Tides Riviera Maya booked for honeymoon

[KLila]

Last minute booking at we are staying at the Tides May 25-June 3rd. We plan to spend a lot of time in PDC. Would love to meet any other fellow BDW brides for a drink. PM if you are interested and we should meet up. WE are renting scooters to get around town and back/forth from resort.

 

So excited.

 

Will anyone be at the Tides when we are there?

 

KLila

[Ayita]

Just back from the Tides ! We spent a week there, after spending a week in the hotel we got married at.

 

Before beginning, let me say that despite the little minuses (see below), we had a great time ! It was the perfect honeymoon. I would do it again the same way if I had to start it over with.

 

First, this is the perfect place for honeymooning : private bungalows with private patio and private pool lost in the jungle... huge suspended (so they can rock) beach-beds... little tables for two around the pool at night... of course not many people due to the flu hype thing... not to mention the staff that will do everything to make you feel comfortable. We had dinner several nights in our bungalow, two nights by the pool. One night we had the romantic dinner on the beach (unforgettable). And one night they set-up a table just for us two up in the lounge (they had forgotten about our dinner on the beach... but they will do it anyway if you ask).

 

Food was exceptional (and I know this is Mexico but darn ! Try the burger !!!!). We did the Mayan cooking class, nice couple experience with the chef, food - OK but not the best I had (maybe because I cooked it lol). DH had a blast closing the mayan oven (basically, putting dirt to the sides of the wooden panel laid on top of the banana leaves to air-seal the oven). DH likes to play with dirt Anyway we liked the food so much that we did not go back to have dinner in Playa at all !!! And we even ordered 3-course dinners, which ends up really expensive... but hey, it's not your honeymoon every year !!

 

The Spa is great. The place is fantastic, to start with. We were a bit disappointed by the Asparamor massage (I preferred the massage by the beach done at the other hotel) ; but I did the holistic and it was AWESOME. We also did the Temazcal ritual. If you want to be in contact with nature and you're not afraid of hot, very hot steam rooms, do it... We loved it.

 

The plus, our TA had mentioned this was our honeymoon and we got upgraded to Royal (ie, butler service) and the maids always spread our room with flower petals and did some nice stuff with the towels (swans, hearts, etc). Not sure if they do that on the luxury service or if you're not on honeymoon ? But they did it for us for sure.

 

The minuses :

 

- the road is HORRIBLE. I mean it. We had a pretty bad driving to the hotel we got married at, but compared to the road that goes to the Tides, it was sweet and soft. First you get to go along the paved road, full of speed breakers. Then you hit the dirt road. A bit bumpy, but OK. Then you turn left as if you were going to the Azul Fives / Petit Laffite, and this is where it gets really bad. Holes and rocks and dirt all along. The entrance was actually moved when they built the Fives. I think they are rebuilding a road (I saw tons of brickes alongside the road) but it will take some time... DH said he would definitely ride it on a scooter though.

 

- the mosquitoes. They had a blast with me... Well, you're in the jungle and so it's a mosquito paradise specially if they have fresh meat. The hotel provides with citronnella candles and spray at night and they do have mosquito repellent everywhere but it's not enough. We went to Walmart (remember that you cannot carry insecticides through customs...) and bought the whole line - spray Baygon casa y jardin (house and garden), mosquito repellent spirals, electric mosquito repellent for the room (with the liquid)... even with that, it was a war. We used our water guns when we got tired of spraying We also tried to make friends with the lizzards we saw but it did not work out well. The mosquito netted door was always closed...

 

- the service is... not constant. The day to day stuff is great. The waiters, the spa people, the maids... great. The things that are actually done are also great. But ask for things that are a bit out of the ordinary and wait and see... For instance : I left a CD with the video music at the reception for our videographer (I had forgotten to give it to her). When she came to pick it up, 5 hours later, it was nowhere to be found. They had to come get us out from dinner, they looked for it everywhere... nothing. It took them 3 days (3 days !) for them to get the CD to the office of my videographer. Dinner on the beach : they just forgot it ! Glad we did not program it for the last day !! They put it up the next day and it was so awesome, really, but what with forgetting it ? Bookings at the Spa : wrong hour, and booked for 2 instead of one... We wanted to go to Hidden Worlds. I mentioned it. They said they would book it for us. I said yes OK I can do it myself but let's get pampered. The day before we left, I called them because I had not heard of them, and, oh no, they could not book for us (but did not let me know), so I finally got on the computer and did it myself... So really, if you ask for things, follow up !!! If you follow up it will be OK.

