Trip Report, Shangri-La Caribe Beach Village Resort, June 27 – July 1, 2006

Kevin y Pam · 07-11-2006

Today is a beautiful day here in Playa. Pam and I are setting under a palapa at Shangri-La Caribe. Pam is reading a book and I am writing the beginning of this trip report. As I write reminders of the things that we did, I realize that I need to thank the peeps that have gone before us, especially cjgans and Dallas91, for providing very accurate information about Shangri-La Caribe.

Our trip began in Statesboro, Georgia where we left our two boys with Pam’s parents. Since Statesboro is close to Savannah, Georgia, we flew out of Savannah/Hilton Head Intl. Airport.

Arriving in Cancun was uneventful except for one of our bags did not make it on to the connecting flight out of Atlanta. After giving some information to the Delta agent, we were off to Shangri-La Caribe. Our bag did make it to the Shangri-La Caribe reception desk later that day.

Since we arrived at Shangri-La Caribe before 3:00pm and could not check-in to our room, Raphael at the reception desk let us go ahead and do the paperwork side of things so that when 3:00pm came, we could just simply get our key and beach towels and go to our room. TIP: You will be given beach towels at check-in. Keep up with them. There is a $20.00 USD charge if you lose one. You can exchange them for clean ones during your stay. And, you will have to bring them back to the reception desk at check-out time.

We booked our stay at Shangri-La Caribe through playa.info so that we could get the Playa Deal Card. Once you fill the form out on playa.info requesting information you will receive an email from the Turquoise Reef Group (the U.S. book agents for Shangri-La Caribe) indicating that when you book your stay through them for four or more nights and mention playa.info, you will receive a Playa Deal Card, which will be waiting for you at the reception desk. At check-in, however, we did not receive the card nor did it ever show up during our stay. I am sure it was just an isolated case and maybe the playa.info guys can try to figure out where the system broke down.

A few other notes about Shangri-La Caribe:
* Check-out time is 1:00pm.
* They can get a taxi “called” for you fairly quickly as there are usually several just outside the reception area. The hotel literature that you receive at check-in advises that you should take a taxi a night. TIP: Pam and I always walked into Playa even at night and had no problems. We did take a taxi one time because we were muy hungry and needed to get to Calle 2 and the beach. The price was $30.00 pesos.
* You can rent a car from Executive Rent A Car at the reception desk.
* USD can be exchanged for pesos at the reception desk. TIP: The exchange rate at the reception desk is not as good as in Playa.
* They have an air-conditioned room with four or five computers that have internet access. There price is $15.00 pesos for ½ hour or $25.00 pesos for 1 hour. This room is located very close to the reception area.
* There are two TELMEX phones just outside the reception area in the parking lot. These phones worked well as we used them daily to call our boys back home.
* TIP: In the reception area, there are representatives from Royal Resorts that would appear to be Shangri-La Caribe employees. You will be able to identify them by their badges. They will come up to you and say that they have some information for you. They do have a lot of information about the area but they ultimately want to talk to you about their timeshare properties. Pam and I did talk briefly with a representative because we knew that one of the properties that they represent is The Royal Haciendas. We wanted to see what they had to say about the property because we were going to explore this area by foot. We only talked with them for a minute or so. This trip report contains what we saw on that exploration. See section Exploration: Shangri-La Caribe to Moxche Beach & Golf Village.
* TIP: If you walk from Shangri-La Caribe down Calle 38 to 5th Ave., there is a small convenient store named El Campeon. We bought water, beer, snacks and phone cards there. 1.5 liter of water and one Emperador snack cookies, $14.00 pesos. Six of Sol and one bag of ice, $70.00 pesos. Phone cards were $100.00 pesos for 24 minutes (to US).

Eating at Shangri-La Caribe:
Included in your rate, you will get breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is served in the Restaurant Aventura and dinner is served in the Restaurant La Loma. As reported before by others, breakfast is very, very good. We always ate breakfast at Shangri-La Caribe.

