We stayed here on an RCI exchange. I spent some time trying to figure out what this property really was since some of the reviews did not at all sound like what I was seeing on the Maya Sea Garden Website. OK - here's the deal. Mayan Sea Garden is one of three hotels on the Mayan Groups Property in Acapulco. Almost all of the photos you will see on their website are of the Mayan Palace. I was told by RCI that we could use all the facilities of the various properties, but that was not true. (i think this was a recent change). When we checked in, we were made to wear a colored wrist band (think hospital tag) to identify us (actually brand us as second class citizens) and restrict us from using the pool at the Palace. (we used it anyway and no one really seemed to care) The Palace is happy to let you use anything that costs money!

The Sea Garden was actually pretty nice, once we got over the notion that we were branded (banded). The time share rep called the next day to offer us the normal sales tour and added that if we did the tour we would be able to use the Palace pool (This is why I think they restricted it so they could use it as leverage) By the way, this was a pretty lame incentive since we had just come from Cabo San Lucas where we were offered $200 in food and beverage to do one of those sales things.

The Sea Garden - when not compared to the Palace - is a pretty nice place. They have a reasonable pool, and the condos are good size, a decent view of the pool and grounds, and average interior amenities, you have to cross the street and walk 100 yards to the beach club and the beach, but we never minded. The beach is fine, the water shallow with lots of breakers, and nice little pool and beach club and of course the ubiquitous beach sellers. The problem is that is is so far out of Acapulco that it costs a small fortune and an hour of time to get into Acapulco to do or see anything. It might as well have been Orlando with a beach. The staff were pleasant and helpful and for a few pesos will go out of their way to help with anything you need. The one good thing is that there are a couple of huge grocery stores nearby (taxi ride). Try the MEGA instead of WalMart.

If you are going to bother visiting Acapulco, then either stay in the in Gold Coast or the old town... not in this new "Diamond Coast" area. It has nothing to do with Mexico!

My husband and I were lucky enough to be gifted a week at this resort for our honeymoon. Our flight arrived in Acapulco at 11:00 am, but check in at the resort is not until 5. They allowed us to check in and store our luggage and use the pool facilities until our room was ready at 3:00. The main pool area was sparkly clean. We counted someone skimming the surface about every 30 minutes. We really liked the fact that the whole Mayan resort recycled. The staff was very friendly and everyone spoke at least enough english and us enough spanish to be able to get by. We did do the timeshare presentation (husband said yes before I had an oppurtunity to say no). But we were able to have a delicious breakfast at Cafe del Lago at the Grand Mayan. The timeshare talk was about 2 hours long and they really put pressure on you but in the end it was worth it because we then got passes to use the Grand Mayan pool for the week. This beautiful pool (which is in the Guiness Book of World Records for the longest pool) is definetly worth it. We loved being able to sit at the pool and here the ocean. This is also possible at the Sea Garden's beach pool, but because this pool is only about 3 feet deep, it was filled with children! Although this pool offered more shade to my pale Irish husband than the main Sea Garden pool. We ate at Rumm-ba three times, twice for dinner and once for lunch. The crispy chicken tacos were yummy as well as their lemonade. The service was excellent. We ate at the Grand Mayan's Bakal twice for dinner, again the service was impressive, although the food was nothing exceptional. We swam with dolphins, which was a lifelong dream of my husband's. It was really nice, but not quite worth the $120 per person for an hour. We contacted taxi driver Sebastian Hernedez, as many people recomended. He pciked us up promptly at the airport and took us to Mega, a grocery store, before we went to the Sea Garden. We also contracted him to take us on a city tour ($85 for both of us, Sea Garden charges $95 per person). He took us to the Chapel of Peace, what a beuatiful view, Diego Rivera's mural, to the cliff divers, Los Flamingo's hotel and to a mexican market. While at first I was excited about the market area, it became quickly apparent that, Sebastain was friendly with the sellers and they were all quite persistant about trying to make us buy things. I did find two silver bracelets that I liked a lot and I did end up buying them, but I still feel like I was ripped off. He did take us to an absolutely amazing mexican restaraunt, La Tortuga. There was even a strolling guitar player. The pina colada's had real pieces of coconut in them and the food was incredible. But back tot he Sea Garden. The room was very clean and we had a very sweet housekeeper. They provide turndown service every night and even leave two hershey kisses on your pillow. The bed was comfortable and the sheets were soft. The AC worked well and the water was safe to drink from the tap, although they do provide one free bottle of water (subsequent bottles will be charged to the room). The entire resort was spotless, very impressive for a resort this size. Oxxo convience store is just down from the Sea Garden (less than a five minute walk), while this store is less expensive than the Sun Market across the street from the Sea Garden, they only take pesos, no credit cards and their selection is pretty limited. The Sun Market had a large selection of items, from alcohol, to toiletries, to reading material (in english) to snack foods and things like macaroni and cheese. We felt like it was worth the price for the better selection. My husband and I had a wonderful time and we would love to be able to visit the Sea Garden again in the future.

