Review on the JW Marriott
Well first, thank you all for your help and tips. The time spent in Cancun was so much less stressful going there with a lot better understanding and guidance.
The Cancun airport, having a passport cuts the time in line. I saw a few people fumbling to get their copies of birth cert.’s and documents out and some made the mistake of just making copies. Funny note, when you get to the “Button” you have to push to see if your lucky to get the green light and not the red one where you have to open all your suit cases for inspection on the Mexican side. There was a family that did not understand that only one party had to push that button, before the gal at the station there noticed, the father and two kids pushed it, the last push came up red, the frustration with the guard was apparent when she asked them to go to the table for inspection, not good. So push it only once for your party. Head straight out do not stop for the time share folks that will be all over you like a cheap suit, Don’t forget to grab those blue small tourist bags you will find to your right, there loaded with a very good map of Cancun and a discount coupon book to save you some $$$
We decided to have the private pickup from “brants tours” Our man was there holding of course the sign that said “DONTONY” that was so cool.
Tip: If you use this service, have the driver stop at the conveyance store that is close to the hotel for your water and other goodies.
JW Marriott
This hotel lives up to the “Marriott name” so beautiful, well maintained with a little maintenance being done, which unless you were looking for it you would not notice it. Funny, we were not given the “Cool moist towels or water” upon arrival, later I talked to the fellas at the door to see if maybe it was the way I combed my hair or what!
They have the sliver tray, stacked three levels with those dam* things. They said, there is no where to place them after there given, most of the tourist take them to the front desk and the girls do not like to pick them up at the counter where the new guest will leave them, makes sense to me. (Details for perfection)
Tip: The Doormen have discount cards to almost all the major restaurants and attractions, you have to ask. Make sure you give them a “Taste” too!
When we got to the front desk, having that Latino look the very lovely front desk gal greeted me in Spanish, I responded back in English (testing the waters) asked for details of floor level, room details before anything proceeded
9th floor Facing Ocean and lagoon, king size bed, nice….
When asked to provide a credit card for any room charges I polity in Spanish said “we would not be using the mini bar have a phone and will be paying as we go”, I requested that the mini bar be locked. Buda Bing Buda Boom. With that I handed the gal $5.00 bill, wanted her feel the warmth.
As we passed the concierge’s (there were two) we introduced ourselves and I made it appoint to let them know we would be using there services as this being our first time here, they responded in Spanish “ A sus ordenes “ (loose translation, “we are at your orders”
The room was what we expected, nicely appointed, clean, no offensive odors of any kind. I did like having a carpeted floor in the main bedroom area. Hate to step on cold marble. The view was spectacular, my God, now I see why everyone loves this place. I thanked Carlos and tossed him a couple of bucks.
First thing I checked out was the bed, as some of you know my greatest fear was to sleep on a hard bed. Hmmmmmmmm…. They place a pillow top (not attached) on the mattress and I slept like a baby, “Thumps up JW”
I noticed since we came in late, they have two sets of maids that do the rooms, one for morning and the other for your turn down service. Depending on what you need, make sure you tip each day. They share them. By the way, fixing your towels in shapes above the small ones they do in the bathroom, will not happen on a daily basis, especially if you like the big ones, it takes time to do that and if you really want that done everyday, you have give the $$$ for it. Let’s do the math. One floor say, 15 rooms one side
Only x 2 @ 3.00 US dollars = $90.00 each day, not to shabby.
I talked to the late gal, told her I needed something special on Thursday night. This was also the night we were going to the Thai Lounge (Lisa made reservations) I unpacked the bottle of “Louis Roederer Crystal 1984 vintage” (had a partial case from my rest) and the two champagne flutes I brought from home. Adriana did a beautiful job, much more than I expected her to do; she had the Bubbly in ice too.
