Grand Palladium Kantenah Resort And Spa

The hotel is older but was very clean, inside and out! The Bravo restaurant was top notch and really enjoyed the performance, my 8&10 yr old grandsons said it was the “best night ever”!
The front desk staff can be very rude whereas the cleaning and restaurant staff are great! The Buffet was basically the same every night so recommend doing the restaurants.
Suggest you bring your own facecloths etc as they were at a premium.
Also on a personal note check your reservation as we did not get what we paid for as far as our room. Was told that what we booked was no longer available so we were essentially down graded. On the hold did not think the resort was worth the money we paid. [Details]

We stayed at the Family Select part of the resort. It was significantly better then the other hotel options for kids. We really didn't know that when we booked, so we felt lucky we made that decision. Our kids loved all aspects of the family select. I'd advice you to stay there if you have kids. The beach for the family select guests is also more beautiful and less busy.
One of our favorite memories was the wildlife there. Our family wants to go back to see the spider monkeys especially. Of course, you have to give them space, but it is amazing to see them hanging around the resort occasionally. Beautiful to watch them and all the other animals too. [Details]

We found the staff to be wonderful and they seemed very happy to be employed there. Food was fine, but we thought the a la Carte restaurants could be better. Often the food was not hot. Buffets had a huge variety of food, you could always find something to eat. [Details]

We enjoyed our stay and all that was needed was provided. See the strong and weak points. The kids slides were nice but could be bigger for older kids. Overall, I think Palladium is well run. Android Palladium app wasn't working for a la carte reservations so used my son's iPad to make bookings. [Details]

We stayed at the Grand Palladium Kantenah Resort and had a wonderful stay. The service was amazing and everyone went out of their way to be curious and helpful. The drinks were perfect, they had a variety of restaurants to choose from, and the kids really enjoyed their stay with the kids club for a day. [Details]

Overall we had a great experience at this resort. The staff was the reason that our stay was excellent. The main areas were well kept and staff was always around to help with whatever we needed. The swim up bar was good but seemed understaffed and it was hard to get drinks when it was busy. The buffets were average and repetitive but this was expected. The good stuff was usually empty like chips and guacamole- the one thing we were looking forward to. The ala cartes - we did a few and they were all pretty good except El Dorado we found the steaks underwhelming but we are picky as our Canadian beef is pretty good! But the Mexican and Japanese were fantastic. Also we had little kids in our party ( 4 under 5 ) would be nice if they promoted the kids club more. We didn't use it but we also didn't even know anything about it.
The rooms - bedding needs to be improved. Only had a sheet and one pillow. Air conditioning worked but ran constantly and at night would be too cold especially when we only had a sheet to cover us
I'm being super picky with this review but really our stay was quite enjoyable [Details]

Amazing for my family and friends. Better than expected. Beginning of pandemic when we. Beautiful and spectacular and the service is great and the people were wonderful that worked there the resort is beyond amazing including the wildlife. [Details]

They have such a nice beach and pool. The whole facility was huge. Great thing about this hotel is you can enjoy the whole grand palladium facility. Everyone in this hotel was very nice and kind. [Details]

It was a trip of a life time, so beautiful so relaxing, lots of activities to do, we loved it [Details]

It was an amazing experience! Great rooms, great foods, paradise all in one place [Details]

It was an amazing trip. A lot to see. We saw a lot of wild animals. We did take the Club Imperial (which didnt give us anything really.. except a fruit basket upon arrival, bathrobes and slippers and a gift which was an aztec medallion ) But we had access to the White sand and Colonial. We were supposed to have a direct transfer and private check in which we didnt have..We loved the A la carte restaurant even thought we had a bad experience with one of the server pushing us at the Brazilian restaurant. Food was great and the buffet had a nice selection to choose from. The only thing is the desert. They all taste the same. We discover the secret pool (adult only) and we loved it. We had a free day at the spa and a breakfast at the Caprinha (?) because we listen to a speach for 2 hours about timeshare. And the hotel is 100% accessible for people who are in a wheelchair or has disabilities. Oh and the beach was perfect when we arrive but after a day or two it was awful a lot of seaweed. It is a great place if you want to see fish. You can go the the nearest bar and pick up some bread and feed them in the ocean. For the restaurant, I had the short ribs at the el dorado restaurant they were excellent. I had the same thing at the ribs and more and they were disgusting.. They were tasting like bologna. We liked the cowboy steak and filet mignon. The teppanyaki was also really good. The restaurant ta we didnt like is La Adelita. We did take enchiladas and fajitas and they were not tasty at all. [Details]

