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Cancun & Cozumel Hotel, Resort & Villa Reviews Reviews
Kantenah/Colonial Palladium 11/11/2004
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
Dates: Oct 31 – Nov 07
Country: Mexico
Area: Mayan Riviera
Resort Rating: 4 ½ stars
Tour Operator: World of Vacations
Airline: Air Transat
Background:
We are from Ontario, Canada. This was our first trip. We chose this area and resort based on the fact that we wanted a peaceful vacation, a nice beach, wide selection of good food, and air-conditioned restaurants.
Flight:
Our flight was on time, leaving Pearson International Airport, it took approximately 4 hours to get to the Cancun Airport. We had pre-booked our seats. We were given 26A & 26B both ways. We found the leg room to be quite good. He is 6’4 and I am 5’9 and our legs were not touching the seats in front of us. The flight to Cancun was not completely full. I found the flight attendants very nice, helpful and patient. It really irked me when the pilot would ask everyone to be seated because of turbulence or because we were descending and people would decide at that moment to get up and talk to their buddies or use the washroom. Every seat had a pillow, and if you needed a blanket all you had to do was ask. Water, Tea, and Coffee were free. Sodas and Juices were $1.00 each. All alcoholic beverages were $5.00. Chips and chocolate bars ranged from $1.00 - $2.00 depending on the brand. FYI they only serve Pepsi products on this airline and the only chips offered were Miss Vicki’s Original and Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar. The movie being shown was The Notebook, Headsets were $2.00.
Cancun Airport & Bus ride:
We were the only flight that arrived at that time so everything moved smoothly. Several passengers did not fill out their Immigration cards correctly so they had to step aside until they were completely filled. We got the Green light going through Customs and they only made one of us touch it. When we walked through the Timeshare area it was quite funny, if I had not known about them I would have gone to their counter as they were yelling out “next”. They give you the impression that you have to go to their counter. We found our rep and they directed us to the bus. A young boy grabbed our bags and took them to the bus, we were then given our welcome pack and waited for the other passengers to arrive. Once we were on our way they offered cold Coronas for $3.00. The ride took exactly 55 minutes as our entire bus was headed to the Kantenah Palladium. When we arrived a hotel rep got on the bus and attempted to tell the guests a little about the resort as the bellboys were taking our luggage off of the bus. Most of the Canadian contingent became rude and aggressive to this girl yelling at her that “they didn’t care about what she had to day and they just wanted off the bus”. I felt quite embarrassed at that moment as Canadians usually have the reputation of being nice, well not on this trip!
Check-In:
This aspect was quite smooth. We were given our bracelets, 2 towel cards, 2 room cards, and 3 restaurant vouchers. We then found a bellboy and were taken to our room. The Front Desk staff was efficient and friendly. They exhibited great patience when our fellow guests were yelling at them that their travel agent had requested king beds or to be placed in a certain villa.
Room Description:
We stayed in Villa 7, 3rd Floor Room 4733. We did get a King bed. The room was beautiful and large. There was a desk/dresser with 3 drawers and a stool. There was an armoire with Satellite TV, coffee maker, coffee and tea supplies, a couple of glasses and the mini bar. The mini bar contained 2 one liter bottles of water, 2 Pepsi, 2 7-UP, 2 Miranda (Orange soda), 2 Superior beers and 2 Dos Equis XX beers. The mini bar is stocked 3 times a week. If you leave them a note in Spanish and a couple of dollars they will leave whatever you want. We had asked for extra Beer, Pepsi and Water and received plenty. According to my boyfriend Superior tasted like “Blue” and Dos Equis XX was similar to “Bud”. There was a chair, and 1 small table near the balcony with an ashtray and matches. There was a night table at each end of the bed and a bench to put your suitcases on. There was ample closet space with 14 hangers, an iron, ironing board, 1 extra pillow, 1 extra blanket and a self-programmable safe. The bathroom had a toilet, sink, a tub/shower combination with a retractable clothes line, and a hair dryer. In the amenity basket there were 2 mini shampoos, 2 mini soaps, 3 mini bath gels, 1 comb, 1 pack of tissue, 1 shower cap and 1 sewing kit. These amenities were re-stocked as they were used. There were plenty of towels and 2 face cloths. On the balcony there were 2 plastic chairs and a plastic table.
