Description: Best Things Nearby:
You can walk downtown in about 10 minutes or take the bus, which stops right outside the resort. In the other direction, you can walk in 5 minutes to Mega, a large store that sells groceries, clothes, electronics, etc., or take the bus towards the marina or head further up to Nuevo Vallarta. Right across the street is a 24-hour Internet café (20 pesos for an hour).
Best Things About the Resort:
The Sheraton has a number of nice restaurants (but cheaper eating can be found a short walk or bus ride away), and their pool area is lovely, with lots of chairs. It is right on the ocean, but it is not really swimmable because the beach is covered in small rocks. This also makes it not inviting to walk along the beach.
Resort Experience:
The first one-bedroom unit we were shown had no balcony, and the bedroom window was only open to the corridor, making it very dark. The one we settled on had a better configuration, as it was a studio/hotel room lock-off. On the studio side was a kitchen with a two-burner stove, microwave, small but adequate fridge and freezer, coffee maker, toaster, usual cutlery, dishes, and glassware (no wineglasses, though). The floor is ceramic tile and the counter is granite, so if you drop anything, it will break. There's no dishwasher, but there is daily maid service, so if you can stand to look at your dirty dishes, the maid will presumably do them (we did our own).
Although everything worked, the furnishings lacked inspiration, and the general feel of the place was tired and dated. The décor was painted-white plaster with ochre accents and wooden doors with lattice inserts. These doors fronted everything because all the "furniture"--dressers, sofa, writing desk, and wardrobe--was built in. The "sofa" was decorated with foam cushions in a floral red, orange, yellow, and green. The room with the kitchenette had three straight-back wooden chairs with rattan seats in front of the counter for meals, a similarly styled stool for the "writing desk" and a double Murphy bed. There was a sink/makeup alcove and adjacent bathroom with shower, toilet, and retractable clothesline (a bathing suit did not dry overnight). A large surprise was the lack of hair dryer, especially as we had not brought our bulky one along.
The bedroom had another bathroom with a tub. There was a small round table with two straight-back chairs and a king-size bed with a bedspread to match the floral pattern on the couch next door.
You accessed the unit with a card, and then each half was accessed by a key, so presumably, each room could be rented out separately. Accessed from each half through sliding patio doors was a balcony with two green plastic patio chairs and a small table. If you did not know your neighbors, you surely would get to know them quickly with this arrangement. The balcony overlooked the pool area and beyond that the ocean, and we very much enjoyed sitting out there, sipping a drink. Our balcony had flower boxes, but they had not been tended in quite some time, and the dirt was littered with cigarette butts—-gross!
The maid did come daily to make the bed and do some housekeeping and also left towel animals (actually the same towel swan) and assorted flowers made out of toilet paper and pothos leaves (small wonder the plants along the corridors were looking a little sparse).
The complex is huge, with many different buildings, not all of which are timeshare. There are two large freeform pools, several bars and open-air restaurants, shops, a deli, and a gym. Daily activities--dance lessons, Spanish lessons, aerobics, etc.--are posted by the towel shack.
- Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
- Activities: Good
- Amenities: Good
- Unit Satisfaction: Good
- Family Friendliness: Good
- Service: Good
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