Vidanta NV Girl's Trip

[Zinjanthropus]

We- my wife and I- were last at N.V. in jan 2020 just before the world change. We were scheduled to a MP 1 bedroom, but got presentation upgraded into a Building 3 GL room, no kitchn.

My wife and friends have exchanged into two GL 2 br suites (the original GL 2 br) I'm wondering what they should expect regarding;

1) Presentation- no one's spouse will be there, and they don't like to present to half a couple. This is good but that might spoil freebies and offers to upgrade.
2) Upgrade- What possibly would they upgrade them into? Of the 5 times we stayed at a Vidanta, we've never not been upgraded. I guess it's just luck, or they thought we looked like big money LOL.
3) Bracelets- will they get GL bracelets which allow them to go everywhere, or something lower indicating their exchange peasantry status.
4) What should they expect in terms of Covid? Will they demand test results going in? will the US require them coming back? Will the pools be available? Hot tubs? restaurant policies?
6) is airfare relatively the same as before?

 

[pittle]

I went to Acapulco in 2011 with a girlfriend and they did their best to get me up upgrade. I told them that my husband was not there, but they still offered the breakfast and a small amount off room charges. My friend wanted to go, so we went and they did the full pitch, but I told them no, I would not even consider it without my husband there. Tell them just to say no.

We own there and have also exchanged in. We have only been upgraded twice since 1999 and both times were with exchanges into the same size unit. With 2 GL 2-bed suites, they would most likely put them on the same floor in a building. They have done that when we have taken family and had 3 units. That made it nice for visiting. They will have 2 large refigerators and cooktops and dishwashers also.

GL bracelets generally let you go everywhere, but as exchangers the plastic fob will be a different color than owners. In RM, they do make a difference by that color - you do feel like a peasant. (Even as a GL owner exchanging in to Grand Bliss, we could not use the Beach Club) NV is not so picky.

No test going in. They do have staff to do the test needed to leave the airport.

I am not aware of any hot tubs, but I have not been back to the NV GL in a few years. We tend not to get into public ones anyway - especially now.

As for airfare, who knows. I booked flights for November 2021 for November and it took 12,000 more points for the two of us than it did for November 2020. (We did get those back when we canceled last July.)

 

[Zinjanthropus]

Thanks Pittle, That's what I figured.
GL is really nice and gives a good luxurious feel. I'm not that jealous of that stupid...err...adventurous trip.
naah... lol
It's funny but I love Acapulco the most. Something about that city and the food, the personable drivers(Juan Carlos), and the ocean front room! Of course GV and RM are much nicer, but Acapulco has the best memories for us.

Oh right, I forgot about the lack of hot tubs...that solves that fear.

I think they'll love NV. it has such bang for the buck!
It's overwhelming in a good way to first time resort travelers.

They're traveling the second week of August.
Is that rainy season? What's NV like in august? is it like Europe where everyone is out of town or on vacation?

 

[Zinjanthropus]

We have a bottom basement MP single room, no kitchen. So at Acapulco we had a non-ocean view non-kitchen room but were upgraded to a 1 BR ocean view ocean view for hearing the sales itch. It's funny but we've been to a Vidanta more than we've been to our trade resort which is Orange lake. The good thing is we can trade into such a room. we've been to RM GB, RM Jungle, NV GL twice, and Aca. MP, so we're tradin pretty well.
This time, it might be becaue of the low travel due to Covid.

 

[pittle]

It will be hot and humid. I guess it rains part of most days, but not all day. We have not been there at that time of the year, but have friends who live between Punta MIta and Sayulita and they always go to San Diego to see her daughter in August. The girls will have fun just being together. They can go to Bucerias and hang out at the beachfront restaurants and do the flea market one day and go into PV and explore another. Then there are the glorious pools and grounds of the Vidanta resort. The new Salum and Beach Club are open so they can enjoy that.

We have been talking about going back to Acapulco in January 2022. That was where we first bought in February 1999 and have great memories of going there. We have been many times and love the beach and views there. When I retired, we spent 4 weeks there in Jan-Feb 2002. We had 2-bedroom MP units and VF weeks to use then. Now we will choose GM since they do not have GL or GB.

Once we moved to AZ in 2007, we started doing PV/NV most November's as family likes it best and joins us for Thanksgiving. We stay the week before and the week after. One of my brothers and his wife come the week before Thanksgiving because the flights are several hundred dollars less. Then they can spend Thanksgiving with their kids and grandkids. We love our last week with just the 2 of us!

