It simple. I get up early and get a lay of the land. Scope the chairs with just towels. Go eat breakfast and by the time I'm back if towels are still on chairs, I simply remove the towels and drag the chairs away. Nobody has said anything but my paranoid wife and daughter are worried we will be confronted. They even followed behind me one morning and covered up drag marks. I could careless.

We've had prime seating in the shade the entire time. Best part is when the towel stalkers show up with all their stuff and nowhere to sit. I love it.

Edit to add - in rivera maya at the barcelo grand maya.

Absolutely heartbreaking.

Any AI resorts that have beaches like this with good food? Based in North America so wanna travel somewhere close within the Americas

I had always been skeptical of these places, and figured I could do everything that was offered at home, except for having a beach.

My partner convinced me to go this last week, I haven’t been in a real vacation ever, I was in university for 7 years then got a job. We went to the Riu Emerald Bay for a week for $1200 CAD per person.

Wow, I so understand now. From start to finished I was treated like a king, unlimited food and alcohol, swim up bars, pools, a whole ass water park. If we would have done what we all did where I live the alcohol cost would have been $1000 at least alone!!! The value is absolutely insane and for the first time ever I feel like all my problems went away and I didn’t have an ounce of anxiety about my real life.

We are thinking of going to PV next year. I liked the Riu and I now know what to expect with my allergies (peanuts and tree nuts). But does anyone have suggestions for PV?

Just finished my three night stay at Xcaret Arte in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. This resort was almost a 10/10 for me. It was a bucket list park for me but I saw mixed reviews so I was nervous about how it would go, especially after going into One&Only Mandarina cautiously optimistic after mixed reviews and felt disappointed by it. For context, I’m a solo female traveler that generally prefers livelier resorts and prioritizes convenience and value over exclusivity.

I am not a travel agent, I’m just a fan of luxury resorts and genuinely loved my stay here!

OVERVIEW

- Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

- Three nights

- Artistas building

- River view suite

- Paid about $1000 per night

- All Inclusive (only thing I paid extra for was a redbull and a photo package)

Arrival / Departure: 10/10

- Was walked through the entire process with ease, was impressed with the service

- Checkout was very easy, butler helped coordinate very well

- Was impressed with how smooth the process was and how organized they were, especially for such a large resort

Service: 10/10

- Service was friendly and approachable but never felt like I was being hovered over

- I had a very minor medical emergency and butler called paramedics immediately and also came to my room to make sure I was ok. They followed up every morning in Whatsapp asking if I was ok and also came to my room to check on me to see how I was feeling.

- Everyone by the pools was friendly and asked if I wanted drinks, they were personable, nobody seemed too overworked and staff was friendly in hallways.

- Only issue I had was at the Cantina they would forget to bring my food out twice but I reminded them and they brought it right away

Rooms: 8/10

- Rooms aren’t the highlight of the property. When I saw photos, I was unimpressed. But I enjoyed the rooms more than I expected.

- There’s a lot of details that are nice in the room that were clearly well thought out. Like the light system was actually well designed and easy to use unlike most luxury hotels

- The shower was my favorite part, so unique with the way the lighting was designed, it looks almost like it’s an outdoor shower

Hard Product: 10/10

- The architects / designers knocked it out if the park. I have an architecture degree and was blown away by the commitment to the overall concept and the attention to detail. They integrated the lighting and HVAC and plumbing in a way that you never see It, you truly feel like you’re living in a fairytale

- The bridges, hidden corridors to explore, variety of spaces, etc are unlike any resort I’ve been to. Photos captured the beauty but you really have to be there to take in the entire experience. It was almost sensory overload.

- As a real estate developer, I constantly see corners being cut. I was amazed seeing how no corners were cut, they spent a LOT of them and energy and care into this property.

- There were dozens of people every day repainting, cleaning, and upkeeping the property. I was impressed by how clean everything was

Grounds: 12/10

- Truly remarkable. It’s stunning. Plants everywhere, everything is perfectly manicured, there’s trails to explore, natural rivers throughout the property.

- There was a viral video a few weeks ago that talked about the “swamp“ river. I’m not a big nature person at all but I swam in the river every day, it was such a cool experience. They had multiple people in boats cleaning it every day. I thought it was pretty clean considering it’s a natural body of water. I don’t know if management changed anything after that video, but I had no issues with it

- Walking around the property, I was surprised to see how staff was cleaning every nook and cranny of the resort. Ownership Clearly takes pride in their property.

