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Anyone been to Cancun or Riviera Maya, Mexico lately? (1 Viewer)

Heading to Riviera Maya in a couple of weeks. Four nights at the Grand Velas and then five nights at the Mayan Palace (Vidanta). Playing golf at a place called the Grand Coral. Staying onsite other than one resort-arranged tour. Will be interesting to see how the changes at CUN impact the traffic flow.

 
Question re: money. We will be staying at a resort pretty much the entire time during an upcoming visit. The exception is a stop at a grocery store while we transfer between two resorts. When I pay at that local grocery store, I do not want to use a personal credit card (security) or pay in US Dollars (getting screwed on the exchange rate). Is the best bet to get Pesos in the US and then pay in Pesos, or get a pre-paid debit card and use that?

 
soothsayer said:
Question re: money. We will be staying at a resort pretty much the entire time during an upcoming visit. The exception is a stop at a grocery store while we transfer between two resorts. When I pay at that local grocery store, I do not want to use a personal credit card (security) or pay in US Dollars (getting screwed on the exchange rate). Is the best bet to get Pesos in the US and then pay in Pesos, or get a pre-paid debit card and use that?
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all exchanges at about .07, how much worse can the store be?  I am bringing about $100 USD equivalent in pesos for random tips, maybe bus and store sundries like suntan lotion.

I recommend something similar.........

 
soothsayer said:
Question re: money. We will be staying at a resort pretty much the entire time during an upcoming visit. The exception is a stop at a grocery store while we transfer between two resorts. When I pay at that local grocery store, I do not want to use a personal credit card (security) or pay in US Dollars (getting screwed on the exchange rate). Is the best bet to get Pesos in the US and then pay in Pesos, or get a pre-paid debit card and use that?
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I've traveled a lot internationally and used my credit card all the time, Mexico included.  If you're that concerned, then I'd go the pesos route since not all debit cards will work internationally (should work, but not worth the small risk).  This is probably going to eat up most of your savings by grocery shopping. 

 
I think I'm going to go the Pesos route. My bank will exchange my US Dollars for Pesos at with no service fee at the standard exchange rate. I'd like to be able to tip with Pesos and will just use that currency at the grocery store as well. Thanks all.

 
soothsayer said:
Question re: money. We will be staying at a resort pretty much the entire time during an upcoming visit. The exception is a stop at a grocery store while we transfer between two resorts. When I pay at that local grocery store, I do not want to use a personal credit card (security) or pay in US Dollars (getting screwed on the exchange rate). Is the best bet to get Pesos in the US and then pay in Pesos, or get a pre-paid debit card and use that?
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You want to use your credit card and have it billed in pesos, the bank will get you the best exchange rate. 

 
soothsayer said:
I think I'm going to go the Pesos route. My bank will exchange my US Dollars for Pesos at with no service fee at the standard exchange rate. I'd like to be able to tip with Pesos and will just use that currency at the grocery store as well. Thanks all.
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Is it a bad idea to exchange money at the airport in the states before leaving?

 
Will be at Barcelo at the end of the month.  Seems we will need a lot of $1 bills to tip through our stay.  Guideline I read on the Barcelo Facebook page was $10 for airport transfer each way, $5 for bellboy, $5 daily for housekeeping, $2 daily for guy who restocks room fridge, $1 per person at buffets, $10-$20 tip at ala carte restaurants and singles for various bartenders.

 
Al Czervik said:
Is it a bad idea to exchange money at the airport in the states before leaving?
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It is not bad, but you will not get the best rates. 

Credit cards will give you probably the very best rate that you will find. Exchanging it at your bank before you leave will get you fairly close.

The current  market price is slightly over 19 $MXN per 1 $USD.

Those money changing places at the airports are not generally the best rates. I actually saw better rates at the exchange place in downtown Puerto Vallarta the other day. Probably because there is competition there, unlike at the airport.

