Fun & Allergy Friendly Vacation for Family by Maggie May

Fun accessibility and allergy friendly vacation for family!”
4 of 5 starsReviewed yesterdayNEW
Our family of 3 visited the White Sands resort August 29th through September 7th. This is a fairly long and detailed trip report which I will break down into appropriate sections but a little context will hopefully be helpful to deciding whether or not my report applies to your situation. My husband is a former pastry chef who is a leg amputee so has some applicable feedback on the food and on accessibility. I am a well-traveled celiac, as is our 5 year old daughter who traveled with us.

Before I get started, I want to quickly address some of the reports out there that complain about the resort not having one thing or another (poolside food service, room service), too much seaweed, being too far away from the airport, mosquitoes, etc. If you have access to the internet (which you obviously do if you are on Trip Advisor writing a review), you have no excuse for complaining about things you could have easily learned about with a simple Google search. People should be reviewing the resort on things that they can control, like the service or the food quality. Okay rant over…now for the review:

Booking/pre-travel – we booked our vacation with Westjet Vacations (Canadian) noting our room preferences, my husband’s disability and the celiac/gluten issue. As we decided to take our own booked private transport, we contacted Westjet directly and advised them that we would not need their transport so they could cancel that portion for us. They were able to do so, which meant that their transfer service wouldn’t be waiting around for us at the airport wondering where we had gone off to. If you take private, non-included transport, please do your tour company and your fellow travellers a favour and advise the charter/travel company of it in advance so they don’t wait around for you, thereby delaying the start of someone’s vacation. I also, on the suggestion of a few Grand Palladium related sites, sent an email to the resort the week before confirming our requests for room preferences, as well as asking about info regarding their allergy program to deal with mine and my daughter’s celiac. When I didn’t hear back from them like I normally do, I went onto one of the associated Facebook pages and asked a question regarding response time. One of the replies I got was from Olga, the Director in their reservations department who took it upon herself to assist me and ensure that our request information was in the system. Bonus points to the resort for keeping involved in various social media sites to assist their customers.

Airport Transfer – We booked with AGI. Fast, friendly efficient! Further report on this company and their service will be posted on their TA site.

Check In – We checked in around 7pm which was right at dusk. It’s currently the rainy season and it had rained a couple of days before our arrival. My stupidity I didn’t put bug spray on before I got out of the transfer van. It was the perfect storm of me becoming mosquito food. I got seven bites within the 15 minutes I was there to check in. No worries, learned for next time. Check in was friendly and efficient. No welcome drink or towels, but they also didn’t know we were coming in with private transport and would be there significantly earlier than others coming by the Westjet transfer. We did witness them bring out drinks to buses coming in later in the week. Only one issue I had with check in is that the clerk checking me in handed off my documentation and keys to the Travel Club representative (noting him as a concierge). This wasn’t my first time at the resort so I knew about the Travel Club and wasn’t interested. I told him so, letting him know that I didn’t need any assistance, that I was very familiar with the resort and with its amenities and he handed me my stuff and sent us on our way. This was one of only a few issues I had with the resort. I know for a fact that this practice is not supposed to happen and that my keys and info were supposed to be given to me directly, with the option of speaking with the Travel Club rep being up to me. GP, please monitor your check in personnel better for this. The bell boys had us on our way to the room within minutes and we were able to get into dinner before it even got busy. On one side note, my daughter in her excitement left her much loved teddy bear on a seat in the reception area and didn’t realize that she had put it down until we were just about to head off to the room. A quick trip to reception and they found it in the lost and found for her and were great about getting it back to her.

Room – We were in White Sands villa 56 on the second floor, as requested. This location was brilliant because it was 30 seconds to the beach (right near Punta Emilia) and the White Sands pool. Four minutes away from the White Sands lobby in one direction or the Colonial/Kantenah pool and amenities in the other direction. A 7 minute walk to the spa. Room was cleaned very nicely by Norma, with towel animals almost every night on my daughter’s bed. We had booked a suite so we had a separate bedroom and the pull out couch was made up for our daughter. Separate air conditioning and fans in each room allowed us to ensure everyone was comfortable. Room was made up each day except for our last full day at the resort, but we had plenty of towels and it was still very clean so we weren’t worried. In room safe was large enough to house a Microsoft Surface Pro 3, both of our wallets, our GoPro, our Canon DSLR camera and lenses, a Galaxy tab and my pricey evening purse. Point being, plenty big! Mini fridge was refilled with lots of water and pop every day and starting on the second day they also started filling it with gluten free beer as per my request to them (you have to ask for it but it is available). Rooms look a little dated, but not anything I would complain about and we spent so little of our time in our rooms that it wasn’t an issue.

