Resort Review: The Excellence Riviera Cancun

I like to travel independently, for the most part.  Book the hotel, book my own flight, discover restaurants using local resources and maybe, if lucky, stumbling upon a place during a long stroll (how I discovered one of my favorites, in London--Sofra Mayfair). But let's be honest, sometimes you want an easy vacation--one that requires you to show up with a passport, appropriate clothes and sunscreen and  little else.  About once a year, I require sort of trip...call it planning fatigue or whatever.  And, all-inclusive make this possible. If you have a vision of all-inclusives being filled with partying college students, watery drinks, endless buffets and everyone forced to wear paper bands, you have not been to one of the Excellence resorts and need to go--immediately!

A lazy river weaves through the property, making
 it easy to have a chair poolside and pick a quiet spot.

In December 2009, Kevin and I spent 4 days at the Excellence Riviera Cancun.  We had never been to the Yucatan and wanted to take advantage of a nonstop flight from Dulles.  I didn't want to stay in the Hotel Zone and I didn't want to deal with the wristbands or standing in line to make reservations.  I wanted an all-inclusive, but one with some class.  I can definitely report that the Excellence Riviera Cancun delivered and exceeded our expectations.

First of all, if you haven't done the Cancun thing--, think again because there are plenty of quiet, relaxing options (just erase the Senor Frog images from your head, okay?).  The best thing about Cancun is the airport--it is the best airport in the Caribbean.  Easy, efficient--it is deft at processing tourists who just want to get to the beach!  We were out of the airport in minutes and picked up by our pre-arranged transfer service (I told you I didn't want to think, not even to negotiate a cab fare). 

Kevin enjoying the view from our private, spacious terrace.

Situated just 20 minutes from the airport on the outskirts of the village Puerto Morelos, the resort is set back from the road and really no other resorts are nearby.  The buildings are low--just 3 stories high so it's easy to use the stairs and the property is really spread out, weaving fountains, pools and loads of lovely gardens between the lodgings.  We were welcomed with a scented, warm towels and champagne and immediately taken to our rooms (this is less than an hour after our flight landed, I should remind you--and less than 4 hours after leaving cold, DC).  We spent the rest of our trip in an easy pattern:  coffee on the terrace, breakfast early, long beach walk, camp out on some pool chairs for the rest of the morning--drinking, napping and reading, maybe a swim, lunch, more of the same relax activities and drinks, late afternoon beach walk, shower, nap, dinner by 8, another beach walk, drinks and perhaps listen to some live music. 

As far as breaking down the various aspects of the resort...

The Rooms:  Very spacious--huge terrace, bathroom, well-stocked  mini fridge, a little sitting area and a big, four poster bed. Very tasteful and open. 

The Food:  The resort offers buffet breakfast or room service (included in all inclusive), but the other meals are at sit-down restaurants scattered throughout the property.  Reservations are not required and I think only at one did we have to wait a few minutes for a table. The food was really solid--I think we liked Agave, the Mexican place the best.  As far as all-inclusive resorts go, this place deserves an "A" for diverse food, gourmet food and minimal buffet lines.

The Entertainment:  We aren't so into shows and such, but they always had some nightly events.  We preferred the live jazz performances and other musical acts that they always featured outdoor near one of the bars.

The beach was nice and the staff kept it clean and tidy.

The Location: Positioned an easy drive from the airport, the resort is great for what we wanted--a quick, easy trip.  The beach was nice and the resort did a good job keeping it tidy.  We enjoyed several good beach walks and made all the way down to Puerto Morelos a few times.  But not really a walkable location--but really being at an all-inclusive for just a few days, we didn't strive to do much.

The Resort:  Lovely, manicured grounds, lots of seating--no need to rush out and "save" spaces, staff were friendly.

Choosing the Right Hotel.

I just had to book a couple of rooms for our trip to Greece this summer (we are bookending our time in Greece with time in London).  Since I have hotels on the brain, figured I'd blog about it and share a few ideas:

1.  Location, location, location.  Duh, that's a no brainer, right?  But choosing the right location for you really varies based on the purpose of your trip.  For instance, our flight to Rhodes leaves quite early from London Stansted so for this trip to London, I chose the Apex London Wall hotel--an easy walk to Liverpool Street Station, which is where you catch the Stansted Express train.  This hotel sits in the Financial District, which is quiet on weekends and not maybe ideal for tourists, but for our specific needs--it's perfect!  On the flip side of the trip, I picked a more central location, Earl's Court, which is on the Picadilly line--the line that leads directly to Heathrow.

Our hotel in Amsterdam was an easy walk
to the Central train station.

