Mayan Palace trip report

[Katrina G]

Just got back from the Mayan Palace last night. Stayed Jan 26-Feb 2. Had a great time...very relaxing.

There is still a lot of construction going on, mostly seemed to be around a big building right off the pool area. Except when they were jack-hammering, I didn't really notice the sounds at all. And even the jack-hammering was easy to tune out, partly because the music at the pool was kept very loud. I always sat at the north end of the pool area (near the activities/towel palapa and outside restaurant), so I don't know if the construction sounds were more prevalant at the south end, where the music wouldn't be so loud.

The pool area was really wonderful. There are three levels, which spill over into one another. Each level is actually several pools all tied together. But you can't walk straight through because there are ledges. My favorite was the second level. It had the jacuzzi area (cold water), which was very comfy to sit in to read a book. The big middle area of the top two levels have a large disc a couple inches under the water, where you can lay out. There are areas with islands; a water volleyball area; and children's pool area. The deepest the pool ever gets, though, is about 4 feet deep. Get down to the pool early to claim a palapa, though, because they go fast (usually before 9am).

There are lots of activities going on all day, mostly at the pool. Every night, they slip a piece of paper under your door telling the times. For example, water aerobics is every day from 1-2pm. Some others are: volleyball (beach and water); water balloon fights; jungle tours (there is an entrance into the jungle with a trail right behind the restaurant); salsa dancing lessons; etc etc. During the day, they play music at the pool, and in the afternoon, will have live music.

The beach is very pretty. And it's not at all crowded. It's always easy to find a palapa to sit under there. The rocks in the water are a big barrier formation. It's very hard to get to the deep water to swim because the barrier has holes that are very easy to slip in and twist an ankle. There is a tidal pool area that is nice to sit in. And you can see live sponges, anenomes, starfish, etc etc.

The hotel area consists of eight buildings in a row, each two connected by the elevator area. The elevator in my building worked just fine. (But when they let me use the hospitality suite the last day to clean up...check-out is at 10am and I didn't leave til 3pm....it was on the 3rd floor in a building with a nonfunctioning elevator. I cleaned up in the bathroom next to the reception desk). Try to get a room that ends with 1-26 (i.e. 3001-3026). Those are the two building closest to the pool. Even side rooms (I had 3018) look out over a big construction parking lot/the big building next to the pool (think it's going to be the new lobby)/and a part of the pool area (if you are in the first building....I was in the second....you can see the ocean beyond the pool). Odd-numbered rooms look out over a road running parallel to the hotel and the jungle. They told us there is a functioning laundry area for guests, but I never checked it out.

It was quite a walk from my building to the reception desk...about a quarter mile. From there they have a shuttle that will take you to the front gates, at any time and even if it just one person. At the gates, you have to run across 6 lanes of highway to catch the bus to Playa del Carmen. Don't stand in that last lane, because that is where the bus pulls over to pick you up. There is no streetlight there and the shoulder of the road is very soft and treacherous to stand on. Be careful in the dark. The Mayab bus costs 6 pesos each and the Playa Express costs 10 pesos each. The Riviera won't stop. You can also catch a cab as it returns to Playa. Don't let them charge you more than 20 pesos...they have to return anyway. A bunch of us took the Riviera back from Playa one night (for 12 pesos each) but, after that, they always said it was direct to Cancun only.

Well, I've gone on and on. If you have any questions, let me know.

[beachbreezes]

Thanks for the update! I was getting worried about staying at the Mayan Palace, and I'm not even going until May. I feel much better!

Debbie

[Linda]

Thanks for the great report! We are leaving this Fri. for 2 wks, our 1st week is in a 2 br. unit, week 2 is in a one bedroom. I have been in contact with a David Moraks (he says his title is Customer Service Advisor), and he stated he will try to get us a unit "away" from the construction noise, one of our party has had some major surgery in the last year and really needs a rest, his reply to me was that we will be in a bldg. that only has 2 floors. My question is, are there 2 floors or 3? I have read different answers here, seems like no one really knows for sure. Were you able to see the sunset from your room or do you have to go down to the pool or beach area to do so? Can you take a nice long walk on the beach (we usually walk in the morning and again before we go up to shower), and are there other hotels close enough to walk to?

Re: your room--Hair dryers I know are there, would you know if I can use a diffuser on it, or should I bring my own hair dryer? How much was the in room safe, do you recall? A previous poster stated that there is a lot of noise (paper thin walls), did you experience any of that?

