Today, we spent the day at the beach in front of the Grand Luxxe Punta pool, where it was nice and quiet with shaded lounge chairs. A "
Joy Squad" member (Vidanta's entertainment staff) came around handing out free popsicles to guests, a welcomed refreshment from the heat. We made our own breakfast and lunch in the villa.
Tonight's dinner was at
Azur, serving French cuisine and located on the top floor of La Plaza building, with expansive views of the resort. A complimentary amuse-bouche of beef tartar was served; had I known that, I wouldn't have ordered it for an appetizer, as the portion was huge. The tartar appetizer was made table-side, so we had a little show.
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| open-air dining room |
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| beef tartar amuse-bouche |
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| lobster bisque |
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| bread, escargot and tartar accompaniments |
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| server making the fresh tartar |
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| large portion of raw beef |
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| foie gras appetizer as my main |
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| pork rib with mushrooms |
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| we went with the black forest cake, far left |
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| sunset |
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The next day, we went back to the beach again and had breakfast and lunch in the villa. For dinner, we stopped by
Tacos Break, as it was highly recommended to us by acquaintances we met at a party last year who were Grand Luxxe owners. It was located at the top of La Plaza building outside in the mercado area. Boy was the food good! The aroma of grilled meats filled the air.
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| reasonable prices |
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| complimentary chips and dips |
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| taco al pastor |
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| al pastor quesadilla |
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| chorizo and mushroom tacos |
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On Friday, we relaxed all day in the villa and enjoyed the patio again.
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| staying cool |
For dinner, we went back to Blue Fish (aka
Limon y Sal) since we had such a good meal there last time. It was still happy hour when we arrived, with 2-for-1 specials. Both of us ordered a drink, but it turned out that we got 2 each, for a total of 4, which was not what we expected. Next time, we will ask for clarification. The food was good as usual.
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| crispy calamari |
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| my two mojitos |
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| Ursula ceviche |
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| baja tacos again |
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Saturday morning (our last full day at the Grand Luxxe), we tried the big breakfast buffet at
Cafe Del Lago. There was a ton of selection, but I didn't think the quality was as good as the buffet at
Fresh Co.
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| usual breakfast items available |
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| heartier items |
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| freshly fried empanadas |
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| cold cuts |
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| variety of fruit juices |
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| mediocre sushi |
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| mediocre Chinese food |
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| gluten-free baked goods |
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| happy to see papaya |
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| crepe station |
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| stale baked goods |
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| generic sweets |
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After breakfast, we walked up and down the beach. Hardly anyone was around at the very far end. Then we explored the expansive resort grounds one last time.
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| I'm so small since this lake is huge |
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| coconuts |
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We returned to Tacos Break for dinner. I highly recommend getting the alambres - huge portions.
Checking out was more complicated than expected. We thought we had to go back to the lobby, so we rolled our luggage across the resort, only to find out that check-out was taken care of by a desk inside each of the buildings, of which we were not informed. We walked all the way back to our building and found the check-out desk in an area we hardly frequented; had we rode the golf carts regularly, we would have noticed it. The bill was very hard to read as each day we were charged miscellaneous fees mixed in with the purchases we made at the grocery store and restaurants. There was an erroneous charge for bottled water, which I pointed out and was removed promptly. I also asked for my credit card to be charged in pesos instead of dollars, as I read in reviews that the exchange rate would be better through my bank. Only do this if your credit card does not charge foreign transaction fees; otherwise, you might as well let it go through in dollars.
After our bill was settled, we were directed to the golf cart stop in order to catch a ride to the central transportation hub where taxis would be waiting. We finally got a chance to see the hidden roadways around the resort, though in fast forward - the driver had a lead foot and didn't obey stop signs; it felt like a roller coaster ride. I hung on tightly to my carry-on as it threatened to fly out at every corner.
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| I risked losing my phone to take this picture |
In contrast to our wild golf cart ride, we were stuck in traffic getting to the airport as the
Puerto Vallarta Marathon was already underway. The staff member who called a taxi for us cautioned that it would take over an hour to get to the airport due to traffic control for the race, but since we had budgeted three hours before our flight departed with only carry-ons, there was plenty of time. Our taxi driver got us to the airport as quickly as possible without sacrificing safety.
The Puerto Vallarta airport (PVR) had a Priority Pass lounge we could access, called
VIP Lounge. It had a good amount of complimentary refreshments, plus free wi-fi, which was handy for playing Pokemon Go.
And that was the end of our trip to the
Grand Luxxe Nuevo Vallarta! I would exchange there again since it was relaxing and had plenty of food and activity options. We didn't get a chance to venture out into the city of Puerto Vallarta, but perhaps one day when we are bored with doing nothing.
What's next: a complimentary 2-night inaugural cruise on the new
Norwegian Bliss departing from Los Angeles, combined with a mini-staycation in Long Beach with my brothers and their families...stay tuned!
***
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