I remember going to this one restaurant many times with some close friends as we liked the owners. Pretty much all you can expect from a restaurant is an acceptable location, fair prices, decent menu selections and acceptable service. This place failed all but the location test. Business kept dropping so they kept raising prices till even the regulars stopped going. Then they closed. What a surprise. On the other side of the ledger, Saturday, I took some friends for their first taste of pozole. We went to Pozoleria Castillo, which is right off Lopez Portillo but not in the best area of town. The place was quite busy for a rainy day. The food, service, cleanliness/atmosphere and prices were great. Castillo's is sort of a local legend for pozole lovers. But they do all things right, or at least they do since I started eating there years ago. One of the owners, who had waited on me many times, actually spoke perfect English to my friends and I. I had never heard him utter a single word in English before. Rarely do I see any non-Mexicans there. If they have raised prices during this downturn I have not noticed. I think they just tend to work harder and try to work smarter. e.g. Owners serving customers. Go figure.
We had a great eating experience last night at a newish restaurant on Bonampak. Its called "Peters" - its small, friendly, not overly expensive and the food was fabulous. Everything is cooked to order so dont expect fast food. For food lovers its well worth a visit. We paid just under 2000 pesos for 4 people but we all had 3 courses, coffee and 2 great bottles of red wine. It was well worth it for a special occasion- we will definately return.
Hey Tracey, That is funny that you mentioned Peters because I noticed that they are the business of the month at Costco. I passed by it on Bonampak but have not been there. I think that Peter worked with or is freinds with John Gray who has a few restaurants around here. Hopefully they will be around for a while.
The only way to get a "cheap" vacation in Cancun is to tie it in with a taking a tour of a hotel and attending a "presentation" which we all know is a high pressure sales pitch for joining a vacation club. If you can get out of there without buying anything, then you can have yourself an enjoyable vacation (except that everyone you meet will try to entice you to join the "club."). For example, I got an email for an offer for 6 days in Playa del Carmen at the Grand Coco Bay, all inclusive for $399 for 2 adults and 2 kids or Temptaion for 5 days, all inclusive for $599 with the promise to attend a "tour." Cheap vacation but I do not feel like getting grilled for 3 hours to buy something that I do not want (plus I think these clubs start at around $40,000 and then they chew it down to $10,000).
There are still some reasonable deals from Toronto - how about this one end of March(still in high season) 7 days @ Temptations with direct flights(Air Transat) YYZ-CUN for a total of $1100 PP CAD which also includes all fees and taxes (fyi selloffvacations . com)
I think that price is good. Three years ago I paid that same price for 5 days, at a different resort. I think that is the average for a three to four star..and I think that is what most people really want and can afford.
But isn't this kind of comparing apples and oranges. No one I know can afford to fly from Philadelphia to Europe. But $1100 USD for 7 days AI to Mexico is easy to afford.
No, it's NOT apples to oranges)) Flight time from Moscow to Egypt is exactly the same as from Toronto to Cancun, the reef is the same or even closer in Egypt, and same are the hotel standards and ratings)
Are you talking about European's or Asians not coming to Cancun and to go to Egypt instead? Right now flights to Egypt should be free. For North Americans to get to Moscow or Egypt, the flights are 1-2 thousand dollars alone. That is why I am saying you can't make the comparison. And honestly, are there that many Asian's/European's coming to Cancun to make a major difference?
I think scorpio is trying to make the comparison that the distance from point A to point B is similar and therefore should be the same price, but as we all know distance is only one small factor for flight costs.. from here to Florida is equal to or more than similar flights to New York most days even though NY is much further away... As for hotel packages I don't see them being too much higher than in years past relatively speaking, but the big thing is just fewer people taking big vacations... and the constant Mexico bashing doesn't help matters.
