Fairmont Acapulco Princess Review

We flew in on Aeromexico. I am still impressed by the seat comfort and service they provide on board. The cockpit staff and flight attendants are always friendly and cheerful. We breezed through immigration at the brand new terminal in Mexico City; a big improvement over the old one. There were plenty of shopping, eating and drinking diversions to keep us occupied for our 3-hr. layover.

We made the 1-hr scheduled flight from Mexico City to Acapulco in 30 minutes time and whisked through baggage claim and customs. We were greeted by only one timeshare salesman from the Mayan Resorts. A breath of fresh air compared to getting bombarded by them at other Mexico resort airports. He politely accepted “No” for our answer to taking a tour and walked us over to the taxi stand and bid us a fond farewell.

The posted taxi rate was $23.00 USD to go from the airport to the Fairmont Acapulco Princess. We were amazed on our drive there, at all of the development that has occurred between the airport and Diamante. Our last trip here was in 2000, and back then the only developments on that road were the Mayan Palace and the Acapulco Princess. Now there are a bunch of businesses and strip malls, high rise condominium complexes and the brand new La Isla shopping and convention center, and performing arts center.

We arrived at the familiar pyramid structure, complete with waterfalls and fire torches in the busy main lobby area. We were able to check-in right away and were escorted to our room that was located in the new “Pearl” building. It seemed like a long walk away from the hustle and bustle as we strolled past all the hotel boutiques, the spa and golf club sales office. We finally entered a new quiet, separate lobby area and were whisked quickly up to the 7th floor by new state of the art elevators.

The corridors between the rooms are wide and very well lit, with beautiful mod decorations in shades of blue enhanced with splashes of bright colors. We were really pleased when we saw the huge expanse of our newly designed room. There was a coffee station and refrigerator in the entry way, followed by a walk-in closet, larger than my bathroom at home, that contained an electronic safe large enough to hold a laptop computer.

The bathroom had a separate double sink area with lots of shelves and counter top space, adjacent to the toilet and glass walled shower that had both powerful hand held jets and a rain shower head. It did not have a tub, but for my taste, I’ll take this type of well designed shower over a tub any day. The only thing I would have preferred to be different would be to have the toilet in a separate closed area away from the shower.

There was more than enough shelf and drawer space between the closet, bed stands and dresser/TV stand. The 37 Inch plasma TV was perfect for a room of this size. There were also plenty of mirrors for dressing. The only mirror I would add would be a magnifying makeup mirror.

The King size bed was perfect for me, although my husband thought the mattress was a bit hard. That is one of those individual preference things. We had the feather like foam pillows which were perfect for us, but you can request real feathers if you prefer. There was ample seating area with a desk, table and 3 chairs in the room. There also were sliding glass doors that opened onto a roomy terrace with 2 more chairs and a table. The view was outstanding. We were in an oceanfront room on the 7th floor, and we overlooked the beautifully landscaped grounds of the Princess resort including the quiet zone pool with grotto and waterfalls. We also had a spectacular view of Revolcadero Beach looking east towards the airport.

After we got settled into our room, we headed back down to the main lobby bar that was in full swing. We managed to grab some seats at the bar and enjoyed a couple of ice cold Negro Modelo cervezas, served in frosty pilsner glasses. The bartenders provide you with a complimentary snack tray including olives, peanuts and chili snack mix. Drinks were reasonably priced at about $4.00 for Mexican beers, $8.00 for well drinks and $10.00 for brand name liquors and martinis. We enjoyed the rapid breeze that has a wind tunnel effect blowing through the lobby. Forget about keeping your hair in place here.

After we people watched for a while, we headed back to our room for a well deserved rest. We woke up early and appreciated the coffee pod maker in the room. We made a couple of fresh cups of coffee and sat on our terrace to watch the parade of vendors set up the beach for their business day. Cabanas, horses, ATVs, jet skis, Mexican crafts, etc. were all in full swing.

