Our Vacation in Manzanillo, Mexico

March 19th, 2008 by Pam K.

My husband and I, along with another couple visited Manzanillo, Mexico recently (Feb. 22-Mar 1 ‘08). We had never traveled there so it was a new experience for us. Our flights were all on time and pleasant so we enjoyed a full week at the all-inclusive Karmina Palace.

The room we had was a ground level Jr. Suite with over 900 sq. ft. It was very clean with marble floors and a huge bathroom with a walk-in shower, large tub, and two sinks - again lots of marble. The staff were very friendly and helpful - if they could be. They must have had a hard time getting coffee in the rooms because we had to ask for it. We were well satisfied with the food and enjoyed the Carioca restaurant that sits on a point overlooking the ocean. Make reservations ASAP after arriving. Again the staff was excellent and so was the food. The buffet was good too. We certainly didn’t go hungry! We ate away from the resort one night at Tuscana’s. They had good seafood, but the prices have gone up since Frommer’s reviewed it. Go at sunset - beautiful. The resort had nightly shows that were “okay” - they worked hard. However the Friday night Fiesta was worth the wait. It was professional, colorful, live music and singing and very fun! Don’t miss that - they have a dinner show with traditional foods, however if you don’t want to eat at the show you can still go down and sit in the “bleacher seats” - it really was very good!

We saw some wildlife: There are many iguanas on the grounds. They were not scary and didn’t hurt anything. We saw a dolphin swimming in the bay and one thing we had never seen before was a stingray that leaped out of the water a couple of times. That was when the currents caused large waves that crashed into the little area in front of the resort. There were many types of birds: Brown Pelican, common and snowy egret, frigate birds, vultures, plovers, and a variety of gulls. I am sure there were many more varieties that I didn’t see.

We didn’t do any tours, but the Colima Tour I heard was very worthwhile. We took a cab to downtown Manzanillo, he dropped us at the port. Look for the huge sailfish statue and then go to the other side and see “Snoopy” holding a sailfish in one hand and a walleye in the other - St. Paul is their sister city. We walked to the shopping district, which had better prices than the Walmart that was down the beach from us. They had a lot of variety. I enjoyed walking around there. We went early to beat the heat. It was about 83 degrees and sunny every day. As far as the money exchange down there, it was easy to buy pesos at the hotel where the rate was about 10.7 pesos to $1. So you got a better value if you did that. If we used US dollars it was a 10 to 1 rate. I didn’t have any trouble using my Visa card down there. Check for fees though. We recommend the Karmina Palace as a great value!