Mexico Tips Wanted!

Hi there,
We came back from Cancun last month and we stayed AI at the Marina El Cid in Puerto Morelos - about 20 mins driv from Cancun airport.

I would concur with what KonkyWonky has already said but will add what we did:

• tipped about 20 pesos every other time (but sometimes each time) we got a drink - this equals around £1
• We didn't tip in the buffet restaurant - we didn't order fancy cocktails to be made, we only drank water at mealtimes, apart from tea at breakfast.
• We left a tip of about £20 for the room maid when we left.
• Yes, you can buy cigs at the duty free on exit at Cancun airport, mainly American brands though, I bought Superkings, but remember you're only allowed 200 cigs per adult.
• We didn't pay an exit tax but that might have been because we flew Club World on BA and hubby said it was included in the fare.

We found service was really good in our resort. All staff were very friendly and responded well to an 'Hola' each time we saw one and English was widely spoken. Take some mosquito repellent, we all suffered to an extent even with it, so if you're susceptible, be prepared!
We did a trip to Xel-Ha, swam with dolphins and it was excellent, well worth the hour & a half drive from our resort. We checked the prices with the tour company in the hotel, then went online & booked it that way, we got around £50 off the price for 3 adults.
AI are generally excellent value for money, I've been to 6 in Egypt, 2 in Barbados and this holiday we just had and the standard in Cancun was the best. It's easy to get carried away with the 'free' drink etc but take it easy in the heat, drink plenty of water (we always had bottles of cold water on the go as well).
As for the food, try different things, put a little on your plate if you're not sure, you can always leave it if you don't like it & get more if you do, that's one of the beauties of AI in my view.
Above all, have a fabulous honeymoon!!

We're going on honeymoon to the El Dorado Royale in Riveria Maya in a week....can't wait! We were told to only take pesos....and thought we'd tip between 10-20 a time! Its our first time to Mexico too, and although we are SO excited I'm a little nervous as the furthest we've ever been is Turkey!
We've always been to all inclusive hotels, we really prefer them. Although our hotel is adults only and al-a-carte so will be different to the usual rush to the buffet table!
Happy honeymoon-ing to you xx

I would check out tripadvisor forums for some more advice

Cancun airport was (8 years ago this is) quite busy and you ned your wits aout you when you try and find your rep for you transfer coach. there used to be an issue with official looking reps grabbing your luggage and pretending to take you to your coach but it was really time share - don't fall for that. Make sure you see your rep tick off your name on their list

At the time $ or pesos were fine but possibly with USA's money problems they may prefer pesos more so now. I would tip a la carte restaurants same as home with a good few peso's and occassional tips for bar tenders and waiters for drinks and room maid every day or few days (they may change so don't leave it until end of your stay)

Xcaret water park and Xel ha water parks are supposed to be great (we only did Xel ha and was enjoyable). Tulum not to far away. Chichen Itza is a long long way away so only go if you really want to see it.
Playa Del Carmen was a nice enough town but plenty of tourist traps there but certainly less developed and concrete jungle like than Cancun!
Puerto Morelos is nice little town as mentioned above and worth a visit to beach and lunch at Los Pelicanos if its still there.
Also good to get out and see some cenotes if you can - amazing water holes and you can swim some

Try the ceviche somewhere good as its lovely if you like fresh fish and plenty of limes with everything!
Enjoy!

the mexican government brought in legislation last year to prevent money-laundering etc. as a a result mexicans are only allowed to deposit $1000 per month into their banks. this means that nowhere is taking us dollars. just bring mexican peso and use that to tip.

KonkyWonky wrote: »

I don't understand why you had so much trouble messing around when trying to tip in Peso's but you didn't when tipping in Dollars. At the end of the day you are leaving a single bill, whether it is a 10 Peso bill or a 1 Dollar bill :undecided

The smallest Peso note is a 20, my Pesos came in higher value notes, 500s and 1,000s, changjing these at the hotel was a pain, the hotel was reluctant to change them and only gave me a couple of 20s each time, the rest in 100s. This meant either tipping a fiver or more once the 20s had gone. Much easier and more flexible to get an amount of single U.S.dollar bills before you go and then tip, 1, 2 or however many as appropriate.

It worked for me and while I appreciate the "when in Rome" sentiment and I did try my schoolboy Spanish, to their amusement, it does seem to be a common problem to get small change, see this LINK about halfway down.