Our 20th trip to the Yucatan began on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 23, 2006. We were taking along Cancun virgins, Sheila and Mike. Sheila is a therapist in my office, and her husband, Mike, was downsized from his banking job last year, so he's taking classes at the University of Pittsburgh to become a therapist, too. They spent their honeymoon in Puerto Rico, but they haven't traveled out of the country since then. Sheila and Mike could only stay 3 nights, so we booked the Omni. I thought the Omni would be a good choice for newbies, plus our travel agent got us a good deal since we booked early. We were using Apple for air only, then Liberty Travel and Olympus for our hotels and transportation. The Apple flight is at the butt crack of dawn, 6 a.m., so we left home around 3 a.m. I was really worried about the traffic at the airport since it was Thanksgiving, but when we arrived no one was in line at the USA 3000 counter. We checked in, turned around, and Sheila and Mike were coming through the door. We told them we'd see them at McDonald's, the only place open at 4 a.m. We walked through security with no one in line, that was painless! Arrived at McDonald's and ordered some delicious breakfast muffins or biscuits or whatever they were. :roll: Here's Norb and I enjoying our coffee ... Sheila and Mike arrived in a few minutes, here's the 4 of us having breakfast ... Our flight left on time, we were headed to Cincinnati to pick up some dreaded Bengal fans. We saw the Pittsburgh Apple rep at the airport, he's been with Apple for over 20 years, and we always run into him. He told us since it's low season, the airline can't afford to have a direct flight, so they have to combine Pittsburgh and Cincy. But in high season, January and February, it will be direct flights again. We didn't have to get off the plane in Cincy, just waited for about 50 people to board. We were served a bagel and egg sandwich, fruit and cookies. It tasted very similar to McDonalds, that's why I ordered the glass of vodka ... We didn't watch the movie, and I don't even remember what it was. Had an uneventful flight and landed on time. We were in row 2, so guess who was almost first off the plane? Went right through immigration, no lines! Got our luggage and went through customs, we did not have to have our bags scanned, just pushed the green light/red light. We got outside, and it was sunny and warm and a little windy. :sunny: The Olympus van was waiting, there were 2 women in the van with the 4 of us. We were dropped off first. Checked in at the Omni, and both of our rooms were ready, and it was only 10:30 a.m.! Now here is my first complaint with the Omni ... Sheila had joined the Omni Select Guest program as I had advised her. They were given a lagoon view room. She told the man at the check-in that she was a member, and she even had her guest member number in her hand. He told her that was for their NEXT visit, not the first visit. When I joined the Select Guest program, I used it immediately, and we were updated to an ocean view junior suite. Norb and I were asked if we wanted to upgrade to an ocean view for $25.00 per night, and I said yes. We got the cards to pick our juice, coffee, newspaper, etc. to be delivered in the morning, and I gave them all to Sheila and Mike. I felt badly that they weren't being treated as Select Guests, even though they joined the program. We were in room 1942 (ocean view), and they were directly across the hall in room 1929 (lagoon view). But before we went upstairs we stopped at the Lobby Bar for a few appletini's, mudslides, margaritas and screwdrivers. We are officially on vacation! arty: Lobby Bar ... After a few drinks we decided to go upstairs and unpack. The bellboy delivered our luggage, and I started to take a few pictures of the room ... Then I dropped the camera and BROKE IT! I wanted to cry! :cry: :cry: :cry: I couldn't stay here a week with no camera! So while Sheila and Mike unpacked and took a nap, Norb and I got the bus to Plaza Caracol. We went to the camera store, and I bought a new camera. That was a $200.00 expense that I hadn't planned. :cry: :cry: :cry: We got back on the bus, and went back to the Omni. The entrance up to the Omni, those steps will kill ya ... We decided to go to LaPaloma restaurant, and have some lunch. Ordered tacos and quesadillas and a few drinks ... We went back to our room and took a nap until 5, then we showered and dressed for dinner. We met Sheila and Mike in the lobby bar, then we all went to DaVinci's, the Omni's specialty restaurant. Our reservations were for 7 p.m. ... DaVinci's offered the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but we all opted for something different. I ordered shrimp, Norb had salmon, Sheila had quail and Mike had steak. With wine, salads, soup, coffee and desserts, the meal took two and a half hours. Sheila ordered the chocolate piano dessert, here we are eyeing it up ... looks yummy! We ordered tiramisu ... mmmmm! We all enjoyed our non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. And I was thankful that I didn't have to cook it OR do the dishes! DaVinci's did not disappoint us, the food and the service were good. After dinner we went to the lobby bar, where a duet was performing. We sat there for a while, then at 10:30 realized we all were tired, so we said goodnight. TOMORROW - A BEACH DAY!
You look a lot shorter in some of your photos this time Janie. And those desserts looked very very appealing.
How did Norb not get told to put a shirt on for such a nice dinner? :wink: My heart skipped a beat when you said you dropped your camera! :shock: Your food photos never disapoint...I want tiramisu now... :cry: that Tiramisu, in Cancun, at the Omni, NOW
:lol: :lol: :lol: Since we're Select Guests at the Omni, they allowed him to go topless! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Wonderful report, Janie!! But I do have a bone to pick with you...I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the pic of you and Norb enjoying coffee at McDonalds. You did not tell me you changed your hair color...and style!!!! But even though you held back on me....YOU LOOK MARVELOUS DARLING!!!
Love what you've done with your hair chica :wink: :wink: Great TR sooooo far....the omni looks sensational :!: :!: