Casa Mexicana trip report
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I have become used to the shop guys. Sometimes I am on the offensive and say something to them first or just a no gracias goes a long way. I have a bad hip and have been walking with a limp. There is a heavy set guy that is always somewhere between Senior Frogs and Casa Mexicana and I bet he has asked me to buy pain pills from him 50 times. Cozumel in nothing compared to 5th in Playa. Walk down 5th as a single guy and count how many offers you get for massages, drugs, pharmacy, Cubans, my sister...my brother.
Easiest way to avoid it is to walk along the seawall or on the inner streets.
Easiest way to avoid it is to walk along the seawall or on the inner streets.
But seriously folks...The Tequila Store has more flavors than Baskin Robins...
Jay
Jay
Well,amen,brother...
deepsea21
Contributor
We've been staying at the Casa Mexicana for 15 or 16 years now and just returned X-mas eve from another 2-week stay. Since we found the Casa we've never cared to look elsewhere. Yes, the cable TV has changed/cheapened (can't understand why all the gringo feeds were eliminated years ago). Yes, the escalator seems to be undergoing repairs about as often as it is operating but the inner workings have probably taken a beating over the years (especially when the lower entry and overhead was totally opened to the elements with no doors, no glass, no nothing in the early years that were added later after multiple floods of the equipment from heavy rains & storms. Then again, finding an escalator in Coz is about as rare as finding a frog fish so there is no OTIS service center on call.
On positive notes, I would "almost" be willing to eat off the floor anywhere in the hotel as the cleaning never ends... The place is absolutely immaculate. Also, management installed a heater for the little dip pool last year so during the winter months the pool now approaches bathtub temperature (when it hasn't been raining) while virtually every other pool on the island is ice cold. I personally prefer the tiny 90 degree dip pool than a frigid 70 degree acre+ pool with a swim-up bar in December. For some reason we have NEVER experienced an opening of the breakfast buffet later than about 7:05AM and this past trip we were often eating a bit before 7AM when Santa (master maker of everything on the grill) said it was ready. Of note, if you are not diving and are eating later the breakfast buffet can become a zoo of people during peak season from about 9AM on but the staff is very fast at clearing tables and the hostess usually get's people seated when it gets really crazy and they go on a wait in about 10 minutes.
With regard to room selections... The Casa has become far better known over the years as have its best delux ocean and city room #'s. Booking through an online website won't guarantee a specific room and calling ahead after booking through a re-seller in my experience resulted in a response that the hotel assigns rooms on an "as available" basis or something. These days I book my stays via dive and stay packages through Tres Pelicanos as Jeanie at 3P's knows all the best city view and delux ocean view rooms and their clout with the Casa virtually guarantees I get the room I requested or another that is very similar and offers comparable balcony views. 3P's in my experience also has matched the best room rates I could find shopping and shopping and shopping for a better deal on numerous hotel websites. In fact, one trip I was convinced I could do better waiting for a sale and as our departure date approached one day the Casa's rates skyrocketed everywhere. I emailed Jeanie at 3P's and asked if her quoted rate was still good (had to eat some crow) and she assured me it was and we added the accommodations to our booked dives immediately. Lesson learned. Of note, sometimes you will have to settle for twin queens/doubles? instead of a single king if you want to stick with the rooms with the best views though so you can't always have your cake and eat it too... I guess people with kids deserve a room with a nice view as well but I can't understand why as kids these days could less where they are as long as they have WIFI. Which brings me to the WIFI issue this past trip... WIFI reception was great but the server was constantly overloaded rendering it virtually useless most of the time. This was new this year as in the past the server speed was absolutely excellent. This year it absolutely sucked. I mean, I'm not trying to stream video.. Just trying to update windguru and that was tough most of the time this trip.
On positive notes, I would "almost" be willing to eat off the floor anywhere in the hotel as the cleaning never ends... The place is absolutely immaculate. Also, management installed a heater for the little dip pool last year so during the winter months the pool now approaches bathtub temperature (when it hasn't been raining) while virtually every other pool on the island is ice cold. I personally prefer the tiny 90 degree dip pool than a frigid 70 degree acre+ pool with a swim-up bar in December. For some reason we have NEVER experienced an opening of the breakfast buffet later than about 7:05AM and this past trip we were often eating a bit before 7AM when Santa (master maker of everything on the grill) said it was ready. Of note, if you are not diving and are eating later the breakfast buffet can become a zoo of people during peak season from about 9AM on but the staff is very fast at clearing tables and the hostess usually get's people seated when it gets really crazy and they go on a wait in about 10 minutes.
