Informative Review of Aventura Spa Palace

[jamaicamenutts]

Okay...this is the review of Aventura Spa Palace that is jam packed full of information...not quite as fun as the blog type Trip Reports and it doesnt have pictures throughout....however it has so much info in it...I think it is good for someone considering the resort....I wrote this review for TripAdvisor..so no one please jump me lol.

I am going to post a blog with pictures as well, so look for that Trip Report!

PS...Im still loading pictures to my websites...so the links will be added later, or email me and Ill get them to you asap.

My review is too long to fit...so Im going to submit it in little chunks.
____________________

This review is going to be very long, so if you aren’t interested in finding out a lot of information on this resort, don’t bother reading.

I am going to cover my whole trip including transfer company, airlines, and tours we did. However, they are not reflected in the rating of the Resort itself. They are merely for information and recommendations. Just so you know my background, I have stayed at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios, twice. I have stayed at Aventura Spa Palace, twice…once during a hurricane…and I have stayed in millions of places around the USA. I like to think I am very knowledgeable about the places Ive traveled to. I have spent 2 years on TripAdvisor researching and following along with the information on ASP, so I think I am qualified and capable of answering any questions anyone may have. =)

I will try to separate this review into an easy to understand format. I don’t think that I can post websites in this review…so if you want a website for one of the places I’ve listed, please email me (jamaicamenutts@aol.com) and I can send it to you.

My parents don’t use the computer, so I will be adding in tidbits of information that are their ideas/thoughts/input as well.

Stats of Travelers: Ages, 25,28,62,73.

So…for those of you who know me….get ready for the 10 page review! LOL!

Trip Dates: June 16-30, 2008
_____________________

[jamaicamenutts]

Travel Agent: No need for one when you book through a fabulous member, such as Garry. Please email me if you would like his email addy. He helped me in so many ways. We had a free voucher for 3 nights because we were there during the hurricane last year. He went out of his way to set this up for us. He did all of our transportation (info below), he called the resort for me to make room requests…really went above and beyond. Plus, he has one of the lowest personal rates Ive seen anywhere on the net. He was so great we plan to book 2 weeks with him next year.
_____________________
Airlines: USA3000. This airline is absolutely wonderful. I have never been on such an efficient airline. I’ve taken several trips in the last 4 years and no matter which airline we travel it is always delayed or we have some sort of problems. We’ve flown NWA, Southwest, etc. We were actually to our destination EARLY. This airline was really cheap as well. Excellent airline if you are flying from a place that offers it. Note: Meals are $7 per person. They also give you a headset, but your own will work as well. If you lose it you have to pay for a new headset if you want to watch the movie on the way home.
_____________________
Airport: No problem getting through customs but if you push the stop light and it shines red, you have to have your bags searched. We considered ourselves lucky this year, no red light for either us or my parents. Nothing to hide, its just a pain in the butt. My mom gets so nervous about that sorta stuff for no reason. Haha. We didn’t get hassled by land sharks, or anyone else. Straight through to our transfer.
___________________
Transfers: Elite (aka Chaza). Since we booked with a member (see details on booking through a member below) Transfers were included. If you purchase plane tickets through say, Funjet, its included there as well. You can choose which to use, but I would use Elite since they work with Palace. It was a van that could fit probably about 8 people in it total. It was just my mom, dad, hubby and I…no other stops. It was nice. It took about an hour to get to ASP. Our driver didn’t talk to us much, not like last year with Lomas Travel. He told us it would take about an hour and 10 mins depending on traffic at Playa Del Carmen. The ride there was smooth.

