Melia Cancun and Hilton Beach Resorts

August 3-13, 2000 (5 nights Melia, 5 nights Hilton)
 

With the change in policy regarding parking at the Sheraton we switched over to the Holiday Inn Express South Atlanta Airport. It's a nice place with a small indoor pool and hot tub. Not as nice as the Sheraton but at least they still let you leave your car for free.
 

We arrive at the airport two and a half hours before our Aeromexico flight. There was apparently a light load for the plane. About one hour before the flight they announce that anyone wishing to upgrade to first class can do so for $50 per. Having never flown first class I figured I'd give it a shot. I also wanted to get up to the front of the airplane. With the long lines we faced last time I wanted to be one of the first people off the plane in Cancun. The first class treatment wasn't quite as great as I was hoping. I probably won't do it next time. However it did get us off the plane first. We ran off the plane and headed toward Immigration. There were no lines and only one person in front of us. We were through in less than 2 minutes. We then stood and waited for our luggage. And stood and stood for 30 minutes. We had three bags. Two came off as the last bags delivered. There was no third bag. We asked and the guy started to look around for our large black bag with a bright green strap around it. After looking around he told us it must have fallen off the belt. A young lady beside him tapped him on the shoulder and pointed toward a computer screen in front of her. "Ahh yes", he said "they have your bag in Atlanta". Great, now what. He said they would have it delivered to our hotel by 11:00 tomorrow. He said there was nothing else he could do. In all my travels that was the first time one of my bags got lost. We gave him the hotel name and headed out.
 

We had a quick drive to the Melia Cancun, checked in and were given a choice between two rooms. One in the older section with a view or one on the ground floor in the new section. We tried the room with a view but as soon as we entered we could tell that the a/c wasn't working very well. We immediately went back down and asked for the other room. We got the ground floor room in the new section and were very happy with it. The a/c worked great. The room was large with brownish tile and Mayan artifacts all around the room. One of the best things about the Melia is that all the rooms have a huge balcony. We didn't have much of a view but it was a nice place to lay out and feel the breeze. We were happy. We then checked our bags and found that the bag with the 20 inch box fan was the one that was missing. No sleep tonight. We've been sleeping with a fan in our room for so long that we can't sleep without it any more, every little noise keeps us up. Oh well. We then went up to the baggage area and told them about the missing bag. They said they would bring the bag to our room as soon as they got it.
 

We then changed into our suits and headed toward the pool/beach. This was our third stay at the Melia and it has undergone a complete renovation since our first stay.. In addition to their old pool area they have a new pool that is just great. It's absolutely huge. It has two whirlpool areas on the side and a kids area on one end. There are also a large number of cabanas all over the place. The beach in front of the Melia is the best in all of Cancun (IMHO). It is large with very little undertow, rocks or seaweed. The beach never seems crowded no mater how many people are down there. They have dozens of huts and we were able to find one no matter what time of day we went down. They also have a bartender riding around on a four wheeler taking drink orders.
 

After spending a few hours in the water we decided to head out to the Flamingo Mall for dinner and some drinking water. Neither of us were all that hungry so we just grabbed a bite at the food court and went shopping for water and snacks. We picked up a few things and headed back.

It was a long night without our fan. Neither of us slept very well and were rather grumpy the next day. The breakfast buffet helped change our mood a bit. They have a great breakfast buffet with lots of fresh fruits, breads, meats, etc. They also have fresh omelets, quesadillas, tamales and lots of Mexican items. It was very good. We then changed into our suits and headed toward the beach. We settled down at the far end of the beach and took a delightful nap listening to the waves. It made the day so much better. Around noon I decided to head up and see if our bag had arrived. It was not in the room so I went to the bell captains station and asked about it. They knew nothing about it. I said Ok and went off to have lunch. They have a great little bar grill by the pool that cooks up a great burger, dog or chicken sandwich with a mound of fries for around $10. We got an order and split it by the pool. After another nap I went up to the bell captain to find out about my bag. They still knew nothing about it. Since it was now 2:30 and the bag was supposed to be there at 11 I asked the bell captain to call the airline. He did. They knew nothing of the bag. He then called the airport. Someone there said they knew about the bag but didn't know where it was. The call was transferred to someone else who said the bag had already been delivered to the Melia. Obviously it hadn't. They then called the other Melia hotel (turquesa) to see if had been delivered there. It hadn't. He called the airport again. Now they got someone who said the bag was on it's way as we were speaking. This bag really gets around. I said Ok and went to spend the day at the beach.
 