All of the Vidanta resorts are first class!

 

[Zinjanthropus]

It will be hot and humid. I guess it rains part of most days, but not all day. We have not been there at that time of the year, but have friends who live between Punta MIta and Sayulita and they always go to San Diego to see her daughter in August. The girls will have fun just being together. They can go to Bucerias and hang out at the beachfront restaurants and do the flea market one day and go into PV and explore another. Then there are the glorious pools and grounds of the Vidanta resort. The new Salum and Beach Club are open so they can enjoy that.

We have been talking about going back to Acapulco in January 2022. That was where we first bought in February 1999 and have great memories of going there. We have been many times and love the beach and views there. When I retired, we spent 4 weeks there in Jan-Feb 2002. We had 2-bedroom MP units and VF weeks to use then. Now we will choose GM since they do not have GL or GB.

Once we moved to AZ in 2007, we started doing PV/NV most November's as family likes it best and joins us for Thanksgiving. We stay the week before and the week after. One of my brothers and his wife come the week before Thanksgiving because the flights are several hundred dollars less. Then they can spend Thanksgiving with their kids and grandkids. We love our last week with just the 2 of us!

All of the Vidanta resorts are first class!

First class indeed!
Yes, my wife plans on hitting Sayulita and Bucerias.
I have a question about the room charges;
How will the room costs be divided? I'm hoping they can itemize the biil by bracelet, that way each person can have an exact accounting of their charges. Do you know if this is the case?

 

[pittle]

They are very accommodating.

When my friend & I went, they divided ours. One week we were in a 2-bedroom and the 2nd week a 1-bedroom.

When we have had multiple 2-bedroom units like you do, they have done them as Room # -1 &-2 for the main side and then Room # - 1 & 2 for the lockout 2nd bedroom side as it has a different room #. So, you can get 4 CC on file for a 2-bedroom unit. They will do the same with the 2nd 2-bedroom unit. We have had 3 units many times and all family members have their cards on file.

One person will have to pay the daily room tax for the 2-bedroom unit (that is not very much and the girls can divi that up some time or the roomies can each buy her a drink on their tab).

 

[Zinjanthropus]

They are very accommodating.

When my friend & I went, they divided ours. One week we were in a 2-bedroom and the 2nd week a 1-bedroom.

When we have had multiple 2-bedroom units like you do, they have done them as Room # -1 &-2 for the main side and then Room # - 1 & 2 for the lockout 2nd bedroom side as it has a different room #. So, you can get 4 CC on file for a 2-bedroom unit. They will do the same with the 2nd 2-bedroom unit. We have had 3 units many times and all family members have their cards on file.

One person will have to pay the daily room tax for the 2-bedroom unit (that is not very much and the girls can divi that up some time or the roomies can each buy her a drink on their tab).

Thanks so much for your help. We shall see how all of this goes, meanwhile I'm planning a trip to London with my son. It's been 10 years since i've been back to our home away from home.

 

[Zinjanthropus]

Update on the Girl's trip.
A couple of the women begged off so we 3 remaining husbands sacrificed ourselves and saved them by coming along! lol.
My wife and I don't plan on going on another sales itch! But we convinced the two other couples to go and see what kind of deal they can get in exchange for the torture day. The two 2br GL is a fine stay, but we're hoping for an upgrade, or perhaps it's better to forego the pitch altogether.

1. Which GL building is the best in terms of ocean view, and rooms. What we can possibly trade/upgrade into? I was thinking 1-6 in descending order, because of the ocean view, but I'm not sure.
2. How realistic is it to want/expect/ask for a 4 BR residence? hey may as well dream big!
3. How heavy are the jejenes at the resort? Those pesty tiny biting insects sometimes really infest an area. We've always visited Mexico on Thanksgiving week, or january...never traveled in the summer...Should we expect Vidanta resorts to have a lot of them?
4. How are ATM rates these days? In Acapulco we found a Chase bank close to the resort and used it.
5. This is both low season, AND Covid resurgence...how filled will everything be?
6. Will anything at the restaurant be closed? I heard a few of the restaurants are closed until full capacity is resumed.
7. Is the gondola open for public?

 

[Ty1on]

We were just in Grand Bliss NV last month. We will never go during rainy season again. It isn't the rain, that wasn't so bad on the beach. But it rains in the hills and tons of silt erode into the bay. I'm not exaggerating when I say nearly the entire bay was so brown you couldn't distinguish water from beach.