The ride back was okay, but we had an early flight home, so the shuttle got us at 6:20am. My parents left on June 23 and we stayed a whole week more. But our flight was the same time as theirs just a week later. Our van was packed. There was barely enough room for all of us. Our carry-ons were crammed on our laps. One man got sick on the way there…but luckily it wasn’t car sick, he was just claustrophobic….so we stopped and he took a deep breath and was okay. Other than that it was okay.
_____________________

[jamaicamenutts]

Hotel: Aventura Spa Palace. This place was truly exceptional. This place blows Sandals out of the water. It even blows its own sister resort out of the water (Playacar Palace).
_____________________
Check In: Smooth. We booked through members, so I thought we were supposed to have some sorta preferred check-in, but we didn’t. We arrived around 11…we’re checked in by 11:10. Since this year we knew pretty much where we were going, we didn’t get stopped by anyone trying to sign us up for the timeshare. We were given cold glasses of champagne, but no wash clothes this year. They were sitting there though so I guess if we wanted them we could have helped ourselves. Since we checked in before 3pm, our room wasn’t ready…we figured that it wouldn’t be which we didn’t really care much about. We wanted to leave our carry-on bags with the rest of our bags, but the bellboy kind of told us to take them with, so we had to lug around our carry-ons/camera bags all over the resort, which was a pain in the butt…I suggest bringing a bathing suit in your carry-on…this way you can still enjoy the swimming and sunbathing. We did that last year but once again we had so much to carry around we didn’t feel like changing.

Anyway, back to the preferred check-in. Apparently there is something do to with this, because there was a snack table set up with a sign that said “Premier Member Check-In”, but pretty much anyone was going and eating the snacks. They also had their own little bar set up too. I couldn’t really tell a special time that this was going on, it seemed to be there anywhere from noon to as late as 8 or 9 at night. So I don’t really know what its for.
_____________________
Room: They had told us to come back at 2pm for our room. At about 1:00 we had waited long enough. We had been up since 3am and we were exhausted from travel and sitting around in the heat with our all our carry-on pieces and what not. I went to the front desk and asked if either of our rooms we ready…my parents room was. I then asked if ours was ready or how much longer it would be…he said to come back at 2pm. They could tell I wasn’t happy…so when I was walking away…a woman came up to me and found us a room. She said it’s a better view than the room we were going to have. My parents had room 3427…3rd Floor…French Horn Building….pretty good view…but not great. Their room did have a hammock and king sized bed. We had room 2408. This room was only 2 rooms down from the room we had last year. While I enjoyed a corner room last year, this room I feel had a better view even though the other room was closer to the ocean. We had a hammock, great view, and a king size bed. Both of these rooms were one of the “updated” rooms because they both had the flat panel tv.

In the room there is a mini-bar. It is included. It is stocked daily and if that isn’t enough you can call and have them stock it again. It is stocked with Dos Equis. Tecate, Canada Dry Club Soda, 7-Up & Sprite, Pepsi, Coke, Pepsi Lite, Coke Lite, bottled water and I think Canada Dry Ginger Ale, but that one I could be wrong on. On our last day there it was also stocked with Sol…which made hubby happy. =)

There is also the liquor tap…4 types of liquor. Rum (Bacardi), Scotch, Tequila (Jose), Brandy. My dad requested to have Captain Morgan to replace the Bacardi but it didn’t happen.

You also get top notch Salon Products in the bathroom. Biosilk Shampoo, Conditioner, Lotion, and Bubble Bath. Plus other things like razors/shaving cream, toothbrush/paste, mouth wash, shower cap, makeup kit, etc. I like to save the toothbrush kit to take home with me because when we take little weekend trips its nice to have the small kit to take with. So I kept stashing these away…but we were also using one as well. Well one day our maid threw out our toothpaste, and I kept asking for more because I didn’t want to break anymore into my stash than I had to…finally after 3 days she finally gave me one! Haha…yes…I did brush my teeth during that time, I just used the one she gave me to replace the one I had to open. Maybe there was a toothbrush kit shortage, I don’t know. Also…we stayed for 2 weeks. I expected to have my BioSilk replaced at the start of the 2nd week…after all, I did pay for 2 weeks….but no…they didn’t replace it….not even when I wrote a note….it took 3 days and extra tips to get more BioSilk products, and even then….they only gave me Lotion and Conditioner…no shampoo. I was slightly disappointed, but whatever…lol. Its not going to stop me from returning.

