Malecon21 Beach Club

[Loubyloo]

We'll be in Costa Maya on 17 Aug and I'm looking for a nice beach day. Has anyone been to Malecon21 and would you recommend it?

[c-leg5]

7 hours ago, Loubyloo said:

We'll be in Costa Maya on 17 Aug and I'm looking for a nice beach day. Has anyone been to Malecon21 and would you recommend it?

Before cruising was halted we went several times. It was a new club that time and it became our “go-to” place at that time. Good food, drinks, loungers, service, quiet atmosphere snd often live musician. 
 

The first time we went back after cruising resumed we took a walk along quite a length of the malecon to see what was still open and survived shut down. Malecon21 continued to receive good reviews from land visitors so we knew it was still open and called in for a drink and snack. Unfortunately the owner didn’t seem to be present although and service was very poor to the point that we never got our second drink and left without ordering food. 
 

The loungers and beach service are across the pedestrian-way and now require a minimum purchase, like most places in Mahahual,  but cover charge for the day is reasonable. This particular day we just sat in the comfortable bar/lounge area (which doesn’t require minimum purchase) since we only ever planned to stay a short while. Bar service snd attention would hopefully have improved now cruising is back in full force and the beach area probably has dedicated servers. I got the impression we were ignored in the bar area in favor of those either staying at the hotel or regular land visitors. Unfortunately there seemed to be new, younger inexperienced staff and no one that we recognized from earlier visits. 
 

We would probably give them another chance sometime in the future to see if service has improved.
 

Unfortunately there have been a lot of changes in Mahahual generally and our recent experiences have been disappointing.

[Loubyloo]

Wow!  Thank you for that great information!  I really appreciate such a detailed response.

[Cruising8843]

I’ll add my opinion from our recent visit earlier this month. We made reservations for the $30/person package for 2 of us. After a quick taxi ride from the cruise port, we were greeted promptly and allowed to pick our choice of loungers. Good choice of shade, sun or both. We promptly rec’d menus and a quick overview of how things worked. It was still early so we wanted to just hang out for a while before lunch/drinks. Various people walking the beach tried to sell items, but a quick “no thank you” and they moved on. We went up to the patio area for lunch and after about 20 minutes had to go find someone to take our order of tacos and drinks. My husband didn’t like his drink, so he switched to beer. Had to track someone down for our check. We had used $48 of out $60 credit at this point. Decided to go for a walk before we headed back to our loungers. One of the waiters literally chased us down, shouting that we still owed $12 on our check. I had the receipt in my hand clearly showing we had used $48. He kept arguing with us. I said that we weren’t leaving yet, just going for walk and we’ll handle it when we get back….and then kept walking. When we returned, we went to the check-in station, explained the issue and rec’d confirmation that we had indeed only used $48 of our $60 credit. I chalked it up to some sort of miscommunication or confusion on the math. When it was time for us to leave, they called a taxi for us and it arrived pretty quick. At this point, several waiters approached my husband to let him know we had not provided any tip. We are ones to always tip generously and despite the mix-up was going to provide a tip that covered our stay. They just didn’t give us a chance to do so before they practically demanded one. In hindsight, maybe we were expected to tip throughout the day. I doubt that we would go here again based on our experience. 

[c-leg5]

3 hours ago, Cruising8843 said:

I’ll add my opinion from our recent visit earlier this month. We made reservations for the $30/person package for 2 of us. After a quick taxi ride from the cruise port, we were greeted promptly and allowed to pick our choice of loungers. Good choice of shade, sun or both. We promptly rec’d menus and a quick overview of how things worked. It was still early so we wanted to just hang out for a while before lunch/drinks. Various people walking the beach tried to sell items, but a quick “no thank you” and they moved on. We went up to the patio area for lunch and after about 20 minutes had to go find someone to take our order of tacos and drinks. My husband didn’t like his drink, so he switched to beer. Had to track someone down for our check. We had used $48 of out $60 credit at this point. Decided to go for a walk before we headed back to our loungers. One of the waiters literally chased us down, shouting that we still owed $12 on our check. I had the receipt in my hand clearly showing we had used $48. He kept arguing with us. I said that we weren’t leaving yet, just going for walk and we’ll handle it when we get back….and then kept walking. When we returned, we went to the check-in station, explained the issue and rec’d confirmation that we had indeed only used $48 of our $60 credit. I chalked it up to some sort of miscommunication or confusion on the math. When it was time for us to leave, they called a taxi for us and it arrived pretty quick. At this point, several waiters approached my husband to let him know we had not provided any tip. We are ones to always tip generously and despite the mix-up was going to provide a tip that covered our stay. They just didn’t give us a chance to do so before they practically demanded one. In hindsight, maybe we were expected to tip throughout the day. I doubt that we would go here again based on our experience. 

Thanks for an updated report. I am sorry to hear there still seem to be service issues - that certainly isn’t how it was pre-covid but we are now 12 months later than our last visit.

 

It is a shame because the facilities restroom, loungers and bar area are some of the best on the Malecon. The young Italian owner who opened the bar and was building the hotel was very service oriented. I am wondering if he is still managing the business and is just having staffing problems like so much of Costa Maya or if he had to return to family in Italy.
 

Since it is near the end of the Malecon vendors although still there are considerably less than the central area and we have also enjoyed the live music although last time we didn’t stay long enough to know if that was still happening.

 

I am confused about your check - didn’t you pay a deposit with your reservation and then pay the balance of your credit on arrival? I thought that was how we paid and then paid any overage and tip as we left.  (Was the partial receipt from the the patio area for your lunch because if so I think I can understand how the confusion arose - Otherwise I don’t understand how you received a receipt for $48?) We certainly didn’t tip as we went as we had the same server for the day. Unfortunately I got the impression the older bar server had left and there seemed to be several young inexperienced servers last year.

 

We always settle our check then walk to find our own taxi.

Edited March 21, 2023 by c-leg5

[Cruising8843]

Our $48 receipt (it was really our check) was for our lunch and drinks on the patio. We didn’t have any food or drinks prior to that. Thanks. 

[c-leg5]

28 minutes ago, Cruising8843 said:

Our $48 receipt (it was really our check) was for our lunch and drinks on the patio. We didn’t have any food or drinks prior to that. Thanks. 

I can understand why there was confusion then because you don’t need a package to eat on the patio. Everything there is billed a la carte  and no minimum payment. There was probably confusion between server areas but it doesn’t explain why they said you owed money. However I can  understand the disconnect to some extent. The package pre-payment is for use of a lounger.

 

They certainly need more discipline for sure and I am sorry for your experience and sorry service hasn’t improved in 12 months since our visit. I got the feeling they were more interested in local expats than cruisers at the time but i thought that was because they had been reliant on them during cruising shut down. Time for them to move on if they want to survive,