Bahia Principe Grand Coba

We had a great time overall. [Details]

I will start saying Bahia Principe Grand Coba is not a 5 stars hotel, so do not have high expectations and keep it in mind when making your decision about buying your vacations in this hotel or not. I will class it like a 3, maybe 3.5 stars. Now, as for my experience, everything started with the wrong foot.

I pre-checked-in 10 days before with the app, which is good because this supposedly avoid you to have to take the normal check-in line when arriving, this gives you access to a "priority" line and allows you to choose your bedroom and start your "à la carte" dinner reservations.

Well, once I arrived, I was the first in the priority line, the other Canadians arriving in the same bus with me went to the normal line. They ALL started their check-in process before me and some of them were already left when it finally was my turn. I spent almost 20 minutes in the "priority" line expecting my turn while others' entire process took less.

I have two kids of 6 & 7 years old, so I was expecting that given that I pre-checked-in 10 days before, they would give me a room near kid's attractions (Splash, KidsClub, pool) but no, they sent me far away, almost at the end of the big complex. Even when I requested a change of room in that moment, they stated they were full for the weekend and that was the only room available. I mean... the pre-check-in was useless.

This room they gave me was a portal to hell, it had an air conditioning that wasn't cooling enough, it barely felt in the room, it had a mini bar/fridge that wasn't cooling either, a 20” monitor as TV, an outdated safe with no lock, 2 "double" beds that were tiny and very hard, the pillows were hard and very high. My wife and I were barely able to accommodate us in the same bed and 5 minutes after being on it, my back was killing me. I did not sleep that night, it was 4 AM and I was sitting in a chair watching by the windows and crying inside, questioning my decision of buying vacations in this hotel.

Next morning I went to the counter and being firmer in my request, I asked again a change of room, they could accommodate us but for the next day, so we spent another night in the same room. In the meantime, they changed the pillows, which made a slight difference, and I could sleep at least a few hours that night. The following room, although the TV, bed and the mattress were the same as the previous one, the room in general was and felt better, a more modern safe, a real air conditioning and mini-bar and it was cleaner. We also had to accommodate us differently, my wife with one kid in one bed and me, with the other one in another bed, which is ridiculous. Did I say the beds are tiny? Well, they are.

Another story happened on day 6: They did not change our towels that day, they did not even fold the ones we had, so I had to call and request the change immediately because some of them were slightly wet and also, I find it disrespectful to us as clients. They did it, but apparently, they did not like this, because the next day after cleaning the room, they took one of the towels off. We were 4 and they only left 3 towels in the room. We were departing the following day, so my wife stopped me from calling again.

Another thing happened with the “à la carte” restaurants. We could only reserve in the Japanese one. I had been booked for the Mediterranean and the Gourmet restaurant at the time of my pre-checked-in, but at some point, I had to cancel because of the hours chosen and when I tried to reserve again in a different slot, they had no more spaces available, so make sure to reserve at the right time since the beginning and never cancel. The Japanese restaurant was… good. No more than that. The main dish was not good at all, but the rest of the service and the server was good. So, in general I would give it a 6/10. Make sure to reserve under the Teppanyaki experience and not the “à la carte” menu, I think it worth it more.

The location is far away from the city… I even took a trip to the city, and this is one of the things the driver told me “You are staying in the jungle. You are very far from the city.”

The servers at the buffet restaurant were exceptional. They are very kind and very attentive people. They make sure you always have a drink, a coffee, anything you need, and they always treat you with respect, which should always be very reciprocal towards them. Are tipping expectations driving this behavior? Maybe, I don't know. But in general, they were very nice. The food was good in general, tasty and with a lot of choices. I could see they were recycling food, but I expect it on every resort. For example, they served pork in lunch, well at dinner we had (probably) the same pork but covered with flour and sweet sauce. I saw it with beef also, they served a nice roast beef at lunch in one of the live stations and that night they had (the same?) beef but with a gravy sauce.