Looking out the window from inside the Restaurant Aventura:

Of the two dinners that we had at Shangri-La Caribe, one was very good. It was a theme night called “Caribe Noche” which included a buffet of some very good shrimp and some very good fish items. The atmosphere at dinner this night was perfect. Candle light, live Mariachi music, it was nice. NOTE: You will pay for the drinks that you have at dinner. By default they are just charged to your room but you can pay for them before you leave your table if you request so. You are on your own for lunch but they do serve a full menu at the Restaurant Aventura. There are some very tasty items on the menu: Super Nachos Shangri-La, $60.00 pesos. Club Sandwich, $90.00 pesos. TIP: These items are enough to share after eating a big breakfast. You will always get a basket of chips and pico with your lunch.

Our Room:
Let me first start with the lay of the land. Shangri-La Caribe is really divided into two parts that are split by Calle 38. One part contains the Pueblito and Caribe sections (south of Calle 38) and the other contains the Aventura section (north of Calle 38). NOTE: Calle 38 ends at Shangri-La Caribe’s reception area parking lot but feeds into a public walkway through Shangri-La Caribe’s property, to the beach. A lot of locals use this access to get to the beach. They will spend their day in front of Shangri-La Caribe’s palapas. TIP: Embrace this. You will see families enjoying the beach just as you are.

This picture shows the end of Calle 38, just as it turns into sand:

This picture shows the public walkway through Shangri-La Caribe’s property from the beach, the ocean is behind you:

We stayed in room 23P, which is in the Aventura section. 23P is an ocean view room on the 2nd level of a three level building. The 2nd level is shared by only one other room with the penthouse above you and three rooms below you.

The building that 23P is in:

A few other notes about our room:
* 23P is located very close to the Restaurant Aventura where breakfast is served.
* You get a 1 liter bottle of water a day put in your room by the cleaning crew.
* TIP: We tipped our cleaning crew daily. Not required, but really appreciated them.
* There is a key access safe in all rooms.
* The views from 23P’s hammocks is sweet.

Views from inside 23P:

Views from the hammocks:

The Beach at Shangri-La Caribe:
What can I say, the beach is awesome. This place is pretty much where we spent most of our time.

Beach pictures:

Other scenes from Shangri-La Caribe:

Shangri-La Caribe’s property pictures:

Kevin y Pam · 07-11-2006

Exploration: Shangri-La Caribe to Moxche Beach & Golf Village:
We wanted to walk on the beach north to the area close to The Royal Haciendas. The Royal Haciendas is a new development that is part of a huge development called Moxche Beach & Golf Village.

This aerial picture overviews our exploration. You can reference this aerial to the pictures that follow it:

A – This fence line runs all the way down close to aerial picture marker O. Does anyone know why?:

B – Boats off shore from the Grand Coco Bay resort area:

C – Structure between Shangri-La Caribe and the Grand Coco Bay resort:

D – Beach bar at the sight of the old Zubul Reef Beach Bar. I don’t know if it is still called Zubul as I did not ask. Also, this is the site of Tommy’s friend Kike’s business:

E, F, G, H, I – The Grand Coco Bay Resort area:

J, K, L, M – North of the Grand Coco Bay Resort area. TIP: From the aerial picture marker J to the aerial picture marker O, you will find some very nice and secluded beaches:

N – A public entry point to the beach. There were only three of these entry points through the fence from aerial picture marker I to aerial picture marker O:

O – Looking towards the next point:

P, Q, R – The point from the previous picture. Also, the southern end of the Moxche Beach & Golf Village development:

S – Looking from the point south to the Grand Coco Bay Resort.

T, U, V – Looking north at The Royal Haciendias:

Luna Blue Hotel & Garden:
Calle 26, between 5th Ave. and 10th Ave.
We stopped by Luna Blue to drop some children’s books off for SarahB to take to the places that she does volunteer work for. We meet Cheri, the owner of Luna Blue, and spent a few minutes talking with her. What a real nice and genuine person. The hotel looked great. You can find out more about it via playa.info. P.S.: Cheri, we took your advice and made our way to Babe’s and got one of those margaritas. You know, since it was on our walk back to Shangri-La Caribe. Thanks.

