Decameron La Marina Guayabitos, Ramada All Inclusive Resort — Hotel in Compostela

The first thing to know is that all 3 Decameron in RDG cater primarily to Mexicans from Guadalajara on 2-3 day beach vacations (80%) and to older Canadians on inexpensive all-inclusive vacations (20%). None of these hotels are luxurious in any sense. However, the setting is magnificent and the blend of vivacious, exuberant, fun-loving, music-loving Mexicans with, perhaps, more sedate Canadians is all part of the fun!||We stayed at the Marina, which is near to the southern end of the bay. It has the Decameron U-shaped design with the pool in the middle and restaurants near to the beach at the open end of the U. The pool is very popular with families. The rooms are nicely appointee. Opt for an ocean view to have better-ish/semi view of the beach and sea. The room attendants are really good. And the staff are by and large very pleasant and welcoming. During the day there is always someone who speaks some English at the front desk. In the evenings you can be out of luck. But, the best advice is to talk with your fellow Canadian guests. All of the following info, we found out from them or just wandering about, not from staff.||Things to know: 1) there are activities listed on the 1st floor. While a few are offered at the Marina, many are are only offered at Cocos which is about a 4-5 minute walk away and the road or beach. The bike tour is not offered but you can sign out bikes. The bikes at Cocos are better. We did yoga at the Marina a few times. Both instructors were good, very much appreciated Alex’s class. 2) there are shows nightly at Cocos at 9:30, followed by disco. There are no notices of this anywhere at the Marina. The shows at Marina are okay but very short followed by karaoke. If you are a fan, brush up on your Spanish and have your moment in the bright lights. 3) the Marina activities are all announced in Spanish. 4) we found the inside of the buffet restaurant at the Marina to be dark and depressing. It is mostly painted a dark gray. The outside seating is good. 5) if you are staying at the Marina you can eat all 3 buffet meals there or at Coral. This works well if you are walking to the far end of the beach where Coral is. Staff there are great, and very pleased to welcome you! Their buffet restaurant is bright and offers great views. 6) Cocos is the largest of the 3 Decamerons, and they have the largest buffet, with great views and staff, and with cloth napkins at every place setting (paper at Marina), pepper shakers at every table (at the Marina you have to ask for one), the best selection of items (eg. Specialty cheeses, bacon, fruit, and simply more choices of everything). If you are staying at the Marina you can go to Cocos for breakfast and lunch. They simply sign you in at the front desk of the restaurant. No big deal. After our 10 days they recognized us and knew our number by heart. 7) Ala carte dining. They are not offered every night. Now, to get into one is a big hassle. For the ala carte at Marina you check via a QR code beginning at 6am to see it is being offered that day. And dates always change, sometimes Monday, Wednesday and/or Friday. One week for us on Monday, and another on Friday. And the food is hit and miss. One time very good. Another time, no ceviche or salad, and the lime soup, you guessed it had no lime. 8) Ala carte at Coral and Cocos (steak house and fish Resto) or just the buffet at Cocos. You go down to the lobby at 8:00 to pick up a number. Ideally you get there early and get a low number. Then you go back to the lobby at 9:00 and in order of the numbers they offer you either Ala carte at set times, or the buffet at Cocos (as per earlier, it’s bigger and better.) 9) if you’re a wine drinker, the red is better than the white, which is okay on ice or mixed with something else. 10) there are good restaurants in Guayabitos. Mia’s has very good pizza, and has a good mix of Mexicans and Canadians. 11) their wifi codes change once a week. No one will tell you this, until you enter the “old” code a 100 times, until you go down to the lobby and they pass a new code to you with a smile. 12) there are weekly markets in La Penita and Guayabitos. 13) go on a whale watching excursion and stop over at Coral Island. Great price. Best snorkelling in the area (not great compared to other locations).||All this being said. We had a great time. And would go back again, for a well-priced 10 days with our new Canadian...

