We're planning on vacationing in Rivera Maya in the first week of July. Read that sargassum is supposed to be the worst at that time. If we avoid the beach area and just stay in the pool / resort area would we still smell the sargassum? Just trying to figure out how much it will affect our vacation.
This may be a really foolish question, but I've never been to an all inclusive resort, so bear with me. Family of 4 with two tweens - the kids' favorite vacation was a cruise, and their favorite part of the cruise was the buffet. As a parent, I loved not having to wait on a menu restaurant. So, my question is, do most all inclusives have some form of buffet along with the plated restaurants? I can't tell from the menus online if each restaurant within a resort is a sit-down/menu restaurant. I know that buffets are generally considered a step down but they're also so relaxing and give us options to accommodate some significant food restrictions and allergies.
We are looking at resorts that are a direct flight from Seattle (primary Cabo, Puerta Vallarta, Cancun) so if anyone has specific recommendations for resorts with particularly good and expansive buffets, that would be much appreciated! (we also would love a swimmable beach and the opportunity to take long walks directly from the resort) - would lean toward the higher end of the budget (but not if it prices us out of the buffet!). Thank you!
Hello,
We are looking for recommendations for a good resort for our family. Our baby will be about 8/9 months old and we will be traveling with my parents as well. shooting for late march around good friday.
Hiii, Looking to book a trip for December and thinking about Jamaica. Open to other places as well. Will be flying out of Philly. Stay-about 4-6 nights. It’s our first vacation together so really trying to enjoy with no kids around so preferably adults only. Budget is 2300 or less. We love to eat so the place must have good food. And not only American cuisine! I love the beach so hoping it will have a nice beach as well:) & also a nice spa😇
Thanks in advance for all your recs!!!!!
My girlfriend and I are looking to travel to Cancun area or Riviera Maya in November for 4-5 nights.
Requirements:
Does anyone have any favorites to recommend? I've found a few options that look promising, but searching over the past week has also become a little overwhelming with how many options exist.
Thanks in advance.
I just booked a honeymoon swim out beach front room. But, I was wondering if people are allowed to smoke outside of these? If so, I think I might change to Mexico. I booked this because Punta cana will be warmer in the winter. However, smelling smoke is a deal breaker. thanks for any info!
Planning on a trip next June- two families with 4 kids total ages 7-10. Has anyone been to both Beaches Negril and Grand Princess and can offer recommendations for one over the other?
Hi! I’m planning my fiancé’s 29th birthday trip for January 2027. I’m hoping to do an all inclusive resort (he eats a lot 😂), but I’m open to other suggestions too. I grew up going to all inclusives all over the place, and he and I went to one together a few years ago (Excellence Playa Mujeres) that we absolutely loved. The challenge is that we both don’t drink anymore due to my diagnosis with Epilepsy, so we’re looking for a trip with plenty of activities, excursions, and really good food to make it feel worth the money. I’d love recommendations for all inclusive resorts that are still a lot of fun for sober travelers! In terms of location I am open to anywhere but would like to go somewhere new (West coast of MX, Tulum, Costa Rica).
We just got back from an amazing week at the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Residences in Cabo.
This is actually the 2nd time I stayed there. The first was back in 2009, so I expected the 2 visits would seem very different.
Upon arrival we did pay to upgrade into a 1 bedroom suite in Phase 1 which is above the adult pool, with incredible views of the Sea of Cortez.
It did not disappoint. In fact it was almost too spacious for just 2 of us, but having 2 bathrooms is the best. 🤣
The last 2 AI we stayed at, the food was “ok” so I didn’t expect to be blown away, but WOW! Every meal we had was fantastic. I was too full for desert any night until the last when another couple we met insisted we try the lemon mousse. 🤩
For breakfast we always had the made to order omelette and fresh fruit from the buffet. (With mimosas of course)
The pool service was top notch. Oscar and Miguel in particular took great care of us.
Blend was our dinner server at 2 different restaurants, and he was a delight!
Yes, this place shuts down early, definitely not a party resort.
The lobby bar is open until 10pm, but it was rare we saw many people there past 9pm.
There is a free shuttle to their sister resort at the Marina Fiesta if you need a little more nightlife. :)
The grounds are beautiful, the view can’t be beat.
Edit- Whoops - forgot a pic of the actual ocean view from our room! Ha! Sorry but it was endless!
