2013 Cancun, Mexico - Wedding Shopping, Take 4!
Do or die time! Either we find a wedding venue in Cancun or we stop looking! We have Moon Palace and The Royal Cancun on our list to see while in town.
Getting There:
We had yet another up before the ass crack of dawn flight out of Dulles. However it was only 21 degrees out and I thought I was going to freeze to death during the 5 minute wait for the parking shuttle bus in the economy lot. UGH. We get to the terminal and get in line for United, for some reason I was able to print out my boarding passes at home but it would print out Tim's. This totally blows my plan to stroll right in towards security! Speaking of security, we get in line and then as we have our documents checked we realize we are in the TSA pre-check line even though there was no sign saying so when we got in line. We told them we weren't pre-check and they were pretty much "whatever, go ahead" and it was like the good old days again! No taking shoes off, no taking out your liquids, no putting your electronics in a separate bin. Throw it all on the belt and breeze through! I wonder if someone is going to get into trouble for this. Oh well. After a little Dunkin Donuts breakfast we board our short flight to Charlotte, NC where we switch over to US Airways. As we are boarding we realize we have been put in separate rows even though i TWICE checked that we were seated together, but that's the nice thing about being in the south, people are immediately ready to help and the nice lady at the gate quickly re-did our seats. The flight is short (less than 3 hours) and thank god b/c not only was there ZERO TV screens on board there wasn't even a headphone jack for music! Not to worry, I bust out my trusty tablet and we watch Red 2 but literally can't watch the last 5 minutes as we ran out of time. Oh well. Of the plan, thru immigration and customs and we are meeting our transfer person outside the airport. Then we wait and just as I'm getting impatient from standing out there for 10 minutes a shiny black suburban pulls up for just the two of us! 15 minutes later we are arriving at Moon Palace! So far, so good!
Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort:
Our room was located in the Nizuc section which unfortunately is currently under going a bunch of renovations. When we pulled up the lobby was sparse as it was still being worked on and you could hear the whir of power tools all over the place. They were also in the middle of putting up a christmas tree which was kind of a weird site to see! The lobby was a giant cavernous space (again I expect it to look much different a few months from now) with a large lobby bar in the middle and access to all the restaurants in the Nizuc side. There's a general buffet (El Manglar), a brazilian steakhouse (Arecifes), a mexican place (Los Corporales), a coffee/pastry bar, and then the membership sales office (avoid, avoid, avoid!) We had to wait a bit to get into our room but after about an hour we got our keys and the bellman took us to our room. They upgraded us from a resort view to an ocean view room overlooking the pool in the Alcatraz building just off the main lobby building.
Our room was one of the ones already renovated so there was no construction going on in our building. Even though the room was remodeled it looked like they were holding off on adding in all those little finishing decorative touches. We had a little balcony overlooking the pool with lots of views of the ocean. This resort is huge to say the least. Nizuc is the middle section with Sunrise to the north and Grand to the south. Each area has it's own lobby, pool complex, and restaurants but with all the construction in Nizuc not everything was up and running yet and things were kind of sparse in the lobby.
Sunrise had a lot going on and that's where a lot of the Palace resort members opt to stay. We're hoping that what we saw there is what will be to come at Nizuc. There's a nightclub, a larger pool complex, and bigger convention center over there, but we were told that Nizuc was getting an English pub and refurbished convention space as well. They also have this cool thing called the Flowrider which is one of those surf pools where you can ride a sustained jet of water for as long as you can until you fall down!
In between each set of buildings is some sort of attraction as well, either a gazebo or some type of garden area. A lot of the garden pools were empty of water and the mini golf course was just dirt. There was a dock however that we eventually figured out led to a large penned in area where they house dolphins for their dolphin swim attraction. that's pretty neat but yet I felt sort of sad that these dolphins lived in this single, small space.
Things We Saw/Did:
Day 1:
We checked in but our room wouldn't be ready for another hour so we grabbed a lite lunch at El Manglar, the main buffet (food was sort of meh). After eating, we took a stroll around the pool and then started walking down towars the Sunrise section but probably only made it halfway before turning back. After getting back and getting into our room, we unpacked and had a beverage and then decided to check out the hot tub as it the sun was going down and some clouds were rolling in. It was nice to watch the sun go down from the comfort of our hot tub.
