Отдых в Мексике Holidays in Mexico

I vacationed in Mexico from June 10.2010 to June 24.2010. The review is long, but true and contains useful information for Russians who are going to relax at the Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret or any other hotel in Mexico.
Flight.
The Transaero flight took 12 hours and 50 minutes; they flew to Mexico without delay. I purchased a premium class ticket. True, it turned out that premium and economy class seats were absolutely no different, so I think that you should not overpay for premium, while you can buy economy and fly in the same seats. I flew on a special offer and a premium class ticket cost me approximately the same price as an economy class ticket, it was not so insulting when I flew in a “premium class” seat. During the flight, they were fed 2 times, they served drinks a couple of times, the rest of the time, if you want to drink, you had to approach the flight attendants, since they rarely appeared in the cabin during the flight. During the entire flight, the tooth did not fall on the tooth, it was very cold in the cabin, they asked the flight attendants for blankets. We arrived at the Cancun airport, almost simultaneously with our plane, and several more landed, so there was no place for an apple to fall at passport control. All this happened very slowly, and meanwhile people kept coming and coming.

Transfer from Cancun Airport to Occidental Grand Flamenco Xcaret took an hour. Upon arrival at the hotel, we were quickly placed in the rooms, which is very surprising, since the guide told us that the Mexicans are very slow and should not be demanded of them speed and hurry, it annoys them and they can even “turn around and leave”.
Vacationers.
For those who do not like to relax in those places where compatriots rest, I hasten to inform you that Mexico is not the right place, especially after they launched a direct flight from Moscow to Cancun. If you think that there will be few Russians in the hotel, then you are mistaken. As soon as they bring you in, you will be stewed in your own juice for 2 weeks by the whole Russian company. Moreover, far from the best representatives of the Russian nation come, who are in a hurry to make friends as soon as possible and then appear in restaurants, on the beach, in bars and at show programs organized by animation with all this drunken noisy crowd. There are a lot of Americans in the hotel, which is not surprising, for them Mexico, as for us the all-Union health resort of Turkey, then Canadians, they also have a short flight, and Spaniards, since occidental is a Spanish hotel chain. Mostly middle-class foreigners, many couples with or without children.
Territory.

I lived in the 22nd building, part of the Russians in 18.21 and 22. The hotel area is large, well-groomed, all planted with tropical plants and beautiful, there is one thing: the buildings in which the vacationers lived were so unsuccessfully located around the territory that for now you will reach from the 22nd building you get lost before the lobby, in this case, at the reception, along with the keys and cards for towels, they issued a hotel card. On the territory there were pens with flamingos, deer, a cage with monkeys, in addition to this, there were animals similar to capybaras (or maybe they were themselves) and quiet animals (animals with a body like a monkey, a long tail and a rat muzzle). A huge number of insects that began to chirp, buzz in the evening from 8-9 o'clock and calmed down by morning. All the tourists walked with bitten legs, midges, incomprehensible to us, bit mercilessly, and the bite was terribly itchy and passed within a few days. By evening, all living creatures became more active, especially cockroaches, they were not afraid to crawl along the walls, stairs and railings in the lobby and in the bars on the street. A "shuttle" was walking around the hotel, as it was called, but we called it a "fucking minibus" or "autoline", and it was one for the whole hotel. The waiting period could stretch from 10 to 20 minutes. Due to the fact that the “shuttle” was in a single copy for the entire hotel, it went along an intricate route so that you could get into all parts of the territory and separate all the vacationers. It even got to the point that you are going to go to the beach on the sea from your 22nd house, you wait for a “minibus” for about 15 minutes, it goes to the lobby, turns around, goes back to the 22nd and further to the beach, that is, all the way along with waiting and the trip could be 30 min.
Restaurants, bars, food.
On the website of travel companies you will find information that the hotel has 10 bars and 11 restaurants. There are restaurants, but only 2 of them could be freely visited, the rest were a la carte restaurants and worked only on certain days and it was necessary to reserve them. The Le Buffet restaurant worked daily, there was a buffet and usually all vacationers came there for breakfast and dinner, it was closed for lunch. Breakfast from 7 am to 11 am, dinner from 6 am to 10 pm. Due to the fact that the time for breakfast and dinner was extended, it was always possible to find a place. The food is monotonous, day after day for breakfast, lunch and dinner they gave the same thing! For the second week of stay, this "range" was pretty tired. You can have lunch at a restaurant on the beach. He worked from 12 to 16. There is also the so-called Snack bar, where you could have a bite of food, the one served at McDonald's, that is, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, potatoes, etc. As for 10 bars, we didn’t find them, that is, only two bars worked hard: the Snack bar and the beach bar. They prepared cocktails terribly, not only did they pour a lot of ice into a glass (almost the entire glass), but also when preparing cocktails, a lot of pieces of ice were also poured into the mixer, as a result, cooked, it was difficult to call an alcoholic cocktail, it was even difficult to drink from - for ice. It often happened like this: when some alcoholic drinks ran out, they didn’t even think to replenish them! The same Irish cream could appear three days after it ended. The lobby bar is open from 17 to 23. Seafood is a problem, except for shrimp, mussels and shells, which were cooked infrequently anyway, you will not find other seafood anymore.
Service.

