Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach
Paradise at it's best!
- February 14, 2009
- Rated 5 of 5 by
a traveler from Travelocity.com
My husband and I spent a week in March 2008 at this not only pristine but also majestic hotel. There wasn't any staff who didn't go out of their way to make our stay memoriable. The breakfast buffet every morning was the best!. Fresh tropical juices, a variety of american and mexican items were offered. The restaraunt "The La Joya" was outstanding in presentation and taste. A little pricey but well worth it! A slight problem to mention would be not enough umbrellas with chairs by the pool in the afternoon. Although, the pool staff did make every attempt to find one. The air condition in the room was a bit noisey however nothing more than a 5 decimal sound of humming. Overall, the hotel staff made you feel special by turning down your bed every evening, turning on the music station, leaving your slippers by your bed (provided by the hotel with robes) and leaving chocolates on your pillow. It was definitely "Paradise at it's best!"
Fiesta American'ta Grand Coral Beach
- February 11, 2009
- Rated 3 of 5 by
a traveler from Travelocity.com
5 star......ummmm, I don't think so. Don't be fooled by the size of this hotel, cause that doesn't make it a 5 star. We arrived on Friday night to a room with ants. They moved us to another room that had a screaming baby next to us (walls are paper thin so you hear everything), moved us to another room that was smaller. The Supervisor tried to tell me that all the rooms are the same size and was actually arguing with me....the Bellman laughed and said he was shocked that the Supervisor told me that. So they moved us again the next day and guess what...more ants!! They offered to move us yet again but we declined. As you can imagine, we were thinking, 5 stars?!, yeah right! The rooms are borderline outdated, ants, and the general decor of the interior lobby is lacking bigtime. Not sure how AAA can rate this up there with the Ritz Carltons of the world. It's a 4 star at best.
The food was pretty good and so was the service. We were there with our two children and they had no kids activities going on because there weren't enough children to participate....pretty lame. Here's an important factor to keep in mind....The sun goes away (behind the building) at the pool around 2:30 or 3:00. You can squeek a little more time out of the sun if you hit the beach in certain areas, but kind of a bummer when you want to be in the pool....which by the way the pool you can use right now is the upper heated pool.
I'm not saying I wouldn't recommend this hotel, just set your expectations accordingly...again not a 5 star hotel.......Le Meriden or Ritz Carlton might be better suited for that expectation.
Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach, Cancun
- January 31, 2009
- Rated 5 of 5 by
a traveler from Travelocity.com
Best hotel and resort I have ever stayed in. I would go again tomorrow if I could! Absolutely loved it.!
My New Favorite!
- January 9, 2009
- Rated 5 of 5 by
a traveler from Travelocity.com
Our family stayed in this hotel in a Junior Ocean Front Suite. This was perfect for our children since we had 2 dbl beds and a sitting room complete with sofa sleeper (nice mattress). The room was set up in a long rectangle: enter in the foyer with double closet complete with safe, bathoom with lots of counter space and sink, seperate room with shower/tub and water closet just off the foyer, enter the bedroom (plenty of room) wit 2 dbl beds, flat screen tv and dresser, two steps down into sitting room with sofa, cushy chair, occassional chair and desk with chair, move out onto balcony with 2 chairs. Turn down service, great restaurants (check dress code - resort casual at some, casual at others), nice beachfront area with quiet cove area, rent jet skis, banana boats, snorkeling excursions all right there. Pool has 4 areas...get your chairs early morning (for sun 6 or 7 - reseve with pool towel) Sun side is on the ocean side, shade side is building side....great place to just sit back and relax!!! Kids had good time (10 and 16) and so did we. Shopping right outside the front of hotel...walking distance to off site restaurants. No shuttle to airport, but taxi was 20US dollars plus tip. Nice fitness workout area.
Editor Pick
Excellent Service! Great Beach and Hotel!
- December 28, 2008
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Princess00 from Dallas, Texas
My husband and I visited the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach with a couple friend from June 13-June 18, 2008. I will preface my review to say that I have stayed at a few nice hotels in my time (the Ritz Carlton Tokyo being tops) and a small number of Caribbean resorts. I will compare this hotel with what I am familiar with.
Rooms: We booked a Junior Partial Ocean View suite with a non-smoking room and king bed. Upon arrival, we were informed that a king bed was not available and we could either wait about an hour for a room to be ready or take a double bed. The reservation desk, as a consolation, offered us a room on a higher floor that was considered an Ocean View. We gladly took the double bed on a higher floor. Upon arriving at the room, we were pleased with the accommodations. The rooms were clean with marble floors and bath and a little sitting area that leads out onto a balcony. This hotel was built in the 90s, I think. Although I felt like the rooms were lovely to look at, it is clear that they will need to make a few updates to the rooms to keep up with some of the newer hotels. My only complaint for the room was the shower area, which did have a slightly larger than standard tub, but when the curtain was closed, the area felt unusually dark. Additionally, the lighting fixtures in the shower area and vanity area need some update.