My husband and I recently stayed at the Mayan Sea Gardens through an RCI exchange. the resort itself was beautiful. There were landscapers there everyday tending to the grounds. It is what I would call the "little sister" of the larger resorts, the Grand Mayan and Mayan Palace. Sea Garden's rooms were quaint enough and spacious. The furniture was old and outdated, but there was maid service everyday and it was kept spotless. My main gripe about the room was that it didn't have a balcony. My husband thought the room was too hot, but I was comfortable. Keeping the curtains closed helps to keep the sun out. I do agree that I think it is ridiculous that we were not able to use the facilities at the main resort without first attending their timeshare tour. (It doesn't last 90 minutes.) If you do plan to attend, make sure you tell them straight up that you are not interested and only want to use the facilities, which are worth 2 hours wasted time. (Although, I still think it is not the way to treat RCI members.)

Once we got through the timeshare mess, we had a fabulous time there, it was the most enjoyable vacation we have taken in the last 13 years. We also used a local driver for most of our stay there, his name is Benjamin Alarcon. He was great. He was a bit more expensive than the taxis in front of the hotel, but not by too much, and it was worth it. He speaks perfect english and grew up in Acapulco so he knows everything about it. He keeps his cars nice and very well kept. He also keeps the air running no matter how long the cab ride. I also liked that he wasn't pushy, trying to get us to schedule our next excursion. He gave us his card and let us call the shots. He was very friendly and we plan on returning next year and we will certainly be calling on him again. I can't say enough about him! If you are planning a trip I would advise you to email him a week or so before you go and get him to pick you up at the airport and take you to wal mart or mega to do some quick shopping for your room. It is worth it. His email address is benjamin_alarcon@yahoo.com You won't be disappointed.

My family LOVED Acapulco. Even though June and July are part of the rainy season, it only seems to rain at night in Acapulco (During the day, the difference in temperature from the land to the sea pushes the rain out to sea and it only comes to the coast when the land cools down at night, or something like that!). The daily temp. was about 85 with a constant cooler breeze coming off the ocean. The only tine the heat bothered us was when we walked along the traffic-busy main road in Acapulco and the high-rise buildings blocked the breeze. June has very few tourists, so we were pampered wherever we went.

The Sea Garden was a good home base for our family. Check in was easy and quick, and after the first day, the staff often greeted us by name. We had booked two one-bedroom units which they happily switched for a 2-bedroom unit when they realized that we needed to have our children in a connecting room. The grounds crew worked continuously to keep every bush and pathway neatly trimmed and lovely, and someone was always cleaning the pool. The Rumm-Bah restaurant has excellent Italian food for dinner and very nice international and Mexican breakfast/lunch. The wait-staff were great.

The unit was simple in decor. The couches and furnishings were attractive, simple, clean, and not showing wear. The marble floor was cool, and clean. Daily maid service and towels change was thorough. We didn't cook, so the small under-cabinet refrigerator was sufficient, but it won’t hold a lot of food. I've enjoyed units that were more luxuriously decorated, but nothing we needed was lacking. The larger pool is near the rooms across a foot bridge covered with bouganvilla; the other pool is a short walk across the parking lot at the beach—it is smaller but enjoys a great ocean breeze.

