This was our favorite shore excursion of the entire cruise. It was Xiomara (our tour guide) who…read moremade it so lively & fun! She took our small group of 7 people by taxi to Barriecito, or My Neighborhood. It was actually quite a surprise because the description of the tour didn't even mention anything about it being a hands-on workshop. It ended up being a very cool experience. We selected our own produce from the market in the courtyard to make guacamole and tomato salsa. There was bottled water waiting for us at the table along with molcajetes. Our hosts (César & Isis) helped us by preparing the ingredients for the cooking workshop. We formed our own corn tortilla and made our own guacamole and tomato salsa while Xiomara gave us instructions. This would be the first taco tasting made by our own hands. It was all about the taco & tequila pairing from that point on. Just forget everything that you've seen about tequila. It's meant to be sipped while eating a meal. I had 3 different shot glasses of tequila in a period of 3 hours, and I just felt very relaxed while sampling 3 more delicious tacos (tacos dorado, cochinita pibil, and a quesabirria). All were fantastic, and prepared very well. All bursting with beautiful flavors. It was a dream! Each was paired perfectly with a Tequila Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo (Aged). The last one was paired with dark chocolate as a dessert. It reminded me of my favorite brandied cherry chocolates (Mon Cheri). Excellent! We also had a chance to try some Mexican delicacies along the way. It was such a great exploration! I'd book this tour again if ever in San Miguel de Cozumel. A very fun & memorable experience thanks to Xiomara who made us all feel very welcomed.

We were on a cruise and love chocolate so thought we would try the chocolate place. The bus ride…read moreout was good and when we arrived we first took a picture with one of the staff dressed in local costume (for purchase afterwards). We then entered an area to see how chocolate is made. Our hostess was very friendly and demonstrated how the process works. Be sure to bring small bills as tips are always appreciated. We then had time to taste and purchase chocolate and other items. They also have a bar where you can purchase drinks with chocolate in them. Nice on a hot day.

The whole experience was amazing! We did both the chocolate making class and the chocolate…read moremargarita class. Paty did an amazing job guiding us through the process and making the history of chocolate fun

Jay and his crew, Mariano and Fito were awesome. Cannot say enough about their knowledge of the…read morearea. So informative, would never be the same if we tried to tour on our own. Jay even hired a private tour guide at Tulum that was very knowledgeable and made for the best experience. Our group consisted of 9 kids under the age of 1 and 8 adults. They did a fantastic job of herding us and keeping us on track. We did basic tour plus zip lines, cliff jumping, swimming with the turtles. The lunch stop in Akumal on the beach was amazing. We highly recommend Your Private Tour for any size group. Just a great team!!!

This place has it all. Seriously…read more Incredible stay all around. The service is truly top tier. The staff are attentive, friendly, and always make you feel taken care of without it feeling forced or over the top. The entire resort has a luxury feel from the moment you arrive. Everything is beautiful, calm, and extremely well maintained. The pools and beach are great, and the whole place just feels polished and relaxing. The rooms are especially impressive. Spacious, elegant, and spotless, with a very high end feel that makes it easy to unwind and feel comfortable right away. Overall, it was an amazing experience and easily one of the nicest resorts I've stayed at. Would absolutely come back and highly recommend it.

One of the most amazing experiences of my life! The beach was beautiful lots of activities for…read morekids. Grand class was adults only and absolutely stunning but walking distance from the kids friendly ambassador. There was transportation to get anywhere in the resort. Zen the more jungle focused hotel was Also beautiful. All inclusive 24 hour room service unlimited food and drinks and refillable mini bar. Cocina de autor which is a Michelin star restaurant was amazing , the wine pairing is extra but it's worth it. Piaf has great French food , Frida , Luca , sen Lin and Chaka are kid friendly I missed Chaka but the other three are really excellent. The bistro at grand class is great and azule is a great more casual buffet. There multiple bars the pools and the beach which is beautiful have food and drink service. Some activities are included and the spa is beautiful. My suite was over 1000 square feet with a plunge pool on my balcony. Getting chairs early is key at the pool and the beach. There are bars a coffee shop multiple boutiques gyms and activities. One of my favorite was catch of the day on the beach for lunch . There is a kids and teens club and a kids spa. Beautiful place for a wedding, I saw multiple during my stay. The food is really good! They have a mini golf course most of the year. There is night security and the resort is gated. They have mocktails as well as cocktails. The staff is really friendly. Tipping is optional but tipping in American money is recommended it will get charged to your card. There are three pools not including the spa. One at the grand class ( adult only) , zen, and the ambassador. The ambassador and grand class are walking distance from each other. This resort attracts more than Americans. It's beautiful and a world class resort.

