Wonderful trip to GP Colonial

[Anne]

Shared with permission by Valerie C.

We are a couple in our 60s and we had no kids with us. We’re seasoned travellers, but visiting Mexico for the first time.Our visit was in March (2025)  for two weeks in Colonial, but access to facilities at Kantenah and White Sand is included.

The wifi was very good in pretty much the whole resort. We were given bracelets upon arrival which also served as the key to our room, which we thought were very convenient.

Arrival
We arrived in the middle of the week, in the afternoon. Going through immigration was a breeze. Though it was quite busy, we didn’t wait long at all for our luggage, and got through customs without being stopped. It probably took 20 minutes from departing our plane to being out of the airport. Nobody harassed us as we had heard stories of. One guy asked if we wanted a taxi, as happens in any airport. We found our shuttle promptly. Once on the road, the drive to the resort was an hour and a half, with only one stop for the hotel located right next to the Palladium, so we didn’t waste much time. The bus driver had cold beer and water. Beer was $5US.

Upon arrival at the resort, we were able to get a meal at the buffet, despite arriving later, and the mini-bar in the room was full of cold drinks.

Accommodation
We stayed in Villa 7, on the 3rd floor. The room was spacious, with 2 double beds. We enjoyed the privacy of the balcony overlooking the trees, and a variety of visiting birds. It was quiet, and the A/C worked well. Ours worked 24/7, even when if we left the room, or had the sliding door open. Others have reported theirs shut off when the sliding door was open, or when they were gone, or sleeping (there are motion sensors).

There were a few minor issues like a burned out lightbulb, and some flaky outlets, but likely no more issues than in any other hotel room in the world.

The shower worked well with plenty of hot water any time of the day. There was a safe, a mini bar fridge, a coffee maker but not kettle (the front desk could not provide one). The issue was solved by getting boiling water at the buffets or at some bars. (Note: The water running through the room’s coffee maker is not hot enough to steep tea).

There were only sheets on the beds so we asked for blankets that were promptly delivered. The mini fridge was regularly filled and the room was cleaned when we needed it. No mustiness, only the usual tropical humidity. No mustiness either in our clothes when we came back.

Food
We had access to 3+ buffet restaurants, 8 a-la-carte restaurants and multiple bars. An extra 3 restaurants, Chic Cabaret, Bravo and Le petit chef are not included but can be booked for a fee.
There’s outside dining available at the Italian, Thai and Japanese restaurants, and the seafood restaurant is located on the beach.

Everybody has different tastes, so it’s difficult to rate the food on offer. Some food I liked my husband did not, and vice versa. In the same restaurant, I could enjoy my meal whereas my husband disliked his. In these cases, how can you say a restaurant is bad or good?

We went to all 3 buffets.
La Hacienda at Colonial (breakfast, lunch and dinner) is the biggest and is usually busy and noisy. Food that should be served hot can often be cold however.
EL Gran Azul next to the pool is outdoor and is open for breakfast and lunch.
La Dalia at White Sand (breakfast, lunch and dinner) was our favourite. The decor is fresh and inviting, and it’s airy and quiet. The food was better here, and hotter than the others.
Generally speaking, the food was decent. A few perks for me were the generous and daily offerings of freshly cut exotic fruit like mango, papaya, guava, pineapple, passion fruit… the crêpes and waffles were freshly made in front of you.

Talking with other guests, we learned that some just loved the buffets and did not care about going to the a-la-carte restaurants. Some said the food was superior to other all inclusives they went to.

We went to all 8 a-la-carte restaurants. We found booking fairly easy if you went to the concierge early. We preferred booking this way, as the app was sometimes buggy. The offerings are: Mexican, steakhouse, Japanese, Italian, Argentinian, Brazilian, Thai, Seafood.
After trying them all, we did some repeats of our favourites: Japanese, Thai and Argentinian. I would also have loved going back to the Mexican and Italian restaurants if we have had more time.

All in all, we had 11 dinners at a-la-carte restaurants and 3 dinners at buffets. As mentioned, food is a rather subjective subject, pertaining to each person’s likes and dislikes, but overall, we found the quality at the restaurants better than at the buffets.

We wished they would offer snacks around White Sand pool or the Secret pool so that we could avoid going to the buffet and take up a table for just finger food, but there are no options at all at the Secret pool. Sometimes there’s a cart with shrimp skewers, ceviche or fruit at the White Sand pool, but no options if those are not suitable. Grabbing a snack around the resort during the day was very much lacking. A hot-dog and burger cart would be welcomed.
Sometimes they set up a small buffet between the main pool and the beach, but it only seems to operate briefly, so you must be quick. We missed it both times.

Pools and beach
The beach is breezy, with little shade, with some areas with rocks and seaweed. There is a lifeguard. The water is quite shallow, so not the greatest for swimming. I had brought water shoes but ended up not needing them. There’s a bar/mini buffet and a volleyball area.