Dr. Taco:
10th Ave., between Calle 8 and Calle 10.
Really a great place. Their Shrimp Tacos are very, very good. Maybe the best. And, the prices are excellent. They have a variety of toppings that you can put on your tacos served buffet style. 1 Taco, $13.00 pesos. Order of 3 tacos, $35.00 pesos. Beer, $15.00 pesos. Water, $10.00 pesos. TIP: You have to try these tacos.

Tequila Barrel:
5th Ave., between Calle 10 and Calle 12.
Always enjoy people watching and having a cold one here.

Babe’s:
5th Ave., between Calle 28 and Calle 30.
A variety of margarita flavors here. Pam tried the blueberry one, I stuck with the lime. The frozen ones look like they are serving you a margarita mountain in a glass. The Fruit Rolls with cream cheese, white chocolate, coconut and ice cream ($53.00 pesos) sounded really good we passed this time.

El Oasis:
Calle 12, between 5th Ave. and 10th Ave.
Good Shrimp Tacos and margaritas. Pam tried their Seafood Soup which had at least 5 different things in it and served in a huge bowl.

La Tarraya:
Calle 2 and the Beach.
We always go to this restaurant. It has good food at a good price, and you can sit at a table in the sand. Nothing fancy, just plastic tables and chairs. I had some very good Shrimp Ceviche and Pam had Shrimp Mexican Style.

It was another great trip to the Riviera Maya.

Dallas91 · 07-11-2006

Kevin y Pam,
Great Job with the trip report. Very detailed info on the hotel, amenities, locations, food, etc. Nice pics as well. Thank you too for the kind words starting your report.
I have just posted a link to your trip report on another thread started yesterday by a newbie looking for info on Shangri-La.
I do miss that beautiful beach. I can just zone out for hours and I like too that you mention to "embrace" the locals visiting the beach. We really enjoyed that aspect of it as well.

queencityfan · 07-11-2006

Great report. Thanks for all the pics and suggestions too!

MargaritaBreeze · 07-11-2006

Thank you for the wonderful report.

We know have more inforamtion to put in our little book for our trip. Maybe 8 days won't be long enough down there.

cb

Dallas91 · 07-11-2006

Not positive on the Playa Deal Card, but I 'thought' it requires you to actually stop by the Playa.info office to pick it up. I'm sure someone who knows better can respond to let us know.

russell pipkin · 07-11-2006

Great pics. We leave for Playa next Monday.

bizzokiki · 07-11-2006

Thank you for the wonderful detailed report and pictures!

Beachnutt719 · 07-11-2006

Great pics! On my way Sunday AM. Can't wait!!

julie in PA · 07-11-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dallas91

Not positive on the Playa Deal Card, but I 'thought' it requires you to actually stop by the Playa.info office to pick it up. I'm sure someone who knows better can respond to let us know.

We have booked through Playa Info on three different occasions and our card was always waiting for us when we checked into our hotel - must have been some sort of mix-up - I am sure they will look into it.

**Heather** · 07-11-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin y Pam

We booked our stay at Shangri-La Caribe through playa.info so that we could get the Playa Deal Card. Once you fill the form out on playa.info requesting information you will receive an email from the Turquoise Reef Group (the U.S. book agents for Shangri-La Caribe) indicating that when you book your stay through them for four or more nights and mention playa.info, you will receive a Playa Deal Card, which will be waiting for you at the reception desk. At check-in, however, we did not receive the card nor did it ever show up during our stay. I am sure it was just an isolated case and maybe the playa.info guys can try to figure out where the system broke down.

Be happy to check into this for you, but I'll need more information. Please PM me with your full name and email address used to contact Shangri La. When this sort of thing happens (infrequently), usually it is a result of Playa.info not having the client's information input by the hotel into the Playa Deal Card database, so we don't know to make you a card. I'm very sorry you were inconvenienced in this way, and missed your free Playa Deal Card. Thanks, however, for a terrific trip report and lovely photos.

Kevin y Pam · 07-11-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaritaBreeze

Maybe 8 days won't be long enough down there.

It will fly by. Next time we are staying longer than the 5 days we had. Have fun.

