gold23

Maybe a more general question about Mayakoba, but what do people generally do for transit from/to Cancun and maybe a trip or to into Playa del Carmen? We're arriving this week to the Fairmont on the AI plan and can't seem to get an answer from hotel on recommendations for transfers (maybe I'm asking wrong people??).

BeantownFlyer

My preference is to rent a car. It's an expensive ride to and from the airport unless you do a shared service and the car gives you the freedom to go out to dinner nightly without having to find and pay for taxis. Parking is free at the hotel as long as you are a presidents club member (and if you are not join for free)

The hotel concierge can book transfers for you though. Call or email. Or book yourself through martitur.com which is who the hotel uses I believe.

Duffman

Stayed here early Feb. I hired Cancun Valet for my transfer. Reliable, responsive outfit for decent price. Was $125 rt for a private car, I upgraded to SUV for $150 rt. We went into PdC one day. Fairmont can call a local cab for you and you can easily find a cab back. If you are going to use this route, I'd recommend you get some pesos at the airport. Prices in USD were ~ 40% costlier.


Btw, you have an amazing vacation coming up at an excellent resort. Please do find the time to do the boat tour. If you talk to Sylvia, the FPC rep, and tell that baby Ari from NYC said hello to her, you'll make her day.

I just returned from an amazing stay at this hotel and am very happy to reminisce

gold23

Thank you! We're excited...we're going down with friends and have heard nothing but wonderful things about this resort. I'll keep a look out for Sylvia!

Btw, we're trying to plan for dinner (party of 9, so assume we need to book our times) and while the concierge is cheerful in email communications, it seems like the simple requests are taking a bit long. Wonder if there is some language barrier that is causing....

curl

We have a Signature Casita booked at the Mayakoba. Can anyone recommend the best room location or areas to stay away from? We are looking for quiet but not far from pools, etc.

Kendryk

Signature casita is a very good choice. It will be between the Lobby Lounge/El Puerto area and La Laguna/main pool area, within a 5 min walk to either one. The signature casitas also face the lagoon, which means they're nice and quiet - unlike the deluxe casitas, which may face the path where people/golf carts roam. The beach will require a bike ride or golf cart ride to get to. Golf carts come by all the time, you'll almost never have to wait more than 2 mins for one.

I don't think you will need to request a particular area of the resort. Signature casita rooms will always be situated better than deluxe casita rooms. Beach area casitas are another category up, so you likely won't be placed there unless you get an upgrade.

curl

Glad to hear that! I did request the upper floor as I greatly dislike ground-floor rooms. I'm hoping that our early arrival (around noon) and Premier status will help with that.

Could we use a room upgrade to move to the Beach Area Casita or is that considered a special room? My understanding is that the BAC's are all ground-floor units though, if that is the case, I would not do it.

gold23

Just returned from a 6 night stay. First of all, you'll obviously love it. I was impressed with the property, quality of rooms, food, and attempts at service. I only say attempts at service because there are a few inefficient areas where they are properly staffed but somehow aren't as seamless as I've seen in the higher end Fairmont properties stateside. But....that's a complete nitpick in a wonderful resort.

My $.02? The beach area rooms are great and obviously extremely convenient to the beach. BUT....that's really the only thing they're convenient to. You have the beach, the small but stunning infinity pool, and Brisas. If you are going solely to bask in the sun on the beach, these are great options. As a family of 5, we spent a few hours on the beach each day, a few hours at the pool, and most of our evenings in the main resort area. We also used the spa and enjoyed drinks on the terrace off of the lobby most evenings. For those purposes, our signature casita was PERFECT. We had a second floor casita that was exactly midway between the main pool area and the lobby. It was a 2 minute walk to breakfast, the main pool, Laguna, El Puerto, the lobby, the main bike center, etc. We grabbed a bike each morning and rode 5 minutes to the beach, catching a golf cart on the return a few hours later.

There was one night where there was a corporate event in the lawn area adjacent to our unit, but it was over by 10:30. A couple that was staying by the beach actually complained that the evening beach events were loud on two of their nights. That being said, this is a very quiet resort. I think that is mostly the case due to the spread out property and relative lack of neighbors compared to a standard hotel, but the thickness and quality of the rooms is noticeable.

Lastly, while the carts are convenient, it could occasionally be annoying. You're on the "local" from the main area to the beach, and often it took 10-15 minutes to get there if we left between the heavy beach-going hour of 9-10 am. They have the carts lined up by the main area of the lagoon, and we'd have liked to see them dispatch a few more during the busy morning hours.

curl

I'm super late in posting this, but we spent 5 days at the Fairmont Mayakoba in early April. Still working on a full trip report, but we loved it.

The food and drink were amazing, spacious pools with lots of places to lounge, eat and drink and a nice stretch of beach with lots of toys (SUP boards, kayaks, catamaran, volleyball, etc.) to play with.

We were in the 300's, closer to the lobby area than the beach, but a very central location. We only used the carts once or twice because the walk to and from the beach was great - jungle and mangroves, with birds, monkeys and coatis around every corner. The carts would *always* stop to see if we needed a ride, I guess they aren't used to seeing many people wanting to walk.

The spa was great too. We had some rain, so spa was a good way to pass the time.

I'd say my main knock on the place was the big corporate event that took over the entire adult pool area all day on 1 of the 3 sunny days we had there. We are still pretty young but the blasting music (while having lunch at La Laguna) made me feel like we were in Cancun, not at the Fairmont.

I can't wait for our next visit...

gold23

I think the only minor complaint we had was the corporate "takeovers" that they seemed to have in some of the main areas. Most 4/5 star resorts are good at keeping their corporate events somewhat out of the way or under the radar. Not at the Fairmont- it's front and center and everybody else takes a back seat. Again, a minor inconvenience, but it is off-putting for a few hours here and there.

curl

@Gold23, I agree! And this wasn't a little gathering by the pool. The DJ was so loud, it was impossible to talk while eating outside, even on the far opposite side of La Laguna. And the entire adult pool area closed for the day (our pool of choice).

Silvercity

I have personally been to this resort 11 times. It is our favourite place to go for a beach holiday. We stay in Fairmont around the beach. We have breakfast and lunch here but our dinners our at the Banyon Tree or the Rosewood. They are far and away much better restaurants and resorts. I have not been back to the Fairmont Mayakoba in 2 years. I know the renovated lots. Can someone tell if they replaced the crappy white beach chairs from 1988?

curl

Hmm, beach chairs seemed pretty good to me in April...

curl

Also, you may want to check out the restaurants again. I understand that the menus have been redone fairly recently and we thought the food was outstanding for the most part. We did appetite for luxury and tried a lot of food.

Silvercity

TY if there those white plastic ones. Then they stil have them after all these years. As a 5 Star property they do not measure up. The other properties use very nice updated to 2016 standard.