\t\tThe Esencia Playa del Carmon, Quinta Roo Mexico is an amazingly beautiful, and very stylish place to have a vacation, and when you compare it to some of the mega resorts of the Mayan Riviera, quite frankly there is no comparison.This place is near perfection, where you will be not only pampered but feel appreciated by the outstanding staff at the resort.This definitely one of the very best places to stay in the Mexican Caribbean with your children, as there are house butlers, nannies, lots of activities, next to a stunning beach.Having got the general description of the Esencia out of the way, what about the rooms, the food, the service, the price, because that either makes or breaks a vacation.Our vacation was spent staying in a garden suite, and some of things that still spring to mind very quickly was the sheer size of the plasma TV with surround sound, the vast and extremely comfortable bed, and the pillows were soft, with bedside controls that meant you could enjoy the view without leaving your bed in the morning!!The airconditioning didn’t freeze us, but we didn’t use it that much preferring fans, and natural breezes.My wife places huge importance on the bathrooms, towels, showers, and all that sort of thing, and she was totally bowled over by the two rain shower heads in a separate shower room. The towels and the separate WC also met with her approval!!I like to relax at the end of the day, and in the morning, so I particularly appreciated the large comfortable terrace, and before I forget, my wife really likes lots of hanging space, and there were huge closets, and plenty of hangers.Food is a very important feature of a vacation for us, and we were not disappointed at the Esencia. For a start the rate included breakfast, and this wasn’t any ordinary hotel buffet breakfast, because you ordered it from the extensive menu, and it was delivered in some style, prior to that there was a coffee service straight to our suite, with nice pastries, at any time we requested. It is nice to sit on your terrace and devour it.Dinner was in the garden restaurant, which only opened in the evening, and the menu had considerable choices, including about six desserts, with a lot of fish, which suited us. The wine list was good but expensive.I can’t say the hotel was at all busy when we were there, so it wasn’t a problem to get a sun lounger on the beach, and they were padded too!! There was also prompt drinks service on the beach as well, and as far as the beach itself is concerned it has to be close to one of my favourites. White sand, incredibly clear water in all of the shades of blue green and turquoise that you only get on a tropical vacation. There are a few rocks, but all in all it was good for swimming in right next to the hotel. By the way the hotel is right next to El Cielo, which serves some of the best seafood and margaritas on the coast.Many things about Esencia are special, but the service is really very good indeed. The staff seemed to have the ability to be there, but totally unobtrusive. We particularly liked the fact that straightaway they knew us by name, we never had to wait to sign anything, and our ‘running’ bill appeared magically in our room at regular intervals to allow us to see what we had spent.There was definitely an attention to detail which helped make our vacation at the Esencia very special.
By: Gareth Jones -