TDY Gouge - Mexico

Merida Mexico - Fiesta Americana Merida (Phone:52 999 9 42 11 11) was a Palace! www.Fiestamericana.com or 1.877.EXPLORA. Excellent hotel, has huge rooms in the center of Merida, about 20 mins from the airport. Merida is very safe, can walk all over if you want. Rate is within PD. Food and drinks on the town are very reasonable. There is a VIP room on the fifth floor: "The Fiesta Club"; free drinks, continental breakfast, dinner time snacks and very friendly, beautiful hostesses. Ask about it when you check in. There are three different restaurants in the hotel and a bar. One of them has "Steak Night" on Saturdays, for about $20, all the steaks you can eat incl. filet and NY Strip, all grilled in front of you -incredible. The hotel also has a number of shops on the street level, a Sanborns restaraunt, and a huge disco that rocks on the weekends. The Merida Hyatt Regency is directly across the street and has multiple restaurants and a huge beautiful bar.

Mexico City, Mexico - Stayed two nights in Mexico City at the JW Marriott. Overall, a very nice hotel that is in a safe district and close to a couple of bars and restaurants. About 20 minutes from the airport. The hotel was near the Hard Rock and an Irish Pub was across the street. The only down side was that this was probably too nice of a hotel for crew dogs as everyone was wearing suits in the place and we stood out as ugly Americans...oh well.

Veracruz, Mexico -If you are ever fortunate enough to spend a night here, take advantage of the attractions in this Mexican Gulf Coast city. On the East side of the city are the beachfront hotels. Consider Hotel Playa Paraiso. If you can get them to offer you the government rate for the villas, better yet. They are nice, large villas about 30 seconds away from the beach. The service there is awesome. There is a restaurant in the hotel that serves great food and inexpensive drinks. There are also restaurants and a large mall across the street, and cab rides to the bar/club district are short and cheap. The nightlife in this city is truly outstanding. Ask for a wakeup call on the day you leave if you stay at the Playa Paraiso. The wakeup call consists of a guy (or girl) bringing you good Mexican coffee to your door. The Mexican Navy folks there are awesome and will go out of their way to help you. If you have ravens, they will give them food at their chow hall and make their showers available at all times.