Oasis Viva Beach, Cancun

...for our first night in oasis viva beach.

Okay so the room on the second floor was not good, not only did it have a crappy view of a palm tree it stank of damp, the room itself wasn’t bad, it had 2 double beds, a nice wee balcony with table and chairs, plenty of clothes storage, air conditioning and a TV, there were no tea and coffee making facilities but when it comes to all inclusive this is really not required….the bathroom however ...
...to stay in the grand oasis viva beach you get a different coloured wrist band which is black and this means you get a few more extra perks which include a mini fridge in your room in which all contents are free and updated daily, room service from a limited menu, access to a VIP bar (which always looked empty mind) and also free dining in the steak restaurant…..but as we were only here for one night we didn’t make use of any of these things.
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This is probably going to end up being a super long review just to let ya know :)

Firstly when we arrived at the hotel we were provided with a room on the 2nd floor, but as I had paid Thomas Cook extra for a balcony with VIEW we were not impressed so we complained to the hotel staff who then proceeded to tell us that they are contracted with Thomas Cook for the 1st and 2nd floors only, something to do with health and safety, or so we were told. Anyways as it was a Sunday and our wonderful rep wasn’t answering his mobile so we then had to pay ourselves to stay in the Grand part of the hotel for our first night in oasis viva beach.

Okay so the room on the second floor was not good, not only did it have a crappy view of a palm tree it stank of damp, the room itself wasn’t bad, it had 2 double beds, a nice wee balcony with table and chairs, plenty of clothes storage, air conditioning and a TV, there were no tea and coffee making facilities but when it comes to all inclusive this is really not required….the bathroom however was a bit manky looking and I really didn’t fancy having to take a shower there never mind having to use the loo. As the room was so damp the smell was unbearable and there was no way anyone could of put up with it, and I defo couldn’t of stayed there as I have asthma and the smell was rough on the chest. As we quickly vacated that room that is about all I can tell you about the 2nd floor rooms.

Now our grand room well wow what a difference….huge ass king size bed, flat screen tv on the wall, okay no balcony but omg the view was amazing you could see for miles, a futon/seating area, table and chairs, the bathroom was sooooo nice all marble floors and beauty counter with double sinks and there was a shower over the bath (which in this case was very useable) and a nice clean toilet….the bathroom also came with a hairdryer, vanity mirror, box of tissues and other little fancy bits and pieces, including a shoe sponge of all things lol. This room didn’t really feel damp at all, ok their was a hint of it but that’s to be expected in places this hot who have to rely on air conditioning but there was no bad smell whatsoever this time we were well pleased….another thing if you decided to stay in the grand oasis viva beach you get a different coloured wrist band which is black and this means you get a few more extra perks which include a mini fridge in your room in which all contents are free and updated daily, room service from a limited menu, access to a VIP bar (which always looked empty mind) and also free dining in the steak restaurant…..but as we were only here for one night we didn’t make use of any of these things.

One thing I will say about the hotel manager Lucia is that she is super helpful and very kindly refunded us the cost of our 1 night stay in the Grand oasis viva as this was Thomas’ Cooks fault and she just wanted us to enjoy our holiday without any extra costs, this helped in cheering us up a bit.

Anyways we finally got to see our rep the next day and were take to see rooms on the 6th and 8th floors and well all I can say is they to were not suitable as they seemed to be identical to the one on the 2nd floor. Finally after hours of discussions hassle with Thomas Cook (we had to sign a contract and all sorts pssh) we were provided with a room on the 9th floor. We requested the 9th or 10th floors because we knew from online reviews that they were newly added on top of the hotel and are of better condition.

So our 9th floor room….It was nice with a king size bed, lots of storage space, a tv with remote, table and chairs by the window, no balcony but again an awesome view! The bathroom was lovely all done in black marble with the double sink thing again and a nice clean bath/shower (though our bath had no plug), the toilet was also clean…just like in the grand room we had a hairdryer, tissues, vanity mirror with little light and various others little freebies (shampoos, shower gels, etc). This room was basically like the ones in the grand part of the hotel the only difference being the tv, no mini fridge and no futon area which we could cope with because we weren’t there to watch tv or sit on our butts all day lol. The only thing I will say bad about this room is that on occasions it also felt damp especially at night time, it sometimes felt like the sheets were wet, but this has a lot to do with the air conditioning and trying to get it on the right setting, which after 2 weeks we could still not manage, but that’s the only complaint so its not too bad.

