Riviera Maya Suites

Niss, Pepe & Clo, you're the best!!

by A TripAdvisor Member

We just returned from a six night stay at Club Bananas and are already planning our return next year. The staff were very friendly & courteous (especially Mizal & Daniel). The Animation Team (hello Niss, Pepe & Clo!!!) were terrific. Multi-lingual Niss is unbelievable - always upbeat and smiling despite working long hours six days a week. He, Pepe & Clo made us feel very at home (Niss:"Maine family is in the house!"). I can't thank them enough for giving us a wonderful, memorable vacation. My husband even competed in the "Mr Bananas" competition and had a great time, lots of laughs! Their hospitality was the best part of the trip. We've been to Mexico several times but have never had the pleasure of visiting PDC. Although Bananas is not located directly on the beach, they have a beautiful beach club which is an easy walk or you can take the Banana Bus. The beach club is very nice - clean, plenty of palapas, chaises, activities (such as volleyball & soccer, aerobics) and a great beach bar. The drinks are not watered down here like some of the other all-inclusives we've been to. Since there were mostly Europeans staying at the Club, topless sunbathing was very prevalent. This didn't present a problem for us but if this bothers you, you might want to consider staying elsewhere. Concerning the all-inclusive food - if you're expecting gourmet food you won't find it but the buffet was decent - plenty of variety breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also have an a la carte restaurant that we didn't try. If you're looking for an American-style chain hotel, this is not the place for you. Although the rooms were very clean, they were a bit run-down. Who cares! We were there for the beach, the atmosphere, the proximity to the shopping area of PDC. We can stay at an American hotel any time and wanted something different. We understand that they will be under new ownership soon and the facilities will be updated. This is the place to go if you will be spending minimal time in your room and don't really care about room amenities. The grounds are beautiful and extremely well-kept. There is a pool but it's small relative to other hotels. Not a big deal when you have such a lovely beach nearby! We were there with our two children (ages 20 & 18) and they had a great time too. The hotel itself isn't really geared toward that age group but there are plenty of places within walking distance that would appeal to the younger set. This was not an out-of-control Spring Break type place, thank goodness! Bottom line - Club Bananas is a great no-frills type of place with a beautiful beach, a fantastic Animation Team, and wonderful employees that bent over backwards to make us feel at home. We are greatly looking forward to returning next year and hope the same staff will be there to greet us!

Superb!!!!

by A TripAdvisor Member

My husband & i stayed at Club Banana's in October for 2week's.Everything about Club Banana's is absolutely brilliant,the staff,the food & the hotel itself.If any-one is thinking about going there,GO!!! You will not be dis-appointed.

great place

by TripAdvisor Member Elaine90

Club Bananas has excellent service, beach, food, staff and fun. Highly recommended for a laid back vacation to Playa del Carmen. I would love to return.

2004 - Playa Del C. - Real Playa Carmen

by Kaspian

"Pool Area"

There's me sitting on the edge of the pool. Man, I'm getting uglier every year. Won't be long before the pretty girls start considering me repulsive, or worse yet, ignore me completely.
Anyway, interesting phenomenon these two pools. The one on the right is shallow, for sitting in. It heated up really fast during the day and felt like a warm bath, while the deep one on the left stayed cool. But by the time the sun went down the pool would be warm while the shallow one cooled down quickly.
I had an epiphany in the pool one night. There were about 10 people in it at twilight, kind of a dark blue/pink/purple light from the sky. Everybody was calmly floating around and it suddenly got very quiet and still. Very quiet, no music, no talking, nobody made a sound, just kind of floated. You could hear each droplet of water from the smallest movements.
People started glancing at each other in complete wonder. Mexicans, English, American, Canadians, and Italians, all strangers enjoying a very calm, strange, peaceful moment. Completely surreal.

"Our Room"

The room was good, two beds, clean, colourful, the air conditioning worked well. A few small termites in the bathroom, but it was ground level so that was to be expected. We didn't spend much time in here, except to crash out. It didn't rain at all, so we were out every day.

