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Cancun & Cozumel Hotel, Resort & Villa Reviews Reviews
Sunscape Tulum 02/27/2004
Reviewers Rating:  Great
Sunscape Tulum review:
Booking and airflight:
booked our vacation at the sunscape tulum for 11/9 – 11/16/03) through ultimate all-inclusive travel who got our deal through apple vacations. Susan at ultimate was great to deal with and very efficient. A word of advice: if you get the travel insurance through apple that they offer, they will guarantee you any price change difference that might occur prior to your flight. The price for our vacation went down twice from the time we booked, until flight time, and I was refunded the difference of over $200; if you don’t buy the insurance, they don’t give you this guarantee. Our flight was on a charter (ugh!), Usa 3000 out of bwi. The flight out was good, nice take off (on time) , smooth landing, complimentary champagne, complimentary dinner (typical airline food, but most airlines don’t even offer this service any more), $3.00 For earphones to watch the movie (bring your own with you; they will work at least out of one ear, and you’ll save your $3) and they played this optional game at the end of the flight where you could write your seat number on a dollar bill, they put all of the bills in a bag, and then they got one of the kids on the flight to draw a dollar out, and the winning seat number on the drawn bill got the whole bag of money (i have never seen anything like that done on an air flight before!). Return flight had some problems: nasty flight attendants; only one bathroom available (attendant said other bathroom was too dirty to use (and why was that?..We think they were just trying to save that bathroom for their own use only!), Legroom seemed very tight, and terrible lunch (yes, at least it was something …as opposed to nothing); take off was fine and landing was smooth; and they showed the movie “legally blond 2”; and you filled out an apple vacations survey, put your seat number on top and they drew a winning survey, and the prize was a bottle of champagne (crazy!).
Arrival and transfers: we landed and whizzed through the airport (no problems there, except this mexican guy behind an official looking desk off to the side of the exit doors yelled out, “senior, I need to check your documents” (this was already after we had been through all of the necessary inspection points) – my husband was savvy enough to recognize right off that this was just a ruse to try to get us over there for the timeshare pitch….This was very deceptive and I would have gone for it if not for my husband’s quick “yeah, right….” Response! That would have really pissed me off and made me feel really foolish, thinking I needed to check my documents with this guy, only to find out he had duped me! Watch out…they have gotten really aggressive and deceiving with their tactics! We found the apple representatives who directed us to a line outside of the airport. It started storming and raining like crazy, and we were all in this line getting wet under this not-so-sufficient overhang. We stood in that line for about 45 minutes to an hour…which was ridiculous. Since our resort was so far out, they kept moving us down the line, putting all those people whose resorts were in cancun or closer in the rivera maya on buses first. They finally stuffed us (the remaining 14 people in line) in a 15-passenger van, after everyone else was well on their way to their resorts. They should not have kept us waiting like that; they should have grouped us together ( recognizing who all was going to the sunscape and nearby resorts, as they continually asked you over and over where you were going….., So it’s not like they couldn’t recognize who could be put in a van together right from the get-go) and put us on a van to begin with, instead of continually shoving us aside until everyone had been taken care of . We were not far from the beginning of the line to start with, but we were the last to be transferred; that was just not right!! Anyway, it took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the resort…believe me, it’s no 40-minute ride! We arrived at the resort about 9:00 pm (our plane landed at 6:05 pm, so this gives you an idea of how long it took to get out of the airport and to the resort).
Check-in and lobby:
The bellman met us at the front of the resort with a cheery “welcome home!”, And advised us to leave our luggage with him and to go ahead and check in. There was champagne and cookies on the table in the lobby, but no one presented us personally with a drink and cookie upon arrival, as they did for a busload of swiss vacationers who arrived later on in the week. Check-in took a total of 5 minutes; very efficient. We were given directions to our room, and the bellman said he would meet us there with our luggage. The general appearance of the lobby was nice, but not nearly as opulent as you will find at the iberostar and the riu resorts. Frankly, the rust and blue colored sofas and chairs in the lobby are old, very worn and are dirty with body oil stains on the arms. They really need to be replaced. The front desk personnel are all very nice, but they don’t seem to have much authority in getting problems corrected. We had a few problems in the beginning of our stay, and we had to go to the manager to finally get action…more on that later. It rained a couple of days while we were there….The front desk provides a limited number of big umbrella’s for guests to use during these occasions..This was a nice touch!
