More pix from the Occidental Grand Xcaret

WEDDING GAZEBO




SPORTS BAR




SNORKELING AREA




LOBBY




JUNIOR SUITE

More pix from the Occidental Grand Xcaret

KIDS CLUB
GARDEN VIEW FROM THE DELUXE ROOM
DELUXE ROOM
QUIET POOL ("CRAB" POOL)

ADULTS ONLY POOL

Occidental Grand Xcaret hotel review

As a vacation, cruise and honeymoon specialist, I am more critical of resorts than the average guest. I look at the resort in terms of how it would fit the needs of my clients so I tend to be very picky when I travel.

My husband and I spent 6 nights at the Occidental Grand Xcaret in mid June. They were running a fabulous special to entice travelers back to their resort after the much exaggerated swine flu problem. I actually booked this trip as a guest rather than a travel agent since the prices were so good. They were offering a buy 1 night get the 2nd night free promotion for June arrivals. With airfare and transfers, the price was so inexpensive that I couldn’t pass it up.

I have not sent a lot of clients to this property in the past due to what I had heard about it- that it was huge and had no beach. What I also heard was that it was attached to Xcaret Park, which is someplace that we didn’t get to visit on our last trip to the Riviera Maya. I purposely didn’t read any reviews so that I would be able to make an honest evaluation of the property.

I did email the hotel general manager prior to our arrival to ask for a complimentary upgrade (the same as I would do for all of my clients) and he responded very quickly to let me know that we had been upgraded to the Royal Club. Having seen the properties in Punta Cana and Cozumel, I knew the Royal Club was the concierge section of the hotel with extra amenities so I was anxious to experience this service.

The resort is about 1 hour from the airport and upon our arrival, we went to the front desk. Since we had been upgraded to the Royal Club, we were escorted to the shuttle to take it to the Royal Club lobby. Our luggage was sent on to our room separately. We were greeted by name upon arrival at the Royal Club and were told that we had the “best room in the house”. Not knowing what to expect, we went up to our room 31302 on the 3rd floor of building 31 and were amazed at what we saw. We were expecting a regular room or junior suite but what we were booked into was a 2 room suite with gorgeous ocean views, 2 balconies, separate living room and dining room and a fabulous bathroom with a separate Jacuzzi tub and shower (with views of the ocean!). We definitely had the best room in the house!

Royal Club amenities include junior suites or the master suites (18 in all which was the room we had), concierge service, upgraded toiletries, Jacuzzi tubs, nightly turn down service, fruit basket, upgraded linens, free internet in the Royal Club lounge, DVD library, priority reservations at the a la carte restaurants and the additional restaurant exclusive to Royal Club guests. The Royal Club has its own pool area with a large Jacuzzi pool that is exclusive to the Royal Club guests. The young ladies who work in the Royal Club lounge were always pleasant, smiling and knew us by name after check in. They went out of their way to help make our stay as pleasant as possible and I would highly recommend the Royal Club.

We did see the deluxe rooms and junior suites in the resort and they are very comfortable rooms with garden or pool views. The 400 rooms around the Flamenco pool (buildings 18-22) are in the family oriented section. You will also find the Apple and Funjet Vacations representatives in these buildings. The rooms in the “Crab” section (#14-17) are more adult oriented. Their pool is the quieter of the 2 pools in the complex. The deluxe rooms have 2 doubles or 1 king. The junior suites have 1 king and some have a sofa bed. The bathrooms only have showers. The mini bars are refilled every 3 days but if you can always call for a refill earlier. There are some corner rooms that have a junior suite and a deluxe room side by side and have an exterior door that will close off the entry to both rooms so you can have 2 adjoining rooms for a larger family. These are on request only and can’t be guaranteed.

The resort is very large but not difficult to navigate. After the first day, we got tired of waiting for the shuttle (which circles the property every 10 minutes) so we ended up walking. The Royal Club rooms are closer to the beach but the furthest from the lobby, restaurants and theatre areas so we truly got our exercise walking all over the resort.

Food- is always a big deal in an all inclusive resort and we weren’t disappointed by the meals in the a la carte restaurants. We tried the Steak House, Mediterranean, Oriental and Seafood restaurants as well as the Royal Club restaurants for dinner. Since we were in the Royal Club, we got priority reservations and had no limit on the # of times we could eat in the specialty restaurants. If you are not in the Royal Club, there are limits (I believe 3 or 4 a la carte dinners per 7 night stay). We found the food and service in each of the restaurants to be very good to excellent. Our least favorite was the Oriental restaurant. The food was tasty but the air conditioning wasn’t working well and we had to leave because the heat was oppressive. The seafood restaurant is outdoors (part of the Beach Club Restaurant which is open for breakfast and lunch). Because it is oceanfront, the breeze was nice and kept us pretty cool. Dress code for the a la carte restaurants is long pants for men and some guests who were not dressed appropriately were asked to leave. We ate at the Beach Club for breakfast once and for lunch twice. The buffets were ok- pretty standard. For breakfast the line for the omelet station was incredibly long but there was the normal assortment of breakfast items. For lunch, there was a pasta station, with pizza, a grill, salads, hot and cold food as well as desserts with ice cream. The main buffet was only open for dinner since the occupancy was pretty low during our stay and we didn’t eat there at all. It is air conditioned and the dress code for dinner is casual. Had we had to eat at the buffet for ½ of the time we were there, I’m sure my review might be a bit different since I do not like buffets for dinner. I’m ok with them for breakfast and lunch but I like to be served for dinner.

Drinks and bar service- We are not big drinkers but we were happy with the bar service. For dinner, we were offered a house wine- either red or white and I liked the white but my husband didn’t. There was bar service around the beach and adult pool area and one of the waiters balanced a tray full of drinks on his head. Not an easy feat when walking on sand! Mixed drinks were always good- Miami Vice, Pina Coladas, Sombreros- were what I sampled. Club soda with lime and lemonade were my standard daytime beverages- both cold and refreshing.

Entertainment- Every night there is an evening show in the theatre at 9:30pm with a pre-show at 9:15pm. The pre show usually included audience participation. They were cute and fun but typically had some sexual innuendos made so they may not be necessarily appropriate for young kids. We saw about 3 shows during our stay. The first was a “Miss Flamenco” contest with guest participation. The other was “The Beat Goes On” and the third was music and dancing from around the world. The dancers were better than expected. They did lip sync to the songs but they were very high energy and entertaining. My complaints about the shows were that the sound system was uncomfortably loud and the theatre is very hot. Although there are fans, it is open air and there isn’t much of a breeze.

In addition to the evening show, there is a disco and sports bar which we didn’t go into. The lobby has some nice seating and in the evening it was used by couples and groups just relaxing and having fun. There is also a good deal of just outside of the restaurant complex with tables and chairs and a bar. This was an area that many guests hung out in the evening as well.

During the day, the Fun Club staff tried to entice guests to join beach volley ball games, salsa lessons, and had a full array of activities. Again, due to the low occupancy rate, there wasn’t much guest participation.

There is a nice kids area for ages 3-12. We only saw kids in there once.

The resort also has a putting green, tennis courts, volley ball courts, air conditioned gym and spa but we didn’t use any of them so I can’t comment on them. The sauna and steam room are free of charge, but you need to make a reservation to use them.

Beach and pools
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the beach area. Remember that I was told the resort had no beach. Not true- it is actually a man made beach/cove that is ideal for swimming and safe for kids. It is sectioned off from the open ocean so it is very calm. There are a lot of fish in the beach area and lots of guests were snorkeling right there. Since other guests were throwing bread into the water below from the Beach Club restaurant bridge, there were lots of fish around. There was another snorkeling area but the water was pretty rough during the week we were there and it didn’t seem terribly safe since this area was surrounded by rocks.

