Grand Mayan vs Grand Bliss (Nuevo Vallarta)

[woj027]

Hey all,

We will be booking through RCI for our stay at Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta. We stayed at the Grand Mayan last year, and have the opportunity to stay at the Grand Bliss for the same amount of points as Grand Mayan this time around (March 2020)

There will be 4 of us in a 2 BR, Me and my Wife, my 8 year old and my Father in Law (70). We liked the lazy river and just hanging out at the pools. We will go on some excursions, maybe play some golf, but it's vacation, so no high end needs.

Is there any significant difference between Grand Mayan and Grand Bliss? Anything "Extra" we would have staying at Grand Bliss? Reasons to or not to stay at one of the two?

We may suffer through the sales pitch if it provides us some perks.

Thanks in advance.

 

[HDiaz1]

Did you need a rental car when you traveled last year? We just book through RCI for the Grand Luxxe at Nuevo Vallarta for Memorial day week and was wondering if I should get a rental or not. Also, do you know if there's any parking fees? I couldn't find anything. This will be our first time going to Nuevo Vallarta so yeah lots of questions. Thanks!

 

[hurnik]

Hey all,

We will be booking through RCI for our stay at Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta. We stayed at the Grand Mayan last year, and have the opportunity to stay at the Grand Bliss for the same amount of points as Grand Mayan this time around (March 2020)

There will be 4 of us in a 2 BR, Me and my Wife, my 8 year old and my Father in Law (70). We liked the lazy river and just hanging out at the pools. We will go on some excursions, maybe play some golf, but it's vacation, so no high end needs.

Is there any significant difference between Grand Mayan and Grand Bliss? Anything "Extra" we would have staying at Grand Bliss? Reasons to or not to stay at one of the two?

We may suffer through the sales pitch if it provides us some perks.

Thanks in advance.

All things being equal (same price, etc) the Grand Bliss, IMO, is a much nicer unit and you should have access to the Grand Bliss pools as well as the "lower" ones (Grand Mayan, lazy river, etc.) You will not (unless things recently changed) have access to the Grand Luxxe pools.

The Grand bliss has much softer beds, at least the last time we stayed in Grand Mayan it was like sleeping on concrete, IMO.

 

[Eric B]

Did you need a rental car when you traveled last year? We just book through RCI for the Grand Luxxe at Nuevo Vallarta for Memorial day week and was wondering if I should get a rental or not. Also, do you know if there's any parking fees? I couldn't find anything. This will be our first time going to Nuevo Vallarta so yeah lots of questions. Thanks!

You shouldn’t need a rental car. Vidanta provides transport to the resort from the airport. They do have valet parking available for a fee, but there’s a fair amount of stuff to do on the resort, which is quite large. It can be a pain getting off the resort, but taxis and busses have worked for me in that area.

Hey all,

We will be booking through RCI for our stay at Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta. We stayed at the Grand Mayan last year, and have the opportunity to stay at the Grand Bliss for the same amount of points as Grand Mayan this time around (March 2020)

There will be 4 of us in a 2 BR, Me and my Wife, my 8 year old and my Father in Law (70). We liked the lazy river and just hanging out at the pools. We will go on some excursions, maybe play some golf, but it's vacation, so no high end needs.

Is there any significant difference between Grand Mayan and Grand Bliss? Anything "Extra" we would have staying at Grand Bliss? Reasons to or not to stay at one of the two?

We may suffer through the sales pitch if it provides us some perks.

Thanks in advance.

I agree with @hurnik re: the room quality. GB is more centrally located in the resort, too, though it can be a trade off if you like walking out via the beach to get off-Resort. The other potential issue with GB is that it’s adjacent to Santuario so can be noisy at night if you’re on that side of the building.

Grand Luxxe is a better bet if you can get it, but it would be iffy in March at this point. That’s RB71 for the resort ID.

 

[woj027]

You shouldn’t need a rental car. Vidanta provides transport to the resort from the airport. They do have valet parking available for a fee, but there’s a fair amount of stuff to do on the resort, which is quite large. It can be a pain getting off the resort, but taxis and busses have worked for me in that area.



I agree with @hurnik re: the room quality. GB is more centrally located in the resort, too, though it can be a trade off if you like walking out via the beach to get off-Resort. The other potential issue with GB is that it’s adjacent to Santuario so can be noisy at night if you’re on that side of the building.

Grand Luxxe is a better bet if you can get it, but it would be iffy in March at this point. That’s RB71 for the resort ID.