The main pool has a lifeguard, and is usually busy, with lots of families with kids.

I tried the Aquagym once but it was a disappointing experience. Barely 20 minutes in shallow water splashing around. Not the 1 hour hard core exercises I am used to back home! I didn’t go again and chose to do my own exercises by myself.

The pool at White Sand is less busy, and is shallow, with a lifeguard on duty. There’s a swim-up bar in the water and a pool table on the deck beside another small bar. There’s a large inflatable play structure for the kids for an extra fee (US$15 for the hour, US$25 for the day per person).
The White Sand pool was our preferred choice, as there were lots of options to lounge in the shade and it was pretty quiet.

The Secret Pool was also a favourite. Neither shallow nor deep, it was perfect for swimming or lounging around on floaties. It’s adults only and usually quiet. But when it gets busy it’s not as enjoyable because it’s so small. Shade was also hard to come by.

All in all, the pools are lovely, very warm, and so is the sea. Pools were at 29-30° C whenever we used them.

The grounds at the resort are beautiful. There are well maintained and full of wildlife. We saw lots of colourful birds, iguanas, coatis, agoutis, raccoons, squirrels and a kinkajou. Lots of bodies of water, fountains, and shaded paths.

It was easy to walk everywhere. Distances may seem greater on the map, but everything was close by and it took only minutes to walk from an area to another once you learned the quickest routes.
There were shuttles going everywhere all the time that could pick you up and drive you to your destination if you were tired of walking.

Staff were extremely friendly, helpful, polite and respectful. You could truly feel their dedication to providing you with the best service and experience at the resort. They were hardworking, and it was always pleasant interacting with any of them.

Whether it was in the accommodations, restaurants, maintenance, or entertainment, the operation of the resort felt like perfectly orchestrated and smooth. There’s more behind the scenes than we can imagine, making everything work well.

Apart from Aquagym mentioned above, we did mini golf, rifle shooting and archery. Don’t waste your time with mini golf as the course is not very well maintained and barely usable due to gravel, leaves, etc. It’s also very boring as most of the holes have the same design.
Rifle shooting and archery were good activities we enjoyed doing. The instructor was nice, funny and knowledgeable. You need to book in advance as there are limited slots available during the week.

We went to a few nightly entertainment activities. We enjoyed the White Party with a fire show at the beach. Taco and Tequila was a fun night with Mariachis and other Mexican performers. Casino Night allowed us to play some games with fake money.
There were also live music, bands, piano, and DJs.
At night, the Colonial lobby was busy and noisy, making it difficult or nearly impossible to have conversations.

Kantenah and White Sand lobbies had nicer decor and atmospheres, and were a better choice for spending a relaxing evening.

I would say the any real issues were not because of the resort at all but rather the guests! With a large number of guests around you, you will encounter many who are obnoxious, disrespectful and rude.

Smokers were among the worst, standing smoking on the pathways or out in their balconies. These people seem unaware that the people walking through their smoke, or trying to enjoy their balcony might not enjoy it. One guy in our block walked along the path smoking a smelly cigar, then continued up the stairs, and right into his room still puffing away. I pity the next guest staying in that room.

Another problem is entitled individuals who would rudely hog loungers all day while they are absent, or blatantly disobey the rules at the Secret (adult) pool, bringing kids, or playing loud music or ball games in the water. Also, when they are finished with the loungers, many people leave their towels in place, making the loungers look ‘reserved’.

It’s a shame that a few selfish people would ruin others’ vacations but we live in an imperfect world! In these cases, it would be good if staff would enforce the rules, but there is no enforcement at all. Guests can pretty much do what they want.

Noise levels in many inside areas were also a big issue, making it sometimes impossible to speak to each other or to understand the staff members. The restaurants are large spaces, with high ceilings and tiled floors, so the sound is amplified and bounces around. Adding rugs, carpets and acoustic tiles would help mitigate the issue. Loud guests must shout to each other even though they were sitting right beside each other, adding to the problem. Our ears were ringing lots of the times due to very high decibels, usually between 80 and 90 or more. We wish management would address this serious issue. We already had some difficulty with the Mexican accents of quieter serving staff, but this is made much worse in such noisy areas – the other patrons were louder than the waiter, and you miss much of what is said.

Something else worth mentioning is tipping. Although most all-inclusive resorts have a no tipping policy, it is not the case at Grand Palladium, so we had to regularly change large pesos bills for smaller ones in the lobbies, and always carry money with us.
Most staff graciously accepted these tips, while others expected them, even asking if we liked their service and wished to give them something. Some even gave us cards with their names, and asked us to rate them. We found this annoying. The omelette cooks in the buffets kept bills stuffed beside their grills, obviously hinting for tips. One should not need to tip multiple times in the same meal. Our tip at the end should be shared. Likewise, all the bartenders keep bills sticking out the edges of the serving mats as a hint for tips.

