This post is a long time coming *insert giant eye roll*, especially given that it happened over three months ago! It’s embarrassing to be honest, but I still wanted to share because we had the absolute best time with our friends, and it made for such a memorable trip.
This was our fourth time we’ve gone to Mexico! We’ve gone every year since 2014, when Aria was a mere 7 months old because it’s a direct 2 hour flight from Austin to Cancun! It’s hard to beat honestly!! Nonetheless, we stayed at Paradisus Playa del Carmen La Esmerelda, and the kids absolutely loved it. After staying at four different resorts, I think we’ve honed in on what we need out of resorts in order for it to be more of a vacation than just a trip, if you know what I mean! Because traveling with kids isn’t always a vacation.
Nonetheless, I think Aria and Rishi ask at least twice a week to go back to Mexico! Yes, still!! They remember it so vividly and it’s fun to talk about it and share the experiences we had together. Even though it’s no easy task to travel with little ones in tow, I honestly love it. I also highly recommend it. A lot of people always tell me that the kids won’t remember, but my response is always, “I will!”. I want to create memories with them, even if it takes lots of effort, tears at the airport and the plane, and the stress of packing for tiny humans. #diaperstakeupsomuchspace I’ve learned so much from traveling with them, and what kind of patience it actually requires, and through that I’ve actually grown! Plus, hearing their little stories about what all they remember makes it worth it! Plus, they get so excited when we start talking about our next vacations!
Anyway…back to the actual resort…there were definitely a couple of cons, like the food wasn’t the absolute best given we’ve had some better food at other resorts like the one we stayed at last year which you can read about here, but the positives definitely make me want to go back there!
PROS:
- The rooms are G I A N T. We are still in the phase where the kids can’t really sleep in the same room with us, or with each other for the most part. If they did, we’d end up going to sleep when they did at 8 and get zero alone time which defeats the point of a vacation for us. We were able to have a room to ourselves that had a door. Also, we were able to get to our swim up area without going into the living room, which is where Aria slept on a giant pull out bed. (You can see this in the video above, which really helps you understand the layout of our room.) And, we put Rishi in the dining area in the crib they supplied us, which made them far apart enough that they wouldn’t wake each other up! We could stay up late since the kids passed out everyday around 8/8:30 PM from playing all day, and then we could watch TV or just swim around in our swim up area and have the monitor with us!
- The pools are giant, and there are a few you can choose from! The kids’ areas are truly thought through, and made for lots of different ages! Plus, there’s quite a bit of space in the pools so it doesn’t feel super crowded, which I can attest to since we were there over memorial weekend!
- They have a daycare service where you can drop your kids off for a little bit if you’re looking to have a quick date night alone!
- Poolside lunch which was AMAZING. I’m talking like full on steak, guac, nachos, burgers, fresh fruit and veggies, all right next to the pool! Which is great given that minutes into playing in the water, the kids immediately ask for food. Which, I should also note that there is also a pool side restaurant which was helpful in case we wanted different food than what was being offered poolside, or if the kids got hungry and lunch hadn’t started yet.
- The entire resort is well maintained, manicured, and kept pristine all around! It was actually a very clean resort in my opinion.
- We aren’t huge fans of super quiet resorts that don’t have anything going on. After all, we are traveling with our kids! Last year’s resort was definitely too quiet! This one though…Lots of fun activities and music happening during the daytime. They also make an effort to do something for the kids too! Like foam parties, pirate shows, giant inflatable slides into the pool, etc! You will definitely not be bored!
CONS:
- The food was subpar at best. Buffets were available but options weren’t amazing.
- There’s this weird ambiance about how there is an up-charge for lots of stuff. At the restaurants, they would bring us a tablet that had the good wines, etc. Lots of random moments, where you feel like it isn’t really an all-inclusive given how often they want to charge you for extra stuff.
- Room service is an extra $5 every time you order, which yes, in the grand scheme of things isn’t much, but everywhere else we’ve ever stayed, it’s always been included.
- The beach is a public beach, and definitely not the prettiest out of all the beaches we’ve seen in Mexico. Mucky water for the most part and tons of seaweed. And it’s quite the trek from the resort all the way out to the beach…wasn’t a huge fan of that. Loved the beach last year at Riviera Maya instead. That’s been the best one by far.
And now for some pics from this amazing vacation!! I can’t wait to start planning the next one!!
It was a B L A S T. I’m pretty sure I left 5 lbs heavier after! HAHA. We are already talking about whether or not one we will do one next summer, and if so, which resort we’re gonna try! Any recommendations??? Leave them in the comments please!!
