Toral Paradis by Jae Wilkes

We stayed here from the 17th of June until the 28th of June 2015 in room 1103. We booked our holiday with First Choice and also joined a facebook group (search for the hotel name on facebook) which provided us with lots of pre holiday information.
There is so much to say about this hotel I will break it down into sections. I can only comment on what we seen and experienced during our holiday.

Flight – on the Thomson Dreamliner. lots of leg room but still no better on width. I have some junk in my trunk and it is very uncomfortable. The entertainment was very good and the food was great. Complimentary drinks were poor. Trolley came around twice which for a 9 odd hour flight I thought was very poor. its not easy when you have a window seat to leave your seat and request a drink at the back of the plane and neither should you have to. When we go to Madrid it is a very short flight and the trolley comes around twice then so make of that what you will. Our arrival into Cancun was fine and we found no major problems through security etc either.

Transfer – We booked a private transfer with AGI and it was prompt however there was no one waiting with our name on card so it took us some time in locating our taxi. The trip to the hotel is fairly long but the roads are straight and its a pleasant drive. approx. hour and 10 minutes.

Check – In. Was perfect. there was someone being served and check in so the check out gentleman decided to help and was very informative and polite. We were greeted with a welcome drink and the bell boys were great.

Room – it is best to email the resort direct 7 days or less before your due to arrive if you have a specific request. I asked for a central room in the colonial section (which is what we booked) and to have king size bed on the first or second floor. We were put into block 1 on the ground floor and had a king size bed. I was actually quite glad it was ground floor in the end but I know there are sometimes issues when it rains on the ground floor but our room was perfect. It was very central and because we were so close to the lobby (still couldn’t hear anything to keep us awake) we had access to WIFI all the time. Maid service was good. We did tip and didn’t get towel art but to be honest we didn’t care. Its only going to get ruined in any case when we use it. We were greeted with a lovely bottle of champagne in our room which was a nice touch. Our fridge was topped up everyday and was quite cold.

Pool – WOW is all I can say really. Its is huge and beautiful and even though the colonial and Kantenah were at capacity it never felt over crowded. The adults pool is tiny in comparison to the main pool but was pleasant and stayed open until midnight which was very romantic. Yes you have to play the towel game if you want a good seat. Why anyone would want to waste the morning in bed is beyond me in any case. we were by the pool by 7.30 am and had great seats all the time. We actually found the beach to be very busy after 10am as well. Pool bar was large but is only manned by 1 person and he worked his socks off. Very pleasant chaps everyday. There is also wait service by the pools as well which is a lovely touch. The main pool has games everyday. No one is forced into joining but some activities do take up room in the pool. It was all fun and included canoe race, belly flop challenge etc. The beach by the pool had foam parties etc as well so something for everyone.

Food – the most important part of the holiday for us as chubbs and food lovers. The Buffets are to be honest some of the best all inclusive food we have ever had. Yes for breakfast it is quite similar but really how much variance is there to that meal time. Choice of breads, pastries, juices, smoothies, eggs anyway you like them including omelettes (I had a fresh one every day) and the Malaysian chicken was soo good. Some mornings they also did churros too which were yumm yumm.
The al a cartes – we didn’t try them all and compared to how good the buffet was they didn’t feel like as much of an experience. What I mean is on our holiday to Egypt the buffet was so average that the a la carte food felt and tasted so damn good in comparison. Here the buffet is so good it is hard to get much better. Our favourite by a long way was the mare nostrum, followed by the Brazilian. Our drink server Santiago (I think that’s what his name was, served us on the 22nd of June for our anniversary, which he didn’t know about) was out of this world amazing. The best person in the whole resort service wise. Thank you!! We left him a good tip he deserved it. We were too sun stroke to enjoy the Mexican fully and we didn’t rate the Italian at all. If you don’t wanna queue get there early. Anything before 7:30 and you should be fine. The resort also has certain nights of the week that are adult only for the restaurants. its worth checking so you know.

Weather – was perfect, it rained once the whole 11 night we were there for about an hour. We were at Xcaret at the time and almost went home as it was raining hard but I am so glad we stayed as it was an amazing day. Please bring factor 30 as a minimum. We got so badly sunburnt our first whole day and it made it uncomfortable for a few days after. It is hot and humid this time of year so be prepared.

Mozzies – I understand that this season was particularly bad. I bought with me a mosquito Milk applicator and after bite pen and I can tell you it was the best stuff I have ever used. Yes we still got bit but compared to some people we got off lightly. I had maybe 11 bites the whole holiday and the afterbite pen worked a treat. I also got stung by a jelly fish on the Whale Shark Trip and it worked for that too. I have a very bad reaction to any type of bites usually I get a big welt etc where the bite is but this didn’t happen using this afterbite pen. Come prepared the hotel ran out part way through the holiday so bring your own.

SHows – we didn’t see any shows. We were always too tired and we are early risers. They have them every night and from our guests we spoke to at the hotel they are very good.

Drinks – fast and free flowing. Very good service where ever we went. The drinks are ok. I didn’t like the use of the pre flavoured syrup but that it just me. The daiquiris I have in Egypt were made with fresh strawberrys. here it was a flavoured syrup and was very very sweet. The beer was good and in the Hemingway bar I had my fill of disaranno and coke. we delish. Our favourite bar was Hemingway’s. It only opens at 6pm but we loved it there. Air conditioned and a nice calm atmosphere. there are bars everywhere. You don’t have to go far to get a drink.

Grounds and wildlife – the grounds were lovely. We enjoyed all our short walks and were lucky enough to see spider monkeys. butterflies, iguanas and also the resident flamingos and crocodiles. There is a lobby train that takes you from all 4 lobbies. We never waited more than 4 minutes for a train and with the exception of the white party at the Las Rocas Pool one night we always found there to be room on them.

Beach and Sea – we found the sea to be very murky whilst on holiday. I appreciate before we came there has been a tropical storm so this is likely to be the reason as to why. We bought our own snorkel gear to go from the beach but it was no use. The beach was ok. I come from Cornwall so I am spoilt for beaches and I cant honestly say it was any nicer than the beaches we have at home. But our beaches at home are beautiful so it was still lovely and just as nice. The resort worked very hard with the seaweed and we thought the beach was very clean and had no issues what so ever.

Trips with Thomson – We booked all of ours with Thomson but I am sure anyone could book these either direct or through the resort. For UK travellers the thomson ones we did were:-
Chichen Wonders is a must. Our guides were fantastic and had so much knowledge and hidden insider being as one of them was also working on the restoration of the main ‘Pyramid’. We went to Hubiki Cenote which is still my favourite part of the trip. It was amazing.
We also did Xcaret plus with Thomson. In hindsight I would have booked this through the website and got the bus there. It is amazing and I highly recommend the Sea trek and Nurse Shark experience. It was brilliant. We also loved loved the Mexican restaurant in Xcaret as our place to eat. You need at least 2 days to experience all this place has to offer.

WHALE SHARK – Don’t do it. We are not complainy people. We are easily pleased but this trip was awful from start to finish, so much so for the first time in my life I have felt the need to complain to Thomson and request a refund. The trip advertised includes Isla Mujeres – No it does not. You cant use any sunscreen whilst on the boat – bring a cover up you will need it. Blue Caribe which are the people who ran our tour were awful. I know our experience was on the day down to our guide and her crew. If you have Simona poor you. The trip was to include the crew having a camera to take pictures of you with “swimming” with the fish. Our boat never had this. Our boat broke down twice and the condition of the life vests were to frank poor. the rules clearly state 2 person per boat at any one time are allowed to swim with the fish. Due to issues finding the fish (which we knew could happen and are not bothered by at all its a risk you take on such trips) only one fish was found. The boat breached the rules and did a group of 4 at first and then the second round asked the remaining 6 of us to jump together. However only 4 can fit off the side of the boat at any one time so my husband and I (second jump making up the 6) were practically pushed off with such force I lost my flipper. because the fish are the size of buses by the time (delay between them jumping us getting our legs over etc) we got in the ocean the fish had already swam so far past us we didn’t see anything as we had 4 heads and legs in front of us to see through.

Overall – this holiday was fantastic. I can not wait to go back to Mexico and do all the other things we didn’t get chance to do this time. The resort is huge (we only did one half) but its not so huge so as its uncomfortable or impersonalised. If we had money we would easily join up to the travel club. Thank you grand palladium for a wonderful visit, I do hope we can come back one day.

Room Tip: We stayed in Colonial Building 1 and had great WIFI and although it looks far from things on the map…