Starting to prune so time to get out and get ready for dinner. We decide to have sushi tonight at Palapa Pelicanos in Nizuc. We walk over and realize it's windy...REALLY windy and we're eating outside. Oops. We walk up to the palapa and...we're the only people there. Hmmm. It's almost 8 so it can't be that we're too early...we ask if the resort is slow right now and they say that yes it kind of is. We sit down and order a ton of sushi and sake including something called a "sushi cake". There's also a little buffet of some other asian items that we grab a few things from while waiting on the sushi. Finally the main event arrives and it's....TERRIBLE. Oh my god, worst sushi ever!! Everything has cream cheese in it, the fish tastes previously frozen, and all the salmon is smoked salmon! The sashimi? It was watery, don't ask me how that happens. And the sake tasted just a step above rubbing alcohol. I decide I can't finish (I have NEVER left sushi on the table) and leave it to Tim to choke down. The waitress asks about the sushi cake and i respond that it's really interesting and something i've never seen before. She asks if i like it...i lie and say it's good. Truthfully it was the best thing they served but that's not saying much! We walk home back thru the lobby but don't feel like stopping for drinks as we're both pretty tired at this point. I already have it in my mind that I am ordering room service when we get back since I didn't have much dinner.
We then go for a walk and somehow end up at the Sunrise section. This place is a maze and we decided to walk through the buildings since it was a little drizzly. We end up in the main building and apparently this is where EVERYONE is, this place is hopping and full of life. We walk upstairs and go into Skybar which is a really nice bar/lounge but we're so full that we can only put down one drink. We wanted to check out Noir the nightclub but it opens at 10 PM but we don't feel like waiting around for it to open. On the way out though Tim spies a little snack/deli shop making crepes and he's gotta have one b/c we're both kinda hungry after not eating much of our dinner. The crepe was definitely the best of anything we've eaten so far.
Back in the room I order the caprese salad and shrimp ceviche. It arrives shortly and well this wasn't too awesome either. The caprese is OK but now I'm full of the bread I'm eating which Tim said was the best part of the meal.Hmm, we are a little worried about the cuisine at this point...
Day 2:
As at all the all inclusive resorts we visit, the day starts off with stuffing ourselves at the breakfast buffet at El Manglar. Like the lunch the day before, breakfast is just kind of so-so. The sushi place was overly full of smoked salmon but there is none to be seen here. What! No brie either or bacon! WTF. Eventually the bacon shows up so the day is semi-saved. So 3 out of 3 dining experiences has been so-so at best.
After breakfast we decide to take a stroll and explore the resort. We walk the pool area and realize it's bigger than we could see from our window the night before. Now that we've seen all there is to see at Nizuc we decide to walk down towards Sunrise again with the intention of hanging out at their pool today. The pool area there seemed a step up from Nizuc's pool. The furnishings were nicer, the area was bigger and it was definitely livelier. We picked a spot and go some towels but were finding it a little uncomfortable b/n the in and out clouds and the wind. We decide to move and as soon as you are 50 feet away from the seawall where we were originally sitting the temp totally changed and there was no wind. MUCH better! The pool water however was FRIGID to say the least, so there wasn't a lot of pool action to be had. We also checked out the beach and it is sort of night and day between this part of Cancun and the hotel zone. There's a lot of seaweed in the water so you don't get the crystal clear blue water, but hey I live on the east coast so it's a lot nicer than we've got here.
After a couple hours, it was time to pack it and it was round 2 for the hot tub. We were a little disheartened to see that for the second day in a row our vodka bottle was completely empty but we made due with other drinks.
After getting ready for dinner we walked over to Arecifes the Brazilian steakhouse. Let me tell you the food did not NOT disappoint! First stop is the buffet area for salads and other little bites and then the meat arrived! First is bacon, which was wasn't bacon like we think of it as it was about an inch and a half thick. It was all gristle but damn it was tasty! Next came chorizo (my favorite), then chicken, then some sort of argentinian piece of beef that we never really understood what it was, and lastly was more beef but this one was tough...I was so full at this point even though it was delicious!
At the next table we saw them wheel over some sort of cart and the server made something involving fire. After we were done eating we asked what that was and the server comes back and makes crepes suzette table side! I don't know where I had the room but I fit it in!
Now that we are more than full we decide to go on a croc hunt. While walking to Sunrise the night before we walked along the backside of the property which is full of a lot of marsh areas. We noticed there were signs warning of crocodiles in the marsh...um, what?
