r/Xcaret

What are the best Hyatt owned all-inclusive beach resorts for couples in Mexico, Caribbean, or Central America to visit in early November… and why?

We would like somewhere with a sandy, swimmable beach (at least sandy and not rocky or sargassum covered); great personalized, attentive service; and various activities/entertainment for adults at a resort that feels luxurious for a good value?

We want to stay under $5-6k (excluding airfare) for 5-6 nights in November. Any special promos/deals I should know about running now or possible upcoming promos to look out for?

What are the best ways/sites to book the resort only (no airfare) for the best deal?

Thanks!

I am here now relaxing on the beach on our last full day of a 6-night stay and I just wanted to pay it forward. It was my husband, myself and our teen/tween daughters (ages 15 and 12), booked thru Costco. I was honestly worried reading all the complaints in here ahead of our trip, but we were really pleasantly surprised. The resort is truly GORGEOUS (one of our only minor gripes is that the signage is not great — we did get lost a few times and it is almost oppressively hot right now, so we were super hot/sweaty/a bit grumpy by the time we got where we were going…but the delicious cocktails more than made up for that and lifted the mood).

Had an amazing time at all the parks (Xel-ha, Xenses and going to Xplor Fuego tonight). Xel-ha is def worth the visit — bus trip is 35-40 mins on a very nice coach bus. Bring reef safe sunscreen if you can, but they will do a swap with you at the park entrance and give you packets of safe sunscreen and you can get yours back when you leave.

Food is delicious, varied and plentiful - even my super picky 12 year old was able to find options that she loved. No one got sick and we drank all the drinks (ask for a Jaguar - they are delicious! The virgin Jaguar was my 15 year old’s go-to drink and I added tequila to mine), We were easily able to get water from the filtered water stations all around the resort and drank the water/ice from the restaurants and bars. We did use the filtered water to brush our teeth to be safe though, and made sure to wash hands/use sanitizer after serving ourselves at the buffet.

Check in was not the nightmare people made it out to be though it did take about 15 minutes of waiting to get our room assignment (we arrived around 11 am, but they held our bags and we changed and got lunch and hit the pool until 3 pm when we could get into our room).

Our overhead lighting went on the fritz but we mentioned to the concierge, they promised to send someone to fix and all was well once we got back to the room later in the day. Room is super spacious and beds are comfy, though the sheets aren’t the softest. They keep your room stocked with delicious snacks and drinks in your mini fridge and surprise you with little candies and treats late in the day.

We don’t typically go to the same place twice on vaca, but my husband just said he’d definitely come back to Xcaret since we didn’t even get to half of what they have to offer.

I think those are the highlights but feel free to AMA!

Hello! I recently treated my parents and brother to Xcaret Mexico and am overall pleased with our stay! I am 22, parents are early 50’s and my brothers are 15 and 17. I got us 2 River View rooms via Costco Travel for 6 nights. This trip took much more planning and brainstorming than our other Cancun trips so after looking back at all the research I did before booking and comparing to our actual experience, the resort exceeded my expectations! I found this surprising as I only read reviews and feedback from the past 3 months to get a better picture and everyone’s experience was pretty 50/50. I can acknowledge that the trip wasn’t 100% perfect, but truly nothing stood out enough to complain about.

Ask me anything!

TLDR:
6 nights in River View room
4 adults, 2 teens
Booked via Costco
Very minor cons, almost negligible
Experience much more positive than expected

Hey all! My wife and I (early 30s) will be staying at Casa de la Playa from this Thursday on. We have never been before and are very excited!

I’ve already sent an email requesting reservations at a few of the on-site restaurants, but we were wondering if there was anything else that was worth reserving in advanced? Maybe some special experiences at the parks?

Also, has anyone tried any of the spa treatments there, and do they tend to book up?

Cheers!

Does Arte Artistas access still grant access to the river slides or has that benefit been removed?

Just got back from Xcaret. We loved the scent at first but after a few days it became too much. They pump this stuff non stop. This stuff sticks to everything & it’s kinda gross when you get home and can still smell it. I use a cpap machine and I can’t get the scent out.

Hubs & I (early 30s) saved up just enough for the wedding and been dreaming about Xcarat Mexico for our honeymoon! I know Arte is more popular but had friends who recently went to the Mexico location and loved it (apparently shorter lines).

I've been looking online for rates and I cant seem to beat 4600 (via travel agent)? Looking to go mid january for 5 days! Vacation is fixed so would be Jan 12-17!

I'm wondering if they go any cheaper during blackfriday week or during the holidays? I also dont understand if I can get the discount for the promotional sales if I book via travel agent?