3. Take some SSS or deet. The noseems were excruciating, and they have a healthy mosquito population, too.
5. Normally low season, it was pretty busy last month, also usually low season. There has been a lot of pent up travel demand, spiking up both low periods and peak periods.
6. Some of our favorite restaurants have closed for good. Epazote, Tramonto are gone. Azur and Costa Arena have been replaced by Bistro Blue and Puerto Manjar, both similar themes but much higher priced and with less impressive menus in my humble opinion.
7. As far as I could tell, the gondola is a sales vehicle for now.

 

[Zinjanthropus]

We were just in Grand Bliss NV last month. We will never go during rainy season again. It isn't the rain, that wasn't so bad on the beach. But it rains in the hills and tons of silt erode into the bay. I'm not exaggerating when I say nearly the entire bay was so brown you couldn't distinguish water from beach.

3. Take some SSS or deet. The noseems were excruciating, and they have a healthy mosquito population, too.
5. Normally low season, it was pretty busy last month, also usually low season. There has been a lot of pent up travel demand, spiking up both low periods and peak periods.
6. Some of our favorite restaurants have closed for good. Epazote, Tramonto are gone. Azur and Costa Arena have been replaced by Bistro Blue and Puerto Manjar, both similar themes but much higher priced and with less impressive menus in my humble opinion.
7. As far as I could tell, the gondola is a sales vehicle for now.

Thanks.
Were the Bugs everywhere, or on the beach only?
Wow, Tramonto is gone? hmmm....
Is Puerto Majar the place that grills the whole Red Snapper?

 

[Ty1on]

Thanks.
Were the Bugs everywhere, or on the beach only?
Wow, Tramonto is gone? hmmm....
Is Puerto Majar the place that grills the whole Red Snapper?

We got bit more at the pools and pathways than the beach. Putting repellent on is a good practice any time you leave the unit.

The place that grills the whole fish is on the backside of Ola Mulata. You order from Ola Mulata.

Puerto Manjar is the one close to GL Tower 1 that also overlooks the bay. Don't get me wrong, the food was good, but wife got a margarita in which neither of us tasted tequila. When I asked for a shot of patron because she couldn't taste any tequila, he laughed derisively at me. $210 Pesos came out of his tip to pay for the shot. We paid more for that meal than we would have paid in a restaurant on the Vegas Strip.

 

[pittle]

We bought No No-See-Um Natural Insect Repellent from Amazon a couple of years ago. It is in a small bottle. Works amazingly well and stays in my suitcase in a Ziploc bag.

We liked Building 2, hope to get Building 1 sometime as it is by the large pool and not too far from the beach. There is a pool by Building 4, but is is pretty far from the beach.

I noticed on the Vidanta App that Blue Fish is gone too. We really liked it. Download the App and you can see the restaurants and the menus with prices.

So sorry that you had to make such a sacrifice!

 

[Zinjanthropus]

Don't get me wrong, the food was good, but wife got a margarita in which neither of us tasted tequila. When I asked for a shot of patron because she couldn't taste any tequila, he laughed derisively at me. $210 Pesos came out of his tip to pay for the shot. We paid more for that meal than we would have paid in a restaurant on the Vegas Strip.
Uh ohh...looks like the resort is trying to save money with the guests by saving on drinks and extras. Maybe we will buy at the grocery store and bring our oqn cups... for the extra drinks. Maybe not... hopefully, we get some better bartenders and servers.

 

[Zinjanthropus]

So sorry that you had to make such a sacrifice!

Well we have to do what we can! it will be a good trip regardless because I haven't had thr chance to hang with my oldest brother-in -law that much...regardless, i'm sure it will be a great trip! l forward to it. Looking forward to it.
Blue fish was our favorite at RM. maybe the new restaurants will be just as nice.

 

[Ty1on]

We bought No No-See-Um Natural Insect Repellent from Amazon a couple of years ago. It is in a small bottle. Works amazingly well and stays in my suitcase in a Ziploc bag.

We liked Building 2, hope to get Building 1 sometime as it is by the large pool and not too far from the beach. There is a pool by Building 4, but is is pretty far from the beach.

I noticed on the Vidanta App that Blue Fish is gone too. We really liked it. Download the App and you can see the restaurants and the menus with prices.

So sorry that you had to make such a sacrifice!

Be careful with that app! Unless they have fixed everything in the last 3 weeks, some of the info on it is stale. Like I believe Tramonto (e?) shows as still open.