2 person Jacuzzi in the room is wonderful. I kept adding bubbles because there weren’t any coming up….but once you turn the jets on they come out of no where and are so big. Lol…it was fun.
______________________

[jamaicamenutts]

Internet Service: Internet worked much better this year than last year….with that said though…it still wasn’t perfect. Sometimes it didn’t work. One time we had to go to the lobby to get it to work. We saw several other people down in the lobby at different times with their laptops, so maybe it wasn’t working for them either. But Id say 85-90% of the time it worked just fine. You can purchase mins to use on their computers, I believe its $2.50 for 15 mins, but we didn’t have to do that this time.
Free Phone Calls to USA/Canada/Mexico: Yes its true. They offer them. Apparently you cant call Alaska though…not sure why. Also they say no cell phones, but its apparently just cell phones within Mexico that aren’t included. But I hear it’s a limited time offer, so it may not always be included. Sure was easy to use and great to have though so I hope they keep it!
_____________________
Food: Absolutely wonderful. 7 restaurants to choose from. After 2 weeks, I got really bored/tired of the food. We ate at every restaurant at least once. MoMoNoHana, which was my least favorite last year, came close to my favorite this year. Go Figure. Ill break the restaurants down for those of you who are new to ASP:

MoMoNoHana: Asian food. (No Dress code) Excellent Shrimp Spring Rolls…cant taste the shrimp so even if you don’t like shrimp try them anyways. Dad & Hubby loved the deep fried shrimps. I had the beef tepenyaki (sp?) 3 times and loved it. Hubby loved the sweet & sour pork as did my mom. Dad had the Shrimp Chop Suey and loved it as well. All meals are served with steam and fried rice. NOTE: Because the restaurants have to-go boxes…take advantage of that…we did. We sat in the North Lobby and played cards…at one point my hubby went and ordered 3 orders of the Spring Rolls to-go. We had appetizers while we played cards…it was fun! Oh yeah, and the tempera fried ice cream is great too. (North Lobby)

Ventanas: Buffet Italian/Mixed Food (No dress code) Excellent food here. Make your own Pizza Station and well as make your own Pasta Station. Salad Bar, Dessert Bar, Plus they have other food on their buffet such as ravioli, different meats, cheeses, rice, etc. Loved the food, at here twice. My only complaint is that there is NO air conditioning and NO fans or anything to move the air around. I had to leave the restaurant the 2nd time we ate there and go back to my room after not eating a lot because I felt sick from the heat. Ask to sit by one of the open doors. I am not sure why there is no a/c in here as there was last year, perhaps it was broken while we were there. (South Lobby)

El Greco: Mediterranean/Greek Food. (No Dress Code): Okay food in my opinion. I had a dish that was called Baked Macaronis….which was like a goulash. Personally I think my dad makes better goulash. The view is spectacular, no a/c but the air flows okay. Great Raspberry Cheesecake. Hubby had some sorta steak, he said it was good. Not my favorite, but I’d eat there again. (Free Standing Building on North Side)

Mundaca: Argentina Steak House (No dress code): One of the best places in my opinion. Best steak in the whole resort (ribeye). Corn Cream Soup is to die for. This restaurant features a Salad Buffet as well as a menu. They have great food, such as steak, ribs, and kabobs. Did I mention the Corn Cream Soup is to die for? Haha. We ate here 3 times. Great food…try it. (Free Standing Building on South Side)

La Trattoria: Italian (DRESS CODE): We saw so many people turned away from here for not wearing long pants. Come on people….read your map! Anyways….Lasagna…once again, the best I’ve ever had. Ate there twice. Parmesan Cream Soup is another to die for…Hubby & Dad both had some kind of steak on the menu both loved it. The Minestrone soup is also good. Chocolate Gondola…great dessert. (North Side, not quite the lobby, but near it)

[jamaicamenutts]

La Hacienda: Mexican: (DRESS CODE): Quite possibly one of the best places in the whole resort, in my opinion. I shied away from this place last year…didn’t eat there once. Nothing sounded good, I don’t like anything too spicy…so I got afraid to eat here. Decided to be brave and try it this year….sooo glad I did. I ate there twice! The chicken enchiladas were awesome….loved them. The Melted Cheese appetizer….awesome….the Strawberry Frozen Margaritas are the BEST ones on the whole resort at this restaurant. Chips/Salsa/Guac….its just awesome…and the Mexican atmosphere is great. Mariachis sing as well…it’s a real treat…..get your pic taken by the photographer if you can (see section below). (South Lobby)

