Going to Riveria Maya in July and staying at the Del Mar. Can I get all your positive and negative feed back on this resort on food, nightly entertainment etc. Also would like to do the dolphin swim at Puerto Aventuras, I like the fact you can swim with manatee's and sea lions. How far away is this place and is their taxi's or private shuttles that will take you there. Looking forward to all your responses.
Ditto what Jeff & Bob said...... What I can add is that since you are staying in the Riviera Maya area and NOT in Cancun proper, you would do good to invest in a mapguide of the Riviera Maya area as well as a mapguide of Playa del Carmen. They are pretty dirt cheap, better than any of the books you'll find at the bookstore, like Fodors, etc..... The mapguides will answer all of your questions about how far things are from one another, how to best get where you want to go, what times the bus's & collectivos run, where they pick you up, etc..... They also list attractions that are NOT commonly mentioned on the messege boards that you may in fact be interested in visiting. So...the best advise that I could give you would be to scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on the link that says "CanDo Maps" and order both the Rivera Maya mapguide as well as the Playa del Carmen one. If you study both, you'll be traveling like an old veteran on your first trip down!!! They are vertually idiotproof!! Michelle
Saucemonster, stayed at The Beach (right next door to the Del Mar) in October. (pix in my signature) It was WONDERFUL! Lots of wildlife, turkeys, peacocks, cats... the restaurant (buffet restaurant) and the poolside places are open air, the main lobby is open air, so cats and peacocks wander in. Turkeys, swans, etc. Wander all over, yes the cats will ask for food but if you ignore them, they will sod off because someone will always offer up food (oops that'd be me) but it throws some people, which I find quite hilarious. The peacocks linger around the bar at 6 because the lobby bar makes popcorn, so they know more freebies while people wait and relax before dinner and the evening shows. I think you get access to the The Beach restaurants and bars but only the pools at The Lindo and The Maya. You will be shot on sight if you get too close to the Grand. HAHAH just kidding. You can't even tour the Grand without an escort. The people mover is hit or miss, but $1-$2 gets you a golf cart ride with a bellhop or laundry mover anywhere you want to go. I HIGHLY recommend the taco stand in the marketplace. The burger stand is good, too. I think the shuttle to Playa stopped in December, so you have to cab it. I think hoofing it to the main road and trying to catch a Colectivo might be cumbersome. Work a deal with a cab driver or if the bus still runs, GET THERE EARLY. Only one comes an hour and if it's full, your SOL. There will be lizards that may get in your room and I highly HIGHLY recommend the EASIEST way to avoid ants is don't be a slob. People gripe about the ants but they are sloppy, leave pop out, leave beer or other stickies out then get mad there's ants. Clean up, rinse stuff cans and glasses before bed, NO PROBLEMS! Can't do much about the lizards. I suppose you could hit up walmart and get some ant spray (we thought about it) but just not being sloppy with food etc made it all fine. They say you can only get 3 specialty restaurant visits for 7 days HOWEVER you can ALWAYS request more when available. If the space is there, they will give it to you (no extra $) we had no problems eating at our favourites more than once as they weren't to capacity. We are addicted to ibersotars now, so if you have any other questions plz ask me.
