curl

They fill your ice bucket every evening... just ask if you need it another time. (I never saw an ice machine)

Not aware of an Uber option but $20 sounds right. Ask the hotel to get you a cab. Or skip Playa all together

In my experience, if you aren't on the Appetite for Luxury plan, they do not add a service fee. We tipped at least 15-20% every time and on AFL plan, they only add 10% service so we added some extra on there too, often in cash. (I've been there three times, most recently a month ago) We got better service when not on the plan FWIW, so maybe they assume they are only getting 10% on these people but more from "regular" people. The staff is great and they deserve the gratuity.

chicago747

How do people feel about tipping in USD?

I'm headed down to the Fairmont this weekend and usually tip the servers on the beach or bar for drinks they get. We're on the all inclusive plan, but I've always found slipping in the beach waiter a $20 on the first drink usually leads to awesome service the rest of the day.

I figure if we tip extra at dinner we can just add it to the bill (and maybe the bar too) so thsoe tips can be paid in pesos via the room bill.

My Schwab ATM card is expired and they haven't sent me a new one yet or I'd just get cash in the airport. Any thoughts welcomed. Thanks

hiima

They're fine with everything being in USD. Don't expect change back in USD, though.

curl

We did the AFL plan and added tips mostly in USD cash. No problem and I think it is actually better (per a few people we asked).

chicago747

Just to report back the waitstaff all seemed fine with the tips being in USD. Everyone was very appreciate of the extra tips and I feel like we got great service. Of course, the resort seemed about 25% full and a few days servers/bartenders at the main pool outnumbered guests.

The resort was really top notch and loved it. Anyone on the fence about the All-inclusive plan should 100% get it if they drink. Even if they only have a few...they add up quick. We definitely would have spent a ton more without it.

trubador

Just wanted to answer my own questions.

1 - there are ice machine located close to the shuttle pick up.
2 - we just stayed on the resort, wasn't worth the cost as we never found any food that was worth the cost/hassle to head into town
3 - we just tipped 15 to 20%

Now for my review.

The resort is absolutely stunning. It is going to make me miss fairmont because the suite upgrades are unreal. We were upgraded to a 2 bath room with a beautiful balcony overlooking the lagoon. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, but it was so serene, that I preferred it to some oceanfront rooms we have had in the past. Our building had the suite on the ground floor with two unit above. I didn't hear our upstairs neighbors once and only saw one of our neighbors once. I'm not sure if occupancy was low, but the resort felt empty.

The good: The pools, especially the main pool are gorgeous. Like others have said, the landscaping around the pool and the layout is amazing. Lots of private nooks and lush trees instead of just a large pool of water. The boat ride through the lagoon is also a must.

The bad: the food and the drinks both poolside and oceanside were not good. Especially poolside. We only ate inside La Laugana, the restaurant by the pool and it was borderline unedible. The pools were all very cold. I was expecting a higher quality from a fairmont so I was disappointed that the pool was so cold that it was unusable for most of our stay. The hot tub was also strange as it was only heated to about 95 degrees (by my estimate). and finally the rides on the carts were terrible. We expected that a wait of 5 minutes would be our max, but we often found ourselves waiting for 15 minutes or more to head to the beach. On our last day, we walked from the main pool to the main lobby and found 4 carts just sitting by the main building. I think they need to do a much better job keeping the carts in circulation.

Overall, we loved mayakoba and would definitely try the Andaz next. I would do this hotel again with a suite upgrade, but not sure I would settle for a regular room.

curl

@trubador, the resort has always felt very quiet - we have been there 3x and always this way for us. (high and low season) I think the design of the property lends itself to feeling secluded and empty. Which I love, to be clear! The place is very silent at night except for the animals.

I'm really surprised about the food though - I will say, Brisas was awful, IMO, we gave it 3 tries and were unimpressed. But we are super picky and thought that La Laguna and El Puerto were great. Haven't eaten at the pool except guac and shrimp cocktails which were excellent.

Adam1222

interesting - I was there last week and felt like it was super crowded. Hard to get a seat at the beach, the main pools were pretty full. I couldn't get a spot on one of the lagoon tours as they were all booked for 2 days. It wasn't like a zoo, but definitely not secluded and empty feeling.
I'd also add I felt it was a terrible use of a fairmont upgrade certificate. I booked a Fairmont Room and was upgraded to a Fairmont "View", which is supposed to have "panoramic resort views." But since I was on a low floor, I only had a view of some trees, not much of an upgrade from the trees on the other side. The room itself is nice, though it definitely feels like a different experience from the majority of the property, which is "casitas."

