Club Med Cancun Yucatán

I just returned from spending my first-ever Christmas at Club Med. The GO team was great. Many special events for the holidays. Plus, food was great!

For a complete review, with photos of Jade building and other changes, go here:

http://www.cmcancunreview.com/christmas2009.html

Hi Craig

Nice pictures ! I wished I could have been there instead of working.
I have looked at your pictures of the Jade private beach ( We are very far from the communal tents and washrooms of Mr Trigano ...).
Is there still a little piece of sand avalaible between the Jade building and La Palapa ( Las Casuelas )?

My two youngest liked it because they could go in the water there( which is not the case on the "beach side" of the Club due to the waves and current

Thanks for sharing your pictures and experience

Only 2 months left before Ixtapa !

Happy new year

Yes, there is some space between the Jade fence and Las Cazueles. Plenty of room. And there are some covered, plush little couch palapas there.

I enjoyed your very informative report and the photos. I know that I am dating myself dramatically, but seeing fences at Club Med to segregate the haves from the have-nots, or Jades from the non-Jades, seems so counter-cultural from the foundation of the original Club Med. Did you meet anyone from the Jade units? Were they new to Club Med? Do the people from the Jade units even mingle with the others?

John

John, I totally agree. And there was much discussion about this point - a club within a club not being very "Club Med-like".

Met one older couple staying in Jade. First timers. Noticed a few families staying there with their kids going crazy around the infinity pool. Didnt see many Jaders using the private palapas, lounges, hammocks, etc.

Tried to get a tour of Jade but it was just too much trouble. Had to go to main reception and set an appointment. Jade reception wouldnt do it. Appointment times dont work for me very well while at Club Med - I never wear a watch.

The amazing thing is that they rerouted the road just to provide a "buffer" zone around Jade. A quiet zone. They planted tons of palms.

Great pictures. A real shame with Jade being walled off. Hopefully they keep the Jaders with in the fences! LOL Did Mad Max also do the tennis lessons? He was the tennis pro at Turks and he ran great lessons. More of a players' coach than the usual CM tennis GO.

Glad you had a good time. A family CM still beats a lot of the alternatives.

Jim

Jim,

Yes, reading someone's post about Breezes, MarcNY I think. Makes me feel even more that CM is still the place to go. Cant imagine bad food...

The Jade people are not Club Medders, they wont miss anything. And we wont miss them.

I heard about Max being a tennis pro. A tennis friend of mine mentioned it. He is an awesome athlete and a super friendly, really good guy.

Forgot to ask. Is the shipwreck gone? Any word what they did with it?

Jim

The fence looks like the one they put next to the laguna to keep the crocs off !

Is Alberto still around ?

So AKA GMForever

The shipwreck is long gone. I can remember seeing the salvage cranes on a barge the last time I was there (March 2008). So I assume they cleared it all out.

Albert is still there, alive, well, and well fed. He was laying low most of my week, but still made some photo appearances.

Yeah, they have that type of fence around the waterski/circus island.

Also, with the expansion of Jade grounds and re-routing of the road, I'm not sure if they still have a place for soccer.

Thanks for the photos Craig!

I too, find the Jade thing weird - it looks like they're in quarantine! And if I was one of those people, I would be embarrassed by all that stuff.(Well, I guess I would only be embarrassed if I knew anything about how CM was SUPPOSED to work).

Glad to see the crazy signs are still going strong there! At Turks in late August, I never saw them, or maybe just one song.

For others who are going soon: I take it from your dates that you flew back into the USA after the Dec 25th "incident". How bad was it getting back in?

Trish

Dive now; work later!

The suites in Punta Cana are the same. The trees they planted and filling in and so will isolate the guests there from everyone else. The rooms are large and nice, but not worth the double or triple regular room rate.

How many gold bar beads?

Jim, for the life of me, I could never see you going over to the "other side", and paying double or triple for isolation, not that you ever hinted that you would.

John

Yes, it DOES seem like a quarantine area! Funny.

I flew back the day after the tighter security measures were put in place.

It was weird. I had not heard the news but from the behavior of the crew, I knew something had happened. They warned us early in the flight that there would be NO bathroom breaks during the last hour of the flight. Also, during the last hour - tray tables and seatbacks UP, and nothing in your lap. They made a pretty big deal out of it. I was on Continental.