Debbie

Help - what am I doing wrong here - I copied and pasted a whole report from a word pad document and hit the button to post the reply but nothing is showing???

Mariarosa

If the report is too long, it will not post. Try posting it in segments as "replys" to your message.

Debbie

Hola, just returned from two weeks at our favourite place, the RIU Yucatan and while there we toured the Palace with the enormously funny entertainment director. Leaven, from the Yucatan. The tours were offered from the Yucatan every Tues/Thursday/Sat at 1pm and is the only way to really see the Palace. If you are staying in the Palace you have access to all the facilities of the Tequila, Playacar and the Yucatan. But if staying at the aforementioned 3, you are not allowed to use the Palace facilities. So we took the tour and learned the following: <BR>: - the Yucatan was built in '97 and being the first one has only the one pool and small disco. The landscaping on the property is lush and full because the the resort was built around the natural vegetation. And yes, there is a family of monkeys living in the trees and those growls you'll hear in the early morning is just the big male demanding his breakfast! <BR>: - the Tequila was built in '98 and the moniker of Club Hotel RIU Tequila is intended to show that this resort (not on the beach) is for the younger crowd. Having learned that people wanted bigger pools and disco, the RIU people included these better features in the Tequila. There is a shuttle down a pathway to the beach and a separate space in the poolside restaurant for the Tequila Beach Club <BR>: - the Palace was built in '99 and although just a few hundred dollars more, it's directed to the quieter crowd wanting a quiet relaxing vacation in extremely lush accomodations. The grounds however are a bit sterile looking at the moment as the property was completed leveled and the Palace built in only 10 months. There is a small entertainment staff of two and for action around the pool or to disco, guests are encouraged to visit the sister properties. No doubt this is a gorgeous place with beautifully appointed rooms but I myself found it rather quiet there when we toured the property <BR>: - the Playacar was finished in 2000 and is a replica of the Yucatan/Tequila rooms wise but is slightly smaller, more intimate and has a bigger pool than the Yucatan. The Playacar is on the beach next door to the Club Viva Maya which is next door to the Palace, which is next door to the Yucatan.

Debbie

Trip report continued: <BR>Specifics about the RIU Yucatan <BR>Food: The food and restaurant set up is the SAME at all 4 resorts with the Palace having maybe slightly more lobster and other seafood dishes on their buffet (hey, this is from Leaven's lips to your ears). In one week, you are allowed only two nights at the a la carte restaurant (ie. the Margarita Restaurant in the Yucatan). You wouldn't want to try and get into the a la carte every night anyhow as the menu is the same for two nights running. Mon/Tues is a set seafood menu and wonderfully delish! Wed/Thurs/Sun is a Mexican menu and Fri/Sat is a French menu. The menu is a set menu with appetizer, soup, one choice of 2 main courses, dessert and coffee. <BR>MOST DEFINITELY, finish your meal with the special boozy Mayan coffee if only for the show, and the coffee ain't bad either! <BR>There are two sittings for dinner, either 6:30 or 8:30 in the main buffet restaurant. You pick one and are assigned a table number and you sit at that same table each night just for dinner. If you need to change for any reason, say one night you want to eat at the early sitting, you just arrange this in the lobby and you will be assigned a temporary table #. <BR>Breakfast and lunch in the main buffet restaurant, you can sit anywhere. The food on the buffet is good and it's varied with most of the main courses prepared fresh at the 'food stations'. A sample breakfast buffet include 6 different freshly made fruit juices (banana, mango, etc), fresh fruit, huge piles of fresh whole wheat and white bread for toasting in the two big toasters, croissants and other breakfast breads, including a wonderful almond bread where you just cut off huge chunks of it! There is eggs any style, typical breakfast meats like bacon and sausages and a selection of cooked vegetable and potato dishes. There are platters of sliced meats and cheeses, rows of various breakfast cereals, bowls of yogurt with separate dishfuls of nuts and dried fruit to make your own muesli. There are pancakes with Mexican honey or maple syrup (unfortunately, not the real Canadian kind)...and to splurge on with your coffee or cappucino...fresh hot donuts dipped in sugar crystals. And this is just the breakfast buffet!!!! <BR>Good things around the resort: <BR>- clean rooms with very well laid out bath and dressing area and a drying rack on your balcony or patio <BR>- the beer/pop/juice/ice dispensers at the front of the pool bar (save trips and keep your drinks cold and sand free by taking your own insulated mugs down with you) <BR>- the Internet cafe with 6 pc's (in the row of shops at the front of the Yucatan) <BR>- and my favourite - the massage hut right on the beach (only $1. Per minute and 20 minutes massage with the breezes blowing over you is a wonderful thing). You can also get hair braiding done here. <BR>- large room safes to hold camera, lenses, jewellery, return tickets (yes, we all have to come home eventually), passport and cash <BR>: - mini bar stocked with bottled water, pop and beer (use the water to brush your teeth with if you have any concerns)

