Day 1 - from YYZ to CUN ๐ฒ๐ฝ
April 9 in Mexico โ
๐ 26 ยฐC
We had a 3pm flight, so thankfully we didn’t need to wake up too early. I had a nice hardy breakfast before heading to my friend’s place. Her dad was going to drive us to the airport to meet our two other friends there. One was already waiting at the airport. We got there at about 10:30, checked in quite smoothly and headed towards the lounge (which was the main reason why we arrived to the airport so early). We got into the lounge and it was soooo nice! We filled ourselves with food and left at about 1:30 so we could head towards our gate to prepare for boarding. We started boarding at about 2:30pm. We all sat quite close to each other, 2 were in front and the other 2 were just in the row behind! It was a 4hr flight to Cancún airport! We arrived in good time, just before 6pm Cancun time (here is 1 hour behind Toronto). Unfortunately, they were quite slow with the luggage… we waited over an hour before our luggage came out on the carousel. Thankfully all of our checked bags made it to Cancun with us! We left the airport and looked for our shuttle bus, we found it and headed towards our hotel. Thankfully we chose a hotel not too far from the airport, so it was only a 25 min ride! Unfortunately it was pretty late when we arrived and checked into the hotel, so a lot of the good dinner restaurants were full. We ended up getting our 2 rooms (we were both next to each other) and headed towards the dinner buffet. We could see the pool and walked around a bit, it was beautiful grounds! We ate at 9pm so a lot of the fresh foods were taken, but it was still so delish! Maybe because we hadn’t eaten since 12pm LOL! I had lots of fish and some carnita! ๐ After stuffing ourselves, we were all pooped! So we went back to our rooms and completely knocked out! ๐ดRead more
Day 2 - Relaxing on the beach ๐๏ธ
April 10 in Mexico โ
โ๏ธ 27 ยฐC
Today was an absolutely beautiful day so we decided to go to the beach to set up our stuff! We woke up early so we could get first dibs on the breakfast buffet! It was great since everything was so fresh when we arrived and sat down! Once we were full of food, we went back to our rooms to quickly change into our bathing suits to tan and relax. We got to the beach, only to realize a lot of seats were already taken. Turns out many people reserve spots by 8am by putting towels (even though you’re not supposed to do this) or their own personal items on the chairs. Nobody will touch them if they have their stuff on it already. We had to walk quite a while along the beach front to get an empty spot. We snagged 4 chairs and settled there for the morning! It was nice, we also got some drinks for ourselves to sip on while relaxing. The beach is nice, though there is A LOT of seaweed around, so it keeps washing onto the shore and it smells very strong of seawater. It also brings lots of bugs flying around the drying seaweed. Thankfully the staff collect the seaweed by a machine every so often. We did notice that at midday, the sun is excruciatingly hot, so we were all trying to huddle and hide under the umbrella, though it’s hard for 4 people to do that LOL! ๐
Lunchtime came around, so we packed our stuff and went to one of the restaurants. We got nachos to share, then I got a pork quesadilla! It was quite good, though I wish it had some sort of sauce I could dip it in.
After lunch, we dropped our stuff off at another spot in the beach and went for a walk. I see there are a lot of animals roaming around. I saw an Agouti for the first time! It looks like a skinner capybara! There are also wild iguana, cats and raccoons! I also saw a banana tree! It had so many bananas on there I didn’t even know it looked like that! ๐
After we went back to our spot and relaxed for a few more hours. Then we left to change for dinner.
At this hotel, there are about 4-5 nice restaurants that need booking ahead of time. They also are a bit nicer, so we have to dress up a bit. We didn’t know how the system worked until we asked the front desk this day, so by the time we checked in the afternoon, everything was full. We knew from that day on, we had to book right at 9:30 before the 10am reservations open! ๐
So that evening we just went to the buffet for dinner. It was still quite yum since that evening was “Italian” theme, so they featured some Italian dishes as well as typical Mexican foods. I was very full after my meal and dessert.
There’s also a cute ice cream shop on the resort grounds, so we had dessert round 2! Super refreshing!
At 9pm, they had a circus show at the stage that evening, so we went to watch! It was fun, but more of an acrobatic show than a circus.
By the end, we were so tired we couldn’t keep our eyes open, so we headed back to our rooms for the night! ๐คRead more
Day 3 - Pool & BBQ day ๐
April 11 in Mexico โ
โ๏ธ 26 ยฐC
Today the ocean waves were pretty big and choppy, so we decided to save seats near the pool. Unfortunately a lot of good spots were taken when we arrived. We managed to snag a spot, not ideal since it’d be in the sun for part of the day, but at least we got a seat. It’s almost like a war trying to fight for seats here at the resort LOL ๐ we got our breakfast and went back to our sun chairs to relax for the day. We went to swim in the pool today, which was pretty nice! There were lots of families and children around, so it was pretty chaotic, but nice!
Just before 10am, we went to the lobby to try to see if the staff could help us book a reservation for one of the restaurants on the resort. We wanted to try the Mexican cuisine one. They were super helpful and booked it for us! We were so excited to try it out!
We went back to our spot where were approached by one of the workers at the hotel, I forget his name, but he seems to run the evens going on at the hotel. He asked us what our favourite genre of music is so he can tell the dj to play that music for the upcoming lunch event. We told him we love 2010’s pop/dance music and it was great! The DJ himself came to greet us, his name is Gabriel and he was super nice! We learned that there was a BBQ lunch event for the residents of the resort! We were starving so we decided to eat a small meal at the buffet before going to the bbq! We ate quickly and saw people were already lining up! We went to the line and there were options for chicken wings, ribs, pulled pork, grilled corn, peppers and pineapple. They also served Mac & cheese, brioche bread and pretzels as a side! It was so cool and very tasty! ๐
We chilled by the pool for a few more hours, then left to go to our rooms to change for dinner! We saw more wild animals on the way to and from our rooms!
We came back around 6pm for our dinner reservation and we were seated. The Mexican decor was so pretty inside! All tables were served nachos with guacamole and a side of habanero sauce. Even the servers were like “only try that sauce if you really love spice!” I just dipped a corner of my chip into it and holyyyy I almost died LOL ๐ฅต They were not joking when they said it was spicy! But these nachos and guacamole were the best I’ve ever had! I wish I could pack some to bring home to snack on forever… ๐ฅ We didn’t realize they came with nachos for each table so we all ordered starters. I tried something called a Traditional Dip Sikil Pak, which is a dip made from ground pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, cilantro and citrus. It was quite good, and had a nutty taste to it! For my main, I ordered Surf & Turf tacos, which had grilled octopus with beef filet. It was pretty good, though I couldn’t really tell the difference between the beef and the octopus. I think they cooked the octopus too much, I love a good chewy octopus. ๐ The flavours were still good! Overall a solid 7/10 restaurant, mostly because of the delicious nachos and guac!
Like last night, we went to grab dessert at the ice cream shop, which was good! ๐จ
That evening, there was a fire show, which was alright, it smelled a lot of gasoline and the winds were so strong that night so the fire dances were quickly dissipated. ๐
There was also a white party that we wanted to check out that evening, but it was a bit disappointing… not many people showed up, but the DJ was good! We only stayed for a bit before leaving to go sleep for the night. ๐คRead more
Day 4 - Pool, spa and Italian night ๐งโโ๏ธ
April 12 in Mexico โ
๐ 26 ยฐC
Today was quite cloudy so we stayed by the pool again! Our friends usually get up early, so they got us good spots by the pool! Breakfast buffet wasn’t bad as usual. We booked another restaurant for dinner today, we planned to try the Italian restaurant that evening!
One of our friends went on a bike tour with a staff from the hotel. She said it was really nice and got to visit the nearby city. She brought us back a hibiscus flower! We relaxed a bit more before going for lunch! They had squid ceviche today, which was delish! Their fruit was also so yummy! ๐
We were walking around the grounds and I got a cool shot of the whole pool. ๐โ๏ธ
Yesterday, we were approached by some of the hotel spa staff members asking if we were interested in getting a massage there. We initially wanted to check out the spa before we found out the prices were $175USD for 50mins massage. We immediately passed, but they told us they had a deal where we can get 80mins massage for $120USD (~$160CAD) and free access to their hydrotherapies section (sauna, jacuzzi and pool). The main sale was that they stated as Canadians, we can claim the massage through our insurance. I don’t know if thats true, I guess we’ll see! We thought about it and ultimately said yes! We were all quite excited! ๐
Today we had our massage at 4pm, so we went to the spa around 2:45 to use their hydrotherapies before the massage. It was a nice pool area, and they had a dry and steam sauna room! We stayed for the hour before going to meet our masseuses. I got a girl named Michelle. We were told to take all our clothes off, which is unusual because normally we at least keep our underwear on, but oh well! I was on my own and Michelle came back for the massage. It was very relaxing initially, and I definitely almost fell asleep several times, except midway through I could feel her kind of slacking…? Like she did my back quite well, but she really focused on my feet at one point for like 10 mins each, which was great, but also she wasn’t doing much, just kinda rubbing it with oils. Oh well, the massage itself was fine! We got our receipts after paying and left to go change for our dinner.
