.....Me gusta la playa.Paul and I decided that after all the China stuff (rejection) we needed a vacation.
We picked the Palace Spa Resort in the Mayan Riviera. As we live in San Diego and are at the border, the swine flu was not even a care in our planning and it shouldn't be in yours if you plan on going south!
The best thing was the 1500 room resort had 1/8Th capacity. The service was great, the resort was all inclusive which is not normally our style.
The room was nice with an ocean view. If you go ask to be in the 1500- 1600 building(s). The rooms included liquor for those who couldn't get out and order at the pool. We never even cracked the bottles, of course Paul seldom has a drink and I go for wine as a preference. But they keep your refrigerator stocked with juice,soda, beer and water. We asked to remove the everything and just leave soda and water. The water came in handy on or day trips we brought plenty to help with the heat.
The food and tips- Tips were included with everything and you didn't feel pressure from staff,, but we still tipped 20-50 pesos for good service. You can tell the people are worried for their jobs because there are so few room occupied. They has 6 restaurants open, 2 were closed. All the food was fine...I would say like cruise food, some times better than others.
The Pool- they have two area, kids and no kids under 18. The no under 18 was a constant large pool party with more drinking than we cared to be around. The few times we watched the activities the people were having fun doing pretty silly, a bit risque, but other wise harmless stuff. The other pool was empty!!!
The Lagoon- We stayed hear most of the time. We sat in the VIP section which was covered in shade. We never figured out if we were VIP but they didn't toss us out of the nice seats! It was quiet, relaxing and those frosty fu-fu drinks were fun! (No direct ocean , lots of fish in a protected lagoon)
The Spa- great book a package as soon as you arrive and this is not included in all inclusive but great spa and massage!!!!
The trip(s)---UGH!
The Chitzen Itza trip was 2.5 hours of driving in a crowded,no space bus, then forced shopping, a crappy guide, and 2.5 hours of driving back. Do your self a favor pay for a private driver to take you for the day, have the concierge set it up. We had to stop in 4 other resort both coming and going ---other folks had a worse day they had 9 stop before they were back at there resort. Chitzen Itza is worth doing just not on a big bus"""""""!
The Tulum Express is worth doing the guide was on time, very informed. Bring your bathing suit this has a beach rated top in the world.