So Tim, always being prepared, had packed a flashlight and we decided to go see if we could find any. First marsh yields nothing, but at the second we see a single glowing light in the water back into the tree line. He says it was a crocodile, but I'm still not sure. It didn't move the entire time we had the light on it but I can't really explain what else it could have been.
We continue along and end up at Sunrise again but it seems much quieter tonight, I guess that's Sunday for you. I do stumble upon a black cat that was just hanging and I begin to try to communicate with it. After a few "meows", I feel that we are on the same page and I go to pet him on the head. Um, I guess we were not on the same page and he tried to "high five" me and not in a good way! Luckily he didn't scratch me!
Day 3
Our previous night's sleep is terrible...we turned the A/C as low as it would go to 65 degrees and both spent the night sweating and freezing. The bed has a super thick comforter and a duvet, no sheet though. Both of those were just too heavy but the second you take the sheet off you are freezing. To top it all off the door is about as soundproof as a screen door so we heard the wind all night and in the morning were greeted to the screeches of these black birds that live on the resort. Arrrgh.
Today we decide to try breakfast over in Sunrise at Bugambilias. WAY better than what El Manglar had going. The dining experience seems to have taken a turn for the better starting with Brazilian place the night before. Still no smoked salmon but everything else is great...green chilaquiles, tamales, a juice bar, and firery green salsa that I made the mistake of eating. I am used to green salsa being mild but I didn't look at the sign and it was labelled "hot hot hot". I go running for the yogurt to dull the burning!
After breakfast we begin the first of our wedding tours and walk across the lobby to the wedding office. There seems to be a mixup and they think our appointment is at 4 PM but they accommodate us anyway. We get a tour of the resort by Isabel who isn't a wedding officer person per se, she said she was a tour person but nonetheless we got a nice tour via golf cart of all 3 sections of the resort. we discover along the way that the Grand section has a heated pool and file that little tidbit away for later. Maybe that's why there were so many iguanas in the Grand section, you couldn't spit w/out hitting one!
After finishing we grab a crepe even though I said we didn't have time for it (I don't know how Tim had room anyway) and grab a cab up to the hotel zone. There is TERRIBLE traffic up in the hotel zone due to traffic and we end up being about 15 -20 minutes late. We pull up to the Hyatt Zilara and it turns out the chick we're supposed to have the tour with is off today. Uh ok. So we begin our tour and I feel a little underwhelmed by what I see. The week before we came they informed us that the Royal Cancun was now the Hyatt Zilara but nothing has changed for us, just the name. Um, wrong. The royal was adults only but they had a sister property next door called Gran Caribe Real so our friends with families could stay over there or we could have the wedding at that side if we wanted. Yeah that's all not true now and even though she was able to give us a tour of both properties we had to pick one or the other for our wedding. Isabel had mentioned that Gran Caribe was one of the hotels that caters to spring breakers and you could tell it was of lesser quality than the Hyatt. I'm just not feeling it at either property and know this is not going to be the place.
We get in a taxi and ask to go to the Paradisus just down the road. I had looked at it before coming to Cancun but just didn't bother making an appointment b/c we already had the Royal/Gran Caribe on the list. We pull up and amazingly they agree to give us a tour on spot. The property is beautiful, especially the lobby and I really like what they have but there were 2 red flags for me...you had to make reservations to eat at the restaurants and there was no liquor included. Hmmm. The tour also took FOREVER b/c the first room they take us to see has a broken lock and the elevators are slow as shit so it takes forever to go back to get a new key. THEN they can't find the room and we literally walk then ENTIRE floor.
Back in the taxi and off to Moon Palace again, it's raining too but it stops by the time we get back. We stop at the palapa at the pool and realize they have a nacho bar, we're starving b/c we skipped lunch and start to chow down. We see that people are out and about in what can only be wedding clothes so we start to follow them hoping to see a wedding take place. We see it's a beach ceremony and the rain clouds are approaching FAST. They got lucky and got it in just in time. It starts to rain so we go back to the room. I remember to check my CC statement b/c when we checked in they said the full balance was due and I knew I had already paid at least something at this point. Sure enough I paid a deposit already so we go to the lobby to try to work it out. Gustavo, the front desk manager helped us, and all is set straight. Tim also mentions that we have no vodka and Gustavo says he'll call and take care of it. We stop in the lobby bar to have a drink and then go back to the room and voila...vodka bottle appears! That was FAST! To celebrate our new found vodka it was time for hot tub cocktails!