Paying for things in cash in USD in Mexico is a mixed bag. Some stores will quote you a pretty reasonable exchange rate (like 17-18/USD), while others will rip you off (15-16/USD). Like most things, the exchange rate is probably negotiable, but I despise haggling.

The other day I was in a rush to catch my plane and bought a candy bar in the airport. I was out of pesos and just wanted to pay with cash in my pocket rather than digging out my wallet and using my credit card. The store raped me on the exchange rate (13/USD), which I only figured out as I was walking away and looking at my receipt. It was only a couple bucks difference, but it was annoying. 

 
Al Czervik said:
Will be at Barcelo at the end of the month.  Seems we will need a lot of $1 bills to tip through our stay.  Guideline I read on the Barcelo Facebook page was $10 for airport transfer each way, $5 for bellboy, $5 daily for housekeeping, $2 daily for guy who restocks room fridge, $1 per person at buffets, $10-$20 tip at ala carte restaurants and singles for various bartenders.
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I think you're in the general ballpark.

Haven't done Barcelo, but at Palladium properties:

I tip $20 each way for transfers. Oscillate $1 & $2 per day for both the maid and the fridge guy. $1 or $2 for the buffet greeters/busboys. $5 at a la cartes. I overtip the regular bartenders/drink servers by a lot, but I've known some of those guys & gals for 10 years and they take care of me. $5 per service for bellboys and cart drivers. Random dollars for maintenance guys and the pool cleaners.

These are when I'm traveling alone - I'll double some of those if I'm with someone.

If you find you need change for larger bills, bellhops, cart drivers, and bartenders are probably your better bets while on-site, but I'd suggest taking as many small bills as you're comfortable with hauling.

 
highly recommend the ritz club level so far.  also bring some pesos and US 5s and 10s.  no idea what the going tip rate is, but i gave the concierge 20 and he upgraded me to ocean front.  gave the bell hop 20, he helped with 2 rooms.  i gave the driver 50 pesos, which is only like 2.50.  doesn't feel right tipping 200 or 400 pesos, though it is only 10-20 USD.  i used pesos at the drug store across the street for flip flops and coppertone spray.

 
My wife arranged a yacht charter for us and 7 other couples. :pickle:  

Cruise to Cozumel to snorkel with turtles, open bar with top shelf booze and lunch provided. And you can bring your own music to hook into their sound system. Can't wait!!!

 
Chemical X said:
highly recommend the ritz club level so far.  also bring some pesos and US 5s and 10s.  no idea what the going tip rate is, but i gave the concierge 20 and he upgraded me to ocean front.  gave the bell hop 20, he helped with 2 rooms.  i gave the driver 50 pesos, which is only like 2.50.  doesn't feel right tipping 200 or 400 pesos, though it is only 10-20 USD.  i used pesos at the drug store across the street for flip flops and coppertone spray.
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The very very top end resort staff will make at most 6 dollars a day. The median hotel wage is 3 bucks....a day.  

Just helps to have perspective when tipping.  

 
culdeus said:
The very very top end resort staff will make at most 6 dollars a day. The median hotel wage is 3 bucks....a day.  

Just helps to have perspective when tipping.  
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Jeez, don't use the currency exchange place they go to.

 
culdeus said:
The very very top end resort staff will make at most 6 dollars a day. The median hotel wage is 3 bucks....a day.  

Just helps to have perspective when tipping.  
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Love the wait staff at the mexican resorts.  You give them a few bucks and they're all smiles.  

 
Looking at Mexico again for February....in the past have gravitated towards adults only all inclusives. Last two trips were Secrets the Vine (Cancun) and Grand Fiesta Americana (PV). Enjoyed both but Cancun beach was better. Any recommendations from anyone on other options? I didn't see much in Cabo as far as AI resorts go......

 
PSA: TravelZoo had an insanely cheap deal on what looked like a really nice AC resort on Riviera Maya as of yesterday. I wasn't familiar with the resort, nor did I research it (since I don't have the cash right now), but it is worth checking out.

