[Munichchick]

Here is a trip report I found on another board!

From Me To You

Once again, I made this travel report in subject form. Lots of info, so read whatever interests you. The trip was a great success, no real problems, and we had a great time. It is a compilation of observations and personal viewpoints only. There are no whines here, just obstacles we overcame, some of which may help you on similar trips… Enjoy!!!

The Auction in the Sky...

Well, trip number three with skyauction.com went off without a problem. It was the same scenario as last time. I was tracking about four trips when I caught the new Mayan Palace at $22 for seven nights with a $195 service charge. Customer service was outstanding as usual and the reservations were handled swiftly. Getting airfare was a little more difficult. We decided to fly Sunday to Sunday to save on vacation time. I found out Funjet wasn't flying that Sunday, but MLT was. Three weeks out they wanted $249 and, as usual, I wanted $99 (plus $70 in international fees and taxes). Time went on and they dropped to $199 and they weren't budging. I figured that I would have to pay that price. I monitored them about four times a day, and suddenly at noon, ten days out, they dropped to $99. I jumped in the car and sped home, as my work computer does not have the security features I like when using a credit card. I locked in the price and pressed submit but in came back with an error message and that I would have to redo everything again. I sped through the form and this time it went through. I went back to work and logged back on and the price was back at $199. It had dropped for only an hour!!! I watched it until five days before the trip and it never dropped again. Lucked out on that one…

Customize Me...

Leaving DFW was pretty easy. The whole process took about 50 minutes. We were in line with about a hundred other people and they weren't searching luggage…until we got up to the desk. They took our three check bags to another location and ran them through a new 'super x-ray' machine. We were told to remove any film, as it would be destroyed. On further observation, I noticed that they were doing this to about one in twenty passengers. No big deal. Worth it to have such great security. We went though terminal security with no problems, but noticed a few people were told to remove their shoes, which were checked thoroughly. Every entry point had National Guardsmen with M-16's at their side. In Cancun, green light…yeah! A couple of hints for any new travelers: Carry a pen to fill out the entry forms on the plane. Once in the terminal, they will pull you out of line and have you fill them out if you haven't already. Next, you will be issued the bottom half of your entry form as a tourist card. KEEP IT…they want it back went you depart the country. People in line when we were leaving Mexico were causing big delays looking for their cards. On the return trip, we got to the airport three hours early…and so did everybody else on our flight. Long lines as every bag, purse, briefcase, and piece of luggage was searched. Don't lock anything up until it's actually time to check it. We went through terminal security with no problems. As we started to leave the terminal to board the plane, they began another search of carry-ons, and were hand-scanning people. They had four tables set up for searches and one person at the door checking ID's. Once you got to the stairs to the plane, they were hand scanning randomly again. Very thorough!!! Arrival at DFW was painless other than they only had two Immigration officer's checking passports and so there were long lines again. Two months ago, at Customs, they hand searched every bag. This time, they took our cards, asked if we were carrying any food, and sent us on our way. A side note, I had a MLT first out of dozens of flights. We actually left on time on both flights. Go figure…lol.

Mayan Palace or Place???

Construction

I knew, I thought, exactly what shape the Mayan Palace was in as to construction, and had no problem with that. I figured 50% complete, probably finished sometime this year. HAH!!! Try about 25% complete and probably another two years. They had ten of twenty-two hotel/timeshare buildings completed. The other twelve have not been started. There was one beach restaurant, a pool snack bar, one swim-up bar of two was open, and one beach bar. The main lobby is about 35% complete. The lagoon is a big hole in the ground. The construction noise was no big deal. An occasional circular saw going off, hammering here and there, maybe a jackhammer for a couple minutes. We were told that there is going to be a water park, nine restaurants, and a small train around the complex when it is completed. The golf course is currently a jungle. The landscaping will be beautiful…in a couple of years. I heard the same word over and over from people staying at the hotel…"potential". It's got potential… Lots of potential here… Be great when it's finished, etc.

The Roomiest...