Grounds:
the grounds were lovely, and well manicured. There were two roaming peacocks and a flock of ducks. There was this huge birdcage, outside of the lobby, with all types of small birds in it. We also spied a wild wondering fox early one morning – she must have come out of the adjoining jungle…she was beautiful…we thought it was a cat at first, but then we saw the long snout. I hope they don’t do anything to run the foxes away from the resort, as long as they are not harming anything…this is truly a unique sight that you don’t see everyday! Don’t come expecting marble statutes, opulent water fountains, sculpted bushes, and the like that you would see at an iberostar or riu resort. As was explained to us by the on-site apple representative, the sunscape resort was/is trying to go for a different appeal; the atmosphere of a traditional mexican hacienda…much more subdued and authentic to the culture. I like glitz…..So I was somewhat disappointed in the toned-down appearance of the overall resort. They have very well manicured grounds, with courtyards in between the building accommodations. They have all kinds of arranged cacti, water fountains in each courtyard, an interesting mexican mural painted on one courtyard wall, and benches scattered throughout the complex for resting or waiting for someone. Bad note: they cut grass at 7:30 in the morning; this is not a good thing. And they also spray the perimeter of the blocks of rooms with an insecticide fog in the early evening (you are in a jungle, remember)…so keep your balcony door shut when this happens. They also have this totally ugly and dilapidated green fence blocking off the jungle from one side of the building accommodations; i’m glad I didn’t get a room on that side of the resort, or i’d be looking at this terrible ugly fence from my balcony every day! They need to do something about that. Also, as we walked back and forth from out room to the dining areas, pool, and the beach, there was a consistent sewer smell along the main walkway. It was stronger in the evenings, and was most unpleasant when you happened to be on your way to dinner! Management needs to find the source, and eliminate the problem. The walkways are made out of stones (or what look to be stones) and they are uneven and get very slick when it rains. Watch were you are walking!
Room:
We booked a regular run-of-the-house room. We were assigned to the 100 block of buildings (note: the 700 block are ocean view). The best description we came up with for our room was “sparse”. Keep in mind, they are going for the old hacienda type feel….But it was still sparse even with that in mind. The furniture is wooden, appears very worn (even has marks and chips out of the bureau’s edge, where dumb, impatient, and inconsiderate vacationers have used it for an impromptu beer bottle opener….If these people had bothered to look around a little bit or called the front desk to ask, before grabbing the beer out of the fridge and desecrating the furniture in their alcohol consumption panic, they would have discovered that the bottle opener is located in the bathroom!! We even witnessed neighbors popping bottle tops by using their balcony railing as an opener upon their frenzied arrival in paradise…i hate to admit they were americans.) The bed was king size, six pillows, and had a sheet, vellux blanket, another sheet and then a thin cream-colored bedspread on top. I have to say that the linens were the cleanest and crispiest I have ever experienced on any hotel/resort bed; applause, applause to the housekeeping and management staff for this! There was bed turn down service at night, and they would leave cute little towels animals on the end of the bed and mints on the pillows. There was a cute bench at the end of the bed, two night stands, a dressing table and chair, a bureau with six drawers for fold-up clothes (the bottom drawer hung, and was difficult to open and close). As I said before, most of the furniture was wooden and looked old; the room didn’t give me a happy luxurious feel, as one would expect from a six-apple resort. They really need to add some flower arrangements or more artwork to spice the rooms up a bit, I think. The floors were terracotta tile. All rooms are adequately air-conditioned and we had a ceiling fan over the bed. The television got good reception; half the channels were in english and the other half in spanish. They had their version of cnn and the weather channel and they had the fox news channel. There was a small cd player/clock radio combination on the bottom of the tv stand. The bathroom was nice, a lot of marble, large shower, bidet, no bathtub in standard rooms, shelves for toiletries (or shoes), and a few pieces of complimentary items (one soap, no shampoo, and maybe a lotion….It seemed like our room was lacking in the stocked “extra’s”) . There was a sewage smell in the