Aeromexico flight, 1 stop in Mexico city for 1 and 1/2 hour.  When we arrived to Mexico City, it was raining so hard.  Not sure if that’s the reason why it took so long for the luggage to be ready.  Unfortunately for us we had to pick up our luggage, drop it off in the area near by then went thru the security gate to get to the boarding gate.  This whole process took too long that some of our family members missed the connection flight; they had to spend the night at the airport and then take the early flight on the next day morning at 6:00 AM.

Mom, Dad, Tim, William and I got to the boarding gate on time with the help of my brother in law Than.  Too bad that Than and his family & Huyen Thanh’s family were left behind.  The flight attendants told me that they had to close the door!

We got to the hotel around mid night, my brother Trong (who arrived from Maryland to the hotel around noon) was waiting for us at the lobby.  My dad did not know that Trong’s family was coming so that was a big surprise for him.

We were all so hungry so we called the room service, they don’t have that many choices, just hot dogs, cheese burgers and fries.  Everyone was so tired so they went to bed after that quick dinner.  I, in the other hand, trying to find a transportation for the group that was left behind at the Mexico City airport, who will arrive around 8 AM in the morning.

So I googled for Cancun airport shuttle; quite a few sites come up which is why I can’t decide what to choose.  I tried to call a few companies but the calls didn’t go thru!

I woke up early the next morning because I had to find a shuttle for my family who will be arrive to the airport soon.  So I came down to the lobby around 7 AM, asking for help.  They told me there’s taxi at the airport, no need to call to make reservation.  But I really did not like the idea that my family had to find a taxi in a foreign country like that, especially after spending the night at the airport.  So I asked if they can help me to call the numbers of those transportation companies that I found from Google.  They told me to use the hotel phone.  It turns out that every call from the hotel must go thru an operator who will connect your call; and they charge a fee for each call (about $2 USA), which is fine with me but unfortunately they cannot connect to the numbers that I gave them.

Desperately I did not know what to do; soon here came the life saver: my brother Trong.  He accidently ran into me so I told him about the situation; he said, “Let’s find the the Expedia guy”.  He took me to the Expedia desk; and the guy was so quickly solved our issue: he called his transportation company up and voila! done! It only costs $56 USA 1 way.  I was so relieved!  Why didn’t I think of that? In any resort there are always booths that selling tours who will also handle transportation.  It’d save me lots of time and energy and a sleepless night if I realized that sooner!

Another deal from AppleVacations.com, $800/pp for a 7 nights all-inclusive in Puerto Vallata; plus $200 discount per booking so total cost for two adults and one 2-year-old child is $1,545.00 which I think is a pretty good deal considering free round trip airport transfer (30 minutes driving from airport to the hotel)

The Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort is about 45 minutes driving from the PV downtown; it’s easy & cheap to take the bus to get to the downtown from the hotel; but if you rather take taxi, it’d cost about 420 pesos and up ( this is the price from the hotel but from downtown the taxi driver may ask for more so be prepared to negotiate: I paid 450 pesos to get a taxi from downtown back to the hotel).

This hotel is isolated on the hills so there’s staircases everywhere (there’s no elevators or escalators): 30 steps to go down to the pool from my room; 15 steps to go up to the main buffet; more steps to get to the beach, etc. After the 1st day, my legs are tired of walking up the stairs or up hill!

The hotel has 3 pools but they’re rather small: family pool, kids pool with some slides and infinity pool for adults only.

The food at the main buffet El Bosque is OK: same thing everyday; mostly Mexican foods. However I like the foods from the El Portofino (Italian food) and Bamboo restaurant (Asian food). The steaks at the Ribs & More restaurant is bad: very dry. We especially enjoyed the view from the Viva Mexico restaurant which sits on the high hill that we can see the beach below. Sitting outside in a hot summer day and feel the breezy wind, eat Mexican food and listen to Mexican music is the best. Guacamole is prepared at out table; I had some tequila and Fajitas for dinner. To me the food at this restaurant is ok but the scenery is beautiful.

The drinks from the lobby bars are much better than from the pool & beach bars. The lobby bar is also the place I got the big box of milk almost every day for William to drink.

William was scared of the water for the first few day: he’d hold on to me all the time, he would not want to be in the pool unless I hold him and stand in the water with him. 2 days before we left he started to like the pool and would run the the pool to play by himself.

One thing that bothered me the most is the sale reps.  They were trying to have me sign up for their Travel Club. They would stand around on the main roads every morning to try to talk to you.  On our very first day, after check in,  the hotel desk told me to talk to this lady so that she could show us around.  I had no idea she’s the sale rep from Travel Club.  At first she did talk about the hotel map, where things are but then she went on and on about the benefits of the Travel Club.  My 2 year old boy was crying because he was tired and hungry after 3 hours flight.  I had to told her to cut it short, and finally she let us go.   Personally I don’t think it’s good time to convince people to buy  stuff when they’re tired!

Overall this hotel with natural settings is not as beautiful as the other ones that we stayed in Cancun but it’s a good place to relax.

More Photos of the Trip

The travelers are:
– Mom
– Chị Hương, anh Thân, Danny & Tracy
– Dương, Tim & William (1 year old)

We flew to the Atlantis resort from Miami, U.S.A on the Bahamas Air in the morning. We arrived to the Lynden Pindling International Airport after 1 hour; went thru the custom using the Self Check Kiosks.
To use the kiosk, we need to scan the passport and take the picture using its camera, then it’ll print out a confirmation paper which you will give it to the attendant standing on the exit door.
If necessary you’d need to adjust the camera so that it’ll take the picture of your face only, using the arrows on the screen. I did not know that so the first time it took a horrible picture of my face so I tried to retake the picture. Because of the 2nd try that it put a big red X on my print out. Whenever the attendant sees a big red X on the confirmation paper, they’d redirect to the custom booth; otherwise they’d let us exit which means we’re done with the customs.

Afer clearing the custom check, we had to go thru the luggages check. We brought some fruits from Miami; they took the fruits from us because they don’t allow bringing fruits into Bahamas. The machine did not detect the fruits; they found out only when they randomly asked us to open the big carton box where we put some fruits. I put some more fruits in other suitcases also but they didn’t ask to open them so we got to keep these. So it’s just a matter of luck.

Upon exit the airport door, we waved for the taxi; it was raining really hard! To my surprise, the taxi fare for 7 people cost only $60 total (the shuttle from Atlantis resort costs $33.00/pp round trip). It’d take around only 15 minutes driving from the airport to the Atlantis resort.

The check-in process was very easy, the staff was super friendly, they let us check in early.

The resort was so crowded with tourists; and this time of the year is the storm season!

First impression: the resort is so beautiful and huge!