Great time with a large group of 11 - we were treated respectfully and had great service. [Details]

Excellent vacation. Resort offered extra services at no charge, frozen snacks , hot dogs from a cart at poolside daily, bubble machine one day on the beach, restaurant service at the snack bars for lunch. Best showtime performances we have seen. Extra entertainment provided after showtime. Colonial bar stayed open until 1:00 am. If you had no charges to your room, checkout papers were delivered to your door morning of departure therefore no waiting in line. [Details]

This was our third time at this resort, we were excited to go back as our previous two times were fantastic. We were given red wrist bands which said VIP on them, which doesn't get you anything more than other guests at the resort. We arrived at the resort at 10:30 in the morning hoping to check in early. We were dealing with a trainee at the front desk so he asked a co-worker if our room might be ready earlier than the regular 3 p check-in time. We were told to come back in an hour and see if our room was ready. When we went back we sat around in the lobby waiting for someone to figure out what was going on with our room. Finally after going back up to the counter over and over they said or room would be ready by 2pm. So we dug through our luggage and changed in the washroom. Went to the pool, for a bit, went back to the counter at 2 our room was not ready. We waited until almost 3:30 for our room. We had booked one of the Mayan suites because that is where had stayed the other two times. They are lovely rooms very close to the beach with an ocean view through the trees. We found that our room was a bit run down compared to just a year before. Not sure if it was because it was a different building than in 2017. This year we were put in Villa 34, room 3406, half the lights didn't work in the room, we had no outer deck lights working, we would get an over-whelming sewage smell in the room at least once a day. There was termite damage to the closet door trim. Our shower would run super hot every once in a while, so hot we couldn't stand it. The plumbing made weird noises all night. The stairs to our room needed some repair as well. We hit a few loose boards. The one robe in our room was stained.
On to the food, we ate at the El Dorado steak house one night, service was slower than usual but still good, I had the filet steak, other than being more under-cooked than I asked for it was good. My wife had the T-bone which was awful, full of fat and grisle, needless to say she left most on the plate. The next night we ate at the Brazilian place, I believe it was called O'Pavao, it was decent food and service there,except after waiting for 10 minutes and not seeing our waiter we just left without getting our dessert.
The buffets were about the same as previous except the nightly theme was a weekly theme. Every night we ate at buffet it was Oriental night, kind of disappointing to have the same food every night.
The El Gran Azul buffet for lunch was quite good, good selection and nice hot food.
The pools were good, water was a good temperature in all three pools we went to, bar service was good. We were very disappointed that we were not able to use the salt water pool anymore as it is now exclusive to The Royal Suites section only.
All in all we were not as impressed with whole resort, the rooms are adequate but not worth what we paid, we will not return for a fourth visit. [Details]

This was our first time to Mexico and we had a great time overall. I was extremely satisfied with the service received and would go back in a heartbeat. Because there are 4-5 hotels all in one you have access to all the different restaurants and amenities regardless of which one you are staying at. Our Kids had a great time there and you are close to many of the excursion sites. [Details]

We were not impressed with arriving to separate beds in our room and the poor customer service from the front desk [Details]

We had a great week at the Grand Palladium Kantenah and would have no reservations in booking another trip back. Hotel staff very friendly and helpful. Rooms clean and comfortable. Food was excellent. Facilities - Wifi was spotty at times, Pools excellent, restaurants super great, Beach was good but ocean water often had a lot of seaweed. Entertainment each night was amazing. Thx for a great time. [Details]

This hotel is great for nature lovers. You are immersed in nature with lots of animals around. Snorkeling off the resort is great. Entertainment has improved but all dance features, more variety would be good. The new Thai restaurant was our favourite place to eat. [Details]

Super nice hotel and beach. Nice staff and service. Entertainment needs to differ their shows. Way too much dancing. Need to do something about the creatures around the eating area beside the pool. [Details]

