Riviera Nayarit

Loved my time spent at Rui Vallarta. Rooms were clean, food was good and the staff were great. Buffet had a lot of choices so could always find something I liked to eat. I liked the steak house the best out of the restaurants. There was plenty of entertainment and lots to do - bands, foam parties, cooking demonstrations, etc. I would go again in a heart beat.

This was our first time visiting the Bucerias area and we were glad we picked this resort hotel. It was in a fantastic location with the downtown market being about a 20 minute walk. There were plenty of restaurants and bars outside of the resort as well as a large Walmart type store very close by for anything you may have forgotten or decided you needed while there. Plenty of restaurants and bars on the property with lots of activities. The only complaint I have is that there needs to be more chairs/lounges at the beach. They have plenty more space for them, and it would alleviate having to save chairs for those getting up past 9Am. The resort is older, but is kept very clean. Lots of Canadians stay for extended periods and are repeat clients, making it a very friendly place to go.

This property was lovely. The staff were friendly and the drinks were amazing. I would recommend this for families as long as you are aware it is not beach front. The gate to the beach was locked and the code did not work. you have to go to Marival to get beach front.

ARRIVAL; - The arrival process was very poor. We checked in, they gave us a map of the resort but only showed us which building our room was in and nothing else. There was no talk of activities happening, where to find the excursion booth, what times the buffets open/close, no information regarding "A La Carte" restaurants, you're basically on your own once your bracelet is on. ROOMS - The rooms were certainly below average. They were somewhat clean, but you could tell the shower was not fully scrubbed as there was still shampoo reminents on the shower walls before we had even used it. Our bathroom door did not shut, and our patio door was broken and wouldn't lock. We called the front desk to get this fixed as we were on the main level so anyone could've just walked in to our room through the patio. It took a while for them to come, but they did "fix" the patio door, but said we were not able to use it (open/close) as it was just a temporary fix. Our safe also "died" and unlocked while we were out at the pool, didn't feel like our valuables were very safe.. Otherwise, the beds were comfortable and they gave us lots of pillows (not the most comfortable but we still slept well!). There was only one mirror in the entire room, which was the bathroom mirror. If you have more than one person trying to get ready it's super tight and uncomfortable! Our friends also had issues with their window not locking, they were also on the main level and we could access their room by just sliding the window right open. STAFF; - Staff were all very friendly and helpful. Everyone spoke great English and communication was not an issue at all. The only downside is that we felt there was a staff shortage when it came to the bars. We've never had to wait in line for drinks as long as we did at this resort. The reception desk was incredibly friendly and helpful when we called about the room issues (patio door & safe) and got someone out to help us within the day. One of the entertainment staff named "Edgar" was a lot of fun and even took four of us on a little bike tour to Bucerias. He gave us a bit more information on where to book the A La Carte restaurants, and what activities were going to be happening and the times. Rave for Edgar! FOOD - We felt that the food wasn't great. There were very similar meals in the buffet every day, and the a la carte restaurants were not something to rave about either. The A La Carte restaurants were also VERY difficult to get into, and you were only able to book two days in advance. We did not get to try the GRILL restaurant. They had a massive Paella lunch by the pool on one of the days we were there and it was INCREDIBLE! We wish they had done this every day since it was by FAR the best meal we had while we were there. They had also organized a dinner on the beach evening, where they set up a bunch of tables and chairs and then have a buffet set up right on the beach. The food was lovely, the problem was it was so unorganized that it took almost an hour to get a plate of food as there were people everywhere with absolutely no direction or organization. There are also no 24/7 snack bars, so once the buffet closes for the night, you're out of luck if you're looking for food unless you pay extra for room service! POOLS - It was a game changer to have an adult pool and then family pools, we did not spend any time in the family/kid friendly pools so i won't comment on those. We spent our time in the adult pool and it was good, the pools are not the cleanest (we had goggles and could see under water) but that is to be expected at large resorts like this. The bar service was very slow, but the tenders were so friendly. ENTERTAINMENT - There is none. If you want entertainment, this is NOT the resort for you! There are no shows, no theatre, no nightlife whatsoever. The resort staff have some fun games by the pool and on the beach during the day (beach volleyball, Water Aerobics, Sing along games etc.) but nothing happens in the evenings. We tried to hit up the sports bar but there isn't much up there, and they turned the lights off and locked the doors on us at midnight while we were playing cards on the sports bar patio. Doesn't seem like they want people out and about at night. They had brought in some fire dancers for the dinner on the beach evening, which was entertaining but there wasn't enough seating for even a quarter of the resort, so difficult to watch/see. They hosted a foam party in the adult pool the second day we arrived and it was the most fun we had at the resort. We wished they had put on another one before our departure but they didn't. LOCATION: - Location was nice as you could walk either on the beach or on the street to Bucerias, a cute little neighboring town with LOTS of nightlife and market shopping. We wen to a couple restaurants there as the food on the resort just wasn't cutting it. Wonderful people, food and service all around in town! WIFI: - This gets it's own category because it was AWFUL. The wifi would constantly cut out, most areas it didn't work at all. If you plan to do ANY work from a laptop, you'll be getting absolutely NOTHING done as the wifi isn't strong enough anywhere that we found on the resort. OVERALL - Overall, I probably wouldn't stay at this resort again unless it was a SMOKIN' deal. We paid $1,774 CAD and I felt that was too high after our stay there.

