2 July- Monday.
Off we go. Patti and I left that house at 5am. Thanks to Jason for the drop off at the Dayton airport. While checking in with US Airways they offered us what seemed to be about a 75% discount on first class upgrades for the Philly to Cancun leg of the trip. It did come with free baggage, drinks, and a meal. The cost was $450. We did opt to take it. Later on I started thinking… “Was that $450 for the two of us or $450 each? I guess we will see when we get our credit card statement.
We departed Dayton on time and made the connection to Cancun in Philly. I had been worried about the Dayton flight because it did not have a very performance history. Patti and I were row one in our first class section to Cancun. The extra leg and elbow room was nice- as was the pre take off Canadian club and coke. Lunch was not bad for Airline food either; they served us enchiladas, rice and black beans. Later, a warm wash cloth to freshen up with.
We landed a few minutes early at the Cancun airport. You gotta love the fact that the Corona banner still adorns the control tower. Patti and I were the first ones off the plane. Yeah, I know we all landed at the same time. Immigration and customs went fast enough. It did seem a little busy to me for a Monday. But we did land at about the same time as a group of five other flights from the US. The aggressive reps near the airport exit were even more aggressive than previous visits. We didn’t stop to listen to their time share pitch and that got them a little cranky. We just exited the building and found our shuttle rep. We had Best Day ground transportation for the first time and they did just fine. It was a 30 minute ride south to the resort. We were booked into The Iberostar Parisio Lindo. The Lindo was the center resort of five in the complex.
Rich, Heather, Payton and Alyssa were waiting in the lobby. They had got to the resort about an hour ahead of us. We had about an hour wait till 3pm- check in time. The lobby bar was serving. They have Don Julio tequila chilled in the lobby bar. We visited with the family, checked in and got a golf cart ride with the porter to our room.
We were in building 55 which is the building closest to the restaurants and furthest from the beach. We use the pool more than the beach so this was not an issue for us. We had a second floor room overlooking the lazy river. It was humid not being beach front. With the AC maxed and the ceiling fan on high it was ok. It took a few phone calls to get a mini fridge that worked, but that was our only maintenance issue the entire week.
We took an afternoon naps and we all met later for dinner at the main buffet. The buffet had plenty of choices. If you can’t find something you like, you aren’t looking. The buffet food quality was resort average. This was the only time we used the buffet for dinner. We did notice a decreased level of service for the buffet for breakfast or lunch service. They seemed understaffed. Sometimes you could not get seated or get a drink refill. Just an observation. Tired, we called it a day.
3 July- Tuesday.
I woke up at 6:40 am (7:40 am for my Ohio body clock). There was a coffee maker and associated supplies in the room- coffee, tea, several types of sugar, but oddly nothing to stir with. I used the end of my toothbrush. Back to the main buffet for breakfast. They had cook to order eggs and omelets, pancakes, waffles, fruit, cereal etc. the usual stuff. The fresh fruit was very good. After breakfast we went to the pool near the swim up bar.
We got to the pool area around 9:30 am and found six chairs together under the palaypas. We never had to get up early to go reserve a seat. The pool was nice and big; the water temp was probably in the upper 80s. The pool area (and the entire resort) was nicely landscaped with plants, water features, islands and stonework. We got a few tropical drinks from the swim up bar and got our vacation on.
Later we went to check out the beach. There is a mangrove area that separates the beach from the rest of the resort. There is a deck walkway to get you there. It is a very large resort but you could walk from reception to the beach in about 10 minutes. From the pool it was about a 3 minute walk. The beach was one of the nicest resort beaches we have been to. It was very large and had plenty of chairs. There is a snack bar and beach bar for service. On the deck to the beach you will usually see families of Coatis looking for a handout. There are friendly, but that does not mean you should try and pet them they have been known to nip if you get into their ‘personal space’.
We went to the buffet near the pool for lunch. Afterwards we went to the ice cream shop above the swim up bar. The key lime sherbet was pretty good. Patti and I tried out the Lazy river. We grabbed a float and we floated the 1/10th mile circuit. It was ok.
Later that day following an afternoon siesta… Patti and I went to the theater bar and had a pre dinner drink. We saw part of a kids fashion show the staff was putting on using the kids at the resort.
We went to the Italian restaurant for dinner that night. Heather was able to make all the dinner reservations through her concierge linking the rooms. They gave a reservation ticket we took to dinner. I had read reviews that suggested you make all reservations in advance. This was not necessary. Choosing an entrée? I could not make up my mind between the lobster medallions or the filet mignon so I ordered both. Patti had the filet and tortellini.
4 July- Wednesday
Woke up about 7;30 and read my Kindle on the balcony with a cup of coffee. Patti joined me about 8:30. At breakfast Patti went healthy with fruit, I went tasty with scrambled eggs w/mushrooms.
We went to the pool and walked around the perimeter of the pool. That was quite a walk. The section next to the waterfall is slightly cooler due to the falls and all the water jets spraying from the side. After lunch we had a drink at the wave pool beach bar. We never tried the wave pool. I guess it ran for about 15 minutes every hour. They would announce the wave cycle with a short siren blast.
