Thanks to the tip I received from these boards, my SO and I spent a long weekend in ACA on the $0+ fares. In the spirit of trying to give something back to these boards, following are some tips/hints I either picked up during our trip, or received from other posters that I found to be worth repeating:
Our flight from MSP-ORD-ACA was very uneventful (just as you want a flight to be!). Every flight we were on to/from ACA was completely full. We had NO problems with the $0+ tickets – one of the gate attendants tried to upgrade us to Biz class, but when she pulled up our tickets on her computer she saw the fare we paid. Her only comment was “I can’t imagine how you got such a good fare! I’m sorry, but we won’t be able to upgrade you” Fine with me - $0+ for coach is great!
Prior to arrival to ACA, I emailed Hector who is a local taxi driver. For $40, he was waiting at the airport for us and took all 8 of us to the Camino Real (again, thanks to these boards!) If anyone is looking to set up taxi service (his taxi is a minivan), feel free to email him at
[email protected]. He speaks very good English, and will make any stops you wish to make on the way to your hotel.
We stayed at the Camino Real, and are VERY HAPPY with our choice! Beautiful hotel in an exclusive part of ACA in a gated community. We booked a standard room through hotels.com for $131 per night. At check-in, we were upgraded to a deluxe room at no additional charge. Everyone in our group found the restaurants to be very good. We ate all our meals on-site, and never had a complaint. Food is a little on the pricey side, but not really that bad (a bacon cheeseburger with fries is $110 pesos). The rooms are very nice, with tile and marble floors. The in-room safe is large enough for a laptop, and even has an electrical outlet inside the safe. The beach is on the small side, but since it is a private beach, it was never very crowded. We are very impressed with the staff and would love to return. When you first arrive, there are signs saying no outside alcohol or food is allowed. We showed up with 3 cases of corona and they didn’t say one word. The bellmen even loaded the cases on his cart and took them to our room. Each evening we sat around the lobby bar area with our own drinks without any problems.
Two of us chartered a boat to go deep-sea fishing for a day. Their van picked us up at 5:30am and took us to the boat approximately 30 minutes away. By 6:00am the boat was headed out to sea! We went 21 miles out, fished for several hours, and got back to the dock at 2:30pm. Total cost including chartering the boat, fishing licenses, drinks on the boat (pop, water and beer available cold onboard for $1 each), and tips for the 3-person crew was $440. Money well spent!! I highly recommend
www.fish-r-us.com if you want to go deep-sea fishing! We ended up catching a black tuna and a 8’3” sailfish.
The flight back was just as uneventful as the flight there. I am very impressed with the DFW airport. We were through immigration, baggage claim and re-check, and customs all within 5 minutes! Amazing.
A Few other thoughts:
When leaving the ACA airport you go upstairs to go through security. Immediately at the top of the stairs is one line to get through security (very long line!). Look to your right, and down the hall at the other end is another security line that is not used as much. We went to that line, and were through security in less than 5 minutes.
The ACA airport was actually very pleasant – not as hot as I had expected.
On the way to the Camino Real, you pass a Super Walmart if you want to pick up anything. You will also pass several liquor stores with good prices.
On the way to our fishing trip, we passed the Hyatt, and I noticed that it is within walking distance of a Walmart.
If anyone has any questions about our trip, I will be happy to pass along any info I can!