bathroom on a couple of evenings; I found that if you put a towel over the drain in the floor under the sink, you could prevent the smell from coming in your room. We have had similar problems with sewage smells in the bathroom in other resorts throughout mexico…while definitely not a 5 star resort expectation, it is not exclusive to the sunscape resort. There was a mini-fridge in the hallway, and it was not adequately stocked when we got into the room either (only 2 sodas in it)…this became a real bone of contention the next day. The complimentary safe is located in the closet (you enter your own security code for opening); the closet had ample hangers, and drawers for more folding clothes. There was also a coffee pot and coffee. Our balcony overlooked the courtyard, and it had a swinging hammock (which I found to be very uncomfortable) and a small iron bistro set (two chairs and a table), which was definitely not meant for lounging and relaxing (guess that’s what the hammock was intended for). I really hated those little iron chairs; you couldn’t sit back and relax and just watch the world go by on your balcony in those things; your butt barely fit in the seat, the chair pad was thin so your butt hurt in about 10 minutes, and you had to sit stark straight up…hated them, hated them, hated them!….Management really needs to change them for something much more comfortable. The air-conditioning in the room worked great, and it did not automatically turn off if you left the balcony door open (yeah!); But you don’t want to leave your balcony door open at night, even with the screen door pulled closed….Bug bites! We tried it a couple of nights (cus I like to hear the outside sounds) and the first night wasn’t too bad (i got two bug bites), but the second night, my husband said he couldn’t sleep because he kept getting bit; so we kept the balcony door shut for the rest of the week at night. Make sure you wear bug repellent in the evening when you go out; you are in the middle of the jungle, and you will get bitten…so just take precautions. I got about six bites all week; not bad considering bugs seem to love me; I thought the bugs in punta cana were worse, but my husband thought the bugs here were worse….Just take the dang bug repellent and use it. Most of the rooms remained dark at night while we there, as if they weren’t occupied. We had heard someone say at the front desk that they were 60% occupied at the time; it didn’t look it. They still have the prior resort logo of “allure” on quite a few items such as the soap, matches, bathrobes, and the like. They give you the standard little writing pad on the nightstand, and this itty-bitty 2-inch pencil to write with. I went to the front desk to exchange my pitiful pencil for a useable ink pen, and I was told they didn’t have any ink pens to give me. Now, i’m at a 6-apple resort, and I can’t even get a measly ink pen to write with? Gimme a break! That just shouldn’t be happening.
Pool:
The pool is pretty big; rectangular in shape; water temperature is cool; and they keep it very clean from what I could tell. There isn’t any gradual entry/exit from the shallow end; there isn’t even a ladder or steps in the shallow end to get in and out. There was a ladder in the deep end, but the top rung of the ladder was missing. Not good. Adequate number of wooden lounge chairs (with very thin cushion pads), tables and umbrellas to go around. There is sporadic drink service at the pool; but it is right next to two bars, so you won’t have far to walk to get your own drinks. Activities that I saw going on at the pool were dance lessons, water aerobics, and water polo! There was music at the pool periodically during the day; mostly latin club type music. The pool is right next to what became known as the “stinky pool”(another couple at the resort named it that); a natural spring cenote, which smelled like sewage. Sorry, I wish I could be more positive about this “cenote”; we tried to convince ourselves that maybe it was really an underground sulfur smell that we were smelling….But after smelling it all week, my husband concluded that it was definitely not a sulfur smell…it was a sewage smell. If the wind was blowing right, and sometimes even when there wasn’t any wind, this smell did not make sitting at the pool very inviting. (This cenote was used as part of the spa treatments offered; we saw people actually getting in the water; the water looked relatively clear, and it has a pretty fountain in the middle of it; I guess they didn’t smell the same thing we, and many others at the resort, smelled.) Another gripe about the pool was the thin chair pads on the wooden loungers; don’t get me wrong, they were nice upscale wooden loungers; but they were hard as a rock…the chair pad wasn’t enough to make them comfortable….After about 20 minutes, my backside was numb. This needs improvement.