 

On a money note : everything at the resort is expensive, except for the laundry ! However, the quality is almost always there, and I have to say that they did not charge us with everything every day. For instance, we would get a few drinks and find out two of them (one each) were not charged (it happened several times). We have not used the travel agency at all, but I read that this is where it's the most expensive.

 

Hope you have fun there !!

[ACA Amy]

We also just got back Friday from our honeymoon at The Tides. We spent the first week at Moon Palace and the last 3 nights at Tides. I agree with most of what Ayita said- we were actually there at the same time! The road in is horrible- we weren't sure where they were taking us that first day! I understand it's because there is a lot of construction going on in the area- but it really is bad! The construction also woke us up 2 of the 3 mornings we were there. The third morning we got up early to go to the cenotes, so we missed the construction.

 

Mosquitos and bugs were also a problem. Again, you are in the jungle, so I guess we should have expected it, but I guess my thought is that if you are spending that much money, you should have to worry about finding bugs and spiders in your room.

 

The food is really good. We had one dinner by the pool- very romantic and private! It was a little windy, but it was too pretty to want to leave! They knew we were on our honeymoon, so we also had the rose petals every day- and even got a complimentary couples massage. The spa there is amazing! We wanted to get another massage but ran out of time. (We did have a similar experience where we called the Spa after they were gone for the day and left a message with our "butler" to schedule massages 2 days later for 10 am. We never heard back the following day and assumed it was OK. I called the night before our treatments and they told us they couldn't do it for the time we asked. The only time they could was at 3 (it was the day we were leaving and were getting picked up at 2). I explained that to them and asked why they didn't leave us a message to tell us that 10 wasn't going to work. They didn't really say anything, but ended up allowing us to come in at 11:30 that morning. It ended up OK, but definately follow-up if you ask them for something!

 

We had arranged for a cab to take us to the airport Friday afternoon. He had driven us all around the few days we were there (his wife works at the hotel) and was going to charge us $50 to the airport. The hotel charges $120! The day we checked in they asked us when we were leaving and we told them what time our flight was. We didn't realize until the day we were leaving that they set up a car service for us and had added $120 to the check-out bill! We told them we had a cab coming and they said their driver was already on the way and was going to charge them a fee even if we cancelled. They brought the price down to $60 and said they would call our cab guy and cancel for us. We felt bad cancelling on him since he was so great the other times we needed him- but it was worth the $10 extra dollars to ride in a brand new Expedition rather than a beat up cab! So my advise is to book a cab- or tell them you are and see if they'll drop their prices- $120 is ridiculous to pay for a ride to the airport!

 

I think I mentioned already that the food was really good. We actually had 2 dinners in Playa del Carmen since we had never been before, but we had lunch everyday at the resort. The first day there I ordered these crispy crab enchiladas. They were delicious! I had to have them everyday- we even made the driver wait while I got some before taking off to the airport!

 

All in all, this is a beautiful resort! I wish we were there longer. 3 nights was not enough- especially since we went into town and took an all-day excursion to some cenotes one day. The service is great- everyone goes out of their way to make sure you have everything you need. It probably helped that we were there with only 4 or 5 other rooms booked so it really felt like we had the place to ourselves most of the time.

 

One cool thing our driver told us was that Bill Gates was recently there for 2 weeks. Pretty cool considering he can pretty much stay anywhere he wants and he chose The Tides! (I'm assuming he took his yacht in and out to avoid the bad roads, though)!

 

**On a side note- Ayita, I saw you and your husband returning from your TTD one day. You guys were coming back with your photographers and we passed you on our way to our room! I recognized you from your cake topper! (And the fact that I knew you were going to be there the same time as we were and we had pretty much recognized all the other guests by then)! I never saw you guys again or I would have said hi- but congratulations!!!

 

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! Enjoy!

[Ayita]

Amy I did not know you were there ! Sorry I missed you...

 

Well we were not bothered by the construction, I guess our bungalow was far enough from it (#16).

 

The massage... same story for me ! I asked for a 10 am on the same Friday, they said they couldn't and I got a 1pm instead !

[KLila]

REally quick... We are at The Tides now on our honeymoon and if anyone is looking for the most amazing place to honeymoon, this place is worth it. WOwzer... I will update next week...