A few questions before leaving

Created by: sophie1

Next sunday, my family and I will be in Palladium, enjoying a good paella on the beach... but before getting there I have a few questions. We will stay in an Imperial Suite (White Sands) and have some extra perks. For example, I have been said we would have a concierge service. What kind of services can he or she can give us? Restaurants reservations? Excursions booking? We will have 5 guaranteed reservations/ week for à la carte dinners. Do we have to reserve all of them on our arrival or just the day before we want an à la carte dinner? What about the separate check-in? Anyone has experienced it? Is it a special section at the check-in counter or just a marketing gimmick? We'he had such a perk in a Bahia Principe hotel and, with young kids, it was really pleasant! Do you know if suites are equipped with a fan and a screen (window screen)? And, last question, where could I find a picture of the view from a 1st floor suite. I guess it is jungle view but I am curious to see it as 1st floor may be an option for us, being with our 2 kids! That's a lot of questions, but I couldn't find the answer anywhere! Thank you in advance for your replies!

cape cod anne

Posted On: 7/28/2010 at 5:38 pm

Hi Sophie, yes it is easy to get a taxi. they park around there. We did not find the snorkeling very good at Yal Ku but it may have been the day.

Yes, we will enjoy reading about your trip with your 7 yr.old. Have fun! That is a fun age.

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Sophie1

Posted On: 7/28/2010 at 5:26 pm

Yes, I will share my experiences especially since I will be with my 7 years old daughter and this may be of interest to a lot of visitors. I was wondering if it was easy to catch a taxi from Yalku to go back to the Palladium? Like you, I prefer taxi

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threesons

Posted On: 7/27/2010 at 12:24 pm

Sounds like you are doing your homework and your trip is going to be great! You might want to consider the private transfer for the return trip depending on your flight.. you will get some extra time at the resort as those going on the bus have to leave much earlier. With the early flight you will likely be at the resort before check in....they can store your luggage so it is good to think about what you want til your room is ready and be able to take that and leave the rest in the lock up room...there are shower rooms in the lobbies so if you want to freshen up and change for the day you can, put everything in your bags and take a bag for the day. I am pasting your stuff on excursions to remind myself what you mentioned you said Yalku, Tankah Bay (Casa Cenote), Xcarel Beach and Akumal....I have not been to Xcarel beach but heard it is beautiful...also heard that people find the Akumal beach area as beautiful so if time does become an issue you may want to pick one over the other. We just love Akumal, the town is great, you can shop a bit and swim and snorkel there and lots of places to grab a snack or meal also. We did the Lagoon two years ago and actually would not go back unless we went with the kids and the weather was windy...we didn't find that there was anything different there to see that we didn't already see for free in other areas. We did find that the water was quite calm there which is a plus if you have some windy red flag days but want to snorkel. We did travel there by taxi as it is quite a walk and we would have got lost the first time, then also took a taxi back to the public beach area...cost was not much and we wanted to enjoy the day and not be walking etc too much. You can take the collectivo to Akumal from the resort and walk in from the highway but again we are lazy and find the cost not too bad so we take a taxi ourselves. The cenote sounds interesting..that is on our list to do so please be sure to share about your experiences there. If traveling with kids you might want to check out the recent report on the new explor park..people seem to really like that one. Have a wonderful time!

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cape cod anne

Posted On: 7/26/2010 at 4:01 pm

Hi Sophie,

Regarding the boat trips through the Akumal dive shop, the first time we just went out in the Bay which was nice as the guide showed us where to find turtles. We really could have just gone on our own the 2nd time but the girls wanted to take the boat. The 2nd boat trip we took brought us to Yal Ku and then to the deep ocean for awhile before we went back to the Bay. This trip I would not do again. It is easy to snorkel off the Bay on your own and then if you want to go to Yal Ku Lagoon you can rent a golf cart just inside the arches to go down to Yal Ku. I think if we do Akumal again we would do it that way as I didn't like having the girls in the deep ocean (and I was getting a bit nauseous on the boat).Just a suggestion.

Golf cart rental in Akumal

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Sophie1

Posted On: 7/26/2010 at 2:33 pm

Hi, In fact, the imperial suite we booked is a separate bedroom with a living area and there is a difference between junior suite and suite (I've phoned Transat to check). I did not book the extra option for the flight... I should have! Private transfert is a good idea, but my daughters usually sleep during the transfer and the longest it is, the better they are for the rest of this long day (we take off at 7 am!). As fas as restaurants are concerned, I think I will follow your suggestion and reserve Punta Emilia (for the thrill of eating on the beach) and show table at Sumptuori. For excursions,well... I usually prefer the kind of do-it-yourself day trips and thanks to this site I am planning to discover Yalku, Tankah Bay (Casa Cenote), Xcarel Beach and Akumal. I am going to email Akumal Dive Shop about their boat tour. I would like to go to Playa del Carmen (by collectivo?), but I am not sure what to do there with 2 kids (except visiting Ah CAcao Chocolate Café!)... I will post a trip review and give details on concierge services. Thanks for all your good advices.