Beach:
the beach was very pretty. Plenty of thatch hut umbrellas for shade; plenty of lounge chairs (you don’t need to get up early and save a chair); the sand was white, but more course than what we are used to; it was little prickly to walk on. The sand isn’t really fine sand; it is ground coral…and you can pick it up and see that it is coral..Very pretty and interesting to look at though! The water looks beautiful; different shades of blue throughout; some waves…..And that’s about all the good things I can say about the water. Now for the bad things…the bottom is extremely rocky with sharp coral and huge rocks which are extremely dangerous. I cannot tell you how many people I saw stumble and fall into the water, ending up with skinned knees and legs and banged up toes. My husband was one it’s victims. He had on water shoes, and the coral was so sharp, that when he slipped on a coral rock in the water, it cut his toe through the water shoe!! The water was very cloudy; you could not see the rocks or your feet in even only 4-5 inches water. Leave the snorkel equipment at home…you have to go way out to see anything at this beach. They even have a map posted on the beach of where it is supposed to be clear of rocks, so that you can go out into the water safely. Good luck. I only went out in the water once, and didn’t venture out far for fear of falling or hurting something. I like clear water….So I can see what I am stepping on. The beach was disappointing because of this. Upon asking management about it, it seems that the government won’t allow them to remove these coral rocks because it will destroy the natural environment. I read where someone said that the rivera maya is the second largest reef in the world…reason for all the coral rocks…i had never heard that before. But I can tell you, that others who went to different resorts in the rivera maya, generally had the same complaint about their beaches as well. The sunscape did have the big trampoline/water slide in the water for most of the week; you could walk most of the way out to it, but had to swim a little to get to the ladder. We didn’t use it, but saw others who did; some days it was monopolized by european sunbathers who spent all day laying out on it (some topless I believe). There were maybe 5-6 topless women spotted on the beach for the entire week; a big disappointment to some of the male hooter-hunters! I don’t know if I would jump off that trampoline in the ocean with all of those rocks and coral; I imagine that they know of a safe location to anchor it so no one will get hurt…it was anchored in the same place everyday that it was out there. They have various planned activities on the beach during the day: volleyball, bocce ball, horseshoes, and even a carnival-type strength meter (you know…where you hit the thing with a big hammer to see if you can ring the bell at the top!). They also have a ping-pong table on the beach, but it was being repainted or something like that the first couple of days we were there. The activities staff tries to get people to participate in the organized games and contests, but most guests don’t want to get out of their lounge chairs! Volleyball was the only activity on the beach that the guests really got out of their chairs for. But be careful…one european guy really did some damage to his ankle when he landed in the sand wrong playing the game….He was in some serious pain (and walking with crutches) for the rest of the week. There was no red flag drink/food service on the beach when we were there; as had been advertised as “coming soon” on other internet sites. There was no suntan lotion station on the beach, as advertised.
Beach bar:
the beach bar was pretty cool; it was this big thatch hut off to far right side of the beach, and instead of having chairs or barstools, they had swings hanging from the ceiling (you know…like the ones you used to swing on a tree from when you were a kid!). Loved those swings! The bar didn’t seem that overly stocked with liquor either, but the selection was better here than at the bar outside the lobby. The bartenders didn’t go out of their way to be friendly or to help you in selecting a new kind of drink. There weren’t an abundance of drink menus hanging around; my husband spied one almost hidden in the other stuff on the bar counter, toward the end of the week. The resort needs to have more drink menus easily accessible to the guests at all of their bars; a lot of times, you want to try a different drink than the “usual”, but you don’t know what….Drink menus would solve the problem. They have a light rig set up close to the beach bar that they apparently use for karoke a couple of nights during the week….We missed it, so I can’t tell you how it was. The beach bar closes at 1:00am. None of the bars open until 10:00 am (if they open then); wasn’t happy with this….If you are an early riser and are out on the beach, you can’t get even juice, soda or water until mid-morning.
Mediterranean main bar
this is the main bar outside of the lobby, in the main courtyard. The bar was not well stocked at all. My husband asked for whiskey the first two nights and they didn’t have any; they finally got some about the third or fourth night into the trip. I wanted a mexican flag drink on the last night we were there; they didn’t have all of the liquors to make it. The shelves always looked pretty bare…don’t know what the problem was. The bar staff tried to be accommodating…trying to suggest a replacement for what you had asked for. There weren’t any drink menus to be found here either. There weren’t enough bar stools around the bar; you’ve got this big circular bar, and there were only 6-8 stools to be had; and about 3 of those didn’t have any chair cushions on them (you couldn’t sit on them without a cushion). This needs definite attention! They served “hot peanuts” if you knew enough to ask for them….(Peanuts in some sort of hot sauce coating). There were a quite a few nice wooden tables and chairs which surround the bar area, that guests can “park it” and enjoy their drinks. During the day, and on some evenings, they would have a little latino group play and sing out by the bar. Two girls were the singers, and they were pretty good, but after a few days, the songs sounded the same. And they kept singing “rainy days and mondays”….Now why in the world do I want to be depressed while I am on vacation? Stop singing that song! Sing happy songs….Not drag-gy and depressing songs! That drove me nuts!