**Heather** · 07-11-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dallas91

Not positive on the Playa Deal Card, but I 'thought' it requires you to actually stop by the Playa.info office to pick it up. I'm sure someone who knows better can respond to let us know.

When you book a hotel for at least 4 nights as a result of having contacted them first through Playa.info, the Playa Deal Card should be waiting for you upon check in. When you purchase a Playa Deal Card, you will pick it up at our centrally-located pickup point, at the hotel Posada Freud.

MargaritaBreeze · 07-11-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin y Pam

It will fly by. Next time we are staying longer than the 5 days we had. Have fun.

True it is never long enough when you are in paradise.cb

PortlandNative · 07-11-2006

Superb job providing detail on the beach north of Shangri-la.

The photos and description serve as a virtual guide. Can't wait to walk that stretch of beach!

07-11-2006	#1 (permalink)
Kevin y Pam beachaholic Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cumming, Georgia Posts: 317	Trip Report, Shangri-La Caribe Beach Village Resort, June 27 – July 1, 2006 Today is a beautiful day here in Playa. Pam and I are setting under a palapa at Shangri-La Caribe. Pam is reading a book and I am writing the beginning of this trip report. As I write reminders of the things that we did, I realize that I need to thank the peeps that have gone before us, especially cjgans and Dallas91, for providing very accurate information about Shangri-La Caribe. Our trip began in Statesboro, Georgia where we left our two boys with Pam’s parents. Since Statesboro is close to Savannah, Georgia, we flew out of Savannah/Hilton Head Intl. Airport. Arriving in Cancun was uneventful except for one of our bags did not make it on to the connecting flight out of Atlanta. After giving some information to the Delta agent, we were off to Shangri-La Caribe. Our bag did make it to the Shangri-La Caribe reception desk later that day. Since we arrived at Shangri-La Caribe before 3:00pm and could not check-in to our room, Raphael at the reception desk let us go ahead and do the paperwork side of things so that when 3:00pm came, we could just simply get our key and beach towels and go to our room. TIP: You will be given beach towels at check-in. Keep up with them. There is a $20.00 USD charge if you lose one. You can exchange them for clean ones during your stay. And, you will have to bring them back to the reception desk at check-out time. We booked our stay at Shangri-La Caribe through playa.info so that we could get the Playa Deal Card. Once you fill the form out on playa.info requesting information you will receive an email from the Turquoise Reef Group (the U.S. book agents for Shangri-La Caribe) indicating that when you book your stay through them for four or more nights and mention playa.info, you will receive a Playa Deal Card, which will be waiting for you at the reception desk. At check-in, however, we did not receive the card nor did it ever show up during our stay. I am sure it was just an isolated case and maybe the playa.info guys can try to figure out where the system broke down. A few other notes about Shangri-La Caribe: * Check-out time is 1:00pm. * They can get a taxi “called” for you fairly quickly as there are usually several just outside the reception area. The hotel literature that you receive at check-in advises that you should take a taxi a night. TIP: Pam and I always walked into Playa even at night and had no problems. We did take a taxi one time because we were muy hungry and needed to get to Calle 2 and the beach. The price was $30.00 pesos. * You can rent a car from Executive Rent A Car at the reception desk. * USD can be exchanged for pesos at the reception desk. TIP: The exchange rate at the reception desk is not as good as in Playa. * They have an air-conditioned room with four or five computers that have internet access. There price is $15.00 pesos for ½ hour or $25.00 pesos for 1 hour. This room is located very close to the reception area. * There are two TELMEX phones