The Sian Ka'an at Grand Tulum

We just returned for a birthday getaway to Sian Ka'an at Grand Oasis Tulum. This was our 4th visit to the resort and most likely our last. The resort is now split into three different resorts all in one.Grand Oasis Lite, Grand Oasis and Sian Ka'an. Previously it was all just Grand Oasis Tulum. We specifically stayed at the adults only Sian Ka'an section of the resort. We reserved a King bed Ocean view room. Upon arrival we were shown to a room with two double beds that were pushed together. They weren't even made up as one bed...it was two beds made up and pushed together. Needless to say this was not acceptable. The bed(s) were actually facing the wall when there was no reason they shouldn't be facing the ocean view. Anyhow, we immediately asked to be moved. As we had been here before we knew that this was a sub par room. The butler, Rey, told us we would have to wait until the next day to see if we could be moved because the manager was not there and there was no one else that could authorize the move. He said he would make note that we are requesting to be moved and to see about it in the morning. so, we didn't unpack anything. The next day we went to the "butler" office (which is included in the Sian Ka'an section), they had no idea what we were talking about when we told them Rey was checking to see if we could move rooms and honestly we never saw Rey again. So after a bit we were offered a different room, which we looked at first, and the room was more in line with what we were expecting. A king sized bed facing the ocean view. We were happy. While we were there 4 nights we only had housekeeping service one day and one night at around 9:30 pm we had a knock on the door and it was a guy asking if we needed towels. The mini fridge however was stocked daily. One of the big changes from previous visits was that all restaurants had to be reserved each evening for dinner. We never had to do that before the "upgraded resort". Also it is important to note here that even if you are staying at the adults only section the restaurants may not be adult only. Actually 2 restaurants were and the others were not. So families (kids) were at the restaurants. If you are looking for a truly adults only resort keep this in mind. We had to check with the butlers office each day to see which restaurants would be open that night. We were told that the restaurant "Cocoa" was open for breakfast adults only (instead of the buffet) and that it was a sit down and order freshly made food restaurant...it was not. It was adults only, but it was a smaller version of the big buffet around the corner. We were not exactly pleased with this as we are not really buffet type people. And the food had obviously been sitting out for quite a while plus it wasn't refreshed, so it was slim pickings. My husband ate (reluctantly), I tried but just couldn't do it. Even when I thought a bowl of cereal would be OK...there wasn't any milk. For lunch we could go to the buffet or there was a "snack food" restaurant with chips, guacamole, quesadillas and other light fare. There was also a strictly sea food restaurant. Keep in mind portions are artsy and super small. It's important to note that I am vegetarian and I don't eat fish or seafood, however, my husband is a great lover of seafood. So I would order snacks (chips and guac)then we would go to the restaurant and I would order as if I were eating as well and my husband ended up eating it all, but again, small portions so he needed to eat it all. There was absolutely nothing vegetarian on the menus. I was able to get some pasta even at the seafood restaurants which was nice of them to do, but I was offered one kind of pasta and that was it. So, all in all we weren't impressed with any of the restaurants, and the buffets were gross. We stayed January 6-10 and the restaurants were still playing Christmas music. Not only that, but one particular evening there were performers playing outside the restaurant (open air type seating), Christmas music playing over the speakers and we could also hear the piano bar that was nearby.On top of all this the resort is not smoke free. Being from Colorado we are not accustomed to going to restaurants where people are openly smoking. This was definitely a turn off for us. With all of that being said there were some good things about the resort. The coffee and Me shop is wonderful and Noeli who works there has been there for 7 years and she is the nicest person in the world. She even remembered my husband and I from previous visits. The coffee is really good and served with a smile. We love her. We also want to mention Noe. He has also been at the resort for 5 years and he was always very, very nice and just an all around friendly face. Although we never did see Rey again, who was supposed to be "our personal butler" we did get a lot of assistance from Jose Garza (another butler) and a sweet girl named Perla. However, we were asked just about every time we spoke with anyone in the front desk/butler area if we were there for a special occasion, which we were, that special occasion was never recognized...at all. We spoke with another guest who was there for her birthday and she got balloons, champagne and a fruit basket.... Last but not least...the beach. The beach at Sian Ka'an is kept pretty separate from the family zone, however once in the water there isn't a way to keep things separated. The beach sand is amazing and the #1 reason we chose this resort was for the snorkeling. There is a reef off the beach and the resort takes a snorkeling tour daily. We take our own snorkel gear so we can go out whenever we want to. All in all, like I said before, we probably wont be going back to this resort, although the ocean front rooms are hard to beat for the view and there is snorkeling off the beach...we are hoping to find another place that offers the same amenities.

The Sian Ka’an was what we were looking for: calmness and relaxation. And this was during the holiday season! It had the best beach along that stretch and they regularly took care of the seaweeds unlike most other hotels. The pool area was amazing as well. The service was good especially if you stayed away from the family resort side which you could access if you wanted more action. Disappointing was the “gym” which is on the family side of the resort. The best place to eat,which we found only at the end of our stay, was The White Box. Noe was our server there and he was excellent and the food was great. We will be back!

The resort itself was in good shape. Apparently, some of the restaurants were hit in recent hurricanes. I was not impressed with the buffet and it was open to the adult only and family side of the resort. The gourmet restaurants were very much the same menu and lunch or dinner took at least 2 hours. I needed more variety like a burger on the beach. The bartenders were great and they had an I-Pad in each room to request room service. That made it easier for me. All in all it was a pleasant , relaxing week.

We stayed at this resort Nov 9-13, 2018 and it was one problem after another. The resort is a poorly constructed dump which isn’t obvious at first. We got there during a power outage, which wasn’t the worst part of the trip. The water wasn’t running, toilets wouldn’t flush and nearly all restaurants were closed. Once power was restored, we thought these problems would be solved, but we were wrong. We continued to have water problems in our room, and had NO hot water for our entire trip. When we called to complain we were told someone would fix it (hot water, toilet not flushing, A/C not working, etc) but hours would go by without anyone coming. We asked to change rooms and they offered us another room in the same building (our entire building had the same issues) and said there were no other options until after our trip had ended. Without the A/C we began to notice the heavy smell of mold in our room and hallways, the water damage was seeping from the walls. Once the A/C came back on it began to blow dust/lint from the vents which made breathing over night difficult. We tried to order room service and were told it was NOT 24 hours as advertised even though the menu hours listed until 6a. We also found out that they close the restaurants on site and only operate 2 at a time and of the 11 total they were only keeping 4 open currently. On the second day of our trip the shower stopped draining and wasn’t fixed until the night before we left despite repeated calls and service requests to the front desk. Fun fact: they didn’t answer the phone! Not the operator, not room service, not guest services, not security...not one of the buttons did they bother to answer with any regularity. We frequently had to walk downstairs and locate a staff member to make our complaint or request. To recap: no hot water for 5 days, water off and on during this time as well, no 24 hour room service (despite advertised on Cheap Caribbean and their own menu), most restaurants were closed the entire time, mold and water damage in room & hallways, poorly staffed, terrible service from management. The overall vibe was “we’ve already got your money, we don’t care”