After cocktails we get showered and ready for dinner but get distracted watching Ratatouille on TV. When that's finally over we are quite hungry and walk over to Sunrise. Tonight there is some sort of mexican bazaar set up with vendors hocking all sorts of stuff from Mexican trinkets to NFL blankets (huh?). We don't buy anything and proceed to dinner. Isabel took us through Momo restaurant earlier, I had thought it was just thai food but it's full hibachi and sushi too so we decide to give the sushi another chance. Momo was like night and day compared to the palapa from the first night. I'm so glad we ate here. The first bring you a little appetizer sample of egg rolls and sushi rolls and then we proceeded to drink sake (the good kind) and then order pretty much every item on the sushi menu. Did not disappoint in the least, Moon Palace sushi redeemed!
Day 4
Another night of bad sleep, worse than the night before at least for me. it's our last full day and like the last 2 mornings we're off to Bugambilias again for breakfast and then we walk past the Flowrider. We haven't tried it and Tim wants to check it out as it's early still and the line is short. As with all first timers he falls but gets up and tries again and proceeds to get better and better with each run. In the meantime I chicken out especially after a girl in line tells me that you gotta wear a shirt and shorts lest you have a wardrobe malfunction. I have a drink or two and I guess the liquid courage changed my mind and I sign up. I fell pretty much immediately on the first try. I get back in line undeterred and try again. Like with the first time, the attendant holds my hand as I push off and voila! I'm standing! It's short lived but hey I did it! I get back in line again and tell Tim to get the camera. I try it w/out the attendant's help and fall instantly; of course that's what Tim gets on film!
I get back in line and try again though, with help again and do my best run yet! However when I finally fell the board hit my foot and instantly have a huge black and blue mark and I think I am done. I go to the bar while Tim keeps going and chat up the girl who told me I needed a shirt. Her name is Alexandra and she is there with her mom and dad and they are from LA. Tim goes again but I don't get it on film even though it was he's really got it down at this point. I tell him to go again even though he seems a tad hesitant and get some good film off of him.
That's his last run for the day and we go back to talk to Alexandra and her dad. They are members and we chat about what they like at MP versus other resorts and if they like being members or not. They give us the tip of trying out Los Corporales for dinner and then we part ways. Tim then reveals that he feels like he hit his head really hard and has a concussion. That was right before I pushed him to get back on again so I could film it. Oops. We are both injured at this point and decide that's enough Flowrider for us today.
We hit the Nizuc pool. It's a little cooler today but the Nizuc water seems to be a tad warmer. Later in the afternoon we see what can only be a wedding so we follow them and watch their wedding go down in the gazebo that was our favorite from our tour. Back to the pool then and many drinks later and Tim yanks me into the pool thereby incurring my wrath.
Back to the room and Tim hits the hot tub while I abstain b/c I realize it was making me too tired the last few nights. I try to nap and then it's time to get ready for dinner. Dinner is at Los Corporales tonight the Mexican place in Nizuc. Wow awsome food! We start with queso fundido and ceviche and then I have a chile relleno while Tim has this interesting stack of meat! No room for dessert tonight so I guess we are not going to get to try out the tableside flaming coffee we keep seeing.
Day 5
Well it's time to leave but not before one more breakfast! Off to El Manglar again and yeah it's just not as good as Bugambilias. Oh well. We check out and grab out car back to the airport. Cancun airport is great. I think we checked in and go thru security in 15 minutes. For some reason the machine won't spit out my connecting flight boarding pass even though Tim gets his. The gate agent can't help me b/c it's a codeshare flight on United. Even though I tell her Tim gets his she still can't help me. Ok fine. Get on the plane and it's like night and day compared to the one we took from Charlotte down to Cancun. We don't realize until about 45 minutes in though that there are free movies so we start watching A Good Day to Die Hard only to miss the last 10 minutes just like Red 2. Maybe I have some sort of jinx with Bruce Willis movies I watch on planes? In Charlotte we plod through the immigration line, it's always WAY slower in the overly paranoid US. We get through and I realize we have time to make the earlier flight to DC so we try to switch our tickets. We go to the gate and the remind us we are on a United flight back even though we booked through US Air, but he suggest we talk to US Air customer service so we head there. The rep, who is super nice, says we have to go to United to change it, but by the time we could do that and go back to this terminal it'll be too late. Oh well.