We stayed from Mar 6-Mar 13, 2016. The rooms were large, clean and had the most comfortable bed I have ever had at a resort. The only downside to our room was that there was only beer or pop in the mini bar. I am not a beer drinker so next time I would take some duty free hard liquor with me to enjoy in the room. It would have been nice to have had some snacks as well in the mini bar, perhaps a bag of chips? The pool at Kantenah was very clean and their were lots of lounge chairs available. The entire pool is over 5 feet deep, so you may want to take something to float on unless you like to constantly be swimming. The pool at the Riviera Complex was our favourite. It is more shallow, so you can stand and socialize with your drink in hand. The lounge chairs at Riviera are much more comfortable than at the Kantenah pool. You have to walk quite a distance to find somewhere to eat at the Riviera pool though, and it will include climbing several stairs. The beach had a lovely walkway that led to a salt water pool which was very relaxing for adults with a full bar service - that's definitely worth checking out. There's not much for children to do there. But there sure is at the Waterpark at the Kantenah pool. The beach had plenty of chairs available. The water was too rough for us to go in when we were there. From watching others, it looked like it would be recommended to take water shoes due to the rocks in the water.The snack bar in the Colonial lobby was like a great Canadian pub! Best chicken wings ever! It was great to be able to get tasty, late night snacks. The buffets had a good variety of food to choose from was good quality. We were disappointed with our experiences in the a la carte restaurants, mainly in the inconsistency in quality. Four of us ordered the same steak and three of us found it tough and unenjoyable. You don't reserve for a la carte's so the wait times can be very lengthy - but, as I said, the buffets have lots to choose from. The staff in the buffets were phenomenal! They were very personable and attentive to our needs. Thank you Emmanuel in the Kantenah buffet! Overall, we enjoyed our vacation at this resort and would recommend it to others. [Details]

This was our fourth trip to the Mayan Riviera, and our first time at Grand Palladium. upon arrival we were told that we had been upgraded to a villa on the beach. It was wonderful to be just steps away from the beach where we had lots of loungers to choose from plus a beach bar and washrooms a 30 second walk away. And the outdoor shower in our room was a pleasant surprise! The grounds are beautiful, the beach was lovely, pools were nice and not too busy. We could always find a chair. Lots of beach to walk which we liked. The a la cart dinners were okay, with the exception of the Rib place the ribs were terrible, and the Japanese was a little disappointing after previous experiences at other resorts that were a lot better. [Details]

I stayed at the Palladium with my girlfriend for a week. Previously, I've stayed in 3 other resorts on the Mayan Riviera (Bahia, Sandos and Catalonia). The Palladium is pretty average across these four, and IMO the Bahia resorts are in another league. Depending on what you're looking for this may or may not be a good choice for you. Some details:

What stood the most to me was the service in general. This was by far the weakest point; it was painfully slow across the board with the vast majority of the staff speaking very little to no English.

What I enjoyed the most was probably the sports complex that they have on site. Here you can play a ton of sports(soccer, basketball, archery, minigolf and a bunch more) whenever you like. The staff here actually spoke English and were very kind and helpful.

The spa was OK and cost a little bit extra ($10 per person), the massages were crazy expensive, though ($200 per person).

IMO the food quality across the Mayan Rivera is pretty uniform. The buffets here pretty much what you would expect; Good selection, mediocre quality. But the a la carte definitely stood out. There were 8 (I believe) restaurants with no limit on how many you could visit. Again, painfully slow service, but still very nice. There was even a teppanyaki (Japanese cook show) dinner option available. Obviously the quality of the show wasn't stunning but still very impressive to have at a resort.

The general quality of "stuff" at the resort was average to low. Parts of our Mayan Suite would break very often (curtains, shower-head... little things). The free version of the internet was very slow and difficult to connect to, and the "premium" version obviously cost extra. In general a lot of "extra" costs: 'clubs', 'club plus', the resort trying to sell you on the premium suites. There were also vendors on the resort selling stuff, but they weren't too bad. Just a lot of little annoyances.

The beach was rocky in some parts but in general very good, very specious and not crowded.

I think the vast majority of guests seniors and families with children. Not a lot of young singles/couples. [Details]

This was our 6th time at this resort. It just checks all our boxes. Two of our three adult sons went there, several of our friends have accompanied us. So obviously we have loved this place but their negligence and lack of caring have put us in the 'will not return' category.

On our first day there this time I had the terrible misfortune of falling through a rotten board in one of the many elevated walkways here. I received some pretty bad injuries including torn knee ligaments. I am a 59 year old male in reasonably good physical condition. After receiving nominal first aid at the resort clinic for the many scrapes, cuts and bruises, I was not contacted again by management to offer any form of assistance, consolation, compensation or even an inquiry into my well being. Not until after four days, when I took it upon myself to arrange a meeting with management was ANY concern shown at all. Their meagre offer of compensation was so slight and insulting that I declined out of principle.