Dear vacationers, I want to warn you that if you come to Mexico in an all-inclusive hotel, do not think that you will not have to spend your money. Namely, the Americans and Canadians spoiled the Mexicans terribly by constantly tipping them for being served in a restaurant or bar. Of course, as for food, there is a buffet, eat as much as you want and take what you want, but there is a problem with drinks. If you want waiters to come up to you and bring drinks in a restaurant, and not have to call them or look for these drinks yourself, then leave a tip! It sounds strange, in a hotel where everything is included and everything is paid for, you still have to pay extra for bartenders and waiters for what is already part of their duties. We left tips at the bar several times, but then stopped, if you leave a tip all the time in restaurants and bars, you can spend a considerable amount. If you do not leave a tip, then you will be looked at as an enemy of the people or ignored. As for cleaning the room, I want to inform you that if you want towels to be changed every day, put them on the floor in the shower, otherwise they will be changed after 3 days, similar with bed linen, there is a piece of paper on the bedside table, where it says that leaving her on the bed, they will change your linen, otherwise they will not change it soon. The mini bar is replenished every other day, so if you have stopped replenishing it, contact your guide or reception. Calls from the hotel to Moscow 1 min 8 US dollars. At the hotel at the reception you can change dollars for local tugriks, there you also pay for a ticket to Shkaret Park, which borders the hotel. The ticket price is 49 USD, you can pay in advance.
Tours.
Excursions offer different. Prices for excursions are too high, the same excursions on the fifth avenida are cheaper. All prices in US dollars! First tour of Chichen Itza and Cenote. The cost is 110 USD. per person. Starts at 7:30 am and arrives at 8:00 pm. The price includes food, but drinks, as in Egypt, at your own expense, naturally at inflated prices. Impressions are ambiguous. Guide Tatyana, who has been working in Mexico for many years, told interesting stories not only all the way to Chichen Itza (3-4 hours drive), but also on the spot, however, in order to have time to take photos, we often had to sacrifice the opportunity to listen to her. I advise you to buy souvenirs here, they are cheaper than in Cancun and on Fifth Avenue in Playa del Carmen. We stayed there for 3 hours, then we were taken to Cenote. The cenote is a lake in a cave, reminiscent of the color of the water, a dirty puddle, and this is not surprising, given how many tourists swim there every day. When asked about sanitation in this water, the guide answered us that they launched fish there, which are engaged in water purification. Judging by the color of the water and how actively the crowds of tourists swam and jumped from the tower, the fish could not cope with the situation.
An excursion to ek balam costs 115 usd, they offer a look at the pyramid and salt lakes in the caves. I haven't been there, but I think it's overpriced.
Mexico City for the whole day 190 usd, not including the ticket, that is, for a round trip ticket, you still have to pay about 400 usd.
The pirate ship is brought to Cancun by 7 o'clock and you are on the ship having dinner.
Coco bongo - disco in Cancun Mon-Thu 50 usd and Fri-Sun 60 usd.
Temazcal - shaman cleansing of the soul and body 99 usd. According to the participants of the tour, complete nonsense.
Swimming with whale sharks on a boat 550 usd.
Cozumel Island, similar to Saona Island in the Dominican Republic.

Koba and Shian Kaan 110 usd. Complete waste of money. Let's go to Koba, this is a place with Mayan architectural buildings, something similar to that in Chichen Itza. Unfortunately, the guide did not tell the story as it was during the trip to Chichen Itza. After Koba, they took us to a restaurant, and drinks and a buffet were all for their own money! The second part - a trip to Shian Kaan liked more. True, we still had to pay 5 usd for a boat so that we were taken to the mango jungle. It is very strange that you pay 110 usd for an excursion, but you still have to pay extra for drinks, food, and boat trips to the jungle! Moreover, the guide at the hotel did not warn about additional costs. The boat brought us to the canal in the thickets, we put on vests and into the water. The current quickly carried along the water channel, surprisingly the water was fresh and clean.
Excursions can be purchased inexpensively in Playa del Carmen, but they are only in English, but at the hotel, excursions are approximately the same prices as from the tour operator, with a difference of a few dollars, for example, the Coba + Temascal tour is $ 119, that is, you can’t save succeed.
Souvenirs.
Prices for souvenirs in hotels are too high, if you have not been to Chichen Itza or bought souvenirs there, I advise you to go to the fifth avenue (avenida), taxi 100 local money one way. Buy magnets for 3 usd, you can buy 3 for 8 dollars, ponchos are also sold there, but real original ones made of wool will cost no less than 50 usd, there are souvenir ponchos, they are usually of different colors and the fabric is rough, Mayan calendars can be negotiated for 5 usd, hammocks 15-30 usd.
In principle, if you do not take into account the cost of a round-trip ticket, then rest in a hotel at a reasonable price, and worth the money that was paid for it.