Home : Puerto Aventuras : Adventura Palace Part 5
| Site Main Page | Trip Report Main Page | Add a Trip Report | Search |
Pool Activities
The recreation staff organizes games in and around the pool from about 10 AM to past 5 PM. Some of the activities include- volleyball games, ping-pong, water aerobics, painting, stretching exercises, water basketball, and Spanish lessons. There are organized volleyball activities at least twice a day.
The Beach / Lagoon
I in no way will try to change your mind about being at a real beach vs the lagoon, but read about it and see if some of this may appeal to you. If you are looking for a long sandy beach where you can take long walks and look for sea shells, this is not the place for you. If you are looking for a great place to relax in the sun, and not be bothered by anyone, this is your resort. The resort has no real beach, and by the law in Mexico they do not have to (and did not) let the locals use the beach, to play or sell you things. One of the biggest complaints of people transferring from the Moon Palace to the Aventura was the fact that locals constantly approached you trying to sell you things. The other big complaints were no shade areas or waitress service, both of which were at the Aventura Palace.
The sand was brought in after the lagoon was dug out of the coral rock. There are always plenty of both the reclining lounge chairs and the hard plastic body curved chairs used for setting in the water. There are lots of the tropical thatched shaped shade areas, both on the main beach and in the 2 secluded coves. The coves are around the mini lagoon areas and are like small islands with only room or 3 or 4 couples each, great for honeymooners.
The lagoon is actually made up of 3 areas. The Three Lagoon Areas are the large central area, with a smaller 3/4 circle lagoon on each side. See the aerial color picture on my photo page. Facing the water the small lagoon on the right is shallow, and the one on the left is much deeper (quickly drops to 8 to 12 feet)for snorkeling. The main lagoon is shallow out to 50 or so feet with some pockets of depth to 10 or 12 feet. There are large rocks and shallow spots throughout for those snorkeling to stop and rest. There are lots of tropical fish to look at, in certain areas, just watch where the other are snorkeling.
Beyond the lagoon is a dead coral reef, which keeps the rough sea out. The lagoon has 2 inlets, one at each end that keep the water flowing and fresh, no smell. The resort has sea kayaks and 2 person paddle boats for the guest to use. Although there were 4 paddle boats, only 1 was working while we were there. Their web site also listed sailing, but there were no sail boats available.
The lagoon allowed my wife to sit in the water and enjoy the sun without the waves crashing down on her, and I never spilled one of my drinks. We were not totally sold on the lagoon idea before going because we live 30 miles from the Gulf, but after the 1st day, we loved it. From the 5 to 10 couples we met which transferred from the Moon Palace to the Aventura, all told us they wished they had booked the Aventura in the 1st place.
The full bar service on the beach or the lagoon waters edge was great, our favorite waitress was Lenny.
Topless & Thongs
Here is a topic I will refer to my wife, I had told her about the controversy on the net about it's not legal to go topless in Mexico and it offends the locals. Can you go topless only at the beach or can you do it at the pool. Well, this is what she said to tell you about the Aventura. About 25 to 30 percent of the ladies on the beach go topless at one time during the day. About 70 percent of the ladies going topless wore thongs. Topless and thongs are ok at the pool, although there was less than at the beach area.
Tips vs No Tips - All Inclusive
As you have probably deduced by now this is not our first visit to an all inclusive resort. The decision to tip or not to tip should be yours and made on how much you appreciated the service provided. I will tell you that in almost all cases that the service would have been the same the week we were there regardless of tipping or not. I saw no difference in the service or amount of alcohol in drinks from those who tipped and those who did not.
This is what we did, and you can use it as a guide if you wish. We took $50 US in 1 dollar bills to tip at the airport, transportation to and from the resort, and resort staff, for our 7 day stay. I would usually tip $1 for the waiter at breakfast and lunch. Another dollar of the beach bar waitress in the morning and usually the afternoons, and 2 dollars for great dinner service. I would also occasionally tip one of the bartenders if I planned to get more than one drink in the evenings. As I said for good and great service. My wife noticed that the waiters in restaurants seemed to remember us and the beach waitress never passed us by without bringing a fresh drink, now is that worth a few $$ a day, for a memorable vacation. Your tip is not expected, but greatly appreciated by the staff.
Tours
The tours have changed from some of the information we had received on several of the Aventura web pages. It may differ depending on who you purchased your vacation from. Our package stated that if you stay 6 or more nights and you still get 2 free tours, but there are only 3 to choose from when we were there. The three are Tulum, Chichen Itza, and the Eco water park XPU-Ha, which the Palace resorts own. We visited Tulum previously on a cruise and it was too long of a day and to hot and humid to do Chichen Itza. Especially knowing it was a 3 hour bus ride each way, well do this one next time during the cooler months of the year. We were interested in going to Coba even though we would have had to pay, but it was only on Thursdays. We decided to go into Playa del Carmen & Puerto Aventura instead of going to the Eco park.
Submitted by: Bonnie & Dave Green -- dgreen@tisd.net
Hits: 0
Pages Updated On: Fri Jan 09 2009 - 00:00:08