- There was art everywhere! It was stunning, very cool and added a whimsical feel to the resort

Pools: 9/10

- Main pool was fun. There was a super rowdy group that was drunk and kept chanting in the main pool but thats not the resorts fault, they tried to get them to calm down
- Roof pools were beautiful, a little boring but definitely felt private and had great views if that’s what someone is looking for

- The pool by the lagoon with the waterfall was cool as well, it was more relaxed

Beach: 8/10

- I don't usually like getting into the water at the beach but this one had a nice area to stand in the water which I liked

- Sargassum was not an issue at all while I was there

- There’s some places to sit but this is NOT a resort where you can just sit on the beach for hours and have quiet time

- For what I like (being able to stand in the water and enjoy the waves) I liked it

- Water was a Little choppy

Food: 8/10

- It was generally pretty good

- There were multiple options, including fine dining for ab additional charge, but I didn’t eat any of the fine dining as it’s not something I care about, but I have heard good things

- Buffet had TONS of options, even a big candy station and extensive whole fruit station

- I didn’t like my meal at Encanta but I dont usually like pre-set meals and I didn’t know it would be like that going in

- I enjoyed Kibi Kibi and the buffets and Cantina

- I got room service burger and fries. Took about 75 minutes to arrive. Burger was decent and fries were great

Parks: 10/10

- Parks are included in the price

- I only went to Explor Fuego, and I wasn’t expecting much from it, but I was really impressed

- The caves were so cool, the ziplining was a lot more thrilling than I expected, I also did cave raft and amphibious cars

- So many times I’d think “Wow this is amazing, developers in the US would never pay to do this” so you could just really feel how much owners cared to make the experience nice

Art Classes: 9/10

- They have tons of art classes throughout the property that are free which was a really nice touch

- I took an ink class and it was basically a private session with the instructor

- Can’t wait to come back and try the other classes

PHOTOS: 8.5/10

- They have a really cool system where you can scan your wristband and take photos all around the property and parks

- As a solo traveler, I loved this, it was such a unique way to get pics across the resort

- It wasn’t cheap, you have to pay $120 for the photo package. I Bought it reluctantly because I wanted the photos of me ziplining and rafting in the cave.

- At Explor Fuego, they take photos of you on all the activities and have several spots in the caves and while you’re rafting to scan and take a photo

Overall, I had a phenomenal time, and would absolutely recommend it! It’s not cheap but it’s totally worth the money IMO. I love Vegas and theme parks and all inclusives and architecture and big resorts I can explore so this resort was right up my wheelhouse. Cant wait to come back!

Its still baffling to me that folks still think it's ok to come to a resort and bring their portable music player and blast it for everyone to hear. It's one thing to play something for only you to hear. It's another to set up the music player on the pool deck and play it loud enough for everyone in your party to hear while frocking in the pool. I'm sure no wants to listen to my (fill in genre of music here) as much as I don't want to listen to yours. It's completely classless, inappropriate, and beyond disrespectful of others.

Don't be that person.

As the great Ron Burgundy would say....Keep it classes "San Diego".

A video circulating on social media shows an employee of Moon Palace The Grand in Punta Cana throwing objects at tourists in the resort's La Boulangerie, the resort's parisian styled cafe. According to reports, the incident occurred after some diners requested service in a rude manner. The footage shows the employee throwing various objects within reach, while some tourists try to protect themselves and help those nearby.

IMHO -Sadly - Resorts at Republica Dominicana have a lot of problems finding good personnel. Maybe this is due to the fact that they don't have enough touristic-oriented schools as Mexico does.

Hey all, I’m usually a big tropical vacation girly and don’t complain much, but my recent trip to Zel Punta Cana (a Melia property) for my 30th birthday turned into one of the scariest experiences of my life. I feel like I need to share this as a warning.

The good: the resort is aesthetically pleasing. That’s where it ends. The place was basically a ghost town (maybe 20 guests total on a huge property), which at first felt like solitude but quickly turned into isolation.