Our maid was excellent, we left her a $2 tip each day and she was very particular, the bathroom cleaned with fresh towels added, she always made the nice shapes with the ends of the toilet rolls and the tissue sticking out of the box and left us extra freebies even though we hadn’t used the others, our bed was always made to perfection and the floors cleaned (which helped with the sand prob after being on the beach all day). Our maid was soo nice she even arranged our pairs of shoes into little lines along the wall if we left them lying around and one day my nightshirt (which the strap had broken on) was in the bin and she must of thought it had fallen in so she lifted it out and folded it and set it over for me :)

One thing I hated about this hotel….the lifts….they are sooo hot, there is no air conditioning whatsoever in them and they are so slow its like being roasted on the way to your room, lets just say you wouldn’t last to long if they broke down and you were stuck in one, though they are so very clean, there were guys cleaning them inside almost every night! As a matter of fact the whole hotel is super clean, there are people brushing, washing, dusting, picking up litter, etc everywhere!!

The hotel itself is quite well facilitated, it has a gym, spa, computers with internet access, pay phones, atm, a gift shop, 4 restaurants, a sushi bar, 4 bars, free poolside towel service, its own beach with free water sports, 2 pools, many many rooms and lots of wonderful and very helpful staff!

As I did not use the gym I cant really comment on it, though my partner used it on a few occasions and he said that it was not very hi-tech just a few normal things like running machine, bicycle and lots and lots of weights.

The spa is very nice and has loads to offer, it is very clean and the staff are friendly. My partner and I opted for a 20 minute massage each which cost a total of $98 between us. This was better than expected and consisted of a 10 minute relaxing dip in the outside Jacuzzi, 10 minutes in the mint infused steam room, a little shower each and then the 20 minute relaxing massage with different oils, I would totally recommend this to anyone. We only opted for the shorter one as this was our first time in having a massage and we would do it again….well on one condition….we were informed that it was shoulder, back and neck massage but be warned it is infact a WHOLE body massage, all your clothes come off and every part of you is massaged…..yes even your butt!!! So although it was enjoyable I would of preferred just the top half lol.

We never made use of the computers as we prefer not to be online on holiday though they seemed to be in use most of the time we were there and we never heard any complaints about costs or them breaking down or anything which is good.

We did have to use the pay phones and the great thing is that there are machines right beside them to purchase phone cards for 100 peso which is around £5. If you read the back of the cards they are very simple to use and we had no problems with the phones themselves either.

The ATM in the hotel charges for everything you do on it, even for a balance check! So I would advise knowing what you have before your leave and just lifting money out when needed to minimise costs….also this machine only gives you money in dollars, if you want pesos you will need to go to the bank, but there is a Santander not even 5 minutes walk from the hotel.

The hotel gift shop is okay for basic things such as water, cigs, sweets as they cost around the same as at home, well the cigs are prob cheaper but as I didn’t purchase them I can’t comment. The gifts themselves are quite expensive and I would not recommend buying any souvenirs here unless you have money to waste. Also very important DO NOT buy sun cream from the gift shop…..I was in desperate need of a higher factor due to burning and I popped in to get some paid the lady then realise just how much it had cost…..nearly £18 for 1 bottle so needless to say I made sure to use it all!!!

4 restaurants - A Buffet, Mexican, Mediterranean and the Steak House. The buffet is a walk in place where you wait to be seated (which never takes more than 2 seconds) and you can go anytime you wish when it is open, the Mexican and Mediterranean however both need to be booked and there are only 3 booking times of 6.30pm, 7.45pm and 9.00pm, the Steakhouse however you have to pay for at a cost of $15 per person, you do not need to book for this and can walk in at any time during the night during opening hours….although if you have the black wristband a d are therefore staying in the Grand part of the hotel then this restaurant is free for your use.

The buffet is actually quite excellent with a forever changing menu daily….breakfasts range from cereals and yoghurts to pastries, there are cold meats and cheeses, numerous fruit selection as well as multiple options for hot food, ranging from regular bacon, sausages and hash brown to fajita meat, stews, chroizo and fried banana….there is also 2 lovely little women who make you fresh omelettes with a choice of various fillings, but they will also do fried eggs if you prefer and we discovered they will even fry some slices of ham for you if you so desire….The menu then changes for lunch with lots of different salads, breads, meats, fish, multiple hot and cold foods with numerous desserts to choose from…..The at dinner time there are slight changes made with lots of different fishes, chicken, pork, steak, salads, basically anything you could think of they had it, including some foods we had never heard of but gave it a try anyway and they were generally really nice, there were also loads of desserts to choose from at dinner time. There was an ice cream machine that could be use morning, noon and night with the buffet was open though I have to say this was not so good, it tasted to me like American chocolate and as I don’t like American chocolate I didn’t like the ice cream! There was also a multitude of drinks to choose from at all meals times, teas, coffees, juices, milk, choco milk, water, you could even have alcohol if you so wished….I also saw a few bottles of champagne but I don’t know if these were for special guests or what.

