AventuraSpa Palace TRIP REPORT MAY 2002
We first stayed at Aventura Palace (adults only resort) Nov. 2000 for four days and loved this wonderful, beautiful resort....so we decided to return and stay for seven days. I am not going to bore you with the travel to Mexico, customs and airport security.
During the time we were there in 2000, they had built another Palace resort directly next door to Aventura, called the Spa Palace. During construction there were a lot of negative reports coming from guest, but this did not change our plans of revisiting this wonderful resort. Prior to May these were two separate Palace resorts, of which you still had full privileges to use the pool, facilities and restaurants....we had learned that when you checked in at Aventura you were given (2) $50 coupons to be used at the Spa Palace for the spa treatments, we were excited for this comp. Well let me explain later about this.
After arrival to Cancun, found got our luggage, went thru customs and met our Royale Tours shuttle, loaded up, paid a local $3 apiece for two Corona Beers while we waited on other folks to board the shuttle. We had learned the on May 1st, they merged both resorts, it is now called AventuraSpa Palace Resort. The shuttle pulls into the AventuraSpa Resort, which is the Spa Palace front entrance. We disembark, and proceed to the front desk of the Spa Palace. Earlier in the month I had e-mailed Alberto, stating we were returning guest of Aventura and requested a room in Building 0 or 1, on the second or third floors, with a low room number (better view of the ocean). Well....when we checked in the clerk gave us our room keys, #3331, I told him that I had requested thru Alberto, building 0 or 1. He told me that they were full and this was the closest room. I was upset at first but really didn't care, as it was 6 p.m. and we were tired. I knew that according to our room number, we were in building 3, third floor and room 31......at least we were on Aventura side. Aventura Palace part consist of buildings 0,1, 2 and 3. Spa Palace consist of buildings 4, 5, 6 and 7. At check in you are given two room keys (plastic cards), a room safe key and lock, and two towel cards....what ever you do don't loose any of these....they charge you for the loss. We were escorted via a golf cart to our room and our luggage followed, I gave the bellboy a tip for carrying our luggage up three flights of stairs to our room. The room had a average view, king size bed, refrigerator (stocked with Dos XX, Tecate (light Mexican beer), water and soda, there was two person Jacuzzi next to the patio doors, also there was a two person walk-in shower with glass doors, coffee pot and hair dryer. Next to the Jacuzzi were two nice robes. In the closet is a safe for valuables, and camera space, along with ample closet and drawer space. There is a TV with numerous channels, great Mexican Music Video Stations along with American Stations, there is a phone, but no CD player. Some rooms have liquor dispensers on the walls while others do not, ours did not have one. Room Service is available with an extensive menu available. Maid service was very good each day. Upon check-in, they arranged a time to meet with guest relations about a VIP tour, I will explain this later.....
Well the next day I meet with Royal Tours to set up return transportation to the airport and then proceeded to guest relations for information concerning the VIP tour. The VIP tour was of the Spa Palace, which would only take 90 minutes, and you would get the (2) $50 coupons for spa treatments$100 in Palace money to be used at gift shops and some other stuff.......I realized it was a time share or they refer to it as a RCI travel membership (which it will waste about 4 hours of your time and high pressure time share selling). I had enough of this crap, two years ago, read my first trip report concerning SHARKS... so I nicely declined the offer and but them off each day of our stay, cause they hound you each day to take the VIP tour. So folks, you do not get two free $50 coupons for spa treatments at check in, since they have merged both resorts as one. If I were you, decline this offer, unless you want to waste valuable time of your vacation and get pressured with high pressure sales techniques.
This resort includes several off site tours free. If you stay 3-4 nights you receive one tour, if you stay 5 + nights you receive two tours which consist of Chichen Itza, Chichen Itza Light & Sound, Tulum, Isla Mujeres, Coba, and Ek-Balam.
Something else has changed from when we where there before, there is a free shuttle that takes the guest to Playa del Carmen, Moon Palace and Cancun daily now, compared to scheduled dates two years ago. The shuttle leaves each morning at 7:50 a.m.
Let me describe the resort since it has been merged into one resort.