We wander about looking for dinner options and settle on the Stock Car Cafe. Hey we're in Charlotte after all, the home of NASCAR. I find it funny that it's chock full of NASCAR memorabilia but can't use the word NASCAR anywhere. The waitress is super nice to the point that when we get our food she brings it out on four plates b/c we mentioned we were gonna split everything. So far everyone we've encountered here is REALLY nice, thereby driving home the fact that we should look harder into Charlotte as a future place to live. This is just the airport, no one is nice at an airport ever, so I bet the people outside are just the same or better!
Back to our gate where i receive a call that our flight is delayed. ARRRGGH!! We already had an almost 4 hour layover so this does not make me happy. We both settle down on some benches to nap/read when I get another call saying it's delayed again. AHHHHHH! We're not going to get back home until 11:30 at this point. Our original plan had us home by 10 PM but that's blown. Guess I'm going in a tad late to work tomorrow. When we finally take off I feel miserably tired but at least there is no one in the seat next to me so I can lie down. We get back and get our shuttle back to the car, it's in the 50s tonight so feels downright tropical compared to the morning we left! 11:30-ish and we are finally walking in the door and it's time for bed!
A few days later and we decide Moon Palace is gonna be the place. We're in the middle of trying to set it all up, cross your fingers!
The Details:
Dates: 11/30/13 - 12/4/13
Accommodations: Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort
Trip Advisor Review: Click here for my review
Airline:US Airways/United Airlines
Photo Album: Click here for my album
Getting There:
We had yet another up before the ass crack of dawn flight out of Dulles. However it was only 21 degrees out and I thought I was going to freeze to death during the 5 minute wait for the parking shuttle bus in the economy lot. UGH. We get to the terminal and get in line for United, for some reason I was able to print out my boarding passes at home but it would print out Tim's. This totally blows my plan to stroll right in towards security! Speaking of security, we get in line and then as we have our documents checked we realize we are in the TSA pre-check line even though there was no sign saying so when we got in line. We told them we weren't pre-check and they were pretty much "whatever, go ahead" and it was like the good old days again! No taking shoes off, no taking out your liquids, no putting your electronics in a separate bin. Throw it all on the belt and breeze through! I wonder if someone is going to get into trouble for this. Oh well. After a little Dunkin Donuts breakfast we board our short flight to Charlotte, NC where we switch over to US Airways. As we are boarding we realize we have been put in separate rows even though i TWICE checked that we were seated together, but that's the nice thing about being in the south, people are immediately ready to help and the nice lady at the gate quickly re-did our seats. The flight is short (less than 3 hours) and thank god b/c not only was there ZERO TV screens on board there wasn't even a headphone jack for music! Not to worry, I bust out my trusty tablet and we watch Red 2 but literally can't watch the last 5 minutes as we ran out of time. Oh well. Of the plan, thru immigration and customs and we are meeting our transfer person outside the airport. Then we wait and just as I'm getting impatient from standing out there for 10 minutes a shiny black suburban pulls up for just the two of us! 15 minutes later we are arriving at Moon Palace! So far, so good!
Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort:
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| Feliz Navidad |
Our room was one of the ones already renovated so there was no construction going on in our building. Even though the room was remodeled it looked like they were holding off on adding in all those little finishing decorative touches. We had a little balcony overlooking the pool with lots of views of the ocean. This resort is huge to say the least. Nizuc is the middle section with Sunrise to the north and Grand to the south. Each area has it's own lobby, pool complex, and restaurants but with all the construction in Nizuc not everything was up and running yet and things were kind of sparse in the lobby.
Sunrise had a lot going on and that's where a lot of the Palace resort members opt to stay. We're hoping that what we saw there is what will be to come at Nizuc. There's a nightclub, a larger pool complex, and bigger convention center over there, but we were told that Nizuc was getting an English pub and refurbished convention space as well. They also have this cool thing called the Flowrider which is one of those surf pools where you can ride a sustained jet of water for as long as you can until you fall down!
In between each set of buildings is some sort of attraction as well, either a gazebo or some type of garden area. A lot of the garden pools were empty of water and the mini golf course was just dirt. There was a dock however that we eventually figured out led to a large penned in area where they house dolphins for their dolphin swim attraction. that's pretty neat but yet I felt sort of sad that these dolphins lived in this single, small space.