The Mexican restaurant, in my opinion, was not so good and a lot of the other guests I spoke to agreed with me. I guess if your not used to proper Mexican food then this is an experience you have to try at least once. The place itself was lovely, though seriously lacking in air conditioning which wasn’t good, the staff were very pleasant, though the service slow, which confused us as there were not many people in the place when we were there. Like I said the food is Mexican and I mean its proper traditional Mexican stuff. I got Pozole….stated it was a stew with maize and meat and such sounded good, tasted rank lol for s start the meat was still on bones yuk! And well I have never eaten maize and will never again it looks like molar teeth that have been pulled out and plopped into your dinner, not good at all so I did not eat it, my partner got some kind of ‘steak’ it didn’t taste like any steak we had ever had and we felt bad letting them take away our basically untouched food….the only thing I can say is yum to the dessert….churros and proper ones, not the huge pretend ones you get at continental markets….these things are small, still warm and slightly cinnamon in flavour they also come with a raspberry sauce to dip them in, utter heaven the only thing is they don’t last long enough boo!!

The Mediterranean was by far the best place to eat at the hotel, although you had to book for night time dining, you could eat here on a walk in basis at lunch time. Everything we had to eat here was good there are a range of starters including hot and cold ones, there is also a salad bar where you can help yourself, they even do pizzas which you can have for a main or to share as a starter, the main courses were exceptional with different chicken, pork and steak meals, they even had vegetarian options and also various pasta dishes and every night the dessert selection was different, I highly recommend the coconut ice-cream it was to die for! As well as the food being exceptional the staff here are also great, one waiter in particular, Miguel, stands out from the rest as he constantly keeps your drink topped up, he remembers you every time you come back and not only that he makes paper flowers from napkins for the ladies…he even sang while he made mine, what more could you want! It was so good in here we had dinner in it at least 7 nights out of the 14 we were in Cancun and a few lunches .

There is also a sushi place which is attached to the poolside bar, they do various different kinds of sushi freshly made to order they even have a few vegetarian options here which, as we don’t like fish, we tried. I have to say yuk yuk yuk lol but then I don’t like salt and it was very salty and tasted of seaweed so yea unless you into this sort of thing I personally wouldn’t recommend it.

One more place to get food is the snack bar which is situated right beside/attached to the Mediterranean place this serves food all day up until about 6pm or so, you can get nachos, burgers, fajitas, etc and everything we tried was super nice, I don’t particularly like burgers but for some reason I couldn’t get enough of the ones here….we ate sooo much food at this hotel it was unbelievable, im surprised we still fit into out clothes!!

There are 4 different bars, a poolside one, a swim up pool bar, a bar in the main hotel which also opens to the outside area and then the VIP bar. Each one of these generally has 1 or 2 bar staff working and they are all very friendly and will make you whatever you wish…I generally just asked for a surprise of something nice and boy did I get it, the amount of alcohol in some of the drinks is unbelievable there is no way on earth anything is watered down here it was all yummy!

All bars have the same alcohol and soft drinks at them and you can also get water here for free, so if you have an empty water bottles just get the staff to fill them up for you, saves you paying for more. The bars are also where you get the ice for your ice buckets from as there are no ice machines anywhere within the hotel. They also have a tv at the main bar in the hotel and when there are mega sporting events on they will get the big projector screen tv out and get chairs out so everyone can watch….this is generally football of course.

There are 2 pools at this hotel, one is supposed to be for black wristband holders only but they generally didn’t care who used it. Both pools were a good size. The pool with the swim up bar was around 4 feet deep and stayed the same level the whole way through and it was nice and warm. This pool also has a little kiddies pool attached to it which is quite shallow and great for small children. The other pool was nice and cool and started at around 4 feet, getting deeper as you went until it hit around 9ft…needless to say stayed at the shallow end cuz I don’t swim so good.

