We stayed at the Mayan Palace for 2 weeks and had a great time. We were lucky to get a room on the 7th floor with an ocean view and no construction noise. Make sure you ask for a room with the number 6 or 746 - 58 because those are the semi-ocean view rooms.
Some people hired drivers, but we just walked downhill into the street and bargained with the cab drivers, eg. 15 $ to old town, 3 $ to Walmart. We found other couples to share a taxi with and one time took the yellow airconditioned bus for 55 Pesos=0.55 cents from the zocalo(old town) to the other Walmart close to the convention center. From there we took a cab for 10 $ home.
We had a wonderful dinner at the Olvida restaurant above the beach (pricey) and enjoyed the nice view at Linda Vista . The seafood in simple setting in Puerto Marques and Barra Vieja is good and inexpensive. Avoid the salad - no problem getting sick!
When we were at the Zocalo in old town a so-called city guide in white clothes with a name tag around his neck (probably bought!) lured us away from the stores and restaurants there and walked us to the so called "flea market" (artisian market), where the food was terrible and everybody wanted to sell us something. When we said good bye to the "guide" called Issis he still followed us. The merchants told us that prices would be cheaper if we were without a guide. So figure : no city emplyee but working for comission meaning higher prices for us! Don't fall for that. The good thing was that on the way to the flea market you will find some nice stores, especially shoe stores that have good clothes etc. at local prices. By the way, the people working at the Mayan palace make 5 - 8 $ a day!!! And those people can read and write and speak English!
The beach and pools were just wonderful and the service very good. We enjoyed the buttet at Bakal, but were disappointed by the Cuban and Mexican show with open bar for 50 $ a person. The mojito was bad, but wine pretty good. Instead of show girls from Havana some Mexican girls tried to look Cuban - it is just not the same.
I was disappointed that at this Mayan Palace they did not let me use my air matress in the pool. Some people were upset that coolers are not allowed. We have a small one that we hide in our back pack - no problem!!!!If you order drinks all day ..... too expensive.

We were at Mayan Palace Acapulco the week of 12 April 2008. as many have said, there was construction, as they are rebuilding the 2 room Mayan Palace facility. I had 2 single bedroom units in the 1247, 1248 area. the rooms were fairly tight, compared to the Nuevo Vallarta Mayan Palace. Service was good. Victor at the Bakal restaurant was the guy to have.
As others say, Angel Flores is the man when it comes to a good english speaking guide/ driver. he gave us a truly great city tour, as well as transit to and from the hotel with a lot (6 or more bags for 5 of us). He brought us to some places that he thought were great and showed that he really cared about his city and its heritage.
If you see the cliff divers. you can either watch from a viewing area, or from the restaurant or a Bar. I would advise not eating the food at the restaurant. it was not very good for the price. for us, it worked as we have 2 little boys and sitting down at the viewing area was tough for them, so a dinner thing was fun.
Mayan Palace was a beautiful facility though I would advise against it if you are used to the 2 bedroom facilities, it will be tight.
Tip: unless you are planning to eat breakfast in your room each morning, it works really well to purchase these discount coupons which only are sold on the weekend, and you have to ask for them. it makes the buffet about 10 bucks or something versus 30-40 per person. We thought it worked out well for us.
everyone was friendly at the facility, even when there was an issue with them losing our towel card and charging us 250 us dollars for 5 towels! It took some work, but my wife got it fixed and credited back.

