Tres Rios – All Inclusive in Riviera Maya

We recently had our first experience with an all-inclusive resort. Not intentionally mind you. We had booked at Tres Rios during one of their ‘AI optional’ weeks, and we opted not to get the package. I suppose that unlike many others, when we go on vacation we actually don’t eat more than we do at home, and we certainly aren’t the type to start drinking in the morning, so we’ve always felt that an all-inclusive model is just a waste of money for us. 

As owners at the Whiteface Lodge we are members of the Registry Collection, and we booked our week at Tres Rios through RCI. Interestingly, we’ve found in our travels to Mexico that RCI is at the top of the heap, and we are always treated very well at other properties. This held true to form when we arrived at Tres Rios. As per usual the guard at the gate to the property took our name and wrote it down on his clipboard (which they do every time you enter, except once you have checked in they write down your room number).  All the properties on the Riviera Maya have this setup since the entrance is on the ‘highway’ that goes north-south, yet the resorts are on the beach, so there is a bit of drive between the gate and the main lobby. However, unlike other arrivals, once we pulled up at the lobby the valet opened the car door and greeted us by name. A nice touch. Entering the airy, spacious lobby a person carrying a tray with glasses and a pitcher appeared, and offered us freshly squeezed ‘green juice’. We were unfamiliar with this juice since it is not offered at the other resorts, but it is a lovely combination of fruit and some vegetable (not sure which, maybe cactus leaves?) that tastes clean and refreshing.  We were directed towards an area of the lobby dedicated solely to checking-in guests of the Registry Collection.  Rather than standing in front of a desk while they do paperwork, they have chairs for you, and there is an array of tasty looking treats on the counter for you to consume while the process unfolds. A waitress stops by offering us mimosas. All this seem like a bit much? We thought so. You could ask yourself how long a check-in could possibly take that it involves chairs, food and alcoholic drinks. 

I ask the nice lady helping us about the kitchen in the unit (we had booked a two-bedroom even though there was just the two of us on this trip) and she replies somewhat evasively that somebody else is going to talk to us about that. Our antennae go up … 

We’ve found that in these very nice resort settings, there is often a catch. The catch involves somebody trying to pitch you on time-shares. Having sat through a couple of them over the course of the past 10 years, we avoid them like the plague these days. So, we wait. Eventually, they guide us over to the ‘sports bar’ where we can have ‘snacks’ and drinks, because the person who needs to speak with us is tied up at the moment. When she finally shows up, she is cheery, but we are not overjoyed. She asks how we are doing and I reply politely that we are fine, but wonder why it is taking an hour to check-in. And so it unfolds (slowly) that the unit we had booked with a kitchen is not available. The resort is terribly sorry and they are prepared to give us two-days all-inclusive for free, and she is ‘authorized’ to approve an additional two days. We suspect we see the writing on the wall - that this is all leading to pitch of “and all you have to do it pay for 3 days of all-inclusive”, so we nip it in the bud, decline the resort’s kind offer and hold our ground that we have to have a unit with a kitchen. Ok, ok – stay in this other lovely unit tonight, have dinner on us, and tomorrow we will see if a unit in the ‘Herencia’ building has freed up.   

It turns out that the Herencia building is for RCI members as well as Tres Rios members who are at the top of the pecking order. It has private butlers and private rooftop hot tubs with a view of the coastline. The occupants wear black wrist bands (they have a pretty hilarious system of wrist bands with so many different colors that we wonder if even the staff can keep them all straight), which opens all doors and is their ‘highest’ level band. It is also the only building that has units with kitchenettes. 

Ready to be done with this long check-in process we accept, and are shown to a truly lovely unit. Marble floors, facing the ocean with a great view of Cozumel island on the horizon, two balconies, two bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a spiral staircase leading to a private sunning area with large lounge chairs and a slatted wood portico. 

Circular stairwell to private sun deck

To make a long story somewhat shorter, we never get the unit in La Herencia building, but we do accept the 4 days of complementary all-inclusive.  Given how long it took to finally come to this conclusion, the complementary AI was scheduled to run Monday through Thursday and we planned a day trip for Friday before our return to the airport on Saturday. Thus we greatly enjoyed our stay at Tres Rios, in spite of the confusion over the booking. While they lost much of their beachfront when hurricane Wilma came through, they have a pretty little inlet area where one of the ‘tres’ rivers comes out. 

