Family vacation in Nuevo Vallarta

Two rooms, one room with king bed and own bathroom with tub, and the other room with two double beds and bathroom with only a shower. Rooms on opposite ends separated by living room and dining area. Kitchen had small refrigerator and twp burners that served as stove. Also had microwave. Our room was ground level but had a good view of the pool and ocean. Daily maid service -- twice a day -- when they returned in the evening, they left Hershey's kisses -- a real treat.

I recommend the resort because the rooms were good but cannot go higher on the recommendation scale because of the gnats and the time it took to solve the problem. My one complaint -- which is a major one -- is that when we checked in and opened the closets, LOTS AND LOTS of gnats flew out into the room. They were EVERYWHERE. I called twice about the bugs and told the housekeeper. My first report about the bugs was at 6pm, my last at 8:30pm. FINALLY at 9pm, someone came to spray. We had the room sprayed again later in the week, but they never completely went away.

Best Things Nearby:
Splash park, La Leguna restaurant (cheap food, good eating), PV is only 15-10 minute cab ride.

Best Things About the Resort:
Very family oriented; employees go out of their way to accommodate you; lots of activities for the kids. Wonderful pool with shallow areas for kids and deeper areas for adults, as well as adult only pool. GREAT SPA!!!!

Resort Experience:
Large resort -- 250 acres. Three buildings, of which the red and yellow are closest to the main pool and the beach. Three restaurants on site and one of the best breakfast buffets I've ever had. Beach water isn't that pretty but that has nothing to do with the hotel. Rooms are large and clean but I had a problem with gnats which really brought my rating down

Large man-made lake onsite and they let you take out kayaks and tool around on the lake. My daughter really loved that. There's also a train that takes you around some of the property -- again my daughter had me riding that many many times. There's also an electric boat you can ride on the man-made lake.

There's also a nightclub with an arcade in the back for the kids. We attended two shows on site -- one of which included performances by a "Mayan" cast and encouraged audience participation by both kids and adults. In fact, my daughter won the game and won free arcade tokens. Adults won free spa certificates.

The gym/spa was also great. The gym has a daily fee -- or you can get a package with three massages and unlimited use of the gym and spa facilities. Since there were three adults and I knew that I was going to workout anyway, that was the best deal for me. Spa includes steam room, sauna, cold plunge pool, Swiss shower as well as regular showers. Massage was the best I"ve ever had

Took TOO LONG to get luggage. was supposed to be sent to room at 5pm -- at 7pm, after two calls of "20 more minutes), I physically went to retrieve the luggage myself. I then followed the guy once he put the luggage on the rack, back to the room, just to make sure they were delivering it immediately.

Sea Market is small grocery store on site where you can get supplies like water, snacks, milk, juice, cameras, souvenirs, etc. Bus provides transpo and runs every 15 minutes.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Very Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Fair
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Dining onsite at the Mayan Palace Nuevo Vallarta is an experience not to be missed. The food at ALL the restaurants was great. We even went to one outdoor "cookout" that had a show for the kids and adults. That dinner was pricey--$28 per--but the restaurants give good value for kids--namely kids meals are FREE!

Took two separate trips to PV -- one by organized tour (Tropical Tour), the other on my own with my daughter. Both trips proved fruitful. Bought a beautiful silver necklace and earrings to match -- and the jewelry store even offered drinks of Sprite and tequila (a great combination). On my own, just walked around and made my own deals, as well as went through the official flea market, where bargaining is a MUST.

On the Tropical Tour, we met at the restaurant Bogart's then moved from there. Tour included downtown PV, a walkthrough where Liz Taylor and Richard Burton had homes, lunch, tour of a tequila factory and free shots to sample, as well as tour of now restaurant, but where Night of the Iguana was shot. Plenty of opportunities for shopping and sightseeing.

Splash Park is very small, but it's a nice afternoon activity. Everything has a price -- you have to rent the lockers, but if you return the key by 6pm, you get part of your money back. If you want an inner tube for the "river", you have to rent that too.

Attended timeshare presentation, for which I got two free tickets (which I already knew I was going to use), 15% off of all meals at resort, and free breakfast that day. Timeshare presentation was SUPPOSED TO be limited to 90 minutes. I was very upfront with them from the beginning and told them I was not going to buy -- I was happy with what I had and they couldn't help me. The sales woman agreed (I've been to these before, so I know how it goes). Presentation ended up going 2.5 hours with handoff after handoff to people who just weren't getting that I wasn't interested. Just be aware.

At the airport as well, we were immediately approached -- one guy didn't get the word "no", but the other accepted it and wished me well