Restaurants:
Buffets have slightly different hours
La Hacienda Buffet (Colonial)
Indoor air-conditioned buffet
Breakfast: 7:00 – 10:30
Lunch: 1:00 – 2:30
Dinner: 6:00 – 10:30
Tikal Buffet (Kantenah)
Indoor air-conditioned buffet
Breakfast: 7:00 – 10:30
Lunch: Closed
Dinner: 6:30 – 10:30
El Gran Azul
Pool-side buffet, food is in an air-conditioned area, seating is outdoors
Lunch: 12:00 – 4:00
Snack: 4:00 – 5:00
Tea Time: 5:00 – 6:00
Bar Service: 10:00 – 1:00
Beach Bar
24 hours food and beverage service
A-La-Carte Restaurants:
You get 3 vouchers for a 1 week stay and 4 for a 2 week stay
Il Vaticano
Mediterranean (air-conditioned)
5:30 – 10:30
Sumptuori (air-conditioned)
Japanese
5:30 – 10:30
La Adelita (air-conditioned)
Mexican
5:30 – 10:30
El Dorado (air-conditioned)
Steakhouse
5:30 – 10:30
Breakfast: We ate breakfast each morning at Tikal. The food was great, food temperatures ranged from warm to hot. There were pancakes, mini-waffles, bacon, sausages, hash browns, eggs, an omelet station, croissants, watermelon, cantaloupe, melon, kiwi, danishes, muffins, a juice bar and the list goes on and on
Lunch: We ate lunch most days at La Hacienda. The selection was large. Fresh grilled meats, seafood, salads, fruits, desserts, pasta bar , pizzas, burgers, fries, deli meats, cheese, ice cream sundaes, desserts and the list goes on
Dinner: We ate dinner at Tikal 5 nights. Dinner was fabulous. It had a lot of the same stuff as lunch but more meat and seafood. There was Roasted Lamb, Turkey, Steaks, Chicken, Pork Chops, Salmon steaks, Shrimp, Beef, various fish/seafood dishes and a Pasta Bar. There was also a crepe station which was great. There was too much food to list.
We also ate at Il Vaticano and El Dorado. The meals and service at both restaurants were wonderful. The menus on Ann’s site are still current.
Each night there was a different theme for the buffet. They included Mexican, French, Campesna, Worldwide, Gala, International, Italian, Welcome, Dominican, Marinara and Asian. These are in no particular area as they rotate the buffets every 2 weeks and the theme day’s change.
The dress code is casual. At dinner in the buffet you can wear shorts. In the a-la-cartes you must wear pants or jeans. Many men were wearing jeans in the a-la-cartes.
Bars:
There are 10 bars at this resort. So a drink is never far away.
The only bar that we used was the Beach Bar, the drinks were great.
Grounds:
The grounds are very nice. The vegetation is well taken care of. There was always someone cleaning, mopping or sweeping around the resort. The lobby is beautiful, there is marble everywhere.
Beach:
The beach is very long. The part of the beach near the Beach Bar is the “busy” section. There were always a lot of people there. We always stayed further down on the Kantenah side near the Mayan suites. That area was quiet, peaceful, and not crowded at all. There are several hammocks placed along the beach. They have not started building the Kantenah beach bar yet. They are taking down some of the trees and clearing the area. We found the Kantenah beach area not as clean as the Beach Bar area. There were not enough of the ashtrays and plastic tables. They were doing some construction behind where we were sitting (it wasn’t that noisy) but it was still more peaceful than the main part of the beach. The towel game is in full effect, I thought it was quite inconsiderate when guests would reserve a hut at 9:00 and then they wouldn’t show up until 3:00. The latest we ever hit the beach was 9:00 and we always got a hut on the Kantenah side. In fact there was always some still available all day. We did see about 5-6 women go topless at the resort. Some of them were quite promiscuous posing on the beach and having their partners take pictures of them.
