ehuber
Contributor
We just got back Sunday from an 8-day trip to Playa and Isla Mujeres and I thought I'd put down my experiences for reference.
We arrived at Cancun Int'l early-afternoon on Sat Feb 7th and took the shuttle over to the Playa del Carmen bus. Don't let the information desk people tell you it leaves every 15min... that's the Cancun bus that goes downtown.
The PDC bus leaves every hour and costs roughly $9 each, it's very clean, there are no chickens and goats in the back, and they load your luggage underneath. Very economical, convenient, and easy. And no stops that I recall.
We arrived in PDC and found our way quickly to our hotel, restaurants, authentic Mayan dancers, and didn't have to take a cab anywhere. The service was great in every restaurant we went to and the nightlife seemed intimate but energetic. I'd have loved to have stayed the whole week here, Akumal, Tulum, Xpu Ha, etc...
Our dive shop was cross the street from our hotel and only 2 short blocks to the ocean. Our room at Kinbe Hotel did not have a lock on it and they misrepresented their "airport shuttle" amenity... which cost a considerable sum per person. Orbitz acknowledged the problem, but said the issue was with interpretation of amenity vs service. When we switched rooms, they failed to restock the mini-bar, then later tried to charge us for all the booze. Unfortunately, our second room was located right next to the maintenance room and main office which wound up being not good.
Playa Dive was a good operator, but a bit impersonal for small groups. We visited Tortugas and Barracuda dive sites, but saw a little less life and color than I expected. There were many amazing things to see, regardless, and I simply love to dive so it was fun. These were my first drift dives... so I was enjoying the challenge of the transition, buoyancy control adjustments, and diving with a larger group.
I brought my dive gear and definitely regretted it. Bad move considering the rental gear was decent and the horrible effort of carting it around all over the Yucatan Peninsula without reliable transportation. Won't make that mistake again unless I'm doing something technical or have a more convenient form of transportation to work with. I learned my lesson the hard way, but it could have been worse.
On 2/9/09 we attended a free Mayan Group breakfast at the Mayan Palace for $100 cash and free transportation to Puerta Juarez ferry in Cancun and ended up in Isla Mujeres much later than we'd hoped. The food was good but the sales pitch was too long and redundant. The place was worth the trip IMO and I really wanted a timeshare. It looks like a wonderful place to stay and the sales pitch is good.
Isla Mujeres was a beautiful island, too. Stunning in some places. We stayed at the Villa Kiin, across the bridge from the Avalon, and enjoyed the place immensely despite the sand fleas and the cold, weak showers. It was quaint, right off a nude beach, and was very quiet except for the nightly cat fights outside our room. I liked the people that stayed there and the staff was cool, helpful, and friendly.
Most of the restaurants do not suffer from the excellent service problem like PDC, particularly Jax Grill. I've never had worse service consistently than this place, unfortunately, I had parents who swear by the place and love the food. Although the food was good, expect to wait an hour before you get food and perhaps as much as 30min between server visits. The quaint-ness of Isla, its incredible Norte Beach, its remoteness, and the easy diving make it worth the experience... but its in spite of the restaurant service on Isla Mujeres.
Rent a golf cart if you go to Isla, its definitely worth it for the 500-600 pesos it costs for 24hrs. And if you're going to dive you'll REALLY want a cart if you bring your own gear. I'd skip Garrofon... the 500 peso beach is nice, but its rocky and its WAY down in the S tip of Isla and not terribly accessible. We didn't visit the all-inclusive park, but hear its great.
We went to Chichen Itza on a tour that promised an optional breakfast and lunch and left the Isla ferry well before (6am) any restaurants opened. It was a tough break and costly mistake.
We didn't eat until almost 4pm and there was no food anywhere... meaning a good 50-75% of the bus didn't eat anything, all day, until almost dinner time. The tour was very hot, too focused on shopping and trinkets, and the guide wouldn't let us sleep. An unpleasant stomach reaction followed the "lunch" by about 6 hours and struck violently.
About all I can say now is... I went to Chichen Itza, but I'll probably never go back. Pictures were cool, I guess, but seeing the temples for a short two hours not worth the 180min drive each way, with stops. Some of the tour guide info was cool, but mostly it was a brutally long day.
I dove with Mundaca Divers instead of Sea Hawk. Mundaca was pretty good and took us to The Cross and The Atlantis wreck. Both were relatively hard work in the current and wiped me out after the 2nd dive. We saw a distant ray and some cool marine life, but nothing fantastic. Getting in the water again was fun, the cross was cool, but the wreck was sadly anti-climactic. A less choppy boat ride made for a much more enjoyable morning and I learned my lesson on overdoing the water during the surface interval.
I do regret not doing a cenote dive, but my timing was poor and I missed two chances... one of those was doing Chichen Itza.
I'd definitely return to Playa del Carmen, would definitely dive Cozumel and Tulum... but have seen my fill of Isla Mujeres. I'm glad I stayed there, enjoyed most of the trip, and had a lovely time with my sweetgirl.