As on previous trip to the samba the staff was fabulous. The issues we ran into on this trip were related to maintenance. We do understand that maintenance is required but it would be nice to know when a trip is booked. When we arrived we did find out that the kids pool was being worked on. We did have two three year-olds with us so that was disappointing. They did get to use it our last full day there. Also the last four days we were there the main buffet /restaurant was closed for floor replacement the food was served outside in quite confined spaces, very crowded and the food was difficult to keep hot

Food was amazing but the signing of receipts takes forever and very annoying especially if you just want water the sky bar was disappointing service was very slow for the food and the 11 of us didn't even get our food at the same time and water should be included with your room not just the first day it is definitely not the same from when we were there years ago but the food is the best !! The beds are very hard too

Front desk handoff to time share people is beyond annoying. Your bracelet is put on by time share people Needs to be front desk and get you to your room. Buffet was mediocre at best. Room and resort were decent. Near impossible to get a reservation at the Al a cartes. Resort is very member and time share oriented. Adult pool is very nice. If you can get a decent time reservation for the Amalfi restaurant, do it as the food is fabulous. Overall rating 2

Thanks for my best trip to Mexico yet. I would recommend decameron to my best friend and hope to come see you wonderful people again soon

This trip was beyond our expectations. The staff were all excellent. Our room view was really pretty. We had upgraded to preferred and were glad that we did. The food was excellent everywhere we ate (Olio, Bordeaux, Portofino, Mezze). We had Oscar on his first night at Mezze and he was very sweet. The short rib was so great I ordered it twice and my hubby loved the mushroom ravioli at Portofino. Plus the snacks and lunch at Preferred Club, room service and poutine were awesome. Breakfast at Preferred Club was great every day. We honestly can't say anything negative about this resort. The beach, although not swimmable for beginners which we knew in advance (cool to watch the surfers) was super lovely to walk along both directions. Shout out to Danny the Pool Concierge who was super sweet and knowledgeable and all of the staff up there on the Rooftop; Dario and Julio! The pools and warm tubs on the Rooftop Preferred Club were a great place to hang out all day. We also enjoyed the music and shade in the afternoon down at the Barracuda Bar. At the Secrets Lobby Bar, Alex, Gabriella and the whole team were awesome! You can tell everyone here takes great pride in their jobs. Elizabeth our butler was helpful. We needed a couple things in our room and used the app….extremely responsive and helpful. We never felt the need to ‘save a lounger' or rush anywhere….it did not feel crowded at all and everyone had a smile on their face.

This is certainly NOT a 4 star hotel. For a place that is less than 10 years old we didn't expect this. Hotel room had a wooden door and had an actual key for room entry. There was a chain lock inside that only had one screw holding it on. Patio door lock was broken. Concerned about safety, we had the maintenance man come and he said no patio doors have locks - this was a safety FEATURE. He also said the hotel has cameras so we don't need to be concerned. Finally convinced the hotel to provide a broom handle so we could keep the patio doors “locked”. No dressers in the room, be prepared to live out of a suitcase for the duration. Adult pool was always full of children. A la carte restaurants were a nightmare to get into and not always available or open. WiFi was available but you had to sign in every 10 minutes. The band that played every night was way too loud. Kayaking and paddle boarding were only available at the Decameron Los Cocos. Bikes are in serious need of repair.