Link

 
RedmondLonghorn said:
PSA: TravelZoo had an insanely cheap deal on what looked like a really nice AC resort on Riviera Maya as of yesterday. I wasn't familiar with the resort, nor did I research it (since I don't have the cash right now), but it is worth checking out.

Link
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While I haven't been, I fully vouch for the El Dorado resorts included in the link...they are part of the Karisma Hotel group. My wife and I got married at one of their hotels and have been back a couple times, and going again in a couple weeks, this time with our daughter. 

Food/drinks are top notch for an AI. 

 
RUSF18 said:
While I haven't been, I fully vouch for the El Dorado resorts included in the link...they are part of the Karisma Hotel group. My wife and I got married at one of their hotels and have been back a couple times, and going again in a couple weeks, this time with our daughter. 

Food/drinks are top notch for an AI. 
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Day 4 of our trip here and this place never disappoints. The people here will go to the end of the earth for you. I don't see as many people tipping as I used to which is a shame. Giving $5 to the guy who takes care of us during breakfast isn't much at all to us but obviously so important to them.

 
I can't believe the nice gestures people will make sometimes. Wife and I celebrated 10 years of marriage with dave matthews in riviera maya last Feb., and this woman mailed us the 9 CD's of all 3 shows, listening to it now. Second night of this set was our 10-year anniversary, and now we've got a recording of the show.

We'll be back there in 24 days. ?

 
Ilov80s said:
Day 3 of a week in Cancun. How's the weather back home? 
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It was two degrees here in Virginia just a bit ago, but I suspect you knew the weather was a tad chilly back home you #### ######## #### ##########

Seriously, enjoy! Where ya staying?

 
Uruk-Hai said:
It was two degrees here in Virginia just a bit ago, but I suspect you knew the weather was a tad chilly back home you #### ######## #### ##########

Seriously, enjoy! Where ya staying?
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lol yeah I was being a ####. It's like negative a million in Detroit. I'm at the Royal Sands- highly recommend 

 
Uruk-Hai said:
It was two degrees here in Virginia just a bit ago, but I suspect you knew the weather was a tad chilly back home you #### ######## #### ##########

Seriously, enjoy! Where ya staying?
Click to expand...
lol yeah I was being a ####. It's like negative a million in Detroit. I'm at the Royal Sands- highly recommend 

 
was there the week before christmas.   almost just as nice as the warm weather is the almost 2 hours of extra daylight you get.    huge.   

 
Uruk-Hai said:
Looks like the airport in Cancun is doing away with Customs forms and the traffic light whacka-mole:

Link

You can also fill out your Immigration form on line ahead of time now:

Link
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Thanks for this, really helpful. :thumbup:  

Wife is afraid to fly so she's completely zonked on xanax & vodka by the time we land. She wasn't able to fill out the form last year.

 
NutterButter said:
My folks filled out the online form.  They didn't accept it.    And the whacka-mole is still there.   
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Yeah I forgot about that. We had to fill out the form on the plane and we got the green light. My nephew who was a moron and flew with his weed pen in his jacket pocket got the red light but they didn't find his pen. Dumb move by him but I'm reaping the rewards.

 
The online form just replaced the one you normally fill out on the plane. When I was flying in a few weeks ago, I mentioned it to the flight attendant and she had no idea what I was talking about. They did accept it once I landed though.

Traffic light system still active. I got the red which was great for travelling with the kid for the first time.

I struggled to come up with "that's just powered formula" in Spanish.

 
Went to PdC between Dec 13-19 to The Royal (AO AI).  Repeat customer - love that place.

No issues whatsoever, except one day of rain washing out a sun day.  Still a nice relaxing time.

For those flying them, Frontier flies into the new terminal 4, which did not have the whack-a-mole if I recall.  

 
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I had zero problems with the on-line form. It took the lady longer to tear it in half than it took her to read it.