With regard to room selections... The Casa has become far better known over the years as have its best delux ocean and city room #'s. Booking through an online website won't guarantee a specific room and calling ahead after booking through a re-seller in my experience resulted in a response that the hotel assigns rooms on an "as available" basis or something. These days I book my stays via dive and stay packages through Tres Pelicanos as Jeanie at 3P's knows all the best city view and delux ocean view rooms and their clout with the Casa virtually guarantees I get the room I requested or another that is very similar and offers comparable balcony views. 3P's in my experience also has matched the best room rates I could find shopping and shopping and shopping for a better deal on numerous hotel websites. In fact, one trip I was convinced I could do better waiting for a sale and as our departure date approached one day the Casa's rates skyrocketed everywhere. I emailed Jeanie at 3P's and asked if her quoted rate was still good (had to eat some crow) and she assured me it was and we added the accommodations to our booked dives immediately. Lesson learned. Of note, sometimes you will have to settle for twin queens/doubles? instead of a single king if you want to stick with the rooms with the best views though so you can't always have your cake and eat it too... I guess people with kids deserve a room with a nice view as well but I can't understand why as kids these days could less where they are as long as they have WIFI. Which brings me to the WIFI issue this past trip... WIFI reception was great but the server was constantly overloaded rendering it virtually useless most of the time. This was new this year as in the past the server speed was absolutely excellent. This year it absolutely sucked. I mean, I'm not trying to stream video.. Just trying to update windguru and that was tough most of the time this trip.
Totally agree about the poor WIFI this December...
deepsea21
Contributor
I tried that once upon arrival when the hotel was virtually empty one year and I had booked a city view room through a hotel website... I was looking to upgrade to a delux OV room for our stay but my cash offer was refused and the clerk instead said he had a room he'd think i'd like and showed us the best city view room they have (many know that room # these days... it is 51_). Can anyone here fill in the last #? I tried to book that room this year far in advance through 3P's but it was already booked. Already booked like 6 months in advance? How could that be? Well, we ran into the guest staying in that room during our stay and he was a relative of one of the Casa staff members. Membership has its privileges!
WetInPortland
Contributor
A couple of thoughts on CM:
Regardless of whether or not the breakfast starts promptly at 7am, the preparations start much earlier. So if you have a room with a door facing the atrium, even if you're diving with someone like Eco that doesn't leave until 8:45, you'll be waking up no later than 6am to the clack-clack-clack of the service carts rolling across the tile floor (or plan on using earplugs if you want to sleep in).
There may be multiple problems with WiFi, but one is simply the building design. Concrete significantly attenuates signals in the WiFi bands. Our experience is that sometimes we have to be close to the door in order to get a good signal. It depends on what room you have - you can see the access points in the hallways - if your door is in front of an AP, you'll probably have a strong signal. If the closest AP is a couple of doors away, you'll likely have problems.
Some of the problems with touts can be avoided by turning left out the CM front door, taking the first left on Calle 7, going east to Ave 5, and turning left again - heading north towards the town square. There are far, far fewer touts on Ave 5 than on Melgar until you get to the pedestrian mall. While there are touts on the pedestrian mall, things aren't as bad as Melgar in my opinion. The distance is only slightly longer, depending on where you're headed, and avoiding the invitation to try the peanut butter flavored tequila is priceless (it makes me cringe just to type this sentence!)
For us, these are just "setting expectations" things. We like CM - the location, the breakfast, and the staff, and suggest it to folks looking to stay in Centro.
Regardless of whether or not the breakfast starts promptly at 7am, the preparations start much earlier. So if you have a room with a door facing the atrium, even if you're diving with someone like Eco that doesn't leave until 8:45, you'll be waking up no later than 6am to the clack-clack-clack of the service carts rolling across the tile floor (or plan on using earplugs if you want to sleep in).
There may be multiple problems with WiFi, but one is simply the building design. Concrete significantly attenuates signals in the WiFi bands. Our experience is that sometimes we have to be close to the door in order to get a good signal. It depends on what room you have - you can see the access points in the hallways - if your door is in front of an AP, you'll probably have a strong signal. If the closest AP is a couple of doors away, you'll likely have problems.
Some of the problems with touts can be avoided by turning left out the CM front door, taking the first left on Calle 7, going east to Ave 5, and turning left again - heading north towards the town square. There are far, far fewer touts on Ave 5 than on Melgar until you get to the pedestrian mall. While there are touts on the pedestrian mall, things aren't as bad as Melgar in my opinion. The distance is only slightly longer, depending on where you're headed, and avoiding the invitation to try the peanut butter flavored tequila is priceless (it makes me cringe just to type this sentence!)
For us, these are just "setting expectations" things. We like CM - the location, the breakfast, and the staff, and suggest it to folks looking to stay in Centro.
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