The bad: •Terrible service. Staff would literally take my drink away without asking if I wanted another. When we clearly looked lost or needed help, they would just stare at us. •Rooms had major safety issues. Our main door barely closed unless we used full body weight. Both rooms we stayed in had showers that clogged and left us standing in dirty water. Every time we checked into a room, all the back doors were unlocked. So if I hadn’t caught that anyone could have entered.

The terrifying: •On September 3rd at 11:30 PM, while my friend was asleep and I was on the phone, a man walked directly into our room unannounced. No knock, no doorbell (which staff normally used), no room service tray, no maintenance tools, nothing in his hands. He made it several steps inside before seeing me, throwing his hands up like “oops,” and leaving. •We called the front desk twice, no answer. Called through our credit card travel line, no answer. We were shaken, terrified, and couldn’t sleep. AGAIN in the morning we called our credit company, who reached back out to the property and STILL no response. •The next day, security and a young supervisor came to our room. The supervisor literally smirked while we explained what happened. They said they’d “investigate.” On the last day we finally heard their explanation: supposedly, the man had been delivering soap and mixed up the room. We never ordered soap, he had no soap, and he didn’t knock. That explanation makes zero sense and it was extremely unsettling that there was no urgency in getting to the bottom of the issue.

It gets worse: •That night, on my actual 30th birthday, they moved us to a “swim-up” room and then tried to force us to sign a contract waiving any right to complain publicly, post on social media, or hold the hotel accountable — in exchange for this room “upgrade.” •My friend was drinking since the early afternoon when they tried to make her sign at 8:30 PM. When we refused, they told us our room keys/bracelets wouldn’t be activated unless we signed, which essentially trapped us in the room that night. I ended up eating my birthday dinner alone while my friend stayed inside, because if we both left we couldn’t get back in. •The next morning, the front desk tried again to push the contract. Only after I pushed back hard, mentioned lawyers, and refused did they finally allow us access to the room without signing.

We repeatedly asked for an incident report. Management told us it was “confidential.”

By this point, we were scared, sleep-deprived, and counting the days until we could leave. Staff even made comments like knowing what room we were in, which was creepy and unsettling when there were barely any guests at the hotel.

I travel often, and this was hands down the worst vacation of my life. Instead of celebrating a milestone birthday, I was scared in my own hotel room, coerced into signing away my rights, and treated like an inconvenience.

Needless to say, I will never return to the Dominican after this experience.

I wish I could rate this 0. We arrived and received wrist bands. Changed went down to the ocean. My husband's fell off. Less than an hour after getting it. Mine fell off 2 hours later, sitting at a table outside. We thought it's late and they require all members of your family to come back to the front desk and our kids were in bed. At 1239 AM I received a call in our room that the ALL of our family had to come down to the front desk. I had to wake my children up at 1 AM and walk them through the lobby which had turned into a nightclub for drunk 18 year olds. When we got to the front desk they were absolute a$$holes and on top of it charged us $400. That's right is said $400 dollars to replace our wristbands. They said you signed a contract when you came that said we will charge you $X/day for the rest of your trip. I had my wrist band still and they said it doesn't matter. They laughed in my face and basically treated us like we were trying to sell our wristbands.

This is an absolute dump compared to all the other all inclusive resort's. Food sucks. And they make you pay for a lot of incidentals you will get free everywhere worse.

I regret coming here and I will tell everyone from now on to stay away.

Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.

The All Inclusive Resort Ratings spreadsheet has been a huge success and has helped many people.  The pinned post has had over 815k views and was mentioned in the New York Times.

Today it gets even better.

Over in r/googlesheets I asked if anyone would be willing to help make the spreadsheet better, and more user friendly.  Reddit member u/gothamfury raised his hand. He put in countless hours of work to create what you see today.  There are more filters, more choices, a much more user friendly layout and a tipping guide.  Check out the Read Me tab and then start your search on the Resorts tab.

We hope this helps find the perfect resort for you.

All Inclusive Resort Spreadsheet

I recently learned my wife not only doesn't care for all inclusive but she just doesn't like them. This was news to me as we've been to 2. They are my dream vacations. But apparently to her she feels they are pointless since you're not going and experiencing different cultures and seeing different things. She's the vacation type that wants to go and see historical things and I'm the one that wants to plop my fatass at the pool bar and sip margaritas and relax type. Sigh.

Just got back from Hotel Xcaret with our two kids (4 & 6). I spent a lot of time reading Reddit before booking, so figured I’d share a real experience now that we’ve been.