I know this sub is for AI travellers, and acknowledge that this isn’t a question about AI’s, but one for resort people that have also done more open travel in Mexico. We’ve done the resort thing twice now. We really want to try renting our own place, having access to bars and restaraunts, and experiencing a little more of Mexico than an AI has to offer. Have you ever done something other than AI? If so, what area would you suggest in Mexico that gives us a little more culture and freedom, without necessarily taking the hardcore travellers plunge. We’d still be looking for somewhere relatively safe, with beach access and dining/bars/nightlife to relax and recoup, but trying a little more on our own, and not having so much built in cost for housekeeping, food and drinks. Looking for areas and also specific accommodation recs if you have them.
Just got back from a week at Moon Palace The Grand with my wife and 4-year-old son. We had very similar experiences as the person who left this recent review: https://www.reddit.com/r/AllInclusiveResorts/comments/1tck5l0/honest_review_of_the_grand_moon_palace/
Last year we stayed at Excellence Playa Majures so that's my reference point when describing our trip to Moon Palace The Grand.
Positives of Moon Palace The Grand:
-The waterpark is really good. There are three sliding areas - small one for toddlers (probably ideal for kids 2-5), medium-sized one for kids in the middle (ideal for ages 4-15), and a large one for teens and adults. We spent a lot of time on the middle one which had three moderate slides and adults are allowed on the slides. My son loved it. We didn't try the large slide area. The poolside servers were fantastic. We went to the waterpark every day.
-Indoor play area was great too. Located in the middle of the waterpark. There's a play structure, arcades, an escape room, a mirror maze, bumper cars, and a "sky trail" (my son was barely tall enough - 40" - to go on this with a chaperone (i.e., me) and he had a blast). They served terrible looking food (pizza, hotdogs) that my son loved. The kids club is upstairs. We didn't use it.
-The shows were really good. Of the ones we saw, I would rank them:
Glow Show
Ages of Rock
Magician
Clown Show
Michael Jackson tribute
Fire show (I'd avoid this one altogether - very repetitive)
We were disappointed that there was no Luche Libre (wrestling) show the week we were there.
-Dinner restaurants were excellent. Each one has a signature cocktail list, lots of food variety and all the dishes I got were tasty, and the service was very good (one exception noted below). We went to Jade (Asian) twice. Also great were JC Steakhouse, Tavola (Italian), Casa Mia (Mexican), and Habibi (Lebanese). The Circus was a fun dining experience for our son. The breakfast buffets were fine. Lunch restaurants were generally fine. Room service food was hit and miss.
-Ninth Pin bowling alley was great as a sports bar which allowed us to watch NHL games. The bartenders were fantastic.
-Wired Lounge was filled with fun games to play. However, there's a section at the back where teens were simply playing online games like they would at home and it was a bit of a grim scene. It's loud in there.
-I went golfing and the course was tremendous. It's a Jack Nicklaus designed course with 3 nine-hole courses and on the day I went we were playing The Jungle and The Dunes. Immaculate fairways and greens. Lots of bars throughout the course for free drinks and food. If you're a high handicap like me, bring lots of balls otherwise you'll be paying exorbitant prices for balls. You will lose many. And if you go into the woods to look for a ball there are snakes and other critters. I saw a massive snake in the woods and I never went back in. There are also signs warning of crocodiles in the water hazards but I didn't see any.
-My wife went to the spa and said it was the best spa experience of her life (and she's gone to many). It was very expensive but she said it was worth it. She got a facial treatment but she was in there for hours enjoying the hydrotherapy and whatnot.
-The resort app is really handy and easy to use.
Negatives of Moon Palace The Grand:
-The goddamn timeshare aspect. You can call them "memberships" or whatever but let's call a spade a spade. These are timeshares. A huge part of their business appears to be selling timeshares to guests. Right after you check in, they send you to someone at a desk who will explain their convoluted "resort credit" system and try to get you to commit to attending a timeshare presentation the next day in exchange for more resort credits with fewer restrictions or something like that. These resort credits are basically like Itchy and Scratchy money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-6IzkDyl9Q
I knew going in that I would never sit through a timeshare presentation with my 4-year-old in tow during my vacation so I refused. He tried a few tactics on me to get me to agree but I held firm and he didn't press it too much. Throughout the week we saw hundreds of people getting carted to the building where they do the presentations. So lots of people do it and if you can squeeze them for a bunch of credits that you'll use, then maybe it's worth it. Definitely not for me.
