others may come up later......

Originally Posted by sueann

You booked through Wyndham and I wondered if the level of service is different if you book someplace else, we used Sam's Club. (You mentioned a stocked mini-fridge, and I've not noticed that anyone else mentioned it.)

Thanks again, looking forward to your photos!

[scar]

Sueann, I assumed that the mini fridges were in all rooms. Maybe just the ocean view? All 3 of our rooms had it.

[THEPISTONHEAD]

Great report! Thanks!

[jenn0255]

Hi,


My husband and I along with 2 other couples will be staying at the Viva Wyndham Maya in May. I've read lots of reviews on trip advisor and some things just aren't clear.

• Are some of the rooms newly remodeled? Will they listen to your requests if you email them before hand?
• Do the rooms have safes?
• Does the resort have a disco/night club? What are their hours and do they play popular American music. If not, what is there to do in the resort after say 11pm?
• So you can use the sister property (Azteca) without any problmes (restaurant, bars, beach, etc) Some reviews I was reading said they weren't able to.
  
  Thanks!

[scar]

See my responses

Originally Posted by jenn0255

Hi,


My husband and I along with 2 other couples will be staying at the Viva Wyndham Maya in May. I've read lots of reviews on trip advisor and some things just aren't clear.

• [
  I assumed anyone could but then again we had the Grey Bracelets (wyndham rewards)
  Thanks!

[jenn0255]

Awesome! Thanks for all of the info and the great trip report!

So I'm assuming that we each have to individually go online and sign up for the Wyndham rewards? Just on the main Wyndham website? Or somewhere special? What perks do you get for having the gray wristband?

Thanks again!

[scar]

Jenn, Whoever booked the rooms needs to become a rewards member. When you check in go all the way to the right side of the desk where it says VIP check in. I know you get reserved seating in the buffet.(by the way, when eating dinner at the buffet take the 5 minute walk to the azteca) it is much more intimate while the maya is like eating in a very noisy cafeteria.
I'm not sure what we all got but i know we could use the azteca when ever we wanted and had the stocked fridge in our room. Again not sure that was because we were rewards members but I keep hearing from others they couldn't use the other resort and did not have stocked fridge.
I booked all 3 of our rooms and just found out i accumulated lots of points but haven't checked into what I can get with them.

[jenn0255]

Scar - Thank you so much for the info!! I really appreciate it!!

[vhonodel]

When we were there last May, we did not upgrade to any special program. We had a beautiful room with stocked fridge. We ate several meals at the Azteca no questions asked. P.S. We paid a ridiculously low price for that trip Still treated like any other guest.

[sueann]

Originally Posted by vhonodel

When we were there last May, we did not upgrade to any special program. We had a beautiful room with stocked fridge. We ate several meals at the Azteca no questions asked. P.S. We paid a ridiculously low price for that trip Still treated like any other guest.

Thanks, I hope that's still true!!

[Peach]

We stayed at the Viva last October. 1st AI, no complaints. I would compare it with a Holiday Inn with free food and drinks. Beautiful grounds and wonderful staff. We got an awesome deal through Cheap Caribbean.

On a side note, our fridge wasn't stocked when we 1st arrived. I had to call and request it to be filled...hours passed & nothing. Even the next morning after the room was cleaned, no stocked fridge. We ended up stopping by the front desk to inquire. We were told that since we booked through a travel company, a stocked refrigerator was not included. I just smiled and nicely said that I needed to contact Cheap Caribbean so they can remove that amenity from the list, because it clearly stated that it WAS included. Needless to say, by time we returned from breakfast, the fridge was stocked.

If I were to do another AI (on a budget), we would definately stay here again...it's good fo the money!!!