Eric,

We would love to get into Grand Luxxe, but no 2BR available, let alone 3BR (friends are on the fence about going). My wife will call Registry Collection to see if they have any availability at a Luxxe.

 

[Eric B]

You might try Third Home, too. They seem open to exchanging a lot of the higher end TS that trade in Registry and have a fair amount of availability in Vidanta.

 

[woj027]

thanks. Catch is, Third home will cost extra money. We have over 2 million Wyndham points, and a week at Vidanta only runs 126,000 points. So big savings there.

 

[StructureGuy]

All things being equal (same price, etc) the Grand Bliss, IMO, is a much nicer unit and you should have access to the Grand Bliss pools.

Didn't someone say the Grand Bliss pool is closed in Nuevo Vallarta?

 

[woj027]

looking at the Vidanta site, it says the Bliss 2 BR is 2 Kings. Anyone able to confirm or refute? we stayed in 2 BR at Grand Mayan and it was 1 King 2 Queens (or Fulls).

 

[simon63]

My kids spend most of the time at Lazy river and pyramid slide, so is quite confortable for me to stay a few steps from there at mp, if you look for a better rooms and more privacy in the pool, gb is your choice.

 

[pittle]

We always look for 2 Kings when we take people with us. I was surprised that this was the only configuration. I assumed that some were the 2 Kings and some were King & 2 beds. The loveseat worked great when our grandson was 8 and stayed in our room at the GM years ago. (Before GB was an option - he also loved to hop in bed with Nana and Baba .)

As for a car, Valet Parking is the only option. You need to tip both ways and pay $10 + per day to park, so taxi is a viable option. We have rented a car only once and drove there in our own once in the 20 years that we have been owners. It did used to be easier to get off property and snag a bus though. Parking & driving in PV is a challenge.

We like the GB because the deck is larger. The units are pretty much the same, otherwise, but the GB has 2 under-counter refrigerators and the GM has one fridge that is a little larger than the under-counter ones. Both have a 4 burner cook-top and no oven.

When we stayed at the GB in NV, we were on the Santuario side, but it really did not bother us with the doors closed.

The walk to the GM pools and Lazy River is not that far. I think the Mayan Palace pool is the one that is being made smaller for the gondolas to go to the Park, but I have heard it both ways. There are fewer MP units, so they do not need such a large pool now - even though it used to be huge - it took up all the space that the GB and MP pools have now.

 

[simon63]

My kids spend most of the time at Lazy river and pyramid slide, so is quite confortable for me to stay a few steps from there at mp, if you look for a better rooms and more privacy in the pool, gb is your choice.

Sorry, a Few steps is from gm

 

[rpennisi]

We always look for 2 Kings when we take people with us. I was surprised that this was the only configuration. I assumed that some were the 2 Kings and some were King & 2 beds. The loveseat worked great when our grandson was 8 and stayed in our room at the GM years ago. (Before GB was an option - he also loved to hop in bed with Nana and Baba .)

As for a car, Valet Parking is the only option. You need to tip both ways and pay $10 + per day to park, so taxi is a viable option. We have rented a car only once and drove there in our own once in the 20 years that we have been owners. It did used to be easier to get off property and snag a bus though. Parking & driving in PV is a challenge.

We like the GB because the deck is larger. The units are pretty much the same, otherwise, but the GB has 2 under-counter refrigerators and the GM has one fridge that is a little larger than the under-counter ones. Both have a 4 burner cook-top and no oven.

When we stayed at the GB in NV, we were on the Santuario side, but it really did not bother us with the doors closed.

The walk to the GM pools and Lazy River is not that far. I think the Mayan Palace pool is the one that is being made smaller for the gondolas to go to the Park, but I have heard it both ways. There are fewer MP units, so they do not need such a large pool now - even though it used to be huge - it took up all the space that the GB and MP pools have now.

It also had part of it taken for the Grand Luxe pool area.

 

[pittle]

It also had part of it taken for the Grand Luxxe pool area.

That's right! That pool had been huge - went from Havana Moon to the Fish restaurant by the golf course. The one in Acapulco was also broken up into 3 pools. The used to brag about the longest pools anywhere.

 

[woj027]

we are going to stay at Grand Mayan for easy access to the lazy river, that and through RCI they were out of 2BR's

 

[simon63]

If your family likes music, pool bar, competitions look for Joy center pool, if not just stay in one of the others pools