2.  Transportation.  This definitely dovetails with point one.  Ensuring your hotel is an easy walk from a subway line or central train station will only enhance your trip.  I always map out my location on Google Maps and read TripAdvisor to get a sense of the location.  (This also helps you gain a familiarity with the area even before you arrive.) When in Europe, you know urban areas are going to have decent transportation--so take advantage of it!  A good example from our travels is Hotel New Amsterdam (now known as Chic & Basic) in the Jordaan.  The location--a somewhat residential neighborhood (which I loved) is an easy ten-minute walk to the central train station. 

We stayed in the borough of Frogner on the second leg
of our trip to Oslo...the first part we stayed more central.

3.  Know thy neighborhoods.  When visiting a city for the very first time, I spend a good chunk of time just researching neighborhoods.  Of course, I am thinking about safety, but also I am considering my personal tastes.  If I know people who have visited a city, I'll ask them about areas they would recommend, too.  I also like to stay in different locations on repeat visits.  For instance, when we went to Spain a few years ago, we stayed for the first part of the trip in the heart of it all--the Austrias quarter, which is in the center of Madrid, close to the Palace and shops, cafes, and of course...subway stops (the Opera Metro station).  On the way out of Spain, we chose to stay up near the embassies and business district in the Salamanca region of the city--also easier to reach the airport from this location.  We did the same thing for a trip to Oslo a few years back--staying at the front-end of the trip in a central section of town and on the way out picking a quieter, more tranquil section of Oslo, the Frogner borough near the famous Frogner Park.

4.  Use all available resources.  I use TripAdvisor and Frommer's as the two main places to explore lodging options.  If I find a hotel I like, I always go to the hotel's Web site to check for specials.  Using Google Maps to see the location and the "search nearby" option on Google Maps will bring up restaurants or other hotel choices. 

5.  Consider your priorities.  Is it all about saving some cash?  Would you prefer a hotel that has breakfast included?   Do you like big chains that are reliable or funky, small boutiques?  Do you avoid the B&B concept because you hate country kitsch?  Do you have to have a pool?  Good views?  There are a million more questions, but be clear on your top needs and you'll find the perfect place. Happy Searching!

Difficult to Reach Destinations.

This summer we're heading to Symi.  Have you heard of it?  Probably not.  But it is an important place in our family--some of the DINKs ancestors are from there, lived there for generations. Symi is a (tiny) island in the Dodecanse region of Greece.  It's a two-hour ferry ride from Rhodes (which you have probably heard of, but still not exactly and easy-to-reach destination).

Symi, Greece. Beautiful. But not easy to reach.

Because of a wide range of issues, we have a limited window for traveling and plan to spend a whole 7 days on Symi with the extended family.  So the challenge: how to get to Symi as quickly as possible?  There are no direct flights to Athens from DC.  And, well the Traveling DINKs HATE changing planes, but we have done Dulles to Paris to Athens before and that's not too bad, but prices on Air France were crazy and we would still need to fly to Rhodes and then ferry it to Symi.  So we wanted to see what else was out there.

We used Expedia and Orbitz to see what other options were out there and discovered we could fly to Rome or Istanbul direct.  We then decided to explore an airline we knew didn't surface on Expedia and Orbitz--the dreaded (but grudgingly used) Ryanair from Ireland.  We have used this low-cost carrier for strange hops in the past (Grenada to Madrid and Belfast to Glasgow). Sure enough, there was a flight from Rome to Rhodes--allowing us to bypass Athens.  But the times didn't work out so we started looking at Turkish Airlines--thinking of flying from Dulles to Istanbul, spend a few days in Istanbul then on to Bodrum, Turkey and then a series of ferries to Rhodes, then Symi.  But doing this route completely blows our plan for a short and  simple route out of the water, plus the timing wasn't exactly awesome for all the different pieces. 

I decided to search Ryanair one more time as they have multiple options into Rhodes from all over Europe.  And low and behold!  A new flight announced from London Stanstead!  So I snapped that up allowing us to fly Dulles to London and then onto Rhodes.  Perfect and Easy.  Bookend the trip with a few nights in London (allowing us to have a couple good Indian meals and wander around one of our favorite cities) and able to bypass Athens and then zip over to Symi on the many ferries that move between Rhodes and Symi each day.

So to sum up the tips:  Start with the big search engines to explore all your direct flight options; then see what low-cost carriers have to offer; don't hesitate to reach out to local travel agents.  A travel agency in Bodrum and Symi both confirmed ferry service timetables for me and cemented my feelings that the fewer ferries, the better.