The drinks, they are resort drinks… they are always the same… a syrup with carbonated water and different liquors.

The beach: A very nice little beach, with rocks at some places, but in general a very sandy beach with crystal water and not so deep.

The complex is big, so you need to take a trolley that takes you to different places inside the resort. It arrives every 5-10 minutes, so you will always have someone taking you whatever you want to go (to the beach, to a restaurant, to the hacienda, etc.)

The KidsCLub is a very nice option, I wasn't comfortable leaving my kids alone with the entertainment team, especially being in Mexico, but my kids asked for it, I tried it, and they loved it. So, I left them a few hours some days and they had fun.

The reason why I don't class it like a 5 stars hotel is because of the negatives I already explained, because it is a very outdated hotel, you can feel it in your rooms and walking around the complex (Not enough lights at night, it's very dark and you do feel you are in the wild). They also have other hotels in the same complex that looks closer (In pictures) to that and that are more like a 5 stars hotels, so you cannot have 4 different 5 stars hotels with big differences between them.

Would I give them another try? I would not, I would try a real 5 stars hotel near Cancun area. [Details]

Bahia Principe Grand Coba is a nice resort. It's our first time in Mexico. We like the pool, the buffet and the beach. [Details]

We had a great overall experience at the Bahía Príncipe Grand COBA resort. Our only significant suggestion for improvement would be to increase staffing at the buffet. The resort allows three reservations at specialty restaurants, which book up quickly, so it's a good idea to make reservations prior to arrival if possible. Unfortunately, we missed out on the Italian restaurant, which we heard was excellent, but we enjoyed our meals at the Japanese (our favorite), French (very good), and Mediterranean (disappointing food, but great staff). The resort staff were generally friendly and attentive, although the front desk and buffet areas could benefit from more organization and direction.

The grounds were delightful and clean, pools were lovely, and the beach was stunning (just a 7-minute trolley ride away, with drinks but no food service). While COBA may not be the fanciest Bahía Príncipe property, it offers great value and met our expectations. Overall, a wonderful stay!" [Details]

My family and I went here for our first all inclusive vacation together. My daughter just turned 16 the day we arrived and the hotel put a birthday sign on the door. I was able to order a cake for the day of our arrival as well. The food was delicious, pool and beach areas were clean and enjoyable. They had entertainment everyday and evening. My daughter spent a lot of time at teens club and really enjoyed herself. My son spent hours in the pool.and at the Waterpark. We would definitely love to return as our overall experience was excellent. [Details]

The Villa we stayed really accommodating! [Details]

We were greeted and welcomed upon arrival and looked after very well during our stay. [Details]

We arrive at this resort near dinner time, which was a bit disappointing as we has to wait 2 hours for our nextour transfer! A 2 hour flight delay as well so needless to say we were pretty tired and hungry but hotel was lovely, clean & decent food, esp the a la Carts that we did get into. Japanese, Italian & Mexican. Our room was lovely, a little dated and a very musty smell, which we reliazed after a couple of days was really making our allergies act up. Others we spoke to said their rooms also strong musky smell. Overall this resort is huge but the trolly cars will take you almost everywhere so it's no biggie. The people working make this place clean, neat and most were all pretty helpful. The beach wasn't all that great so we mostly hung out at the smaller jucazzie pool areas as we couldn't find chairs, even at 7am , in the adult pool area- so disappointing that people put Their towels on them so early and a lot of times they hardly return to them. Doesn't seem fair. [Details]

We really enjoyed our stay and excursion
Maguiel in the dining room was great
He is a great PR person for the hotel
All staff is friendly and respectful [Details]

The people who work at and run this resort are wonderful, helpful and friendly. The food choices at the buffet are out of this world. We stayed in a villa close to the beach and loved spending much of our days there. The beaches are clean and full of everything you might need. The nightly entertainment was really nice and varied. The only downside was that we stayed over new year's eve and most of the efforts were placed on the incredible food and fireworks show. In between the meal at 6 pm and midnight, there was no entertainment and people did nothing but sit around and wait. [Details]

This is a HUGE RESORT so if you don't like to walk alot (we did more than 20000 steps a day) or if you have any mobility issues (not good for seniors) it may be an issue for you. These three resorts have some problems trying to maintain all of its guests needs as I mention below. We are NOT snobby, entitled people at all and are all fit but after a few days we knew (Mostly because of the food) we should not have chosen this resort for our 2 week Christmas vacation. We made the best of it and did have a great time however this is our impressions and tips that will hopefully help you make an educated decision on if this resort is a good fit for you.

We purchased the additional Privledge bands so we could move about the 3 resorts and were happy we did because each resort had a plus. We booked Coba, however we spent very little time there (a bit run down and entirely too many kids (they actually had hand/foot disease in the children's play pool while we were there). The beach is very rocky, there is a tiny area enclosed but not what anyone going to the beach would expect, the buffet is extremely over crowded and the staff at Coba were the least friendly. We spent most of our time at the Tulum resort (everything is better at Tulum except the very leaky roof covered in tarps lol) The pools, staff and especially acess to the beach are better. If you want to go to the beach walking 5 to 8 minutes to the left ( left when facing the ocean) there is a beautiful mostly sandy beach and mostly sandy ocean floor to play in. I strongly reccommend bringing water shoes with you in your luggage as they will be needed at all beaches in some areas. You can buy water shoes in town or at the resort but you will likely have to pay $40.00 USD for them. EVERYTHING IS RIDICULOUSLY OVERPRICED at the Resort. 890 MXN for a bag of Mexican brand chips, 445 MXN for a ball for the pool. If you want a floatie you can expect to pay over 1200 MXN ($100.00 Canadian!!)

We went to the Akumal resort for dinner as it seemed to be the most chaos free buffet area. If you bypass the first entrance to the buffet you can go to a very quiet dining area that has no small children and is mostly adults. This room is slower service for drinks and clearing of dishes but it was so peaceful we didn't mind. Both Tulum and Coba are extremely busy dining buffets and we generally only went to the Coba buffet for breakfast as we found it to be total chaos. The beach snack shack in Akumal consistantly had the best lunch options and the food was generally hot and decent.

Getting Around: After trying to negotiate a price for a cab to Playa for 4 people and realizing that was a total rip off too ($40.00 USD/person to go 40 minutes away) we quickly learned how to navigate the Collectivo. It is only 20 to 50 MXN (2 to 5 canadain dollars per one way) Take the trolley from your lobby to the Hacienda (Market) Walk to the highway right beside the Casino. You will see white vans. Tell them where you are going and how many of you there are travelling. They will tell you when they arrive at your destination so don't worry if you have to sit at the very back. Sometimes you will have to cross the highway to catch the collectivo in the right direction of your destination. It is not as scary as it seems, there are lots of lulls in traffic so you can cross. Coming back to the resort is a bit trickier as depending on the time of day the Collectivo vans may be full of locals going home from work. Be patient there will eventually be one that will have enough room. We actually had to take two different vans on the way home from Xaret because it was very busy. I took my daughter and my husband took our son in different vans and we felt very safe doing so. If you go to Playa Del Carmen the Collectivo does not drop you right at the shopping area. You will have to walk several blocks to get there. I would suggest having a GPS so you can navagate your way (either buy a plan from your provider or purchase a Mexican SIM CARD from the OXXO for your vacation. Only $9.00 USD. We did this for two phones so we could call and message plus use our navigation for getting around or finding each other in the giant resorts.