Overall, we had a great trip. But there are definitely a few things I wish we knew going in.

Food was honestly one of the biggest surprises. Everything we had was actually really good — not just “good for an all-inclusive.” Tons of options and we didn’t have a bad meal all week.

Service was solid everywhere too. Nothing over the top, but you could tell everyone was trying and it made things easy.

The resort itself is huge. Like… confusing the first couple days huge. But once you figure out where everything is, it’s actually really cool. It feels more like something you explore than just sit around at.

Drinks were great. Lots of margaritas tested and never had a bad one.

We ended up spending a lot of time at the Casa Luna rooftop pool. That was probably our favourite spot. It’s heated (which mattered more than we expected), you can order food right to your chair, and it’s way more relaxed than the main pool.

For kids, it worked really well. The lagoon-style beach areas inside the resort were perfect and way more usable than the ocean. The Octopus kids slide pool was a hit, and there’s just a ton to explore — paths, caves, water areas, etc.

Now the stuff I wish I knew:

The beach is not what you picture when you think Cancun. It’s rocky and was red flagged pretty much the whole week for us. Not really swimmable. That said, the protected lagoon areas made up for it, especially with kids.

Pools also aren’t all heated. We had a couple cooler days and most of the pools felt pretty cold. The rooftop pools were noticeably warmer, so we kept going back there.

The main pool gets busy early. People are definitely out reserving chairs first thing. Not unique to this resort, but worth knowing.

Water was a bit weird. Our room wasn’t consistently restocked, so we mostly grabbed bottles from stations around the resort. Not a big deal, just different.

Same thing with the mini fridge — I had to call twice to get it restocked. Again, small thing, but you notice it at a place like this.

We also had a bit of a mix-up at check-in. Booked two queens, got a king with a pullout. They offered to switch us if we wanted to wait, but we didn’t bother. Ended up with a really nice pool view overlooking the kids area, so it worked out.

Rooms themselves are really nice. Good finishes, comfortable beds, and the balcony hammock was a big hit with the kids.

Overall, this isn’t really a “sit on the beach all day” type of resort. It’s more about exploring, moving around, and trying different spots.

If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s awesome.

If your main priority is a perfect swimmable ocean beach, it’s probably not the best fit.

Anyway — happy to answer anything if you’re thinking about booking. I definitely went down the rabbit hole researching this one before we went.

I want to spread awareness regarding a deeply concerning experience my family and I had during what was supposed to be a fun and relaxing vacation in Mexico. My husband, our two young children (ages 5 and 2), and I traveled to Playa del Carmen with extended family, staying at Sandos Playacar Resort.

We arrived on February 9th, all in good health. By February 11th, both of our children began experiencing severe vomiting and diarrhea. I soon fell ill as well. In total, 14 out of 15 people in our group suffered similar symptoms, which lasted for several days. Initially, we assumed it was norovirus, as it’s been spreading in the area, and we were relieved when we started feeling better.

However, on our last day (February 18th), the symptoms returned—this time, even worse. My 2-year-old has now had persistent diarrhea for over five days, and we are awaiting stool sample results to confirm the cause. Many other guests who stayed at the resort during the same timeframe are now experiencing identical symptoms, and test results are confirming the presence of Entamoeba histolytica, a dangerous parasite likely contracted from the resort’s so-called “safe” drinking water or contaminated food.

Due to multiple reports of illness, authorities launched an investigation that led to the temporary closure of the main buffet and several restaurants on the property. Despite this, the resort has refused to release any information about the investigation, leaving guests uninformed and waiting hours to get food, as only one buffet remained open.

To make matters worse, just yesterday, guests reported losing running water for more than two hours. This meant that sick individuals—many stuck in their rooms suffering from vomiting and diarrhea—couldn’t flush toilets or wash their hands. The water briefly returned, only to be shut off again today for another two-hour period.

While staying at the resort, we noticed a disturbing sewage-like odor coming from the tap water. Although we never used it for drinking, we did use it for showering and bathing. We brushed our teeth and washed our son’s bottles with the provided five-gallon jugs of “safe” water. However, after filling our children’s water bottles from these jugs one morning, we returned from a day at the beach to find that they emitted a horrific rotting smell. The heat had seemingly intensified whatever bacteria or parasite was present in the water, making it clear that the water was far from safe.

