spanky99 Here is the Cancun Palace Map. (Sorry that the shading from the scan makes it a little dark.) Jan http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb272/JLonsbury/?action=view¤t=CPmap.jpg
Ok here's my try at the resort map. http://s180.photobucket.com/albums/x41/lisaten98/?action=view¤t=2d5ed40a.jpg
sorry about that all - try the following instead. i'll be anxious to see when i go in oct how much of that construction is done next door. i hope it's not a vacation buster. i let everyone know http://s180.photobucket.com/albums/x41/lisaten98/?action=view¤t=2d5ed40a.jpg
hellllllooooooooooo out there ok everybody, i know you're all busy with summer but this is sad. hasn't anybody been to cp lately to report on it? I'm going again oct 11 but i need a fix before then. if anybody reading this has been there lately, please sign up and give us a report. they don't get deleted here. i hear cp is offering a free shuttle to moon each day; the reverse of what it used to be. i'd like to go there for the day for the pool but not the reverse.
Avoid Cancun Palace We just got back from Cancun Palace and all I can say is STAY AWAY! If you already have reservations, I'll try to make your stay more rewarding with some tips throughout this post, but if you can cancel and go somewhere else, do it. I read all the bad reviews here from the beginning of the year, but attibuted them to the reconstruction. Then the reviews started getting better. I see now that they weren't "good" reviews, but rather "it wasn't that bad" or "it's better now" reviews. So I was fooled and booked my family vacation there. It's too late for me, but not for you. First lets go over the "lies." They will have you believe that this is an all inclusive resort with lots of restaurants with great food, lots of entertainment, tours, activities, all sorts of stuff right? Well, I hate to be the bad guy here, but let me set the record straight: - Room service. Yes, they provide 24/7 room service. The problem is that the menu consists of about 5 things. All I can remember are 2 different salads, a hamburger, and a slice of cheesecake. The breakfast menu seemed pretty complete though. We never ordered room service. - Mini bar in the room. There is a dorm size fridge in the room, and there are a few cans of soda, a few bottles of water and 2 cans of beer (XX lagar, if I remember correctly). During our 6 day stay, this was restocked once. There is also a bottle of rum, tequila, whiskey, and one more that I can't remember. When we arrived, the rum was completely empty. We asked the bell hop, 2 cleaning ladies, and the front desk for a refill, but it wasn't until the night before we left that they brought a new bottle. There were no food items in the mini bar. - Top Shelf Drinks included. Yes they are, but don't expect to get much alcohol in them (ie: a drop or 2). If you give the bar tender a hard time, you can get more, but this wont work in the restaurants since you are just dealing with a waitor. - Sensational Entertainment. There is no entertainment. Well, I'm being unfair. There was a guy with a laptop full of MP3's and a PA system. Not exactly what I would consider "entertainment." There were no organized events. No live music (aside from a couple guys wandering around the restaurants playing various instruments), no shows, nothing. They couldn't even organize a beach volleyball game. Of course that would have required a beach volleyball set, which they probably didn't even have.... - Tours. Just look at the list of included tours: Chichen Itza, Tulum Paradise, Tulum Xpu-Ha, Isla Mujeres, Paradise Snorkeling, Wet and Wild, Coba, Ek-Balam. Wow! How could you get bored? Now for the fine print. Of all of those, you can choose only 2. Oh, and space is limited, so the likelihood of you actually getting any of them is slim. We stayed for 6 days and the only tour that wasn't booked up was Chichen Itza and the only opening for that was on our last full day. You will also soon find out that only minimal food is provided on the tours, and that drinks are only available to purchase (even water). - Gratuities Included. Perhaps, but that didn't stop them from expecting more. - Non-motorized water sports are included. This is an interesting statement because there are no non-motorized water sports offered by the hotel! Well there is a volleyball net in the pool, if you want to count that. Interestingly enough, though, there were people selling wake boards on the beach. Ok, so enough of their lies. Now lets talk about the amenities... - The Steak restaurant. They like to talk about the Steak as though it was Ruth Chris, but in reality it sucked. The service here was the worst of all the restaurants we tried. There were 6 in our party and they screwed up every single one of our orders. Oh yeah, while there are 600 some odd rooms in the hotel, there are only 12 tables at The Steak, and they are all outside, so it if rains they don't even open... - Miyako. There are only 5 tables where they cook in front of you. The rest of the tables are regular menu items only. The sushi was decent, but the entres were completely tasteless. Again, the service here was very poor. - Freda's. This is a Mexican buffet with a decent selection of luke warm food. There is a grill where you can have 1 of a handfull of items made fresh. The restaurant is in a thatched hut with open sides, so if it rains, only