La Huerta: California Light (DRESS CODE)….I am not sure what the California Light actually is…but their food is great. I had the Mushroom Raviolis and they were good. Once again hubby & dad had steak…they loved them. Food is good, but not the most memorable of restaurants. (North Lobby)

Now everything I mentioned above was for Dinner. For lunch while we were there the options were El Greco and Mundaca…both buffet. Options for Breakfast were MoMoNoHana, El Greco or Mundaca….all buffet. Also for Lunch…they were doing something different….La Trattoria was open with no dress code…for Pizza and Beer. Awesome pizza let me tell you! I hope they keep this cuz it was great.
You also have the pool bar options that serve things like sandwiches, nachos, pizza, etc. Which is good as well. Or there is 24 hour room service. The menu has shrunk since last year…Im guessing not many people are ordering it, except at night maybe? The night menu is so small, it didn’t even seem good after the first time we ordered it. They only have 3 choices…maybe 4 on it after I think 10pm. Plus it takes 45 mins to get. But it’s a nice feature.

Note: Restaurants are first come first serve. You cant make reservations unless you are a VIP Member. But they really weren’t necessary both times we were there. We stayed in August, we had no waits. Now we’ve stayed in June and we’ve had no waits. Maybe during busier times of the year this would be a problem, but never while we were there.

SUGGESTION: This is a suggestion for the resort. I think that there should be “bar” food served at the bars in the evening. Such as onion rings, potato skins, popcorn, mozzarella sticks, etc. It would be nice to have “snacks’ to sit and munch on while drinking, watching tv, and playing cards at night.
______________________
Drinks: I never met a drink I didn’t like here. Miami Vice seemed to be my drink of choice this year. Khalua Colada was good, but not as good as Id hoped. You can go wrong with any drink at ASP…and if you do find one you don’t like…order another. The Sangria was also good as well as the bumble bee shots as well as margaritas….the list goes on. My mom isn’t a big drinker and she even loved the drinks there.
______________________

[jamaicamenutts]

Sweet & Coffee Shop: The first week we were here…we literally ate here every night. We met a little waitress named Lorena. If you see her, say “Hi” for me! She loved my family. Sometimes she works in the North Lobby Bar at night. There are so many desserts to choose from here. Don’t forget to look in their spinning dessert cabinet cuz it is great…these things that look like chocolate cups…are great. The Mexican Crepe is awesome as well as many others. They have all kinds of ice cream cups. Definitely eat here more than once.

They also have breakfast type foods in the morning. More of a gourmet type breakfast with croissants, bagels with salmon, etc. It was good, but not that filling. I believe they are open until noon.
Dress Code: This is one thing that ticks me off….why cant people just FOLLOW the dress code? Its long pants for men…they say jeans are okay…I wish that rule would be removed because I think men should wear dress pants or at least khakis. You pay a lot of money to go there…you can dress like your going some place better than Old Country Buffet. But anyways….long pants for men, collared shirts, close toed shoes. No Tank tops…Women can wear pretty much whatever, as long as its not a swim suit. We saw men turned away left and right for wearing shorts to the restaurants with dress codes…
*Sandals were not turned down…not for men or women. Some men had on flip flops…they still got in. We also saw some men in T-Shirts instead of collared shirts. Maybe the dress code is relaxing a bit…but I hope not.

Pools: Huge. Clean for the most part. I say for the most part because we did notice later in the day that there was a sun screen scum close to the edges of the pool, also at times there were objects floating in the water…but people were constantly going around with little nets scooping things up. North Pool was quieter but seemed to be more crowded. The people weren’t loud, but more of them. The south pool is larger and was less crowded but the few people in there made way more noise than all the people in the north pool combined. More pool games are played in the south as well. Louder music too.

Pool Service: VERY Shotty. Usually we didn’t have very good pool service. My hubby said one day while I was at the spa he received good service, but usually we were ignored. Several times people got up and left before their drinks came back because it took them so long.
*A note on Bubba Kegs. We brought ours last year and when you’re at the bar, they seem to have no problem filling them. However, we made the mistake of asking one of the wait staff to fill them and I think it was too much for them to carry because they really did ignore us…even after we stopped using them. We saw people with mugs bigger than ours…but maybe they were going to the bar to get them filled. Or maybe other people tipped better….but we never even received service we felt was worth tipping…not at the pools anyways.

__________________
Gift Shops/Jewelry Store: Tons of items at the gift shop. Better prices here than at some of the stores in Playa. They have a 4 for $20 section and now they have a 3 for $30 section. Good stuff. We bought a lot of t-shirts. They have other things like chips, chocolates, bathing suits, hats, books, magazines, pool rafts, etc. Pretty much anything you could want or need. 10% off if you are a member or book through one. That saved us a lot of money.

Jewelry store. Expensive. That’s all I can say. Nice stuff but expensive. They do wheel and deal with you though, but still expensive.
____________________
Staff at ASP: These are the nicest people I know. Monica in guest relations is awesome. Lorena at Sweet & Coffee was great. Oscar at Ventanas. So many great people. I cant say enough about the staff and their kindness and attention to detail and love for making every guest happy.

One more thing about the guest service at this resort….I had emailed the resort before I left home with an inquiry about their new zip line tour….no one ever got back to me…when we checked in….it was either the day we checked in or the next day, we had a message on our machine in our room telling us the answer to my question that I had EMAILED to them. Pretty cool huh? I thought so.
___________________
House Keeping: Tip these people. They work hard. Also, don’t treat them like your personal servants. Don’t be a pig just because you know someone will clean up after you. Especially if your not going to tip them. They are the lowest paid employees and have one of the grossest jobs in the whole resort. Tip them.
__________________
Towel Cards: This resort has towel cards. You lose them you pay for them. Don’t lose them. They aren’t so bad to use…just be sure to get your towel card back.
____________________

[jamaicamenutts]

Tours: XCARET: We chose to do the regular admission to Xcaret. It was $62.10 purchased at a 10% discount from the website before we left. We felt the park was nice, but it was hot. It is a glorified zoo with less animals…lol. It was fun though and we had a great time/ One of my favorite memories is of the men who stand around with the parrots who they have trained to lay on their backs. They are all over this park. We walked by one and he threw the bird in my arms, snapped a picture and we were on our way. I wanted to buy the picture but apparently it got lost or something cuz they didn’t have it….anyways….we walked by another one and the guy told my mom…”Hold it…don’t worry….it No Poopy.” We died laughing…and it was our joke throughout the rest of the trip and even now….”It no poopy”….Our other memory of this trip is from the aquarium. They had a sea cucumber in the water and the woman let us touch it. I am not lying when I saw this thing looked like a giant turd. It was even slimy. We didn’t want to touch it but the woman insisted…”touch it….come on….touch it…” so for the rest of our trip…the two funny sayings got combined….”Touch it….it no poopy”….especially since the sea cucumber looked like poo. Anyways…it was one of the funniest parts of our trip….and we will remember it forever.
I don’t know that I’d go back to Xcaret…it was fun, but expensive and very hot.

DOLPHIN DISCOVERY: This was my 2nd trip to Dolphin Discovery. I decided to bring my dad back this year. Aventura Spa is offering a special…buy 1…get one ½ price. We didn’t know this at the time. So we booked through their website, live chat. We paid $149 per person for the Royal Swim. They had a promotion for free manatee swim with a 3pm Royal Swim Booking. So, that is what we did. Boy were we surprised…they gave us a little peak with the Sea Lions free too. It was great. We got to hug/kiss a sea lion and get our picture taken. I also got to swim with a baby manatee. I loved it. Definitely worth the money. Since this review isn’t about dolphin discovery, please email me if you have any specific questions.
Taxi ride to DD from ASP is $7 each way. Or non-swimmers can use the Dolphin Discovery shuttle for $5 per person roundtrip…be sure to book this with your swim…we tried to do that and then there wasn’t enough room for my hubby & mom so they took a taxi. We ended up all taking a taxi back because we didn’t feel like waiting around for the bus.
*Pictures/Video: They will try to charge you an arm and a leg for these. I suggest purchasing the pictures and ONLY the pictures that you really want. The video is maybe 5 seconds of you and the rest of the other people in your group. I felt it really wasn’t worth the large sum ($50+) for the video. The pictures can at least be displayed. Which they charge a lot for them as well…also if someone isn’t doing the swim they can usually get some pretty good pix of you from the marina. And they don’t allow water cameras.
__________________
Timeshare: We were not bothered to do this. Neither were my parents. They asked us once, and we never heard from them again. We thought about doing it cuz we wanted to become members, but didn’t see the benefit in it as long as we can purchase weeks through a member.
_________________