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threesons

Posted On: 7/26/2010 at 1:36 pm

Hi Sophie, I have also traveled with transat a couple of times...really enjoyed their service on both trips. Did you book the extra option one or plus with your flight...that was really worth it! As you have heard transat calls them imperial suites..it is apparently a section of rooms that transat uses, we were in building 56 on the third floor, loved the room and location. It was a Jr suite with separate bathroom all enclosed, separate shower and big tub. The room was very nice, clean and cool and had a great balcony with a view towards the Colonial building and jungle and then a side view of the coean. Loved the view and hearing all the birds. You do have the option of booking your al la cartes...5 you mentioned with your package. Someone will correct me if I am wrong but you can do this through guest services or at the restaurants...please someone correct me if I am wrong. We never needed to use our reservations as we got into every place we wanted. We decided that we would only book if there was a place we wanted to go which we had trouble getting into, we really liked not having the reservation so we could pick where we wanted to eat and when each night. The beauty of the reservation though is, if it is busy and there is a place you want you and a time you want you can arrange that. I don' think you need to worry about doing this the first day, check things out and see how busy places are and go from there, guest services though are very helpful and if you did encounter any issue your transat rep is in the lobby pretty much each day. They can book excursions also. We never had conseige service..don't recall that in the package but maybe it is just want you did get with luggage service and we did have a separate check in which transat set up and they just deal with the people using them, so it was very fast. We did do a private transfer from the airport though so we arrived on our own and did not have to deal with a crowd of people at check in anyways. I recommend the private transfers....much faster and a nice ride to the resort. We used AGI tours as many here at unofficial do. Hope you enjoy your trip, we will look forward to your report. Enjoy the site, there is lots of helpful tips here and great info that will really enhance your trip. Be prepared to feel lost the first day, the resort is huge but so beautiful, so while you are lost just enjoy where ever you end up! Worked for us. Take good shoes, lots of walking and don't forget your insulated mugs, much better then the plastic cups they have at the bars. The newbie plage here will also really help as you count down til your trip.

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cape cod anne

Posted On: 7/26/2010 at 10:19 am

Hi Sophie,

We have used services from the Akumal Dive Co.twice and never booked in advance.You could always email them if you feel more comfortable.

.Let us know if you do get concierge services.That willbe good for others to know.

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Sophie1

Posted On: 7/26/2010 at 9:46 am

Thanks to all of you for this wealth of information... Ann, your picture is very helpfull and I am going to request a 3rd floor... foliage seems very dense and climbing the stairs will be a good exercice after all these hearty meals!!! The reason I wanted to know about the concierge services is that I don't want to book anything in advance so I would ask someone to phone the company 1 or 2 days before (for example, reserving Akumal Dive Shop's boat tour at the last minute). By the way, the Unofficial activities page is very interesting!

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doglovers

Posted On: 7/25/2010 at 7:01 pm

I have never stayed in the Imperial White Sands, but have stayed in the Royal three times, so I'm only taking a guess on some of these features.

Yes you can book all of your a la carte restaurants when you arrive, or wait until 1pm the day of that you wish to go. But keep in mind that you might not get the restaurant or time that you want if you wait until the last minute.

You will receive slippers and robes in your room, you'll have a turn down service each night as well. That's a really nice feature as they will replace your towels if you have just showered before dinner. Plus they tidy up your bathroom and bed. Nice feature.

I don't believe they would book your excursions as that is something that you do with the different companies in the lobby. Now they can arrange for a taxi if you need, but so can the bellboys.

Have a great trip!!

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cape cod anne

Posted On: 7/25/2010 at 4:03 pm

Hi Sophie,

Here is a picture I took from White Sand building 58. As you can see there is a lot of foliage in front of the building so a first floor would have a jungle view.It is my understanding that the Imperial 'suites' are actually Jr. suites unless you upgraded to a suite.

Imperial guests do get special privileges like ability to book five ala cartes.As Loke said, it is not necessary but if you have specific ala cartes you want to get into at certain times it is best to book ahead. Some such as the Japanese show cooking table and El dorado are more popular than others.

Imperial guests get a different colored wrist band which alerts the staff to your status. I don't think that you would get excursion assistance. Many excursions you can do on your own. As Loke said, check out the activity page here for ideas.

You will get a bell boy to take you to your room and show you how things work. I believe you will also get turn down service and special upgrades upon airport check in and on the plane.

Let us know if we can help further.

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