jeanabush
Google
Our family of four just completed a lovely stay at Garza Blanca Cancun. For reference, we have stayed at several higher end all-inclusives in Mexico including Grand Velas Riviera Maya, Palace Cozumel and the Hilton Los Cabos. I will highlight the good, bad and ugly of this trip.|Good:|- food was mostly excellent, on par with Grand Velas but maybe better. Dinner at Hiroshi (japanese), Blanca Blue (mexican) and Bocados (steak) were very good (keeping in mind it's an all-inclusive). Sushi at Hiroshi was fresh and inventive. We loved the lunch at Blanca Blue as much as the dinner - highly recommend the tasting sauces/salsas, tableside guacamole, any seafood soups, fresh catch of the day, fresh ceviches. Room service food was on par with standard fare but the delivered coffee was better than lobby coffee. |- service from bartenders, pool staff, waiters in restaurants, room service and room attendants was outstanding, welcoming, accommodating. We ran into a couple grumps (see below) but mostly the service was a stand out for us.|- the rooms are incredible (2 bedroom suite). We had essentially two huge adjoining rooms, full kitchen, laundry, living room, 2 huge bathrooms and another full bath with shower, 2 huge balconies, Nice towels and L'occitane products. Very comfortable beds with nice linens.|- spa was oustanding; do not miss the hydrotherapy experience. Spa staff (Rosa) was a standout.|- yoga in the morning and the pool activities crew were fun, engaging|Bad:|- check in was a disaster - long lines, inefficient staff, several verbal altercations due to line cutters. They need to streamline this process, it was not a good first impression.|- pools get crowded and there are large groups (family reunions etc) which can be obnoxious. I guess this is expected with an all-inclusive pricing tier but keep this in mind if traveling with small kids. Our girls are teens and have heard it all before but 5 years ago this would have been a real bummer.|- if you have an early morning departure, plan to order room service for breakfast. The restaurant downstairs does not open until 7am. At 6:45am, the wait staff (grump) would not even provide a granola bar to my daughters. We left hungry and that meal was part of our package. I know it's on me to plan ahead for the early departure so just order room service, but do so about an hour in advance. |- table wine was not good. If you want decent wine, you will have to purchase a bottle and expect the markup on pricing. We got a lovely Mexican Cabernet at our first dinner and saved the rest for our steakhouse meal on our last night.|Ugly: the pool deck is extremely slippery - I took a hard fall (sober) and will be in an arm sling for a few weeks (FOOSH) with some significant bruising. I was offered a bag of ice and Aspercreme as a condolence from the manager (LOL, ugh) Please take caution, it was very dangerous. They need to put rubber mats down or resurface the deck.