The Medic and Nurse visit PDC for the 2nd time!

[CTMedic27]

Well I'm going to attempt to make my first trip report here. I've read many of trip reports and am eager to start my own, we are not the biggest picture people there, especially when it comes to our food so please bear with us!

A quick little background on us, we're both in our Mid-Late 20's and live in CT and hate the winters up here. We've been dating for over a year now and our first vacation together was last December to the Grand Sunset Princess. We had planned to come back again this year in December to the Princess for my birthday again. We booked into the Platinum Suites through their website directly and purchased our airfare and eagerly started watching this lovely forum for upcoming events. Tragically our hotel had an explosion as most of you loyal followers have read about. We went back and forth with Emails with the reservation staff and the latest progress reports until finally 3 weeks out we decided to change hotels.

After some research we narrowed it down to the Iberostar Tucan which seemed to have great reviews on this site. We booked a standard room and started to get excited! About 3 days after we booked we got an email from the web reservations department, oh no we thought, what now.... We were surprised to get an email stating we had been exclusively and randomly chosen for an upgrade to the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Grand Hotel, for free, yes for FREE, we obviously jumped at the idea and now we anxiously awaited December 12th!

[CTMedic27]

Last year we made the mistake of going out and celebrating my Birthday with friends the night before our trip. I will never make the mistake of drinking before flying ever again, what a horrible day that was. This year we stayed at home and packed and tried to relax and sleep but the waiting was killing me. I was very anxious to get to Mexico, even more so because we were expecting some kind of wintry precipitation overnight. After a few hours of tossing and turning the alarm clock went off at 4am, I of course was already awake. After a quick shower, I literally ran outside with my suitcase to toss it in my SUV, as soon as I hit the sidewalk, WHAM! On my butt I went, "OH NO, ICE EVERYWHERE!". This made our drive to the airport a little stressful, freezing rain everywhere, but we made it safely to the valet parking lot and off to the airport, as of now no delays! Check in went smoothly, our bags were sent off, and to the gate we went, its now 530am,10 minutes until boarding for our 605 flight! Just as they're getting ready to board we hear the dreadful message... "I'm sorry folks as of right now, the airport is closed due to the ice on the runways, we'll keep you updated" After a few updates they decided to board the plane at 745, anticipating at the 8am update the airport will reopen. They're gamble paid off and at 830am we were off the ground on our way to our first connection in Miami! We were spoiled on this flight, it was so empty we had room to spread out!



We landed in Miami at 1145, the exact time our connection flight to Cancun was set to start boarding. The staff of American Airlines did a great job in preparing everyone for the delayed arrival, they had gate information ready for us and made sure those of us who's flights were either ready to depart or were boarding got off the plane first, as soon as the doors opened we were off and running for our next flight! We of course made it with plenty of time, the big question remained, did our luggage make it. My girlfriend was quite anxious and worried about her luggage making it. I cared that we made it, in my carry on I had all i needed, flip flops, shorts, a t-shirt, and my bathing suit, everything else could get there whenever...

We landed in Cancun a few minutes behind schedule and were happy to have our luggage waiting for us after a fairly quick trip through passport control. We got into line for customs inspections and lucky both got the green light. We darted past all the time share sales people and drivers telling us they were there for us, outside our Playa.info Driver was waiting to whisk us off to a week of fun!

We arrived at the Iberostar complex in 20 minutes and were immediately impressed by the grounds and layout. We got to our Hotel and were greeted by the bellhops w/ a cool towel which as nice of a gesture it was, wasn't needed see we arrived during what the locals called "Winter". When we arrived it was in the low 60's, much warmer then back home, but still disappointingly cold. Check in was a breeze, and they brought us out a trey of drinks with our choice of either a glass of champagne or peach sour, we tried both and headed off to our room. Our room was centrally located on the 3rd floor of the main building. We found it very spacious, the beds were so comfortable and had every amenity we could ask for. Our butler checked on us right away and on request brought us a whole bottle of Havana Club Rum. A lot of people complained on Trip Advisor about the butler service, we found them unobtrusive and quick to respond if ever needed and they were a great added amenity. A few pictures of the room:





This was our view from our Balcony, the building you see is the Spa building which had a heated indoor pool w/ a retractable roof!



Every Balcony on the garden view rooms has both a swing or hammock and a couch to enjoy, we spent a few nights out here reading a book or just hanging out.