There are 2 large free form pools- the Flamenco and the “Crab” pools. The Flamenco pool is the larger pool with a swim up pool bar and this is the activity pool. The Crab pool had easy entry (good for those with walking issues) and whirlpools. The Royal Club pool was small and exclusive to the guests in this section.

In addition, there is an adult’s only pool right near the beach club restaurant. It is a salt water pool that refills from the ocean looks like it has 3 jacuzzi tubs in it but they are just for decoration. There are 2 sets of steps down to the water- no easy entry for people with walking issues, and please note that the stairs were VERY SLIPPERY. My husband fell on his way in the first time. We learned after that. Since the adult pool is oceanfront, it was cool and breezy, unlike the other pools which are very hot since they are further into the resort where there is less of a breeze. There are a good number of palapas around the beach and adults only pool for shade.

Resort and grounds
The resort is truly lovely. The lobby is open air with fountains and water features. There is a “river” going through the lobby, restaurant and shopping area that connects with Xcaret park. On the resort grounds, there are many parrots, a deer enclosure, lots of iguanas, Mayan “ruins” and beautiful landscaping. The resort was clean and the grounds were always being kept up by the staff.

Overall travel agent impression
I would have full confidence recommending this resort to qualified clients. Those who would enjoy this resort, I feel would be families with younger kids and multi generational groups, couples and honeymooners. The property also has onsite wedding coordinators for those clients who want to get married on site and their wedding packages are very reasonable.

I would not recommend this resort for the true beach lover since it is not a large beach or for those who like to walk along long stretches of beach. I would be a bit hesitant to recommend the resort for clients with walking difficulties since most of the pools do not have zero entry and the resort is large.

I would highly recommend upgrading to the Royal Club for the superior service and rooms.

My complaints about the resort- pretty standard in the Riviera Maya- are the relentless time share sales people who were constantly trying to get guests to buy time share units. Also, the beds were very hard- 2 egg crate mattress pads still barely helped.

If you have specific questions, feel free to email me directly at mindy@myvacationlady.com. I have many pictures of the resort and rooms as well.

Confusing airline policies

We just returned from a vacation to the Riviera Maya in Mexico and once again were baffled by the airline policies. Which airlines charge for checked luggage? How much do they charge? What carry on's are allowed and what aren't?

According to Continental's website, we were going to be charged $15 for the first checked piece of luggage per person. Not happy, but prepared to pay, we brought our luggage to the gate (since we couldn't print out a boarding pass prior to departure for some reason). The sign at the front and end of the line said we would be charged for our checked luggage and when we got to the front, they took our luggage, gave us our boarding passes and luggage reciepts and there was no charge. Not that I am complaining, but won't it make more sense to have it clearly stated on the carrier's website what luggage charges will be levied? It might be that to fly domestically, you are charged for the first piece of luggage but not if you are flying internationally.

Carry on luggage is always another source of contention. How big? How many? What is considered a carry on?

I found this link, which is basically a cheat sheet on the various airline's policies on carry on luggage. This is not gospel, so please always check with the airlines but it might assist you.

http://i.slimg.com/sc/sl/graphic/u/ul/ultimate-guide-to-carry-on-luggage.pdf

New Rules for Names on Airline Tickets

In the last few weeks, more information has been coming out about the new rules from the TSA- Transportation Security Administration- about their new Secure Flight rules.

As of Aug 15, 2009, they will begin implementing more procedures to "pre-screen" airline passengers, flying within the US, by requiring more information about each passenger. This information will include middle names, dates of birth, gender and itinerary to name a few. By Oct 31, 2009, this will start to be implemented on passengers taking international flights.

This has been causing some confusion about what should be on airline tickets purchased now. Should you include your middle name if your passport or photo ID only has your first and last name, or first name, middle initial and last name.