View of inlet and beach beds

Sun tanning bed

The waters of the inlet are clear and warm, great for snorkeling and a quick dip. They of course have beach side service, with this area giving priority for the beds with canopy covers to the black-wrist-band-wearers. It is hard to resist whiling away a few hours here, with very attentive and kind servers bringing over icy drinks, or plates of food including an excellent ceviche. 

Tres Rios gets our highest recommendation, if you are looking for an all inclusive vacation. If not, it is probably not worth dealing with the hassle of the AI push on the weeks when AI is supposedly 'optional'.

Of Pelicans and Palms - February 5, 2011

Life takes on different hue when the movement that catches your eye through the window of the health club is a low flying pelican. Startled out of my exercise reverie, I take stock of the turquoise blue of the Mexican Caribbean, and the fact that I need to peek at it around the cluster of palm tree tops outside this upstairs, beautifully air-conditioned tribute to modern machinery.  I think briefly of the snow clogged roads, scraping sounds of large plows, and frustratingly permanent icicles that hang from cars back home. We have returned to the Grand Mayan resort in the Riviera Maya after a year’s absence. My husband and I like to stroll the property when we first arrive and make note of the changes that have cropped up in our absence. We comment on a new sculpture in a fountain, changes to the layout of the gift store, and how the jungle has grown since we first starting coming here in 2006. One of the massive Grand Mayan structures is now virtually obscured by the tropical growth and we idly wonder what they will do when it disappears behind the large stately palms.

 Escaping the winter as we have on this trip, our priority is to rest and recuperate after a fairly grueling year in 2010. Thus we don't feel much of a pressing urge to travel to the ruins of Coba, Tulum and Chichen Itza since we have visited - in some cases on multiple occasions. We are disappointed to find that the Mayan Sanctuary (the pool and gardens for guests of the Grand Mayan - see my blog from December 2009 for images) has less of a sanctuary feel than before, since the resort has relaxed its stance with regard to allowing folks staying at the Mayan Palace (who would normally use those pools) to use the Sanctuary. The other piece of disappointing news this year is that they have changed the happy hour rules, and rather than a 2-for-1 drink, you get instead a 'supersized' drink (now, how american is that?) These two changes did indeed lessen theamount of time we spent poolside, and instead we ventured out to explore other blue horizons.

View from the UltraMar on the way to Isla Mujeres

We returned to Isla Mujeres on this trip since the last time we had gone it was July and incredibly hot. Strolling the short distance from the dock to the Playa Norte, we investigated the choices for lunch. We had promised ourselves ceviche and cold beer with our feet in the sand, and this was an easy need to accommodate, given the plethora of restaurants right on the beach. In the end we chose Sunset Grill (does that sound like a Mexican name to you?) not only because the sand is silky and use of the lounge chairs and umbrella is free if you eat lunch there, but possibly also because of a prominent sign that advertised a bucket of cerveza for 160 pesos J

As the lazy afternoon slipped by, punctuated with dips in the crystalline waters and the arrival of (fairly mediocre) ceviche and fish soft tacos, we observed the gathering of very large and very dark clouds on the horizon. It was a casual and fairly distant observation (more clinical than personal), as the waitress assured us that the storm would not come ‘ahorita’ but that it would undoubtedly rain … at some point in the future.

And thus one learns that people who live on an island, and scan the sky daily for the arrival of the rare rain event ... can be wrong. Starting with large wet drops that soon built to a tropical downpour, it rained and rained as we walked back to the ferry dock. Since we were salty from swimming, and still warm from having baked in the sun, the rain did not deter us, especially since we had bathing suits under our T-shirts and plastic flip-flops on our feet. Walking the now deserted pedestrian street, we stopped occasionally in the storefronts to look more closely at the vast array of  Tallavera plates, and inquire as to prices. Perhaps because of the diminished crowds, or the knowledge that continued rain would soon bringing an early closing of the store, we got a terrific bargain on a gorgeous plate which I happily tucked away in my backpack, and now graces our kitchen wall as part of our plate collection.