Activities:
what organized activities did they have? Well, your guess is as good as mine….If you saw it happening, then you could jump in and go do it. There was absolutely no readily available listing of what was going on when. I even asked at the front desk, and I received a list printed primarily in spanish, which was not even close to being accurate. You had to find out by word of mouth. This was not acceptable, and needs management’s attention. Evening activities that we “heard” about were karaoke, a casino night, a beach party night, some type of show down at the pavilion one night, a mayan show by the stinky pool one night, and I guess we missed hearing about the rest. All of the evening shows/activities started at 9:30pm. We missed the karaoke; and skipped the pavilion and mayan show. We saw them building a platform out in the stinky pool for the mayan show; we heard from others who went, that it was “ok”. Casino night was fun; they sit up black jack and roulette tables in the main courtyard and whoever wants to play just takes a seat. They give you a certain amount of chips (no money involved) and whoever has the most chips by 10:30 or 11pm wins a secret prize (heard the prizes were like tequila, a spa treatment, and the like). It was a good chance to learn how to play blackjack without having to risk your own money doing it! The beach party was the most action I saw all week….On friday night, a dj and a band sat up by the beach bar(they played all types of music..Swing, rock n roll; hip hop; reggae); the animation team put on a little fire dancing show, and then they coaxed reluctant participants into joining them dance; soon they were pouring tequila shots, handing out jello shots, doing the conga line, etc. It was fun. Keep in mind that the sunscape doesn’t draw in the “hedonism” crowd; the crowd here is more reserved; primarily married; primarily in the 40 –70 year old age bracket; with quite a big european count. They do have the strolling mariachi band that shows up in the dining room and at the mexican restaurant for dinner some nights; they even strolled through the courtyards of the guest buildings on a couple of evenings and sat in the courtyard and serenaded you while you were out on your balconies! They would sing for about 15-20 minutes in the courtyards and then stroll on….Very relaxing and romantic. This is a great additional treat from your normal all-inclusive offerings
Gym:
the gym is located in a separate building at the far end of the resort property. It has nautilus equipment (european weighted), treadmill, stationary bike, workout mats, barbells, etc. The workout floor mats were extremely worn and just plain dirty; they desperately need to get some new ones. There were hand towels and a water dispenser available for use. Techno music is played on the stereo system mostly; no tv’s for viewing while you work out. The gym has a lot of window space, and with the tropical sun shining in, the limited air-conditioning is not adequate to keep you cooled while working out. It got so hot in there one morning (approx 8:00 am) that I had to go outside to cool off. This gym is not up to par with what you would expect to find at a 5-star resort. Sign-up sheets for the bike trips to tulum and for use of the tennis courts are located inside of the gym. Bikes are located right outside of the gym building (they seem to have a good number of bikes; didn’t ride any, so I can’t tell you what kind of condition they were in). There was no full time personal trainer on site from 9am to 6pm as advertised on various internet sites.
Movie theatre:
sorry, but this was pitiful. Granted, I never actually sat through one of the movies in the theatre, I just went in there one day to see what it looked like. They did have a little counter in the entrance foyer with a small popcorn machine, where you could get popcorn and sodas for the movie. The “theatre” was actually more of a conference room with hard straight back conference chairs (with white chair covers) lined up in rows, with a pull down movie screen at one end of the room. Now why would I want to sit in a straight back chair for two uncomfortable hours to watch a movie that I could have rented at home and seen while laying back in my easy chair? The room in general is in serious need of redecoration, and there was a definite unpleasant smell in there. The movies being advertised were not first run movies (i.E. “Signs”, “panic room”, “minority report”). And I don’t believe that they ever had any midnight showing of the rocky horror picture show, as I had read that they would be doing on other travel review sites. This needs definite improvement.