Then when we checked out, a guy literally followed me into the bathroom to try to get me to agree to some kind of offer to stay at the resort again at a reduced rate (of course, you had to commit to something right away). I had to tell him to leave me alone. Super obnoxious. The whole resort would be way better without the timeshare nonsense hovering over everything.
-The resort is borderline too large. They have carts that can drive you around with a whole "bus system" with different routes throughout the resort but I saw a lot of people waiting around at the stations for carts to arrive. We ended up walking to most places and it wasn't too bad. But if you have mobility issues, I would avoid this resort.
-The beach isn't great. The water is murky and there are a lot of waves. We walked along it once and didn't go back. There weren't many people sitting on the beach.
-Housekeeping was unreliable. First couple of days they didn't come and we had to call to get someone to make up our room. They were better after that. We got room service one night and the dirty dishes were left there for two days. There was a giant cockroach in our room that hid in my wife's shoe. She stepped on it. It was lowkey hilarious (to me) but she's still talking about it.
-The resort credits are fairly confusing. That's probably by design. We got "$500 resort credits" but you can only use something like $165 credits on the spa and all the spa services are approximately $165 more expensive than they'd be anywhere else (you see what they did there?). You also have to pay 16% on all credits used. For example, my wife's facial treatment was like $325 USD. She used $165 credits, paid 16% on that ($26), and then paid $325 - $165 = $160, so $186 out of pocket for the service. I used most of the rest of our credits for golf. Green fees were $310 each and I had to rent clubs for $90. I used $310 in credits for the green fee but paid 16% tax ($310*0.16 = $50) and then $90 on the clubs = $140 out of pocket for the round. TBF, both were were worth the out-of-pocket expenses. They could just price these things reasonably to begin with instead of using credits.
-Random things are overpriced. They charge $50 for bowling and gift shop items were outrageously expensive (e.g., $12 for a bag of chips). Bowling should be free and included in the "all inclusive" part of the resort.
-We went to Los Tacos for lunch one day and the experience was miserable. We were seated by the pool and nobody took our orders for about 10 minutes. After we ordered we sat there for another 40 minutes before I had to go ask the manager where our food was. He didn't seem to know where our server went. Someone else came out and plopped our food on the table without saying a word. A maintenance guy was blasting a leaf blower nearby. It's unfortunate because the tacos were amazing.
-Long wait times for certain things. For example, the International Buffet in the morning got crazy busy after 9:30 am. Their process for seating people is wildly inefficient. The cafe was also busy and had very long wait times.
-We had a swim-up suite and the swim-up part was not as nice as our swim-up suite last year at Playa Majures. We didn't use it as much because of that.
-The wifi was patchy, especially in our room (building 89).
Conclusion
Overall, despite the negatives, we had a great time at this resort. We like to try different places, so we'd be unlikely to go back. However, I would tentatively recommend this resort to families.
Looking into resorts for a family vacation next year. Thinking april just due to price. Went to Dreams Playa mujueres last year and loved it ( pools, beach -altought it was windy and we couldnt swim our week), food, etc) want to try something new but similar. I really like Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana- loove the asthetic, pools, slides, and beach but it is out of our price range. comfortable with ~12000. Family of 5 ( kids ages are 4,6,9) from Toronto. any sugestions for coparable resorts or tricks for getting a better price ( curently seeing 15000-16000 ish when searching).
Me and my gf (24yrs old) are looking for an all inclusive resort in another country. I’ve been to the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico, & Curacao. (Before we met)
It’s her first trip out of the country and we are flying out of Atlanta so preferably somewhere that a flight isn’t $1,000 lol. (I.e. Bali)
She found one in the Dominican Republic I posted it in the photo but I’m not sure if that’s our best option. It’ll be the 2nd week of July so any suggestions/recommendations are appreciated
hey fam—anyone looking at Jamaica for early-ish next year? I know there are tons of resorts still undergoing renovations post-Melissa, and a few new ones in the thick of construction (looking at you, Unico 👀)
just wanted to know if anyone‘s anticipating re-opening specials later this year, or if we’re booking ASAP under the assumption these resorts will open as scheduled? I like to book my vacations as early as possible, but I’m also hoping to see some of the completed renovations and maybe snag a re-opening rate. any guidance helps, thanks!