We arrived at Cancun Int'l early-afternoon on Sat Feb 7th and took the shuttle over to the Playa del Carmen bus. Don't let the information desk people tell you it leaves every 15min... that's the Cancun bus that goes downtown.
The PDC bus leaves every hour and costs roughly $9 each, it's very clean, there are no chickens and goats in the back, and they load your luggage underneath. Very economical, convenient, and easy. And no stops that I recall.
We arrived in PDC and found our way quickly to our hotel, restaurants, authentic Mayan dancers, and didn't have to take a cab anywhere. The service was great in every restaurant we went to and the nightlife seemed intimate but energetic. I'd have loved to have stayed the whole week here, Akumal, Tulum, Xpu Ha, etc...
Our dive shop was cross the street from our hotel and only 2 short blocks to the ocean. Our room at Kinbe Hotel did not have a lock on it and they misrepresented their "airport shuttle" amenity... which cost a considerable sum per person. Orbitz acknowledged the problem, but said the issue was with interpretation of amenity vs service. When we switched rooms, they failed to restock the mini-bar, then later tried to charge us for all the booze. Unfortunately, our second room was located right next to the maintenance room and main office which wound up being not good.
Playa Dive was a good operator, but a bit impersonal for small groups. We visited Tortugas and Barracuda dive sites, but saw a little less life and color than I expected. There were many amazing things to see, regardless, and I simply love to dive so it was fun. These were my first drift dives... so I was enjoying the challenge of the transition, buoyancy control adjustments, and diving with a larger group.
I brought my dive gear and definitely regretted it. Bad move considering the rental gear was decent and the horrible effort of carting it around all over the Yucatan Peninsula without reliable transportation. Won't make that mistake again unless I'm doing something technical or have a more convenient form of transportation to work with. I learned my lesson the hard way, but it could have been worse.
On 2/9/09 we attended a free Mayan Group breakfast at the Mayan Palace for $100 cash and free transportation to Puerta Juarez ferry in Cancun and ended up in Isla Mujeres much later than we'd hoped. The food was good but the sales pitch was too long and redundant. The place was worth the trip IMO and I really wanted a timeshare. It looks like a wonderful place to stay and the sales pitch is good.
Isla Mujeres was a beautiful island, too. Stunning in some places. We stayed at the Villa Kiin, across the bridge from the Avalon, and enjoyed the place immensely despite the sand fleas and the cold, weak showers. It was quaint, right off a nude beach, and was very quiet except for the nightly cat fights outside our room. I liked the people that stayed there and the staff was cool, helpful, and friendly.
Most of the restaurants do not suffer from the excellent service problem like PDC, particularly Jax Grill. I've never had worse service consistently than this place, unfortunately, I had parents who swear by the place and love the food. Although the food was good, expect to wait an hour before you get food and perhaps as much as 30min between server visits. The quaint-ness of Isla, its incredible Norte Beach, its remoteness, and the easy diving make it worth the experience... but its in spite of the restaurant service on Isla Mujeres.
Rent a golf cart if you go to Isla, its definitely worth it for the 500-600 pesos it costs for 24hrs. And if you're going to dive you'll REALLY want a cart if you bring your own gear. I'd skip Garrofon... the 500 peso beach is nice, but its rocky and its WAY down in the S tip of Isla and not terribly accessible. We didn't visit the all-inclusive park, but hear its great.
We went to Chichen Itza on a tour that promised an optional breakfast and lunch and left the Isla ferry well before (6am) any restaurants opened. It was a tough break and costly mistake.
We didn't eat until almost 4pm and there was no food anywhere... meaning a good 50-75% of the bus didn't eat anything, all day, until almost dinner time. The tour was very hot, too focused on shopping and trinkets, and the guide wouldn't let us sleep. An unpleasant stomach reaction followed the "lunch" by about 6 hours and struck violently.
About all I can say now is... I went to Chichen Itza, but I'll probably never go back. Pictures were cool, I guess, but seeing the temples for a short two hours not worth the 180min drive each way, with stops. Some of the tour guide info was cool, but mostly it was a brutally long day.
I dove with Mundaca Divers instead of Sea Hawk. Mundaca was pretty good and took us to The Cross and The Atlantis wreck. Both were relatively hard work in the current and wiped me out after the 2nd dive. We saw a distant ray and some cool marine life, but nothing fantastic. Getting in the water again was fun, the cross was cool, but the wreck was sadly anti-climactic. A less choppy boat ride made for a much more enjoyable morning and I learned my lesson on overdoing the water during the surface interval.
I do regret not doing a cenote dive, but my timing was poor and I missed two chances... one of those was doing Chichen Itza.
I'd definitely return to Playa del Carmen, would definitely dive Cozumel and Tulum... but have seen my fill of Isla Mujeres. I'm glad I stayed there, enjoyed most of the trip, and had a lovely time with my sweetgirl.
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