We had a wonderful, one bedroom suite which was a $100 upgrade. It was furnished beautifully. Both couches became queen size beds. The bedroom had a queen bed and we had two balconies with a view of the jungle. Everybody had a view of the jungle, unless you were on the third floor of building one, which allowed you to see the Caribbean if you were leaning out your balcony. Some of the amenities included: blow dryer, microwave, refrigerator, toaster, great Oster blender, sink, two burner stove, two pots, two pans, one flat skillet, coffeemaker (no coffee), dishes, cups, glasses, bowls, silverware, can opener, and a variety of utensils. The maids did not clean up the kitchen if you cooked. There were two TV's with fifteen channels, but eleven were in Spanish, including ESPN. CNN was in English. Inside the dresser was the in-room safe. They charge you $25 to use it unless you are a RCI member. They will tell you if you don't want to use it, you can leave your valuables at the lobby safe. We were in building eight, next to the temporary lobby, which was great if we were lugging around SCUBA gear or luggage to a taxi, but bad for the pool. I paced it off and it was 750 feet from our door to the edge of the pool (two and a half football fields in length). We figured it was good exercise after all the great meals we had. The air conditioner worked great, but made a loud kerplunck sound every time the thermostat clicked on. We reported it…it wasn't fixed. It woke me up several times during the week. The rooms are not very soundproof, and we got to enjoy second hand smoke whenever the upstairs neighbors decided to light up. Also, the balconies have double glass sliding doors with a small internal latch that took me all of three seconds to defeat from outside.

Concrete and Water...

The pool was simply gorgeous. It is indeed enormous, but not as large as some had reported. It is around a hundred yards long by fifty yards wide. There are three levels, which pour into each other, and some areas are shallow and designed to place a chaise in the water. Plenty of deck chairs around the pool and there are a few hammocks. Lots of small palapas for shade.

The Towel Nazi...

To get a pool towel, you had to deal with Senior Adolfo 'Mateo' Hitler, the towel Nazi. The hotel must have told this kid that they are deducting lost towels from his pay. An older couple took their towels to their room during the day, and the maid picked them up. When they went to Mateo to get more towels the next day, he wouldn't give them any. They explained the situation and he actually used the term 'liar'. They also found out that the towels had been charged to their room account. Infuriated, they went to management, complained about Mateo and were told that they would check with the maid when she came back to work. I never did hear what the final result was. We arrived on Sunday, but didn't use a pool towel until Wednesday. Mateo asked for our 'towel check out card', which we didn't know anything about. He asked how come, if we had been there since Sunday, we were just now getting a towel. He checked four pages of ledger entries from the time we arrived until then to make sure our room wasn't listed. He finally issued us a card and we didn't have any more problems until the last day. He asked when we were checking out and to have the towels to him no later than an hour prior. Lol…

A Rocky Start...

The entire beach is huge with beautiful Caribbean sand…mixed with white rock. Big pieces, little pieces… Some areas were difficult to walk on. The ocean was beautiful Caribbean water…mixed with white rock. If the tide was up, it was impossible to swim. If the tide was low, it was difficult to swim. They stated that they were going to build a jetty that would bring in sand and cover the rocks. They also had two small trimaran sailboats that you could take out…if only they were registered with the proper authorities. Oh well. They had several palapas on the beach and more chaises. We spent three days just sunning out on the beach. There were a few flies around, no mosquitoes, and we didn't see any no-see-ums…pun intended.

No Time to Share...

We were at the hotel no more than five minutes when we got checked in…by the timeshare folks. Yep, there was our name on their list. "We need to get you signed up for your free breakfast and hotel tour." I said, very sternly, WE will contact YOU. Thanks. I didn't need an alarm the next two mornings as they promptly woke me by phone at 8 a.m. one morning and 9 a.m. the next. After that, we unplugged the phones and never heard from them the rest of the trip. We found out later that the average tour and hard sell lasted three hours plus. Several people told me that this was the hardest sell that they had ever experienced and all said they had to be rude to get away.

That's Entertainment...

At nighttime, they would leave you the Mayan Times, which was the program for the following day. They offered the following during the week, aimed at adults: Stretching, Tour to the Paradise, Making Necklaces and Bracelets, Beach Soccer, Horse Shoes, Blackjack, Drawing Class, Aqua Aerobics, Water Volleyball, Tugawar, Beach Volleyball, Bingo, Dart Tournament, Jungle Tour, Cooking Class, Bottle Decorating, Spanish Class, Watermelon Eating, Water Balloon Fight, Jumbo Chess, Water Basketball, Salsa Class, Cocktail Class. For kids, they had the Mayan Kids Club, which had its own activities. At night, The Habana Moon Beach Bar offered a different live band every night. Everything from calypso to reggae to jazz. They had a small dance floor on the sand, and the area was lit with candles. Beside libations, they also had a selection of cigars. Monday night was the manager's special for one hour. They offered free margaritas during this time.

Other Stuff…

Check out time was 10 a.m. but we managed to get them to stretch it to 12. They also will hold your luggage for you and they have a hospitality room you can use. They also had a small self-service laundry. Ice was on the second floor of each building. Room service only offers hamburgers and sandwiches right now. Snorkel gear rental was $3 for two hours. There was a very small shop in the lobby that had a few drinks, snacks, and medicines. They also have 24-hour medical service.