Food:
this is where the sunscape tulum truly excelled and lived up to its five star rating. The food and the service in all of the dining option areas was truly 5-star quality in our opinion. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were superb. Here’s a more descriptive run-down of our experiences in the available dining areas:
La hacienda buffet – (breakfast 7-10:30 am; lunch 12:30-3:00pm; tea time 4-6:00 pm; dinner 6-10:00 pm) you were met at the door and escorted to a table (no assigned tables here!). The waiters assisted you in offering possible drink options (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) at all meals and happily brought them to you (no having to fetch your own drink from the bar here, like at some all inclusives). If they noticed you particularly liked a certain drink…they would bring you two of them (without being asked to!) For breakfast we had bloody mary’s (if you don’t like em spicy…just tell em..They’ll make it til they get it just right for you) and mimosa’s. Buffet included all kinds of cereal (but no raisin bran!); Made to order eggs, anyway you want em; crispy bacon (no limp bacon here!) ; Bagels w/cream cheese; all kinds of breads; pastries, muffins; oatmeal, hash brown potatoes, freshly made salsa; an assortment of deli meats and cheeses (for the european tastes); no smoothies (one couple had a fit that there were no smoothies….Didn’t bother us any!). Lunch: wonderful drink-of-the-day options (great amaretto sours!), Fantastic homemade tortilla chips and fresh salsa; great soups; nice salad bar; always some great selection of pasta, veggie, meat, and potato dishes; each day a different “made to order specialty” (i.E. Pastas, fajitas, tacos, etc.) And wonderful desserts (flan, cheesecake, ice cream, tiramisu, etc. ). Dinner: champagne, and other specialty drinks; and a great assortment of food options similar to the types of lunch offerings, but always different foods than what was served at lunch. The soups were absolutely to die for! The meat dishes were always flavorful and fall-off-the-fork tender!
El charro mexican restaurant – we ate here one evening; they also serve lunch here (as they are located right by the pool), but we never tried it for lunch. The food was very well prepared; gourmet in presentation! Most selections were too spicy and had too many onions for my liking; but my husband enjoyed the food, though! If you love onions and spice, then you will like it here!
Gohan sushi bar – sorry, we never got around to trying it!
Senggigi asian restaurant – oh my gosh!!! Great food, great presentation, great atmosphere! This is a small restaurant, adjacent to the sushi bar, and across from the italian restaurant. Get there early if you want to get in. We ate here for dinner twice. For some reason it was better on the first night than the second night we tried it. Huge shrimp; wonderful satate chicken; melt-in-your-mouth red snapper; fresh, crisp vegetables…just absolutely fabulous!
Casanova italian – we had a one-hour wait to get into this restaurant; ate here one night. Good pasta, great desserts, ok shrimp (asian restaurant had bigger shrimp). Wait staff was a bit stuffy.
Excursions:
We didn’t take any of the organized excursions….We have seen it all pretty much before. We relied on the local bus system to get us around. You can catch the bus (white van, actually, with rainbow painting on the sides) right outside of the gates of the resort. You can walk out to the gates, or you can tell the bellman in the lobby that you want a ride to the resort entrance, and he will gladly take you up in a golf cart (it’s a little over a ¼ mile the front gates, and the highway is right there). It costs about $1.50 To go into town (play del carmen); you just stand outside the gates and a van will stop to pick you up; you just tell the driver where you want to go. We passed xcaret on the way to town; so you can probably get a van ride to there also; it will save you a lot of money. We also took the van to tulum one day…it’s only a few miles down the road.
Playa del carmen – it’s not the playa del carmen we used to know and love; the bargins a few and far between; the vendors and store owners are greedy and are generally not very friendly. They delight in telling you that you paid too much for something after you purchased it somewhere else, and at mary’s silver shop on 5th avenue, they tried to rip me off, and make a quick switch of placing a smaller, less valuable pendant in the box in which my bigger, more expensive pendant that I had negotiated for, was supposedly have been placed. Luckily I checked the contents of the box before leaving the counter, and caught them at it!!! They denied having switched it, but quickly retrieved the correct pendant and gave it to me. I should have walked out with my money and left the pendant and them standing there, but I hadn’t seen this particular type of pendant anywhere else in the town. So, stay away from mary’s silver shop!!!!!!
Tulum – hotter than hades!! And I mean hot! They have shut down the little vendor shacks they used to have set up outside the ruins, and instead they have built this new modern cultural center outside down the road a bit from the ruins. Also gone are the great deals on souveniers you used to get; you pay a lot more at the cultural center. But the cultural center is nice and you can spend a lot of time looking around. They have some mayans putting on shows in full costume, and willing to take pictures with you for a tip.
Departure:
We were so far out from cancun that we had to depart the hotel for the airport on our apple charter bus at 5:30 in the morning!!! The front desk advised that they would have a continental breakfast set out in the lobby for those departing so early. The continental breakfast was pitiful; it consisted of juices, tea, and fruit…that’s it….No bread, no rolls, no pastries and no coffee! This was not up to par. Later when we arrived to pick up more departing vacationers from the el mandarin resort, we all noted that they had a full buffet set out for their departing guests ….And that resort is only a 4-apple resort!
valmouse
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