Shopping: Mexico is no longer the inexpensive destination that you buy tons of gifts to take home. Playa is extremely expensive and they were very difficult to barder with. I had no choice but to purchase sunglasses as I lost mine on day one. I knew I could have purchased a decent cheap pair in Calgary for $20.00 to 30.00 CAD so there was no way I was going to pay $50.00 USD for a lesser pair just because I was in Mexico. I found the street vendors to be extremely pushy, rude and hostile if you didn't buy from them. I would not reccomend doing your shopping in Playa. A visit to see it is recommended though because it is a nice town with lots to see. The market is just off of the coast so you can walk along the water if you get tired of the pushy vendors. Lots of great restaurants too. We also went to the town of Tulum. Much better experience. Venders were so much better. While in Tulum we went to AKI the Grocery Store and bought snacks at regular prices. (Sometimes you just want a taste of home and they had Lays)

Al a Cartes: Go the the Lobby the day you arrive and book your al a cartes. We were there for two weeks and were only able to book 2 when we were entitled to 6. The two we booked were the Japanese Restaurant Mikado and the Nikkei Mashua which is a Peruvian/Japanese Fushion (It is a beautiful restaraunt with very unimpressive food) although it was much better then the Mikado which actually made me sick. They cooked everything in copious amounts of butter and soy. Disgusting. Something we found disappointing was that the al a cartes allow you in wearing shorts and t shits. Al a cartes have always been long pants and dresses as long as we have been travelling (25 years) and it makes them a bit special because it is like going out on a date while away. We found guests to be obnoxious and underdressed for the al a cartes. Rules are rules people.

The most upsetting thing about the entire resort was the food. Breakfast was the best and there was a large selection of options although almost always cold. We recommend the omlets that are cooked in front of you and hot. Lunch we always ate at the beach in Akumal. Supper was terrible in fact is was consistently cold and the same thing every single day except Christmas Eve when they had their Christmas Dinner which was cold and disappointing. After day 3 I dreaded supper and found it almost impossible to find any kind of vegetable options. There were many meat options however everything was extremely overcooked to the point of being the consistency of a shoe soul. Everything was sitting in a sauce that was flavorless and luke warm. Sometimes there was a microwave in which you can warm your food before going to your table. 2 out of 5 for food and as I said earlier we are not overly picky people it was just bad.

Comfort: we had two adjoining rooms 1 king on one side and 2 doubles on the other side. We have been home for 4 days and my shoulder and back are still very sore from the concrete matresses. My goodness they were horrible. The couch cushions were a much better choice or go and sleep on the pool loungers. We did hear from one couple that they had a 3" memory foam pad on their bed but when I asked about it no one knew what I was talking about. I would ask about a bed upgrade.

Shows: They really push Origen which is a show they charge for. We did go to see it and found it very underwhelming probably because we have been to real cirque shows and this was a knock off Cirque. The costumes were nice.
If you only make it to one evening show we HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Magic Show. Trust me is was fantastic. It should be the show they charge for as it was excellent. Even my sceptic husband was very impressed. Unfortunately this was the first show we saw so everything else we saw was a bit disappointing.

This resort is close to all of the most popular parks, ruins and towns. Like I said if they could improve the food and beds we would give it a much better review. [Details]

We really enjoyed our stay , I had checked in online so checkin at front desk was very fast, I had emailed a request for a choice of 4 different villas with a ground floor due to mobility issues climbing stairs ( there are no elevators but lots of ramps in the lobby , buffets& theatres), pool was kinda cool but refreshing after baking in the sun , our drinks were excellent, buffet foid was lots of variety & as most buffets only lukewarm, we only did 1 Al a carte, Tequila ( Mexican) it was great ,but had to take the tram as it is on the Tulum part of the complex, evening shows were fantastic even the kids did little plays every night, entertainment team were fantastic, getting to know you & trying to get you involved. Everyone was very friendly & eager to please, our room was cleaned every day perfectly, Checkout was very fast too, iWork's definitely recommend [Details]

Hello
Felt the entertainment was lacking Buffet was repetitive
Rooms needed upgrading
Bartender were understaffed and unskilled
Check in staff was inexperienced and lack of English
Preferred.club membership rep lied to us on his salesman intent

Been traveling like this for 20 years
Thought I saw it all [Details]