Things We Saw/Did:
Day 1:
We checked in but our room wouldn't be ready for another hour so we grabbed a lite lunch at El Manglar, the main buffet (food was sort of meh). After eating, we took a stroll around the pool and then started walking down towars the Sunrise section but probably only made it halfway before turning back. After getting back and getting into our room, we unpacked and had a beverage and then decided to check out the hot tub as it the sun was going down and some clouds were rolling in. It was nice to watch the sun go down from the comfort of our hot tub.
Starting to prune so time to get out and get ready for dinner. We decide to have sushi tonight at Palapa Pelicanos in Nizuc. We walk over and realize it's windy...REALLY windy and we're eating outside. Oops. We walk up to the palapa and...we're the only people there. Hmmm. It's almost 8 so it can't be that we're too early...we ask if the resort is slow right now and they say that yes it kind of is. We sit down and order a ton of sushi and sake including something called a "sushi cake". There's also a little buffet of some other asian items that we grab a few things from while waiting on the sushi. Finally the main event arrives and it's....TERRIBLE. Oh my god, worst sushi ever!! Everything has cream cheese in it, the fish tastes previously frozen, and all the salmon is smoked salmon! The sashimi? It was watery, don't ask me how that happens. And the sake tasted just a step above rubbing alcohol. I decide I can't finish (I have NEVER left sushi on the table) and leave it to Tim to choke down. The waitress asks about the sushi cake and i respond that it's really interesting and something i've never seen before. She asks if i like it...i lie and say it's good. Truthfully it was the best thing they served but that's not saying much! We walk home back thru the lobby but don't feel like stopping for drinks as we're both pretty tired at this point. I already have it in my mind that I am ordering room service when we get back since I didn't have much dinner.
We then go for a walk and somehow end up at the Sunrise section. This place is a maze and we decided to walk through the buildings since it was a little drizzly. We end up in the main building and apparently this is where EVERYONE is, this place is hopping and full of life. We walk upstairs and go into Skybar which is a really nice bar/lounge but we're so full that we can only put down one drink. We wanted to check out Noir the nightclub but it opens at 10 PM but we don't feel like waiting around for it to open. On the way out though Tim spies a little snack/deli shop making crepes and he's gotta have one b/c we're both kinda hungry after not eating much of our dinner. The crepe was definitely the best of anything we've eaten so far.
Back in the room I order the caprese salad and shrimp ceviche. It arrives shortly and well this wasn't too awesome either. The caprese is OK but now I'm full of the bread I'm eating which Tim said was the best part of the meal.Hmm, we are a little worried about the cuisine at this point...
Day 2:
As at all the all inclusive resorts we visit, the day starts off with stuffing ourselves at the breakfast buffet at El Manglar. Like the lunch the day before, breakfast is just kind of so-so. The sushi place was overly full of smoked salmon but there is none to be seen here. What! No brie either or bacon! WTF. Eventually the bacon shows up so the day is semi-saved. So 3 out of 3 dining experiences has been so-so at best.
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| Sunrise section pool |
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| BACON! |
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| No mas!! No mas!! |
Now that we are more than full we decide to go on a croc hunt. While walking to Sunrise the night before we walked along the backside of the property which is full of a lot of marsh areas. We noticed there were signs warning of crocodiles in the marsh...um, what?
So Tim, always being prepared, had packed a flashlight and we decided to go see if we could find any. First marsh yields nothing, but at the second we see a single glowing light in the water back into the tree line. He says it was a crocodile, but I'm still not sure. It didn't move the entire time we had the light on it but I can't really explain what else it could have been.We continue along and end up at Sunrise again but it seems much quieter tonight, I guess that's Sunday for you. I do stumble upon a black cat that was just hanging and I begin to try to communicate with it. After a few "meows", I feel that we are on the same page and I go to pet him on the head. Um, I guess we were not on the same page and he tried to "high five" me and not in a good way! Luckily he didn't scratch me!
Day 3
Our previous night's sleep is terrible...we turned the A/C as low as it would go to 65 degrees and both spent the night sweating and freezing. The bed has a super thick comforter and a duvet, no sheet though. Both of those were just too heavy but the second you take the sheet off you are freezing. To top it all off the door is about as soundproof as a screen door so we heard the wind all night and in the morning were greeted to the screeches of these black birds that live on the resort. Arrrgh.
Today we decide to try breakfast over in Sunrise at Bugambilias. WAY better than what El Manglar had going. The dining experience seems to have taken a turn for the better starting with Brazilian place the night before. Still no smoked salmon but everything else is great...green chilaquiles, tamales, a juice bar, and firery green salsa that I made the mistake of eating. I am used to green salsa being mild but I didn't look at the sign and it was labelled "hot hot hot". I go running for the yogurt to dull the burning!