Hello ignore my grammar , I was looking into staying at this resort next year maybe in March my very main concern is I am afraid of having tampered alcohol (fake alcohol or drugged)I have never ever blacked out with alcohol even when drinking a lot so I would know if somthing like that haponed in mexico so I am scared of that . I keep seeing posts online of people who had tampered alcohol in mexico specifically staying at resorts it’s my main concern and imnnot sure if I should just go to hawaii again because of this fear .. let me know if you guys have had or heard of any instances with this

I’m looking to plan a trip to Xcaret Arte sometime next year with my girlfriend. We enjoyed our time so much that we want to go for a week if possible. After checking the Costco travel site I am seeing the dates I am selecting in mid-May and late June as unavailable. Does Costco not make these dates available this far out or do they truly not have availability? I checked the actual Xcaret booking site and I am able to get prices for the rooms but the same dates show as unavailable on Costco. Anyone have any insight on this or any recommendations to get the best price when booking for next year?

Hello everyone, I’m going to Arte in December and want to try the Sunday brunch. Is the Arte side of the brunch at the restaurant in the cave ? Also if you have done it did you feel like it was worth the money.

I would also like to price it out can someone tell me what it cost you to do it? I heard $150, 170 and 200 for it so I don’t know what’s the most current price

Thanks a bunch

My husband and I spent our honeymoon at Xcaret Arte and all of the parks back in July (8 nights). I can tell you that I was here quite awhile before our trip to see what people were saying about the parks, excursions, food, etc. I will hopefully get around to posting a full review, but I at least want to give one piece of advice.

I think it's great to see what other people enjoyed or didn't like. There are so many differing opinions though that at the end of the day, you just really have to know yourself. Do your research on everything Xcaret has to offer, so you can decide what activities will make the most sense for you. We ranked all of the restaurants and excursions, and only a couple of things matched. That being said, we also went into our trip with a completely open mind, and I think that really helped us to enjoy pretty much everything.

Whether you completely pack your itinerary (like we did) or spend more time enjoying the resorts, you can't really go wrong if you know what you'll enjoy the most.

Is there a person I can ask here about where to buy? I asked a couple of the lifeguards cause I heard sometimes they walk on the beach and sell it but no one knows. I need reliable information or I’ll just drink pina coladas all week.

We just left, we stayed 5 nights. I usually don’t write reviews but feel inclined to due to the amount of reviews I read in the weeks leading up to our trip that had me nervous to go.

We had a wonderful trip, we would definitely recommend staying at XCaret. We are a family of 4 - 2 adults, 11 year old (4’11” and 80 pounds) and 7 year old (4’3” and 58 pounds).

About 30 days out from our trip we got an email that had a link to create reservations for restaurants and the transportation to certain parks. I did email requesting this, they got back to me with in 24 hours. Then about another 24-48 hours we did get the email that seemed to welcome us and provided the wish list again. I emailed because I wasn’t sure based on reviews. I was told by someone we met, that they had two rooms so they were not able to use this online feature.

We were in Casa Vida. It is in Phase 2. While it was a decent walk over to Phase 1, it was not bad. They have signs everywhere directing you to different locations. I never felt like I had no idea where we were going. We used the map in the XCaret Hotels app. Casa Vida is where the family arcade is at (floor 5). Our son loved this and it was a great activity to wind down the day. Our daughter loved the Photo Booth (you can print 3 pictures a day). Housekeeping will turn off your AC daily, the thermostat is by the bed does not look like I expected it. I had to Google where to find it. The slippers, water bottles and bag in the closet are all for you to keep.

We did dinner reservations for 3 of our evenings (Monarca, La Silla, and Tama Mon), if I could go back I would have reservations for 4 nights. You definitely need reservations if you want to get into the places that require reservations. We were able to pick up a no show on another night at La Silla but we had tried a few others before hand with no availability. The other night we didn’t have reservations we went to Cantina and had a short wait. We did Teppanayki at Tama Mon- highly recommend. We loved it. La Silla was great the first night but the 2nd night we went our waiter was not that great so our experience was Meh. Monarca was also good. Our kids loved the buffet for breakfast at Mercado. The wait time there was little to nothing compared to the wait at La Xentral. For lunch we did La Trajenera, it was ok. My kids who usually love seafood, didn’t care for it. The only other day we needed lunch we did Mercado buffet - it was also very good. At the entrance near the buses at La Xentral is a grab and go cooler with salads, yogurt, fruit and veggies. You cannot take food from the restaurants and eat at the pool. You cannot wear swimsuits without coverups into the restaurants. No one got food poisoning like a lot of the reviews claimed.