Sunday night was a seafood buffet at Café salsa in the hotel, all you can eat which included “Lobster tails” about a 3 to 4 oz portion, the cost $46.00 each, ouch! After the salad and shrimp u-15 size too. We focused on the Lobster tails. They bring you three to a plate and you only get the one plate each time. After 3 plates the serving size went to 2 on a plate and would take a lot longer to arrive, I spoke to our server, Hey! Amigo, Is the next plate only going to get one???? He smiled, with that; the next plate had the three.
We were stuffed needles to say and I would say paying that kind of dough you better be.
All the comments about getting a place to lay out on in the pool area were right on the money, I would wake up at 6:30am head down got 4 towels and would pick our favorite place. Right side left of the stairwell heading down to the beach corner. Perfect, like little cubby and one could lay a towels on the cement edge and lay there as the sun comes up from the ocean side over the hotel, by say around 1 or 2pm that same place would be in the shade and by than we were ready to do other things. It rained real heavy one night so much that it was a lighting storm, huge bolts, I have never seen them that size, the wind was blowing I would say around 40 miles an hour, wow! The next morning there were several umbrellas with their cement basis in the pool, Yikesssss…. I helped with a fella from the UK a worker there trying to lug those 80 – 90 pound cement basis for the umbrellas out of the pool. Afterwards during the day, an outside waiter would come around and offer my wife and I (the UK bro as well) complimentary lunch for helping out. (Remember the concierge’s)
The outside swim up pool/bar is way on the other side of the hotel and in my opinion should have been place in the main courtyard. There were not many people using the swim up bar, when we went there I asked the bartender how many ozs in the plastic souvenir glasses, he said 16 oz, ok than I need two for each “Bubba mug” .
If you ever notice, most of the bars use the consumer bottle that has attached to the neck a plastic built-in pour spot. They use this type to limit the poor into making your drink. It just drizzles out instead of using the standard “speed pour” type. As I watched him I spoke to him in Spanish and said. Hey! Manual put some heat into those drinks!
Wednesday midday we pampered ourselves with a “couples massage” at the hotel
Tip: get the 10% discount coupon from your concierge or door man, this was the ticket, man after a couple of days doing tours we needed this in a big way. Very nice massage. Got me in the mood too…J
Breakfast in the hotel runs $24.00 each buffet of course unless you order from the menu, my biggest complaint here was there was only one gal at the omelet station. And there were 8 people waiting for the omelets. Needles to say I called over my waiter and told him to get someone else here. Within a few minutes a second person was brought out and that took care of the line. The food was great, fresh juice, including watermelon juice.
One thing we noticed about all of the hotel staff, they could not do enough for you, funny even if you looked like you needed something they were there asking, very 5 star attention. As for the coffee makers in the room, you have to ask for one and to be honest with you, after being in Colombia several times and having the # 1 coffee in the world, I really did not have but one cup. The little store they have in the lobby has coffee, full espresso station and some very nice pastries. Along with all the “I forget to pack” stuff.
The hotel as others have said purifies there water and ice, We decided to give the ice a break but would drink only bottle water, there is a store to the right side a little walk where they carry 1 gallon waters jugs with handles same price than going all the way to wal-mart.
The room of course has a safe,
Tip: make sure you keep your passport, which should include that bottom stub/doc you were handed back at the airport in the safe all the time. You do not have to walk around with it and if you lose that slip of paper you will have a very bad day before your allowed to leave Cancun. I kept, money, Video & still camera locked when we were away.
The hotel has a very comfortable lounge with soft comfy couches, full bar and there is a piano which during the evening has a gal who sings, next to her is a gal who rolls cigar leaves, making them fresh by hand. I don’t smoke but I felt that was a nice touch
We enjoyed this one night, yes she would take request.
The rest of our stay would not include any more dinning in the hotel, as we wanted to taste what Cancun had to offer, all in all we both felt this hotel/ resort lived up to all the great reviews. As a side note, the hotel does groom the sand in front.
The “JW” for my new Wife and I was everything we would have expected and highly recommend anyone considering Resort choices, Why take the chance of a bad vacation. We are already planning our next adventure there, split the week between Cancun and Cozumal. See you all soon.
Buda Bing
