This is a return trip for the 4 of us. We stayed here in Feb. 2004 for 11 days and had such a great time we felt for the money, we couldn’t find anything better. As the report will state we had just as good a time and the meals & service were excellent except for 1. It was still a 5 star resort!!!!
Wed. Feb. 16
We left home at 7:45 pm for a short 1 hour ride to our son’s house in London. Our son gave up his bed for us. We settled in for a short sleep.
Thurs Feb. 17
We awoke to the alarm at 3:45am. A half hour of running around and giving our son his bed back, said our good byes and we were off to the airport. A quick stop at the 24 hour Tim Horton’s and we were at the airport in 15 minutes. Our flight was for 6:00 am and here we were the only 2 people at the airport at 4:30 am, sorry there was a security guard walking around. Within a few minutes our friends Doug & Linda arrived. Within a half hour the airport began to fill up, well not really, that’s why we enjoy flying out of London. The 6:00 flight was a 50 passenger Dash 8 to Toronto. Excellent flying conditions to Toronto, took a half an hour, and cut 2 hours driving time for $30. We breezed thru lineups in Toronto, because we had already cleared security checks in London. The flight to Cancun was 15 minutes late. We boarded about 9:45 and after a short trip to the de-icing area, we were on our way. “Take your time was my thought as they de-iced our Boeing 767”. A smooth 3 ½ hr flight was the order of the day, until we hit Cancun air. We experienced a lot of turbulence landing. We breezed thru immigration and green light customs. Walked past the timeshare sharks and to the parking lot where we found our Air Canada rep and our van. All in all we were less than 90 minutes in the airport. A half hour trip to EDR and we were there. We got checked in and found out we were 8 buildings from our friends. We had requested adjoining rooms or buildings. They said they had no room. We left for drinks in the Martini bar. After getting to our rooms I decided to do some complaining. Within about an hour they had agreed to give me a new room the next day which would be in the same building, if I agreed to checkout in the morning so they could clean our room. No problem I said. More drinks and a walk around the resort to see any changes from last year. We had already made dinner reservations online and checked them. They were all in place as requested. Tonight was our chance to give the D’Italia a second chance after a poor rating last year in service. We arrived for our ritual of martinis in the bar before dinner. Dinner started good, as we were greeted and seated very quickly, We were given our menu’s and we ordered the house merlot. From that point, service went downhill. We didn’t get our wine for 45 minutes, not until we requested it again. Finally our meal order was taken. It arrived cold and very sporadic. It was tasty in most part but service definitely needed fine tuning. We left before desert was ordered and returned to the martini bar for nightcaps. We were all tired.
Went to sleep early and slept well.
Friday Feb. 18
I got up early to enjoy the sunrise, then off to get coffee and back to the room. Went to La Isla for breakfast, it was excellent. You could enjoy all the fixings and great Mexican cheese. You could order from the menu or they had a fruit & pastry buffet along with an added omelet station. Oh and don’t forget the shot of Kahlua with your coffee. The rest of the day was spent near the main pool soaking up the sun with frequent trips to the beach bar for margaritas on the rocks. Lunch at the pizza and hamburger stand at the main pool was as good as last year. More drinks and walks along the beach. Red flags posted because of the wind and surf. We met at the martini bar for drinks before dinner. Dinner tonight was at our favorite from last year, the Kampai (oriental). This place has not changed other than to get better. The meals were the best. Spring roll appetizers with chicken skewers, shrimp soup and chicken in a sweet soy and ginger sauce. The best I thought until the next trip here. We talked with the manager and he invited us back on Tuesday for a special menu. We were introduced to Carlos the chef. He was the tallest Mexican I have ever seen, about 6’ 6” at least. He agreed to do a special meal, Lamb chops was going to be the main course. I couldn’t wait. I think we went straight to bed.