After going downstairs to book a few of our Al La Carte reservations for the week we crawled into bed for one of our many naps of the week. That night we woke up and went to the main Buffet which had a special Mexican theme for the night. Afterward's we hit up the Main Show for the first time expecting the routine resort style show, we were blown away by the professionalism and the quality of show that the resort put on, we decided we had to check out every show during our stay. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of our evening as we were tired and had a late start. Tomorrow was going to be a day to head back into town for the morning and afternoon then check out the resort! I'll be sure to post more soon, but for now its back to work

[Emmylousue]

Work always seems to get in the way of great TR's doesn't it? Awesome start - can't wait to read more.

[CTMedic27]

Monday was a fairly simple day with not a whole lot planned. Prior to leaving for PDC while browsing the forum we saw a post that Shawn and Mitch from Yukatreks was looking for someone to mule down a gift for Christmas. Figuring that there is nothing better then good karma and making friends we obliged. We woke up and ate at the breakfast buffet which is located at the main buffet. We found there to be plenty of choices with your usual breakfast staples, all sorts of different sausages, a fresh build your own omelet or eggs station, a fresh french toast and pancake station and plenty of pastries and baked goods to keep your interest!

After breakfast we headed off to town, first stop was to drop off the gift to Yukatreks. We easily found their office on 10th Ave and spoke w/ Mitch for a few minutes about our trip and plans for the week. It was nice to get some insight into our trip to Akumal and Xplor. What was even better was seeing just how happy it made Mitch to be able to get the gift in time for X-Mas, of course we didn't leave empty handed, Mitch and Shawn had a gift for us that had us fending off the locals everywhere we walked.



I mean I knew it was great beer, I didn't realize how popular it was until everyone we passed tried to get one from us! We strolled 5th Ave for a little while poking our heads into the shops, and walked the beach back north to the Real scoping out the menus of the beachfront establishments looking for a bite to eat. We made it down to the Real with nothing really catching our eye so back onto 5th we went. We ended up stopping at the Tequila Barrel. I had seen it mentioned on her for Peepmeets so we decided to check it out.





I have no pictures of our actual meal because quit frankly we weren't impressed. She was craving some Nacho's so we decided to have the Nacho's with ground beef as our main course, I opted to have some Buffalo wings as well. We were disappointed that the beef on the nacho's was not really seasoned well, and the chicken wings, well I think they starved the chickens on whatever farm it came from as there was not much meet. Overall it wasn't bad, but at the same time it wasn't great. We decided after lunch to head back to the resort to explore a little.

We got back and threw on our bathing suits and decided to check out the pool. When we got there we noticed an ominous sign, no one was in the water?! Such a gorgeous pool but no one in it?



Well as soon as we stuck a foot in it we found out why, it was freezing! We decided to just walk around a little bit more and found ourselves getting sleepy, time for another nap!

We woke up a little while later and got ready for our first Al La Carte dinner! We made reservations for the Italian Restaurant on property The Venecia. We were given the option of sitting inside or outside on their little terrace. We decided to be adventurous and brave the chilly temperatures outside, after all 50degrees is still warmer then home.



We were awarded with a nice view of the man made pond and waterfall outside that had an Italian style Gondola in the middle with the beautiful main walkway all lit up behind it. The service was impeccable with very attentive waitstaff. The menu seemed to have a bit of everything on it, she opted for Lobster Ravioli and I decided to try Red Snapper for the first time ever. Both of our dishes were delicious and did not disappoint. I apologize for not having pictures, we were far to into eating the food then stopping to take a picture, plus we're new at this whole trip report thing. What stood out the most to be about this dining experience is unlike other resorts it simply not a choice between Red vs White wine, but instead what kind of wine, what vineyard, we actually had a choice and wine menu! Expecting to only get a glass we were again surprised to have them uncork the bottle at the table and keep it table side, big thumbs up on that

After dinner we hung out at the Lobby Bar and looked for the infamous Daniel that Andrea has talked of. We sought him out and ordered up a few drinks and hung out there until the 10pm show. Tonight's show theme was Magic, I walked in expecting a half lousy put together magic show, I was wrong. The show again was top notch and even had me, the realest, trying to figure out how he pulled off some of this stunts. Rebecca (The nurse) even got pulled up on stage for one of his tricks



After the show, like most people we made our way back to the room. That was one thing we began to notice about this resort, once the show is over at 11pm, the action dies down, everyone heads to bed. Tonight we didn't complain we had a big day ahead of us tomorrow as it was my Birthday. The original plan was a day trip to Akumal, but the weather was still looking a little bit chilly, so we decided tomorrow we'd go to Xplor and what a great decision that was!