Hey guys, I’ve spent the last couple days researching all inclusive resorts in Mexico, specifically Cancun, and I’ve narrowed my search down to these two properties. I’ve been to Riu Palace Costa Mujeres before but it was over 6 years ago and I honestly cannot recall how good or bad the experience was. I remember the food being very good but now I’m reading reviews that have me thinking maybe it’s gone downhill since my last visit.
I’m planning on going in a couple days to either property with 3 adults and one teen (myself, my mother, my fiancé and my sister who is 16 years old). Both my mother and sister have never been on an all inclusive vacation (actually any vacation ever for that matter) and so I’m really trying to ensure they truly enjoy themselves without breaking the bank.
If you have better recommendations in the price range of these hotels (currently about $1600/$1700 Canadian per person for 7 days), please feel free to let me know.
Thank you!
I am potentially taking a new job and told myself I wanted a full week of just being waited on at an all inclusive (probably Mexico but open to suggestions) but with short notice my husband can't come and neither can any of my best girlfriends. I have travelled solo for work in the past as well as done a few short trips to the San Juan Islands in Washington by myself....but a full week for pleasure travel alone is new to me.
Has anyone recently done an all-inclusive resort alone? Did it get boring or lonely? I feel like I'd love it for the first 3 days or so but worried I'll be lonely or bored after that. I don't mind having a few drinks by myself but wouldn't get crazy alone for sure. I'm thinking I'd mostly just read and relax and eat good food and maybe do one or two expeditions like a boat trip or whatever if those are offered by the hotel. I otherwise wouldn't leave the resort. I was recently at an Excellence resort in the Cancun area and it was lovely and felt safe but was definitely all couples or friend pairs.
So basically two questions:
First timer here! I'm going to sound picky, but I feel I should since its my first time heading to Cancun and I want it to be great for the wife and I. We are looking to mix our vibes up and stay where we have the option to chill or stay busy. Deciding between Cancun or Isla Mujeres.
We will be going the 2nd week of July 06-11th
(I know. I know. NOT peak season, but this is the cards we're dealt with here.)
We are late 30s/very early 40s people, but we don't have the 10pm, lights-out, time to go to bed type of attitude. We're pretty lively at times depending on our surrounding. Here is what we are looking for in not any particular order.
- Great restaurants/food.
- The flexibility to relax when we want while also occasionally get a little turnt when we choose.
- Good lively scene with people around us.
- Don't want to be in bed by 11. Looking for a place that has a good club or live bar.
- A lively place rather than JUST quiet.
- A place particularly where there isn't as much sargassum; realize I know it's peak season for it, but maybe there is a place where it isn't so bad.
- great dinner options.
- A nice view.
- Take advantage of the chill and relaxing amenities it may have as well.
- Relax on the beach.
Budget for flight and hotel package- anywhere between 3k-4k for the both of us.
I plan on booking and upscaling my room wherever we choose. I know this sounds pretty dam picky, but hey, maybe I can strike somewhere good!
Thank you!
Hi all!
Me and my friend are looking to book for an adult only all-inclusive in September. We stopped on two resorts and cannot choose so i'd like some input
TRS Coral from Sept 6th to Sept 13th, basic room garden view, overall cost for the both of us (including plane and private transport) is $4600
Serenade all suite (adult only side), from Sept 19th to Sept 26th, swim up room, overall cost for the both of us (including plane and private transport) is $4200
We don't want a party resort, we want to chill and relax. I'll be leaving my kids at home so I'm hesitant to go to Serenade because it is shared hotel with families if I understand correctly where as TRS is adult only but you have acces to other hotel that are family friendly. But that swim up room is tempting
Have someone ever been to both of them? Which one did you like better? Pros and cons for each resort is welcome!
Thank you
Has anyone brought marijuana to a resort? Or is that forbidden?
We are a Canadian couple in our mid 30s who wish to travel for the first time to Cancun for for our anniversary and would love some updated info/advice from this sub. We would be flying out of Toronto tentatively between 1st June to 8th June which is what our work time off entails. Our budget is around 4000cad (~3000 USD) for 4 nights/5 days incl. of flights and have narrowed it down to Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya and Excellence Riviera Maya as they are both around the same cost. We're just looking to have some good food and drinks and want to relax by the pool and beach, probably play some pickleball etc. Entertainment/night life isn't a priority neither are excursions or water sports, etc. Also wondering if upgrading to Preferred club/Excellence club is worth it at this time?! If there is another AI resort that matches upto these, please let us know, we're looking to book this by tomorrow, thanks!