Around 5:30 I went up to shower and change for dinner. My bag still had not arrived. I went up to the bell captain's desk again. The employees had all changed and no one had heard or seen anything regarding our bag. He called the airport only to be told that the bag had been delivered. While he was on the phone one of the bellman overheard him talking and interrupted him. They spoke rapidly in Spanish and he got a strange look on his face. He then turned to me and asked if I had been to my room lately and looked for the bag. I said I had just been there and there was no bag. He then spoke to the bellman again. Then turned to me and asked if I had moved down the hall from my original room. I looked at him and suddenly realized that they had delivered my bag to the wrong room. I don't know why but I suddenly got a huge grin on my face when I realized what had happened (I was just happy that our bag and fan had arrived). The bellman looked at me very strangely and apologized. He told me what I had already figured out. I said fine, just get me my bag and I went back to my room. He delivered my bag in about ten minutes. I thanked him, gave him a tip (which he was very shocked to get) and took the bag. What was weird was that while the bag was still locked, but the green strap that had been on the outside of the bag was now inside the bag. Nothing in the bag had been touched from what we could see. The only thing I could think of was the bag was taken off the belt for a security check because of the fan and was not returned in time to make the plane flight. In any case we were happy to have our fan back and slept like logs that night.
 

Our next two days was the usual routine, pool-beach, beach-pool, eat, pool-beach, etc. It was great. The Melia is very nice and all the employees do an excellent job. Our fourth day was a bit different. We woke up to a cloudy overcast day. There was a strong wind coming in but it was still very warm. After breakfast we decided to head for the beach anyway. Around 10 or so the rain began to come in. There was no lightening so we decided to stay in the pool. It was very weird swimming around in the pool in the pouring ran. It was a great experience. Now when I say pouring rain, I mean POURING RAIN!!!! It was coming down hard and fast and the wind was blowing it sideways. We had our towels and stuff under a cabana and it still got soaking because of the sideways rain. It was fun! Until we got back to our room. We spent most of the day at the pool only going down to the beach to sit under the huts. The water was too rough to swim in. Around 4 we headed back to our room. We opened the door and walked into a lake. The rain had been so hard against the sliding doors that it had seeped in and flooded most of the room. The bathroom was the only dry place. Luckily nothing we had was on the floor. I ran out and found an employee in the hallway and told him we had some trouble. When he came into the room and saw the mess he panicked. He turned around and ran out the door. In a few minutes there were three employees there with towels and new rugs. They quickly wiped up all the water and replaced the rugs. In 15 minutes you would not have known there was any problem at all.
 

After our 5 nights at the Melia we hopped into a taxi and transferred over to the Hilton for the last five nights. We were greeted at the desk by Ms. Campos. She was very gracious and assured us that our entire stay this time would be great. It was. They put us back in the exact room we had before with a great view over the ocean. We spent the next five days laying around the beach and jumping in and out of the pool. We only left the resort once to pick up some jewelry a the mall. Because they apparently didn't have that many people booked into the villas they did not have the club area set up like before. We had drinks delivered each night (they came on time and with the correct order) and had breakfast each day in the main restaurant (Spices). It seemed a lot quieter this time. It may have just been us. Nothing much happened during our stay at the Hilton other than we were able to relax to the max. The pool was so uncrowded in the mornings that my wife was able to do hydro exercises around the entire pool and I was able to do laps with no interference. The beach was also less crowded.
 

We had a great time at both places. I would recommend both places without question. However if you are going during a spring break or high school trip period I would call the Hilton ahead of time to see if they have any groups booked. I would avoid the place on Memorial Day weekend. Uncle Luke is not my idea of a dance partner. :-)