Questions about the Iberostar Tucan.....

[TandT]

Hi!!! We are a married couple who is traveling to the Playa area Nov 4-11 2006 and staying at the Iberostar Tucan A/I Resort. We have been browsing this forum to get an idea about the resort, however we do have some specific questions if anyone could help us out
1) How far of a walk along the beach from the Tucan into PDC??
2) Does anyone have any information on the shops that are in the Playacar shopping center?
3) How early can you get a cup of coffee at the resort? Does the lobby bar serve expresso?
4) In your opinion, is it really worth the extra money per night to upgrade to a Junior Suite or does a standard room work for 2 adults who will spend most of their time on the beach? Also, as far as standard rooms at the Iberostar Tucan, is there a certain room or building with a king size bed that has a slight view of the ocean/pool and is quiet??
THANKS GUYS!!

[Brent & Kim]

Originally Posted by TandT

Hi!!! We are a married couple who is traveling to the Playa area Nov 4-11 2006 and staying at the Iberostar Tucan A/I Resort. We have been browsing this forum to get an idea about the resort, however we do have some specific questions if anyone could help us out
1) How far of a walk along the beach from the Tucan into PDC??
2) Does anyone have any information on the shops that are in the Playacar shopping center?
3) How early can you get a cup of coffee at the resort? Does the lobby bar serve expresso?
4) In your opinion, is it really worth the extra money per night to upgrade to a Junior Suite or does a standard room work for 2 adults who will spend most of their time on the beach? Also, as far as standard rooms at the Iberostar Tucan, is there a certain room or building with a king size bed that has a slight view of the ocean/pool and is quiet??
THANKS GUYS!!

(1) 45 Min.
(2)Go to Town, Same crap, but you are blessed with an occasional bar!
(3) can get coffee early, like 6:00 a.m., not sure on the espresso
(4) buildings 11,12,13 have pool views and jungle view, only queen size bed in these buildings, not sure about the junior suites.
Great resort!

[keith5919]

We were at the Tucan the last week of Sept. Great resort. We stayed on the 3rd floor of Bldg. 14 which is in the middle of the resort. We had this building because we requested adjoining rooms and were told this building was the only one which had them (?) Very short walk to the pool & ocean & lobby. At the time we were there Bldgs. 13 & 15 were closed for renovation. I believe the suites are in Bldg. 10 which faces the ocean. Our view was only of the jungle.
I walked the beach toward PdC but only got as far as the new Riu Palace. I can't remember whether it's still possible to walk to town via the beach all the way. We did it years ago before last year's hurricane. Not sure now.
The shopping center in Playacar has an ATM, many jewelry stores & many clothing stores (t-shirts). There was also a small pharmacy & a small market which sold liquor. That's about it. We walked there from the Tucan and it took about 5 minutes.
Our adjoining rooms were okay - mine was with king & the other was two doubles. The rooms are just okay - nothing great, but I've been in much worse. I personally wouldn't upgrade to a jr. suite since I also spend most of the day on the beach.
We had a 7 a.m. pickup when we left & we were able to get a full breakfast from the buffet at the Quetzal at 6:15. The buffet at the Tucan didn't open till 7, as did the Tucan beach buffet. We usually ate breakfast at the beach restaurant.
Hope this helps.

[chocoligato]

I wouldn't upgrade if I were you. The junior suite was really no different than the regular room. It may have been a foot or two larger with columns between the bed and the sitting area! The one difference is that the junior suite had the ocean view. If that is importanht then do it. But you probably won't be in your room much!

[abuelo]

Originally Posted by TandT

Hi!!! We are a married couple who is traveling to the Playa area Nov 4-11 2006 and staying at the Iberostar Tucan A/I Resort. We have been browsing this forum to get an idea about the resort, however we do have some specific questions if anyone could help us out
1) How far of a walk along the beach from the Tucan into PDC??
2) Does anyone have any information on the shops that are in the Playacar shopping center?
3) How early can you get a cup of coffee at the resort? Does the lobby bar serve expresso?
4) In your opinion, is it really worth the extra money per night to upgrade to a Junior Suite or does a standard room work for 2 adults who will spend most of their time on the beach? Also, as far as standard rooms at the Iberostar Tucan, is there a certain room or building with a king size bed that has a slight view of the ocean/pool and is quiet??
THANKS GUYS!!

1. Don't know!
2. There are many more in downtown Playa. Don't limit yourself to Playacar.
3. Rooms have 4 cup coffee makers in them, and yes, the lobby bar does have expresso.
4. This will be our 6th year at the Tucan, going in November. We upgraded to the Junior Suite one year, and for the additional cost, will not do it again. The Junior suites are the same as the regular rooms, only on the beach. Since we were on the beach every day, and in the room only at night, we didn't feel it was worth the extra cost.

I believe some rooms in building 11 have a slight view of the water, some rooms in 12 and 13 have a view of the pool.

PM me with your e:mail address, and I can send you a map of the resort that shows all of the buildings. I tried to attach it here, but failed.