The Mayan Sea Garden is the little sister to the luxurious, expensive, and a bit overwhelming Mayan Palace and Grand Mayan. Sea Garden guests can use the restaurants (Bakal is very good, a bit pricier than Rumm-bah) and beach at the other Mayans. If you want to use the pool and the water park, which are quite nice, you will have to sit through the timeshare presentation. The free breakfast was absolutely fabulous. The sales pitch was pretty strong, but we firmly said no and did not feel beat up.

Sebastián Hernandez:
Based on so many positive recommendations from other reviewers, we contacted Sebastian in advance [--]so that he was there to pick us up at the airport. How wonderful to be able to walk by all of the salespeople and taxi drivers by saying, “I’m meeting someone.” I have vacationed in Mexico on five different trips to five different cities, and this is the first time that I have engaged a driver. I hope I can find others like Sebastian in the future. First, I can remember several miserably hot car rides from the airport, with part of my luggage on my lap. Not with Sebastian. He uses the air conditioning all the time and has plenty of room for luggage in the trunk in his 4-door car with a luggage rack on top. If you have a large group or need extra space, he has a Suburban available.

Planning our week was easy because Sebastian speaks lovely English. My husband and daughters and I told him what interested us; we got ideas from him and others; and we set our own schedule a day or two at a time. Sebastian was always on time, friendly, and helpful.

Sebastian arranged for us to go swim with the dolphins. (This was fabulous!! Go for the whole hour—the second 30 minutes are the best!) and enjoy the aqua park CICI. The price was the same as the resort’s “discount” but the schedule was at our choice.

The Acapulco tour at the hotel was $95 per person. Sebastian customized our tour to exactly what we were interested in and only charged $90 for all four of us. He was happy to start at 3:00 in the afternoon, answered every question I came up with, took us to the Flamingo for their famous sunset overlook, gave us the history of Diego Rivera’s mural, walked around the Zocalo with us, and ended by helping us choose a restaurant. (El Cabrito was very authentic, clean, delicious, and low priced!) Plus, I didn’t have to get on a bus! At the Church of Peace, Sebastian told us the history of the location and guided us through the inspiring setting. Unlike a taxi driver, he did not leave us at the entrance, so our visit was rich with local information.

Another highlight of our trip included a wonderful dinner at Las Tortugas. The combination plate didn’t have exactly what my husband wanted, so they made a special combo at no extra charge. When I complemented the spicy pickled vegetables, Rufino brought me paper and gave me the detailed recipe. We felt like honored guests, and the food was fabulous! Don’t leave without coconut ice cream!

One of the best days of our two-week trip was a trip to Taxco with Sebastian. We left at 6:30 in the morning and stopped at a small restaurant for breakfast. Twice I was oohing and aaahing at the scenery so much that Sebastian pulled over for me to get out and take pictures. As we drove, Sebastian told us about the countryside and answered lots of questions about local weather, plants, customs, and culture. In Taxco, he took us to 3 specific jewelers and I poked into a few others on the way. We met silversmiths who told us about their craft, showed us pictures of the mine, and the prices were about 30% of the prices in Acapulco. Again, I’ve shopped for jewelry in Mexico many times, and the jewelers that Sebastian chose were classy and respectful. None of the heavy sell or chasing you out in the street. We came and went on my schedule. Sebastian also walked around the town with us, encouraged us to stop to explore other vendors, showed us around the local market ,and provided a detailed tour inside the church. When I fell in love with a 3-foot tall woven basket as we were walking, Sebastian negotiated a great price and carried it back to his car for me. We ate a late Mexican lunch with a fabulous view. We returned to our hotel at 6:00 after a delightful conversation on the ride back.

Sebastian is more than a taxi driver. He is also a tour guide and a friend in Acapulco [--]. ( If you go back in the reviews for this hotel, you’ll find him mentioned in at least a dozen. I only saw one negative comment, and I disagree!) Riding with Sebastian is like having a cousin in town who loves his city and wants you to enjoy it as much as he does. His English is great; his prices are reasonable; his air conditioned car is much better than the blue and white taxis; and he is a kind, honest man.