Information on and reviews of Tequila Beach

[CORONAONTHEBEACH]

Corona:

 

We tried to get them to come down on waverunners, but that was pretty much a set fee of $45 for 1/2 hour $90 for an hour. Well worth the money though. We only did 1/2 hour and that was about all we could handle. The swells were a good 6' high and we couldn't be seen from the beach but we got some good air time and it wore us all out. We even tipped our guide because we had such a great time afterwards. As far as buying t-shirts etc. They'll bargain. We bought a Hard Rock Cafe Sweatshirt for $15.00 each. Saw them in the store for $75.00. It's well worth it the try.

 

I can't wait to go back to Tequila Beach. We had an awesome time.

 

Brich:

Thanks for the info. Definately can't wait to go to Tequilla beach. From all the reviews, it sounds great!!! Did you go with the package deal (all you can eat/drink pass) or just go on your own? Thanx!

[newistcruiseaddict]

Thanks for that review muscle car. Why be so timid? You give a VERY thourough and expainative review. I've been wary of tequila beach from the get go. I will definately be eating at Cat's Meow. I may meander a bit for the beer but plan to buy by the bucket to avoid having to wait and tip on every beer.

[atloar]

I was told by Otto on the phone that the CCM discount is $5.00 on the 'First Mates Pass' the one without the Alchol (We are not drinkers so it would not pay us). The other packages above this one recieve a $10. Perperson CCM Discount. I am not liking what I am hearing about this beach. I may have to rethink this idea.

[atloar]

I am quite confused about whether or not I want to go to T.B after reading these reviews. Although as my wife would attest I do not work well with people who do not fulfill bargains made with me. I can be quite embarrassing at restaurants when my food and or service are not right. So if I do indeed go to T.B you can bet that I will be well armed with the Brochure that I have printed from the Internet as well as my Cruise Critic I.D. I have considered taking Otto up on his offer to link to my web page to advertise his beach, but instead I will wait until I return to make a decision as to whether or not I post the truth about T.B and put it out on the Internet. Just ask the folks at Chili’s Restaurant how loud I can be. When I walk into my local Chili’s they can not do enough for me, in addition to the fact that I have not paid for Chips and Salsa there in a long while.

I carry around with me the definition of ‘Gratuity’ printed on business cards, not for the purpose of cheating someone out of a well earned tip, but instead to inform others that a Gratuity is just that “A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for good or above standard service.” I leave these cards with anyone that forgets this and does not earn such a reward.

Therefore I have sent to Mr. Otto the below e-mail offering to him to make sure that these things are corrected and to verify exactly what I am being offered before I arrive. I will make my decision based upon his timely response and what he has to say to me. I will keep everyone informed. I encourage everyone to do the same so that we can together correct these problems. Thanks to all that have posted reviews about this, we that follow appriciate your efforts. While we are just a family of 5, Cruise Critic makes me apart of a family of Thousands.

Dear Otto,

I do not like what I am hearing about your Beach area in Costa Maya. I have reserved your facility for the day and am having second thoughts. I understand from your web sight that towels are provided for our use, yet the Cruise Critic reviews say otherwise. We are planning to come there with very little especially I am very concerned with the lack of security on your beach and therefore the towels were an added attraction since we would not have to bring our own. I am also hearing stories of visitors not getting service if they do not tip to the satisfaction of the staff, as well as the lack of attentiveness to visitors needs while at your complex. I also understand that we will have to rent chairs that maybe in very poor shape and we will be charged for them if they break. IN your on-line brochure you state that visitors will be entitled to "All Club benefits" this (According to you) includes Clean Restrooms, Showers, Private lockers, Beach chairs, TOWELS, Full service restaurant and bar, and Internet Access. The only things I need to bring are my "Beach wear and sunscreen. Can you confirm this with me? I do not want to be without towels and a place to sit as well as spend the day hungry or thirsty because you have not fulfilled your portion of the agreement. Please respond as soon as possible because I have a short window of opportunity to make a decision on whether or not to visit your area or cancel my reservation.

[CORONAONTHEBEACH]

ATLOAR:

 

Good email. Please post OTTO's respond in this thread. I am very interested to see how he responds to it. I have booked TB as well and am a little concerned over what I have read lately with the theft, chairs breaking and the service. Thanx!

[Host Karen]

ATLOAR: Please post OTTO's respond in this thread.

