After reading some of the reviews here I was a bit nervous about staying at VDP. However, a friends had said it was great, so I was hoping for the best and wasn't disappointed. I took note of tips from other reviewers and here are some good tips and notes that will help ensure that you have a good stay at this nice resort and understand what you can expect:
Email the resort ahead of time to confirm your reservation and make any requests (I do this no matter where I go). Ask for mattress pads - they really helped. We asked for ocean view, but there aren't many units that have wide, direct views. I would imagine they are reserved for owners. We traded an upscale Marriott timeshare for a 2 bedroom through Interval. The first unit we got was huge but the balcony overlooked the roof of the bar. We and immediately requested a change very politely - if you are rude or aggressive, they may not be as helpful. If you don't like the answer you get from someone, ask someone else! We found the staff to be excellent overall. We moved to a smaller unit the next day (still 2 bdrm) in a building that overlooked the beautiful pool, had a washer/dryer (yeah!) and had a slim but nice view of the ocean and the city lights. Perfect!
IMPORTANT tip: request a room on an upper floor in in buildings 5, 6 or 7 - they have better views and appear to be somewhat newer. There are dehumidifiers on the balconies of the rooms in buildings 1 & 2, so I think they are older. We had no dehumidifier and didn't need one. No smell, very clean and well maintained. There were drips of clear water upon occasion from certain sports on the ceiling. Must hav been from AC condensation. I turned the AC off for a while and it stopped. No big deal. I did not critique the rooms in terms of whether they could use a fresh paint job or new caulk. I have stayed at high end hotels that could use a face lift, too. This is an timeshare resort not The Ritz. However, if you are put in a room that overlooks the road, the "quiet" pool and/or has a solid wall balcony (as opposed to iron railing), you are in the Villa del Mar, not the Villa del Palmar. VDP is pricier and newer (although by no means new), so ask for the property you reserved.
We tipped the maids a couple bucks each day and got great, prompt cleaning (even dishes). Minimum wage in Mexico is $5 a day, so tipping gets you great service! Take advantage of 2 for 1 drinks at the bars between 4 and 6 and do not shop at the onsite market. The Soriana is about 2 blocks away and much, much cheaper. Food at the resort was mediocre, but surprisingly the pizza at Cucina was good. Good restaurants in PV: Si Senior (somewhat $$), Pipi's (moderate $ - good for kids) and Fredy Tucan for breakfast. There is a guy on the beach who is cooking up terrific shrimp and fish tacos on a grill - go right when you hit the beach and it is just past the Holiday Inn. There is another beach bar past that, too.
Upon check in, we were told our room was not ready and we needed to talk to our "personal concierge." We knew this would be the pitch for the timeshare pres at VDP Flamingo, and we had decided in advance that we would do it. We wanted to see the newer resort and get discounts/ incentives. If you want to do it, hold out for what you want, as far as incentives go. You will get the Gold Card (15% off of everything at the resort, excursion discounts and coupons for restaurants in town). We also got a day long snorkel cruise to Yalapa for $41 for the 4 of us ($10.25 apiece!). Unfortunately, we didn't get to take the cruise because of the weather, but they refunded our money. Did I mention that June is rainy season? It rained 5 days out of 7 :( The Flamingos timeshare presentation was painless - awesome breakfast, our guy was really cool and it lasted less than 90 minutes once we told him we were not interested. That resort is really beautiful and you can hang out there for the day at their pool and beach, if you want, but Nuevo Vallarta is too just far from town so we would never stay there. Be sure to get them to include (in writing) free cab fare both ways.
A word about timeshare presentations. You will get hit up everywhere you go, all over PV. We heard this will change soon and they will not be able to use outside vendors to hawk timeshare presentations, but for now that just the way it is. If you don't want to go just say "no gracias" and get over it. You are in Mexico, so you will be happier if you have a positive attitude and realistic expectations. BUT whatever you do, do NOT go to the timeshare presentation at the Princess Mayan/Grand Mayan. It was a total nightmare! We were paid $300 cash to go and were totally abused by the jerks who works there. Simply horrifying and really not worth it for 3 hours of hell. I filed a formal complaint with Wyndham who owns that chain.
Overall, a great time at VDP and we would definitely go back!

Got three bedroom ocean front suite. Very nice room and view. House keeping kept room in order daily. Had one issue one second to last date. Hotel advised that we had to vacate room as they had reserved it for someone else. The hotel was quite rude about it all and forced us to move to one bedroom suite far from the ocean. They were not very friendly about their mistake and didn't seem to care much about our concerns. I will not allow it to ruin my trip as we did not stay in the room much. The regular room was really nice and we were treated nicely the rest of the week though.

As a timeshare owner in Cabo San Lucas, I booked my stay in Puerto Vallarta expecting a spectacular stay. Upon arrival, I found my 1 bedroom room in need of a makeover. The smell of sewage often filled the room even with the air conditioner on.
The choice of on site restaurants was limited as well.
I pay annual maintenance fees through the "Villa" properties in Cabo San Lucas and have found the quality of the rooms to decrease with time.
We ended up moving out to another resort after 3 days at Villa del Palmar and had a fantastic experience. This experience has convinced me to sell my Villa del Palmar timeshare.

Just got back from VDP stayed a week from the 17th to the 24th, got lucky to get a direct flight out of NWK which was nice so got in early on Sat. which I think worked in our favor to avoid some of the horror stories alot of people have had on here. Also we traded a time share which seems to help as they cannot afford to lose their 5 star rating on interval int'l.

Did the Gold card thing right at the hotel because I told them I do not want to buy, took the card anyone and just said no no no at the presentation. The gold card was nice to have at the resort helped get good discounts on the tours we booked and took 15% off of the bill.

Everything was so cheap at the hotel our bil for a week was $200, but we didn't spend much time at the resort and went to the Sorina for beer, water... Did participate in the beach party which was a blast, waiter kept giving me shots of tequila with every drink, tons of dancing and good times. There is also a Citi Bank aka Banamex next to Soriana which was good.

The resort was really nice maintained and a great launching pad for all of the activities that we did. They also had activities kayaking and a giant trampoline for free. The pool and slide where really nice.

Also you can book excursions we took a boat ride with Grimaldo for $45/hr per 4 people, took him up on going to a private convervation and going into a croc lake, he jumped in to draw them out for us. Plus we got to drive the boat back.

The bus is .50 cents which is a bargain and we took it everywhere to Bucerias, Mismaloya, Centro at all times and never felt unsafe. Went to the Zoo which is an experience in itself and I would advise anyone to make the trip out (played with a jaguar. Did the Outdoor Adventure which was a blast, Las Caletas (cool beacuse of the animals and cheap massage), The pirate ship at night was fun.

All in all for active travlers like ourselves this was great hotel the water quality was extremly poor especially because I was in hawaii in Sept where I swam with dolphins right off the beach. But it was no different than the water in NJ which isn't saying much.