Around the pools, wait staff walk around taking drinks orders. It is quite noticeable that they avoid some groups of people, presumably that don’t tip enough. I thought we tipped well, but sometimes they would walk right past without stopping, then stopping at other people to take an order.

The all-inclusive aspect of the resort is a bit misleading, and would best be described as some-inclusive. Extra costs were all around. It seems that the level of service you receive is related to the tipping amount. This is not how an all-inclusive should be.

A-la-carte restaurants have a large drinks/wine menu on the tables, labeled “premium” but serving staff would refer to them as “wine menu”. All drinks on this menu had additional costs. Of course if you knew better, you just order your usual drinks, or ask for “house wine”, there was no extra charge. Also, many food items on the menus come with an extra charge.
Several areas and restaurants were “members only” access, that could be added at extra cost.

There are staff walking around greeting you who wanted to talk to you about buying spa services, or others who wanted to get you to listen to their spiels about time-sharing deals. Photographers wander around taking your picture, sometimes they are in costume and pose with you. Then they inform you that you can visit their shop where they display them so you can buy your photos. None of this is mentioned until after they’ve had you pose – and they don’t let you take your own photos of them. I’m not really comfortable having our photos on display in their shop without asking if we mind if they do that.

Even on Casino Night, with fake money, we had a Blackjack dealer boldly ask for a tip before we left the table. When we gave him what we thought was a good tip, he seemed to scowl.

We’ve not seen this in other all-inclusive resorts, but perhaps this is unique to Mexican resorts. We’re used to tipping the appropriate staff at the end of a stay, but this is the first resort we’ve been to where everything you did required suitable tips many times a day throughout the experience, or have extra cost items offered for everything. We’ve never had to worry about carrying a wallet everywhere in a resort until visiting Palladium.

Despite these things, we still had a wonderful time at Grand Palladium Colonial. We chose to embrace the tipping, and overlook little annoyances in order to make it an enjoyable vacation.

Departure
The arrangements for checkout are a bit unclear – a FAQ sheet is needed. Once we’d asked around, we were able to figure out what to do regarding luggage pickup/transport, checkout, re-retrieving our luggage, and bus pickup. We “heard” there was a room you could use after checkout for showering etc., but no staff ever mentioned it. Checkout is at noon, but the lunch buffet doesn’t open until 1pm – this is a flaw if your transport is early afternoon. Even our airline rep gave us inaccurate information when we met her.

Once sorted out, the ride was smooth, and our airline had provided a nice air-conditioned coach.

At the airport, it was busy, however getting through security was easy and fast. Once inside, food was outrageously expensive so we didn’t buy anything and chose to wait for the meal on the flight. The A/C worked well, and there was lots of seating. Wifi worked for an hour at a time before disconnecting you.

If you are hungry and thirsty at the airport, I suggest paying the US$45 for three hours of executive lounge access. It includes a buffet, drinks, wifi, and more. This is likely no more than you would spend at one of the airport restaurants for one person. We will do this if we visit again.

We would like to thank the Palladium management and staff for making it a great vacation.

Hints and tips
If you want coffee in your room, bring your own instant coffee. The hotel coffee packs are not very tasty. Wash your own cups and saucers – the cleaners just rinse them in the bathroom, then put them back.

Bring lots of small bills for tipping. Your room cleaner and mini-bar person are two different people. Leave a tip out for the cleaner, and leave another separate tip in the mini-fridge.

If you’re a beer drinker, bring a large thermos flask and have them fill it at the bar. The cups are small and flimsy.

Visit the Concierge at 8am for the best luck booking a-la-carte restaurants. Don’t trust the app. Many times it will show no availability when in fact there is.
If you book the Japanese restaurant, make it clear at booking if you want a menu meal at a table, or if you want the full cooking show. Try both if you can – they are very different experiences.

Don’t eat pre-cooked eggs at the buffets. Line up for the omelette grill. They will also cook fresh fried or scrambled eggs.

Bring a power bar. There are limited outlets in the room for your devices.
Be courteous. When you’re finished with your lounge chairs, return your towels so people know the chairs are available. Think of the others in the pool before throwing your football back and forth. Don’t bring your children to the adult pool. If you’re an adult at the adult pool, act like one. Don’t hog all the bacon in the buffet.

At the airport, when you connect to the free wifi, answer “no” when the login asks if you’re over 18. If you say you’re over 18, you must supply your name, email, and phone number to proceed, and you get product ads you must view. If you say no, it just connects. Check your connection often – it disconnects after a period and you have to go through the process again.

• This topic was modified 1 week ago by Anne.

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