Playa Del Carmen Wrapup
Jan. 30th, 2006 01:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vernacular_lifewell, I'm sorta tanned (stoopid clouds!), very rested (comfiest bed on earth), and sorta ready to be back at work so here goes the wrapup! I'll hopefully upload pics tonight -- have to weed through about 130 to delete the duplicates, crop, etc.
Overall, had a nice time, 1st time at an all-inclusive, and probably the last time. Pretty expensive vaca for us (even w/ free airfare and timeshare credit for the week -- we had to pay the all inclusive fee), as I doubt we'd ever come close to eating/drinking what we paid for if we were on our own (wouldn't have eaten as well, but still) We felt SO isolated -- were we in Mexico, or at a resort? I'd say that most of the guests never left the grounds during their stay. Did a few day trips, but still felt like we didn't see Mexico. Stuff was more expensive than I thought it would be in the markets. Got lots of good sleep (asleep by 11, up around 7:30). Weather could have been better -- didn't have one day that was sunny the whole day.
Resort itself: Beautiful -- you'd never know that there was a hurricane 4 months ago. Rooms were great - we were on the 3rd floor, so had zero noises from other guests. Had a big jacuzzi tub that I really enjoyed (and yes, kept the water temp below 100') on several occassions. Beach was pretty, but it was so windy that it wasn't comfortable to sit out there, and the water was pretty chilly. Poolside was better (and had better chairs), and had minimal 'group activities' going on. Some of the activities people got annoying (dude, if I WANTED to play beach volleyball, I'd come up and play - and no, don't put a monkey on me and take my picture). Wasn't too much of a party scene (one of the bars had bad cover bands/dj where tons of people danced all night long - um, no thanks)
Food/Drink: Overall good, and on one occassion VERY good, but not the Best Food Ever Eaten as proclaimed by several reviews on Tripadvisor. There were 6 different sit-down resteraunts, and ate at every one at least once. Had brick oven pizza & burgers poolside, free room service (but needed more 'snack' things on the menu). Drinks were okay according to Judd (could have used a bit more alcohol), but my non-alcoholic Mango Coladas and Frozen Lemonades were quite tasty. Drank copious amounts of mineral water w/ lime which was oho so tasty, and probably more $$ than the swill beer they were serving. Overall, feeling is that you get more when you're paying for it on the spot, but think we tended to expect more than most of the other guests. Service was good in most cases - a bit rushed through dinner at a few places. Neither of us got the tinest bit sick from food/drink.
Other Guests: We decided that there were about 4 kinds of guests there: honeymooners/younger couples, the 50+ yr olds who are starting to enjoy life again, the 'party couples' in their 40-50's who meet up every year there and just party their asses off, and the Wedding Groups. There were about 5 groups of Partiers and each had their own 'ringleader' Some of these groups formed during the week, others were regular visitors. Fun people watching, but the groups def. got annoying after a couple of days. Loads of Canadians, lots of Brits, a few Dutch/German, and the rest Americans.
Day Trips: Judd went kiteboarding 2x (I went, um, Lounge Chair Napping), we went on a full-day snorkeling trip to Xel-Ha, spent an afternoon making our way through Playa Del Carmen, and hired a car to take us on a half day trip to the ruins at Tulum. Xel-ha was cool (didn't pay the extra $120 to swim with dolphins), but I much prefer beach reef snorkeling, ala Hanauma Bay in Hawaii. Tulum was very cool, and really liked the area. If we were to go back, I'd try to find a hotel in that area.
Misc PG notes:
--I love Old Navy's maternity tankini suits. SO comfy, fit well, didn't make me feel like a whale.
--Swimming and snorkeling while PG is awesome - I felt about 1/3 of my weight and could move very easily.
--Didn't have alcohol pushed on me, and also wasn't given the Evil Eye when I had a rare glass of wine or mimosa.
--I got really use to having someone pull out a chair for me and push it in and open doors. Everyone got that kind of treatment, but really miss it. Must train Judd better!
