Posted by Tiffany on March 08, 2002 at 15:40:44:
Trip Report Feb 2/02-17/02 VERY LONG REPORT First off I just wanted to give you all some background on why we choose this resort. The Caracol Village is rated a 3.5 star property and we agree with this rating. I will break this down briefly for you all, without telling you all what we had to eat every day :>) Air/Transfer- we flew out of Vancouver on Air Transat (Air Squish) We did spend the $40.00 and reserve our seats, we had emergency exits both ways, the best $40 I have ever spent. The flights were on time both ways, food… well it’s airline. Our Rep was waiting for us after we left immigration (no problems, not much of a wait) Green Light. The bus was cool and the beer was cold for $2US each. We had one stop before ours, so we got to see the lobby of the new Paridius SP? Looked very nice, but much closer to Cancun than Playa. Arrive to Caracol about 1.5 hours after touch down. Check in/Room- We arrived at 9:00am, no welcome drink, probably because it was so early. As I saw others later who did receive a drink. Our room was not ready, they told us to check back after 3:00, I was not very happy, as I was very tired from the long day we had before our flight. We went to the quiet pool for a nap, and a couple of drinks, and met a fellow board member Nancy and her husband Darryl, Very nice couple from TO. My Husband Matt went back to the front desk at 1:00 to check on our room it was ready!!! The room was #621, Ocean view, and pool view, centrally located. We were on the third floor, a huge patio, and a huge king sized bed, fridge, blow dryer, TV, phone, couch, also in our room (we requested the honeymoon package as it was our first year anniversary) towel sculptures, two swans kissing, a bottle of champagne, welcome letter and a fruit platter. The room was perfect. We did have to request a remote control for the TV, and we had a few small ants around the room, which they sprayed for each day. They did not bother us. We left a couple of US $ each day or gifts from the $ store. The room also had a small safe in the closet, for 200 pesos for two weeks. Freddy at the bell desk was one of our favourite staff of the resort. House keeping did a wonderful job. Food/Drink- We thought the drinks were better than the other AI’s we have been to Location/ Shuttle bus- We were happy about the location, BECAUSE we knew where we were going. I was very surprised at the number of people who had no idea. Even met two girls from Minnesota, who thought the hotel was in Cancun. The hotel provided a free shuttle bus all day everyday, you had to sign up early in the am, 7:00 am or so, it was more busy the first week than the last. We were up to save chairs by the pool or we took turns. Playa del Carmen- We love this little town, great shopping and great restaurants. We almost drown at Limones on Valentine’s Day, our meal was rather disappointing as the power went out on the restaurant flooded, not the staff’s fault but after 4 hours there we were a bit disappointed. Ricardo was wonderful and said he had never seen rain that hard EVER. We did visit the beach in front of the Blue Haus, very close to ferry terminal, and spent the entire day on the beach with great chairs, with thick brand new cushions, two buckets of ice-cold beer, two Pina Coladas and lunch for two for 220 pesos including the tip. Go see Juan there he did a great job. We also went de Gabi for Italian food, this is a great averagely priced restaurant, 4 cokes, pizza and pasta for $210 pesos including tip. No booze this night as it was Election Day, I would have love a good bottle of wine with this great meal. Pizza was outstanding!! Day trips- We did Xel-Ha all-inclusive ($73.00us) Expensive for us Canadian’s but worth every penny. We totally enjoyed this day; the all-inclusive package is the way to go. The Mexican restaurant is really good. The all-inclusive package includes, beer, ice cream, lockers, towels, snorkelling equipment, all 5 restaurants, life jackets and inner tubes. The other day trip we did was The Fury Catamaran trip on Cozumel. This trip cost us $55.00 us for about five hours we stopped at two different reefs and then to a beach club were we ate huge Angus beef burgers and salads. We also played beach volleyball with the crew, it was a blast. Open Bar the whole time, what fun!! The beach club also has sea Kayaks, beach floats, chairs and palayps. You just have to bring your own towel. The captain was from Clearwater Beach, FL a nice guy named Dan. We enjoyed this day the best, the fish were huge and in large schools, the water temp was +80. Service- Please remember that you are in Mexico it is NOT they same service that you will receive at home, Yes the bars were a bit slow at times, but all the staff were most helpful and friendly. A little Spanish goes a long ways. The resort was always doing surveys on how to improve themselves so this was good to see. I noticed changes for the better in the two weeks we were there. Warnings/Advice- 2) If you wander down the beach, leave you valuables in your safe, why do you need you wallet on a secluded beach at an A.I resort. NEVER walk on the beach at night (although I never heard of any problems.
Caracol Village- Playa del Carmen
After extensive research we choose to stay at this resort for the main reason of price, We had a budget of about $4500.00cnd for the two of us, the resort cost us $1889.00 plus taxes, each. So we fell well within our budget, we thought with the extra cash saved we would enjoy a few dinners in Playa and a couple day trips. This was our third trip to Mexico but first to Playa del Carmen. This was also our third time too an all-inclusive resort.
The Mexican restaurant was our favourite; the service was great, use bug spray in all outdoor restaurants. The buffet was huge and we enjoyed everything we had. The have a huge bread section at each meal, still warn from the ovens at the early times of the meal, these were so yummy, The make a great Mayan coffee in the lounge, look for Veronica. The lunch breach bar was good, although we preferred the first week we were there they set up a BBQ right on the beach and grilled burgers and dogs, over coals, better flavour. At this BBQ they also gave out ice-cold cans of beer, it was nice to keep a few of these for later and put them in the fridge for happy hour later in the week. We had no problems with the Tourista (bad stomach). Drink lots of Water. The beer was Sol on tap it was quite good but keep it cold with a few ice cubes. Our favourite drink was the Mi Tie (SP), and the Pina Colada. The white and red wine was drinkable but not great, it did not stop us from drinking it!!
1) Take the safe in your room. We had no problems with things missing from our room, but one girl we met said she was missing from a pair of shorts she left on the floor in her room. Keep an eye on your money and lock your stuff up.
3) Take some bug spray, and anti-itch cream, the sand flies were out in full force as we had quite a bit of rain, and a small umbrella would be useful too.
4) Use the Peso whenever you can, as you get a better bang for your buck.
5) We took large insulated mugs that had a screw top lid, these came in handy when the long lines at the bar started.
6) We took our own soap, as the hotel was not of great quality.
7) We took 75.00 in one dollar US bills and almost used all of them up, for housekeeping, bar and taxi staff.
We had a great trip, and hope you do to, remember you will make the trip great if you go with the flow!!!