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Latest Visits - March 2010, Christmas 2009 - Club Med Cancun
March 2010
My 5th post-renovation visit, dates were March 14th - 21st 2010. The village was very full.
The waterski and sailing teams were awesome. Weather was pretty good. Reception team was great. My room was in Amatista, ground floor, as requested by my agent.
Waterski: Ossvi, chief of ski (Mexico), Pablo (Mexico), Victoria (Russia). The team was short handed and filled in with other watersports GOs. The Mastercraft had a lot of down time this week but the lines were generally light.
Sailing: Kyle (Texas), Diego (Mexico). Winds were good and boats were available with no or short wait times.
Remy was Chief of the Village, filling in for Olivier who was in Paris training for 3 weeks. Although Olivier was back on my last day. He is moving to the new Egypt village in September. Remy did a great job in his absence. Things ran smoothly.
It was spring break and the village was packed with kids. Community tables were non-existent unless you had your own "community". My first experience with waiting lines to be seated for dinner in the main restaurant. Especially for groups (we usually had 6-10).
Food was not as good as December, yet the same head chef was there. Overall it was good, but a bit disappointing. Some great dishes. Not as many Mexican goodies. Spotty quality overall. Ate at Las Cazuealas one night and it was nice. Service was great. Had lunch at Las Cazuealas every day except one. The grilled grouper was fantastic. The custom made salads were wonderful. Hard ice cream was not to be missed, especially pistachio, coconut and almond.
Wines were not as good as usual. White was inconsistent, and sometimes not at all drinkable. Bubbles were decent. Red was quite drinkable. Rose, definitely avoid it, or at least sample before trying.
Entertainment was really enjoyable. Many choices. Live bands and Dave entertained every night around the pool with his singing and guitar. Dont miss the Flamenco band. Crazy signs every night. Hands up was always on tap. Also some other favorites. Loved it. The shows were fun. There was a mini-club show. Always something fun going on.
Fitness classes all day. Pool aerobics were well attended.
The GO team was GREAT. All GOs were friendly and fun.
Disco was hopping after 12:30. Very fun. Good music, although many of my friends disagreed with me. (I like techo, and especially Latin techno)
Monica was still teaching Salsa classes but was hurting for attendance.
The bar team was great, especially Daniel and his wife Martha. (Martha makes the best bloodies at Club Med, but you will have to go to La Chispa for them)
All in all, a great visit! Thank you Remy for your hospitality during a demanding week. And thank's again to Waterski and Sailing!!!! And reception!!!
Christmas 2009
This is my 4th post-renovation visit, and my first ever Christmas at Club Med. Dates were 12/17 12/26.
New
The new second runway at Cancun airport is now in use, and airport lines were light.
The new entryway to the village is completed and in use, and the roadway has been revised accordingly. There is a new guard building and adjoining parking lot for taxicabs. See slide show. Club Med sold off a small piece of property including the previous entry gate, arch and guard shack, to make way for a new development adjoining the western boundary of Club Med. The good news is that this development has gone bankrupt, so there is no near-term fear of invasion along the sailing beach.
Jade
The ambitious Jade building renovation has been completed. This included re-routing the road so it isn’t so close to Jade at the cost of one tennis court. Jade is now surrounded by its own grounds with palapas, hammocks, lawn, palm trees, fence, etc. You cannot get into the Jade compound unless you are a guest there. Jade has its own check-in area. I did not tour Jade, but was able to get some shots of the grounds, infinity pool area, etc. Jade is now a village within a village.
Christmas at Club Med
Club Med did a great job making Christmas Eve and day very special, especially for kids. Dinner on both days was very nice. Unlimited lobster on Christmas Eve, and it was pretty good, although no drawn butter (but a couple nice cocktail sauces).
The entry to the main restaurant was specially decorated on Christmas eve with all sorts of sets manger, etc. Plus, they had a petting zoo for kids which included goats, baby chicks, rabbits, etc.
A lot of elaborate Christmas celebration by Club Med over the two days.
Christmas schedules are here (huge PDF file)
GOs were all dressed up in red with Santa hats. It was a very upbeat environment. See the slide show.
Crowd
I arrived on a Thursday. The first two days the village was approximately 40% full making the week-before the week-before Christmas a good time to target for future visits to avoid crowds. Mostly French and Canadian. Not many Americans.
On Saturday, the village filled up completely. The crowd was now mostly American by far. Primarily young families, as well as older families with 20-something’s in tow.
I was told that there were 250 kids during this week, half teens, in a full village. CM did a pretty good job keeping kids busy and out of the way, but the feel of the village compared to previous post-reno visits was very different. Very few singles, but the ones that were here were mostly 20-something’s here with parent(s), and a few 30-40-50-something’s alone.
Dining
Food was great during the entire visit, but I never had dinner anywhere but the main restaurant. Often had late lunch at Las Cazuelas, which now happens an hour earlier starting at 1 pm, which is nice beautiful and relaxing. Had a great salad at the snack bar, La Pergola.
During past visits I complained about the lack of prepared salads there were plenty this time. Unlimited guacamole at lunch and dinner. Delicious Huevos Rancheros at the egg bar every morning, with a very spicy rich sauce.