I did get the whackamole thing still (it was in a different location, though, and looked temporary), but I never saw a red light come up for anyone in my line.

 
Weather this week was the worst I've seen in my decade + of coming. I guess that wicked cold front stretched here too. Of course by that I mean it was in the low-mid 70s and rained for 10 minutes a couple days. It was still beautiful and a hell of a lot nicer than Michigan. 

 
Good to know that other people had success with the online form.   My parents are old so they probably screwed something up.   I'm always left smh when the airline doesn't have enough forms for the people on the plane.   I mean its not like you know how many people are going to be on the plane.     You certainly don't want to have a few extra just in case.   The additional fuel cost doesn't justify it.  

 
The online form was awesome. The flight attendant looked at me like I was a moron when I told her I didn't need the customs form. Lol. The new terminal (#4 I think) does not have the light whack-a-mole, but they are still "randomly" picking people out for additional search. There is a chokepoint that everyone has to go through and there they wave some people over to the screening area. My family got waved over, but they only check one bag even if there are multiple bags. They looked at our luggage, picked the one they wanted to search and went through it fairly quickly.

Thanks, again, to whoever posted the online form link. That was great.

 
soothsayer said:
The online form was awesome.
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While I agree it's way better that trying to fill it out on a plane, it would be nice if they gave you the ability to do something like "apply same info" to every member of your party so you don't need to keep on retyping your address, dates of travel, hotel location, etc for an entire family when you keep on starting over with a new form. Or you fill out one form with the majority of the info, then it asks you the identifying info of the people you are traveling with, and it then creates separate forms for you. 

Baby steps though. 

 
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The biggest pain in the ### has always been USA customs for me.  Mexico is always a green light. Grab a bottle of patron and head for the shuttle. 

 
culdeus said:
The biggest pain in the ### has always been USA customs for me.  Mexico is always a green light. Grab a bottle of patron and head for the shuttle. 
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Coming home through Dulles is a major pain, thought they did get rid of that last security gate.

Cancun is a piece of cake. I should have added above that I came in through Terminal 3 (one of the older ones), not the new Terminal 4.

 
Uruk-Hai said:
I think you're in the general ballpark.

Haven't done Barcelo, but at Palladium properties:

I tip $20 each way for transfers. Oscillate $1 & $2 per day for both the maid and the fridge guy. $1 or $2 for the buffet greeters/busboys. $5 at a la cartes. I overtip the regular bartenders/drink servers by a lot, but I've known some of those guys & gals for 10 years and they take care of me. $5 per service for bellboys and cart drivers. Random dollars for maintenance guys and the pool cleaners.

These are when I'm traveling alone - I'll double some of those if I'm with someone.

If you find you need change for larger bills, bellhops, cart drivers, and bartenders are probably your better bets while on-site, but I'd suggest taking as many small bills as you're comfortable with hauling.
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BIL bought a membership at the Palladium.  We are taking a big group down and staying at the White Sands in March.  

When you are listing these amounts I assume you mean USD, not Pesos.  Thanks for the info. 

 
bshell27 said:
BIL bought a membership at the Palladium.  We are taking a big group down and staying at the White Sands in March.  

When you are listing these amounts I assume you mean USD, not Pesos.  Thanks for the info. 
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yes, assume dollars.  There is no real reason to get pesos.

This level of tipping quoted is really high.  They don't expect that. 

 
bshell27 said:
BIL bought a membership at the Palladium.  We are taking a big group down and staying at the White Sands in March.  

When you are listing these amounts I assume you mean USD, not Pesos.  Thanks for the info. 
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Yes, USD.

I've looked into the Travel Club ( BIL's membership - basically a timeshare), but I don't think it's a good fit for me. But I know others who love it.

You'll like the White Sands section. It's in the center of the resort (which is huge). All of the rooms have been remodeled in the last year or two. 

If you have any questions about the resort, feel free to hit me up. 

 
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