[CTMedic27]

We woke up Tuesday morning to the sound of knocking at the door, ahhh room service with breakfast. We had placed our order the night before on the standard hotel staple, ya know the little sheet you hang on your door knob. The food came right on time, fresh and hot, a great way to start your day. We got ready and hurried to the lobby to grab a cab, excited to get to XPlor right in time for its 9am opening. The cab ride to XPlor was rather uneventful, we learned of the detours for our first time today. While the construction on the massive overpass that I personally think is an eye sore, you have to detour way west into town until you can turn back to the highway just near the edge of town, this would take up most of our travel time wherever we went, but it did show us a side of Playa we had never seen before and it was a stark realization of the true Playa and living conditions.

We arrived at XPlor in time for opening and had a very small line to wait in. After a few minutes we were issued our mandatory helmets, we were ready to go!



We decided to check out the ATV trail first, hoping to beat the crowd and have a trail to ourselves




These things were fun! While you can't go all that fast, you can get moving pretty well, well enough to easily crash them, and if you do, your responsible for the damages soooo its best not to crash. For the most part we did have the trail to ourselves, we caught up to one couple who were clearly out for a Sunday drive but they eventually saw I was eager to move and they let us pass. We did have one incident where our ATV got stuck on the trailer or a cleaning crew, we all had a few laughs and we got unstuck and they sent us on our way. The trail was fairly long, a couple miles, through the jungle, into caves, over the bridge pictured above, it was a good time, but it was time to get down to business, the real reason why we came here, ZIP LINES!






I'll admit I was nervous the first time, it wasn't easy to just sit down and let yourself slide off the edge of a tower... but after I went the first time, i was unstoppable! There were 2 different courses total, 1 which featured all the high towers and bridges, and 1 which was predominately water features, both were very exciting and a lot of fun, they were also a lot of work. What I did not take into account was the amount of stairs and climbing trails you have to do. This was not for the out of shape crowd or crowd with health conditions and knee surgeries. You do a lot of stairs, and a lot of steep walking, I'm in decent shape and it made me winded at times. The nice part about it, getting wet, wear your bathing suits because this awaits you



Yes there is a water slide... After the zipline trails we headed to the underground River in which you can both paddle a raft down 1 trail, or swim in another



Whats great about this park is they warn you every time your approaching a camera, so you can get great shots like this following one



I tried to get her to carry me the rest of the way, she wanted nothing to do with it! The park its self is very well maintained, and despite having a large amount of people there, you never felt overcrowded and we never waited in a line. The park is all inclusive and for the price of admission it includes drinks (no alcohol within the park), snacks, and a lunch buffet which was fairly good. What they also do is track your helmet with a sensor, at the end of your day upon exiting you can retrieve any picture taken of you based on your helmet sensor, they put it right on a portable USB drive for your at a reasonable price, naturally an experience like this is far and few between so we paid for the USB drive and got these fun pictures plus some. All in all we had an amazing time at XPlor and recommend it to anyone who is looking for an adventure, we will definitely return again in the future with friends or family. We managed to get through the park by 2pm, and while we could have stayed for longer, we opted to head back to the resort to catch a nap, after all it's my Birthday and we had a lot of celebrating to do later in the day.... stay tuned more to come!

[btodd]

Great report! We went to Xplor on our last trip down. We loved it, great way to spend the day. Our daughters were 12 and 14 at the time, perfect for them too. I was scared sh**less on the first Zipline but, like you, once I did it once, you couldn't stop me!!

[Emmylousue]

That looked like such a fun day! I always wondered how adults without kids would like it. You've convinced me - must go now. Even if I have to carry my mom up those stairs - she will LOVE it! Ready to hear about your bday celebration.

[MicheleR]

So glad you two had a wonderful trip! Loving the trip report!

[CTMedic27]

So Tuesday the 14th was my Birthday, last I left off we visited XPlor and headed back to the resort for a nap. We woke up and started getting ready for dinner. We had tried to get into Toni's Surf and Turf on our resort for this night but it was booked, they instead got us into the El Ranchero which is a steak Al La Carte at the Maya Resort. That is the nice thing about being booked at the Grand, you can use all the other resorts including their Al La Carte's, the downside however is you have less choice of alcohols, less beer, less wine, and the food didn't seem to be as good, but more on that later.