PRO TIP – bring some kind of power bar if you are bringing lots of stuff that needs to recharge. We brought a power centre with four plugs plus two USB charger spots as well. Worked great. In a suite there are three plugs available. One in the living area above the desk, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom. They are all single 3 prong plugs.

Pools – Pools were never really crowded on either side of the property. We usually spent half a day on either side before switching to the other. Time spent on the Colonial/Kantenah side was spent in the kid’s water park which had four large slides and a selection of smaller ones. Depth couldn’t have been more than a foot and a half at its deepest. Most of the time there was a staff member monitoring the slide areas to ensure kids weren’t climbing the slides the wrong way or roughhousing with smaller kids around. We didn’t spend much time in the larger pool on that side because it was just too deep for us at around 5’2” deep (hubby and I are both 5’5”). White sands pool was closer to 4’8”. Both pools had various ‘jacuzzi’ sections as well as zero entry areas. We never had a problem getting loungers at any of the pools and during my early morning walks I never once saw any towel games being played. Towel service was based on cards (don’t lose your towel cards you have to return them at check out) and we were able to exchange towels multiple times a day if we needed to. Drink service was available by both pools. On that note I’d like to give mad props to Diego at the White Sands pool. I have never, until this trip, seen a man RUNNING with a tray FULL (8-12 drinks) of drinks around a pool before. Once he knew what we were drinking, before we would get to the end of one drink, another would be there to replace it! There were also ice cream carts which went around throughout the day handing out popsicles and ice cream bars, which was a nice touch especially for the kids.

Bars – So many bars across the property. Mostly great service at all of them. The only time we had any issues with service was during our last few days there when a large group of college aged kids descended on the resort and the pool bars were jammed 5 people deep. A quick walk to the bars just outside the pool to get drinks rectified that quickly. Daniel at the White Sands pool/La Laguna bar was phenomenal throughout the week and Maria, the waitress at the Colonial lobby bar was also so sweet, kind and took great care of us.

PRO TIP – Order a pineapple mojito. Do it early in your trip. Then come back here and thank me, because you will!

Food – Food is clearly a subjective thing to review because everyone’s tastes are different but I can’t for the life of me figure out people who can’t find something to eat. My choices were restricted due to my celiac and I still found plenty to eat for every single meal. Breakfasts at all buffets had your standard fare, an omelet station and then some additional daily changing items. We found the breakfast setup at the Tika and La Hacienda buffets on the Colonial/Kantenah side a little better quality with interesting selection. I enjoyed nice warmed tortilla each morning in place of toast and really loved the ham they had out most mornings.

There was usually some form of fajita mix (meat with mixed peppers and onions) which I suspect may have been made with roasted meats left over from the previous night. Do I have an issue with this? Not at all. When you’re cooking a buffet for large masses, things like roasts and roast chickens will always have more made than gets eaten. As long a food handling is safe (we thought so, no problems here) then why would you waste that meat if you could repurpose it to another tasty dish. Seeing people complain about this drives me nuts. You wouldn’t waste food at home, don’t expect them to do it there.

Lactose free and soy milk were all easily available as well. As were the makings for mimosas and Bloody Mary/Caesars.

Lunches were mostly eaten at the poolside buffets. Good selection with some items changing daily. Meat and fish grilled to order was fantastic (try the grouper). Really loved the grouper and the salmon. Chefs were great about making gluten free fries for my daughter or getting me basic white rice for her when asked for it. There was always a great soups and salads available along with the standard burger, dogs and fries fare.

