Postcard from Puerto Vallarta – hotel site inspection of Golden Crown Paradise Resorts

On Monday of this visit to Puerto Vallarta, we were scheduled to see several hotels.  These site inspections usually cover several different levels of accommodations as well as the commons areas, restaurants and activities.  As travel agents, this is one of the top reasons we come on these “familiarization” trips.  These walk-throughs give us the personal experience of a hotel, even if it is not the one we stay in while here.  Walking through the rooms, the commons, the activities and the restaurants help us visualize just who should be staying in these hotels.

Golden Crown Paradise ©Carlanne McCrystal 2009

Our first inspection was where we are staying, the Golden Crown Paradise Resort, an all-inclusive adults only resort.  Next door to this hotel is the Crown Paradise Club which welcomes families. There are many attractive reasons for choosing this hotel. 

• It is a short walk to the Maritime Terminal.  If you are into watching the ships come into and depart from a port, this is a great spot to relax and observe. 
• There is a multitude of shopping opportunities within a few minutes walk.
• All the restaurants are a la carte, so with no buffets you always have fresh, hot/cold foods served to you by smiling waiters. The three specialty restaurants offer a different menu every night.  Room service is included 24 hours a day as part of the all-inclusive. 
• There are many activities and they are posted by the elevator every evening for the next day. 

Golden Crown Paradise offers exchange privileges with the Crown Paradise Club, but not vice versa.  The minimum check in age for the Golden Crown Paradise is 18 years, so anyone with children should reserve the Crown Paradise Club. 

Los Gallos Restaurant ©CMcCrystal 2009

After breakfast in Los Gallos restaurant and a quick walk-through of the other restaurants, we adjourned to the Crown Paradise Club. 

Crown Club Lobby ©CMcCrystal 2009

This is a great hotel for families.  They even have “family” accommodations which includes the parent’s section of the room and a smaller room, with its own television and bunk beds and trundle bed, so it can sleep up to three children.  Their play area for the children is lovely.  A great pool area with water sports activities for all ages.  There is a pirate ship, fountains and waterslides for the children to have fun all day long.  They have a nursery/play area for the littlest children and everything there is “pint” sized…even the toilets, sinks and lockers.  Parents are given a beeper so they can always be in touch if needed.  They cannot go off property after leaving their children off at the play area, but it does give parents the opportunity for some “alone” time to be romantic, rest and reconnect.  There are 216 standard spacious garden or pool view rooms, 31 of the “family” rooms, and 7 honeymoon suites.  Handicapped rooms are available as well.  You can guarantee the family room with a $35 up-fee.  The handicapped rooms are by request and not guaranteed.

Family Room ©CMcCrystal 2009

There is the Club Caribe Bar which is an “adults only” area with jacuzzi and bar service for parents ready to get away for a bit from the kids.  They also have tween and teen area that was being added on to and being readied for opening.  One cool feature is “kids check-in” with a pint sized desk where staff finds out as much as possible about the children’s preferences and issues so they can better serve their smaller guests.   They are very family oriented and dedicated to the family market.

For the family who wants to play together while managing some adult time as well and not break the bank account while they are at it, the Golden Crown Paradise Resort, in particular, the Crown Paradise Club could just fit the bill.

Postcard from Puerto Vallarta – first evening excitements

Taking up with the dip in the pool on my first night in PV, I began talking with some ladies who were in a good-sized group of people.  We discussed why they come to the Crown Paradise Hotel every year. 

One, it is affordable and all inclusive.  Refreshing fruit-flavored drinks were flowing freely at the pool as we spoke.

Two, the staff has a low turnover.

Three, the rooms are clean and well maintained.

Four, the staff remembers the people from year to year.

Five, it is affordable enough that they can afford to go out one or two nights to an outside restaurant. 

Six, they are all over the age of forty and the age of the clientele in the hotel is not so young that the noise level and entertainment level is ongoing all night long.  It pretty much quiets down after 10PM.  If one wants nightlife, one must go outside the property.  And that is also an acceptable alternative.

Seven, this year they had a bottle of champagne in their room upon arrival. 

Some very good reasons for returning year after year.

By 7:30 we decided we were hungry but did not want to “dress” for dinner.  In our cover-ups, we were able to eat outside at a table in the corner by the palm fronds.  Chicken enchiladas and refried beans, with more beer.  It was acceptably filling if not entertaining.  Pleading exhaustion, we both agreed to head off to our respective rooms for a restful bit of sleep. 

I walked into my oven and knew rest was not going to happen anytime soon.  I called the front desk again, with a two thumbs up for the response of the staff.  Maintenance was up in a flash. They tore out ceiling panels and opened the ducts.  But to no avail.  There was no air conditioning going to be had in room 1810.  They called the front desk to recommend moving me.  Front desk suggested room #1814.  The maintenance fellow was so great.  He went and got a key to check out that room before they moved me and returned with less than good news.  It was as hot, if not hotter than #1810.  In the meantime I was online and trying to G-Chat Video with the family.  G-Chat Video definitely has some issues with international communications. 

As the minutes flashed by, the long day was taking its toll on everyone.  I took all the unpacking I had done, including all the things in the safe, and the drawers and threw it into my suitcases.  The next thing I knew I was walking down stairs to the 7th floor to a new unit.  It seemed questionable as to whether this room was going to be any cooler, but between the air conditioner and the ceiling fan, by 3AM ir was starting to cool down.