View from the Fairmont View room balcony

curl

hiima

The suite upgrade however is very much worth it.

curl

TripleQ

I spent a week there in early August so thought I'd provide some updates. Keep in mind two things while reading.. 1) this was low season and 2) we were there on an absolute steal of a rate (50% off room, 50% off spa, and 25% off restaurants) with breakfast included (thanks @Jasper2009) and a suite upgrade certificate. If we paid full price during a crowded time and stayed in a standard room, might have coloured my impression differently.

Overall the setting is spectacular, a real sense of isolation and with the expansive grounds it hardly ever felt crowded. I was told it was about 70% full, but only ever felt full mid day by the main pool area or beach. We always got to where we were going (beach or pool) by 9-10am and it was still mostly empty with people starting to trickle in. I'd say the guests were 90% family with youngish kids, aside from the conference that was held there part way through our stay which consisted of a lot of tech people. I was surprised (although not sure what I was really expecting) that most of the non-conference guests were locals. Maybe 75% Mexican with a broad mix of Europeans and North Americans. This is absolutely a family friendly resort, and I suspect Banyan Tree and Rosewood would be more appropriate for couples just judging by how they position the restaurants. But it could just have been because with a 11 and 5 year old, we never stayed out late enough to see the other demographics during the evening events.

We stayed in a casita suite in the 100's range. The room numbers go from 100 to 900, with the 800-900s by the beach and the rest by the main area. Pretty good location, a couple of minutes walk to either the main building or to the main pool in the other direction. Of all the things I will miss about FPC, getting suite upgrades like this is by far at the top of the list. A close to 1000 sq ft suite for under $200 at a gorgeous resort? Where else can this be done? There are plenty of pictures on oyster.com so I will spare you my dark unprofessional ones.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with how the golf carts work from prior reviews, and any concerns I had with getting around the grounds evaporated after the first day. We took dozens of trips on the carts, and almost always the wait was 1-2 minutes. The longest waits (only two times) were perhaps 4-5 minutes. Bikes were also plentiful, and it took me exactly 5 minutes to bike from the main building to the beach which is probably the longest trip you'd need to take within the resort. Cart ride would be about the same - they go faster but had to make occasional stops. The bikes were in various states of repair - rideable but often with under inflated tires. I don't think there is a bad location for the casitas. If you prefer the beach, than obviously the beach area ones are best but with the ease of getting around location wasn't an issue for me. I actually preferred staying closer to the main area as we spent more time at the pool.

Activities

Main pool was gorgeous, lots twists and turns so always had plenty of room for ourselves. A nice water slide for the kids which was very popular. Service was friendly but not all that efficient, prices were pretty steep and the food and drink offerings were just average. The beach had a few free beach sports set up (volleyball, soccer), and you could sign up for paddleboarding and a free catamaran tour. We didn't take advantage of this much or go into the water much at all because... seaweed. This is a big issue around the coast and it is no exception here. It really varies from day to day, and even though the resort has a dozen workers working throughout the day it is literally like swimming against the tide. They are removing the seaweed by the hundreds of garbage bags a day, but it is a losing battle. Some days are better than others but it is not very appealing stepping through and then swimming through a few meters of this before getting to the water, and even then it is still quite murky. We much preferred swimming in the pools (the main one or there are a couple of other ones - at the beach and by the main building).

These were only taken 2 days apart

A good day



A bad day



Wouldn't you just rather stay here?



Ok, fine, it's actually pretty good on the beach.. view from Brisas




Other activities are the boat tour (you must book this in advance, preferably before you arrive as there are very limited slots). It's about 40 minutes and takes you through the waterways throughout all 4 resorts. We took the earliest one (7:30am) but didn't see all that much wildlife (mostly fish, turtles, birds). No crocs

Channeling JJ Abrams



We also visited El Pueblito, a little market square, but even on Sunday when church was in session it was relatively quiet with only a few vendor stalls and it appeared all the buildings were closed. Didn't hang around long. I think it's hard to get people out there because you need to take a cart ride from the main entrance of the resort and it's not publicized very much. Within walking distance was the cenote which was worth a visit. It's only open limited hours so check before you go.