--Sat through a timeshare sales pitch (it was a cool cloudy morning, so no lost sun time), and got $100 spa credit. Got okay mani/pedi but for $90, I expected to at least get a topcoat on my nails.....
Overall, had a nice time, 1st time at an all-inclusive, and probably the last time. Pretty expensive vaca for us (even w/ free airfare and timeshare credit for the week -- we had to pay the all inclusive fee), as I doubt we'd ever come close to eating/drinking what we paid for if we were on our own (wouldn't have eaten as well, but still) We felt SO isolated -- were we in Mexico, or at a resort? I'd say that most of the guests never left the grounds during their stay. Did a few day trips, but still felt like we didn't see Mexico. Stuff was more expensive than I thought it would be in the markets. Got lots of good sleep (asleep by 11, up around 7:30). Weather could have been better -- didn't have one day that was sunny the whole day.
Resort itself: Beautiful -- you'd never know that there was a hurricane 4 months ago. Rooms were great - we were on the 3rd floor, so had zero noises from other guests. Had a big jacuzzi tub that I really enjoyed (and yes, kept the water temp below 100') on several occassions. Beach was pretty, but it was so windy that it wasn't comfortable to sit out there, and the water was pretty chilly. Poolside was better (and had better chairs), and had minimal 'group activities' going on. Some of the activities people got annoying (dude, if I WANTED to play beach volleyball, I'd come up and play - and no, don't put a monkey on me and take my picture). Wasn't too much of a party scene (one of the bars had bad cover bands/dj where tons of people danced all night long - um, no thanks)
Food/Drink: Overall good, and on one occassion VERY good, but not the Best Food Ever Eaten as proclaimed by several reviews on Tripadvisor. There were 6 different sit-down resteraunts, and ate at every one at least once. Had brick oven pizza & burgers poolside, free room service (but needed more 'snack' things on the menu). Drinks were okay according to Judd (could have used a bit more alcohol), but my non-alcoholic Mango Coladas and Frozen Lemonades were quite tasty. Drank copious amounts of mineral water w/ lime which was oho so tasty, and probably more $$ than the swill beer they were serving. Overall, feeling is that you get more when you're paying for it on the spot, but think we tended to expect more than most of the other guests. Service was good in most cases - a bit rushed through dinner at a few places. Neither of us got the tinest bit sick from food/drink.
Other Guests: We decided that there were about 4 kinds of guests there: honeymooners/younger couples, the 50+ yr olds who are starting to enjoy life again, the 'party couples' in their 40-50's who meet up every year there and just party their asses off, and the Wedding Groups. There were about 5 groups of Partiers and each had their own 'ringleader' Some of these groups formed during the week, others were regular visitors. Fun people watching, but the groups def. got annoying after a couple of days. Loads of Canadians, lots of Brits, a few Dutch/German, and the rest Americans.
Day Trips: Judd went kiteboarding 2x (I went, um, Lounge Chair Napping), we went on a full-day snorkeling trip to Xel-Ha, spent an afternoon making our way through Playa Del Carmen, and hired a car to take us on a half day trip to the ruins at Tulum. Xel-ha was cool (didn't pay the extra $120 to swim with dolphins), but I much prefer beach reef snorkeling, ala Hanauma Bay in Hawaii. Tulum was very cool, and really liked the area. If we were to go back, I'd try to find a hotel in that area.
Misc PG notes:
--I love Old Navy's maternity tankini suits. SO comfy, fit well, didn't make me feel like a whale.
--Swimming and snorkeling while PG is awesome - I felt about 1/3 of my weight and could move very easily.
--Didn't have alcohol pushed on me, and also wasn't given the Evil Eye when I had a rare glass of wine or mimosa.
--I got really use to having someone pull out a chair for me and push it in and open doors. Everyone got that kind of treatment, but really miss it. Must train Judd better!
--Sat through a timeshare sales pitch (it was a cool cloudy morning, so no lost sun time), and got $100 spa credit. Got okay mani/pedi but for $90, I expected to at least get a topcoat on my nails.....
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-31 12:19 am (UTC)