the inner tables don't get soaked. - El Mercado. This is their catch all buffet and is the only place open for breakfast. The food here was not terrible, but was pretty poor. As with Freda's they can't keep the food hot. Luke warm is the best you can hope for. There is also a grill here with a couple selections. - Leonado. This is an Italian restaurant. We didn't try it though. - Snacks. Here you are limited to tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers and chips. If you go to the beach grill, you can get something cooked fresh, but if you go to the pool bar, it's luke warm stuff in a chaffing dish. Ok, so you've probably heard enough about the bad food. Let's move on to the hotel. - There are many doors in this hotel that never seem to close, so it is about the same temperature inside as it is outide, except with the added benefit of cigarette smoke and no breeze. We spent as little time inside as possible because of this. - Whoever designed the air conditioning system in this hotel was completely brain dead. All cold air is delivered through very long slotted vents in the ceiling. Great idea, for a DRY climate. Unfortunately, Cancun is a VERY humid place, so all of these vents drip water constantly and have completely ruined the ceiling around them. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except for 2 things: First, the vents run right over the top of half the tables in all indoor restaurants, so you constantly have water (an d probably the occasional piece of rotted drywall) falling on you and your food while you eat! And second, all of the floors are polished stone and are EXTREMELY slipperly when they get wet. They employ a similar design in the rooms, so there are always wet spots on the floor there too. - The sinks in the guest rooms are almost completely ununable. I wish I had taken a picture to post here. They look like a big mixing bowl sitting on a counter, with a kitchen style faucet that goes up the side then loops down into the bowl. Stylish maybe, but not very practical. The faucet extends so far down in to the bowl and is so close to the edge, you can't even get your hands under it to wash them. - Our toilet backed up once, with only normal use, resulting in a service call. - There was an awesome looking shower head in the shower, and I was so excited about what I thought was going to be a great shower. Imagine my disappointment when, despite both faucets on full blast, only a trickle of water came out. We called maintenance twice to fix this, and they did improve it to be slightly more than a dribble. Washing sand out of your hair was nearly impossible though. - Continuing with the shower... For 2 days during our 6 day stay, we took cold showers because there was no hot water. The remaining 4 days, the water surged from cold to scalding hot and back again. I guess it was fortunate for us that hardly any water was coming out. Had the shower been running normally, there is no doubt someone would have been seriously burned. Of course, if the shower was working properly, maybe it wouldn't have happened in the first place.... - Twice during our stay something happened somewhere outside of our room (we weren't there when it started) that caused the bathroom to smell like a sewer. Chalk up 2 more called to the service desk. In the end we just put towels over the drains. - I challenge anyone to figure out the light switches in these rooms. First, you have to stick your room key in one switch or nothing works. This provides a very easy way to forget your key. The maid left her key in it once. It's a good thing we are honest people and chased her down, since we would have had unlimited access to all of the rooms with her pass key. Anyway, back to the switches... They are all pushbutton switches, so you can't tell whether they are on or off. Some turn lights on, while others turn lights off. One even turned one light on and another light off. It's like trying to solve a rubix cube! We usually just found ourselves hitting switches randomly until the right combination of lights were on and off. We never did figure out how to turn on the light on the balcony. Maybe it was burned out... - All of the hallways are tile, the walls are thin, and the doors close very loudly. Add all of this together and you have a very noisy hotel room. All night, people coming and going, doors slamming (not the people's fault, the doors have automatic closers), and loud footsteps on the tile outside your door. Well, you're probably sick of hearing me complain about how crappy this place is, so I'll stop and tell you about some good points: - They probably have the most comfortable beds I have ever seen in a hotel. - There is a therapy spa in the room. We never used it, but if you're into that, have at it. It's a two person deal, with recliner like seats. - There is a safe in the room. - The views (if you're on the beach side) are great. - There is a kids area and a gym, athough we never went to either. - There is a doctor's office, although the same doctor covers all of their hotels, so he may be there, he may not. Also plan on paying $70 if you talk to him and almost as much if you need medicine. They don't want to know anything about your insurance either, so you'll have to sort that out when you get home. As I said earlier, if you haven't made reservations, DON'T! If you have and it's too late to cancel, here