The Wheels on the Bus...

We used the airport shuttle to get to the hotel. It was $17 a person and fortunately went non-stop. We went to Playa del Carmen (PDC) once by taxi and it cost $17 to Juarez and Fifth. The rest of the trip we used the Mayab bus. The hotel had a shuttle to the highway, which was about a quarter mile. You walked across four lanes of highway and stood on the side of the street. The Riviera buses come by regularly, but they are non-stop from Cancun to PDC. The Mayab bus came by approximately every half hour. They charged anywhere from 6 to 10 pesos to Juarez and Fifth, depending solely on the driver. You need to have pesos to get on. Coming back was a little more difficult. You go to the bus terminal at Juarez and Fifth and either stand in line and buy a ticket, or stand in line and then be told you have to pay the driver. Or go to the driver and he tells you to go stand in line to get a ticket, or he takes your money. It was different every single day. Beware that sometime after nine or ten the bus stops running and you will have to grab a cab. The hotel will eventually have it's own shuttle to PDC but it is not available yet. Going back to the airport, we used a shuttle the hotel contracted with that cost $15 a person and went non-stop. You need to reserve it twenty-four hours in advance and they charge it to you room. Just a side note, the Cozumel ferry is two blocks from the bus depot.

Las Comidas...

Corn Flakes or Gold Flakes...

All of the food at the hotel was excellent, just very expensive. We ate at the Balche snack bar, which is a buffet at breakfast and supper. The evening meal was a different theme every night. We had grilled shrimp, chicken casserole, grilled grouper, New York strips, and stir-fry. For two buffets and a bottle of water we were charged $52. So, it was…

Chedraui or Bust...

Chedraui supermarket…kinda like a super Wal-Mart. It is at Juarez and 45th. We bought enough food and booze to make it through the week. Now, I have shopped at Mexican groceries before, but this is always an experience. I figured, "hey, we have a microwave, I can grab some frozen dinners for some quick lunches." Lol… That would have been simple except I forgot that there is not a frozen food section. I also forgot that leche (milk) is not refrigerated. It took a while to find it. I went to buy some sugar packets for my wife's coffee. I found a box of packets with a circle and the word azugar (sugar) written across it. If I could have understood the words around the circle, I would have realized that they read 'tastes just like'… We ate about half of our meals in our room and the other half in PDC or Cozumel. At PDC, we loved Don Emilione's. We ate breakfast there three mornings, and they had outstanding food and service. $11 for two breakfasts, two coffees, one orange juice, and one Negra Modelo (oops…breakfast of champions). We ate dinner at Limones and my wife said it was the best lobster she has ever had. We also enjoyed Las Mananitas. We took an older couple from Montreal that we met at the Mayan Palace who spoke French and little English. It was hilarious trying to communicate and we had a blast. Hint: The more Sol you drink, the easier it is to understand French. At Cozumel we enjoyed La Mision and Casa Denis was outstanding as usual.

Swimmin' With de Fishes

We decided to try a new dive shop on a recommendation of a friend and it turned out great. We dove with Deep Blue and they were awesome. It is at Adolpho Rosado Salas and 10th in Cozumel. The staff, equipment, and boat were all excellent. We made four dives and we saw more animals than we have ever seen at Cozumel. All of our dives were afternoon dives. We dove Palancar Gardens first with all of its beautiful coral formations. Next we did Tormentos, which my wife really enjoyed. It was a nice and relaxing dive. Our DM was Raul. Two days later we did El Cedral and it turned out great. Our DM was Pepe and as soon as we hit the water, there was a six-foot nurse shark swimming right under us. We dove down to it and when we got to the bottom, we saw a six-foot 'eel snake' coming right at us. I had never seen one of these before, so it was a poisonous sea snake until proven otherwise. Lol. Next we ran in to a turtle with about a thirty-inch shell and we swam along side it for a while. We also saw large lobsters everywhere and one huge grouper. We finished with Villa Blanca. Lots of small rays. We found three octopi hiding in the coral, a peacock flounder, and two huge puffer fish. But the highlight of the trip was a gorgeous eagle ray flying through the water. He was just a shadow in the distance and then we saw that he was coming toward us. I swam as close as I could and he turned and posed for a picture. It was great!!!

Hurricane Season Starts in June…

The weather was perfect. 78 to 80 degrees each day, with the occasional white, puffy cloud. Nighttime was around 72 to 76, but always with a breeze. My wife wore a light jacket. Ocean water temp was 78 degrees, but the pool was warmer.

FINALLY…

As was already mentioned, the trip was great. We would stay at the Mayan Palace again, especially at the price we paid. BUT, we will probably wait a couple years. It has POTENTIAL…





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