We went to Acapulco during Easter week of 2008 (March 23 -March30). It was still considered to be winter there. The average daily temperature was about 86 degrees farenheit..There were no complaints about the weather other than some days it was too hot. There were 5 in our group. We are members of Fairfield timeshare so we put our points in RCI a year and a half ago for this exchange. We were supposed to have a two bedroom unit but when we got there we found out that they did not have them in the Palace any more. They did the next best thing by giving us 2- 1 bedroom units, rooms 643 and 645. It was good since it was two different families, my wife and myself in 643 and our daughter, her husband and our 8 year old grandaughter in 645. Before we had left home, after reading other reviews, we enlisted the services of Angel Flores, a cab driver/tour guide that resides in Acapulco that is very good. Angel met us at the airport on arrival in one of his friends Suburbans. He brought it because there was 5 of us and the luggage and to accomodate our shohpping excursion at Wal-Mart on the way to the Mayan. We were all weary since it took us about 6 hours to get there.Reserving Angel's services was a fantastic idea especially after seeing the number of taxi drivers waiting at the baggage area(like a pack of wolves). We arrived at Mayan Palace about 3 PM. They offloaded the luggage and Walmart merchandise onto a cart at the front entrance since we did not have a room assignment. We then proceeded to the check-in desk where we found that all the rooms were not cleaned yet and that they had no 2 bedroom units in the Palace. After reading other reviews, I was a little leary of what to expect. One of the chores that go along with check-in is deciding which day that you go for the free breakfast tour/talk which also includes a 10% discount on food and beverage for the week plus admission to the small water park they have on the grounds. We agreed to do that on Wednesday. That is always the highlight of my wife's visit to a timeshare location (HA-HA). My wife then made a stop at the concierge desk to inquire about the coupon book for the 6 buffet breakfasts that she had read about on some reviews. Let me tell you what a deal that is especially after seeing the cooking facilities in the room. The cost of each book was about $110 . The book had a total of 7 coupons in it. The first ticket was for the Sunday brunch or the Italian buffet on Sunday evening at the Grand Mayan. The remaining 6 coupons could be used for the full buffet breakfast($18 value) each morning or $ 15 off any other meal at one of their restaurants on location. They do not sell the meal coupon book for youngsters, they are charged $9 if they partake of the buffet. A simple breakfast of 1 pancake, an 8 ounce yogurt cup, and juice is around $10 so why not just pay 9 for the children buffet. The buffet included most things you would eat at breakfast; made to oder omelettes, made to order pancakes or french toast(they dip the french toast in a cinnamon sugar mix if you like - really good), fried eggs, bacon sausage,scrambled eggs, potatoes, yogurt, cereal, fruits, cream cheese smoked salmon, fruit juices bread for toasting, muffins,mexican specialties, hot chocolate, tea and coffee. We also decided that the buffet breakfast at the Bakal was better than the one at the Grand Mayan because of selections (no fresh french toast or pancakes). The Italian buffet was okay but nothing to get excited about. We also went to the Grand Mayan on Thursday for their prime rib nite which wasn't bad . It was one price of $30 per adult.. The grounds at the Mayan were well maintained. They were always tending to the shrubbery or any debris. The pool was long ( they call it 1 mile long), The only problem with the pool was the depth, I could not find one place in the pool where standing on my feet that I could immerse my entire bidy in the water and I am not a giant. . It wasn't until Tuesday that our grandaughter met somebody at the pool that spoke English which excited her. In all, she met about 4 children during the week that she was able to converse with. That was one of the more difficult accomplishments for the rest of us.
Angel, took us on a city tour which included the cliff diver show, the chapel of peace, some scenic overlooks and other interesting sites. It lasted about 4 hours and the price was comparable to those offered by the Mayan but more personal and more inclusive. Another tour, referred to as the jungle tour was a boat ride on some inland waterway through some heavily wooded areas which concluded with dinner on the beach watching the sunset.. The menu was limited, but my wife and I went for the red snapper meal whcih was delicious(they cooked and presented the whole fish and deboned it before serving it to us). They also had fried chicken, fried shrimp and a lobster dish. Our grand-daughter played in the ocean while waiting for the food to be done. Another day we took an all day adventure to Taxco, the silver capitol of Mexico. Only 3 of us went, our son-in-law and grandaughter opted out. We met Angel on the street at 7 AM to start the trip. After about 1 1/12 hour s of driving we stopped at this small restaurant for breakfast where everyone had scrambled eggs and bacon which was good (Angel ate on them) and then we got back in the car and drove for another 1 1/12 o 2 hours until we arrived at Taxco. We went up some narrow, bumpy street and pulled into a parking lot, Angel said , here we are.This factory is only open to wholesalers and certain tour guides. We first went on a explanatory tour of the factory which finished in the showroom. We were told that the price of the jewelry would be 50 % of the US marked price. Their was a lot of mostly silver jewelry in the showroom plus some silver figurines and objects. My wife and daughter were pleased and made some purchases. After that we went to tour some old church in the center of town and then to lunch where ordered cheese quesadilla but were served chicken quesadillas. The food was okay but the problem is that you don't take enough time to look at the menu and see something that you are familiar with. After lunch, the women were set loose to visit the shops in the square. After visiting the stores, both said that they did not see any jewelry of the sanme quality as at the factory. We then made the long trip (31/2 hours) back to Mayan Palace where we arrived at 7 PM. The Mayan also has a trip going to Taxco which works out to be about the same price but only goes to the church and the shops around the church not to the factory. We felt the factory was the better place to shop both quality wise and price wise. Signing up with Angel is very good and worthwhile, the only problem is that most of the Mayan staff does not give him any recognition and will not allow him on the Mayan property. We always had to walk out of the Mayan past the gate and he would be waiting for us. He is always on time. Some negatives : water Park admission $!2 for adults and $ 9 for children per day and you always had to have an adult go in with the child. The water park was small and did not have a lot of tubes for the lazy man's river. They did give us a 4 day - 5 person pass for the water park on Wednesday after our talk so that finished the week for us so we did not have to pay anymore. During ourtalk/tour we learned that they are ready to start constucion on a new facility. Another thing, be very careful when you are there. My grandaughter became ill the night before leaving and was sick on the plane all the way home. She would up in the emergency room a few days after arriving home and lost another week of school. My son-in-law got sick a few days after arriving there and was sick the whole time there. He is still not right two weeks and 18 pounds later. My wife and I are fine.

Bill of Chalfont

Stayed March 23 - 30th with my wife and two children. RCI exchange. Beautiful resort very lush, pools are very large and not crowded. We were able to get any seat by the pool everyday sun or shade. we were told it would be very crowded the week of easter but did not find this to be the case at all. we arrived at noon and the staff was able to get us a room immediately. we were impressed with all of the staff keeping the resort secure and clean. They were all very friendly and helpful. Beach is beautiful and not crowded you can get an umbrella or private hut with no charge. My kids love boogy boarding and the waves were actually larger then in hawaii. There were lifeguards on the beach and on waverunners. we walked down to the acapulco princess. The princess was 10 times more crowded with much smaller pools. Their beach had tents 6 rows deep and looked like a tent city. mayan palace was much less crowded and had a better pool area and beach!!!! The food by the pool was very good and reasonably priced. we also went to the italian resteraunt off the property. it was also good and reasonably priced. The only compalint was there were not very many resteraunts on the property. One of the highlights of our trip was meeting Angel Flores. We got his name from many of the reviews on this site. He met us at the airport with cold water and he and his partner roberto were fabulous. Angel took us on a city tour and got us the best seat for diner at the flamino hotel and the 7:30 cliff divers show. I highly recommend the tour with Angel must see the cross on the hill and the cliff divers. Angel also took us to wall mart twice to stock up on provisions. Angels wife was expecting any day and yet he was always vailable to us. I have already booked a return trip in 2009 and look forward to seeing Angel and Roberto. [--]