 

If/when atloar receives a response, he may paraphrase what Otto wrote, but Otto's e-mail message may not be posted here verbatim. That is considered advertising.

 

Just a heads up.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com

[Muscle Car]

If/when atloar receives a response, he may paraphrase what Otto wrote, but Otto's e-mail message may not be posted here verbatim. That is considered advertising.

 

Just a heads up.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com

 

Rule are rules, but I can see a potential legal problem looming on the horizon if Otto feels like he was misquoted or paraphrased poorly. Then again this crowd is nothing like the automotive boards that I frequent (basically you are all very mature and honest) so I suspect that this will pass without incident and we will benefit.

[atloar]

To honor our host Karen's request I will not post Oto's responce (If I ever get one) but I will let everyone know how it turns out.

I want to make sure everyone has a great vacation.

[CORONAONTHEBEACH]

Thanks, much appreciated!!!!!

[sharecruises]

Some of the new reviews of Tequilla are def making me "rethink" my plans to go there...

 

I am mostly concerned with the lack of lockers, towels, loungers..I thought that is what the prepaid pass is for??

 

I am a good tipper, and in fact a pretty vigorous defender of tips on the Carnival board..but I don't want to be nickel and dimed at this place for stuff I am already paying for.

 

The reports of stuff stolen from loungers there is most disturbing to me

I thought we get lockers

 

How was YOUR day there>>>? How many ships in port that day?? Do you think spring break had something to do with this??? I just don't need or want a hassle....

 

I know that people will chime in with "go to cat's meow" etc...and yes there are other options...but I am looking for specifics about Tequilla...I may also email Otto there and ask him and get a print out of what i "get" for this day...paypal will accept disputes and that might be another way to go if needed.

[atloar]

Otto assures me that the issues expressed on this site will be worked out. His explanation can only be that during the times of problems it was because of Spring Break and the beach was very crowded. I have been told that normally the beach is not over crowded, and therefore these problems do not exist. I intend on continuing with my plans to visit Tequila Beach and trust that Otto will make sure that everyone’s visit is a pleasant one. I have not yet confirmed the towel issue yet but that will make a huge difference to me if they are not avaialable. I will make sure to share my experience with CCM’s upon my return. I will be there on April 23, so please look for my review to be posted that following weekend. But for the time being if you are going to be there that same week or so, the only thing I can suggest is that you confirm everything via e-mail with Otto, and go there as I will with an open mind. Enjoy fellow CCM’s, and don't forget to say hello if you run into me on the Fantasy 4/21 - 4/26...

 

Conquest 4/06

Fantasy 4/07

?????

[Host Karen]

atloar, thanks for coming back and filling us in. I hope you have a great time!

 

Karen

[73Buicklady]

Atloar, I was at Tequila Beach on 3/29/07. There were 7 of us. I don't recall the Beach being excessively busy at any point and time. We didn't have any problems with our chairs, drinks, food, waverunners or personnel. This was our Best stop and the most relaxing. The only chairs that we saw falling were the ones that had the few people who drank way too much. The workers at Tequila Beach worked really hard to make sure that all had a good time and even helped the ones that had too much to drink. There is a menu when you arrive, and maybe on Otto's site of the items that are included with your package. There were plenty of lockers and there was easy access to them. The only negative that we had, had nothing to do with Otto or his resort. One of our members got stung by a jelly fish, but Otto was more than helpful with the vinegar. The 1950's model bus we were put on died on the way, and then we had to hollar at the driver to stop at Tequila Beach. The last negative was a man that carried an iguana on his shoulder and asked you if you wanted to hold it. Afterwards, he would charge you $5.00. He should have told this up front. I don't believe he was an employee of Tequila Beach though, because on the Carnival DVD, I saw him at one of the Carnival excursions. Would most definitely go back to Tequila Beach!!! Thanks Otto and to our Great waiter Juan.

[Shiiilo]

Well I have never written a bad review in my life, I work in the service industry so I tend to give people the benifit of the doubt and realize it is not alway easy to please everyone but here goes.

When we got there is was early and we got awesome seats right on the beach. We had to give my husbands ship card to get our towels and we settled in. We had bought the all inclusive so we got a drink right away. I will say the beach is pretty but the water does have a lot of sea grass in it which takes a while to get used to. However the water was beautiful just to cool off in and you could swim a ways away and get to a clear area.

Our service was completely terrible with us almost having to beg to get a drink and the food was very slow to come. What I recommend is when you get a drink order your next one, they vary sometimes the Pina Coladas were great and other times they were just like crushed ice with coloring. Finally we just went up and got drinks. My husband got heat stroke so he went to leave (completely his fault!), however when he went to get his ship card back they couldn't find it!. The cashier actually tried to give my husband someone else's card so security on the card is pretty lax. The lady at the cash didn't speak english so we talked to Otto, he said that they gave his card to someone else. We waited and watched him do nothing for 1/2 hr and then talked to another girl who was VERY nice. When we asked why nothign was done and if she could check around the cash for the card she tried but the cashier wouldn't let her. Here is the thing, the cashier spoke no english, was the owners wife and frankly didn't care if we got the card or not!. Otto has no power to make her look, he didn't look and finally when I was afraid my dh would pass out I went over with the girl and insisted they look again, sure enough it was just under some papers. Overall I would warn people, this beach is not owned my a nice american guy like I was lead to believe and whatever you do keep your card!. After over an hour of chaos we were offered the $4 cab ride home and sent on our way. I am afraid I cannot recommend this beach because the so called all-inclusive (broken chairs/poor service/so-so drinks and slow food) was just not worth it. I will look for another location when we cruise next time and the people with us agreed as well.

[Muscle Car]

Well I have never written a bad review in my life, I work in the service industry so I tend to give people the benifit of the doubt and realize it is not alway easy to please everyone but here goes.

When we got there is was early and we got awesome seats right on the beach. We had to give my husbands ship card to get our towels and we settled in. We had bought the all inclusive so we got a drink right away. I will say the beach is pretty but the water does have a lot of sea grass in it which takes a while to get used to. However the water was beautiful just to cool off in and you could swim a ways away and get to a clear area.

Our service was completely terrible with us almost having to beg to get a drink and the food was very slow to come. What I recommend is when you get a drink order your next one, they vary sometimes the Pina Coladas were great and other times they were just like crushed ice with coloring. Finally we just went up and got drinks. My husband got heat stroke so he went to leave (completely his fault!), however when he went to get his ship card back they couldn't find it!. The cashier actually tried to give my husband someone else's card so security on the card is pretty lax. The lady at the cash didn't speak english so we talked to Otto, he said that they gave his card to someone else. We waited and watched him do nothing for 1/2 hr and then talked to another girl who was VERY nice. When we asked why nothign was done and if she could check around the cash for the card she tried but the cashier wouldn't let her. Here is the thing, the cashier spoke no english, was the owners wife and frankly didn't care if we got the card or not!. Otto has no power to make her look, he didn't look and finally when I was afraid my dh would pass out I went over with the girl and insisted they look again, sure enough it was just under some papers. Overall I would warn people, this beach is not owned my a nice american guy like I was lead to believe and whatever you do keep your card!. After over an hour of chaos we were offered the $4 cab ride home and sent on our way. I am afraid I cannot recommend this beach because the so called all-inclusive (broken chairs/poor service/so-so drinks and slow food) was just not worth it. I will look for another location when we cruise next time and the people with us agreed as well.

 

Your review sounds much like mine. I have heard that the reason was due to the flood of Spring Breakers...and frankly the only validity to that is that the day we were there 3-29 it happened to fall on our spring break. We shared the beach and club with a sparse number of people from one of the two boats that were there that day. The royal Carribean ship that was there left around 3:00 so people were leaving by 1:30. I was on the Liberty and stayed as late as possible especially since we basicly had the beach to ourselves. Drunken college kids...I am a 23 year old college student and managed to see only a hand full of other college kids, we spent most of the day talking with families since that was what made up a majority of our ship and that was fine by me.

 

We had a quiet bunch, and yet the service was still poor. There is no excuse for poor service even if it is spring break and furthermore there is absolutely no excuse for poor safety practices when taking people out to a snorkeling spot. Anyway, rant off...I am sorry I am a bit irritated after receiving a basically a blanket e-mail from Otto in response to my e-mail.

It is very obvious he is a nice guy but has very little influence on the club..just like you said.

[Shiiilo]

Whew! I thought I was the only one with a bad experience, not that I would wish anyone a bad trip. I guess we were lucky to have nothing stolen but we also had atleast 1 person watching our stuff since we were getting bad vibes. We also had problems with the chairs but were really careful after reading a review about peole trying to charge for broken chairs.