The rotten, rickety walkway remained unfixed for the remainder of our stay. Only yellow warning tape prevented anyone else from falling through the gaping, jagged hole until our final day there. I had seen stuff like this before on the walkways and remember hearing about a bridge collapsing two years ago. NOW I KNOW what it is like to fall through, believe me it is traumatic and very painful. Please be advised the management does not care. I might have been able to understand and maybe forgive had they shown any compassion, or even interest in my situation, but again.....THEY JUST DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR GUESTS.

Please, please consider carefully going here if you cherish your well being and that of your family. You don't have to sign a waiver at this resort but, if you are injured due to their negligence, you will be completely on your own. I shudder to think if this had happened to a parent carrying an infant, or a feeble senior citizen.

Please consider this carefully before booking here. I am not some crank, this really happened and is truthful in every aspect. [Details]

This resort exceeded our expectations in many aspects, such as beaches, food and night entertainment. The weak point is beds in the room. They are too small. [Details]

I will mention that this is now my 69th resort vacation. I have stayed in mostly 4 - 5 star hotels. I went on the trip June 14-21st with my girlfriend who has also been on many all-inclusive vacations. We always try to give an impartial review, although everyone will have their own positive and negative viewpoints.

FIRST IMPRESSION: This was my second trip to the Grand Palladium Kantenah. I have also been to the Grand Palladium in Punta Cana two times and love these resorts. I can see why there are websites like “Palladium Addicts” – it is easy to become one. The minute we arrived, we were amazed again at how different this gorgeous resort is. It is by far the largest place we have ever stayed, which is actually comprised of five different resorts in one. They are all connected by little “trains” that shuttle the guests from place to place if you don't want to walk. The complex has all the luxuries that anyone could possibly want, but is built literally in the middle of the jungle, so it has a great natural feel with an abundance of friendly wildlife.

THE STAFF: were mostly very well trained. They are extremely friendly and helpful in every way. The staff appreciates tips, which it seems, most people feel shouldn't be necessary. It was very rare that we saw people leave tips, even when the service was incredible. I suppose they feel that it is all-inclusive and they do not need to leave even a small tip? These people work very hard for us and deserve a little reward when warranted.

THE BEACH: The beach has some rocky parts that are not really swimable, but there are stretches where the beach is beautiful soft sand and you can walk into the ocean without any problem.

THE POOLS: There are many pools (quiet or active, family or adult) in the Grand Palladium complex, and everyone will find their own favourite. We walked the entire resort in a good pair of shoes and found many places to cool off with a drink and a swim. All of the pools were gorgeous and very well maintained.

THE ROOM: Since I have been to the Grand Palladium Kantenah before, we sent an email and requested a room in a particular building that we liked and they accommodated us perfectly!
THE FOOD: The food and bar options are definitely a high point of this resort. There are no reservations required at the unlimited a la cartes and we took full advantage and went to 6 different ones. Everyone will have their own favourite restaurant, but we found that they were all excellent or very good, especially the Japanese and the Chinese. The teppanyaki chef was one of the best that we have ever encountered. The food choices were so varied, it was difficult deciding each evening where to eat. Anyone who could possibly complain about the food choices at this resort, cannot have been to many all inclusives to compare to.
ENTERTAINMENT: There were some nice bands in the Colonial and Riviera lobbies every night. We didn't attend any of the nightly shows because we are early risers. There are two shows to choose from every night. There are also many stores, air conditioned bars and a disco.

IMPROVEMENTS/SUGGESTIONS: It is difficult to think of improvements, but the only area that I will mention is that some of the wooden trails through the jungle need to be repaired and maintained better. It must be difficult to keep them in good shape, but they don't seem to be on par with this excellent resort.

OVERALL OPINION: We are both absolutely in love this resort – this is one of the best all-inclusives that we have been to. We rarely return to the same resort but we will make an exception for the Palladium in Mayan and Punta Cana. We would go back again and again (we met people who actually do).

Please feel free to send me a message if you need any more information. [Details]

My husband and I were looking for a nice, relaxing vacation for 1 week. Most important to us: nice beach, decent service, clean rooms, well-maintained grounds. Other sunny destinations we've been to: Aruba, San Juan in Puerto Rico and Varadero in Cuba. All great experiences in their own way!

Pros:
-Beautiful beach with very fine white sand, plenty of space to set up (either close to people or further apart). The water is beautiful too!
-Clean grounds, well maintained, very modern.
-Lots of dining options as far as locations are concerned - take the trolly or cart to any of the other 3 sister hotels.
-Nice rooms, comfortable beds, clean.
-They can usually give you smaller change at the front desk for tipping.
-Lobby bar waitresses are very quick given the amount of people they serve. They smile at you too!

