FLIGHT:
~ was excellent; great service; complimentary champagne; have flown Sunwing about 6 times maybe (??) and every time has been excellent
~ Row #11 has no window seat
~ Rows 15 & 16-ish have extended leg room for the emergency exits, at an additional fee of $40 CDN per seat
~ food was pretty decent; your choice of two entrees, one vegetarian
TRANSFER FROM AIRPORT TO HOTEL:
~ perfect. Only 10-15 minutes away from airport; Sunwing rep good ‘n visible; comfy van.
ARRIVAL AT HOTEL:
~ faced with a mountain of STAIRS!!! No ramps...had to lug our five suitcases up and up and up!!
~ had bell-boys....(okay, maybe not ‘boys’...”bell-older-gentlemen”...they had difficulty manoevering our luggage, so we just did it!)
~ check-in was easy; they issue you ONE key...literally, a key on a shoe-lace string...not a key card. So if our group split up, we were to leave OUR key at the front desk; the other party would arrive; pick up the key; and return it BACK to reception for the remaining party to arrive. No 2nd key was available.
ROOM:
~ was clean / bathroom in good shape / air-conditioning unit in room, quite noisy, but functioning / no bar fridge / patio doors were screwed shut; not to be opened to shallow balcony; no windows to open / digital safety deposit box available /
ENTERTAINMENT:
~ practically non-existent; there was an Activity Board near the pool, but the activities weren’t followed through; saw some pool volleyball; and some “How many balls are in the bucket”-type of game! (?!?!?); saw a ping-pong table but no one played; BINGO was to be around the pool area, but we never heard anything
~ no evening entertainment at all
~ we did sign out two pool cues and balls to play billiards inside, beside the reception desk
FOOD:
~ was a huge disappointment. The all-inclusive is NOT worth it. We ended up traveling into Cancun to eat our dinners.
~ one room for all meals
~ the buffet selection was wedged into the corner of the room; one table being about 10 feet long; the other about 6 feet. Separate tables for breads and desserts.
~ hot food was cold; milk was warm; breads stale; chicken skewers had RAW meat in them
~ breakfast omelette station was good; but ordering what you wanted was painful on account of language barrier
~ weiners and buns/fries/processed chicken bits/nachos/cheese sauce/pickles/veggie salads = lunch at the beach
~ pasta was poor; baked chicken was good; always rice, beans, nachos, chopped fresh fruit; little to no variety night after night
DRINKS:
~ two bars for the resort; both were outdoors; one was open all of the time, located in the pool area, and the other was down at the beach for the late-morning/afternoon hours
~ bars were adequately stocked with the top fave drinks
STAFF:
~ were there to put in time; we did not feel ‘welcome’ at all; certainly didn’t score many tips!
~ no table service for beverages of any sort; we had to flag someone down, who was usually chatting with another colleague
~ table linens/settings were not changed
~ reception staff were indifferent
~ bar staff were hot and cold; sometimes hospitable; other times it seemed we were inconveniencing them
~ housekeeping was great (mind you, we left gifts and tips everyday on our beds for her!)
~ granted, we’re in Mexico...I realize this...but the level of english spoken was very, very low – this made for some frustrating conversations with several guests.
~ there was one day, the Wednesday, that we “assumed” The-Boss-The-Big-Guy-The-Top-Dog was in the building, because the staff were like bees! Scrubbing the walkways, scurrying everywhere, looking busy in the restaurant...otherwise, it was lazy-daisy; uncaring.
GROUNDS:
~ very clean
~ sadly lacking in lounge chairs for guests....total number of chairs, may have been 40?? Guests laid on the sand at the beach, or directly on the concrete in the pool area. We went to Walmart and bought cheapy air-mattresses which we happily gave away to other guests at the end of our trip. Apparently new chairs were “on order”.
~ the structure of the hotel was neat; each room was very private; really didn’t hear all THAT much noise (and we were there at Spring Break!)
~ iguanas roamed the grounds
~ one pool was about 20’ square and about one foot deep / the other was about 30’ x 50’ ...half of it was about 4’ deep and the other half was again, about one foot deep
~ the swim-up bar was not in operation
~ beach volleyball was played
~ half of the resort is hotel rooms; the other half is privately owned condos; we chatted with a couple of condo dwellers and they just love it there. I would consider returning to the Solymar as a condo renter....excluding anything to do with drink/food services.
~ cabana massages offered at the beach front, along with hair-braiding
GUESTS:
~ this hotel seemed to cater to Europeans and Mexicans; not a lot of Americans (they were the condo owners that we met...)
~ there were a few Canadians from the west
~ little to NO small children or family scenarios / no day programs for kids
~ no teenagers at all (my teens would have died of boredom - ON SPRING BREAK! - had we not done a couple of excursions!!) [highly recommend the AllTourNative "Coba" tour; and the "Snorkel Adventure" tour]
~ ideal for adult couples; and certainly for retired folks (again, the majority were renters of condos; not hotel guests) spending longer periods of time; sometimes by the month
BEACH:
~ outstanding; really was the best beach front in this hotel area
~ to the right of us, was very, very rocky and the hotels were quite a distance from the sea; to the left, the beach was practically non-existant. We heard that since the hurricane in 2005, they had to bring in barges filled with sand from Sweden to replace the damaged beaches, at a cost of $225 million!!
~ the odd beach vendor but not all that many; and they were not aggressive at all
PESTS:
~ no mosquitos this time of year; no cockroaches (!!!); there was a colony of tiny ants in the bathroom; 5 iguanas greeted you as you walked down to the beach!
LOCATION:
~ loved the fact that the Solymar (maybe 4 or 5 stories tall??) was more to the END of “the strip” of hotels; close to the airport; and not sandwiched in between the more enormous resorts.
GETTING AROUND:
~ the Sunwing rep discouraged us from using use Taxis as they have a reputation of “cleaning your wallets!” <smirk!> (taking you to the cleaners...) so we happily used the EXCELLENT bus system. One way fare was 7.5 pesos and you could go anywhere; either just next door, or 1/2 an hour into the city of Cancun for the same fare. The buses were EVERYWHERE, running 24/7 for both tourists and locals. It was fantastic.
SUNWING RATING:
~ considering the entire package, I feel the Solymar just squeaks it's way to a 3-star. Our All-Inclusive I.D. bracelets had the Solymar indicated at a 4-star, but it is not at all
~ we spoke to one gentleman in Cancun who asked where we were staying; we told him, and he asked how it was; we said, “okay, but not the best” and he explained that the Solymar was recently purchased and that the new owners were just now trying to bring the hotel back into a more favourable rating. Only time will tell.
WE RECOMMEND:
~ the Solymar for older couples/retired people who aren’t looking for entertainment or partying and who are comfortable seeking out their own groceries and preparing their own food, or exiting the hotel to dine along The Strip or in the city of Cancun.