just outside the reception area in the parking lot. These phones worked well as we used them daily to call our boys back home. * TIP: In the reception area, there are representatives from Royal Resorts that would appear to be Shangri-La Caribe employees. You will be able to identify them by their badges. They will come up to you and say that they have some information for you. They do have a lot of information about the area but they ultimately want to talk to you about their timeshare properties. Pam and I did talk briefly with a representative because we knew that one of the properties that they represent is The Royal Haciendas. We wanted to see what they had to say about the property because we were going to explore this area by foot. We only talked with them for a minute or so. This trip report contains what we saw on that exploration. See section Exploration: Shangri-La Caribe to Moxche Beach & Golf Village. * TIP: If you walk from Shangri-La Caribe down Calle 38 to 5th Ave., there is a small convenient store named El Campeon. We bought water, beer, snacks and phone cards there. 1.5 liter of water and one Emperador snack cookies, $14.00 pesos. Six of Sol and one bag of ice, $70.00 pesos. Phone cards were $100.00 pesos for 24 minutes (to US). Eating at Shangri-La Caribe: Included in your rate, you will get breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is served in the Restaurant Aventura and dinner is served in the Restaurant La Loma. As reported before by others, breakfast is very, very good. We always ate breakfast at Shangri-La Caribe. Looking out the window from inside the Restaurant Aventura: Of the two dinners that we had at Shangri-La Caribe, one was very good. It was a theme night called “Caribe Noche” which included a buffet of some very good shrimp and some very good fish items. The atmosphere at dinner this night was perfect. Candle light, live Mariachi music, it was nice. NOTE: You will pay for the drinks that you have at dinner. By default they are just charged to your room but you can pay for them before you leave your table if you request so. You are on your own for lunch but they do serve a full menu at the Restaurant Aventura. There are some very tasty items on the menu: Super Nachos Shangri-La, $60.00 pesos. Club Sandwich, $90.00 pesos. TIP: These items are enough to share after eating a big breakfast. You will always get a basket of chips and pico with your lunch. Our Room: Let me first start with the lay of the land. Shangri-La Caribe is really divided into two parts that are split by Calle 38. One part contains the Pueblito and Caribe sections (south of Calle 38) and the other contains the Aventura section (north of Calle 38). NOTE: Calle 38 ends at Shangri-La Caribe’s reception area parking lot but feeds into a public walkway through Shangri-La Caribe’s property, to the beach. A lot of locals use this access to get to the beach. They will spend their day in front of Shangri-La Caribe’s palapas. TIP: Embrace this. You will see families enjoying the beach just as you are. This picture shows the end of Calle 38, just as it turns into sand: This picture shows the public walkway through Shangri-La Caribe’s property from the beach, the ocean is behind you: We stayed in room 23P, which is in the Aventura section. 23P is an ocean view room on the 2nd level of a three level building. The 2nd level is shared by only one other room with the penthouse above you and three rooms below you. The building that 23P is in: A few other notes about our room: * 23P is located very close to the Restaurant Aventura where breakfast is served. * You get a 1 liter bottle of water a day put in your room by the cleaning crew. * TIP: We tipped our cleaning crew daily. Not required, but really appreciated them. * There is a key access safe in all rooms. * The views from 23P’s hammocks is sweet. Views from inside 23P: Views from the hammocks: The Beach at Shangri-La Caribe: What can I say, the beach is awesome. This place is pretty much where we spent most of our time. Beach pictures: Other scenes from Shangri-La Caribe: Shangri-La Caribe’s property pictures:

07-11-2006	#5 (permalink)
MargaritaBreeze way into it Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 170	Thank You Thank you for the wonderful report. We know have more inforamtion to put in our little book for our trip. Maybe 8 days won't be long enough down there. cb

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

07-11-2006	#2 (permalink)
Kevin y Pam beachaholic Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cumming, Georgia Posts: 317	Exploration: Shangri-La Caribe to Moxche Beach & Golf Village: We wanted to walk on the beach north to the area close to The Royal Haciendas. The Royal Haciendas is a new development that is part of a huge development called Moxche Beach & Golf Village. This aerial picture overviews our exploration. You can reference this aerial to the pictures that follow it: A – This fence line runs all the way down close to aerial picture marker O. Does anyone know why?: B – Boats off shore from the Grand Coco Bay resort area: C – Structure between Shangri-La Caribe and the Grand Coco Bay resort: D – Beach bar at the sight of the old Zubul Reef Beach Bar. I don’t know if it is still called Zubul as I did not ask. Also, this is the site of Tommy’s friend Kike’s business: E, F, G, H, I – The Grand Coco Bay Resort area: J, K, L, M – North of the Grand Coco Bay Resort area. TIP: From the aerial picture marker J to the aerial picture marker O, you will find some very nice and secluded beaches: N – A public entry point to the beach. There were only three of these entry points through the fence from aerial picture marker I to aerial picture marker O: O – Looking towards the next point: P, Q, R – The point from the previous picture. Also, the southern end of the Moxche Beach & Golf Village development: S – Looking from the point south to the Grand Coco Bay Resort. T, U, V – Looking north at The Royal Haciendias: Luna Blue Hotel & Garden: Calle 26, between 5th Ave. and 10th Ave. We stopped by Luna Blue to drop some children’s books off for SarahB to take to the places that she does volunteer work for. We meet Cheri, the owner of Luna Blue, and spent a few minutes talking with her. What a real nice and genuine person. The hotel looked great. You can find out more about it via playa.info. P.S.: Cheri, we took your advice and made our way to Babe’s and got one of those margaritas. You know, since it was on our walk back to Shangri-La Caribe. Thanks. Dr. Taco: 10th Ave., between Calle 8 and Calle 10. Really a great place. Their Shrimp Tacos are very, very good. Maybe the best. And, the prices are excellent. They have a variety of toppings that you can put on your tacos served buffet style. 1 Taco, $13.00 pesos. Order of 3 tacos, $35.00 pesos. Beer, $15.00 pesos. Water, $10.00 pesos. TIP: You have to try these tacos. Tequila Barrel: 5th Ave., between Calle 10 and Calle 12. Always enjoy people watching and having a cold one here. Babe’s: 5th Ave., between Calle 28 and Calle 30. A variety of margarita flavors here. Pam tried the blueberry one, I stuck with the lime. The frozen ones look like they are serving you a margarita mountain in a glass. The Fruit Rolls with cream cheese, white chocolate, coconut and ice cream ($53.00 pesos) sounded really good we passed this time. El Oasis: Calle 12, between 5th Ave. and 10th Ave. Good Shrimp Tacos and margaritas. Pam tried their Seafood Soup which had at least 5 different things in it and served in a huge bowl. La Tarraya: Calle 2 and the Beach. We always go to this restaurant. It has good food at a good price, and you can sit at a table in the sand. Nothing fancy, just plastic tables and chairs. I had some very good Shrimp Ceviche and Pam had Shrimp Mexican Style. It was another great trip to the Riviera Maya.

07-11-2006	#3 (permalink)
Dallas91 añejo Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: In my own little world most of the time LOL Posts: 1,931	Kevin y Pam, Great Job with the trip report. Very detailed info on the hotel, amenities, locations, food, etc. Nice pics as well. Thank you too for the kind words starting your report. I have just posted a link to your trip report on another thread started yesterday by a newbie looking for info on Shangri-La. I do miss that beautiful beach. I can just zone out for hours and I like too that you mention to "embrace" the locals visiting the beach. We really enjoyed that aspect of it as well.

07-11-2006	#4 (permalink)
queencityfan añejo Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 1,694	Great report. Thanks for all the pics and suggestions too!

07-11-2006	#6 (permalink)
Dallas91 añejo Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: In my own little world most of the time LOL Posts: 1,931	Not positive on the Playa Deal Card, but I 'thought' it requires you to actually stop by the Playa.info office to pick it up. I'm sure someone who knows better can respond to let us know.

07-11-2006	#7 (permalink)
russell pipkin into ruins Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Houston Posts: 65	Great pics. We leave for Playa next Monday.

07-11-2006	#8 (permalink)
bizzokiki life=playa Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Chicago 'burbs Posts: 956	Thank you for the wonderful detailed report and pictures!

07-11-2006	#9 (permalink)
Beachnutt719 añejo Join Date: May 2004 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 3,972	Great pics! On my way Sunday AM. Can't wait!!

07-11-2006	#15 (permalink)
PortlandNative life=playa Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Oregon Mountains Posts: 584	Superb job providing detail on the beach north of Shangri-la. The photos and description serve as a virtual guide. Can't wait to walk that stretch of beach!

register to remove these adverts