Cons:
-Often run out of beach towels (day 1 had us going 4 times before we were able to get any towels). We kept our towels afterwards and exchanged them as needed.
-Access to spa facilities is at additional cost (even if just sitting by the pool or going into the pool for a swim) - we're talking without any treatments, you obviously pay for those.
-No reservations for any à la carte restaurants (except 2). First come, first serve will sometimes have you waiting an hour to be seated (often this is the case at many restaurants). Why not just have reservations for all?
-Wait staff in buffets: never told "hi" or "good morning", just asked what we wanted to drink, once had an employee giggle and not make any eye contact as a first impression. Plates not always taken away, long wait for water (10 minutes at times - heard this at other tables too). Next to no rapport with customers. Does no one smile here?
-Tiny ants in the washroom (humidity?) and sometimes other parts of the room. Watch out, they like to drink your water! Don't leave a glass out or you might end up drinking a few (I speak from experience). We also had a visit from a well-fed cockroach in our bathroom, but that's to be expected in warm climates.
-Septic tank (or sewer) system right next to the buildings - got woken up by the horribly strong smell of human waste at 3 am on our last day. The smell was so strong we were almost sick.
-Photographers that work at the hotel can be a bit frustrating at times, pushing their limits. I'm on vacation, on the beach, in my bathing suit - don't just walk up to me and start randomly taking pictures of me. I didn't appreciate the intrusion and neither did my husband. They do this with kids too...
-Wait staff in restaurants: should speak to the chefs when dealing with FOOD ALLERGIES! I had clearly stated to my waiter (at an à la carte) that I cannot eat pork - it makes me sick (I even told him in Spanish). I was still served a dish containing both ham and bacon. When I asked him what these were, he said one was ham and that the other was beef (it clearly was not!). I told him again that I cannot eat pork as it makes me very sick. He still didn't understand. I had to go to other staff to ask them what was in the dish, that's when the waiter took my plate back and replaced it with chicken.
-Buffet food: while there's a lot of selection and things are (generally) decently labelled, the vast majority of foods are pre-made (ie you serve yourself from a pan). On that, there's a lot of food to choose from. Myself and my husband are simpler eaters who love fish. Only the outdoor buffets had the possibility of ordering grilled fish (buffets had maybe 1-2 pre-made fish dishes). We saw shrimp being offered 1-2 times at the buffet, that's it. That was a bit disappointing...
-You can have lobster at the à la carte restaurant, at this all-inclusive hotel, but for an extra fee. This made us laugh as they were serving lobster at the buffet while we were in Cuba.
-I don't appreciate their Palladium Travel Club gimmick: "free" gifts & breakfast tour, including a sales pitch. "no" pressure! Thankfully, we figured it out and cancelled our tour.
-Upon check-out: No "thank you", no "we hope you enjoyed your stay". Simply: "Your room and towel keys" and "Please hand this to the bellboy over there."

Conclusion: Next time, we'll save ourselves a few hundred dollars and go back to Cuba, where the service was a lot friendlier and where they actually earned and appreciated the tips we give them. The Palladium has been scratched off our list of hotels. [Details]

Third trip to the Mayan had high expectations but was disappointed with this resort. Service was slow rooms were ok but beds are too small. Fridge didn't work for 3 days and complained every day after the third day it was fixed and worked for 12 hours. Just not impressed at all and would not return [Details]

We are a family of 5 with kids 8, 6 and 3 and stayed at the Kantenah for a week in March. Everything was better than we expected, rooms were in good condition, clean and comfortable. Resort had great pool area especially for kids, beach is beautiful and there are lots of chairs for everyone. Food was the best we've ever had (this is our fifth resort in the Riviera Maya area). Staff and service were excellent. We would definitely return to the Kantenah. This is a large resort with 4 complexes joined together however it didn't feel that crowded. We really enjoyed our time thatere and would definitely recommend the Kantenah. [Details]

Junior suite was nice size for four people. Food was good. Had no problem getting into ala carte restaurants when went early. Beach was highlight. Watersports often not available due to red flag days. Loved the ocean pool for snorkeling. Punta Emilia on the beach served great lunches. Free internet in room! [Details]

HUGE resort! Great food, very clean, nice rooms - stayed at the Kantenah - would not recommend other 3. Great for kids, lots to do or you can opt to just relax. Friendly staff, lovely beach and pool! Too big for me but would recommend. [Details]