Debbie

Continued and thanks Marirosa for the tip: <BR>Scuba/Snorkeling - the beach along the Mayan Riveria does not make for good snorkelling as there are no reefs. However because of the huge sandbars out in the water the water is very shallow. <BR>There is a watersports store and dive shop at the resort and even though the Palace has their own dive shop, the RIU scuba boats leave from the Yucatan side of the beach and stop in at the Palace to pick up divers there. All assortment of dive packages were offered by the RIU shop and they give free scuba lessons in the pool everyday. My husband is the diver and on this visit to the Yucatan was not pleased with the service from the dive shop as there never seemed to be anyone working behind the desk who spoke enough English to know what was going on with the dives when the master diver was out on dive trips. My husband was working on getting his Advanced Open Water Dive certification and check pricing on this at the Club Viva Maya, the RIU shop and the Dressel Divers shop next door to the Yucatan in the Iberostar Resort. The Iberostar/Dressel Divers shop ended up being only $225. For the 5 dive and certification so he choose to go with this dive shop and was very pleased with their service. There was also a terrific videographer who made some wonderful dive videos to bring back home ($55. For the first two dives captured on a two tank dive, and $35. For the next two dives). So there are plenty of dive shops along the beach if you aren't particular about the dive shop at your own resort. <BR> <BR>Shopping - in addition to the vendors who set up tables in the resort (only on specific days), if shopping is your thing, there is also a little mall with silver shops, Internet cafe, craft and clothing stores a little further down from the RIU Yucatan, and across from the RIU Playacar. To go for an evening stroll and shopping in Playa del Carmen 5th Avenue (the shops are open late), it's about a 25 minute walk from the RIU resorts or 400 peso or $4 cab ride (includes tip). 5th Ave has become quite busy since we were there 2 years ago but it's a pleasant mix of restaurants and bars all vying for your business and interspersed with shops of all kinds. <BR>The RIU Yucatan and it's sisters resort are all 5 star resorts but for a few dollars less than what you would pay for some of the 4 star resorts in other places. You can't get much better value, service or accomodations for this kind of money!

Debbie

Excursions, Part I <BR>Excursion Options: <BR>1) There is a car rental desk in the lobby of the Yucatan/Tequila if you want to go it alone with a good guidebook. I do enough driving when I'm at home, so a vacation to me means being squired about by someone else for a change - thusly I cannot give you any info on car rental rates. <BR>2) You can cab it on your own to those places where you may not necessarily need a guide. Note the cabs have gotten a little more expensive since we were there two years ago, however there is a posted set of rates from the Playacar hotel zone to just about anywhere in the area <BR>you might want to go. For example, we cabbed it down to Xel-ha so we could set our own pace as to when to arrive and leave. The posted price was 265 pesos one way so with tip, it rounds up to $30 U.S. or 300 pesos. The front desk will tell you what it costs to wherever you want to by cab. <BR>When you get in the cab, just confirm the pricing again with the cab driver. <BR>3) There are many various excursions offered by the tour operators and depending on the number of people who sign up for a particular excursion you will be transported by a/c bus or a/c mini van. As this is our second time to the area, we only did the Coba trip this time and had a great small <BR>group of 9 people in a mini van including the driver and tour guide. If you really abhore being herded around by bus, check options 1 and 2 above. On offer were: <BR>

