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Topic: Sandos Playacar Beach Resort (Read 1653 times)
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Dan In Oklahoma
SurferDude
Posts: 496
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Sandos Playacar Beach Resort
Location – The Sandos is the last resort located in the gated Playacar community on the south end of Playa del Carmen. It was formerly the Gala Beach Resort.
Layout – The resort is situated in a vertical fashion and is quite deep. (see link for map)
http://download.sandoshotels.com/linpha/actions/image_resized_view.php?imgid=165&wh=1280x911
There are three separate and distinctive room/building areas. The Riviera is the newest section and is farther from the beach. The Hacienda is in the middle and the Beach Section is next to the beach. We didn’t see any of the Hacienda or Beach rooms. There are plenty of those photos on Trip Advisor.
Our room was 9136 which is in the building farthermost from the beach. On the map our room was located at the bottom corner of the “C” of building 9101. It was only ten steps to the pool. We emailed the resort and requested a room in either building 8101 or 8341 but none were available. One did open up two days later, but we decided to stay put. I will give them props for trying to accommodate us with another room.
Our Room
The panels in the bi-fold doors are opaque and really let light from the bath room into the bed room.
Room Score B+
Pools
The two biggest pools in the Riviera section is the main pool and the adult pool. Both have bars with the larger main pool having a swim up bar. There is sporadic drink service at the main pool and none at the adult pool. There is plenty of room at both pools, but the adult pool is much quieter.
Riviera main pool
Riviera main pool at night
Riviera adult pool
Riviera adult pool at night
Riviera adult pool at night as Seafood A la carte
There is also a small pool in the Rivera section and one near the beach for the “Royal Elite” time share people. There is also a section of palapas and loungers at the beach for them. Never saw too many people at any of the pools.
There is one large pool at the Beach section. All the pool activities are held at this pool. It is noisy and crowded. There is a plunge pool at each of the Hacienda buildings
Main activity pool
Hacienda and plunge pool
Pool scores
Riviera Pools – B (would grade higher if drink service was consistent)
Beach Pools – D (too crowded and noisy)
FOOD-Buffets
Riviera buffet open for breakfast and dinner. This is one of two air conditioned buffet on the resort. Breakfast has usual items and a cook to order omelet station. Dinner has grill stations for shrimp, steak, chicken and shrimp. Limited choices for side dishes.
Blue Snack bar and Buffet located at the adult pool. Open for lunch only. Buffet items or order from limited menu. This restaurant doubles as the sea food a la carte at night.
Piemonte Italian Buffet – Cook to order pasta. Wonderful lasagna. Only place to get coconut ice cream. Air conditioned.
Piemonte Italian buffet
Grand Festival Buffet – The largest buffet on the resort. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Grill stations for fish, chicken, shrimp and steak. Rotating theme nights for dinner. Large selection of side dishes and vegetables. Self serve soft ice cream station.
Grand Festival buffet
Main Pool Buffet – Open for breakfast and lunch. Becomes the Mexican buffet on appointed nights. Self serve soft ice cream station
All buffets have food and drink containers to take food from the buffet.
Buffet scores – B+
A la Carte
Le Gourmet – Crab bisque, smoked salmon & caviar, scallops w/chipotle sauce, filet mignon, baked Alaska and strawberries and cream. (filet was tender and cooked as ordered)
Inside Le Gourmet
Seafood restaurant – Seafood soup, warm spinach salad w/ mixed sea food, mixed sea food w/red sauce and pasta. Apple tart w/ ice cream.
Asiana
We did not try the Asiana, Brazilian, steak, or Mexican.
A la carte Scores – B+
Alcohol
Limited. No Havana rum. Bacardi Anejo rum, Appleton rum, Jose Cuervo Gold, Canadian Mist, Jim Beam, Absolut vodka and Gordons gin are the most recognizable
Brands. There are off brands of Irish Crème and Ameretto.
The Italian buffet had a drinkable red from Baja California. The white at the sea food restaurant was also decent as was the rose.
The beer was Dos Equis on tap and cans in the mini fridge. Sol was also in the fridge.
Score – C
Service
Service was good throughout the resort. The waiters, bartenders and cleaning personnel did a great job. Every request was met with a smile and “my pleasure”. The a la carte service was exceptional.
Score – A-
Beach
We spent the first two days at the pool because the beach was not open due to the restoration project. Because Sandos owns the property south of the resort, they were able to provide a limited beach. They cut a path through the brush to this area. It was about a 400 to 500 meter walk. They set up a few umbrellas, loungers and a make shift bar (ice chests). They also had a couple of containers of beer and sandwiches. The rest rooms were port-a-pottys.
The path to temporary beach
Port-a-potties
Temporary beach bar
On Sunday they opened the beach all the way to the Riu Mexico Palace. They were still dredging sand to all resorts north of the RMP. On Tuesday the beach was open all the way to the Reef Playacar. Even though the beach was open there was still limited access.