It was also spring break while we were there but I don't think that should have caused the service. However, when we got back to a ship I was talking to a lady who's 16year old was going snorkelling from Tequila beach. Instead she was sold an all you can drink bracelet, never snorkelled and 2 of them ended up in the ship infirmary all night with alcohol poisoning....we also questioned the age of some of the drinkers.

Next time I think it would be easier to just stay at the beautiful pool right off the pier :). Oh yeah, if you are going to cozumel later in the voyage wait to buy your vanilla there, we bartered down to $10 but then found it in cozumel for $7.50 for the biggest bottle and no bartering which was great.

[sterki]

I'm so surprised by the negative reviews. We only went there (March 27) because I read so many positive things. We had a group (my parents in their late 60s, 3 siblings and spouses, and 3 kids ages 6-10). So it was important to us to have a destination and not wander around, especially because my mom is really nervous.

 

TB was a huge hit with my whole family, drinkers and non. One thing we didn't know was that it was 2 hours earlier there so we got there at 8:15 am local time! So we got a great spot under a palapa and a bunch of chairs. It got more crowded during the day (2 other ships came in) but never out of hand or unpleasant.

 

Juan our waiter was terrific, tons of food and the drinks kept coming. And we didn't tip him until the end of the day when we left. Four of us snorkeled (rough water but not terrible). The kids had a blast at the beach and we used a kayak at no charge. The showers and bathrooms were fine. My sister and I walked into Mahajual to look at the little shops, only took about 5 minutes on foot.

 

Otto called the Friday before we left to go over how to get there. I just can't say enough about this totally relaxing day. My family kept complimenting me for selecting it and they are a tough crowd. One thing was that Otto wasn't there and the lady only knew the total that we owed so it was a little difficult to split it up by family.

 

Anyway, just to give a different perspective. Hope that helps someone because this really was a highlight of our trip.

[atloar]

Well I am glad to hear this, we will be there on Monday 4/23 and am looking forward to it. I have been assured by Otto himself that we will "I think you will be surprised to find that we tend to be on the conservative side in our descriptions" in his words. So we will see, I plan on going there with an open mind and to judge it on our exsperience that day. I will let everyone know. FYI we are already talking about a return trip to Costa Maya and Coz sometime early fall, maybe gettinga group together.

[goldpenny]

:(Disappointing visit at Tequila Beach...Poor service,watered down "all you can drink drinks!",small portions of poorly prepared food,expensive massages(a dollar a minute LOL) rocky beach,plenty of jellyfish,so so restrooms.Did not go to the Cats Meow but this was the most disappointing part of a fabulous cruise.

[sterki]

The portions were small (one wonders if there is an American expectation thing going here) but Juan brought us unlimited plates. All we had to do was ask.

[queenhcc]

Originally Posted by Shiiilo

Well I have never written a bad review in my life, I work in the service industry so I tend to give people the benifit of the doubt and realize it is not alway easy to please everyone but here goes.

When we got there is was early and we got awesome seats right on the beach. We had to give my husbands ship card to get our towels and we settled in. We had bought the all inclusive so we got a drink right away. I will say the beach is pretty but the water does have a lot of sea grass in it which takes a while to get used to. However the water was beautiful just to cool off in and you could swim a ways away and get to a clear area.

 

I am sailing soon with 2 girlfriends ( new to cruising) and I am not sure we would be safe at this beach. I always have a fear of someone stealing my backpack. I am the only one that has cruised before and I don't want my friends to have a bad experience.:confused:

Inspiration

8/12/2001

Inspiration

12/16/2001

Inspiration

8/4/2002

Paradise

8/3/2003

Sensation

9/1/2005 Katrina Cruise

Holiday

Fantasy

7/31/2006

5/19/2007

[astropilot]

Originally Posted by Shiiilo

Well I have never written a bad review in my life, I work in the service industry so I tend to give people the benifit of the doubt and realize it is not alway easy to please everyone but here goes.

When we got there is was early and we got awesome seats right on the beach. We had to give my husbands ship card to get our towels and we settled in. We had bought the all inclusive so we got a drink right away. I will say the beach is pretty but the water does have a lot of sea grass in it which takes a while to get used to. However the water was beautiful just to cool off in and you could swim a ways away and get to a clear area.