[jamaicamenutts]

Spa/Hydrotherapy: One word….AWESOME. Do a spa treatment while you’re there. Hubby didn’t do the spa, but he used the hydrotherapy room. He loved it. Since we booked through members, we had free use of it whenever we wanted.

Spa Treatments/Salon: I had a couple of both. I did the free 25 min back massage for members. It was my first ever massage and I didn’t want to seem like a prude telling them I wanted a female therapist, so I took whatever they gave me…and I got a male therapist. Lol. That’s okay, Wilmur did an EXCELLENT job…it was a great massage… Note to those of you who are fearful of massages due to the nudity factor. I was too, especially because Im a person carrying around a few extra pounds and feel very self conscious. You don’t have to be 100% nude for this. I was, simply because I didn’t know what to do and I was told to just go nude…but you could easily wear a bathing suit bottom or panties. They don’t do anything with your bottom area. Your chest is under you, so he cant see anything and the rest of you is covered with a blanket. No big deal. Plus, the therapist leaves the room while you get laid down and what not. Very nice and relaxing. I also had extra spa money due to booking through a member. It was a promotion where I got $100 towards the spa. With this I purchased the Invigorating Leg & Foot Massage. I wouldn’t call it invigorating….lol. I am posting a list of the spa services & prices in one of my online albums, please look for it if you are interested. The leg massage was $57. I am glad it wasn’t my cash that paid for it because I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the back massage. I had a female therapist for the leg massage, I don’t know if that makes a difference or not.
Salon: I had my mani & pedi that is included in the member package. They were okay. Luisa did a good job with my nails since I don’t really have any (bad habit of biting them)…then she gave me a cute French manicure on my toes and I still have it…its been close to 3 weeks since I had it done.
I then went back with my left over spa money and purchased acrylic nails. I’ve had them in the past, done cheaply at one of those Asian nail salons. So, I was thinking these were going to be some pretty awesome nails since they were way more expensive and done at a “Spa.” Nope. They would have cost $47 and they were the worst set of acrylic nails Id ever had. The service took 114mins to complete…it was a waste of sun and drinking time. Lol. They looked okay from afar, but if you looked closely they weren’t done well. I decided on a French manicure, I told her I didn’t care if she wanted to try something fancy…she added glitter to the acrylic so its actually set right in the nails. It looked really pretty. The nails were way too long by the time I came home. I had them done on a Saturday and left Monday. From the time the woman completed them they looked as though they needed to be filled. They just weren’t nice at all. I recently went to get them filled here at home for $14 at one of the little salons I was talking about earlier and they are gorgeous.
Don’t waste your money on the acrylic nails. If your getting married there, get them done the day before you leave. Its cheaper and they look nicer.
__________
What to pack: Once again…I way over packed. I was going for 2 weeks so I thought I needed to bring a ton of clothes. Nope…don’t need them. My hubby packed almost perfect, he did re-wear some things, but he didn’t have a bunch of left over clothes. I think he had 1 dress shirt left. I packed way too many bathing suits, dresses, and general clothes. I always say you need to bring a couple bathing suits because otherwise they don’t fully dry and it can cause bad things to happen to us ladies. Probably 2-3 for the week is plenty, and the most important thing is the bottoms to have to rotate. I suggest getting tops & bottoms that are mix & match so you can have different bathing suits. Next year maybe Ill get the right combo of clothing down. You just don’t need a lot of clothes when you wear bathing suits every day. Men, read the dress code note above, make sure you bring some clothes for the restaurants with codes.

