Check-in: Fast and friendly. They greet you with a warm towel and a glass of tropical juice. The ladies get a white carnation. Check-in took less than five minutes. The bellboys bring up your bags in minutes.
Rooms: We stayed in an ocean-view room with two queen beds. It had a jacuzzi and a decent sized balcony with a double chaise lounge chair. The minibar was stocked with cokes, sprites, dos equis beer and Tecate light beer. In addition there is a selection of hard liquors (Tequila, vodka, whisky and rum) they provide Biosilk shampoo, conditioner and bubblebath. Additionally there is a dental kit with two toothbrushes and colgate toothpaste, a disposable shoeshiner, a shaving kit with razor and cream, a sewing kit and a little kit with q-tips and cotton balls. All these things are replenished daily. In the closet there is a safe (free, just program a code into it), bathrobes for each guest and a pair of slippers for each guest. The bathrobes are not meant to be taken home, they say you can buy them at the hotel store. There is a flat-screen tv with many channels (mostly spanish) with a few other languages. The kids cannels are only in Spanish. We all speak Spanish at home so my daughter loved to see all the nick jr cartoons in Spanish. Be careful when opening the balcony doors because the warm air meets the cold air from the room and everything gets condensation on it, making the floors a bit slippery. My brother-in-law is a Palace resorts member so he got the Presidential suite. It has a huge living area with wet bar, mini fridge, dining area and an enormous blacony. The rooms in the suite were pretty much the same as our room but they had I-pod dock radios and a fancier coffee maker and their minibars also had juice. Free wireless internet in all rooms.
Restaurants: There are four: Tequila, the main resataurant buffet; Bocelli, the Italian a la carte; Wok the asian a la carte and La Terraza, basically a grill restaurant. All were good but our least favorite was La Terraza. Tequila has a large selection of Mexican and international ffods. The Mexican stuff was really good, but it is Mexican, not Tex-Mex as most Americans are accustomed too. There were some really good beans, gorditas tacos, fajitas. At breakfast you can get omelettes made for you or fried eggs. There are waffles and cereals and fruits, pastries yogurt and a bloody Mary station. Good corn tortillas to go with fried eggs and a large selection of salsas. We Americans are acustomed to super sweet desserts but the ones here are slightly sweet. There are homemade ice creams and popsicles too. The Asian place is really good as is the Italian. There is a snack bar at the pool and on the roof sky bar (which also has two pools) 24 hour room service is included.
The pool/beach: The really is no beach, but the oceanis accesible for swimming. It was rather rough though. The main pool is divided into three sections, one of which is the swim-up bar. There is a kiddie pool too. There are waitresses circulated every two minutes asking if you need anything. Everyone seems genuinely happy to serve you here, it's almost weird! Every time you say gracias they respond "Es un placer servirle" it's a pleasure to serve you. They say tips are included but we always tipped for everything, spent about $120 in tips for a week. The were a lot of Americans at the resort but a good number of Spanish-speakers too, being Spanish-speakers ourselves, we did not notice any difference in service. There is also a store with souvenirs and sunblock and cigarettes and stuff like that. A lot of the souvenirs were cheaper at the hotel store than in the mexican outlets.
Excursions: We went to Isla Mujeres. It was gross. The boat trip there was annoying, they made you clap and sing and wave your arms. Some people like that sort of thing, me not so much. The Isla mujeres palace was really small and the food was edible but not great. The city on Isla was all tore up since they were rebuilding sewers and it smelled of sewerage. the prices in the stores were a bit high. The boat ride back was equally annoying but the tequila punch they force down your thoat made it more bearable. Also went to Wet n wild, nice park, great rides and lazy river but food was nasty. Wife did Chichen Ita and said it was amazing, but a really long trip. They left at 7 and got back at 7. Went downtown to Walmart to buy spanish language board games and books for my daugter. There is a market called Mercado 28 nearby with everything but you MUST haggle with them. Usually the price they quote can be cut in half. Don't use your credit card unless you're a real risk-taker.
SPA; Had a free 25 minute massage and a pedicure, no complaints. My daughter had her whole head of hair braided, came oout great and the ladies were so nice to her chatting with her the whole time in Spanish and in English with my neice who doesn't speak Spanish.
There was a fire show and a movie night and a karaoke night. But we were mostly too exhausted to party past 12. In short, great place, great staff and no complaints at all.
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