Dinner that night was at the Brazilian restaurant. It was at a different resort on the complex- the Del Mar. we were able to get a shuttle ride from our lobby. They had a wide variety of appetizers. The smoked salmon was very good. I tried the caviar, but I have never developed a taste for it. The meal was wonderful. It consisted of courses of meat on a skewer- definitely Brazilian style. We had side dishes of baked potato and corn on the cob. I lost track, but there were at least 6-7 courses of meat. I was almost too full for desert. They key word there being ‘almost’. This was our favorite of all the a la carte restaurants.
We went back to the room and watched a little TV before going to sleep. We could always find something in English.
5 July- Thursday
This morning I went to our travel rep and confirmed our shuttle ride back to the airport. The rep asked if I had forgot about seeing them the afternoon that we got there. I gave my usual response, “No, I just came when I felt like it.” I don’t book side excursions. He was friendly though.
Today was a little overcast and cooler. Patti and I spent a few hours at the swim up bar. The entertainment staff was performing poolside. After a few Blue Hawaiians I found I can sing along to “I’m Sexy and I Know it.”… I'm in a speedo' tryn' to tan my butt cheeks…” Just to be clear I was NOT wearing a speedo.
That night we went to the Hiramisu for dinner- Japanese prepared tableside at the Beach Resort next door to us. It was a 5 minute walk. It was a good show watching the chef go through his moves chopping, dicing, and flipping. Add some flames for effect. The food was very good. We were at a table of ten. The folks to my left were French Canadian. They were friendly and we talked politics and US/Canadian relations. I think we were all good ambassadors.
The resort guest list: About 45% US and Canadian, 30 % Mexican and South American and 25% British and European.
6 July- Friday
Friday started out as usual, coffee, buffet, pool. Heather and family met up with us around 11 am. Patti read her Kindle poolside and I went down to the beach with the family for a swim. On the boardwalk back from the pool I saw a guy trying to hit a Coati with a baby stroller. I raised my voice and told him ‘No’. We did not speak the same language but I guess when I used the word ‘Polizia’ it translated well enough.
Some of the reviews I had read mentioned issues with Mosquitoes/bugs. I was never bit once, nor was Rich. Oddly it was the females of our group the insects found more tasty. Some Deep Woods Off and an anti-itch stick would be a good idea to take.
7 July- Saturday
It had rained during the night and was again cooler and a little less humid. We had breakfast with the family at the buffet and hung out in the waterfall area of the pool. We tossed around a football, visited and relaxed.
For dinner Saturday Rich and Heather had booked a dinner for the two of them at one of the Gourmet restaurants. Patti and I took Payton and Alyssa to the Mexican restaurant. Secret tip: One of the best places in the complex to get a lobster tail is at the Mexican restaurant. We had a great server. He introduced himself as “I’m Freddy, don’t call me Fred.” We all had our pictures taken wearing sombreros by Freddy, don’t call me Fred. I think somewhere in the small print it does require a sombrero picture.
Heather and Rich met us all there and we walked up to the reception area to check out the vendors. The vendors are there to sell but they are not overly pushy. You can talk them down on prices.
8 July- Sunday
A lazy day. Our last full day. We had room service for lunch. For a resort that bills itself as a 4.5 they had an extremely limited room service menu. Food quality was ok, just not much of a selection as compared to other Cancun area resorts that we have been to.
Dinner was at the La Marina seafood resort across the pool on the Maya side. I got the surf and turf. The sirloin was very tender. The lobster was ok, but better at the Mexican. The big plus here was the appetizer bar- shrimp, crab and many other tasty treats. Back to the room to pack.
9 July- Monday
Time to go home. We were mostly packed the night before. Woke up around 8 am and had one last coffee on the balcony. I had called the night before to arrange for porter service for the bags at 9:50. We finally left the room at 10:10 with our bags ourselves- no porters. Check out went well. We had one last drink from the lobby bar while we waited for our shuttle to the Airport.
Travel tip: At the Airport I flagged over an airport porter to take our bags in. This turned out to be a very good idea. He not only took our bags in, he took us to a kiosk, printed off our boarding passes, and by-passing the lines- he walked us right up to bag drop off. He earned his tip. I Ignored the looks from other travelers in line.
We had time for one of our Cancun airport departure rituals- some table side fresh made guacamole at Margaritaville. Our US Airways flight got off on time. We flew coach this time and did not have an upgrade… oh well, back to the real world.
We landed in Philly and cleared customs and immigration quickly. There were quit a few unhappy grumpy Government workers there. I think they needed vacations. We had to recheck with TSA to make our connection. The TSA folks were friendly and even apologized when the computer randomly selected me for a hand swab test. I am guessing they were checking for residue that ‘bad people’ might use. I told Patti they were really checking to see if I washed my hands after leaving the men’s room.
We took the bus shuttle to terminal F (under construction) to our connection to Dayton. Under construction meant not much of a selection for dinner. The flight to Dayton boarded on time then we sat on the tarmac for about 45 minutes. We were told it was the Philly airport rush hour. 9:30 pm was their busy time? Really? We got home around midnight. Thanks to Josh for the ride home.
My star ratings:
Overall: 4.5
Value: 4
Rooms: 4
A la Carte restaurants: 5
Buffets: 3.5
Drinks: 4.5
Overall service: 4.5
Housekeeping: 4 (Note: Why replace one washcloth but not both? Did not replace toilet paper a few days. Just observations, not major.)
Landscaping and appearance: 5+
Beach: 5
Pool: 5
Wifi: 0 (No free wifi… come on!)