[abuelo]

Finally got the map to come up!

[Shammy]

To answer the one remaining question........

You can not walk from the Tucan to PDC along the beach, the ocean would eventually block your path. You can however, walk to Playa via the road in Playacar.

[maestranba]

We stayed on the top floor of bldg. 13 and we had a partial ocean view. We were facing the pool. I wouldn't waste your money upgrading. The room is only a little bigger. We had a king size bed. It was a nice room, but the view might be gone. We were there two weeks after Hurricane Emily and most of the big trees were either gone or stripped of their leaves.

Here's a pic of the view:<a href="http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=10&imgid=109214930" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL169/1058178/8194380/t-109214930.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.picturetrail.com" /></a> Click to enlarge.

[beesknees]

Please don't stress over the location of your room...you won't be in it much anyway unless you're asleep in which case you can't see the view!
If you're near reception then you're close to the food and entertainment, and won't have far to drag your weary body back to bed.
If you're close to the beach/pool then you won't have far to go in the morning, and if you're in the middle then you have the best of both worlds.
We got back last Thursday from Ib* Tucan, and right now I'd settle for a view of the toilets and sharing with an agouti!

[stevo137]

Originally Posted by TandT

Hi!!! We are a married couple who is traveling to the Playa area Nov 4-11 2006 and staying at the Iberostar Tucan A/I Resort. We have been browsing this forum to get an idea about the resort, however we do have some specific questions if anyone could help us out
1) How far of a walk along the beach from the Tucan into PDC??
2) Does anyone have any information on the shops that are in the Playacar shopping center?
3) How early can you get a cup of coffee at the resort? Does the lobby bar serve expresso?
4) In your opinion, is it really worth the extra money per night to upgrade to a Junior Suite or does a standard room work for 2 adults who will spend most of their time on the beach? Also, as far as standard rooms at the Iberostar Tucan, is there a certain room or building with a king size bed that has a slight view of the ocean/pool and is quiet??
THANKS GUYS!!

Shammy is so right as usual regarding walking to PDC on the beach. If you did try it, you would get the The Reef Club and thats the end of the road. Matter of fact if the water is rough, I would not attempt walking around the point at the Allegro due to the many large rocks.

We shopped at the shops in Playacar and they are the typical jewelry, clothing, crafts and such. There is a nice .925/.950 silver shop in there but we seem to get better deals at the airport for silver. It's nice for a quick shopping fix but there is so much more in town. One good thing about the shopping village is that they do have a drug store and also a few places that sell tequilas and liquor.

[battie05]

Originally Posted by TandT

4) In your opinion, is it really worth the extra money per night to upgrade to a Junior Suite or does a standard room work for 2 adults who will spend most of their time on the beach? THANKS GUYS!!

No, I don't think it's worth the extra money. We had a standard room and it was very big. We stayed in building 14 on the top floor and had a great view at the jungle/tropical garden. We first had a room in building 28 and didn't like it. I went back to the reception and asked for another room. He showed the map of the whole terrain and just asked me: okay, in which building do you wanna stay? One day later we changed rooms. Great service!

[yogagirl]

Originally Posted by beesknees

Please don't stress over the location of your room...you won't be in it much anyway unless you're asleep in which case you can't see the view!
If you're near reception then you're close to the food and entertainment, and won't have far to drag your weary body back to bed.
If you're close to the beach/pool then you won't have far to go in the morning, and if you're in the middle then you have the best of both worlds.
We got back last Thursday from Ib* Tucan, and right now I'd settle for a view of the toilets and sharing with an agouti!

AMEN! I will second that. Do not upgrade it really is not about the room, you spend so little time there. Enjoy!

[abuelo]

This is a picture from our room last year. Bottom left corner, building 12, facing the pool.

Sorry about the size of the pic, did the same as I always do through Photo Bucket!

[attaboy]

One of the people in our group walked to the shops in Playacar and bought soemthing, cant remember what. Later, he looked in the shop on the Tucan side and found they had the same item for the same price. It is just like any shopping, do your price comparison before buying or buy what you want and dont worry about it. If you just like the shopping experience, go to Playa. Much more to choose from.

[2withus1withGod]

Originally Posted by beesknees

Please don't stress over the location of your room...you won't be in it much anyway unless you're asleep in which case you can't see the view!
If you're near reception then you're close to the food and entertainment, and won't have far to drag your weary body back to bed.
If you're close to the beach/pool then you won't have far to go in the morning, and if you're in the middle then you have the best of both worlds.
We got back last Thursday from Ib* Tucan, and right now I'd settle for a view of the toilets and sharing with an agouti!

I don't want to hijack your post...but we are going to IB*Q soon (Thanks Shammy!) but we on the other hand probably will spend more time in our room than we'd like as we're bringing our 2 lil ones. I don't know how much success people have with room requests, but we'd like one where we have something to look at while the kids are sleeping, and also quiet enough for the kids to sleep..oh gosh i hope they sleep!! Any advice on that?