Re: You stated that your room # was 3018, I'm assuming that that was on the 3rd floor, were you in the hotel or condo unit, do you know? Why did you suggest getting a room with 3001-3026 numbers, better view, less noise or ? Did you have any trouble at all upon check-in getting what you asked for? We have been to the Acapulco Mayan Palace twice and the one in Puerto Vallarta also twice and it seems that you always have to do a "soft shoe" just to get a decent room, just want to be prepared. By the way, thanks for the report on the hospitality room, that is something that we will be needing as our flight does not leave until mid afternoon also.

Re: bus service--Do you catch either the Mayab bus or the (forgot the name of the other), into just Playa del Carmen or can you take it into Cancun? We have never been there before and we like to make a visit during our stay, would much prefer a bus over a taxi. How long a ride is it into Cancun? (time wise)

I hope you don't mind the "tons" of questions, we are just 5 days away from take-off and I'm sure we will have more, I wish you could e-mail me directly, but I guess you can't do that on this board.

Thanks in advance, look forward to your response. Linda

p.s. How did you get back to the airport from the palace?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Linda on 2002-02-03 21:03 ]</font>

[Katrina G]

Linda,

All of the buildings have 3 floors. I don't know what David Moraks was talking about when he said some have 2. Most of the units are in a row of 8 building, plus there is 1 building to the left of the reception lobby. I had a hotel unit, which had a connecting door to a 1 BR suite. From what I understand from people who had stayed at Mayan Palaces before, when you get a 2BR, they just open the connecting door. I don't think any of the other buildings were any different (they all had the same number of doors in the hallway and they all looked exactly alike from the outside).

The beach faces east so you can't see the sun set from there. And the windows all face either north or south I didn't see the sun actually set while I was there. But you probably could if you sat at the pool and looked west. I did try to get up really early to take pictures of the sunrise over the ocean, but I couldn't actually get up that early. :smile:

Yes, you can take very long walks on the beach. It isn't crowded at all. And it's beautiful to look down. There is a lot of jungle greenery, not a line of hotels like in Cancun. If you walk in the morning, after the tide has gone back out, you can find shells. A couple of ladies had bags full. And I saw a huge conch shell that a gentleman had picked up off the beach...it was well over a foot long.

I could see the peaks of the buildings of the next resort, the Iberostar Paraiso, from my room and it is pretty close. But I couldn't see the people from that resort on the beach. It is an all-inclusive resort and I had read before I left that you have to buy day or evening passes if you want to eat or drink there.

I doubt you can use your diffuser on the hair dryers. Yours is probably made for a round dryer and these are square. A friend who traveled with me for the first few days has very long hair and the dryer would get overheated when she used it very long. I mostly just tied my hair back wet (what can I say....I was on vacation!). :smile:

Getting a room that ends with 001-026 puts you in the first two buildings away from the pool. They share an exit at the elevator area. Being so close to the pool/beach is nice because you spend a lot more time there than you do at the lobby. Yes, I was in 3018, which turned out to be a very good location. But I didn't ask for it specially, it was just the one they gave me. I lucked out both by being that close to the pool (with a small view of the pool)and by being in a building with a functioning elevator. The two best rooms in the place are 3002 and 3004 because they have the best views of the pool area and ocean. But my friend and I figured they were the models (they were open when we went exploring and never had a light on).

When I was getting the key for the hospitality room, they kept saying at first that it was 3018. I was pretty upset because that was my room and they hadn't let me just check out late. But then they said no, it was 3078 (which was the one with the nonfunctioning elevator). You have to reserve the hospitality room by the night before and you get it for a half hour at a time (I don't know if they let you reserve a slot for each person or not...it was just me by then).

The hotel now offers a shuttle into Cancun. It leaves daily at 8am and returns at either 5pm or 5:30pm, I forget which. It takes you to La Isla shopping center. Once you are there, Cancun has many many buses that you could take cheaply if you wanted to go to the hotel zone or to explore. I apologize but I don't know how much it costs. I meant to double-check on that before I left because I knew I would be posting a trip report, but I forgot.

Cancun is about 30 minutes away, depending on where you are heading (it's a good-size city). It probably takes more like 45 minutes to get to the shopping area.