 

I am sailing soon with 2 girlfriends ( new to cruising) and I am not sure we would be safe at this beach. I always have a fear of someone stealing my backpack. I am the only one that has cruised before and I don't want my friends to have a bad experience.:confused:

 

Unless something has changed between last November and today, I wouldn't worry about TB. We found it to be clean, safe, and an OUTSTANDING value for the price. We found the food and drink to be good and plentiful, and the service to be first rate.

 

I'm looking forward to my retun visit to this beach on my upcoming cruise on the Victory

[mattsydnjoshsmom]

OK....it was not TERRIBLE or anything, just not what I would call great. Slow service....food just "ok"...cold nachos.....hot beer for a quick summary!

 

Here's the long of it!

 

It was a perfect weather day! Costa Maya/TB/Mahahual is a GORGEOUS port!!! I cannot say enough....I took TONS of pictures. The water is crystal clear and I even sat in about a foot of water and had beautiful tropical fish swimming all around me! SOOOO wonderful!

 

It was my hubby's 30th bday so I planned and paid for 2 Captains Pass's for the 2 of us since I knew we would not want to eat big...but we did want to have some drinks, snacks and lounge on the beach for the day.

 

We arrived at TBaround 9:30-10am and had our pick of tables and/or beach chairs. They did try to charge us for chairs and towels but I told them that they were supposed to be included in out day pass.....we got chairs and asked for ONE towel(since I brought my own to put over my chair) and we NEVER saw the ONE towel we asked for. Sat for a few minutes and never got a waiter so we walked to the bar to get a couple of morning drinks....I wanted a bloody mary since it was still morning for me and we are not BIG daytime drinkers. No bloody mary's.....and they had several other drinks on the menu blackened out. My hubby is a beer drinker and they only offered 2 kinds of beer and poured it out of large bottles into small plastic cups! In the hot mexican sun....this equals about 2 sips of cold beer and then it was warm and nasty(to quote my hubby.....warm beer tastes like piss!!). I ended up having a diet coke.....my only one of the day because they ran out of DIET COKES in about 2 hours and there was probably about 15 people total on the beach until around 1pm when we were heading back to the boat and the Carnival ship had docked. So we decided we would walk down to the fishing village and look around and asked about a locker and were told it would be $5 to get a key for the locker!:confused: WHAT? This is supposed to be included also! Whatever....we paid for it because I did not care to leave my things out. So we walked around for a bit and went back and laid on the beach...snorkeled a little close to shore....saw a few tropical fish and some pink jelly fish(my 3yo would have gotten a kick out of them.....since they looked just like the jelly fish on sponge bob! lol). Bad service the whole time we were in the beach chairs......had to flag anybody down to get anything. The Guacamole was pretty good(I make better though!) the salsa was more like pico de gallo than salsa and the nachos I ordered were COLD....not even a little warm, like they poured cold cheese over chips that soon got soggy.....I fed a couple to the fishies...they didn't seem to mind! lol I am a tequila drinker so I did have a few shots...if you could call them that.....they were SERIOUSLY in childs size medicine cups! I understand they do this at tastings but this was supoosed to be a $4 shot according to the menu!!! I ordered them 2 at a time twice and had to drink a regular coke because they ran out of diet....I NEVER drink regular cokes! Also....I asked for a bottled water 3x:eek: before I FINALLY got one when we were sitting up at the resteraunt right before we left.

 

All in all I WOULD NOT reccomend this excursion to ANYBODY!

 

The beach itself was great.....service was horrible for what I paid....and we should have been at least offered a bucket of ice and bottles or cans of beer so that my hubby could have had cold beer while sitting on the beach. I did notice them takinga buckets of iced down beer to somebody as we were leaving.....I guess they didn't have the all inclusive package.

 

So, there you have it! I also emailed my complaints to Otto because he emailed me yesterday asking me how my excursion was and asked me to come post it over here! He will probably be sorry he asked! lol:(

[letsgocruz1]

I'm sorry to hear of so many of you having less than pleasant experiences. We were there in December and had a great time. My only complaint would be the slow service, but I felt like that was because the waiters were stretched too thin.

 

This sadly makes me rethink doing TB in the future. :( But I still think about those wonderful "miami vices" I had there. Yummy

[im4crusin]

We are crusing 5/20 and are considering going to TB.

Mixed feeling with the mixed reviews.

What is the best way to get there and how long does it take?

Thanks!:D