We rested a bit before dinner, then went to the Italian restaurant. All tables got bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It wasn’t bad! We also all ordered an appetizer. I tried their Caesar salad! It was alright, I think I can make it better haha! For main dish, I got a seafood linguine pasta! Since I was in Mexico, I wanted to try as much seafood as I could! The seafood was fine, but the pasta was not… I’m not sure if they left the pasta cooking in the sauce too long, but there was barely any sauce and the sauce itself was too salty. I felt bad but I really couldn’t finish the pasta, I ate all the seafood though… ๐ญ I got a cannoli for dessert, which was good. Overall, I’d say this restaurant was a 4/10 ๐. My friend also got the same as me and felt the same way, so we were a bit hungry and ended up going to the buffet LOL! I got some more fruits to fill myself up!
It was pretty late when we left and we wanted to check out the silent party happening on the terrace tonight! It was my first one and I’ve always wanted to go to one! Basically we all sign in to get a set of headphones. There are 3 DJ’s, each assigned a different colour. All headphones have a switch on the side that allows the person to switch between each DJ! They’re all playing their own mixes and genres! The green DJ was playing a lot of throwback songs. It was funny because a lot of the older people there had it on the green channel! The red DJ was our friend Gabriel! He was playing a lot of Latin songs! The blue DJ was playing a mix of edm/pop dance music! It was so fun dancing around and you can switch the channels as you like! It’s also hilarious when you take the headphones off and just watch everyone because they’re all dancing to their own beats and singing off-tune! ๐คฃ all the DJ’s were also so amazing we kept switching and couldn’t stay on one channel for long! I had so much fun! ๐คฉ
Some of my friends definitely had fun since they ordered some drinks as well! ๐
Gabriel left a bit early because he was set to DJ down near the adult pool. We joined him shortly after, as did some of the others who were at the silent party. It was almost like a second party! His sets were so fun and hype, we didn’t want to leave because he was playing banger after banger! ๐ฏโ๏ธ๐ฏโ๏ธ
We didn’t party too hard, two of us were sober and brought the other two to our rooms safe and sound! ๐Read more
Day 5-Chill beach and teppanyaki ๐
April 13 in Mexico โ
โ
25 ยฐC
Today was a slow day for all of us after a wild night before haha! A few of the friends were a little bit hungover, and we let the breakfast server know. He was so sweet in bringing all of us a Mexican hangover drink! It’s called Suero. He told us it’s made with mineral water, lime juice mixed with salt. It’s almost like a lime flavoured Gatorade! It definitely helped a bit.
Two of the friends also went on an excursion off the resort to the nearby city today. Another friend and myself stayed on the resort to just chill on the beach. It was a slow but nice and relaxing day.
In the evening, we got a reservation at the teppanyaki restaurant on the resort at 5pm. Wish there was a later time slot, but this was the only time available by the time we booked. Our two other friends came back at 4:30, just in time, but they were definitely tired haha! We made it to our reservation and were seated with another Mexican family.
They gave us all a few appetizers. The first was a plate of “sushi”. I put this in quotes because I wouldn’t call it real sushi since there was cream cheese in some of them… it was alright. Then we were given a ramen appetizer. The noodles weren’t real ramen though, definitely some other sort of noodle. Then the show began. The chef came and started cooking. He was an ok performer. The teppanyaki chefs always put on a small show for the customers they’re serving. They did a few tricks but I feel like the chefs in Toronto would do a bit better haha ๐
Let’s just say I wasn’t that impressed. They made all of us fried rice, with chicken, beef and shrimp skewers. It tasted fine but I felt like it was all quite salty… the last was dessert, we got matcha cheesecake, but you couldn’t taste the matcha, only sweet cheesecake. Overall, I’d rate this restaurant a 4/10 ๐ Not great…
One of the friends was quite tired so they headed back to the room to rest. The 3 of us stayed and got ice cream (as usual). There was bingo going on and we joined for fun. Who would’ve thought that joining bingo would be so fun and entertaining and competitive?! We loved it!!
After the bingo, there was a karaoke session happening, where people could submit a random song and they could go on stage to sing in front of everyone. I was very close to submitting a song but I was too shy ๐
The evening ended with us checking out the evening DJ (our friend Gabriel was dj-ing) so it was nice! Shortly after, we left to go sleep!Read more
TravelerThe resort looks soooo cozy!! Omg that sounds like a busy travel day though!! Glad you were able to enjoy yummy food at the lounge and resort though!