This is the link for more info from the TSA's website:
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/travelers.shtm

I had a chat with Kim at the travel agent's desk at US Airways. They too are confused since their reservation system has no way of inputting middle names. She told me that for tickets purchased now, for travel after the date of the TSA implementation, there will have to be a grace period for travelers and airlines since they have no means of collecting and storing this additional information.
Her recommendation now is just to use the exact name as is on the passport.

For instance, if your passport name reads: Mary Susan Smith, your airline ticket will be printed Smith/MarySusanMS. If your middle initial is on the passport, your ticket will be printed Smit/MarySMS.

Confusing- Yes. But this will hopefully be unobtrusive and will make the skies safer for all.

In the meantime, when you are booking your next vacation, please tell me what the exact name is on your passport.

Warning from Trip Advisor about fraudulent reviews

I have always advised my clients to take reviews on TripAdvisor and other similar sites with a grain of salt. I have had personal experience where hoteliers will ask guests to put positive reviews of their resorts on these sites. One actually handed me a card with the website addresses. In this case, I loved the hotel and was happy to do it but some people are offered incentives to write these reviews.

TripAdvisor is now WARNING its readers about this practice.

Arthur Frommer posted this ariticle in his blog:

http://www.frommers.com/blog/?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a3ec3ac40-db8a-4d10-a884-acf9ccad0879Post%3aa9f7affe-fb7f-48b2-a9a6-34fb438ab5cf&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending

Airlines are cutting flights and capacity to deal with the recession

Just yesterday, one of my clients emailed me to let me know that she booked flights to Cancun from NYC in December on JetBlue for $97 per person. Of course that was each way- not round trip but still, those prices are so low, it will cost more to park your car at the airport than to fly to Mexico.

In order to deal with less people flying, both Delta and America have announced that they were reducing their capacity. What does that mean?

1.Instead of 4 flights a day from JFK to Miami, it might be reduced to 3 or 2.
2.Instead of flying non stop from JFK to Cancun, it might stop in Atlanta or Dallas to pick up more passengers
3. Instead of using a 200 passenger plane, they might cut it down to a 125 passenger plane.

The airlines are charging for everything they can think of to add extra revenue to the bottom line, including charging for each checked piece of luggage, overweight luggage, food and beverages but they are still in the red.

As a travel professional, I am thrilled when my client books a really cheap flight because I know she will be traveling and calling me to book the land portion of her vacation.

Will the cheap flights continue? I would imagine that as inventory goes down, prices will creep up-but only as much as the market will bear. In low season, I expect prices will be relatively low but not around holiday times. I also anticipate all airlines to follow suit in charging for each checked piece of luggage and start limiting the weight of carry on's more strictly.

It is going to be an interesting year in the travel industy.

The scoop on cruise line E-documents

Years ago, the airlines started doing away with paper tickets. Now, in order to get paper tickets, you must pay an additional fee.

The cruise lines have started the same process in full force. Until recently you had the option of paper documents or e-documents. I always chose paper documents. I would rather pay for shipping the documents to my clients rather than have then print off pages upon pages of E-documents and then have to print off a paper luggage tag that would rip off.

The latest is from Carnival- E-documents only as of August 25.

Based on the popularity of Carnival’s electronic documents, beginning with cruise departures of August 25, 2009 and beyond, Carnival will discontinue the paper version of the cruise travel documents. All guests on sailings from this date forward will need to use Carnival’s MyDocuments portal to print electronic cruise documents.

Since the vast majority of our guests already use the electronic system, we are expecting a smooth transition. As an added convenience for your guests you may print the electronic cruise documents for them at anytime once the booking is paid in full by simply going to the MyDocuments portal (accessible at www.carnival.com/mydocuments). This feature will also provides guests with on-demand access to their Carnival booking, enabling them to print boarding passes, the terms and conditions of the cruise ticket contract, luggage tags, and other pertinent information regarding their “Fun Ship” cruise from any Internet-connected computer.

