We stayed at the Great Parnassus July 3, 2008 to July 9, 2008. We had a great Lagoon view from the 11th floor. Our garden tub out on the balcony didn't work but the balcony was large and nice. The bed was very firm alomos hard...after staying at other hotels I was expecting the stocked in room bar to be more than couple of cans of pepsi, apple juice and beer. (I'm not a beer drinker). Service was very very slow! it took for ever to get a drink unless you went to get it yourself. The air condition wasnt working for 2 days and when we called the front desk we were told it would be running in couple hrs each time. That didn't happen. There was 12 of us that went on this trip and we had 1 family suite that never got any soap, shampoo or anything. The family suite also didn't have a fridge. When room survice was called and we asked for drinks one day we were told that we can get it ourself. Staff was not very friendly. Also we had 2 in our party get food poisinging and spent a whole day in bed. Ten out of the 12 of us was of age to drink so our 18yr olds had a great time. Drinks are very very weak. Over all it was just an ok vacation.

First let me start by saying, I was a little nervous about staying at the GP after reading the horrible reviews people have left (just like many of you). I helped my brother-in-law plan a vacation for 15 people for his wife’s 40th birthday celebration. We checked into many different options and since he wanted all the kids to be included, I steered him towards the GP.

I apologize in advance for the length of this review. I feel that all these things are important to ease your mind about upcoming travels to GP.

Our group consisted of 8 adults and 7 kids and let me tell you what a blast we had at the GP resort.

They have constant activities for the kids to get involved with and if they are a little shy they make them feel right at home. Our kids had a blast playing in the mini golf tournament, beach soccer, water basketball, beach baseball and many other outdoor activities. As far as the indoor activities, they had a blast going to Atlantis to join in the Karaoke fun, the shows were fun and the kids would tell us when it was getting close to 9 PM so we didn’t miss a show and they had a couple of DISCO’s while we were there. The staff is great at getting the kids involved in the shows. Oh yes… let’s not for get the water slides and the pirate ship… those were a HUGE hit for our group.

Activities for adults were great too… the guys had fun playing water polo (even though they lost) and Tequila Volleyball. The women received ‘free’ Salsa lessons from Carlos… not only is he cute, he is a great dancer (not that I remember any of the steps now).

During our trip, it rained the last day we were there. Edy and Erick brought the party inside the lobby and played games with the kids (and adults) to pass the time. I thought that was really nice.

The hotel itself is really nice. By far it was the most beautiful place I have ever stayed at! The maintenance staff was always touching up something with paint or replacing things that might have lived out their useful life. Something that I noticed was that this resort is massive and it takes a lot to keep up with the maintenance. Yes, you will see some chipped paint around but it’s not like described in previous review. Some of these reviews made it sound like they didn’t care about the appearance of the resort which is totally untrue!

Our room was amazing, we had and even numbered room right next to the Hilton and it was just fine. Our kids thought they were in heaven. The view was amazing! We didn’t have any trouble with noise except for one night and it was not the GP causing the noise. The Hilton had hired some workers to clean up some metal and they were the one’s making all the noise. I think the Hilton should have more consideration for its ‘neighbor” and limit the hours of their construction. I don’t understand how the noise that is caused by the Hilton is the GP’s fault.

The Food!... WOW! What a selection/variety! There is something for everyone. We never had bad service or food while visiting. If you can’t find something you like there is a huge problem. We ate at the buffet, Samari, Portofinos, Manhatten and had room service. My husband gained a few lbs while there… he ate very well. He was in heaven along with my 8 year old son. By the way, they have excellent food at the pool too. The best chicken tenders I have ever tasted.

The housekeeping staff is always cleaning something. You couldn’t go from lobby to your room without running into someone with a mop, washing a window or picking up trash. The resort was very, very clean compared to other places I have stayed.

The elevators… yes the elevators can be a little slow by the entrance to the pool but if you walk about 20 ft to one of the other sets of elevators… not much of a wait at all. Hmmm… Lazy???

The staff… they are great always smiling, greeting you, asking if you need assistance, etc. They work very long hours and get very few days off. They appreciate some tipping but we didn’t go overboard. We tipped how we felt the service was given and didn’t have any trouble at all. I never ran into a staff member that was rude.

Things to do... go to Aqua World for free water activities (they also have activities that cost money). Check out Senor Frogs... kids party was a blast! My kids are still talking about it. We also went to Xcaret and it was nice.

