Hola amigos y amigas!
My vacation in Cancun is doubling as my Layover of the Month for May as I spent most of the month on a variety of “fun” trips. I had the pleasure of discovering country #30, Mexico, among other trips to Orlando, NYC, Paris, and Madrid. Between work and fun (and 25 flights), I flew through 17 cities, I spent 90+ hours flying, and I spent the night in 10 different cities.
I posted awhile ago about the difference between being a traveler versus being a tourist, and Mexico was definitely a tourist trip for me. I went to Cancun with my boyfriend to celebrate our anniversary since neither of us had been to Mexico before! We bounced around a couple ideas for what we wanted (Airbnb vs hotel vs resort) and we ended up choosing to stay at the Grand Oasis Cancun.
The Grand Oasis Cancun has 3 different tiers of reservations. We booked “The Pyramid” (top tier) as it made our stay all-inclusive. I had never stayed in an “all-inclusive” so I was interested to see what exactly was included. Let me break it down by section:
Food (la comida). Drinks (las bebidas). Entertainment (el entretenimiento).
La Comida:
Unlimited access to 22 of 22 restaurants on the property.
6 of the 22 restaurants are exclusive to “Pyramid” guests (my favorite being the gourmet breakfast buffet).
Food types range from Tex-Mex, to sushi, to steak, to pizza/pasta.
There’s even an app to check out restaurant menus and opening/closing times!
Las Bebidas:
Unlimited access to 20 of 23 bars on the property.
6 of the 23 bars are exclusive to “Pyramid” guests.
The mixed drinks seemed watered down, but I didn’t mind since I needed to hydrate properly anyways. 😉
El entretenimiento:
Daily events at the beach club (foam party, contests, color festival, etc), a volleyball court on the actual beach, and multiple pool areas.
Cabaret shows, a family-friendly circus performance, an on-site casino…
They gave us a weekly events calendar upon arrival, so we could plan our visit accordingly. We wanted to do a day trip to Tulum, but we decided to stay at the resort as there was so much to do!
There are excursions (kayaking, for example) that we could have booked (some included, some not). And I believe with 5+ nights booking, Grand Oasis Cancun gives guests a free one-day car rental!
So here are what I deem as the “pros” of staying in an all-inclusive:
Exclusive access to certain restaurants (breakfast buffet) with little to no wait
Upgraded room with private balcony overlooking the ocean
Mini bar in fridge is stocked every 2 days with water, soda, and beer
A diverse variety of food that allowed us to eat what we wanted each day
The only money we spent on the resort was for sunscreen in the gift shop
Exclusive priority seating at events, like the circus performance
More activities offered than we were able to do
Worry-free vacation (no questioning if certain areas, events, restaurants were “included” or not)
And here is my “cons” list from my experience:
Transportation to/from the airport was NOT included in any tier of reservation offered by the resort. It ended up costing us almost $100 USD for roundtrip transportation…
Wait times of up to 30 minutes for our favorite restaurant that served all 3 tiers of reservations
We didn’t know about the exclusive beach club for “Pyramid” guests so we stuck to the crowded general beach club
Certain restaurants/bars were only open for short periods of time, so at times we had to walk 10-15 minutes across the resort to get something to eat/drink
Some other random observations…
The resort was very clean! The rooms, the public spaces, the restaurants, etc. I was very impressed with that.
There was visible security all throughout the resort. The entire compound also has a secured entrance. And since the mixed drinks were mostly watered down, I never saw any aggressive drunk people running around.
We were surprised to only see a few other Americans during our stay. It was mainly Canadians, Europeans, or Latinos from other countries.
And for those that don’t speak Spanish, the staff does speak English! 😉 My Spanish is a little rusty, but the staff seemed to appreciate my efforts.
On a scale of 1-10, I give Grand Oasis Cancun a 10! I really can’t recommend this resort enough. As with any new destination, I was nervous how the staff would treat me and my boyfriend. But they were extremely friendly and professional. Marco in the VIP check-in office was especially helpful! When he saw we were a couple, he offered to change our room to have one king-sized bed, instead of the original reservation with two queen-sized beds. It’s the little things like that that made me feel at ease in a new environment.
I genuinely hope to return to Grand Oasis Cancun. In the mean time, I’ll be saving up my money for future all-inclusive experiences, and I’ll be sure to report back on wherever those end up being. 😉 As always, sending you all my best from 30,000 feet.
– Paul