The new face of the Grand Mayan - San Jose del Cabo - March, 2018
What's new at the Grand Mayan, San Jose del Cabo?
March 18, 2018
Did you know....
- Restaurant recommendations, things to do and a sales uppdate are all here.
- Luxxe Loft Models show the units that are now in the Grand Mayan, San Jose del Cabo.
- Kingdom of the Sun Models are on the sales floor in the Grand Mayan, San Jose del Cabo.
- Cascades Models
- Grand Luxxe Suite Lockoff
- Views of San Jose del Cabo and the Exterior
- Restaurants Herringbone and Calavera at Night
- Walking the Beach
- Omnia Day Club Under Constrution
Their Review and Sales Update
MJ & Dennis’ Trip to San Jose del Cabo February 4 – 11, 2018
We were just in San Jose del Cabo for 9 nine days and fell in love with the area and look forward to going back. The Vidanta Grand Mayan is the smallest of the resorts that we have been to and we really enjoyed it.
Restaurant Reviews, What To Do and What To Take With You
As to safety, we felt comfortable walking around including in the evenings. There is a more visible police presence than Nuevo or Riviera Maya as you are staying in the city.
We ate breakfast in and went out for dinner most nights. We would suggest trying the following restaurants and ask the Concierge to make reservations for you.
Habanero’s Gastro Grill & Tequila Bar
Excellent food, great service from owner and staff, and very reasonably priced. Try the Frazzled Shrimp and Deep Fried Cheese and anything else on the menu. The Surf and Turf is more that enough for two as are most of the entrees. It is about a 10-12 minute walk north of the resort and we ate there twice. Strongly suggest that you make a reservation through the Concierge.
Cynthia Fresh
This is a local organic restaurant owned by Cynthia and been in business for about 10 years. The food is great and most entrees are large enough to share with very reasonable prices. Their house salad was tasty, the guacamole made when ordered, and one of the best we have eaten. Go out to the front sidewalk, turn left and walk about fifteen minutes and it will be in a little mall that has an ice cream shop and real estate office and Cynthia’s.
Shooter’s Restaurant Sports Bar & Grill (rooftop)
Inexpensive dinner before or after the Art Walk.
We had two great burgers and fries and split a beer, was $280 peso plus tip.
If you go out to the front sidewalk, hang a left and go down about two blocks, cross the street and you will see many different restaurants. These are a few that we ate at:
Jazz Tapas Bar: ordered the Tapas sharing plate and a salad. Food and service was good.
La Galeria: Food and service was good but a little expensive.
Other restaurants we didn’t get to but were suggested by others we met and the resort staff were:
El Toro Guero for seafood
Guacamayas Tacos
La Lupita Tacos & Mezcal - could not get reservations while we were in San Jose
La Forchetta - Italian menu and close to the resort.
Floras Farm - They serve brunch and dinner and is a 30-minute cab ride each way and $540 pesos each way, and
must have reservations.
Things to Do:
We did a lot of reading by the pool, beach walks and not much else, with the exception of the Thursday Art Walk in the Historical Downtown Area. It is about a 20-minute walk north of the resort.
Tours can be booked with the travel agency at the resort or make your own arrangements before you leave. We met a couple of people who rented a car for a few days and explored the area on there own without any issues. Local buses can take you to Cabo (about 19 miles/31km) relatively inexpensively if you want to go there for the day, check with the Host staff.
Things to take with you:
Tea, ground coffee, flat bottom filters, salt, pepper, spices, sugar packets, zip lock bags, etc.
Grocery Shopping:
The Mercado Market on the main floor is very limited as the size has been reduced by 3/4‘s to accommodate the meeting area for “owner updates” during construction on site.
Chedraui - new store with a good selection of fruits, veggies, booze, beer and everyday items. Aisle signs are in Spanish and English, which makes it much easier to find what you are looking for.
La Comer (formerly Mega store) - did not purchase anything here this trip
Walmart - don’t usually shop here
Owner's Update and Other Information
Now for the Owner’s Update and information
We did the update after we had been at the resort for several days and made it very clear that we didn’t want to be there all day. After the usual buffet breakfast with our assigned rep Alan H, we did a walk around the property and toured the show rooms for the Parks and the updated rooms on the resort that are being called GL Lofts. It was interesting that they didn’t try to upsell us for the first time ever, and suspect that is because they are pushing the Park units which are below the GL Spa level we currently own. This will probably change when they start building in East Cape, so we will just have to wait and see.
The resort has added additional rooms on the 6th floor and is renovating many of the current GM units on the 5th floor to become the new GL Lofts that are studios, one bedroom units and master suites. All the new units share a main entry door and foyer but have private entrances into each area. All units face the courtyard and ocean and have balconies so the view is wonderful.