Mayan Riviera, Mexico December 11 - 16, 2009

Grand Mayan Resort, Grupo Mayan, Quintana Roo

Early in December, we took advantage of the lull in the travel industry between Thanksgiving and Christmas to dash off to the Mayan Riviera for a few days of sorely needed sun and rest. We flew Jet Blue from NY to Cancun, and got a good deal on the price. We also paid the extra $30 to upgrade the seats to an exit row, which I highly recommend. Not only did we get a roomier exit row than I have experienced on larger carriers (e.g. Delta, United), but we also got to pre-board. Because my husband and I had booked a window and an aisle, we were also fortunate enough that nobody wanted to pay the extra $30 to sit in a middle seat between us, so we had one of the few empty seats on the plane between us for a little extra space.

Landing in Cancun, we picked up our rental car, and drove the easy 35 minutes down the main Carretera to the Grand Mayan - part of the Grupo Mayan consortium. The check-in area for the Grand Mayan was finally finished, after needing to build it a second time after it unfortunately burned to the ground after a year of construction. The new Mayan Sanctuary, is a great addition. The Grand Mayan now has its own swim-up bar (previously Grand Mayan guests shared the swim-up bars in the main pool area with the Mayan Palace guests), and there is a filtered sunlight pool with great plantings and bird song.

Checking in at the new Grand Mayan lobby (which we have witnessed under construction for the past two years since the first time it burned to the ground when it was almost completed) they give us a suite on the 3rd floor of Building 10. These are the newer buildings, with the golf course on one side and the jungle on the other. For the past three times we’ve been here, we have somehow always ended up on the 3rd floor of Building 1. The buildings are massive, with stark modern lines, and huge palapa roofs, which they light dramatically at night to chase away the darkness of the surrounding jungle. Building 10 we query? Surely there must be something closer. It’s a good 15 minute walk to just the main area of the pools and the beach is even further. Sorry, the sweet girl behind the computer tells us – we have no room in any of the closer buildings. We know this can’t be true, but we let it go for the moment since it is 4 pm and we are weary from travel and hungry, not having eaten since our 9 am breakfast snack at the Jet Blue terminal. There’s a peaceful quality to this building – far from the main hue and cry of the central area of the resort. The Mexican jungle, low scrappy trees that can handle the heat and the long dry spells, is just the other side of a chain link fence. It is an odd site – the manicured lawn, pathways and plantings on one side –the jungle pushing against the fence on the other. Dark birds of large wingspan float by occasionally, drifting across the top of the trees. From our 3rd floor balcony we look out across the jungle to the neighboring resort in the distance. We can only see the rooftops – oddly dramatic in contrast to their surroundings, some with spires and cupolas in imitation of the grand buildings of Europe.

The weather is as predictable as clockwork here. In the land of eternal summer, the only variation throughout the year seems to be how high into the eighties the daytime temperature reaches. It is hard to remember that it is December, with Christmas less than two weeks away. While far out to sea the winter storms rage, our only reminder of their existence is the strong wind blowing on the beach, and the morning clouds that make their way in from the sea, cross our path, and continue inland to the jungle. They laid these big buildings perpendicular to the sea, so their broad sturdy side would take the brunt of any hurricane or major storm. I can see the Caribbean and I can hear it - but all that reaches our patio is a gentle breeze that ripples the palm fronds and causes the tops of the trees in the jungle to dance occasionally. I contemplate a large grey heron standing sentinel at the top of a dead tree far out in the jungle. The tree is taller than the rest – easily twice as tall, and I wonder what type of tree it was, why it is so much taller than the others, and if this is what caused its demise in some way.


A call to the manager’s office had indeed produced a suite on the 3rd floor of building 1. However, in the end we decided to stay in our tranquil jungle facing unit, as the swap was complicated by the fact that there would be hours between moving out of this place and into the other, due to cleaning schedules and the need to turn over the rooms. Chalking up our refusal to move, on the heels of a request to do so, to crazy gringo-ness the manager good naturedly wishes us a pleasant stay at the Grupo Mayan. Our plans for our first full day in Mexico are simple, lunch and a swim up in Puerto Morelos and then a massage back at the resort. We are curious as to the effect of a recent NY Times article on Puerto Morelos, touting it as the last genuine fishing village on the Riviera Maya. (Do the reporters ever think about the outcomes of their articles?) Yet, not much has changed – we think we see more gringos than last time, but this could be coincidental, as could be the construction of a new restaurant on the plaza. Sitting outside at lunch with large margaritas in front us, facing the crystalline waters of the Caribbean and watching the fishing boats bob up and down as the gentle waves roll up onto shore, I ask Chun if he had to describe heaven, wouldn’t it sort of look just like this?