The hotel was actually very good entertainment wise as well, there was always music playing throughout the day and in between there were things like water aerobics in the main pool, bingo, dancing lessons and such and then at night time they had karaoke, fire shows, traditional Mexican shows and various other things, there was something different every day and night and this was always well advertised on the notice board near the pool.

Another great thing about this hotel is that you don’t need to worry about packing a towel into your suitcase as they provide you with fresh poolside/beach towels every day, you get a card upon check in and redeem this for a towel which can then be exchanged for a clean one however many times you wish, just remember to leave the towels back and get your card before you have to check out because if you loose you towel or card they will charge you $50.

The beach at this hotel is paradise, from the beautiful white sand down to the crystal clear water which is never too cold. Yes there are a few rocks in the water but really only at the edge of the middle area and these are easy to avoid. The water is no more than 4ft deep in any area and is cordoned with a rope and I have to say looking at all the hotels this one seems to have the biggest, nicest and less rockiest beach! I only had one problem…..people who don’t know how to get rid of rubbish, there was always some putting cigarette butts out into the sand or leaving their empty plastic cups lying around, which the staff then had to dispose of, I mean its not hard get a drink, leave some in it and viola an instant ashtray which can easily be disposed of! They had volley ball every day in the sea and if you didn’t want to play its okay because there is totally enough room for everyone to do what they wish, my option was to lie on my lilo all day catching the rays, heaven. There are also kayaks that you can use in the sea free of charge for as long as you want, you just have to sign them out and sign them back in, the only thing is if you want one be quick there are only 3.

There are a lot of people walking up and down the beach trying to sell things like necklace, sarongs, cigars, hat and sunglasses. The good thing about the hotel though is that there are security guards outside which means that the beach vendors do not bother you as they are not allowed up to the beach lounger area, if you want something you have to go to them and if you want something definitely haggle!

There are plenty of poolside and beach loungers so you really don’t need to get up super early and run and leave your towels to make sure you get one….you only need to do this if there is a particular one you want before someone else gets it :)

In the day time there are ladies sitting near the beach at the hotel doing hair braids/corn rows and it costs around $40 for a full head and $20 for a half head, but I recommend you tell them you will come back tomorrow because near the end of the day they will come find you and offer it for half price, I got my whole head done for $20 which was great and they are super fast! At night time there are various people selling all sorts of hand made crafts and the prices aren’t too bad, though you can still managed to haggle with them to get an even better price, these rang from bracelets to spray painted pictures to awesome finger painted pictures on ceramic tiles which are so good we bought 2 the detail in them is amazing! There is also a lady doing henna tattoos.

I have to say that this is definitely the best all inclusive hotel that I have ever stayed in not only due to the quality of their food and the cleanliness of the place, but also due to the fact that every single member of staff are very polite and helpful and the manager is there on hand for any problems you may have, not only that because we had problems with our room, like I said they refunded us the money for 1 night they also gave us a free meal in the steak house which we would of otherwise had to of spent $15 each on so this was also a nice touch.

The hotel itself is in a great location, only 10 minutes walk into town to shops and nightlife, there are various food places a short distance away if you wish to use them and many little news agent type shops that sell everything you can think of right across the road. Another great thing is that the bus stops right outside the hotel (just remember to shake something at the driver so he knows to stop) and it is very very cheap around 7 pesos per person no matter where you are headed. If you are feeling a bit more flush and don’t like buses then you can be rest assured that you will be getting a proper taxi as there is a guy at the hotel who radios one in for you and you can even check the price before you decide as they all have set prices for journeys….Cancun is totally not lacking in taxis that’s for sure!

All in all we had a great stay at this hotel bar the first night but like I said this was a problem with Thomas Cook and nothing to do with Oasis Viva Beach themselves….so I warn you if your booking with a travel agent be careful what floors they can give you and make sure you don’t get charged extra for a balcony and view as the hotel themselves don’t charge extra for this ever no matter who you are!!

I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone it caters for young and old alike, the staff are friendly to everyone and kids are very welcome, you will not be disappointed with the range of food, bars, pools and activities and the beach is a little piece of perfection. All that at cheap prices, what more could you want for your holiday (it cost around £900 each for me and my partner for 2 weeks that included our flights from Belfast to London and then London to Mexico and home again, transfer from the airport and back and the all inclusive stay in the hotel).

I told you this was going to be a long ass review so thanks for reading if you stuck with it, I hope it wasn’t too boring and thanks for any feedback received. I feel this was so long it requires a…..

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I have attached pictures of the view from my room

Will also be on dooyoo and trip advisor at some point 

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