After breakfast we begin the first of our wedding tours and walk across the lobby to the wedding office. There seems to be a mixup and they think our appointment is at 4 PM but they accommodate us anyway. We get a tour of the resort by Isabel who isn't a wedding officer person per se, she said she was a tour person but nonetheless we got a nice tour via golf cart of all 3 sections of the resort. we discover along the way that the Grand section has a heated pool and file that little tidbit away for later. Maybe that's why there were so many iguanas in the Grand section, you couldn't spit w/out hitting one!
After finishing we grab a crepe even though I said we didn't have time for it (I don't know how Tim had room anyway) and grab a cab up to the hotel zone. There is TERRIBLE traffic up in the hotel zone due to traffic and we end up being about 15 -20 minutes late. We pull up to the Hyatt Zilara and it turns out the chick we're supposed to have the tour with is off today. Uh ok. So we begin our tour and I feel a little underwhelmed by what I see. The week before we came they informed us that the Royal Cancun was now the Hyatt Zilara but nothing has changed for us, just the name. Um, wrong. The royal was adults only but they had a sister property next door called Gran Caribe Real so our friends with families could stay over there or we could have the wedding at that side if we wanted. Yeah that's all not true now and even though she was able to give us a tour of both properties we had to pick one or the other for our wedding. Isabel had mentioned that Gran Caribe was one of the hotels that caters to spring breakers and you could tell it was of lesser quality than the Hyatt. I'm just not feeling it at either property and know this is not going to be the place.
We get in a taxi and ask to go to the Paradisus just down the road. I had looked at it before coming to Cancun but just didn't bother making an appointment b/c we already had the Royal/Gran Caribe on the list. We pull up and amazingly they agree to give us a tour on spot. The property is beautiful, especially the lobby and I really like what they have but there were 2 red flags for me...you had to make reservations to eat at the restaurants and there was no liquor included. Hmmm. The tour also took FOREVER b/c the first room they take us to see has a broken lock and the elevators are slow as shit so it takes forever to go back to get a new key. THEN they can't find the room and we literally walk then ENTIRE floor.
Back in the taxi and off to Moon Palace again, it's raining too but it stops by the time we get back. We stop at the palapa at the pool and realize they have a nacho bar, we're starving b/c we skipped lunch and start to chow down. We see that people are out and about in what can only be wedding clothes so we start to follow them hoping to see a wedding take place. We see it's a beach ceremony and the rain clouds are approaching FAST. They got lucky and got it in just in time. It starts to rain so we go back to the room. I remember to check my CC statement b/c when we checked in they said the full balance was due and I knew I had already paid at least something at this point. Sure enough I paid a deposit already so we go to the lobby to try to work it out. Gustavo, the front desk manager helped us, and all is set straight. Tim also mentions that we have no vodka and Gustavo says he'll call and take care of it. We stop in the lobby bar to have a drink and then go back to the room and voila...vodka bottle appears! That was FAST! To celebrate our new found vodka it was time for hot tub cocktails!
After cocktails we get showered and ready for dinner but get distracted watching Ratatouille on TV. When that's finally over we are quite hungry and walk over to Sunrise. Tonight there is some sort of mexican bazaar set up with vendors hocking all sorts of stuff from Mexican trinkets to NFL blankets (huh?). We don't buy anything and proceed to dinner. Isabel took us through Momo restaurant earlier, I had thought it was just thai food but it's full hibachi and sushi too so we decide to give the sushi another chance. Momo was like night and day compared to the palapa from the first night. I'm so glad we ate here. The first bring you a little appetizer sample of egg rolls and sushi rolls and then we proceeded to drink sake (the good kind) and then order pretty much every item on the sushi menu. Did not disappoint in the least, Moon Palace sushi redeemed!
Day 4
Another night of bad sleep, worse than the night before at least for me. it's our last full day and like the last 2 mornings we're off to Bugambilias again for breakfast and then we walk past the Flowrider. We haven't tried it and Tim wants to check it out as it's early still and the line is short. As with all first timers he falls but gets up and tries again and proceeds to get better and better with each run. In the meantime I chicken out especially after a girl in line tells me that you gotta wear a shirt and shorts lest you have a wardrobe malfunction. I have a drink or two and I guess the liquid courage changed my mind and I sign up. I fell pretty much immediately on the first try. I get back in line undeterred and try again. Like with the first time, the attendant holds my hand as I push off and voila! I'm standing! It's short lived but hey I did it! I get back in line again and tell Tim to get the camera. I try it w/out the attendant's help and fall instantly; of course that's what Tim gets on film!