Cenote - the picture doesn't really do it justice



There are a few different options for the kids club, and the way it was presented was quite confusing. In the end, I figured out there were 3 options. 1) Unsupervised kids play area mostly suitable for 5 and under. 2) 3 hours of free supervised play time per day. 3) Paid activities you can sign up for (by the hour or day passes). The staff were super friendly and my 11 year old really enjoyed playing with them, but there were mostly only 1-2 other kids there at anytime. The more interesting paid activities are the cooking ones, pinata making, and tie dye shirts.

Food

There are 3 main restaurants, Brisas by the beach, La Laguna by the main pool, and El Puerto in the main building. Since we were there on a rate with free breakfast, and we are real cheapskates, we ended up eating a large buffet breakfast each day, a very light snack in the middle of the day, and an early dinner at one of the restaurants. We came in well below what it would have cost for the all-inclusive appetite for luxury package, but if one were to have 3 full meals and snacks and drinks and dessert and coffee, the package is probably a decent deal considering how expensive the menu prices are. Breakfast buffet is $33 USD per person, and dinner entrees are mostly in the $30-$40 range, cocktails $10-$15 ish. And being Canadian don't even ask me about our dollar these days.

Breakfast

We split our breakfasts between Brisas and La Laguna. 80% of the items are common between the two, but La Laguna has a wider selection of juices and a quesadilla stand, while Brisas has a better selection of fresh fruits (mango overdose for me..so much better than what we get in Canada) and it was more pleasant eating with an ocean breeze. Overall the buffet was top notch and there was more variety than I could sample over 7 days.

Omelette station and a small fraction of the total buffet area



Not quite Disney World



Juice bar



Quesadillas and Tortillas




Lunch

Too full.

Dinner

We tried all three restaurants multiple times over our stay. El Puerto was by far my favourite spot, but with younger kids it was a bit harder to fully enjoy the experience as dinners tended to be a bit more rushed, even if everyone the grown ups had some cocktails to take the edge off. The cocktails were the highlight of the dinners, everything was full of flavour, well mixed and presented perfectly. The food at El Puerto was all well thought out and I'd put them up against many fine dining restaurants around the world. To be clear I'm not talking Michelin stars here, but no complaints about the food quality, execution and presentation. Brisas was a step down, but still very good with some interesting dishes. The service wasn't as bad as many of the prior reviews, but we were always among the first to arrive so the kitchen wasn't backed up yet. I could see as the restaurant filled up things could have been quite a bit slower. La Laguna was good, but not as innovative or exciting as the other two. Cocktails here were still superb though. Service was very friendly and enthusiastic at all places, but not quite up to 5 star or diamond status. Orders were often taken just a minute or two minutes late, plates were cleared a little slower than I would have expected, water glasses left empty for just a touch too long. But you know, we're on vacation and not rushing to do anything so wasn't a huge issue.

Those comments can also be applied to the service level of housekeeping. Everyone is super friendly, but the timing of the housekeeping service was terrible. I called to ask for the room to be serviced and turned down at specific times, but they were off by hours. After 2 days I just gave up asking. However, after a few days the staff seemed to figure it out on their own that we tended to be up early and in bed early, so the timing was much improved by the end of the stay. But I digress..

I always take a lot of pictures of food (and I'm not on instagram, go figure) but I will just leave a few samples here which I think are representative of the 3 different places. One thing I noticed was that the offerings were different than the menus posted online and generally had fewer choices. Not sure if this was because it was low season or if the online menus were just out of date.

El Puerto - Black miso cod - perfection!




El Puerto - Duck confit and Tiradito



La Laguna - cocktails, guacamole with pork rinds, tacos







Brisas - deep fried whole fish, octopus






Summary

All I can say is when I got home, the first thing I did was to look at the school calendar and my work schedule to see if we could squeeze in another visit before the suite upgrades expired. Alas, I don't think it's going to happen but who knows...

rny321

My family had no trouble deciding on the all inclusive plan which was about $65 more than the base room rate. Although gratuities for food and beverages are included, I was curious about what percentage some of you gave to waiters and bartenders. Normally, when I ask the front desk or concierge about suggested tips, I receive a vague answer along the lines of whatever you feel like.

habshabs444

We have done the all inclusive plan on 3 different occasions and usually just give an extra $5 or $10 cash for lunch or drink service for the day and then $10-$20 for dinner. I'm not sure if that is the norm or not, but everyone has seemed genuinely appreciative which has been evidenced by the exemplary service day after day by the employees. I have been told by a couple of employees over time that automatic gratuity that is included is a relatively small fraction as to what is customary (can't remember offhand what the % was).

rny321

It is especially helpful knowing not only how much you tipped but the reactions from the various employees. Thank you very much!