Our trip to Riviera Maya was planned last minute - about a week in advance. It came as no surprise that Mexico was by far the cheapest destination where one could reasonably spend a long weekend. Thank you swine flu.

Our rate at the Fairmont Mayakoba was unreal, thanks to the NFAF promo. We paid less than half of discounted low season rates.

According to one of the many staff members we encountered during our stay, occupancy rates for the weekend we were there were around 20 percent.

Arrival: We arrived by rental car from Cancun airport after an approximately 35 minute drive. The Fairmont is one of four resorts (one is currently under construction) in the Mayakoba Development. It is also the largest and the least expensive. The other resorts currently in operation in Mayakoba -- Rosewood and Banyan Tree -- both have only about 100 rooms and rates in the $1,000 per night range. The Mandarin Oriental is adjacent to Mayakoba but outside the development. Anyone entering Mayakoba must clear a security checkpoint. From there, it's a short drive along winding stone and concrete roads to the Fairmont reception. There are lighted signs to guide you, but the text is a bit small.

Reception/Check-In: From the moment we emerged from our vehicle, we were greeted by name. Presumably, the security guard at the front notified the hotel staff we were enroute. We were presented with cool towels car side. Our bags were literally whisked away. By the time I got around to the trunk, they were gone. At the entrance to the expansive, open air lobby, we were presented with a non-alcoholic welcome drink on a tray. It was fruity and refreshing. Again, at each step along the way, we were greeted by name. Given our ultra-cheap rate, I was a bit concerned that we would be assigned the most basic room. In fact, we were told by the front desk clerk that we were upgraded to a 'casita.' After taking care of the paperwork, we were introduced to Hugo, who walked us to a balcony overlooking the entire resort and briefly described the layout. Hugo then escorted us to a golf cart and drove us to our second-level casita near the heart of the property. Once we arrived at our room, he gave us a brief tour of the room and explained how to work the AC, lights, ceiling fan, etc. As Hugo was leaving, our bags arrived, and the bellman placed them directly in the closets.

Room: Our casita was spacious and thoughtfully designed. A king bed, sitting chair, and desk furnished the main room, along with a credenza with drawers, cabinets, a refrigerator and a flat panel LCD TV. The bed was very pleasant and on par with a five-star resort. High speed internet access was hard wired and worked well.Three phones, one cordless. An awesome Bose sound system with an auxiliary jack for iPods or Mp3 players (not a dock, you actually need your own mini jack to mini jack cord to make this work). Air conditioner was efficient and kept the room very cool. There was also a variable-speed ceiling fan above the bed. A short hallway led to the bathroom with full size closets on either side. This was great, as my girlfriend and I each had a place to store our clothes. There was a safe in one closet big enough to fit my laptop computer, although I had to angle it to get it inside. The bathroom was truly remarkable. It included a double vanity (very large with tons of counter space), a deep soaking tub (no jets), a water closet, and an oversized shower with a bench and a rain-type faucet on the ceiling, in addition to a handheld faucet. The complimentary shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, soap were Miller-Harris, very high end. The most impressive feature were the huge windows above the bath and in the shower. A wood screen outside maintains privacy while housing a small stone garden and allowing bathers a view of the sky. In the morning, the warm sun streamed into the shower. At night, we could see the stars while soaking in the tub. The floors were solid surface throughout (not tile, maybe polished limestone?). On the opposite side of the room, outside sliding glass doors, was a large wooden lanai with a small seating area of two comfortable chairs and end table.

View/Balcony: Very few (and only the most expensive) rooms have ocean views. This is the case for the Rosewood and the Mandarin Oriental, as well. All of the newer resorts in this stretch of Riviera Maya were required to maintain much of the original mangroves and foliage. The mangroves also protect the resorts from hurricanes. These are not large buildings on an ocean like you see in Cancun. These are sprawling resorts with rooms nestled in mangroves or on lagoons. Know this going in. If you're looking for an ocean view, be prepared to pay $1000/night for an oceanfront villa (with private pool), or look elsewhere. Our room overlooked a thatch of thick trees. On the second level, we were almost at the tree tops. The trees provided an exceptional amount of privacy. We virtually could not be seen by anyone else when sitting on our balcony. We also enjoyed spotting colorful birds and iguanas in the trees. Bugs were, for the most part, only a problem at dusk. I would recommend bringing and using insect repellant if you want to sit outside at dusk. Otherwise, our balcony was very comfortable and, again, very private, and we enjoyed spending much time there. Other casitas have lagoon views. The main hotel building has a resort view.