I get back in line and try again though, with help again and do my best run yet! However when I finally fell the board hit my foot and instantly have a huge black and blue mark and I think I am done. I go to the bar while Tim keeps going and chat up the girl who told me I needed a shirt. Her name is Alexandra and she is there with her mom and dad and they are from LA. Tim goes again but I don't get it on film even though it was he's really got it down at this point. I tell him to go again even though he seems a tad hesitant and get some good film off of him.
That's his last run for the day and we go back to talk to Alexandra and her dad. They are members and we chat about what they like at MP versus other resorts and if they like being members or not. They give us the tip of trying out Los Corporales for dinner and then we part ways. Tim then reveals that he feels like he hit his head really hard and has a concussion. That was right before I pushed him to get back on again so I could film it. Oops. We are both injured at this point and decide that's enough Flowrider for us today.
We hit the Nizuc pool. It's a little cooler today but the Nizuc water seems to be a tad warmer. Later in the afternoon we see what can only be a wedding so we follow them and watch their wedding go down in the gazebo that was our favorite from our tour. Back to the pool then and many drinks later and Tim yanks me into the pool thereby incurring my wrath.
Back to the room and Tim hits the hot tub while I abstain b/c I realize it was making me too tired the last few nights. I try to nap and then it's time to get ready for dinner. Dinner is at Los Corporales tonight the Mexican place in Nizuc. Wow awsome food! We start with queso fundido and ceviche and then I have a chile relleno while Tim has this interesting stack of meat! No room for dessert tonight so I guess we are not going to get to try out the tableside flaming coffee we keep seeing.
Day 5
Well it's time to leave but not before one more breakfast! Off to El Manglar again and yeah it's just not as good as Bugambilias. Oh well. We check out and grab out car back to the airport. Cancun airport is great. I think we checked in and go thru security in 15 minutes. For some reason the machine won't spit out my connecting flight boarding pass even though Tim gets his. The gate agent can't help me b/c it's a codeshare flight on United. Even though I tell her Tim gets his she still can't help me. Ok fine. Get on the plane and it's like night and day compared to the one we took from Charlotte down to Cancun. We don't realize until about 45 minutes in though that there are free movies so we start watching A Good Day to Die Hard only to miss the last 10 minutes just like Red 2. Maybe I have some sort of jinx with Bruce Willis movies I watch on planes? In Charlotte we plod through the immigration line, it's always WAY slower in the overly paranoid US. We get through and I realize we have time to make the earlier flight to DC so we try to switch our tickets. We go to the gate and the remind us we are on a United flight back even though we booked through US Air, but he suggest we talk to US Air customer service so we head there. The rep, who is super nice, says we have to go to United to change it, but by the time we could do that and go back to this terminal it'll be too late. Oh well.
We wander about looking for dinner options and settle on the Stock Car Cafe. Hey we're in Charlotte after all, the home of NASCAR. I find it funny that it's chock full of NASCAR memorabilia but can't use the word NASCAR anywhere. The waitress is super nice to the point that when we get our food she brings it out on four plates b/c we mentioned we were gonna split everything. So far everyone we've encountered here is REALLY nice, thereby driving home the fact that we should look harder into Charlotte as a future place to live. This is just the airport, no one is nice at an airport ever, so I bet the people outside are just the same or better!
Back to our gate where i receive a call that our flight is delayed. ARRRGGH!! We already had an almost 4 hour layover so this does not make me happy. We both settle down on some benches to nap/read when I get another call saying it's delayed again. AHHHHHH! We're not going to get back home until 11:30 at this point. Our original plan had us home by 10 PM but that's blown. Guess I'm going in a tad late to work tomorrow. When we finally take off I feel miserably tired but at least there is no one in the seat next to me so I can lie down. We get back and get our shuttle back to the car, it's in the 50s tonight so feels downright tropical compared to the morning we left! 11:30-ish and we are finally walking in the door and it's time for bed!
A few days later and we decide Moon Palace is gonna be the place. We're in the middle of trying to set it all up, cross your fingers!
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