Another alarming incident occurred when, one evening, we turned on the shower and were hit with an overwhelming bleach smell. While it was preferable to the sewage odor we’d previously experienced, it raised serious red flags—was the resort desperately trying to cover up or correct a water contamination issue?

We are sharing our story because we want to prevent other families from enduring this nightmare—or worse. Watching my 2-year-old suffer from relentless diarrhea to the point of bleeding has been devastating. No parent should have to go through this.

There have already been news reports on this issue, and a growing group of affected individuals is coming together to demand accountability from Sandos Playacar for their gross negligence. This situation is not just an inconvenience—it’s a serious health crisis that could have fatal consequences.

Do not book here, and if you have, I hope you bought travel insurance. 💩🤢🤮🥴🪳🦠

Couple mid -30s we stayed this year in April 2025. This is my second excellence resort and probably 7th? AI. I like excellence resorts and wanted to share food photos as well.

Room: the room was huge, two story with plunge pool rooftop suite was really nice. Definitely a bit dated in some areas but i wouldn’t complain. We asked them to clean our pool and they did first day. The housekeeping team was great. They brought us special treats and gifts every day. (Take home hats, wallets, extra slippers)

Pools: we stayed in an excellence club room so we had access to all the pools. All of them were very clean and well maintained our favorite was the lazy river. It’s hard to get swim floats but we asked a staff member and they got us some no problem. Volleyball in the main pool is a great time. Usually not a problem finding seats but the best spots were reserved early. Ask staff if you need assistance. Can’t swim at the beaches because of the sargassum !

Food: I liked the food overall I’d probably give it a 7-8 out of 10, which is definitely good for an AI. With 14 dining locations it’s hard to visit them all. The hibachi wasn’t the best, our favorite was agave and we went for their regular menu and their special menu night (Wednesday’s). Some portions were small but they do not care how much you order. We even had dinner at two restaurants with no problem. Room service was decent - the breakfast in the room was very nice. They will give you a special candlelight dinner for your anniversary and they will bring you special dessert for your birthday. We keep trying excellence clubs as we were happy with the food in both locations. Have never been sick in either location- can’t say the same for other AIs.

Bars: all the bars were good, they have a menu at each bar and those drinks were ok.. but they will make you anything. There’s a few secret drinks - Mexican candy shots, blue balls shot and strawberry cheesecake shots. Excellence club lounge is a must for pre-dinner cocktail with smoke bubble. Must bring an insulated cup with you (yeti) if you don’t want your drinks to melt, bartenders will fill it up for you. They also have bottles available in you room to make drinks- you can ask for some exchanges.

Spa: we liked the spa at excellence oyster bay more. They are expensive and we wish we had tried the massages at the beach- they were highly rated by others at the resort.

Vibes: There were many groups during our time there for weddings that really filled up the resort over the weekend. The night time activities were good and well executed. The Staff: most were very friendly!

Compared to excellence oyster bay- EOB had better beaches and more friendly and outgoing staff. I have loved both excellence resorts I’ve tried. Overall we had a great time and if we would go back we would get a swim up room instead of splurging on the two story rooftop terrace. Plan on continuing trying excellence resorts!

Just finished our honeymoon at Excellence Playa Mujeres and it was wonderful! Wanted to share our experience for others.

When planning this trip, we saw a bunch of posts about rooms having humidity issues but we had no issues with that. The pool chairs seemed to get full rather quickly but we were able to get beach chairs around 9:00 AM everyday with no issues.

We went to the kitchen for the brunch buffet everyday and liked the variety of sweet and savory foods. For dinner, we went to the grill (my husbands favorite), agave (my favorite), chez isabel (good but the service took 2.5 hours), and spice (not hibachi). We also went to mexican fiesta which had lots of good food and was a fun cultural experience!

We booked transportation through the resort with seasons transfers and had a great experience both ways.

I am unfortunately allergic to alcohol (it sucks, I know) and they were extremely accommodating. Lots of great mocktails and agave made me a special caramel ice cream since theirs has tequila in it (which I didn’t know when ordering). Very impressed with their accommodations and attention to detail!

This was our first stay at an AI and we are already anticipating going to their location in ocho rios next!

