Occidental Nuevo Vallarta - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

10968 reviews

• 

  Was our first and last visit to Occidental Nuevo

  🌴 Occidental Nuevo Vallarta (Riviera Nayarit All-Inclusive Hotel) Nov 2025 Advertised as a 4.5-star rating on Barcelo’s website. We have travelled extensively over the last 30 years to many beach holiday locations in Mexico. Staying mainly at all-inclusive hotels, we feel sometimes star ratings are a little embellished but are open minded to that. Unfortunately, the Occidental Nuevo Vallarta is horribly exaggerated as a 4.5 star. Improvements are needed in order to wear the advertised rating with pride. I had high hopes for this resort, but my experience was mixed. Some aspects were enjoyable, while others fell short of expectations. We experienced some confusion at check in that was quickly resolved. • Room: Clean and comfortable, though a bit dated. When showering you ended up mopping up a lot of water off the floor that made it past the sealed shower door. Some have written about shortage of hot water, but we did not experience that. • Amenities: The beach and pool were beautiful. Lounge chairs were plentiful. Upon setting up for a relaxing pool day you quickly are overwhelmed with a horribly strong sewage smell omitted from what seemed like drainage covers all around the pool. We asked about the horrific smell and staff made no attempt to make excuses. One staff member suggested we sneak into the Royal elite pool area insinuating it was better. Seriously? If you were lucky, the smell was somewhat influenced by the wind intermittently causing it to blow in a different direction. The smell was present during our complete 12 day stay. This is probably why lounge chairs were not hard to find around the pool. • Nightly entertainment in an outdoor setting close to the beach was enjoyable and represented well by those who worked hard to perform. • Food & Drinks: There was variety, but the buffet became repetitive after a few days. A few dishes stood out, but overall, the food didn’t wow me. The Japanese, Italian, and Mexican restaurants definitely gave a better experience. Drinks were available all day with the last only bar closing at 1pm. Well actually earlier if they wanted to start cleanup early. An issue of running out of specific brands was continual for the whole 12 days at all bars. Couldn’t figure that one out. For example, one minute you would have Malibu rum and the next they ran out. • Service: Almost all but a few staff were very friendly and worked hard to take care of your needs. One gentleman taking your luggage at the curb and one gentleman at the lobby lounge bar wouldn’t qualify to work at Walmart as a greeter. • Value: The all-inclusive package covered the basics, but several activities and amenities fell short of the advertised 4.5-star rating. Pros: Clean rooms, nice beach, friendly staff. Cons: Average food, Horrible constant sewage smell around main pool area. Final Thought: This resort has potential and offers a decent vacation, but it didn’t fully deliver the all-inclusive experience I was hoping for. With some improvements in food variety, service, and amenities, it could be a much stronger choice.

  Nov 16, 2025
• 

  Spectacular sunsets

  We are sitting waiting to checkout on the last day of 2 weeks. Such a great place. Beautiful sun, great room, friendly staff. Special mention to the efficient smiling faces of the morning staff for breakfast in the Royal dining room. Marisol, Donna, Tito and Antonio all had a smile for us when we arrived. Coffee, water, breakfast, everything we needed. Great and memorable service. A few things to mention, the entertainment is minimal, although the shows we did see were great, especially the Mexico show. The show starts at 9pm and if you have dinner at 6 or 7, there is nothing to see in between. We are used to cruising where there are many things to do. We enjoyed the restaurants and the food in the buffet was very good. The Italian restaurant was a favourite, it felt most like fine dining. The sunset views from the Royal dining room were spectacular, service was great, as was the food. The menu is repetitive. We will return.

  Nov 13, 2025
• 

  The good, the bad and the ugly!

  Location is good, food and service were poor, must be a shortage of staffing in Mexico, and the pool chairs at the vip/level up section looked like they were pulled from the dump, the worst I have ever seen in my 45 years of travel. Health hazard is the best way to describe them. Don’t think I will be returning here.

  Nov 12, 2025
• 

  Best Two Weeks Ever!

  Our expectations were exceeded. THe service was spot on. Erick Vierra was attentive and was very accommodating. He’s kind and an asset to his employer.

  Nov 09, 2025
• 

  My experience with the people who worked there was awesome and people treat you with the most respect

  Its a great place but it should probably be demolished and rebuilt to actual building standards. I really wish the showers didnt have a half an inch gap for water to seap though and make the ground completely wet. It needs like maybe one late-night bar.

  Nov 08, 2025