Property: Because the resort is sprawling, getting around can be a challenge (or part of the adventure, depending on how you look at it). From our casita, we could easily walk to the lobby, central pools, and main hotel restaurant. The beach (with the best pool and restaurant) is about 3/4th of a mile down a concrete path that winds through mangroves and over lagoons. If you don't want to walk, you have two options: you can pick up one of a number of bikes scattered around the property (I'd say we could easily find at least two bikes 75 percent of the time we looked for them), or you can wait for one of many golf cart shuttles that circle the property. We never waited more than two or three minutes for a golf cart. There are covered areas near each casita where you can phone for one, but we never waited long enough to do this. Let me be clear, for us -- two young people who like adventure and activity -- getting around the property was never a problem and actually provided a number of joyful moments.

Pool: There are five pools on the property: a small pool near the resort building, a kids' pool near the kid activity center, a sprawling pool with fountains and bridges, a slide and swim up bar in the center of the property, an adults only, infinity pool overlooking a lagoon, and the oceanfront pool, also infinity, on the beach. We spent our entire weekend at the beach pool. It was never overcrowded. We would arrive around late morning or midday and have our pick of chairs. That said, it is a relatively small pool, and, as it's the most popular, I can imagine it would be difficult to secure a good spot when occupancy levels are higher. All the pools were luxurious and looked wonderful. We just wanted to be able to look out at the ocean while we swam and sunbathed. That said, I probably would have been just as happy at the adult pool. Attendants handle dressing the lounge chairs in towels and provide a rolled towel for a pillow, which we thought was great. A waiter makes the rounds fairly frequently taking drink and food orders -- not as frequently as at some resorts I've been to, but frequently enough to be of service. Our second day poolside, cucumber slices and ice pops were handed out complimentary.

Spa/Fitness: We toured the spa and it looked magnificent. We didn't end up booking procedures because it was fairly pricey (although they presented us with a $25 gift certificate at check in) and we were just as happy spending our time by the pool. I won't go into much detail about the spa, but one of the best and most unusual features seemed to be the co-ed, rooftop pool and hot tub, which would be a great place to spend time with a loved one after a treatment. The fitness center was well equipped with treadmills, elipticals, and stationary bikes. Each machine had a personal TV. Towels and bottled water were placed at each machine by an attendant. There were also the requisite compliment of free weights and weight machines. There are two or three fitness classes each day that are complimentary. There is a US$10 charge per person, per day to use the fitness center. The charge is waived, though, for Presidents Club members.

Food: The prices are on par with a five-star resort, maybe a bit cheaper thanks to the Peso. The night we arrived, we dined at Las Brisas, one of two AAA four diamond restaurants on property. (The other AAA four diamond, El Puerto, was closed for the week due to the low occupancy rates. This was a disappointment, but understandable.) Even though our reservation at Las Brisas was at 10p, making us the last couple to dine, the service was absolutely impeccable. Again, we were greeted by name by the hostess and the waiter (Freddie). The dining room is very nice, set in a soaring palapa with rich dark wood everywhere. Of course, we began with margaritas (ranging in price from US$9 to US$12). They were great -- not the best ever -- but very good. We were presented with a complimentary amuse bouche (a nice touch, but unmemorable). Appetizers were in the US$10 to US$20 range. We had a tuna and yellowtail tartare which was plentiful and very fresh. Most entrees were between US$20 and US$30, with some, like Caribbean lobster, much more expensive. I dined on short ribs, which were very tasty and perfectly cooked. My companion had seafood couscous, which I tasted and liked a small bit more than my own choice. The shellfish with the dish was plentiful and absolutely perfectly cooked. As we finished our entrees, Freddie suggested that we ordered a passion fruit souffle, which takes extra preparation time. We took him up on the offer and I was very happy we did. It was served with homemade ice cream and really remarkable. I loved it from top to bottom. I recall it was around US$10 or US$15. The only slight surprise on the bill was a US$10 charge per large bottled water (we had two). It is important to note that the Fairmont has it's own supply of clean, safe drinking water and, by law, all ice served in any restaurant must be from purified water. From that point on, we drank tap water and never had a problem.