Last but not least, the beach… yes the beach is rocky but you can walk a short piece in either direction and find nice beach area to enjoy.

A vacation is what you make it… if you go into it with a bad attitude you will find things wrong no matter where you go.

Bottom line… I don’t think we could have possible stayed at the same resort as all these other people that left negative feedback (I don’t know where they stayed). One thing I know for sure, we stayed at the Great Parnassus and had a great time!


IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION OR ASK SPECIFIC QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME.

Hello,
This was our first trip to Cancun. We stayed at the Great Parnassus July 3-10th. There were 6 people on our trip. My husband, 3 children ages 11, 6, and 3, my mother-in-law, and myself. My husband and I primarily chose this resort because we wanted a kids club that would include our 3 year old. (Many of the resorts have kids clubs that are from 4-12 years of age.) I continually read the reviews on trip advisor before we left. The reviews were and continue to be of various opinions. Here are some of my thoughts...
1. If you have children, the kids club here is WONDERFUL!! The staff is great. They are hard working young women and men who seem to truly enjoy working with the kids. All three of my children loved spending time there.
2. We all enjoyed the food. My son and I are "picky eaters." However, I can say that we all could find food to eat at all the restaurants. The food was good. We ate most of our meals at the Mangus Food Court-quick and easy. We also liked the food we got at the sit down places-Portofino, Manhattan, and Big Ben. The food at the main pool was good too-great chicken.
3. I was very happy with our rooms. We had deluxe ocean view rooms side by side, odd numbered on the sixth floor. Our rooms were very spacious. I loved the 2 closet areas. The bathroom with separate toliet area was a plus. Our room was always clean and well stocked with water and towels. (We did talk with the maid on our first day and tipped her well each day.) A refrigerator would have been very nice. However, I understand you can get this with a club or suite room.
4. The pools were very nice. My children loved the 2 pools in the kids club area as well as the main pool. My husband and I spent 2 afternoons at the adults only pool on the 2nd floor after dropping our kids off at the kids club. The beach is rocky and the waves were rough. However, you can still walk and play along the beach.
5. There were a a few problems with our hotel stay. We lost use of water for a few hours on 2 separate occassions. (It really upset me at the time, however, it was short lived and I got over it.) Also, if I had to pick one thing that I did not like about this hotel, it was the air conditioning in the main areas of the hotel. They need more!! After coming in from the hot sun, I would like to come into a cool area. This was not the case. The main areas including the elevators were very warm. (My room was always well air conditioned.)
All in all, we were happy with our stay. The staff was friendly and helpful. I just want to add that being that this was our first trip to Cancun, we did do some sight seeing. We were very pleased with Brant Entertainment (Cancun Discounts). We took a private express to Xcaret and Chitzen Itza. The trip to Isla Mujeres on the Royal Garrafon was terrific. We all enjoyed swimming with dolpins here.
I hope this was helpful!

While the Great Parnassus Hotel itself was not too bad in terms of overall cleanliness, the customer service was very poor. We considered ourselves extremely fortunate to have a room with a functioning AC and our maid service was decent. 9 out of 10 people we spoke to staying at the hotel were not so fortunate and complained of water leaking into their rooms, no maid service for days, and malfunctioning plumbing. These issues take only part in this poor review. The Great Parnassus is better suited for spring break then family or couples. The atrium is extremely loud at all hours of the night and the noise easily permeates sleeping areas. We also found that there was very little air conditioning throughout the hotel and the main dining area (Magnus) was not air conditioned at all so you can expect to eat in a muggy tropical environment. Also the food is a one on a scale of one to ten. The only reasonable food was in the Samurai restaurant and it was far from anything you would expect from a fine dining experience. Service was spotty at best and I felt most times an undertone of resentment from the Mexican people. These people want your money and will rip you off at every opportunity but don’t expect much in terms of courtesy. The people from the Hotel are rude as well. You are issued a wrist band and some towel cards. What they don’t tell you is that they charge a $100 (each) fine if you lose them. These charges are ridiculous and totally shameless. If you are going to Cancun for the beaches then you are going to be extremely disappointed because the beaches are all rocky and very dangerous. The water is beautiful but there is almost no sand and huge rocks preventing swimming in the water. In summary I don’t recommend Great Parnassus for the following reasons, poor service, poor food quality, rocks on the beach, angry Mexicans, bad Hotel layout (the kids area is opposite the pools?), little air conditioning, and don’t be surprised if they serve your kids alcohol, they served my 13 year old. This is not a good quality vacation resort.