Posted by Reefdenizen on July 26, 2001 at 22:25:49:
I am feeling guilty for not passing on information. I have been reading the boards for over a year but have been too lazy to participate. Anyway, I just got back from a week at the Robinson Club (2 weeks last year)with my wife and 9 year old daughter. First, the pluses, Robinson Club is a German Club Med type place. Very efficiently run, very hygienic, food is definitely very, very good to excellent. Staff is very well cross-trained. Excellent kids club on site (Roby Club). The hotel has been there since 1986, I believe and the growth of Palms and other foliage is extensive unlike newer Resorts where the site is stripped first and the palms are 50' apart and look like the landscaper just delivered them. The resort caters to mostly Germans (75%),Americans (mainly from Texas), other Europeans, Canadians like myself and the odd S.American. German and English are spoken by all the staff so that is not a problem. Bar staff understand German, English, and Spanish. Food,drinks, snacks are offered somewhere on the site almost 24 hrs a day. There is a restaurant on the beach for late breakfast, lunch and a la carte dinner (reservations). Otherwise all meals are in the upstairs dining rooms where food is available from many food "Islands'. The beach restaurant has Corona beer on tap plus a newly installed Pizza oven setup outside for individual pizzas (very thin crust but a nice treat). Robinson Club occupies the extreme south end of Xpu-Ha Beach.
There is a mixture of sand beach and some rocky areas (good for snorkeling), a dock plus canoes and sailboards. A fair number of fish,coral and sea fans by the dock and we encountered one large turtle every day as well as a large sting ray. If you want more, walk up the beach and swim out 300 yds to the reef (schools of Blue Tang, large Angels, Puffer Fish, the odd turtle, Barracuda, Moray eel all seen here - be patient). During our week after a rainstorm, we saw our first waterspout off-shore - I am sure this will not be repeated. Also, the site is a protected Turtle area (over 150 newly hatched baby turtles were released twice when we were there). Snorkeling equipment is available (room key deposit) and for Scuba divers, Tank-ha Divers has a station on the resort with two fast boats and excellent rental equipment. I did 6 dives with them including a two-tank dive over to Cozumel (35 minute boat ride). They are excellent and being on site saves a lot of hassle and time. There are resort shows in the air-conditioned theatre virtually every night put on by the staff, a bit amateurish and a bit European so don't expect too much. During the day, something special often happens such as the "Champagne Explosion" in the pool with plates of shrimps to eat or the Jungle Buffet where lunch is served outside in between the palms at the beach. The one very large pool is beautiful plus one sunny and one shaded kiddy pool. The large bar area is adjacent to it. All in all, it is a relaxed atmosphere not a frantic one - so you should decide whether that is what you want. No casino, very family oriented (as well as newlyweds) but none of the wildness you might find from Cancun to Playa. It is a $13 Taxi to Playa Del Carmen (a typical Mexican tourist dump town, we never eat there and wash our hands well after getting back to the resort. Frankly, only novice travellers have any interest in going there unless you want your daughter to get her hair braided. Of course, you can also walk up Xpu-Ha beach and get this done while sitting looking at the beach. One minus, if you don't care for such a large number of Germans in one place - it might bother you. And please don't get politically correct with me on this one, people have their reasons (WWII, Holocaust etc.) or just plain language problems. My kids had a bit of difficulty finding other kids to hang around with but with a bit of luck and effort they connected with someone (be it an American, a Uruguayan, or a German).The plus side to the language situation is that you do not have to listen to N.Americans babbling about their problems - this is relaxing, it's like a golden silence. If you do not like topless women on the beach, Robinson Club and Copacabana as well have a good complement of women who stride the Xpu-Ha beach. My wife enjoys leaving her top off so this is no problem for my family. Some Bible belt Americans sometimes get a bit perturbed but they are clearly out of step and get ignored as long as they don't stare. Much of this area is very European - Canadians are more used to this than Americans, it seems. Walking up the beach north takes you to the new Copacabana. This resort looks nice inside (we peeked into the lobby this year and were on the construction site last year) but you need to realize that the site is extremely narrow. The row of suites you see in the brochures face directly across to another row of suites (where the photographer is). The site is a long thin strip from the road to the beach, the beach is very, very narrow in front of the hotel. Further up, you get to Xpu-Ha Ecopark and there the beach ends and rock begins. Strangely enough, the new Xpu-Ha Palace is built on this rocky point. The suites are in small two story units, very cute, but you should look forward to long trudges along burning hot concrete roads from your suite to the pool or back to the Ecopark beach (that is your beach). We walked this area so we know. Between the islands of suites are Mangrove swamps (this seemed very uninviting). By the way, all readers, if a brochure does not show a good picture of the site, do not even consider it - try another that is more well known - you are not missing anything. Another hint to all folks with light skin colour - do not go down to this area without a minimum SPF 45 Sunblock that contains Titanium Dioxide. This will protect you from the 10+ Extreme Sun evironment. I have seen too many lobsters start hiding inside after the first 24 hrs. If you are bald bring along SPF 60 for your head and use it every day. Apply a general moisturizing cream after the sun sets. For all visitors, bring broad brimmed hats (men and women)(not baseball hats - your ears and neck will burn)and get some serious wrap around polarized sunglasses. From 11 to 3 you need them for the beach/ocean glare. If you swim or snorkel a lot make sure to put sunblock on your neck and the backs of your legs or you will fry up quickly. If you are eco-conscious of reef life use a biodegradable Sunblock such as Australian Gold (they sell it on the resort at the shop). For mosquitos, we never use potentially dangerous DEET sprays. We take Citronella bands for the kids just in case but have not really needed them, otherwise wear long pants, shirts during the evening for the few bugs around. Robinson Club has an ecologically sound method for keeping mosquitos down, by the way. For any resort, take a small first-aid kit, scissors, waterproof band-aids, an anti-itch cream, ear drops to prevent swimmer's ear (a week of water in a humid atmosphere will bring it on). A doctor is available at Robinson Club, though.
One last word, before you choose a resort, think about what kind of people your family is, what do you really want, what do you like - the solution for you may be very different from the person next to you. Some folks like Cancun, shopping, bars and wearing Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirts, some folks want a more foreign experience. Some are party, party types and some want to relax with their family without any aggravation. Figure these things out and the right resort should pop out at you. That's all for now, I hope some of this helps you.