are some tips that will help you avoid some of the problems we had: ---> Try to book your tours before you arrive. If you can't, book them immediately when you arrive. Space on the tours is extremely limited, and you have to book at least 24 hours in advance, so even if there are openings, your first day is out. ---> Before going on a tour, go to the buffet and get a couple to-go containers. Fill them up with snacks and take them with you. Also, go to the bar and get a bunch of bottled water. Bring this with you too. It's hot out there, and at $2+ a bottle on the tour, it gets really expensive. ---> I can only tell you about the Chichen Itza tour, since that's the only one that had openings, but here are some tips. You will leave the hotel and be taken directly to a "local market." DON"T BUY ANYTHING THERE, just make note of anything you like. After about 45 minutes to shop, you will continue on to Chichen Itza and get a guided tour of the site. Don't forget to clap next to the pyramid. There are people selling stuff all over the place there, and they are charging about half of what the market you stopped at was charging for most stuff. If you don't see it at Chichen Itza, don't worry, you will be stopping at the same market on the way back to eat lunch, so you can buy it then. ---> Get out to the towel station relatively early. Get your towels, and put them where you want to spend the day. Everything fills up fast, epecially the areas around the pool, but a spread out towel marks your spot. ---> When you sit down to eat, look up. If you see a slot in the ceiling above you, move to another table. ---> The shells on the beach are sharp. If you get cut, clean the cut with fresh water (bottled is best) and get some anti-bacterial ointment on it right away. Trust me, I got a small cut on my foot while playing in the surf and didn't think anything of it until it was throbbing the next day and nicely infected, hence the visit to the hotel doctor. $135 with meds. Cha ching. ---> Wet and Wild is included. You can take the hotel tour, but they book up and you have to leave the hotel at 7:30am or something like that, and come back when they tell you to, and it will count as one of your tours (remember, you only get 2). Instead, spend 65 cents each way per person and take the city bus. There is a bus stop right in front of the hotel and another one right at Wet and Wild. Ask someone in the lobby about it, they'll give you the details. If you go, BRING A HOTEL TOWEL. Wet and Wild will charge you a $2.50 rental fee (plus a deposit) for each towel you want. Lockers are also pretty expensive. You get a free meal there too (and it even comes with a drink!). Choices were hamburger/cheeseburger with fries, a hot dog, or chicken nuggets and the food is better than at the hotel. ---> Check your room before the bell boy leaves and make sure everything you care about works. Like the shower, the toilet, the spa if you want to use it... Make sure there is liquor, soda, and water and that the fridge works (you'll have to turn the temperature down, ours was set as high as it would go when we arrived). The sooner you figure out what doesn't work, the better. We were all unpacked and settled before we found out that our shower didn't work. Insist on being moved to a different room, and don't fall for the "we'll send someone up to fix it" BS like we did. ---> Take a look at where your room is. Is your balcony right above The Steak restaurant where you will get smoked out by the grill? Are you right next to the laundry facility? Right above the gym? All of these things may make your stay totally miserable. Ask to be moved... ---> Make sure you bring lots of sunscreen, and apply it frequently. It doesn't last long at all in the water. Also bring a hat. I wish I had brought a pair of water socks (the waves will throw you around and the shells are sharp). Bring After Burn (or something similar). Everyone we saw had at least some sunburn, including us. A small first aid kit is always a good idea. So, there you go. I hope you have a better time in Cancun than we did. Steve
Steve, My family and I were there in July. I agree with you. We would never go back there. Food? UGH!!! The Pool was always cloudy and dirty. Also the pool is much to small for the hotel. We have been to Mexico fove times and this hotel is a 2 star as far as we are concerned. We still had a wonderful vacation. We were all together!
We just got back on Wednesday after being there for a week. We had a fabulous time. Yes, the Steak wasn't very good and the service was a tad slow. However, we thoroughly enjoyed the other restaurants (except for Frida b/c we didn't go there). Daytime activities were constant...my hubby was always occupied. Water aerobics, pool and beach volleyball, beach olympics, ping pong, crazy games As for the maid leaving the key in to keep the electric running--that happened to us also and we took it to the front desk. They informed us that it was a "courtesy card". We never had any issues with water temp or pressure in the room...the shower was perfect. We would definitely go back and we only stay at 4 plus star hotels. :lol:
Cancun Palace is a paradise! We just came back from the Cancun Palace last Thursday and have to say the resort is wonderful. I cannot believe the post by Steve2002 is for the same resort. We had a great time and will post a review with pix soon.
