Naviva - a review
We went a month and a half ago but just had time to type up our notes now. Paid approx $3.5k per night and stayed a bit less than a week. For context, we live in a big US city and have very high standards when it comes to food and service.
TLDR: seriously overpriced for what it is; food is ok at best and bad at worst, service is kind, but too try hard; the beach is relatively unswimmable, but clean and pretty. Overall, we would not go back.
Food - 6/10
There is only one kitchen on the property, and the concept is “you can order anything, but here’s our special for today.” Practically, all the non Mexican dishes (burger, pasta, ceviche, sushi, pizza, sandwiches) are pretty mid (comparable to a 3.7 star restaurant on Google Maps in a major US city). The specials are solid, but they’re also all so heavy. For a resort that’s wellness-forward, we found that strange.
The best way to describe the food at Naviva is Subway: you can order different sandwiches, but they all have that same Subway taste. It’s like Naviva uses the same exact ingredients/sauces on all the dishes, which ends up feeling bland. Eg chipotle mayo, green sauce, and the like.
Also, the food is not fresh. The guac was clearly pre-made (it has that sour pre/made taste). The veggies felt defrosted. The meat and fish quality was poor (not even close to low end Whole Foods quality).
We were so bored by the food that we ended up going to the adjacent four seasons Punta mita - the food there was much better, which made the Naviva experience all the worse.
Also, it takes forever to prepare. Expect to sit and wait for 15-30 minutes for your dishes to show up. (We went when the resort was at 20-40% occupancy, so it’s not like the kitchen was understaffed).
Drinks - 7/10
We drink $200 bottles of wine and spirits at home, so drinking at all inclusive usually disappoints us. Here is no different. The wines are very low end - think $20-30 bottles in US. The spirits are better - $30-60 bottles. The tequila is solid, but nothing to write home about. The bartenders know how to make solid cocktails, but if you’re used to big city US cocktails, you won’t be blown away.
Service - 6.5/10
Everyone is super nice and informal. The vibe is they want to be your friend and chat you up. That’s fun for a day or two, but we found it to be annoying after a few days. We’re here to vacation, not yap. English understanding is solid. On a relative basis, service here was good for a Mexico hotel. But not for an Asia, Middle East, or Europe hotel.
Property/rooms - 7/10
The property is small and peaceful. It’s relatively pretty, but for the price you’d expect more. There is no gym apart from an outdoor weights area that’s not well taken care of. The pool is fine, but it was not well kept (we saw cups from the night before left there in the late morning). The thing that really annoyed us was the pool was not ready by 8:30am - towels not replaced on loungers, some loungers don’t have cushions, and the pool leaves not cleaned. The pool maintenance really felt like we’re in a $250 a night hotel.
The kitchen area, which is the only place you can eat apart from your room, has no AC, so if you go in hot season expect to sweat. Also, there are mosquitoes everywhere. Expect to be bit up badly.
As for the rooms, they are relatively large and well decorated. Nothing to write home about but they get the job done. The bed is very comfy.
Other stuff
- The coffee they serve is genuinely bad. I know Mexico isn’t known for coffee, but we’ve had better coffee all over Mexico.
- The views of the ocean are pretty, but they are even better from the four seasons nearby. So the net effect is you feel like you’re getting worse views at 2x the price.
- Staff will rave about the hotel/property to an excessive degree. Eg how they have so many repeat guests, how the property is naturalist, how many animals live on the grounds. It’s cute the first time you hear it, but it’s maddening when you hear it daily.