Sushi was more common than during past visits here, and the two nights they had a sushi station were was excellent.
More Mexican specialty dishes than normal, which I liked a lot. Some of the special entrιe selections were as good as you could expect in any high-class restaurant.
Several times there were salad tossing stations, and always at Las Cazuelas during lunch.
The head chef has now been at this village for 3 years and is doing a great job.
As always, there were Club Med skinny fries. Try ’em with loads of Tabasco sauce and a cold beer you will never go back. Hard, hand-dipped ice cream is back, every lunch and dinner, and at both main restaurants, and my favorite, Pistachio was available twice! Also, try vanilla ice cream on a slice of chocolate bread. Yeah, really.
GO Team
Olivier Sanchez was Chef de Village. I believe he was from France, despite the Spanish sounding last name. He ran a tight but upbeat ship and was always on patrol to make sure everyone was happy. GOs were very friendly and out going, with rare exception. 80% of GOs were Mexican, and most spoke very good English. Remy was chief of leisure and village ambiance, a new position as far as I know. He was very good and seemed like second in command to Olivier. There were 2 American GOs (Chloe, boutique; Kyle, sailing). The reception team was the best ever. Super helpful and friendly (special thanks to Julie, Ger, Paola). Waterski team was run by Julian from France, with Victoria from Russia (an amazing athlete), Ossvi from Mexico, and Pablo from Mexico.
I don’t do Circus because it conflicts with Waterskiing muscles, but I want to say they had a very friendly team. Led by Mad Max, newly arrived from Punta Cana. Great guy. The reason I mention this is the fact that in the past, unless you are involved with Circus, I have found the GOs to be generally stuck-up and not very friendly. This team was very fun.
A new rule allows only one GO per dining table, regardless of the number of GMs. Formerly two were allowed. We had a group of 10 GMs one night and asked Olivier if we could have a second GO and we were told ‘no’.
Community Tables
There were none unless you showed up with your own group. This lack of community is a major issue for many people. As you read this, if you agree about the need for community tables, please make your preference known to Club Med, and to Olivier if you visit Cancun. Dining room hostesses should ask all singles and couples if they are interested in a community table. It doesn’t have to be a singles hookup thing were not talking Hedonism here. Couples enjoy meeting other people too. After all, this is one thing that has made Club Med great, the fact that you could meet people from all over the world. Lets bring back a community table option.
And if Club Med is listening, I understand you are targeting a family demographic with the ‘new’ Club Med (I’m a marketing guy, too). But I hear from a lot of couples and singles we are still a significant component and want an environment where we can meet and make friends with people from all over the world. You can still accomplish this while promoting the "new" Club Med. Simply designate some community dining tables in each dining room, and have hostesses ask each childless couple or single if they would prefer a community table it would make the Club Med experience much better for everyone. Thanks!
Disco
The disco didn’t really start going until 1 am. Each night was different. There were a lot of teens but they tended to thin out around 1:30. Music was good. GOs were there depending on their show rehearsals and other schedules. The disco now closes at 2 where formerly it would run until the last guest departed. Every night the disco was at La Chispa no more disco nights at La Pergola (my favorite disco place). This is due to noise complaints from the Westin Hotel - apparently they called the cops on CM. However, the Jade building certainly gets blasted with disco beat (which might be the reason for 2 am closing).
Great Salsa instruction from Monica. Twice a day, morning and afternoon. I was finally able to master the 3 basic steps, so I feel proud and accomplished.
Crazy Signs
Alive and well! Always began with Hand’s Up! Loved it. Still doing pool crazy signs at noon. Great participation this isn’t going away soon.
Dress codes
Typical just bring jeans, red, green, beige, black and white and you will be fine. Plus some nights were elegant and/or all black or all white. Fun!
Rooms
No changes here, except a new brand of bottled water. This shot is taken from my balcony. Guess which building I was in?
Gym
All new weight machines, but missing critical upper body machines such as chest press and weighted row, plus there is no longer a gravity assisted chin and dip station although there is a full-weight chin and dip station. Good selection of free weights and leg machines.
Lots of fitness classes going all day. Yoga, stretch, water aerobics, strength training, etc.
Entertainment
Many of the stage shows were marginal and seemed repetitive and boring after 10 minutes or so. I heard a lot of comments about Club Med trying to be too ambitious with stage shows. The Circus show was simply outstanding and not to be missed under any circumstances. The other shows that succeeded were the campy, funny, or French humor type shows the Club Med mainstay. The waterski show is now held at the dock, not the pool, and it was fun. No more barefoot displays, though.
There were 3 live performances. A Mexican band on Mexican night very good, and walking from dining room to dining room performing. Another live band, which I missed. And, the Flamenco jazz band which was outstanding. I missed the Cuban band and hope they return. Slightly less entertainment options than my last 3 post-Wilma visits to this village.
Complaints
None to speak of, the main one being the lack of availability of community dining tables as previously mentioned. Overall, as a single, I would probably not choose a major holiday again, but then again I cant think of a better place to go!
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