Debbie

Excursions, Part II <BR>- Chichen Itza, all day $69. <BR>- Chichen Itza with light show, all day and evening $79. <BR>- Tulum & Snorkeling - this is an all day one with the tour through Tulum, light lunch and snorkelling in probably two of the best spots in the area, Yalku Lagoon and Akumal $59. <BR>- Tulum/Xel-ha - a tour of Tulum and an afternoon in Xel-ha $67. <BR>- Tulum quickie tour - just the morning $38. <BR>- Xel-ha for the whole day $49. <BR>- 3 day tour of the Yucatan Peninsula $349. <BR>- Coba tour - a great to this still largely undiscovered ruins with lunch and a swim in a cenote $59. <BR>- Xcaret - full day and the bus brings you back to the hotel for lunch $52. <BR>- Puerto Morelos Snorkeling Adventure $60. <BR>- Dolphin Discovery $119. <BR>- Shopping trips to Cancun $27. or $29. <BR>- A day over in Cozumel $75. <BR>- Pirate Ship Cruise $70. <BR>Two years ago, we did the Tulum Xel-ha trip and that was very good. This year as mentioned we wanted to check out Xel-ha on our own so we cabbed it down and it's only $20 entrance fee or $49. to include food, etc. <BR>If interested in snorkelling only down in Akumal (or doing a dive from one of the shops), it would be about $30. or $35. for a cab and they will drop you at the north end of the beach. <BR>Xcaret is great and again, it might be easier to just cab it from the resort (about $10. and 10 minutes) but the new buses they have are great because you can spend the morning in Xcaret, come back to the hotel for lunch and then they will pick you up and take you back for the afternoon and evening show which is supposed to be spectacular. <BR>For Cozumel, if you want to snorkel in Chanakanab Park, or go diving, see the ruins at San Gervasio, motor scooter around the island or do some serious shopping, just head down to the ferry docks and for $18. return ticket you can ferry over on your own - the ferry leave PDC every hour starting at 8am. <BR>As mentioned previously, this was our second two week trip to this area so the only tour we purchased this time was the Coba tour and it was an excellent day! I'm not much into ruins but the pyramid there is higher than the one at Chichen Itza and it is quite an interesting place. My husband climbed to the top - and then yelled down for me to bring him up a beer...Yea, I'll get right on that I told him! <BR>After exploring Coba, we were driven to a roadside restaurant for what turned out to be a very delicious lunch of soup, main course (chicken, fish, pork or chile) and fruit. After that we stopped at a large cenote for a chance to cool off and snorkel in the fresh water. This was a great tour!

Debbie

Okay, last, but not least - things to do around the resort. It seemed there was always something going on - whether it would be the fella in the corner by the theatre/lounge bar where you could purchase and paint pottery pieces, or you could shop at the one of the tables of goods brought in by the vendors on certain days. Or the entertainment staff would get you moving with beach volleyball, pool aerobics, merengue lessons, spanish lessons, pool volleyball, etc. Also, the aforementioned free scuba lessons in the pool (careful though that one of the drunken folks from the pool bar swim over and moon you underwater!). <BR>Some days they brought in entertainment in the afternoon who would sing and play live music by the pool. One day it was a whole mirachi band singing traditional Spanish songs. <BR>With an entertainment staff of 5 to 8 people, there is always something going on but if you want to just find a quiet spot on the beach to read and snooze, that too, is an option!