Construction was still in progress from end to end and construction vehicles were moving up and down the beach. All resorts had orange fencing in front and no loungers were allowed past the fence. People at each resort were allowed access to the ocean via an opening in the fence. You were not allowed to walk up and down the beach where the construction vehicles were moving. Once you reached the waters edge, you could walk up and down the beach. The beach is beautiful! Each resort has at least 100+ meters beach front. It looks like it did 7 or 8 years ago. I don’t know how long it will last, but for now it is great!
Beach access from Sandos
Construction vehicle access
The beach looking north from Royal Hideaway
The beach looking south from Riu Yucatan
Sand dredging barge
Creating a cove south of Sandos. For the new Sandos resort?
Beach Score A+++++
Misc
Gym - Spacious. Five treadmills and several other cardio machines. Several body specific machines and limited free weights. Flat screen TV’s.Towels and water provided. 7AM to 10PM
Plaza – The area between the Meeting Point (J on the map) and the pool is called the plaza. This area has tables and chairs set up for the outdoor entertainment and vendor
night. It is narrow and cramped and virtually no breeze gets to this area. Cigarette smoke makes this place most unpleasant.
Theatre – Open air only on one side. Stood outside one night and watched tribute to MJ. It was crowded. Not one empty table. Bar that services theatre is very small.
Walking – At a brisk stroll we timed the walk from our room to the beach in 12 minutes. Most trip reports have it at 10 to 15 minutes. Unless you are physically disabled, the walk is not bad. I wouldn’t want to do it several times a day in the summer.If you are staying in a Riviera room, make sure you pack every thing when going to the beach.
They also have two golf cart transports. One seats 7 people and the other seats 5. They run from the Riviera section to the Meeting Point. There is usually a fifteen or twenty minute wait. We used them a few times.
Grounds
Beach front building
Taxi to 5th Ave - $5 us. They also have bike rentals
Lobby – Beautiful lobby area. Plenty of nice areas inside and outside to have a drink
WI-FI and Internet – There are two areas for internet and wi-fi. One at the Meeting Point and the other is in the Riviera lobby area. Both have three computers. Cost for internet is $5US for one hour. You can use your lap top also, but you must be in one of these areas. We asked several people if the signal strength was good and they said it was.
Overall impressions
We enjoyed our stay at the Sandos. The room, food and service were quite good. The beach is perfect (for now).The draw backs are:
- lack of quality and variety of alcohol (no Havana Rum)
- no air conditioning in main buffet (would be unbearable in the summer)
- distance from Riviera section to beach
We would return, but we would try to get a room either in the Beach or Hacienda section.
We would not return at any time of the year when the temperatures are typically high. Based on our experience, we would put a dollar limit of $800/pp for an 8 night 7 day vacation (land only high season). That does not include Christmas and New Years, because we never travel during those times).
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Laurie in Cincinnati
Olympian Gold
Posts: 2748
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Thanks so much for a great, thorough report!! I just love the color of the water there. It's breathtaking!!
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« Last Edit: February 06, 2010, 02:25:22 PM by Laurie in Cincinnati »
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Karen in NYC
Olympian Gold
Posts: 2189
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Very good report. Love the ratings...........
Do they have some sort of "premium" level that would get you closer to the beach.
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actran
SurferDude
Posts: 433
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Thanks for the report and all the pics.
But.....................................................
NO HAVANA?!?!  I would have packed out and found another hotel  
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Tammy
SurferDude
Posts: 238
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 Great photos !! Great reviews !!
Blue Snack bar and Buffet located at the adult pool....When I was there in October, breakfast was served here also.
I used my laptop in the computer areas...and the WiFi worked well.
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schmerl
Olympian Gold
Posts: 2703
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Thanks for the great report and fantastic pictures. The beach looks fabulous!! Of course with two feet of snow outside my house right now, any beach would look great!
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Karen in NYC
Olympian Gold
Posts: 2189
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I got hooked on Havana Club at Barcelo last year.
THe older one is pretty good on ice. But I see from the Havana Club website they actually have a 15 year old "Gran Reserva". Wouldnt mind a taste of that.
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OK Steph
Olympian Gold
Posts: 1067
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I am scratching my head now. We were there 6 nights. Arrived Friday afternoon and left Thurs morning.
We went to Dallas Wed pm to avoid the snowstorm coming to OK. That might have been where the confusion happened?
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OK Steph
Olympian Gold
Posts: 1067
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Only when doing trip reports. We all lose a few brain cells when in Mexico. He had to show me where the error occurred because I missed it.
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Rhonda
Lifeguard
Posts: 707
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Thanks for the report and pictures. We love pictures. And the beach look fabulous. Can wait to see it in person. Glad you guys had a good time.
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Randy in MN
Beachcomber
Posts: 4
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Dan & Steph,
You guys write great trip reports. We stayed at the Sandos Feb 2009, the beaches needed an upgrade. Hopefully the hurricanes will leave the beaches alone. Thanks for the time you put in composing the report, brought back some good memories from our vacation. These reports give me something to look forward to during these cold Minnesota winters (expecting 8-10 inches today).
Heading to Nuevo Vallarta in two weeks.
Thanks again
Randy
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Mike 
