August 25, 2001

My wife and I returned last Saturday after a wonderful one week stay at the Barcelo.

This was our 12th trip to Cancun, our first outside Cancun itself. For comparison, we have stayed previously at the following hotels; Hilton Beach, Melia Beach, Westin, Fiesta Americana Coral Beach, Marriott Casa Magna and the Hyatt Caribe. A short report follows:

Transport: The van ride from the airport took an hour and 15 minutes including dropping another couple off at the Adventura Palace. The ride back was only 50 minutes including picking up a couple at the Eldorado Royal. It just depends on the driver and his willingness to obey the speed limit.

Room: I had emailed Ms. Cervantes a week before arriving telling her it was our anniversary and asking for a third floor room. When I arrived they told me I had room 4212 assigned. I asked about changing it and the clerk seemed puzzled exclaiming that this was an ocean view room that I had been upgraded to. I was surprised. The only problem was that the room was not yet ready (2:30 PM). I said OK and that we'll wait. It was very hot and we wandered over to the buffet for a delicious bowl of ice cream. After an hour we returned. The room still was not ready (late checkout). We then strolled around the grounds. The place was beautiful. At 4:30 we checked back in. The room still was not ready. At this point I didn't care about the view and asked if they could give us another room. They did (Room 4335) and promised to move us the next day. We checked into the room. Not much view but the room was very nice, clean and large. We even thought about just staying there. The next day we moved to 4212. The room was the same but the balcony was much larger and it did look out over the pools and toward the ocean. The view was nice but you really couldn't see that much of the ocean. We did enjoy the balcony however, particularly when we got hit by a tremendous storm later in the week. It was great sitting out there and watching the people run around and the lightening hit over the ocean. I enjoyed the room but would probably not pay extra for it. The first room was very nice. I should also mention that the Barcelo was nice enough to have a bowl of fruit and two bottles of wine in our new room when we checked in. It was a very nice touch.

Beach: One word; OUTSTANDING! The beach was great, soft sand, few waves and no matter how crowded the place was you could always find a space to yourself.

Snorkeling: Went out by the pier and snorkeled on several occasions, it was very nice. We saw a lot of fish but nothing very big (probably for the best). The water was fairly choppy the first few days but calmed down later in the week. The fish around the pier are a bit aggressive if you're feeding them. Kind of like puppies jumping for biscuits. It was cute.

Food: The food was delicious. Too delicious. My wife and I eat a fairly low fat diet of about 1600 calories a day. Needless to say we did not follow that regiment at the Barcelo and we both developed stomach cramps after a few days (though neither of us got sick). We had been fine the first couple of days eating the roast turkey, prime rib, roast pork, etc. but after we overate at the Mexican restaurant on fajitas we had cramps. They were delicious (we even went back again for a second though smaller portion, without any appetizers or salads) but obviously cooked in oil and we were not used to it. We adjusted our meals somewhat ( I really didn't) and things got better. We found the food to be varied, plentiful and hot (other than the veggies). The menu at the beach grills didn't vary much but who cared, the wings and the guac were the best I've ever had. The desserts are to die for!

Service: Also outstanding. Every employee we came in contact with busted their butts to make our vacation great. I should also mention they did so without tipping. I noted the employees and gave out my tips on the last two days (other than the maid and the a la carte restaurant, they were tipped daily). They were all very appreciative but had given excellent service throughout the week without a daily tip.

Clientele; The major reason for leaving Cancun and coming down the coast was to escape the hordes of drunken party animals there. We were not disappointed. We did not see or hear one individual raising heck and making a fool of themselves. This was most probably because of the large European clientele at the resort. The majority of the people seemed to be from Italy while we were there.

Shows: We did not see a single show. We went to bed at 10:00 every night. They did however show a movie at 7:00 in the theater on three evenings, though they did not publicize it. We were able to catch most of Antz and Tarzan the Apeman. We missed Molan (spelling?). All were in English.

Construction; We saw none.

Summary,
We are already talking about our anniversary next year and the Barcelo is right now number one on our list. We really loved the place.