We did Xenotes, Xplor, and Xenses. We liked all 3 but Xenotes and Xplor were by far our favorites. Both Xenotes and Xplor were all day (9 hours) and had lunch provided. Water shoes are a must for all 3 parks. I’d suggest the water shoes that are more like tennis shoes with supportive bottom.

Xenotes was booked through the website. Our 7 and 11 year olds were able to do everything on this excursion. A snack and lunch were provided. The snack was provided after the 1st cenote and lunch after the 3rd. This was an hour plus of driving each way. I highly recommend going on it, this was my favorite.

The bus to Xplor from Hotel Mexico does not start until 10:40am. The park opens at 9 and fills up quickly. I highly recommend asking the Bellhop (not concierge) to get you a cab to be there right when the park opens at 9. The concierge tried to tell us not to get a cab and that it’d be $80 US (we knew it was a ~5 min drive) which we knew wasn’t true from other reviews. The bellhop gave us the correct price ($17). It’s very clear that the concierge and system as a whole really don’t want you to go early. They told us it was “impossible to walk there” which was untrue. There’s a sidewalk and signs the entire way. That said it’s worth the cab ride and not the 30+ min walk. Xplor wants guests there later so it doesn’t make it a wait immediately for those with day passes. They want to keep both revenue streams going. We got right into the park with no issues at all and the cab driver told us right where to go. This was really easy and the best $20 USD spent. Head straight to the Ziplines and do both courses. The park starts to fill up with non hotel guests and the lines get very long. We hardly had any wait on the Ziplines and were able to head to the other things. We did both Ziplines (14 total) and it took 2.5 hours. We heard the lines could be 4 hours later into the day. To ride solo on most of the lines you have to be 88 pounds. Our kids rode tandem on all of them because both kids were too light to ride alone and much smaller than my husband who would have been too heavy for the kids (they said they would go too fast with him). I recommend wearing shorts over swimsuit bottoms for females, the harness I think would have been uncomfortable if you didn’t have shorts on. The longest wait was the water slide (probably 45 minutes to 1 hour), still worth it. We were able to do all of the activities here. They have a buffer lunch provided and a smoothie/milkshake station. The lunch is actually much better than you’d expect and very kid friendly. We did not stay for the change over to Xplor Fuego, but could have. Hotel guests do not have to leave when the park closes for the change over. Our kids were just tired after being there all day. They provide free lockers as well for all of your stuff. We didn’t take anything with us into the park and left everything including our phones in the locker. We could have brought the phones in the water proof case but didn’t want to carry them around all day. This was probably the kids and my husband’s favorite.

Xenses is a smaller park, 3-4 hours max. We left around 10 and got back around 1:30-2. The first part of the park was a sensory walk through the dark. Both kids had to go with an adult, they would have not made it alone and would have been scared. We then went to the Pueblo/water section. You take the water slide to the bird flight to the salt float river to the mud river and then the rain and sauna. You have to be 66 pounds to do the bird flight, our son was not heavy enough. They do check. So he and my husband waited for us at the end. It was ok, honestly not that thrilling after the Ziplines at Xplor. You can go back through and do any of the parts again. There is a small pool at the end outside for anyone who doesn’t want to go in. I do not think this park is a must see.

Do not feel obligated to buy pictures at any of the parks, you can buy them at the hotel on your TV. 3+ parks is the cheapest (~$350 something USD). They try really hard to get you to buy them at each park, I said no at our first park because honestly I wasn’t planning on it. The kids loved taking pictures any chance they got with their bracelets. I ended up buying pictures from our hotel TV the last night. We bought the 3+ parks. If you buy 3+ package you get all the parks plus hotel for that amount.

They have you leave for the airport 5 hours before your departure. If you don’t want to leave that early you have to sign a waiver. We did leave that early as we weren’t for sure what to expect. Our bus was full so we didn’t have to make any other stops to pick up other guests but that is a possibility. It was an hour plus trip to the hotel from the Cancun airport. There was traffic on the way to the hotel. Our flight arrived Sunday around 1. It seemed to be less than an hour on the way back to the hotel. We left around 10:30 on Friday. This seemed to be too early for us. We were through security and sitting by 12. This gave us 3 hours until we board. If I could go back, I’d probably wait another hour before leaving the hotel.

A lot of reviews I read said they would bug you about a membership or booking your return trip. This was not the case the only time they asked was when we were checking out and he was not pushy at all when I said no. This could be because we booked through a travel agent.

Overall it was a great trip and we would come back!