I logged into the internet yet one more time to let my family know that I had a new room and that I had packed and unpacked since I last chatted by G-chat (some 45 minutes earlier) and then said good night.  Exhaustion was finally setting in and sleep was begging for a chance.  The first day of Puerto Vallarta was coming to a close, with mixed reviews.  Maybe, just maybe, this would be ok after all.

Postcard from Puerto Vallarta – arrival at my hotel

My fellow travel agent and I arrived at the hotel and were greeted with cold washcloths and a fruity (non-alcoholic) drink.  The desk person could not seem to locate our records (they use paper records here – how quaint).  He left with my passport in hand and then returned to pull my paperwork out of the box in front of him.  I did wonder what transpired with my passport in the back office. 

He gave me the check-in spiel – if I wanted to have the use of the safe in my room, I needed a lock.  There is no charge for the lock, unless I lose the key.  Then there is a $100 fee for the key replacement.  He checked out a remote to the TV to me (again, no charge).  And he handed me a card for pool towel check out.  He assigned me the room # 1810.  That was nice because it is on the top floor.  He then snapped a blue plastic strip around my right wrist which indicated that I was in the all-inclusive plan.  I would wear this wrist-let for the next 5 days.  It felt a bit like a one-sided hand cuff, but it does mean I eat and drink for no extra charge. 

I asked about internet access.  The price seemed to change as it left his mouth.  It ranged from $9 to $29.  The good thing is that you purchase a set number of minutes or hours.  I purchased 24 hours.  As long as you log on, and then log off when you are shutting down, you may use only a few minutes and 24 hours can last a whole week.  But if you don’t log off, it can be used up very fast.  I agreed to the 24 hour plan immediately and then he checked in the fellow traveler.  She was 2 doors down from me and we accompanied a bellman to the 8th floor.  He dropped me off and proceeded down the hall with her in tow. 

I walked into an oven.  It was hot outside and hotter inside.  I walked over and opened the drape.  I checked the balcony door and it was not locked.  I stepped outside and the heat was overwhelming.  I stepped back in and tried to lock the door, but there was not a working lock.  After checking the AC control, I called the front desk.  I want to say two-thumbs up for the response level of the staff.  There was a maintenance person in my room handling the lock ASAP.  The air conditioning was a whole other issue.

My fellow traveler and I agreed it was a good idea to adjourn to the bar for a drink.  After unpacking and laying out toiletries, we met at the elevator and headed to the pool bar.  There was a menu of drinks.  There were a number of fruity flavored margaritas, but not a straight up margarita.  The same was true of the martinis, the daiquiris and well drinks seemed out of the question.  We settled on mojitos.  Then we saw him break out a huge bottle of beer for a waiter and the next drink was destined to be beer.  “Sol” was the brand name, but it was beer and it was wet, so that worked for me.  We were both so hot and sweaty that we agreed to go put on swimsuits and take a dip in the infinity pool.  We gave up on making reservations for dinner as it was after 5PM and dinner reservations had to be made before 5PM.  We also were too late to get pool towels with our cards.  When we went to the front desk to see if we could check them out from there, there were no towels available for another 5-10 minutes.  We decided we could dip without a towel.  I grabbed the beer and headed to the pool, expecting a cool dip to help chill me out.  Oops.  Wrong again.  The pool is a bit warmer than body temperature.  But once in and kicking around, it did not matter.  I may have been warm but the sweat was gone and I was drinking a beer in the pool.  Life was ok by most any standard.   

Welcome to Puerto Vallarta.

What is a “Good Deal”?

I usually do not try to talk about “Good Deals”, but these are extraordinary times and maybe starting to talk about what constitutes a “good deal” is appropriate – not only for my business (afterall, I, like so many others writing blogs, am in business) but for the consumer.

Take for example Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Now, I will grant you, these are not “cheap” cruises. But value? Definitely a good value. And a good value is a “good deal”!

So as an example: booking between now and March 31, 2009, if a couple want to go to Alaska this summer, and leave from Vancouver, BC for a 7 night cruise to Seward, they can get up to 2-for-1 savings with free air from selected cities and selected cruises and free unlimited shore excursions. NOTE: The shore excursions can frequently cost nearly as much as the cruise cabin when one decides to fully experience the ports of call. This is a huge value-added. And, if you have never sailed with Regent before, you may even qualify for some on-board credit.

The other really cool thing about Regent Seven Seas is this an “all-inclusive” cruise line: complimentary beverages, including fine wines and premium spirits, in-suite mini-bar replenished daily & onboard gratuities included (don’t you just “love” getting your bill at the end of a cruise and seeing anywhere from $10 to $25 per person per day in a gratuity charge?) Now I happen to think that the gratuity charge is a value and really ok – most of the time the wait staff, cabin stewards and all the other service people on the ship do a bang-up stellar job! However, it is the method of presenting this at the time of check out that can be a challenge for people to digest onto their charge cards. I love the concept of paying the gratuity up front.

So while there is a lot of fine print attached to the offerings, there is a lot of value-added to the “good deal”. And these kinds of offering come across my inbox every day, many times a day and from all the different vendors. If someone has cruised with a cruiseline before, they may get all kinds of special offers in the snail mail or their inbox. One of the value-adds of a travel consultant is that they can book these specials for you, be your advocate if necessary and possibly either beat the price you are offered, or get you additional “good deals” in shore excursions, on-board credit, gifts and the like.

As I see “good deals” and “value-added” opportunities over the next couple of months I am going to address them here. Regardless of whether you are in the market for a vacation in the immediate future or somewhere way down the road, watching the good deals come by us can be entertaining reading and certainly food for thought.