Thank goodness for Gilbert who helped us tremendously at the resort on the 1st day and severaldays after. There was literally no one in site that knew what the heck  I was talking about and vice versa! We finally got checked in but had to wait for our room.  We went to eat while we waited. The meal wasn't bad, literally nothing is in english🤦🏽‍♀️. The ppl are extremely nice and very hard working jus here no one speaks English but Gilbertvat the time! Thank goodness his only off day was the day after we left! We then had to wait in a cedar point  line  for our room keys now and once we got to our room and checked out everything there was hair found everywhere where I had to request for our sheets to be changed. They came immediately and changed them! We walked around to find the location of everything and the other resorts and then returned to our room and later we watched movies and couldn't budge! The pool had every person in Mexico in it! My son didn't wanna get in and he knew I wasn't getting in there from the jump.with all those ppl. No way no how! Can you say to the tenth power! The Beach wasn't any better. There were also so many pelicans in there that you had to fight with it wasn't even worth it either! I was very surprised that if they did or didnt get alot of Americans why wouldn't they have both English and Spanish languages, thats jus normal for a resort in my travels🤔

All in all I wish I would have done more research as this resort definitely was not for our family at all! 1. Out of 5 days I saw not one African American person 2. Not one interesting thing near the resort 3. Out of 4 resorts I only experienced 4 English speaking Mexicans 5. There were no English translated postings. 6. The paper cups for the drinks were horrible. The drinks weren't too far behind. I wanted to participate in the resort activities but I couldn't, not in English! 7. So many flies all over the food in the restaurants. Seems like it could have been lessened.  8. There were no hand sanitizer stations 9. The pool was only clean with a net during the times we saw and stayed cloudy during our entire time, except for the 2nd to the last day 10. It was one hour from PVR.

These alone would have made me second guessing this entire resort/trip. But considering what we paid it was a learned lesson that we'll never endure again! Plus it is not an at all popular destination for African Americans, hence the all day/night and daily stares👀

I did think to switch resorts on day 2, but i didnt feel like dealing with the entire process.

The best part about the entire trip was our ride to #isledelcoral it was a nice place that we could have visited each day! Thank you #Juan for the...

This was our 10th time staying in the PV area so we wanted to try something different, hence Guayabitos. Regardless of what is listed by WestJet or Sunwing, this resort is a solid 3 or 3.5 star and is priced as such. Overall good value but if you are looking for luxury, you won’t find too much here. Typical 4 star amenities such as a gym, beach/poolside service, pool bar, currency exchange, in-room fridge, etc are absent.

La Marina is located on the best swimming section of the Rincon de Guayabitos beach. The beaches at the other two Decameron resorts are inferior - Isla Coral has a rougher surf break, and the beach at Los Cocos is narrow and steep. The rooms here are spacious but with very basic furniture and decor. We typically spend little time in our room at resorts so it didn’t matter, but it is important for some folks. The beds are rock hard, but if you ask at the lobby they will put egg crate style pillow top foam padding on your bed, which really helps. The food in the buffet restaurant (Costa Calma) is good but not great, by PV resort buffet standards. Again, typical 3 star, but not 4 star.

If you stay at any of the three Decameron properties, you can partake in all activities/restaurant/bars at all three. While Isla Coral is a 15-20 minute walk away, it is only a 2-3 minute walk between La Marina and Los Cocos. The latter is much larger, with 5 pools, more restaurant options and a more festive atmosphere. We found it perfect to stay at La Marina with its quieter atmosphere but “party” over at Los Cocos. If you really want a quiet and relaxing atmosphere, Isla Coral is by far the best choice. It is virtually identical to La Marina in most ways, but with a much more sedate atmosphere.

The wifi was great during weekdays but slowed down considerably when the resort filled up on weekends. Better than most resort wifi overall though.

A few other random notes - it was rare for us to not find available lounge chairs, even when we got a late 10-11 am start, and even on the weekend. The self serve cappuccino machine near the pool is by far the best coffee in the house. Book your excursions through the Guayatours desk at Los Cocos. The one at La Marina is not as good. They have several cable channels, including some in English (even watched a couple hockey games). It is a 2 minute walk to the main commercial street, with many restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, boutiques, pharmacies etc. it is however a very long walk or a cab ride to the...