Everyone checks in at the Spa Palace side, regardless of which side you booked.
The front desk of Spa Palace was beautiful, open aired, stained glass in the ceiling, Mexican tile all around, palm trees and flowers every where. Around the corner from the front desk is the Main Lobby Bar, looking out into the Patio Courtyard, with tables and chairs. Around the courtyard you will find the gift shop, jewelry shop and two of the restaurants ( La Huerta - vegetarian dining with an up scale a la carte service and Mo Mo No Hana- oriental style in a exquisite private setting), on this side of the resort. Out side of this area, you will find an indoor pool with 3 hot tubs and a fully furnished exercise room, next you will find the main pool for the Spa side, with swim-up bar. Behind the main pool is El Greco Restaurant- Mediterranean cuisine in a casual atmosphere, which serves buffet breakfast, lunch buffet and a la carte at night, facing the ocean. There is a man made lagoon and beach area on this side too. Other things you will find on this side, is a cross current pool, walking trail, rock climbing wall, and spa massage huts. The Spa side of the resort is for relaxing and calmness for those who wish to be tranquil. The room buildings on this side consist of building 4, 5, 6 and 7.
If you are walking from the Spa side to the Aventura side, you will not know when you cross into the next, every thing looks the same, building numbers will be the only identification and that will only be recognized by returnees.
Aventura side has not changed since our last visit except that you do not check in on this side of the resort. The former lobby is still open aired, with stained glass ceilings.
Refer to my other trip report for details. On this side, you have Aventura Main Lobby Bar, overlooking into the open aired courtyard, around this area you will find a gift shop, Q-bar which consist of big screen TV, pool tables along with hors d'oeuvre tables, and a night time bar. There are two restaurants: Ventanas - exquisite Italian buffet for dinner and La Hacienda - very upscale Mexican restaurant- a la carte for dinner only.
At night they have shows with local talent or staff performing, either in the open-aired courtyard or upstairs in the convention room, depending on the weather.
All activities, such as shows, local bands, wandering Mexican Quartets...take place on Aventura side. This is where all the action or entertainment is, not stating that is noisy or wild on this side. The Spa side is especially for relaxation.
Outside of the main area of Aventura, you will find the huge magnificent pool, stretching from one end of the resort to the other, with plenty of lounge chairs and walk-overs to get you from one side of pool to next, shade huts, and a swim-up bar with grill, plus there is the Mundaca Restaurant which serves international food, breakfast buffet, lunch buffet and dinner a la carte. Also you will find the man made lagoons with man made beach, it has numerous shade huts, water is blue with plenty of fish swimming around, nice snorkeling in calm waters. Plenty of lounge chairs were found around the pool and lagoon areas.
Summary of Restaurants: North Lobby (Spa side)
La Huerta: Fine Vegetarian Dining with an upscale a la carte service. Open from Sunday to Friday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Dress code: Elegant casual attire is required (long pants for men)
Mo Mo No Hana: Delicious Oriental Food in a exquisite and private setting. Open from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. (Dress shorts)
El Greco: Mediterranean cuisine in a casual atmosphere. (Dress shorts) Breakfast-buffet: 7 am till 11 am Lunch buffet: International buffet from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dinner: Mediterranean A la Carte from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
South Lobby ( Aventura side)
Ventanas: Exquisite Italian Buffet, open from 6 p.m. till 11 p.m. (Dress shorts)
Mundaca: International Food. (Dress shorts) Breakfast-buffet: 7 a.m. till 10 a.m. Lunch buffet: 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dinner: A La Carte 6 p.m. till 11 p.m.
La Hacienda: Simply the best of Mexico for you, Open 6 p.m. till 11 p.m. Dress code: Elegant casual attire is required ( long pants for men)
No restaurants require reservations, at La Hacienda you did have to put your name of a waiting list. While you are waiting for your table, you can get a drink at the main bar, but just keep checking back on your table.
