GR Solaris Caribe - All Inclusive

There are two hotels next to each other and you can use the facilities of both. We stayed in the Gr Solaris Caribe - the more "refined" of the two. This hotel has a more relaxed, quiet feel about it and this is a good feature. This hotel is smaller but has a lovely feel to it. The hotel next door was much livelier - having a pool party on Saturday for a couple of hours for example. The larger hotel has a much bigger pool with a swim up bar. The pool at the Gr Solaris Caribe is smaller, is partly under cover (with a large shade) which makes it nice and has two very large "hot tubs" although you can't really call them hot tubs. Yes, they are hot, but tubs they are not - sitting maybe 20 people each... The hotel is right on the beach. The sea is lovely, although the seaweed (both in terms of quantity and smell) can be an "issue" - when we were there it wasn't necessarily a problem outside the hotel, but a walk up or down the beach had numerous areas where it was a problem. Both hotels have a buffet restaurant and between them there are 5 a la carte restaurants - a French, an Italian, a Brazilian a Caribbean and a Mexican one. These restaurants need to be booked in advance, so make sure you download the hotel app as this is the only way you can get a reservation. I think you can book upto 5 days in advance. The a la carte restaurants are good. The buffets are large - a number of "cook on the spot" stations as well (omelettes in the morning for example, but various meats and seafoods for lunch and the evening.) You can only eat breakfast in the buffet. All menus are in Mexican and English. Most staff speak English. All staff we encountered were incredibly friendly. There are a number of bars in the hotels and by the pools - they open at 11am and close at 11pm (although the ones by the pools close at 6pm). There is also a bar that is open until 1am in the Gr Solaris Caribe with a dance floor and a fussball table, pool table and air hockey table. The bars serve local hooch, but if you order enough cocktails you'll soon not care that it isn't premium. Talking of which, the hotel also acts as a timeshare resort, and if you are a time share owner, you can access the premium drinks, a different menu in the restaurants and special lounges and special events and the like... It really annoys me for example that even though you are "all inclusive", not everyone is born equal.... I don't know why you can have Jim Beam, but not Jack Daniel's for instance, even though you can see bottles of Jack Daniel's behind the bar... The larger hotel - next door - has a gym and a theatre. I didn't use either, so couldn't comment on either the facilities or the quality of the shows. Your room key is a wrist band that is put on you on arrival and cut from you when you check out. The room was a great size. Our room faced the lagoon rather than the sea, but the view was fantastic. I couldn't understand though why the room (with an "L" shape design) didn't have a balcony. Swimming clothes for instance didn't dry overnight. The air conditioning was fantastic. The bed both very large an very very comfortable. The room also came with a safe and iron / ironing board. Plenty of cupboard space, but not many coat hangers... The bathroom was shower only, and on a daily basis the temperature from it was about as unpredictable as you could get. It was a lovely large space though. One "grumble" would be a lack of a dressing gown (which I would have expected from an alleged 5 Star hotel) and the towels were not nice - quite scratchy and seen better days. There was a TV, but it wasn't turned on. I have no idea if any of the channels were in English.. In the shower there is a body wash and shampoo receptacle rather than individual sachets or bottles - great for the environment and I'm a fan. There is a bar of soap by the basin and a single mouthwash bottle. When you check into the hotel, you are given a credit card which is used to exchange for a towel for the beach / pool. When you are done with the towel, you hand it back in and get a credit card back - so you get new towels daily. Every now and then - when you are at the pool, a member of staff might come around asking if you want a drink, but not that frequently. You are best to go to the bars... both pools have lots of sun loungers, and most have sun shades. We never struggled to find 4 bed together, although there were plenty of the old "obligatory" towels on the beds but never used all day. That really annoys me. The larger hotel down by the pool has a pizza restaurant (well, a pizza oven) making slices most of the afternoon and both hotels have a fast food type station - serving burgers, hot dogs, fries, nachos and the like. These are open until about 5pm. You will not go hungry. There is a kids club, but we didn't use it, so once again, cannot comment on the facilities or the quality of it. Although it was cute watching the little ones come down to the pizza restaurant in their whites at lunch time to make pizza... Every day by the pool there are entertainers trying to get people involved - games such as basket ball, volleyball, drinking contests and the like. It's all good light-hearted fun. Although only found on the last night (and it was closed) there was a bar / cafe at the far end of the hotel. Once again can't comment on the quality as it wasn't used. The hotel used to have a tennis court, but it has fallen into disrepair. As a family, we stayed for 2 weeks. A few days less would probably have been better because even though there are a la carte restaurants, the menus do not change. Only one of the restaurants is open at lunch time, so basically you are eating from the buffet every day. We had a lovely time, would probably go again. The hotel is on the Hotel Zone, but towards the end away from where all the night life is. But, in all honesty Ubers are not expensive. If you want to go to the clubs and have more of a Cancun experience, you should probably go somewhere else. As the hotel is all inclusive though, do you really want to pay for it and not use it? We had a problem - initially - when we checked in with our room, and we were moved quickly and with no fuss. Not a problem. There is a tourist tax that needs to be paid upon arrival. All guests have to pay. It works out as a the equivalent of a couple of US Dollars per day. The hotel is about a 20 minute drive from Cancun airport.