Riviera Maya Vacation - Part One

And there I was............at the Cancun airport, waiting for AGI, the transportation company, to pick us up and take us to the Grand Palladium Resort, which was about an hour down the highway from the airport.

The first thing you notice when you exit the building at the airport is the humidity..........but it wasn't all that bad.........after all......it is November.

First off........let me say right here that if you travel to the Riviera Maya, you absolutely need to book AGI for transportation before you get there.........you won't regret it. Not only are they very prompt and courteous, they have excellent vehicles and even offer to take the picture for you......hehehe. Seriously...........we only paid 75 bucks per couple for round-trip transportation to and from the airport and we stopped nowhere in between unless we wanted to. The driver took us directly to the hotel. He offered to stop at a store for a drink..........which we declined.........and later, we spoke with some other vacationers at the resort who booked transportation with another company and they were disgusted after finding out what we paid. They had paid 100 bucks per person and were crammed onto a huge packed bus and proceeded to stop at every hotel along the way.........it took them about two and a half hours to get from the airport to the hotel. I can't blame them for being pissed. Needless to say, we made the right choice and you would do well to take note of this if you plan to travel to the Riviera Maya. I will write more about the ride to and from the airport but first I have some more important stuff to tell you about.

I shall write about the hotel, the grounds, the beach, the pools, the suites, the staff, the wildlife, and entertainment..........in no particular order.........and not necessarily in any chronological order. I will be writing all of this through impulse and as I think of it. I spent a small bit of time sorting out the pictures and choosing what I thought would be the best representation of our visit to the Grand Palladium in the Riviera Maya.

First..........I must tell about our suite. We stayed at the Riviera section of the resort. The other sections are called White Sand, Colonial, Kantenah, and Royal Suites. As it was, we were originally booked for the Colonial section but we were told that we were upgraded to the Riviera section. At first we were disappointed to hear that but we felt alot better when we saw the suites that we were assigned to.

No........the suites were not gilded in gold and silver..........but they were very nice..............and lots of room. I have been at other resorts and I gotta say that this was a whole lot nicer than alot of other places. Would I say it was the best?.........well............no.............but then again, I haven't been everywhere............yet.

I could go through a list of all the ameneties...........but you can get all of that info off of the Palladium Addicts website........just Google it. I will tell you that it was very roomy and clean and cool...........and there was water, sodas, and beer stocked in the fridge located inside the entertainment cabinet.

The picture should be able to say more than I can.

Of course, everybody would want a room with a view of the ocean............me included.........unfortunately our balcony faced the resort instead of the waterfront. All in all, it was still good because we had a nice vantage point over the resort and could see far into the distance eastward. Our balcony also was on the end of the building and I could easily look out towards the west and see some of the beach.

Supernurse smiled really big when she saw this.

It was a very nice bathroom and very roomy and clean.

Pretty large shower too.
The couch can become a bed.

We liked the suite a whole lot and it was our home away from home from November 1st through the 10th.

There is a lot I will be writing about the grounds of the resort.......but here is a little look at what you would see as you walk to the lobby or the buffet for some food.

We were heading to the beach and the pool..............and that's all we did on the first day while there was sunlight.

After dark, we headed to the lobby area for food and drinks and entertainment..........hey.......is that a bass guitar?.........let me have it!

Happy..........happy..........happy!

They still had some Halloween decorations up for a couple of days.

Supernurse and Smiley enjoyed drinks at the bar while me and Captain Morgan were winning bottles of tequila at the blackjack table.

Happy........happy........happy!

Well........you can't do everything in one day.........eventually.......the sun sets on the parade. As I looked east from the balcony I thought about the history of this area and the Mayans that not only lived here........but still live and work here to this very day. Hmmmmmmmmm......2012 is not very far away..........will this be all gone?

Stay tuned for the answer to that question in another part of this trip report.

More to come.