My DH will not be able to come with us and we are staying at the Royal Mayan.
- Is it easy to catch a cab from the airport without hagglers?
- Is it best not to rent a car?
- We planned on staying at the resort and doing tours to get around...
- How can we purchase groceries? Can we take them in suitcase?
- Is it safe for women alone? Now we are city girls so we know how to be watchful and we don't trust nobody ... but I just want to be prepared.
1. Transportation from the airport is pretty well regulated; you can arrange transportation on a shared van for around $10 per person at a kiosk just before you walk out of the airport. The price is standard, no haggling. It's even easier if you pre-arrange your transportation. Either use Brant at Entertainment Plus as suggested above, or through Thomas More which you can find on
http://www.royalresorts.com (go down the choices on the left till you find airport transfers). The two services are similar, both are highly recommended - an advantage of Thomas More is that the fee will appear on your Royal Mayan resort bill when you check out.
One hassle you will get in the airport is from the Timeshare Sharks - you will have to run the guantlet of people offering to help you, asking you if you need transportation, even saying "royal resorts?" or "Thomas More?". IGNORE THEM ALL and just keep walking. Do not sign anything or pay anyone anything. Do not hesitate, look interested, or stop. The only REAL Thomas More drivers will be wearing yellow shirts with a Thomas More logo, and I assume the drivers from Brant's service are also clearly identified.
2. You do not need a car unless you plan to go on a bunch of tours and want to do it yourself. I don't recommend that. If you want to do a few tours use either Thomas More or Brant, and let someone else do the driving.
Getting around the Cancun area via local bus or taxi is easy - taxi obviously easier than bus though not quite as cheap; the busses are cheap and reliable.
3. Re groceries – depends on how much real cooking you intend to do. WalMart is about 30-45 minutes from the Royal Mayan by bus. They have a great selection, will take your mastercard, and then you can take a taxi back. You can also get almost everything at any of the three mini-markets at the Tri-Royals. Sodas, cereal, bread, canned food, fruit, ice cream, snacks….. The Royal Islander has a great take-out with ribs, roast chicken, soups, salads, etc., and all of the restaurants at the Royals are reasonable. We don’t bother with WalMart any more – we rely on the mini-markets plus the take-out. The prices are reasonable.
You can bring non-perishables in your suitcase. We bring a few easy to pack things from home, like microwave popcorn and peanut butter.
4. The Royals are very safe. If you are used to a city, just use your street smarts and common sense outside of the Royals, especially at night. Don’t flash cash, keep a good hold on your purse and wallet, keep your passport in the villa safe, and so forth.
All of these topics have been discussed on this board, so you might want to search for terms such as “food”, “walmart”, “brant”, “Thomas more”, etc.