We walked down to the lobby and grabbed a quick drink at the bar while waiting for the bellhop to get a golf cart for us, yes a golf cart. The Playa Paraiso resort is fairly large and the guests at the Grand get complimentary golf cart shuttles between the Grand and other parts of the resort. We noticed that they were starting to put up a lot of last minute Christmas decorations, the one that caught my eye the most were 3 tied up Reindeer leading a Sleigh, this would be the stage of some entertainment later on.


We got on our golf cart and headed for the Maya Lobby which is inside a large replica of a Mayan Pyramid.



We found the Al La Carte relatively easily and were quickly seated. They had the basic selections on the menu, a lot of cuts of beef like Filets, Strips, Sirloins, etc, and some chicken. I opted for a Sirloin and she got the Fillet. We were able to help ourselves to an Appetizer Buffet which had some tasty selections. Dinner came fairly quick and was presented nicely





They also brought out a shrimp and rice plate with dinner as well



I have to admit while the steaks were seasoned well, I found them to be very rough cuts of meat and were not very tender at all, however I did not complain and ate up the entire plate. At some point Rebecca told the waiter that it was my birthday, shortly after dinner the waitstaff came out w/ a small pastry desert w/ ice cream and a shot of Patron XO Cafe. They insisted on "warming" up my shot with a lighter, placed a napkin on my head and made me drink it via a straw!







Now after sucking down this shot, on top of the previous Havana and Coke from the lobby bar, and my share of the bottle of Red Wine we shared at dinner, I was feeling pretty good. We decided to grab another golf cart back to our Hotel and catch the show, tonight it was Ladies First which featured the female signers on the Iberostar Friends entertainment staff performing as various top ranked Female vocalists, such as Brittney, Christina, Cher, and even Aretha Franklin. We made the mistake of sitting at the bar which meant more alcohol.





After the show we headed to the lobby for, yet another drink and made our way into the Smoking Lounge next the lobby. We found a rather decent selection of Cigars for sale in the lounge and for once weren't being pushed by a private salesmen, instead they were sold by the bartender. I believe we had a Monte Cristo, can't remember for sure though.





Now at this point the alcohol had definitely caught up with us and so did the day. We were both feeling fairly good and starting to get tired, she suggested we go back to the room, but it was my Birthday, I was having none of that, off to the Disco! Another golf cart ride and we're at the main shopping center which is in the center of the resort and houses both the teenage and adult disco. When we walked in, well I thought we made a mistake and walked into the teen disco, the place was decked out in star wars memorabilia complete with a ship flying overhead. Now not being a fan of star wars i though the design was outdated and tacky but the music was good so we hung out and had a few more drinks and got into white guy is drunk dancing mode as I call it.







I think the blurriness of the pictures speaks for my actual vision by this point. We lasted an hour or so at the Disco before the alcohol and tiredness was really starting to kick in so we decided to head back to the room. On the way to the golfcart pick up sport Rebecca found this guy



We took the cart back to the Hotel and found the lobby bar closed, probably a good thing, and then there they were, staring at me, calling my name, the 3 Reindeer screaming for me to run over and jump on them to get a good picture, I couldn't just say no.....



Well this didn't end well, the one Reindeer decided it was going to run away from me, and by run away I mean fall over, and when he fell, well the other two decided to join in on the chaos and fall over. Now at this point being embarrassed with the only two people seeing this escapade is security and cleaning staff I immediately grabbed onto the Antlers to pull the Reindeer back up to a standing position, I grabbed on and tugged. Next thing I knew I was sitting on my butt with an antler in my hand laughing profusely, I couldn't stop, I even think the staff was either laughing with me or at me, not sure which, Rebecca well she was embarrassed trying to drag me back to the room to avoid the inevitable eviction. The staff was as nice as could be, I apologized and was subsequently followed back to my room feeling like a scorned child. When we got back in the room we had found that the Butler had left me a little gift



The site of more Alcohol sent my stomach churning and I would spend the next hour getting to know the bathroom floor which would not stop spinning despite all attempts made. After combating the nausea and some how managing to keep all the alcohol down in my stomach, I finally crawled into bed clutching a bottle of water, fearing waking the next day to the inevitable hangover, and then what about the Reindeer, are they going to make it, or will this be a detailed bill left for us.....

[rinkrats]

and we only have one photo of this event??? I would LOVE to see one of you with antlers in hand

[pdcprincess]

Hilarious! Can't wait for more!

[Y2YTraveller]

Keep it coming!

[SharonD]

LOL! I hope your next day was not ruined by a hangover....

[actran]

Ahhh, the nice cold tile of the bathroom floor helps that "why did I drink so much?" feeling.

[Peach]

Enjoying your trip report!!!