We went for a walk around the expansive grounds of the Princess with map in hand to see where everything was. We strolled through the gardens, over the rope bridge and through the grottoes, before venturing down the beach to the flea market stalls on the west side of the hotel. The flea market offered the usual array of pottery, embroidered cottons, silver jewelry and other assorted “sombrero” souvenirs.

We walked past the turtle egg hatchery, where during the summer months, guests of the hotel can participate in collecting turtle eggs from the beach and place them in a secured area until they hatch. Once hatched, they assist in getting the baby turtles into the sea. This program has been responsible for assisting thousands of baby turtles and a sculpture commemorating this stands at the entrance to the hotel from the beach.

Princess has several police guards posted on the beach and at the hotel entrances to ensure the guests’ safety. We never felt threatened or hassled at any time, anywhere in Acapulco. People here were as hospitable and friendly as we have always found them to be during any of our previous trips over the last 20 years.

We headed up to the new restaurant at the Pearl for a buffet breakfast. We had a shaded table with a beach view and ring side seats for the live band that included a beautiful hand carved wooden xylophone. The buffet was delicious. It consisted of fresh tropical fruits, American breakfast foods including an omelet station, and Mexican specialties including a fresh made tamale station and chiliquiles with red and green sauce. The service to get coffee was somewhat disorganized and slow, but other than that, we ate well for about $16.00 USD per person.

We took a ½ mile walk along the golf course path out to the main drag and across the street to Walmart. This is the best place to buy beer, wine, tequila and snacks for a long stay in Mexico. We took our rolling carry on bag and filled it with Negro Modelo and soda, and picked up some fresh baked pastries at the panaderia. Word of warning to those watching their cholesterol: avoid these baked goods, since most are made with lard.

We returned back to the hotel and spent the afternoon languishing in the hotel pool and our balcony. We headed down to the beach and grabbed a cabana with lounge chairs to watch the sunset as it dipped below the hill at the west end of the beach.

We grabbed the free shuttle bus to the sister hotel, Pierre Marques. While we would have loved to eat at Tabachin Restaurant, we settled for the pub for a Mexican flank steak sandwich and fries. We were still too full from our late breakfast to eat a big meal. We were the only 2 people in the pub and enjoyed conversation with our waiter Pablo. He told us the hotel was only at 25% occupancy for the next few days, in between conventions.

We headed back to the Princess and enjoyed a cold beer at the lobby bar. We met an interesting couple from Michigan. He was originally from Baghdad and she was originally from Lebanon, although they had both been living in the states for several years. The really amazing part was that we had a friend in common from Dearborn, the Fire Chief -- a la 6 degrees of separation.

We headed off for a peaceful night’s sleep.

The following morning we enjoyed our fresh brewed room coffee and bakery treats from Walmart, on our balcony. We took a walk along the beach to Pierre Marques and had a cold drink there, before our return. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around the pool and watched the rosy colors in the sky as the sun set behind us.

We grabbed a taxi for about $8.00 to the La Isla shopping mall. It is a brand new open air complex with canals and fountains that reminded us of the mall in Cabo. There are lots of high end designer shops here, along with several restaurants, cafes and a multiplex cinema. We ended up at the new Carlos and Charlie’s which was moved from its original location on the costera near the nightclubs. This one was squeaky clean, but still had the usual “character” waiters who try to liven up the atmosphere. They had a hard time, since there were a total of 12 people eating in the restaurant. The staff outnumbered the patrons. We had a delicious enchilada entrée and bid Carlos and Charlie’s a fond farewell as we headed off for some ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s.

We cabbed it back to the Princess and spent our last night there enjoying the sea breeze from our balcony while sipping Negra Modelos.

We had a cooked to order breakfast at Chula Vista restaurant located poolside with lovely sea views. The service here was much better than at the new Pearl Tower restaurant, and the coffee was delicious and food quite tasty.

We strolled around the grounds one last time before catching a taxi to Las Brisas (see separate Las Brisas review). Check-out was a breeze.

For more info visit my website www.tonitours.net

---

---