"Hangin on the Porch"

The Real is a very cozy laid-back kind of place. Jon hung out in the hammock a few times, but I tended to fall out of this one. Made me a little seasick.
I opened the door one morning and found a big jesus lizard looking back at me from the porch, one of the ones with the crazy legs. The flaps on the sides of his head pumped out, he barked a couple times and took off at full speed.

"The Armwrestling Challenge"

Even before we knew we were going to be called on stage out of the blue, I said to my brother "Wouldn't it be funny if it was me versus you at the armwrestling final?"
That's exactly what happened. One-by-one my brother and me defeated the guys from other countries and ended up facing each other at the end of the night. The staff thought it was hilarious.
...And just like when we were kids, I beat him. I won a tiny sombrero trophy for my superhuman strength. The rowdy Dutch guys showed me a little more respect for the rest of the week.

"The Dining Room"

An open-air dining room. It was very nice, although I found the lights in the main sitting area a little too bright. It also got very hot in this room because of all the warm food and the grill (in the left on the picture), especially on a humid day. It wasn't air conditioned. I did like the fact that the whole thing was a giant palapa as opposed to some resorts where the dining room just looks like a stanadard restaurant.

"The Great Staff at the Real"

My "big sweaty white man" brother (his words, not mine) with Nice and Claudie on one of our last nights there. Amazing people! (Pepe's missing from this photo, but he was a great guy as well).
The first night we checked in, ran down to grab some chow and a drink before it closed. We had to sit way at the back and my brother said "I always feel like an outsider at these kinds of things". (Referring to the goofy games going on onstage.) I said "Don't worry, they'll rope ya in, they're pros." Sure enough, by the third day they were like great buds and put us front and centre in many of the crazy onstage antics. Thanks so much again to the animation staff there! You guys and gals made us feel so welcome and made it a great trip!

Funny how the groups at the Real formed around their own languages. Guess it makes drunken conversation easier. This is the crew we hung out with mostly, with the exception of the girls from Norway (see below). My brother Jon (Canada), Nick and Suzie (England), Claudie (Montreal), and Nicole and Max (USA).

"The Norwegian Girls"

I went out drinking and dancing at the Blue Parrot one night with Hega and Theresa (from Olso). We should've taken this photo before we went out instead of after we got loaded and covered in dance sweat. It's probably about 4 or 5:00 a.m. in this pic, we've come back to the hotel and just had a night cap (yeah, like I needed that!).

Just Playa-ing Around on the Beach

by Conspirator

An hour or so South of Cancun, I found Playa del Carmen is a great getaway destination for a week or so. Agent 78 picked the location largely due to its proximity to the Mayan ruins, but we discovered the place has many other charms.

I rate Playa above many other Carribbean locations I've been to on a number of fronts. Unless you're under 21 or have never left the USA, you will appreciate that Playa lacks almost all of the tackiness found in Cancun. Sure, 5th Avenue in particular is full of shops selling tourist crap and there is certainly a good time to be had at night, but the tequila quaffing frat boys have been left up North.

Another aspect I appreciated about Playa was that, while Mexico is hardly a rich country, the lifestyle the locals lead is sufficiently close to our own that you can relate to each other. Unlike some other parts of the Carribbean (places in the DR come to mind), you can venture into the "real" Playa del Carmen away from 5th Avenue, sit down at a local restaurant or go to a local store without being harrassed, hustled, robbed, looted, raped, burned or pillaged. In fact, the Mexicans typically won't bat an eyelid. They may have got word that The Conspirator had to take down a gang of pushy Dominicans a year or so ago (using nothing but a cocktail shaker and half a dozen lime quarters, I might add), but if so they disguised their fear well.

I took this photo of a local gym I spotted on an evening expedition. Think that stairmaster machines are only for overweight first world professional types? Apparently not.