I didn't stay here but my family came to have breakfast here and we were really impressed. The food…read moreis completely delicious and the service was excellent! We loved this place so much we came to eat breakfast here everyday!

I was surprisingly impressed by the place. I came in expecting worse, but it was well kept…read more Negatives: --Noise: The hotel isn't at fault, the whole zone is noisy. I brought earplugs. --Bed: They use itchy Mexican-style comforters. --TV: You won't get to use it unless you pay an upgrade. --AC: Not necessarily included. Upgrade option available. --Toilet: As in all of Mexico, be prepared to not flush toilet paper. --Late Night Return: The front gate is locked, so you have to rouse the night attendant to come open it.

We booked 2 tours, one turtle snorkel with Gilmer and a 3 hour fishing trip with Manny and wow, I…read morecouldn't have asked for a better experience. I'm seven months pregnant and we have an 18 month old and I appreciated how accommodating both Gilmer and Manny were! Gilmer and Manny made sure to capture our experience so we could focus on the moment and sent us all the photos. Gilmer made sure to point out any creatures and give us insight. Manny & crew were able to help us snag 5 mahi mahi and the last one was a massive 60 pound male! Just incredible. On top of that they took us to a local restaurant to cook up our fresh fish. If we're not too tuckered out we may have to book another trip as I know it will be worth while. Great prices for life lasting memories, thanks again guys for being so awesome.

Gilmer was an amazing tour guide (we did the kayak and snorkeling experience). We were able to see…read morelots of colorful purple coral reef, barracuda, star fish, sting rays, sand dollars, and an assortment of fish! He took us to two different locations, and was very knowledgeable about what we saw! He also was able to show us where octopus live and gave us some cool facts. He was a very caring and fun tour guide. If i could give more than 5 stars I would. Thank you Gilmer! -Nikole & Kristian

The staff is very attentive and the property is extremely clean and feels very safe. I would say…read morethe demographic here is more of 40-ish-year-old families and a more relaxed patronage. They have entertainment but it's definitely not a party hotel. If you want to relax and feel comfortable, it's a great place. With only three restaurants and a buffet, after a week here, the choices feel a little redundant, but there is plenty nearby and you're only steps from 5th Avenue. The views cannot be beat and above all, it's a very comfortable, safe feeling!

We were committed to a one week stay in Playa Del Carmen and were only set up for a few days in a…read moreboutique hotel; but we wanted our remaining days to be an all-inclusive resort that would cater to us while we do our best at being lazy. Finding an all inclusive resort in Cancan (to the north) is easy (especially in the hotel zone) and plenty of newer and wildly impressive resorts are located along the main highway between Cancun in Playa Del Carmen (an area better known as Puerto Morelos), but finding an all inclusive resorts in Playa Del Carmen "proper" is not so easy (especially the resorts with sprawling grounds with infinity pools with lush gardens to explore). Maybe that is because there are so many clubs, bars, restaurants, beaches and many activities and attractions all available throughout the town, especially in the touristy parts of the city that attract partygoers and families alike. I was quite pleased to have found Grand Porto... It's not the blow-you-away resort but it does have its perks * * * LOCATION * * * One of the big perks for us was Grand Porto was one block away from our original hotel destination... We just walked over to Grand Porto after checkout (no taxi needed). Even though they are located on the coast, the main portion of the building faces down the coastline rather than out to sea (personally, I really liked that though). * * * OUR ROOM * * * We reserved our room directly from the hotel's website and prepaid for a Standard Room with Non-Ocean View (I assumed it meant Garden View upon reserving but realized later it meant some garden but more of the roadway). Upon arrival they offered us an upgrade to a Jr Suite with Pool and Ocean View for a discounted rate (which I confirmed was very fair). They even offered to show us both rooms before deciding (it was a no brainer once we walked our onto the balcony). The bed was very comfortable, the room was stylish, we had (4) bottles of liquor to help ourselves too, we had a hammock on our balcony and plenty of room to still have a couple more chairs our there and our view of the ocean, coastline and pool area was superb. We even had 24-Hour Room Service; which we took advantage of by order breakfast in bed a couple of times. * * * FOOD & DRINKS * * * By the pool there was some bites to grab from a grill (decent) and there was a gazebo bar that was easy to grab drinks from (plus the pool area had plenty of waiters to serve us)(excellent). Near the lobby was a snack room (not very good)... There was a rooftop pool with sushi bar; though the sushi was being prepared fresh in front of us, it just wasn't that good. We enjoyed the buffet. Granted the food didn't blow us away... some stuff was great and some stuff was down right bad but overall I thought it was on par with the Lido Deck buffet that is on every cruise ship out at sea. They also offered (3) main restaurants (Italian, Brazilian and Mexican); being that we have been eating plenty of Mexican and I don't eat much red meat, decided to try the Italian restaurant. BIG MISTAKE ON OUR PART... This was downright horrible. Nothing was Italian about it and even if you renamed it internationally cuisine in lieu of Italian, it still would have been considered bad news. After dinner, we walked a block away and got tacos... good tacos * * * OVERALL GROUNDS * * * A large hotel building with plenty of what-to-do within the building and around the pool area... in addition to the booze and food, they do have various entertainment such as dance shows in the lounge area in the evening and poolside games throughout the day. The hotel and rooms are well decorated and the hotel is very clean. The staff is friendly and helpful and most will go out of their way to make you happy, whether that be getting extra towels delivered to the room to bringing frozen drinks to the beach area when we wanted a break from the pool. The beach is not so good though... erosion has taken it's toll and the sand has washed away much of the beach to the point that the beach is lined with huge sand bags to prevent further loss. Sadly, the grilling gazebo is on it's last leg (sand is washing away from beneath the building structure). The main entrance to Gran Porto is very nice looking from Avenida Constituyentes and the landscaping is well maintained. * * * FINAL THOUGHT * * * A 5-Star resort this isn't and you shouldn't be expecting one if that is what you are seeking... but 3-Stars is not too shabby. After all, our stay was enjoyable and memorable.

Our 2nd trip with them and will gladly book again in the future. This time we tried the ancestral…read morewaters tour for a unique Valentine's Day. Our guide Marcos (we requested since we had him on our 1st tour) is always friendly, outgoing, helpful and full of knowledge. We love how personalized this tour was, it was only me and my beautiful wife, along with Marcos and Don Phil. We stared the day with Don Phil, a Mayan, who performed a cleansing ritual to protect us on our travels. Though I couldn't understand the Mayan language I could feel the message and positive energy. We not only asked for protection in our travels but he renewed our vows as we were celebrating 18 years of marriage. Super cool and thankful for the honoring of native traditions and including us in blessings. Exploring amazing cavern cenotes in a closed system with stalagmites and stalactites everywhere, with varying sizes and types is a spectacular experience. Marcos is able to share so much detailed information and history, incorporating a focus on preservation and respect of the natural treasures. We toured 3 different cenotes, got amazing photos, and ended the day with a killer, authentic, home cooked meal (chicken en mole and beef chile relleno). I would not hesitate returning as these guys have always been my number one recommendation, since our 1st time with them in 2021.

I loved this Cenote tour, it was so memorable and it will forever be a beautiful memory. We rode…read moreour bikes to 3 different cenotes. If you can't ride a bike you can drive there too. They took beautiful pictures and videos of us and the package was very affordable. We had great under water pics and videos. It was 7 girls in total and we all loved the experience. The tour guys were amazing and they taught some of the girls how to swim. The food was amazing also and we loved hearing Mayan stories from Marvin. Everything was great I really recommend this tour. Marvin , Osbaldo and the Bejil-Ha team were the best, thank you