Riviera Maya- Paradisus La Esmeralda (November 2014)
FAM Report by Kim Sgambato-Woonsocket
Riviera Maya ~ Paradisus La Esmeralda
Once I took the Paradisus class the company gave me 4 free nights and 1 additional night at an agent rate. Take the class if you haven’t yet!!!
We flew out of Providence and connected in Charlotte both ways. Keep in mind customs in Charlotte has changed (for the return). You will collect your bags, recheck them at the counter, and go through security again. You need plenty of time for this!
We took Best Day Transfers from the airport to the resort. Very good company, clean buses, on time, and very polite drivers. As an agent I also got 10% off any excursions that I booked at the hotel at the Best Day Tours desk. We took one tour that included Tulum, zip lining, repelling, and swimming in the caves. It was a ½ day tour that included lunch. Well worth it if you have never been and want to see the ruins and learn the history and have a little fun all at the same time.
Upon arrival we were greeted with a cold cloth and a purple drink in a champagne glass. Not sure what it was but hey you’re on vacation right! We got to the resort about 1pm and our rooms were ready. They took us in a golf cart with our luggage to our rooms.
This was the surprise to me.the rooms are huge! What a great size room. King bed, very large bathroom with a large tub and shower that is separate, sitting area with a couch and table and chairs for 2. Mini bar was stocked with soda, water, milk, snacks, and beer. This was replenished daily if you used anything from it. No additional cost.
We were upgraded to a swim up room which I did not request but was great! It is not like your typical swim up room where the pool in front of you connected to the main pool so there was not a lot of traffic swimming by all the time. It was so nice to leave the patio and go right into the pool. The staff covered the entire area and brought drinks and food right to you so you never had to get out if you didn’t want to. This was a great service because we were in a room that was on the far end of the resort.
Here is a picture from the main pool area looking at our patio. There are 2 tile chairs right in the pool next to your stairs. Quick in and out!
Once we dropped off our luggage we went back to the main lobby and made our dinner reservations for the week with the concierge. We were helped by a women named Yasmine she was so nice and went above and beyond to make she we had everything we needed and checked in with us during our entire stay. She also set up a site inspection for me for La Esmeralda (where we stayed) and La Perla (adults only side).
Here are a few pictures of the lobby area all open aired. There was a little coffee shop right in the middle that serves cappuccino and express. They have little treats in the afternoon and in the evening as well. All included!
Dining:
Every night 1 restaurant is closed for a full cleaning so keep that in mind when making reservations. There are 8 sit down restaurants, 2 buffets, and 1 restaurant that is an additional cost. Each buffet has the same exact food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The only difference is one is adults only and the other is for families. Passion is the fine dining restaurant that is an additional cost.
A few of the restaurants are open aired restaurants and the others are inside with air conditioning. My favorite meal was at Vento this is a fresh Mediterranean inspired menu. All restaurants were fantastic we had a wonderful meal every night. Even the restaurant manager come over to our table to be sure everything was OK and to let us know during our stay if there was something not on the menu that we wanted they could make it no problem. AMAZING Service again!!!
The resort has 1 show a night that changes. This is on the family side. The adult side does have an area that has nightly entertainment. This was a very slow time of the year for them so we were able to take advantage of a lot of the things without it being too crowded.
The beach area if your clients are looking for a fantastic beach this is not the place. The resort is located in a cove. Lots of sea weed and rough water. If could also be the time of the year. I’m not a big beach person so to me I was perfectly content staying by the pool.
The pool area was great there was a separate pool that had a water slid ship and hippo for the kids. 1 swim up bar that you could not access from your swim up room but that was ok the wait staff come around like I mentioned earlier. If you want to bring rafts or noodles they allow it of course in the gift shop they are very expensive!!! Here are a few pictures of this area:
This resort is a great place to go to relax. There is not a lot that goes on during the day for activities etc. That was the purpose of my trip to just relax. I wasn’t looking for a resort that had entertainment all day. They did have aqua aerobics every day at noon they would turn up the music but once that was over the music was low.
I talked to a few families that had the concierge family suites and they said for the difference in $$$ that they paid it was well worth the extras they have for their children. They left them little activates every night in the room. They would draw a bath and fill it with bubbles and balloons if they requested it. There was always a special little plate with the cookie of the day as they called it just for the kids. The kids club was filled every time I walked by it. One day was face painting, another day they were all dressed up as pirates and walking in a parade through the resort. The area that was for the concierge families had it’s own BBQ kid friendly food, popcorn machine, cotton candy, and pool toys for them to pay with.
There is a room type at this resort for couples, families of 4, families of 6, and families of 8. I could not take pictures in these rooms however. Not sure why they told me no when I asked but they did.
I was told this resort was close to 5th Ave and I could walk there. I would not recommend it. 5th Ave was about a 10 – 15 minute cab ride ($10 – $15 each way) and you are not walking through the best of areas. 5th Ave is a hopping place at night. There are so many restaurants and all kinds of vendors trying to sell their goods. It is nice to take the ride to see but we did not spend too much time there. We had everything we needed at the resort. They just opened a new mall towards the end of 5th Ave it has all your modern stores that we would have here at home. It was packed with people. Who goes to Mexico to shop at Victoria Secret?!?!
If you go and eat at the family buffet you must ask for Mexican coffee we didn’t ask for it and over came the waiter and insisted he make this for me topped with ice cream!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! What a show they put on when they make it. Here are some pictures:
All the restaurants for the resort are in the middle of both the family side and adults only side. They are in the shape of a U so they are easy to find. What is on the family side is duplicated on the adults only side when it comes to the gift shop, the pool bar, the pool restaurant so you are not having to walk from one side of the resort to the other to get to anything. The only difference on each side is the decor and the meaning of the resorts. The adults only side is themed after the sun and the family side is themed after the moon. The lobbys reflect this if you look up at the ceiling in each!
If you have any questions on this resort please call me!