del Mar Trip Review- July 30-Aug 5, 2005

[C26817]

We just got back from our stay at del Mar. Here is my review:

Check-in: Very smooth, but I was puzzled about why the waitress brought the people next to us drinks (they hadn't ordered them, it was a "Welcome" drink) but never offered us any.  They put us in a great room, 1346.  We didn't have a view to speak of, but it was quiet, close to the pools and about a 10-minute walk from the main restaurants or beach.  In my opinion, a great location.  Especially if your kids will be using Lucy's Kids Club.

Rooms:  Clean and nicely decorated.  There were some badly chipped tiles on the floor which caused a little concern, but turned out OK.  Our maid(s) were beyond fabulous.  A small daily tip yielded extra towels and elaborate towel animals.

BUT, our bathroom had tons of ants everywhere.  They sprayed, but we still had them.  That was really hard to deal with because they would get into our stuff.

POOL:  Great place to hang out, but finding a chair can be difficult.  We were always there by 9 a.m. and even that seemed too late.  The pool water was way too warm for my taste.  To get cool, you had to swim over to the falls area where the water was much cooler. Only problem was that the bar wasn't real close to that area.  The pool was also dirty a lot of the time.  I saw a giuy try to clean it periodically, but it's too big a job for just one person.

Always a lot of action in the pool area.  Not a place to go if you want peace and quiet.

Another thing I didn't like about the pool area is that I saw more than one family let their child go topless (8 or 9 years old, pass the "Cute" phase) and one boy, same age, totally naked.  Very inappropirate and I wish the staff would have done more about it.  Perhaps post bigger signs or something.

Beach: Very disappointing.  The water was dirty at the shoreline from all the seaweed.  Be prepared for lots of topless women at the beach.  We saw our fair share of them.

FOOD:  The buffets were Ok and the snack bars were just OK too.  The specialty restaurants were great.  We ate at the Mexican, Steakhouse and Japanese. Very good food at all three of these.

SERVICE:  It was excellent until the last portion of our trip.  We had an early flight home and called the night before (as instructed) to have our luggage picked up no later than 6 a.m.  6:15 and still no one came to get our luggage and our shuttle back to the airport was due to arrive at 6:50.  We had to call twice to get it picked up.

STAR FRIENDS:  They were beyond spectacular!  They MADE the trip.

LUCY's KIDS CLUB:  My kids didn't want to stay there.  They went to hit the pinata and that's it.  I didn't feel comfortable leaving them there because there wasn't an easy way for them to contact me if something went wrong or my kids wanted to leave.  You just sign a sign-in sheet with your name and room number and where you'll be.  I have no idea how they think they could find me at this resort if they needed to.  Didn't seem secure enough to me.

But, my kids enjoyed the kids show at night.  Very cool!

DON'T FORGET:  Bring bug spray.  Bugs are terrible there.

BEWARE:  Fellow guests are great at stealing your towels. If you don't return yours, it's a $10 fee.  A French woman pulled a towel from underneath my husband (it was folded, and I'm not kidding about her pulling it out from under him!) and walked off with it. When he went to retrieve it her husband/boyfriend started cursing at my husband in French and then flipped him off.  We never got our towel back (by that time this couple had 3 towels instead of the 2 they were allotted).  This also happened to another couple we talked to. Again, some French people.  We don't know if they just didn't understand or didn't care that they were taking our towels.

We also ran into some rude Germans who tried to bullly their way on the bus to Playa del Carmen instead of standing in line with the rest of us.


Hope this helps anyone out there planning to vacation there.  Overall, not a bad place for the price, but I think I'd rather stay somewhere else next time.

[George]

Thank you for very informative review.

George

[Donna]

Hi, I was also there from July 30th - August 6th. I must have seen you there, especially if you have children.  You must have seen my daughter when she got hit in the head with the pinata stick.  She was so excited she ran right in as the blindfolded boy was swinging, wham, right in the back of the head.  She is fine now.
We also had those teeny tiny ants the first night there because we left an open can of soda near the TV and when we came back from dinner they were all over the can and dresser.  They came and sprayed the next day, but I never forgot about them. 
Also, the mosquitos got much better towards the end of the week.  I spoke with a woman who was leaving as we were arriving and she said they had gotten much better since she was first there.   I heard the hurricane stirred them up because another couple I spoke with came here last August and had no mosquitos.
 We really had a great time and my children loved the shows at night. My daughter thinks she is a star because she was in MINI CATS.  It was so cute, she dressed in at cat suit and Vanessa did her cat makeup.  It was adorable. 
I loved the Japanese restaurant the best but my children loved the buffets, especially the waffles every morning. 
 This was our first all inclusive and it is going to be hard to top this vacation.  It was a very special trip for us as my elderly parents paid for my whole family (14 of us) to vacation together.  We don't think we will ever get this opportunity to be together in this setting again, so it will be a trip we will never forget. We also bought the Star Friends CD so we can close our eyes, float in our own pool, sipping Dirty Monkeys and pretend we are back in paradise.

[C26817]

Yes, I did see you at the resort (and your daughter get hit in the head at the Pinata game).  I was the one who came up to you in the Steakhouse restaurant to ask how your daugther was doing.

Glad you had a great time, too.  It was a nice resort, but I talked to some other vacationers who got a peek at the Liindo/Maya and said it was spectacular.  Might liike to try that next time, but I'll have to save more money!

[Donna]

Wow, what a small world.  You were so nice to ask about my daughter.  You have 2 adorable, well behaved girls.  Wish we could have gotten them together.

[MikeOKC]

The towel game you mentioned has been raised to a high art form at the T/Q.  You might want to consider the Playa Paraiso Complex.  Much larger area and the towel game is limited to reserving spots.

MikeOKC

[Fie]

I was in IB Paraiso mar in september.
I didn"t know there was a starfriend cd and would love it.
Has anyone any idea if I can still get it? 
I live in Belgium

Many thanks for any reply, it would mean a lot

[George]

Amazon carries four of their CDs. The one with Dale Palla is at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000015ZL/qid=1115077011/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9451299-1554411

Thanks to CoralReef.

[hlsess]

1. Was the Mexican restaurant good- all I've read is terrible
2. What is the towel game- I don't get it-

[blacker]

The 'towel game' is the act of getting up very early & reserving your place in the sun with your towel, then not returning until late in the day, if at all.  It is very frustrating & I found it to be at an extreme at the IB Punta Cana/Dominica.  There if you wanted a good pool-side site, you had to be up by six am.  The reason for this is that in Punta Cana, there is very little to do off-site, and the entire hotel population is vieing for pool-side chairs.

In the Mexican properties, I would guess that up to 30 % of the guests are offsite in the daytime, making the 'towel game' less of an issue.