Ocean:
It was very nice. Some areas you could go out for quite awhile, while others you could only go so deep until you hit the rocks and corral.
Pools:
The main pool was large and beautiful with a swim-up bar. It had several built in jacuzzis, and ample loungers. The adults only pool is open until midnight and is located on the Colonial side of the resort, there is a bar there also. This particular week that pool was quiet. The Spa pool is located on the Kantenah side. There is a bar there too. The spa pool was loud and busy that week.
Activities:
You could choose to do nothing or choose to be busy. There were a lot of activities always happening. At the beach you could go sailing, snorkeling, or kayaking. For a fee you could parasail or jet-ski. There were also tennis courts, mini-golf, beach volleyball, ping-pong by the pool, basketball, soccer, and pool volleyball. The staff would announce when various activities would take place.
Entertainment:
There were nightly shows but we were always too tired to go and see them.
Excursions:
One of the reasons we chose Mexico was because of the abundance of available tours (ruins, eco-parks, snorkeling etc). Unfortunately we were having too much fun relaxing at the beach and didn’t go on any of the above mentioned. We both decided that 1 week was not enough. Next time we will go for 2 weeks and do more excursions.
We did however do a half day shopping tour in Cancun as we didn’t go to Playa Del Carmen as we are not comfortable haggling. The tour stopped at Market 28, Plaza Fiesta, Plaza La Isla and Dolphin Bay for pictures. We found the best deals at Market 28. Plaza Fiesta was a waste of time as the prices were more expensive than the resort gift shop. We were very hungry and were going to grab a bag of chips to snack on and they were 80 pesos, we decided against that purchase. We didn’t have enough time to explore Plaza La Isla but it seemed nice and there were some decent deals. We took pictures at Dolphins Bay and it was beautiful. I wish that the water at the Palladium was as nice as the water in Cancun.
Bugs/Animals:
There weren’t as many as I thought there would be. I didn’t get any bites. My boyfriend got 3 bites. We saw 1 lizard, some huge butterflies, lots of hermit crabs, 1 large regular crab, and some bats at night. I enjoyed taking pictures of the flamingos especially when they were fighting with each other. The crocodiles were nice to watch…but they just sat there.
Guests:
There were Canadians, Americans, Germans, Spaniards and Italians. I would say that Canadians and Spaniards were in the majority. We found most Canadians and Europeans to be quite rude, not all but most. Not once did any European group/couple ever move on the walkways. The Canadian contingent was just loud and obnoxious. The Americans were quite nice. We did meet a nice older couple from Huntsville and their child was going down the following week to get married. There were some children there, not a lot though and they were all well behaved.
Service/Tipping:
We always tipped. Not because we felt obligated, but because the service we received ranged from great – outstanding. The staff worked very hard to make our stay there comfortable and memorable. We constantly looked around to see if people tipped. 99% of the guests were not tipping. It was a real shame as I believe that if you can afford to go on vacation than you can afford to tip. We tipped the maid $3, Breakfast $2, Lunch $3, Dinner $3, A-La-Carte restaurants $5, Bartenders $1 every 2 rounds.
Weather:
Monday – Wednesday
Hot and beautiful
Thursday – Saturday
Slightly cooler especially in the morning and in the evening, yet still warm during the day, cloudy, and the occasional shower for 1-5 minutes
Departure/Flight:
The bus ride took 1 hour and 30 minutes to the airport.
The flight on the way back left 35 minutes earlier and only took 3 hours and 28 minutes. The movie shown was Anchorman. The headsets were only $1 on the way home.
Comments and Conclusion:
-The food ranged from good – great, food temperatures from lukewarm - hot
-People will steal your towels
-We did have an issue with tiny ants in our bathroom, 1st time they were on our counter
someone came and sprayed. The second time they were on the toilet once again
someone came and sprayed. After each spray they were never seen in that area again.
-Gift shop prices are very expensive 150-200 pesos for sunscreen, postcards ranged from 7-15 pesos for 1
-Next time we will stay for 2 weeks
-We would bring water shoes
-We had a wonderful time
We would rate our vacation 8.75/10
NHLfan
Read more Caribbean Travel reviews at TripAdvisor
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