The following morning, we dined at La Laguna for breakfast. Not great, not horrible -- somewhere in between. They offered a buffet, but we ordered a la carte. Most a la carte breakfasts were in around US$12 or US$15. I also ordered a basket of Mexican breads and pastries that was tasty and plentiful for US$5. Orange juice was US$4 per glass. I ordered the breakfast burrito, my girlfriend had the Mexican hash skillet. The food was very good. The service was a little sluggish, although there was a large, somewhat needy party at the next table. Overall, it seemed that the service staff would have preferred we just order the buffet and seemed inconvenienced by the need to serve us a la carte. Again, certainly friendly service, just a little sluggish.

On the second day of our stay, we dined poolside at the beach (amazing guacamole with salsa and chips for US$10 and really, really good ceviche for US$17). Drinks poolside were nicely prepared, especially the pina colada. Again, US$9 to US$12 for margaritas and frozen drinks, US$6 for local beer. I'm a big tequila fan and was swilling a pretty pricey number on Saturday afternoon, at US$15 per shot. It was good, but not my favorite.

Before leaving, we dined at the lobby bar. Had the guacamole again and a fairly large cheese and mushroom pizza (US$17), which tasted like something I could make at home with a pre-packaged crust. Margaritas in the lobby bar were tasty. Try the Cadillac or the Mango.

Off property, we dined in Playa del Carmen at Yaxtche (great meal, and a good value at around US$60 with drinks and dessert). We also dined at Ambar at the Mandarin Oriental (also excellent, a little pricer than Las Brisas -- we went kind of crazy since it was our last night, and they also had really good martinis, so our tab topped US$300). Both of our off property choices were arranged and recommended by the concierge desk.

There is 24-hour room service, which we did not try. Also, there is no mini bar in the room, but you can go to the resort's market and cafe and pick out items that they will stock for you in your refrigerator and replenish each day. We also did not do this. We did purchase some alcohol in duty free on the way and made drinks in the room to save a bit on the prices.

Service: Really, really top notch. Some highlights: Marco, the concierge, who I communicated with via email before our arrival to arrange dinner reservations; Ricardo, the boat driver who took us on a really cool 45-minute lagoon tour (free, just make a reservation in advance), slowed down the boat to point out all sorts of fish, birds and neat features of the man-made lagoon cut into limestone and connected to underground rivers, and was very patient in answering all of our questions; and Alfredo at the front desk who had security open the gift shop after hours so my girlfriend could get some Advil (delivered directly to the room with no extra charge). Everyone was warm and friendly and it made for such a pleasant experience. I cannot imagine anyone complaining about service at this resort. Calls for bellmen or service are responded to promptly, somewhat surprising considering how large and spread out the resort is. Housekeeping comes twice a day, and leaves bottled water around the room. After calling, valet had our car waiting out front by the time we reached the lobby. The lone service hiccup was at breakfast mentioned above. And, the warm 'Hola' extended by virtually everyone (again, often followed by my name) made for such a happy experience for us both.

Checkout: Quick and easy. Honestly, this is the first time I can ever recall being in Latin America and not finding errors on the bill. We finished lunch in the lobby bar and immediately walked to the front desk to check out and our tab from lunch was already on my account. Most hotels in the U.S. can't even accomplish this. Be aware that there is a US$15 daily resort fee that includes gratuities (although we did tip regularly, and more for particularly exceptional service -- i.e., 50 pesos (around US$4) for housekeeping each day, 100 pesos for the boat ride). U.S. currency is widely accepted on property. The front desk will exchange currency at competitive rates with no surcharge. The ATM on property dispenses U.S. currency. Billing is done in pesos, with a conversion at the bottom.

For me, there was one really big, glaring problem that was constantly an issue. The bath towels are way below par for a 5-star resort. One of the things I love most about high end hotels are large, plush bath towels. The bath towels at Fairmont Mayakoba are neither. In fact, they were stiff and kind of scratchy -- consistently same each day. What's really remarkable is that the towels at the pool are large and soft. There must be some sort of issue in the laundry process. Attention really needs to be paid to this.

Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to return, especially on a good deal.