Re: Playa Pesquero Questions

[lesab33]

Just read the reviews and have a couple of questions.  
 
 1) Bellagio said "extremely well kept gardens"  Do you mean clean or landscaped? I see one of your interests are gardening so as a fellow garden your statements tell me I will be very impressed with the gardens???
 
 2) Bellagio said:  "CD player in every room." Did you visit a few rooms? Are you sure of this?
 
 3) Beach - mention of stones & sea urchins. Very important to me is water aerobics in the manana. Will I be able to jump around without wearing water shoes?  I need the water neck deep - will this be a long walk to get to?
 
 4) Bike riding -  did you see alot of choice of bikes?
 
 5) Are there mini snorkelling excursions available?  Not the all day or half day excursions. Someone to take you for say $20 pesos?? No lunch or drinks just 100% snorkelling??
 
 6) Last question -  Would I be "treating" myself if I were going to this hotel vs. the other 4*'s?? PP is rated 4.5 with some companies & 5* with others?
 
 Thanks to the experts in advance.

[JohnnyCastaway]

Hi Lesab, I'll leave Mr B's questions, but add my .02 cents to them, the gardens were kept clean and well manicured, not a lot of overgrown weeds, or out of control plants that we've seen in other resorts, generally, a pleasure to look at, and we had a CD Player in our room, though we never used it.    :D  
 
   

3) Beach - mention of stones & sea urchins. Very important to me is water aerobics in the manana. Will I be able to jump around without wearing water shoes? I need the water neck deep - will this be a long walk to get to?
 

there were a few rocks on the beach, and into the water, but the water was so clean and clear that they were easily avoided, BUT, they were there.  I love a clean beach, but these didn't bother me too much.  Overall, I'd say there was more sandy areas than rocks, depending on where you were.  No Biggie.  Mind you, there's a set of rocks on the beach that a few people found hidden in the sand, including FlopnFly (and she showed the "fly" part of her name when she found them.    :th:  
 
 
   

 5) Are there mini snorkelling excursions available? Not the all day or half day excursions. Someone to take you for say $20 pesos?? No lunch or drinks just 100% snorkelling??
 

We went on the Catamaran excursion and did some great snorkling off it.  There is also some brilliant snorkling right off the beach.  At PP, when you walk out to the beach, right in front of the beach bar/grill there is a rocky outcropping into the water, a bit of coral and stuff afterwards, and there's some good marine life there, (that's where all of the urchines are so I'd suggest snorkling across that area, as opposed to walking), it's quite a large area so you can spend good time snorkling there.  Then if you walk down to the far end of the beach at the Blau Costa Verde, there is another rocky outcropping there (at the dive shop), you can either go in from the water there, or go along the road towards the dive shop and go down the ladder there and then swim out, staying about 10-15' off the shoreline.  That was some of the best shore snorkling that I've been able to do anywhere.  Tons and tons of marine life, at least 5 varieties of Angle fish, grouper, clown fish, trigger fish, and lots more. There was even a small morray eel inside one of the coral heads. I spent a good couple of hours here, and didn't cover it all.  The only thing to watch out for is when the dive boats come back in.  They're on the look out for snorklers, but keep an ear out and make sure you see them when they come in/out.
 
 
   

6) Last question - Would I be "treating" myself if I were going to this hotel vs. the other 4*'s?? PP is rated 4.5 with some companies & 5* with others?
 
 

we loved it.  It sone of the few hotels that we said that we would go back to in a heartbeat.  We really didn't have any complaints while there, other than the beach wasn't as nice as Varadero (hoguin in general), but that's just our opinion.  The property was huge, well kept, the staff were  INCREDIBLE always smiling, and no request was too much for them.
 
 Hope that helps...

[flopnfly]

Originally posted by lesab33:
  Just read the reviews and have a couple of questions.  
 
 1) Bellagio said "extremely well kept gardens"  Do you mean clean or landscaped? I see one of your interests are gardening so as a fellow garden your statements tell me I will be very impressed with the gardens???
 
 
 ...the gardens were very well kept, and landscaped to the best of their ability.  Considering that there has been a water shortage, they have planted very hardy plants.  I think I have a few photo's somewhere.
 
 2) Bellagio said:  "CD player in every room." Did you visit a few rooms? Are you sure of this?
 
 I am sure that there will be a CD Player in every room, but do they all work?  that I don't know.
 
 3) Beach - mention of stones & sea urchins. Very important to me is water aerobics in the manana. Will I be able to jump around without wearing water shoes?  I need the water neck deep - will this be a long walk to get to?
 
 ...To the left of the beach at PP there is a coral (rocky) area and this is where most of the urchins are.  Great snorkeling in this area.  Next to this area is a sandy swim area that is more than deep enough for swimming or water aerobics.  Then they have a roped off area for the boats etc.  
 
 4) Bike riding -  did you see alot of choice of bikes?
 
 …Can’t answer this one.
 
 5) Are there mini snorkelling excursions available?  Not the all day or half day excursions. Someone to take you for say $20 pesos?? No lunch or drinks just 100% snorkelling??
 
 
 ...Eddy at the water sports hut can arrange something for you, although I don’t think you’ll see anything better than you will see off shore at the resort.  Maybe a little more coral but the fish off shore are amazing.
 
 
 6) Last question -  Would I be "treating" myself if I were going to this hotel vs. the other 4*'s?? PP is rated 4.5 with some companies & 5* with others?
 
 
 Personally I wouldn’t say that you were “treating” yourself.  PP is as good as any of the other 4 or 5 *.  I think Paradisus Rio de Oro would be a “treat”.
 The beach area at PP is shared by Blau Costa Verde, Playa Costa Verde, and Playa Pesquero.  From what I’ve heard, you’ll be happy at any of these resorts.  Of course it all depends on what your are looking for.  I think PP leads the way in al a cartes, but as for water sports, they are all similar from what I saw.
 
 
 Thanks to the experts in advance.

[bellagio]

My word Leslie, what a lot of questions.
 
 I don't know where you got the idea that one of my interests was gardening.  I absolutely loathe gardening.  However in answer to your question I have never seen so many gardeners at work in a resort as there were at the PP.   The gardens are beautifully landscaped and are well tended too.   The grass is cut frequently and all fallen leaves are gathered up daily.  All plants and shrubs are well watered and not allowed to get overgrown like they are at the Sol CSM.   The whole area is immaculate.
 
 Leslie is the question about me visiting other rooms a loaded one?????    I only popped into Carlos332's room on the final day as he had a tee shirt to give to me.   I'm going on what the brochure says on this one.  CD player in every room.
 
 Only went into the sea on a couple of occasions so I can't really answer that question and as I can't swim I also can't answer the snorkelling question either.    Never went out on the bikes either as the one day I had planned to go out on the trip to the school it was raining and it was cancelled.
 
 PP is a good 4 star hotel.  It's not 5 star, not really 4 star plus either.   Definitely better than Brisas or Playa Coco.  The buffet food is not brilliant, but very few places are.   It has a good selection of a la cartes, a couple of which are very good, but it does have a wonderful selection of lunch time dining choices, probably the widest choice of anywhere I have been.
 
 Despite what some people say, the beach is only average to good.   Not in the same league as Cayo Largo or Cayo Santa Maria and not as good as Cayo Coco.
 
 However looking at the 'total package' it is an excellent resort and hotel and one I would feel happy in recommending to anyone.  As John says the staff there are just amazing and my friendships with them certainly enhanced my holiday experience.

[flopnfly]

After reading and typing all this I think I'm going to have to go back to PP.  Not to mention listening to the music of the Playa Pesquero Boys, that takes me right back to my visit there.
 
 They were a great bunch of guys, and very talented.  
 There was another trio that came along on the Friday but they were nowhere near as good as these guys.

[lesab33]

Thanks to everyone.  
 
 Bellagio - I was certain I read one of your interests were gardening. Must of read some one else's by mistake.  I probably read the MOM.
 
 The CD story...yeah I guess I figured you visited the ladies at night.   ;)  
  It's not that important.
 
 
 I love to snorkel but to be honest am too scared to go by myself.
 
 The price of PP is definelty interesting me.

[bellagio]

Originally posted by lesab33:
   
 
 Bellagio - I was certain I read one of your interests were gardening. Must of read some one else's by mistake.  I probably read the MOM.
 
 The CD story...yeah I guess I figured you visited the ladies at night.    ;)  
  It's not that important.
 

Leslie:  
 
 Gardening is definitely NOT my forte, I can assure you.
 
 With regard to the ladies,  just never received an invite.  
 
    :girl: