SITE VISIT REVIEW, dreams cancun [pics]

tlomlad · 02-11-2008, 10:43 PM

okie… so here we are! David & I went for our site visit to Dreams, Cancun on Superbowl Sunday. We departed from Atlantic City, NJ had a layover in Atlanta, Georgia (which is by the way the “busiest” airport in the entire world, like literally) and arrived in SUNNY Cancun @ approximately 11:00 o’clock in the morning.

AIRPORT
Get ready to be ambushed! This really really turned me off. You get about 40/50 people yelled at you in English that is not that understandable. They want you to get a taxi/shuttle from their company versus the next guy so they all yell on top of each other to get your attention. I didn’t sleep through the night cause of our red-eye and I was just not having it.

Dave was fine though… it didn’t bother him much; we went outside and started boozing, lol. Once you get outside there is public transportation options for you as well as arranged pick-up shuttles. To the best of my understanding, Dreams doesn’t have their private shuttle to take people to & from the airport. The shuttles that are available are through companies like… AppleVacations, Expedia etc.

If you haven’t arranged transportation with one of those companies you are on your own. Like us! We had the option of paying $15 USD per person [$12 UDS + $3 USD ‘tax’/ person] for a shuttle [down side… you had to wait for the shuttle to be filled up by others… multiple stops] or paying $59 USD for a cab. The shuttle was fine… we waited like 15 mins. before departing and were the last of three stops.

DREAMS CANCUN
ARRIVAL!
I was getting very anxious on the ride there, the anticipation was CR@ZY. I think that the tourism guide that set us up with the shuttle somehow called Dreams and made them aware of our soon arrival. We exited the shuttle, gave our last name and it was all taken care of already. We had a gentleman by the name of Rafael personally walk us to our room and give us a small tour of the property.

ROOM
Claudia hooked us up. We ended up paying $89 / person / night. We stayed at the Tower on the 11th floor, suite 6113. It was awesome; great balcony view of the gazebo, pool, and private beach. She had a welcome letter laid out for us, thanking us for our business with champagne and a fruit basket. We had turn-down service every night [I didn’t think that I wanted turn down service for my wedding, you know cause it comes with the package, not after having it it’s really nice… they left a rose every night which I thought was a nice touch]. Room service was awesome.

SERVICE
So about that… it was astounding! Every single employee in the entire resort always carried a smile on their face. They were more than willing to help you with whatever you may have needed.

There was an “entertainment team” whos sole purpose is to make sure that you are having a good time. Their activities start as early as 7 ‘clock in the morning with yoga in the gazebo to private tennis lessons in mid-afternoon. [I participated in the water aerobics, very fun but clearly I was out of shape… couldn’t finish the exercise!] If you and two of your friends decided that you wanted to play volleyball but didn’t have enough players, this team would get people pumped up to play and join in. The entertainment team would also plan events to go off and enjoy the Cancun nightlife. While we were there they went to Oasis (on SuperBowl Sunday) women were free, men paid $40 USD, they provided transportation to the club but not back.

What blew Dave and I out of the water was our experience at the Seaside Grill the afternoon that we arrived in Cancun. We sat down for lunch and ordered glasses of champagne. Towards the end of our meal we order shots of Jack Daniels with desert. They were full double shot glasses. A couple of mins later we get up to exit the restaurant and ‘el captian’ [the ma’tro’de] is walking towards us with two more shots of Jack and the bottle of champagne. At this point in time, we knew that we picked the right resort for us…

FOOD
AMAZING! All you can eat anywhere @ anytime. They hold true to their staple ‘unlimited luxury.’ Nothing was ever capped out for us. If you want three appetizers, a soup, one salad, and an entrée they would accommodate you.

The Tower had its own breakfast buffet and it also had snacks and canapés @ five o’clock in the afternoon with cocktails in the lobby. Tower Bar opens at 11:00 and closes at 11:00. Room service was great as well… one thing that I was expecting from a previous review was buffalo chicken wings… they didn’t have them there. But who wants that when you have so many other things to choose from [me!].

Seaside Grill- you have to try their grouper, fantastic! It was my favorite dish in the entire resort. They have the surf&turf there which [according to Claudia] is similar to the one on the Banquet menu for the wedding.

HItmisu- fun presentations… secluded. Good sushi, considering we were in Mexico. [we were there the night of the superbowl… so we were a little absent minded, lol]

Oceana- we went here for lunch. The food was ok… we were a bit tipsy and tired so I don’t think that we were able to enjoy the entire experience as much as we should have. [aka… I was being a bit moody] We did hear that their dinner was amazing.

World Café- It was what any buffet would be. I was pleased to see that the buffet was ‘fully’ stocked at any given time through out the serving. We went to breakfast here the last day… they have much more to offer than the Tower breakfast, they had a fun ‘traditional’ Mexican breakfast station along with your typical breakfast menu items.

Lobby Bar- didn’t have food there but did have lots of drink! Cool place to hang out in the evening time, they have live music 6 out of 7 nights a week from like 8:00/8:30-11:00/12:00.

Swing Bar- we didn’t try the coco locos… for some reason I was always napping in the late afternoon.

ATMOSPHERE
The hotel, as you have probably read before, is a family hotel. Yes, there were kids present but it wasn’t a zoo. The Tower side is mostly reserved for couples, with your private beach and pool there really isn’t any reason to leave, so it gives you the ability to be secluded and romantic. We went to the main pool on afternoon and there were more families and such but still fun.

CLAUDIA!!!
She was as cute as a button. Very sweet and knowledgeable, she has all the answers that everyone is searching for. She has about a wedding a day, rarely two. Last year alone she did 280 weddings. She apparently gets like 300 e-mails a day… God bless her little soul.

She had a folder; in it were some of our previous e-mails, our contract, and the questionnaire. Claudia also had binder and photo album. The binder contained all the pictures for each aspect of the wedding, i.e.: location, decoration, photography&videography packages, flowers, etc.

When picking the menu, we turned to her for some help in the areas that we weren’t sure about. We choose the Gold Menu with the Ultimate Package and she said that the clam chowder was their best soup. Dave is allergic to chocolate [I know, I know… what a shame] so she was able to give us other options for desert.

We bumped into her the day after our meeting in the lobby on our way out to the hotel. She was all smiles and wished us a safe flight home… [I think I’m in love, lol] I was worried about the destination wedding idea but the site visit defiantly put my mind at ease. It was great to finally put a face to the name and to see the grounds.

If you girlies have anymore questions, feel free to ask. I’ll check the thread as often as possible. Now ladies, to what you have all been waiting for… PICS PICS PICS

Yari · 02-11-2008, 10:50 PM

What a great review! Glad to have you back.

tlomlad · 02-11-2008, 10:51 PM

view of gazebo wedding set up from our room

red carpet

INDOOR TERRACE- lobby of Tower building

tlomlad · 02-11-2008, 10:57 PM

pics of outdoor terrace

tlomlad · 02-11-2008, 11:01 PM

more outdoor terrance

the room

it included shampoo&conditioner, mending kit, q-tips, sunscreen 15 SPF, aloe, body lotion, nail filer etc. [room service can provide you with toothpaste]