This “paperless” system provides guests with many conveniences and offers the same travel documentation and information typically available with traditional cruise documents. Housed within a secure, easy-to-navigate Internet portal accessible on a “24/7” basis, the electronic document system operates in “real time” which ensures that all last-minute changes are reflected. In addition to the peace-of-mind created by eliminating the wait for cruise documents to be delivered by mail, this initiative has a positive impact on the environment. Please be advised that the migration to an entirely eDocument format applies to both individual and group reservations.

Popularity of this system???? How about how much it saves the cruise line and how much more it costs the guest.

Do I like e-documents? No- but this is the wave of the future.

What irks me is when clients pay $10,000 for a vacation or cruise and get a piece of paper to show for it. Just doesn't sit well with me.

New Oasis of the Seas- itinerary changes before it begins to sail

The much awaited Oasis of the Seas, the new monmouth sized Royal Caribbean cruise ship with an aqua theatre, merry go round, zip lining and its own Central Park (just to name a few) has some itinerary changes- before it even starts sailing.

Falmouth, Jamaica was to have been a new cruise port in the Caribbean but it is not anticipated to be ready to welcome the 225,000 ton Oasis of the Seas when it begins sailing in December.

Now to compliment the Western Caribbean itinerary (including Cozumel and Labadee- Royal Caribbean's private beach destination), Falmouth will be replaced with Costa Maya between May and November of 2010. Falmouth will return to the Oasis' itinerary in December 2010.

Costa Maya has recently rebuilt its cruise pier after hurricane damage closed it for many months. In addition to a beautiful beach, cruise passengers can enjoy ATV tours, snorkeling and sailing catamaran trips and can explore Mayan Ruins.

Royal Caribbean fans are anxiously awaiting the Oasis of the Seas and the ship itself is a destination. The ship starts sailing in December 2009.

Staying Healthy on Vacation

Stay Healthy On Vacation.
Your vacation should be everything you want it to be- whether you want to totally relax, have fun, do something adventurous or a little of everything. Sometimes, when we are on vacation, we eat and drink differently than we are home. We might have later nights than usual or even be more active outdoors than usual. The last thing you want to happen is to come home feeling worse than when you left.

Before you leave

Did you know that 20% of plane passengers will catch a cold within 1 week of their flight? I am typically one of those people. What can you do to prevent catching that cold?

Try to build your immune system prior to departing by getting 7-8 hours a night sleep for the week before you leave.
Try not to add additional stress to you life before you leave so pack ahead of time, use a checklist to make sure you have everything you need and put work issues behind you.
Many people will have stomach issues during their vacation because they eat and drink differently than when at home.

Shore up your immunity to tummy troubles by adding probiotics to your supplement and vitamin routine for 3 days before you leave. These are supplements to keep your digestive tract healthy (they are also found in many foods these days). Aim to take 1000 CFU's daily.
Looks for pills containing S.boulardi to ward off Montezuma's revenge.

Be prepared by having a health and first aid kit handy just in case. Include:

Antacids
Antidiarrheal medication
bandaids and antibiotic ointment
pain relievers (aspirin, Tylenol, or Advil)
antihistimines (works well for allergies, as well for itchy skin rashes)
santiizing wipes and sanitizing hand gel (like Purell)
your prescription medication (take a few extra in case your return travel is delayed- pack these in your carry on luggage so you are assured you will have it when you need it.)

While you are away:

Stay active- you don't want to return 5 lbs heavier than when you left
Indulge to a point- try to combine some healthy meals with 1 "splurge" meal
Protect yourself against the elements- bring sunscreen, aloe for sunburn, insect repellent, and an ointment or cream to help the rash if you come into contact with mosquitos.

When you return, Ease back into your routine:

Prevent the blues (post-vacation sydrome) by taking an extra day off before returning to work
Slowly resume your activities and eating habits
Print off pictures and hang them in your office to remind you of your vacation
Dream about your next vacation!
Enjoy your vacation!

Travel Safety Tips

Now that peak travel season is approaching, I found this article on CNN which had some excellent, common sense travel safety tips.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/traveltips/05/27/traveler.security/index.html