March 22, 2005
08-07-2005 8:08 am
March 22, 2005
color=#0000ff> Iberostar Message BoardWeather
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Not TOO hot. One or two nights felt a slight chill but didn’t need a sweater.
Thursday Mar 17 we had the rain/windstorm from hell for about 60 minutes. Lost part of the roof on the Lindo pool resto (was fixed by Friday). My room and several others (I was in bldg 60 at Maya) was partially flooded (and I am on the second floor)………
Property (room) comments
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Great place, love the room even though they didn’t give me the view I wanted.
Very little English language TV....But the way cool thing is that there is a speaker in the bathroom with the TV sound.
So far the CD player doesn’t work............but that is not a real issue. They have been very responsive to a couple of small minor things in my room
LINDO theater area has been very much enlarged to accommodate the people at the Maya. My fave bartender is now working at the Maya so it’s nice to chat with him at night.
Now with all the money I will save by going back to the Lindo in July (note on this further down), think of all the jewelry I can buy
Tues I walked around more of the Lindo grounds. Hard to believe MAYA has only been here since December.
got back to my room after dinner one night and the maid had turned down my bed, fixed my pillows, taken away the towels I used.....didn’t expect that. Very nice touch.
The bathroom has a sound speaker from the TV. Too cool!!
New shopping mall?
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I got two diff responses on my question about the shopping mall. One was that it would be open for the next hotel and the other was it would be open in July. I took a look at the construction just now, and there’s no way it will be open in July. Also no new info on the new hotel except that I think the target is 2007 and it will be so high end that there will be no interchanging. It will be an entity unto itself.
Bar
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The Lindo bar was not overly crowded, but my fave bartender is now at the Maya (Their bar is in the lobby). But they have a second bar that opens at 5PM that has music, videos, and supposedly at 10:30pm they have karaoke. Maya seems to have more premium brands. I still love the Lindo bar with the aquarium.
REstos
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It is very crowded and some people are not getting dinner reservations despite the fact that the restaurant "appears" half empty ( I think it’s a staffing issue).
Restos ok so far. I love the private pools, but its only Monday and I think I will go back to the Lindo for PF05. Nothing wrong here, but so far I am the only one who will be at the Maya and I will be "way out of the loop" here. I really don’t need all that room (in my room) though having two closets (one for regular clothes one for beach clothes) is just too cool.
The gourmet at the Maya is to die for.......I have heard bad things about the Maya seafood resto so I am changing my reservations for there. (People have been walking out of that resto) Last night (sun) dinner at the gourmet at Maya was excellent. The best things are the lobster salad appetizer and the duck (main course) and the chocolate desert.
The Japanese at Maya is pretty good. But they don’t have sake.
The quality of wine in general seems to have improved.
So far the only real winners for restos are Maya gourmet, Lindo Gourmet, steakhouse and Japanese.
Beach snack bar as great hamburgers. A little spicy guacamole, some tomato....its all you need....
what used to be steakhouse-fondue at Lindo is now a buffet resto for Lindo dinner? Small but I have heard decent things about it.
Mexican resto (on the Maya side) was not bad (but not fib either). Had the steak. The appetizing table is quite small.
The Italian resto at the Lindo surprised me. What I had (sat pm) what pretty good. Small appetizing section. Deserts great.
Pool/Chairs etc
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The towel game starts at the pool by 6 am. I got out there today at 6:15 am and the chairs I wanted were already gone. But, there is always a good chair at the private swimming pool.
It is SO CROWDED around the pool. Next year I think Easter is later, thank goodness.
Sat am. Big turnover day..........but a number of pool loungers were already "reserved" by 6 am...Yes....6 am.
The problem is despite the "no reserving seats" signs, guests don’t pay attention and management doesn’t enforce. People take up 10 or 12 seats for their group then go away and come back several hours later. I know for a fact that one small group had blocked seats on BOTH sides of the pool.
July trip
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I have been communicating with my TA switching Maya res back to the Lindo for July. None of her suppliers have any availability. There are “slim pickins” for the Lindo in July.
General comments
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Overall, the food could have been better. And while I liked all the extra space in my room, not sure I really needed it. But I cant change to the Lindo so I guess during PF 05 I will just have to live with two closets, Jacuzzi tub, TV sound in the bathroom......private swimming pools.....etc.....
I found it a major disappointment that IB has apparently let school groups book for the spring break, and there were a couple of incidents during the week (I did not witness them personally). (It was times like this I was glad to have the private swimming pools.
There was a paella party on the beach one day. It was fun watching them prepare, but it had no real taste, that is, no spice at all. But everything was cooked well........
Generally I was up at 6am, dinner at 7pm and in bed by 9pm or sooner. I managed to get to the beginning of ONE SHOW (and only lasted about 15 minutes.
THINGS TO DO (Not tours)
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My fave thing was to get up early, get my walkman, and walk around the whole property (Maya-Lindo-Beach-Del Mar). Or to go to the beach EARLY and just watch the waves.
Apologies for all the stuff I left out and for doing this in no real order (that is, not date order).
Its worth going to into PDC just ONE day. No real bargains and a lot of junk. Had Lunch at Karen’s
Paraiso Del Mar Paraiso Beach Paraiso Lindo Paraiso Maya Quetzal Tucan Cozumel
Costa Dorada Bavaro Dominicana Hacienda Dominicus Varadero Bella Costa Tainos Daiquiri Punta Cana
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