Remember you don’t have to pack shampoo/conditioner or any other bath items because ASP provides them. Unless your like me and need special soap or something.
Also…someone has asked in the past if the soap is bar or liquid. The soap in your room will be bar. However, if you have access to the hydrotherapy room the soap there is liquid. You can bring one of those travel bottles for liquids (purchase at Walmart for less then $1.) then fill it at the hydrotherapy room to use in your room. OR…if you have access to the hydrotherapy room on a daily basis you could always shower there. =)
Beach/Lagoon: Okay…Okay….ASP doesn’t have a “true” beach. This should be of no surprise to anyone who does proper research as it is stated right on the Palace Resort website not to mention the bazillion posts on TA about the lagoon. First things first….yes….its a man made lagoon….BUT there are fish, it has sand, you can see/hear waves…what more do you need? You can even take a nice walk down the sandy pathways…however; you will not feel waves crashing at your feet. Not really a Big deal. If you consider all the great things ASP has to offer I can promise you that the Lagoon will be an awesome substitute for the “real” beach. Plus, you can always go to Playacar Palace and use their (dirty) beach. Lol. Or go to Playa Del Carmen and swim in their (beautiful) beach. Its up to you, but you can easily get your beach fill in the lagoon at ASP…oh yeah and you can rent snorkels and kayaks for free….

[jamaicamenutts]

Note about TripAdvisor: I love TripAdvisor. You can get any piece of information you could possibly want on there. You can also meet a lot of awesome people. But PLEASE when you are reading reviews, keep in mind that a lot of things are people’s opinion. I try to make my reviews as much fact as possible, but of course there are things that are my opinion stated. Please thing about what is being said and see if it applies to you. This applies to the forum posts as well.
___________
A few extras:
Towel Cards: $20 to replace
Wrist Bands: $75 to replace
Safe: Now electronic and VERY easy to use. You make up your own password, so no one else knows it and you don’t have to memorize some made up number either.
Kitchen Tour: This is a must DO. Its free, it takes about 2 hours, but its worth it. You learn so much about the resort and how it functions. You can ask any questions you want. Monica was the person who did our tour, she was there last year, and she provided us with so much info. She also answered any possible question you could think of, down to health benefits of employees, etc. For anyone who has ever THOUGHT that a maid has stolen from them…think again. Each and Every employee has to go through security before entering and leaving the resort. It would be virtually impossible for them to get through with anything of value…their bags are searched and they go through metal detectors. So unless they are stealing items and selling them to the guests…I wouldn’t worry about employees of the resort stealing from you. Also, if you ever thought that the food may be unsafe to eat…think again. There is no way you are getting sick from this food. It goes through so many stages to get to your plate to ensure that it is prepared correctly and safe for the eating…so it would be pretty unlikely that you got sick from the food…unless it was something sitting out on the buffet for too long, which I doubt would happen anyways. We only had one problem with something like that happening and that was with cream from the bar.
Go do the kitchen tour…it wont hurt you to learn something while your on vacation…plus you get to keep the apron! =) and get some ,pretty funny pix of your family wearing hair nets.
_______________
Shows/Entertainment: There isn’t a lot of nightly entertainment. They have shows each night, but they are generally done by 11pm. They do have the disco where you can go drink and dance and do karaoke on certain nights. Also the Thai Lounge is open late. Not a lot to do, but its enough. We saw just about every show offered….the best were the Fire Show, Mayan Show and Brazilian Drummers….worst was the Circus Show. I have video/pictures from most of these if you are interested in seeing them.
Booking through a Member: I booked through 2 different members for this trip. One was a week stay for my parents. The other was an 11 night paid stay with 3 free nights for the hubby & I. The person I booked with was awesome. He helped in so many ways. I know Im repeating this, but its worth it. He was truly fabulous. He was also easy to get into contact with WHILE we were at ASP if we had questions. The other person we booked with was good…but not quite as knowledgeable of ASP or their membership. Which was okay, because she has the cheapest rate Ive seen anywhere…but anyways.