The GL Studio has a small balcony with two chairs and a small table, just big enough to sit and enjoy the view. We couldn’t view the one bedroom on the other side of this unit, as it was booked. We did get to see a GL Loft one-bedroom show suite, which is very nice but still not sure how they can call the loft a one bedroom without the bedroom being a separate room. The unit is beautifully decorated and has a compact kitchen area (which is fine by me) that has been well thought out and a nice dining /TV area. The balcony is a decent size with two chairs and a small table and a plunge pool and this really is a plunge pool as they are circular and about 3-4 wide with stairs to enter and exit.
We got a peak at the Presidential Suite (Owner suite) and it is two stories in the centre of the building. I has beautiful hardwood floors; a large living room and a dining room table that seats 12, very large balcony with an amazing view and luxury outdoor furniture. We were told that this unit would be used not only by the owner but also for VIP’s and the entertainers booked at the Omnia.
The new Herringbone Restaurant, Surf Bar and pool area will be a very welcome addition to the resort. Chefs, wait staff and all the other staff at Herringbone honed their menu and serving skills on the other resort staff and from what we heard the food was incredible. I am sure that there is someone on Aimfair that has eaten there by now and would love to know their thoughts on the food. Casa Calavera and the Surf Bar, which is across from Herringbone, was also training staff as this is area is a new concept for Vidanta.
The OMNIA Day Club can hold upwards of 800 people per event and we suspect that this may vary depending on who the entertainment is and the cost of admission. Hakkasan staff told us that there would only be bottle service for liquor and that is a very expensive option. The pool beds and cabana’s can be rented and the reported cost for the large cabana’s is $10,000 peso’s per event, so it should be interesting to see how well used these areas are. Since the day club is next to the beach pool area, the music and noise from this area will be very loud as there are speakers attached to the posts at the front of the day club. The tickets for the opening were $250 US on Ticketmaster and were sold out weeks in advance, as you don’t have to stay at the resort to attend one of the events.
The Samba restaurant here is much more upscale than in Nuevo and therefore more expensive. The setting is pleasant with some outside seating and was the only one open when we were there. We were told that Samba is going to be closed and renovated, not sure what this means but I am sure it will be in line with all the changes that have already been completed.
The East Cape area will be an exceptional location once completed as the other resorts currently being built are the, Four Season Los Cabos at Costa Palmas and the Amanvari Residence in the Forbes Article.
Other building rumours are that there will be GL units built in Cabo San Lucas and that the property next to the current resort that houses all the construction material and machinery is going to become some sort of a GL building. Time will tell.
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Luxxe Loft
The new Luxxe Loft, which is a studio unit appears to be a new featured unit at the San Jose del Cabo Grand Mayan resort. Will the name change to reflect the introduction of the Luxxe Studio and Luxxe Master Suites in the building? Who knows.....It appears the strategy now is to place the new Luxxe floor plans in non-Luxxe properties to not only increase inventory but also give Luxxe owners another place to stay in the Vidanta network of resorts.
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Kingdom of the Sun Models
Apparently, these units are the master suites that will be in the Kingdom of the Sun Hotel in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.Return to top of page...
Cascades Models
The Cascades and Kingdom of the Sun units are rumored to be the equivalent of the Grand Mayan and Mayan Palace at the Park. The units certainly look similar, but they may be a bit smaller.Return to top of page...
Grand Luxxe Suite Lockoff
Luxxe Master Suites are now located at the San Jose del Cabo location. Here are photos of the Lock-off and the deck.Note the sixth floor now has a two story Presidential Suite in the center of the building, and renovated Luxxe Studio Lofts and Master Suites. The Presidential Suite is for VIPs, while the other units are for Luxxe owners.
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Views of San Jose del Cabo and Front of the Resort
Photos from the front door of room 1538 show the topography and grounds in front of the Grand Mayan. It is an interesting view because in the opposite direction, the view is of the beautiful ocean.The Grand Mayan in San Jose del Cabo is changing, and there is likely going to much more activity with the new Harringbone and
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Restaurants Harringbone and Calavera at Night
The Herringbone, Cavalera and Shore Bar were not open during MJ's and Dennis' stay in San Jose del Cabo. That said, they certainly captured the essence of these restaurants with night time images.Both restaurants can be seen in their current open state by tapping this link.
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Walking the Beach
Certainly the beach is beautiful. The ocean can be a friend, but one has to know how to deal with this friends. Only experienced swimmers should venture into these waters.It is beautiful. This quiet, intimate resort is about to become much more popular and busy.
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Omnia Day Club Under Constrution
The festivities on February 23 to February 25, 2018 were high energy. The focus was on the Omnia Day Club. This facility was under construction when MJ and Dennis visited the property.You can see what the finished product looked like by tapping this link.
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