Hello,
Just wanted to do a quick trip report for my trip to Cancun. We went to Cancun in the height of Spring Breaker season 3/12/09 -> 3/18.
First the airport: It's been 3 years since I've been to Cancun. The airport has grown some since I left. It took about an hour to clear immigration, and about 5 minutes to get through customs. It was a little hectic when 2-3 new flights arrived at once, but an hour isn't too bad, not for Spring breaker season.
The hotel: We stayed at Crown Paradise Club. We've stayed in a Crown Paradise hotel once before in Puerto Vallarta. This is a MUCH NICER RESORT. Better food, nicer staff, better rooms, nicer pools. The beds as usual in Mexico, are a little stiff for my tastes, but that's par for the course. I would give the resort 3.5 stars. They would have had 4 stars, except two issues:
1) there was construction at the pool area all week, as they are re-paving the walkways. Jack hammer noises, and the sound of breaking concrete got old by the end of the week.
2) we were harrassed in our hotel by the internal time share staff. She spent about 10 minutes walking with us (chasing) through the lobby offering all kinds of goodies in exchange for a short presentation at one of the resteraunts. This is always a big deal for me. At the airport, I expect it. At my hotel, I want to relax.
The hotel resteraunts were great...we ate the buffet for breakfast every day, then for dinner we tried...
Los Gallos - Mexican food - excellent
Fishermans - Seafood - very good
Waynes boots - Steakhouse - very good (this one books early, you'll need to make reservations 2 days in advance)
La Piazza - Italian - very good
They are work from reservations (except Buffet) and most book a day in advance, Waynes boots was 2-3 days in advance.
They have a nice little sushi bar, with walk up service near the pool. It's open Noon - 5p, and is very popular. Sometimes the line was long, don't go at Noon - try around 3-4p for shorter lines. The sushi is made by a single sushi chef when ordered. So if someone orders 4-5 rolls for their family it may be a few minutes in line.
The bars - I don't drink - however my wife reports that all drinks were very strong, and tasty. My daughter had more virgin pina coladas than any 10 year old should. There are 2 outdoor bars by the main pools, one by the adults only pool, one in the lobby, and of course, you can get drinks with your dinner.
The beach was rough most of our trip, but if the winds die down, it can be very pleasant. Of our 6 day stay, only 2 days were pleasant to be on the beach. The rest were rough. However, the pools are always great.
The dive shop:
OK - this trip was not primarily for diving. This was a family spring break. My wife and I dive. My 10 year old daughter tried her first dive on this trip. She took a discovery course. Needless to say I was very apprehensive about who was taking out my 10 year old daughter diving.
DO NOT USE THE SHOP WITH THE HOTEL. Aquaworld is the resident shop at many hotels in Cancun. They are a oversized shop that offers everything from snorkeling/diving to parasailing, jet ski rentals, and kayaking. I dove with them 3 years ago...never again. This trip, we used "Mayan Aqua Divers" Ben Mooney is the owner/operator. He is located out of a hotel on the north end of the hotel zone. For the price of your diving, Ben will arrange for a van to carriage you to-from the dive shop and any Cancun Hotel. His driver is professional, and ON TIME. My daughter took the resort course with Ben, while my wife and I watched. He did very well with her. In the water my daughter was paired directly with the DM (Jorge) while Ben lead the rest of the group. My daughter had trouble equalizing on the first dive and was very slow to make it down. After talking to the DM (Jorge) at the surface, she found that she could equalize much easier by swallowing and clicking her jaw than by holding her nose. The 2nd dive was much smoother, and she decended much smoother. During both dives Jorge was always at her side, check ing if she was ok, making her safe and comfortable. I really can't say enough about the level of attention she got from him.
The dives were nice, we dove Manchones off the coast of isla mujeres. They were nice easy 30 foot dives, which was very good for my daughter. The reefs were very nice. The primary reason for the dives (in my my mind) wasn't to see the most spectacular reefs (though they were nice) but to give my daughter a good introductory experience into diving. Mission accomplished, she loved it. I think she might end up getting the diving bug.
All in all it was a wonderful trip...I'll post some links to pictures shortly.
Ben/Jorge, if you read this, thanks for a great day diving. See you next time we are in town.
Ray