To get to and from the airport, I made arrangements through MP for a shuttle to pick me up. It was the Royale and it costs $150 pesos per person each way (around $15). It is billed to your room. There was a phone number in Texas that the people at the 1-800 number had given me to call, but I misplaced it. Instead, when I called the hotel directly a couple days before I went, they made the arrangements for me. I saw other people arriving on other shuttles, but I don't know how they arranged them. When I walked out of the airport to the shuttle area (which is the direction everyone is headed and I think the only way out), the person from Royale was holding a placard that said "Mayan Palace" on it. He had a clipboard with my name and number of passengers.

Re: noise. I never heard conversations or the tv through the walls (although one couple I talked to had been kept up by a crying baby in the room next door). The first morning I woke up, though, I thought I was next door to a restaurant. Figured out the sound was coming through the connecting door to the suite, which has a kitcheonette area. The way they were banging silverware around....perhaps they were professional chefs. :smile: The doors close very loudly. They are set in deep frames and have to be pushed shut with a bit of force. Then the sound just echos down the marble tiles of the floors. When I was in the bathroom, I could hear people in the halls sometimes. But, on the other hand, I never heard any showers going as I walked down the hall.
And I didn't see any vents in the hallways to the bathrooms (I had had that in Cancun once).

I am planning on posting some pictures on the net when I get them developed. But I doubt I'll have that ready before you leave. If you have any other questions, feel free to either post them or e-mail me at trinkrdink@yahoo.com (that's my generic e-mail...then I'll send you my real e-mail).

Katrina

[JED]

Thanks for your report, I was shockekd at the price of a shuttle to the Hotel. I have been quoted 60-70 US$ to get to and fromthe airport to the hotel? We have reserved a car, but now that you tell me they have a shuttle into Cancun.... how much is it? what about Playadelcarmen, any shuttles to there. any tours to tulum offered at the hotel? How far is Tres Oies?? from the hotel? We leave in april, I am hoping the construction will be farther along by then.

Please post your pictures we are all dying to see the place as the mayan palace website has none. Jayne

[seananddeb]

I am trying to find out about fishing from the beach at Mayan Palace for my wife who is an avid fisherperson. I am wondering did you see any one fishing while you were there? Was there a close by reef to fish or snorkel around? Did they supply kayaks to use? Thanks for all the info.

[Katrina G]

Currently, there is only the shuttle to Cancun from Mayan Palace, none to Playa del Carmen. The shuttle to Cancun was just started this past week, though, so perhaps they will have a shuttle to PDC by the time you arrive. I did see people making arrangements for tours, but I don't know what their prices are compared to going on your own.

I never saw anyone fishing. There is that rock barrier formation...I don't know for sure how far out it extends. They rent snorkeling equipment and I saw a couple of people doing that. But I did't see them come back so that I could ask how the snorkeling was. There were sea kayaks and a couple small sailboats (what are the ones you stand up on called?) sitting down on the beach but I never saw anyone rent them. Nor did I see them mentioned as being for rent on the sheet that gets passed out daily to your room (which tells the next days' event times; buffet dinner menu; live music offered at night on the beach; etc. etc.). But even if they weren't for rent yet this past week, they should be soon.

[Katrina G]

Jed, I forgot to answer one of your questions. Are you referring to Tres Rios?? I saw it's gate several times on my way to and from PDC. It is on the other side of the Iberostar Paraiso....about 5 minutes or so down the road by bus.

[seananddeb]

Thanks for the information. One other thing. Are there trips from Mayan Palace to Tullum and Xelha? And if so how much. thanks again.

[Munichchick]

Katrina! Thank you so much for your trip report. We will be staying in a Hotel Unit in March and I will request 3004 or 3002 now.
We will have a rental care. How was the restaurant and the bars. Tasty food or bland made for Tourists. How about the Bars? Very overpriced? We are thinking about buying a cooler and drinks at the supermarket in PDC.
How was your hotel unit? Was it a nice size and comfortable? Can you at least stand on the small balcony? Sorry for all the questions. The pool and beach (even with rocks) sound wonderful. Only 4 more weeks of waiting.

[Munichchick]

Kevin! Are you back yet??? We would love to hear how your vacation at the Mayan Palace was last week. Looking forward to your report.

[Linda]

[quote]
On 2002-02-05 19:19, Munichchick wrote:
Kevin! Are you back yet???

Do you mean Rick aka RB aka durangov8?

