Home : Puerto Aventuras : Adventura Palace Part 2
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Transportation to the Hotel
Our package included transpiration to the hotel in the Playa del Carmen area. Our ticket information said to look for a person from Lomas travel wearing turquoise and white uniforms. Exiting the airport there were several people wearing the Lomas uniform, which included white slacks or skirt, turquoise shirt with a white tie. I said Aventura Palace and they took my wife and I to a central Lomas agent who said sir you are on bus 50 and this agent will take you right to it. At van 50 we checked in with the driver, waited for two other couples who were in the Playa area and we were off. Total time from exiting the airplane and to the 1st Lomas agent was almost 1 hour exactly. We were at our hotel 1 hour later, the Aventura Palace is about 50 miles south of Cancun. Do not be offended by a sign that may say, Tips appreciated, many tourist do not know if it's ok to tip or not, they are just letting you know it's ok. I will cover the topic, to tip or not later.
The Aventura Palace
Arrival and Check In
Exiting of the main highway from Cancun thru Playa Del Carmen to Tulum, we entered the resort. Like most of the upscale resorts there is one or two people at the gate to ensure only guest enter the area. Since the Aventura has a man made beach it is not subject to the Mexican Law that makes all beaches accessible to the general public. Up the long entrance to a beautiful structure on the top of a rise. A super bell boy helped unload our bags, Guillermo who was very friendly and helpful would later be our main contact with the front lobby. He also spoke very good English, especially if you attempted to speak some Spanish to him. Hola, Buenos dias, (Hello, Good Morning ) goes a long way in making a good first impression on any of the staff, well most.
We had only two complaints about the resort the entire eight days and seven nights we stayed there. The biggest was the most unfriendly check in staff we have encountered in traveling around the world 2 times. I have traveled extensively in my work, I have visited over 45 countries and lived overseas for over 8 years and in 4 different countries for more than a year. This was the most unfriendly check in staff I have ever encountered. Upon walking up to the desk I said Hola, Buenos dias, we are the ----'s and are here to stay for a wonderful week. The desk agent said your assigned room is not ready, but gave us our id tags, towel cards and a lock for the room safe and told us how much it would cost if we lost any or all. They said our room was not ready and will not be before 3 PM "as advertised". Please enjoy the resort, and check in at 3 PM. I ask which area our room was located, and the desk staff told me that he could not tell me that it was, "a secret". I ask why he could not tell me, and he said NO! I ask if they had gotten the information from my travel agent and my fax, and he said "NO understand", I ask to see the manager and he could no longer speak English, and said "NO understand" senior.. His English got worse as I ask questions.. I later found out, when occasionally passing the front desk this was a standard practice, of the front desk.. "After check in, our bell boy, came up and ask if he could help, I told him what happened and he said it often took until 3 PM to clean rooms from outgoing guest, and recommended we go visit our tour Lomas representative and then come back and see him. We visited the Lomas rep who explained what his duties were and to check back with him 24 hours before departure to make sure we had our updated return flight time and ride to the airport.
Checking back with the bell boy, he showed us around the resort, and gave us a key to a hospitality room where we change to our swim suits to enjoy the pool and beach area. We went to the pool area, got our towels with the towel cards and laid by the pool until lunch. We had our first meal at the pool covered food area. They served a variety of foods and snacks which I will cover under the topic food & restaurants.
We saw the bell boy after lunch and he sent us to hotel services to see about our free tours. It is now 1:30 PM and he suggested that we try the front desk to see if our room was ready. The desk agent said the famous words we had heard before "NO - It will be 3 PM before you can check in!" We decided to take a full stroll of the resort.
The Resort Layout
I hopefully have been able to scan a diagram of the resorts main feature areas and another of the entire layout, if you can not get them email me and I will email you a copy. Check for the maps on the free yahoo photo page--- http://photos.yahoo.com/ddgreenn
Entering the lobby from the main entrance the check in desk is straight ahead, upon check in, you will be offered a glass of white wine from the bell captain. The lobby has a center area to sit and relax.
Turn right from the desk and exit the lobby and the game area "Q Bar" is to your right. There is a fooseball table and several pool tables ( they were replacing the felt on them the day we left), other games were also available. The area has a bar which is open around noon to 1:00 AM in the morning. There is always juice and fruit here and snacks much of the day.
Straight ahead a right and left off the map are the 3 or 4 hospitality rooms.
To the left across the game room is the large open air area "EL Patio" sunny and hot during the day, this a favorite hang our in the evenings and into the night. Filled with tables and chairs, often having live music in the evenings. Sit and relax after dinner and before and after the show. There are two waitresses who will come around often and fill your drink request.
Out of the lobby area if you make a left you will see the main lobby bar. This bar has a lounge area with several tables and chairs and a seating area at the bar. This bar is open from 10 in the morning until 1 PM at night. When the "EL Patio" does not have live music, the lobby bar often has a singer/entertainer.
Just down the hall from the El Portico Bar is the agency office where we met our Lomas representative, several travel agencies area reps share this office, just beyond that is the resorts medical office and facility.
Directly across the "EL Patio" from the lobby bar is the El Portico bar, which also supports the bar duties of the Ventanas restaurant. This bar has a small cozy lounge area and is open from 6 PM until 11 PM.
Immediately past the El Portico bar is the entrance to the Ventanas restaurant.
The last area in the large patio area is, on the back side, the La Hacienda Mexican restaurant and the only air conditioned restaurant on the complex.
The second floor entrance is located just left of the La Hacienda restaurant, the large stairway is a nice area to have your picture taken. The second floor host a great view of the El Patio and has several public areas of interest. The gym, spa, beauty parlor, two convention rooms, and show room are in this area. The show room is both the nightly show theater and afterwards acts as the disco area, I will talk about these rooms in separate sections of my report.
Out of the patio between the two restaurants and you are in full view of the huge grounds. The main sight is the enormous pool and the lagoon beyond.
Submitted by: Bonnie & Dave Green -- dgreen@tisd.net
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Pages Updated On: Wed Jan 07 2009 - 00:00:07