View: Now, I have no complaints about our view because we booked a Partial Ocean View. The view, if standing in the room staring straight out, all you could see was the resort’s coral colored units on the other side of the building. However, if you stepped out onto the balcony, you could see the entire ocean, pool, and beach below. Being a partial ocean view, I was very satisfied with the view. If it was a full ocean view, I might have been disappointed to not be able to view the ocean when standing inside the suite.
Balcony: The balcony was a nice size with little chairs to sit at night.
Beach: If you are looking for a great beach, check out this hotel. The beach was pristine with a large stretch of powdery white sand. Every day we were there, a yellow flag was flying. The waves were calm (as being broken by the reef offshore) and it was easy to swim and float in the water. We even saw some friendly locals swimming at the FAGCB beach which I took as an obvious sign that this is a good place to be. My last visit to Cancun (pre-Wilma), we stayed at the Royal Sands which is on the long stretch of the seven. The one comparison that I can make between the long end of the 7 and the FAGCB that no one has previously mentioned is the fact that not once during our stay did we see anyone ‘peddling’ things on the beach. In my previous visit to Cancun on the long end of the 7, I was constantly bothered by someone trying to sell me something, which after a while, got tiresome.
Pool: My husband and I are beach people. Our couple friends are pool people. Both of us, though, can say that the FAGCB is absolutely splendid. It is actually 4 pools combined into one pool with little waterfalls that separate each. There is one pool with a playground area nearby where most families sat. There is a small pool with a volleyball net over the water for activities. There is the Grand Club Pool, which most of the chairs are reserved for priority guests. And then there was the pool we used. It had a lovely infinity edge that stretched out about 3-4 feet where you could lounge in about 1 inch of water and look out onto the beach. Or, you could stretch your arms over the edge of the infinity pool and look out at the crashing waves. It was so relaxing. The little waterfalls that connect each pool were wonderful as you could climb up on the steps and sit and let the water rush over you – very relaxing. Oh, and the pool bathroom … no one ever mentioned this, but it was clean and as nice as the bathroom in your suite. They even provided hand towels instead of the normal paper product and a little thing of lotion and soap for you to use. Very well thought extra touch.
Food: We ate breakfast one morning and ate at the pool bar twice. Breakfast – one of us got the buffet and 2 of us ordered a la carte. We have no complaints. I think if you are hungry and can enjoy the quantity of food at the buffet, it is worth the $30 price tag. If you are not that hungry, order a la carte and get just what you want. Both are very good. As for the pool bar – this is my ONE complaint of the whole hotel where I believe it does not live up to its status. In my opinion (as well as my traveling companions), the food was TERRIBLE. I know pool food is not usually good, but given how amazing everything else is, it was blatantly obvious how off it was. Do not get the chicken burger. I guess I was expecting a piece of grilled or fried chicken or maybe even something processed like McDonald’s. Well, to compare … I don’t know if it was chicken – it didn’t taste like chicken – and I would rather have eaten at McDonald’s. If you are expecting good pool food and want to eat there every day, you will likely be disappointed.
Service: The service at FAGCB is what puts this hotel above anything I have stayed at before (besides the Tokyo Ritz). The people of Mexico are so helpful and polite. Upon arrival, we received a nice cold towel and a fresh glass of fruit juice. Then, we were greeted by the bellman who took our bags immediately to our room upon checkout, explaining the resort as we went. The maid service was quick and efficient, even taking the time to stack my husband’s golf tees that he had left out on the dresser. They have a nightly turndown service. The maid service always happened to stop by our room for turn down when we were in the room cleaning up from the pool and getting ready to head out for dinner. After a few nights of noting that we were in our room, they made a special effort to time the turn down on our last night at a time they knew we would be out. Soft lights, a chocolate candy, etc. it was a wonderful touch, and expected for a 5 diamond hotel. Another nice touch were the many bellmen waiting at the front door of the hotel to sweep open the door for anyone arriving or departing. I got so spoiled with not having to open a door when we exited, I kept wondering if one of the bellmen has every forgotten to open a door and witnessed a guest smack right into the glass!
Taxi’s! Here is a really great service that the hotel offers. When we arranged a cab to take us downtown for dinner at La Parilla (yummy!), our cab driver arrived with a brand new taxi cab. One of my traveling companions began to ask him about his car and he explained his cab by pointing at the five diamonds in the side window of the car. He further explained that only a select number of cabs are able to pick up any guests at the FAGCB and the taxi cab and driver must meet very high standard qualifications to obtain the 5 diamond. Without that sticker, they are not permitted to transmit guests of the hotel. When we asked our driver to come pick us up after dinner, he was very happy to oblige and was waiting for us at the designated time and location we requested him to pick us up about 2 hours later. It is the little things that make the amenities at this hotel top notch.
Concierge: We made dinner reservations off site for all of our evenings. The concierge booked all of our reservations with no difficulties prior to our arrival via email, providing us with an itinerary with confirmation number and various pertinent information. We experienced no problems with this service.
Many people might complain about the cost of items at the hotel. Hotel food and water is expensive at any hotel you visit. If you want water or food, walk out the hotel door to a liquor store right across the street that also has water for about $1.5 for a 2L bottle.