There you have it, folks..............could I have written more about the Grand Palladium Resort?..........well, sure..........but I think I covered the more important stuff. Finally, I can wrap this report up and start blogging about other stuff such as Christmas. Would I come back here to this resort?......... absolutely.
Whenever you read up about a travel destination, you never seem to find anything about the trip to and from the airport...........what is it like?........how long did it take?...........what will you see along the way?..............what are the roads like?................not that it is all that important because you want paradise and you don't really care what surrounds the place since you might not be planning to venture off of the resort property. How can I describe the Mexico that I saw between the Cancun airport and the Grand Palladium Resort?..............I saw no indication of a middle class portion of society. I got the impression that there are only the haves and the have-nots. The main highway appears to flow well and is fairly well maintained. On the other hand, as I would look from our transport van...........the side roads were a display of blight and squalor. Yet mishmashed amongst that are car dealerships and world class resorts.
There is one thing that they do in Mexico that should be done here in the USA..........or at least in Baltimore. Speed bumps........or as they call them "topes"..........without a doubt the most effective method of traffic control.......guaranteed to slow down the traffic between point A and point B. I wouldn't necessarily use them on the Beltway, but this is exactly what should be used in school zones instead of the money-grabbing speed cameras that were recently approved of and installed.
Every single vehicle slows down for these.
As I said, the main highway appears to be well maintained and a smooth ride.........except for those "topes".........hehehe.
Playa Del Carmen is the largest town between the Grand Palladium Resort and Cancun. We just cruised on past without stopping, except for the traffic lights.
It is a growing area and eventually I can imagine the area looking like Daytona. Still..........I could see quite a bit of rubble and squalor.
Poor infrastructure..............okay, we had some heavy rains........but they just don't have the sewer and drainage systems that we enjoy in the States.
You pass by many assorted resort properties...............and they look impressive.............and you can count on them to be well taken care of as well as being well planned with good infrastructure.
The "collectivo"...........it's not a cab........it's not a bus...........but it is how alot of people get to work.
It took us about just over an hour to get to the resort and just as long to get back to the airport. We had direct transportation..........non-stop. Other vacationers, who do not do their "homework", end up on a huge bus that will stop at just about every resort between the airport and their particular vacation spot...........and that could take up to two and a half to three hours each way..........not to mention a higher price for the ride. If you plan on a trip to the Grand Palladium Resort, make sure that you visit the Palladium Addicts website and read everything.
As you ride along, you are reminded that "paradise" isn't really "paradise".
The resort should be thought of as a diamond in the rough.
As you approach the airport..........suddenly everything is similar to being at home.
There are those "topes" again.........well..........that's about it.
The trip was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it.........Supernurse enjoyed it............and we felt appreciated for being there. I look forward to returning........maybe even next year.
If you have any questions about the resort, feel free to put your question in the comments.
I may have a thing or two that I will mention here on the blog about our trip that, for some reason, I may have overlooked.
Now lets get Christmas out of the way..........next trip : The Bellagio in Las Vegas!........in January.
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.
There you have it, folks..............could I have written more about the Grand Palladium Resort?..........well, sure..........but I think I covered the more important stuff. Finally, I can wrap this report up and start blogging about other stuff such as Christmas. Would I come back here to this resort?......... absolutely.
Whenever you read up about a travel destination, you never seem to find anything about the trip to and from the airport...........what is it like?........how long did it take?...........what will you see along the way?..............what are the roads like?................not that it is all that important because you want paradise and you don't really care what surrounds the place since you might not be planning to venture off of the resort property. How can I describe the Mexico that I saw between the Cancun airport and the Grand Palladium Resort?..............I saw no indication of a middle class portion of society. I got the impression that there are only the haves and the have-nots. The main highway appears to flow well and is fairly well maintained. On the other hand, as I would look from our transport van...........the side roads were a display of blight and squalor. Yet mishmashed amongst that are car dealerships and world class resorts.
There is one thing that they do in Mexico that should be done here in the USA..........or at least in Baltimore. Speed bumps........or as they call them "topes"..........without a doubt the most effective method of traffic control.......guaranteed to slow down the traffic between point A and point B. I wouldn't necessarily use them on the Beltway, but this is exactly what should be used in school zones instead of the money-grabbing speed cameras that were recently approved of and installed.
Every single vehicle slows down for these.
As I said, the main highway appears to be well maintained and a smooth ride.........except for those "topes".........hehehe.
Playa Del Carmen is the largest town between the Grand Palladium Resort and Cancun. We just cruised on past without stopping, except for the traffic lights.
It is a growing area and eventually I can imagine the area looking like Daytona. Still..........I could see quite a bit of rubble and squalor.
Poor infrastructure..............okay, we had some heavy rains........but they just don't have the sewer and drainage systems that we enjoy in the States.
You pass by many assorted resort properties...............and they look impressive.............and you can count on them to be well taken care of as well as being well planned with good infrastructure.
The "collectivo"...........it's not a cab........it's not a bus...........but it is how alot of people get to work.
It took us about just over an hour to get to the resort and just as long to get back to the airport. We had direct transportation..........non-stop. Other vacationers, who do not do their "homework", end up on a huge bus that will stop at just about every resort between the airport and their particular vacation spot...........and that could take up to two and a half to three hours each way..........not to mention a higher price for the ride. If you plan on a trip to the Grand Palladium Resort, make sure that you visit the Palladium Addicts website and read everything.
As you ride along, you are reminded that "paradise" isn't really "paradise".
The resort should be thought of as a diamond in the rough.
As you approach the airport..........suddenly everything is similar to being at home.
There are those "topes" again.........well..........that's about it.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u7i0YSN2IkZ7q0oo__4fv45TaNACb7J3i98X4fbHuOOtyZTBC67zzHXsUNKDT_splSe0IxepIOlsSWxwC03136fDS6AGUklU94fnMbYpVZsXEN76PO2454S-3eybIVSqiWVM0zByJPn2jLBfXv7kQ=s0-d)
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