We only tried two a la carte restaurants while we were there, La Adelita (Mexican) and Punta Emilia (Fish/Seafood). La Adelita was great. Had the prawns which were yummy. Hubby had the fajitas and loved them. Daughter had the gluten free pizza which was fresh and yummy! Punta Emilia’s was also a great dinner. We arrived just before sunset so were able to enjoy watching the water. Loved the garlic prawn and the prawn cocktail appetizers and we had the grilled fish plate which was huge and very well done (except for the mussels…should just take it off that plate). Most other nights we ate at one of the three buffet restaurants around the resort. Kabah (Riviera side) at the time of our vacation was still doing the standard rotation. We were there for Spanish night and Mexican night. Both had great selection. If someone at GP wants to get me the recipe for the garlic chicken from the Spanish buffet, I would be forever grateful because it was absolutely delicious. We were happy to try the new dinner buffets at the Tikal and La Hacienda restaurants. We went back to La Hacienda for their Brazilian barbeque and Spanish tapas setup three different nights. The food at these new buffets was fantastic!! The only night we felt that the food wasn’t up to par was our last night at the resort. We went to La Hacienda and they must have had the B team on because I ended up with underdone chicken, stale gluten free bread and only one gluten free brownie for two people. I was able to get sparking wine at most meals without any problem!

PRO TIP – Try the new pastries and desserts at La Hacienda and Tikal. My hubby was a pastry chef up until a few years ago. One thing he hates about most desserts in Canada and the US is how overly sweet they are. All chocolate used in any of the desserts he had was dark chocolate, which ensured that they weren’t overly sweet. He found the same was true of pretty much all of the desserts which was much appreciated.

PRO TIP 2 – If you like things spicier or more flavourful, look for the various sauces and toppings which are around ALL buffets for ALL meals. You can spice things up and make things more flavorful as you like. Not sure what it tastes like, put a dab on your plate rim and try it from there. Do not sniff or try and lick from the shared serving spoon (yah I’m looking at you twenty something dudebro who couldn’t be bothered to dress for dinner and just put a t-shirt on over your dried swim trunks). There is also a selection of flavored olive oils.

Spa – Spa reps circulate around the pool with deals. These deals are often negotiable to deeper discounts. 80 minute relaxation massage was out of this world and the service I got from everyone outside of the front desk (man those ladies were snobby – everyone in white however was great) was fantastic. Hydrotherapy and quiet (adults only) pool are not to be missed and are included if you get a spa service (or pay a small fee for access). Be warned this area is adults only…I saw a group of ladies get turned away because they brought a teen with them.

POP/Shows – We only made it to the Pirate show at the Colonial theatre. Great show for the kids with the Raggs group! Our daughter loved it and loved getting on stage and dancing with other kids.

More Tips & Tricks –

DO tip these hard working service staff. While most of our packages say tip is included, a little extra here and there goes a long way and is always much appreciated by those receiving it.

DO try and get around the whole of the resort. Move around to different pools and areas of the beach to get a feel for it. You may still not get to every spot on this large property (I have yet to head out to the Salt Water pool or any of the hidden pools on the Colonial/Kantenah side).

DO visit Benito and his son Benito who do fantastic carvings into pesos. They can carve pretty much any kind of design into a peso for use on a necklace, keychain, etc. They can usually be found during market nights outside the Kabah buffet in the Riviera section.

DO go to the lobbies if it is a rainy day. They have rainy day games and fun set up during those times to keep everyone busy.

DO take at least one ride on the pontoon boat that travels between various stops on the Riviera/White Sands side.

DON’T fret about the weather or the sargassum, it’s pretty hard not to have a good time.

DON’T forget to bring sunblock and bug spray. You’ll definitely need both and they are both quite expensive on site.

DON’t expect to catch a train quickly from lobby to lobby or lobby to villa during peak times such as the time between the first show ending at the Colonial/start of show at Riviera, after the Riviera show is over or after the Disco closes. It’s a gong show at that time and even during low season it will take you at least a half hour to get back to your room.

DO have a great time and spend some time getting to know your fellow travelers and the staff. It will make your vacation that much more fun!

Room Tip: Villas 56, 57 & 58 are very central in the property, close to beach, pools and easy walk to rest…