These are the benefits you get when booking through a member who is current and offers all the member benefits:
• 1 free manicure (per person)
• 1 free pedicure (per person)
• 1 free 25 min back massage (per person)
• 10% off in the gift shops
• 20% off spa treatments
• Free Roundtrip Transportation from/to airport through Elite Travel
• Some members include golf (this member didn’t)
• Sometimes there are specials, like $100 Spa credit, ask the member you book with.
• You save close to $1,000 by booking through a member instead of a Travel Agent/Online Booking Agent.
• You pay your money directly to Palace with the exception of the Members small fee (varies per member).
• You get to wear a member bracelet (not that it really gives you anything special…just the discounts)
• VIP Members have the ability to make restaurant reservations.
• You still get the Palace Passport
• There may even be more Im forgetting. =)

If you have any questions about booking through members, please feel free to contact me as I have done it before and will do it again. I wouldn’t hesitate doing it at all. Just be smart about where you find the person from and how they make you pay, etc. If you would like the email address of the person I booked through, please feel free to email me or message me on TA.
Professional Photographers: They have them! I didn’t see them last year, but this year they are taking people’s pictures at sunset. You simply make an appointment with the photographer and meet him in the south lobby at 6:50pm. He takes you and a group of other people out to the lagoon where he takes pictures of you. Then you can pick them up after 10pm the same day. He takes 6 pictures and you can pick 4 for $30. We decided we wanted all 6 so he gave them to us for $40. Not a bad deal. We’ve done similar things to this at Sandals Resorts and paid over $200 for 6-8 pix.

Also, the same guy comes around and takes pictures at La Hacienda. It looks stupid…but DO IT. He charges $15 for 2 pix. They are silly and cute but a great keepsake.
Both the pix from La Hacienda and the Prof. Pix are in my online albums if you wish to see them let me know.

Finally after a LONG LONG LONG review….. I think I have said all I have to say. If I said I was going to say something up above and never said it… just email me and Ill try to remember what it was…lol.

Just remember to have a good time. Don’t take things too seriously. If you aren’t able to relax and try new things…don’t go to ASP…matter- a- fact don’t go anywhere…stay home. Remember why you are there…to have fun, relax, whatever your reason for being on vacation maybe. ASP will do their best to make it that way for you.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or send me a message on TripAdvisor.
Jamaicamenutts at aol.com …I hope I didn’t forget anything.

I have tons of albums of pictures (I took 3,000+), but TA doesn’t allow posted links. So please email me if you would like to see them. I have also scanned in several documents from ASP, including the bus schedule, entertainment schedule, the free phone call card, etc. I also have pix from the Prof Photographer and Dolphin Discovery. Plus Tulum and Playa Del Carmen. Please email me for the albums. =)

Also, I think TA deletes your old reviews when you post a new one. So, if you would like to read last years Trip Review from ASP including information about Hurricane Dean, please email me and I can send it to you in an email or word document.

One last note. I have a blog with day to day journaling of my trip from last year and this year. If you wish to read my blog/journal please email me for the links to that as well =)

Okay, that’s it….for real….go to ASP….you’ll love it! =) Returning the first 2 weeks of July 2009 and looking for new friends to meet there! Any takers? =)

PS...there are an abundance of Cats/Kittens at this resort. Dont be afraid to feed them...There are baby kittens in the Tescmal Garden...SOO CUTE...and there is a beautiful long haired kitty that hangs out by the obstcale/rock climbing wall...and a black kitty with some white thats near there too...and several others...please use the To-Go boxes from the buffets and get food to give them...they are hungry and appreciate it. =) See my pix to see pix of the babies.

Jamaicamenutts at aol.com

Okay here is a link to all my web albums from this year and last...and there may be some every day ones that arent trips there too...but you can look at what you want. I am STILL loading to all of the albums, so check back or dont go look yet...Im hoping to have it done by the end of this week....its taking FOREVER!!

Picasa Web Albums - Jessica

[jamaicamenutts]

The End

[Nick and Nora Charles]