We had an amazing time at this resort! The shows were great for the children & there was always a dance party in the terrace! Pools were clean, splash pad was awesome! Food repetitive, but plentiful! A la cartes were amazing!
I'm glad we didnt listen to the negative reviews! Only thing is the beds were pretty hard, and the pool bar needs 3 servers in the afternoon but thats about all the negatives I can think of. [Details]

Good resort. Clean, well staffed. Beach access from Grand Coba is basically only by using trolley. Lack of food service at beach is a drawback. Nice pools. [Details]

We had a great time. Lots of choices for food options, pools, activities, entertainment etc. lots of shuttles available to take you around this very large property made it easy to get around to enjoy all the amenities available! The staff were absolutely amazing and made the experience that much better. We wouldn't hesitate to return. [Details]

We loved our stay there and the kids really cannot wait to go back - the entertainment team really pulled it off. They made our days go by with tons of activities and fun. Thank you Daniela and the rest of your team!! [Details]

Overall the place was beautiful especially if you love nature. [Details]

We were well received, i had requested an extra bed prior to arrival, it was not there, took an argument to get the bed but did, so all good once that was resolved for the room. [Details]

Very disappointing resort with very poor air conditioning to none. The room is humid even after requesting to change room as the first room temperature was 30 degree. My sister found a bat in their room. Foods are always the same each day. Very boring resort… Beach is inconveniently far away. Their ride to the beach is often full. [Details]

Good, but definitely not value for the $$$. Those loving beach should not go to this resort. Children had interest in the children's pool only on day one - it is poorly maintained and have poor visibility for parents who need to see child at any given time. Safe in the room is broken (no parts so obviously not used for some time)- which added stress with needing to keep personal valuables with you all the time. Staff in the buffet was for some reason hiding bacon ( you needed to figure out who to ask and still got an attitude and reluctance to give???). Evening entertainment could be more engaging for adults (i.e. dancing). Lobby bar service was very poor. Very early am departure was poorly planned - no breakfast for small children. Drive back to the airport was horrifying and not safe (for adults or children). [Details]

Ok stay at the Grand Coba. Pretty resort but several areas to be improved upon. [Details]

great time, would go again! [Details]

We loved every part of our vacation. The staff was amazing, the room was awesome, the entertainment had a great variety, and the food was delicious... we couldn't have asked for more. We recommend catching the shows at the neighboring properties (the Mexican Fiesta and the Origin show were both spectacular and so much fun). 10 days for our family was perfect. We enjoyed the 1.5 hour drive from the airport in the aircon van with no stops, so we definitely recommend doing a private transfer (other guests mentioned it took them 5 hrs on the transfer buses). [Details]

The BPG Coba was a great time. Coba is in need of a refresh. [Details]

Few things could have been better, I had a great time [Details]

The room was clean at the first look but I found small ants in the plug in and on a bed. Staff was friendly, location pretty far from the ocean, but within 10 min you could reach the beach by their minibuses. The phone in the room sometimes doesn't work. Bathroom has a spa tub, but we didn't use it because in front of the hotel there was a pool with the spa. The resort is located pretty far from the airport that caused a lot of problems, especially on the way back home. Overall impression is good, we celebrated our birthdays with a bottle of Champaign provided by the hotel. Restaurants provide a good food, but every day pretty the same. Beaches are clean, white sand, but the sea bottoms are with stones and pits, you need to be careful to walk in. [Details]

This was our first experience with an all inclusive resort. When we arrived, the front desk staff were very friendly and got us checked in quickly. The rooms were very nice. The a la carte restaurant for all three meals was excellent. the food was great and the staff were very friendly. The amenities here are great, from the main pools to the jacuzzi pools. the Gourmet restaurants are fantastic. The entertainment on the patio and in the theater is first rate. The cleaning staff did a great job cleaning the room. Overall, the staff here ear very friendly and alway willing to help you out [Details]

The facilities were wonderful. The staff were well-trained and up-beat. I was impressed with the attention to the local environment and culture. Transportation between venues was efficient. Food was abundant and tasty. [Details]

good experience, clean, good shows, great food. [Details]