krmlaw
TUG Member
so excited - plus jetblue has no luggage fees
Now.. for the beach palapas: there is no way there can be enough of them to make everyone happy... and absolutely no system that is going to make everyone happy.. so therein lies some of the issues you may read about in other reviews. Also, let me caveat my comments with.. thank goodness we were not staying during a truly "high season" as this would absolutely cause grief relative to pool chairs and beach palapas.
So... when you arrive check your papers/information they give you at checkin (and in the room) carefully as the palapas system is described in one of them... but my wife and I are the types to come off the plane running.. shedding clothes for our bathing suits and hitting the beach. Sometimes we even measure our vacation/trip locations with a "Plane to beach" time So.. anyway, we were completely ignorant of the process and hit the beach with eyes wide shut
There is a hut..on the main walkway in the beach area of the Surf Club you should hit FIRST! Talk to the folks there and have them describe the process (Linda and Philip were 2 extremely helpful and nice employees there along with all of them.. oh and the security guy Rudy! nice and funny guy). Basically, when you arrive.. go there and you can reserve a palapas for 2 consecutive days (depending on proximity to beach $10=2nd row/$15=1st row)... then you skip a day and can reserve another 2 (for the same costs). ONLY select palapas are available through that system. Others are released during certain times. at 7am and at 4pm. The trick is there are lines that form to be able to queue up for these. I've heard the queue for the morning has started as early as 5:30am (sorry ain't going to be me ). I did the afternoon queue .. and some of the more aggressive folks will start queuing up at 2pm. Keep an eye on the bench right in front of the hut (thank goodness it's covered) .. and as soon as you see someone there grab a book, water (or Balashi beer) and go sit there. Make sure to confirm loudly and for everyone to hear what # you are in the queue so as to avoid any confusion and issues later. At about 3:50pm-ish RUdy (or some other employee) will come around and hand out small white numbers to everyone in line representing you # in the queue. And that's it.
My wife thought I was crazy .. but it was kind of fun.. you get to meet lots of really nice people (and just as crazy as you are for sitting in line ) from all over.. I met a really nice lady from Virgina and also a lady from NY that is Portuguese (Portugal). Relax, get the palapa you want, meet nice people.. and by the time you've completed that (about 4pm-ish) there is still plenty of beach time for happy hour (which is completely outrageously overpriced 2drinks for $15 .. get a cooler on your first day.. go to the supermarket down the street at the first light on left and buy a case of balashi.. keep cold in fridge.. fill cooler with ice machine on several of the floors in the hotel and have all the happy hour you want ) .. anyway, there's still plenty of sun, ,beach, water to enjoy even after your wait in line. Oh.. and before I forget .. when you have reserved your free palapas for the next day .. make sure you go down by 9:30am on that day and get the beach guys to unlock the chairs and palapas.. put you chair tags on them .. and go have a nice breakfast with the family. If you don't do this.. and show up at noon.. the free reserved palapas may be gone. Ok.. enough about that ...
ok. im going to pay to reserve whenever i can. i have no interest in waiting in line on my vacation