COCKTAILS AND BARS: Pool Bars: Located at both main pools, open from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. Lobby Bars: Located at each lobby on both sides, on Aventura side there is an additional Bar set up in the Q-Bar section. Open from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. Snack Bar: Great snacks located behind the swim-up bars either side, and in Q-Bar of Aventura and next to the main lobby bar of Spa side, open 11 a.m to 6 p.m.. Juice Bar: Healthy choice, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They do offer currency exchange at both lobby's of the resort, you can exchange U.S. money for Pecos, but not really needed, cause most merchants accept U.S. money for purchases. You can not exchange Pecos for U.S. money at the resort.
I have basically given you an quick over view of AventuraSpa Palace, you might want to compare a more detailed layout of Aventura in my 2000 trip report. Ok, let's get to the actual report of our opinions of the resort.
Yes we were in Room # 3331, not a great view but a very good location for walking between both resorts. Just make sure you do not get placed on ground level, if it rains, you might have a river flowing in front your door, drainage is not too good on ground level. Once I thought a great view of the ocean was important, but if you think about it, you are in the room for a short period of time, you get in late at night and get up early the next day and leave for the pool or an excursion. The room had a decent view, king size bed, refrigerator (stocked with Dos XX, Tecate (light Mexican beer), water and soda. There was two person Jacuzzi next to the patio doors, with two fluffy white terrycloth robes next to Jacuzzi, also there was a two person walk-in shower with glass doors, coffee pot and hair dryer. In the closet is a safe for valuables, and ample closet and drawer space. There is a TV with numerous channels, great Mexican MTV station and a phone, but no CD player. On the second day, we returned to our room, to find a bottle of red wine and cheese tray. Room Service is available with an extensive menu available from 11 am till 6 a.m.. Maid service was very good each day.
We did not take any of the free off site excursions, this was a relaxation vacation. We did go to Playa del Carmen and Cancun for a day of shopping. We ate at two local restaurants in Playa Del Carmen, had very good food, included a seafood salad with lettuce , draft beer and a local Mexican entree......we did not get sick and very tasteful. The merchants in Playa liked to barter on the prices, it was fun for a few hours but later got boring, so we took a cab back to AventuraSpa for $12.00. We also went to Cancun one day on the shuttle for a day, they dropped you off at Beach Palace around 9:30 a.m.,we had breakfast there (free), went shopping at KuKulCan Mall for gifts, very good prices. In fact better prices than in Playa del Carmen. We laid around the pool at Beach Palace, had lunch there, and plenty of beverages free while we waited for the shuttle to pick us up at 6 p.m. We went to Puertos Aventuras, taxi was $6 each way, to watch the dolphin interaction shows, which was entertaining and to shop..
All of the Restaurants at AventuraSpa are open aired, with the exception of La Hacienda, Ventanas, and MoMoNoHana have air conditioning.
We ate all the restaurants except for La Huerta (vegetarian) and Ventanas ( Italian). We found service to be great along with the food. The waiters were always asking if everything was ok and if you needed another drink. It was remarkable. I will say order your steak, medium rare, cause they seem to over cook meat, along with seafood. We ate at both El Greco and Mundaca for Breakfast....very good, the buffet was good, scrambled eggs were not dried out but very moist, plus they offered made to order omelets, fried eggs and pancakes. We found all breakfast buffets very well pre-pared, scramble eggs on buffet was very moist, the omelet, fried egg, and pan cake stations very well done. Out off six mornings we found service to be implacable, except for one morning the waiters seemed not to be attentive, but that was ok, they finally recognized us.
Service at Mundaca at night was great. In fact we ate there 3 times for dinner during our stay. Mundaca had a very extensive menu, a la carte, food was nicely displayed on your plates when served. We had shrimp cocktails ( twelve very large peeled shrimp in a glass of lettuce and limes ), fresh asparagus soup, very nice tasting rib-eye steaks ( request med-rare for steaks, they seem to over cook the meats) and deserts. We got grilled seafood one night, a little bit over done, but with everything else that we ordered we were full. The deserts looked very nice displayed, we got the chocolate volcano and the cup-o-chino made out of chocolate . The volcano was a cone shaped chocolate pastry topped with a cherry, cherry juice running down the sides, and liquid chocolate inside the cake......the cup-o-chino was a chocolate made coffee cup, inside was a topping of mocha chocolate cream with cake underneath. I will have to say these deserts looked great and tasted GREAT. We have had deserts such as these at casinos in the U.S. and resorts in Jamaica, they looked good, but tasted like cardboard. I guess Mexico proud's their selves in the looks and taste of their deserts, compared to Jamaica. They had musician's that wandered from table to table, singing for the guest.