If so, I was wondering the same thing myself, he should be back by now.

Nonetheless, Katrina's reports have been great, thank goodness for all of this information. Your first hand knowledge Katrina has already eased some of my fears, it is so kind of people like you to help the rest of us out this way. Keep up the great work! Linda

[Katrina G]

Munichchick,

I don't know if you can stay in 3002 or 3004 because I think they are the models. Try for 2002 or 2004, if not.

The hotel unit opened onto a narrow hallway that had the bathroom opening, a closet, and the connecting door to the suite. The bathroom was very nice and spacious, with a good amount of counter space around the sink. The room was not overly big, but didn't feel cramped. Except that there was only one spot to put a luggage rack out and that was as you came off that small hall and next to the dresser, which made for a bit of a tight fit around the corner.

The balcony was more than large enough to stand on. In fact, I would say you could set the room chairs out there (I didn't actually try).


Drinks ended up being about $5 each (and my friend and I bought nonalcoholic). The bill has the tip included. Try the mango daquiri...it was wonderful. I ate the breakfast buffet once...it was very good. They had omelets made to order, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, refried beans, pastries, fruit, juices, cereals, etc. Cost was $120 pesos. I ate the dinner buffet on Tex-Mex night. It was okay. The fajitas were pretty good (made to order on the grill), plus there was an assortment of various cold salads (some good, some kind of blah). There were also hot veggies, beans, etc. and a variety of desserts (too many to try). I was going to try a piece of grilled cactus, but forgot to go back. Cost was $150 pesos that night. Lobster and steak night (which I didn't have) was $320 pesos. My bottled water at dinner was $29 pesos!! Definitely don't buy the water at the restaurant (in the gift shop it's $8 pesos....if you melt down ice from the ice machine, it's free). I didn't eat at the restaurant on the beach.

A cooler and drinks is a good idea. I took a cooler with 12 solidly-frozen bottles of water. It took about 4 days for them to totally thaw anyway. I also bought bread, peanut butter and jelly, and some pastries from a little place on 5th Ave (near 2nd St) for $10pesos each. And I took snacks with me. I'm pretty cheap with how many times I eat out on vacation. :smile:

Seananddeb, Sorry, I don't know how much the tours cost from the hotel. But Xel-Ha costs $480 pesos with the all-inclusive at the gate and I think a round-trip ticket from the bus station was $90 pesos (don't quote me on that). I didn't end up making it to Tulum...got too lazy in my relaxation mode. But if you go on Sunday, the ruins are free. It's supposed to be a good day to visit Xel-Ha also, as there are not tour buses so the crowds are smaller. I went on Monday and had no problems whatsoever with the crowds. A word of warning: if the surf is really rough the day you go to Xel-Ha, be careful of that d*** floating bridge. Once I got across it, you couldn't have dragged me back over. I went the long way back. :smile:

I too will be interested in Rick's feelings on the place. I never did meet him.

My pictures will be ready for posting on the web by this weekend. Had to have the CD made because I don't have a scanner, so it is taking longer.

Katrina

P.S. Want to try something really relaxing? Put your back to the waterfall and let the water fall over your shoulders. It's like a massage.

[Linda]

Katrina, do you remember the name of the little store where you bought your bread, etc? Also, were there any large supermercados close by? Reading your posts have really gotten us excited!

Less than 48 hrs. and we are out of here!

Linda

[Katrina G]

Linda,

The market where I bought bread, peanut butter, etc was directly across the street from the bus station, behind where the taxis are parked. It had a small supermarket section plus a small souvenir section. The little pastry place was a little hole-in-the wall type place on the left side as you walked away from the bus station, right after Calle 2. There was also a pastry shop right behind the bus station.

Yes there is a big supermarket several blocks down from the bus station. It had an odd name...something like Chaq Mai. A lot of people from the resort shopped there, but I never did. It was on Hwy 307 (the road Mayan Palace is on), but south of the intersection where the buses turn in to head to the bus stop (Ave Juarez). I am not totally sure how to walk there from Ave 5, but someone could tell you easily enough. Or you could take a taxi to and from the bus stop. A Canadian lady who is working down there told me that taxis within Playa should cost no more than 10 pesos.

I am so excited for you, getting ready to head out. Be careful of the sun if you burn badly (like me). And if I don't talk to you again before you leave, have a great trip!