We ate at the Oriental restaurant several times, very extensive menu. I calculated that they has around 12 main entrees, sushi, and fried ice cream on menu. Service was prompt.
El Greco, we found the food good, very good seafood soup and fresh soups, steaks were cooked to our taste, service was great.
One night, two other couples and us, decided to try La Hacienda Restaurant. We had to put our names on a waiting list, so we decided to sit at the Aventura main bar, have a few drinks and talk. I checked a couple times to see where we were on the list to get a table, finally got to our name around 10 p.m. They did not have a table for 6 people, so we asked if we could push two tables together. The waitress first said no, but the head Maitred' came over, we explained the situation, he accommodated us and pushed the tables together for all 6 of us. He did this probably since it was late at night.
The food was good, and you could not ask for better service.
We found the service at all restaurants was very good by the wait staff. They do work hard and so tipping is not necessary but if you feel service you received was good, leave the waiter a couple bucks.
We ordered room service one night, around 10 p.m.( left the pool around 5 p.m., figured to take a fast nap and go to eat at a restaurant, but I guess too many Margarita's, we woke at 10 p.m. and ordered room service). Room service menu was extensive ( compared to Grand Lido Braco in Jamaica), they has listed several main entrees, not just snacks.
We ordered 2 shrimp cocktails, 2 orders of cream of asparagus soup, 2 fillet mignons, and 2 deserts. It was delivered with-in 45 minutes, still hot and very good. I compliment this resort with room service, very good menu and service. After 10:30 p.m., room service still offers hamburgers, and sandwiches till 6 a.m.
The pool at Aventura side was lively, plenty of lounge chairs to accommodate guest. Certain areas of the pool, you can pull your lounge chair into the pool. There are 3 or 4 Jacuzzi's located in the pool. Most guest stayed around this pool due to everyone having fun vs the Spa pools where most folksrelaxed and read books. The staff played volley ball and other games with the guest at the pool. The waiters or waitresses continuously walked by taking drink orders and returning with your drinks, if you were in a hurry, just swim up to the pool bar. The pool was only 4 foot deep at any point. The lagoon area was very nice, sand and plenty of lounge chairs and shade huts. The water in the lagoon was clear and calm, you could see fish swimming around. This is a good place to snorkel. Also the waiters would take and bring drink orders to you at the lagoon. Behind the swim-up bar, is a snack area for lunch. They had numerous items to eat, plus they had a grill where you can order hamburgers, grilled chicken, or grilled steaks. If none of this was to your liking, put on a cover up and wander over to Mundaca restaurant. Swimsuits ranged from women wearing one piece suits, bikini's, string bikini's, rio cut bikini's and thongs. Men wore everything from the standard boxer style suits, to speedo's and bikini's. We noticed that more and more people, men and women, had real tattoos. By the way if you want a Henna tattoo, they do them at the pool for a small charge. Around the pool and in the pool, numerous woman were topless and others had on thongs, this was also common around the lagoon area. Toplessness was fine as long as it was contained around & in the pool or lagoon area, walking to your room you have to have your top on.
The ages of the guest, ranged from twenties, and on up. A very good mix of guest.
To utilize all aspects of both resorts, there is a lot of walking involved. I did not go into details of the Spa side but they did have walking & running trails, rock climbing wall, cross current pool, along with the main pool, very nice gym and spa treatments..
Each night, on the Aventura side, there was a show, put on by the staff. The shows were average to cheesy. The also had a local band play in the patio area after the show, for about an hour. This local band was pretty good.
Prior to arriving at AventuraSpa, I had met several couples on the Playa message board.They were from Texas, New Jersey and Connecticut ( and we were from Mississippi).We all had fun together, ate several meals together and enjoyed each others company. So hi guys, we really enjoyed meeting yall.
I have pictures posted at http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bismith39056
Bill and Deborah Smith bills52@bellsouth.net