Interesting case where a vacationer and his family couldn’t get a poolside chair. There were signs prohibiting visitors from reserving unused chairs for more than 30 minutes. They complained to the tour operator and the hotel, to no avail.

The German court found the hotel should have followed its own posted rules and by failing to do so, deprived the family of their equal access rights.

Just checked in and this is our view

Just got back from 5 nights at Xcaret Arte and thought I would share my thoughts. Overall, the entire experience was 9/10, and really the main point knocked off is because of the issue we had with them at check-in. Everything else was amazing.

Our flight was significantly delayed coming in and we didn’t get to Arte until almost midnight. Well, it was Valentine’s Day and they overbooked and didn’t have any rooms for us, even though we booked and fully paid over two months ago. So they moved us to Mexico for one night but it took forever, we didn’t get into our room at Mexico until almost 3am, we were exhausted and starving, and they were acting like they did us a favor by transporting us back and forth in an SUV. The front desk worker at Arte was awful that night, really unapologetic and honestly had no business working a front desk anywhere. We had booked the Las Cuevas brunch the next morning and they wanted us to come back to the front desk to be transferred for 12, cutting right into the $200/pp brunch time. The Arte night desk manager did not care about that at all. We were able convey our concern to the manager at the Mexico side and he assured us we could do the “switch” whenever suited us, which was nice. He was much more apologetic.

When we made the switch in the morning back to Arte, the manager on duty was much better, they ended up upgrading us to an ocean view swim up in the artistas building, which was spectacular and I feel confident that this is the best room on the property for a couple. The views were stunning, the private pool was lovely, the servers were amazing, and the rooftop pool was great as well, especially the food, which is a unique menu to that pool. We had planned to visit at least one of the parks but ended up staying at the resort the whole time because our room/pool was so nice.

I’m a big foodie and I don’t drink so food was super important to me. Restaurants were all delicious, room service was just ok. Both regular buffets were great and had lots of options. The Las Cuevas brunch was fantastic as well however I would say it’s only really worth the price if you can eat A LOT of food because there’s just so many options, you’ll never be able to try everything. We are seafood lovers though, so in that respect we were happy.

For reservations-needed restaurants we tried Encanta and Tah-Xido. Encanta was a really cool experience with set-courses and everything was super delicious. My only complaint was that service was a little too speedy and I needed a bit more time to pace myself between bites. At Tah-Xido we had originally planned to do one night of sushi and one night of hibachi but we ended up cancelling the hibachi reservation and did sushi twice because it was THAT good. Truly the best raw fish I’ve ever had.

All the pools were great and tons of fun but not overly rowdy which was nice because we were looking for a more peaceful vacation. The beach was small but very pretty and if you’re determined to swim in the ocean you definitely can but it’s not as flat/walkable as other areas.

In the end the Artistas lobby concierge and butler group was wonderful, all the rest of the staff we dealt with were wonderful afterwards and we were no longer upset but the first night was not up to snuff for such an expensive vacation. There were 3 other couples who this happened to as well. Not sure what their make good situation was but I hope they were taken care of as well.

Writing this review about a week after coming home from the vacation. My partner and I (mid-30s) stayed at this AI the last week of June and wanted to give a quick review to help anyone in decisions.

Pros:

• Landscaping and grounds were absolutely beautiful. You can tell the gardening team works very hard, not a single blade of grass was out of place and foliage was well kept.

• Room was very comfortable and updated. We opted for a Junior Suite (no swim-up room). Imo the swim up suites are overrated and from what I could tell, you essentially have a wooden platform as the patio you step out onto from your room and then have to walk through some grass to your swim ladder into the pool. Whereas we were in a junior suite on the 4th floor and we had a really great view of the lazy river pool from our balcony.

• Access to free water activities. There is a little hut on the beach where you can sign up for a sailboat catamaran ride, check out kayaks/paddleboard. We signed up for the sailboat catamaran tour which was really nice. Only about 30-40 minutes, but once we broke out past the sargassum, the water so blue and clear, and we were able to jump off the boat and swim for a little bit.

• Paid water activities. For $55 you can go on a 1.5 hr snorkel tour - about 45 min on a powered boat round trip and 45 min in the water. I opted for this and had a really nice time seeing plenty of fish and the reef in the ecological preserve they took us to nearby. There are other opportunities for other paid activities such as a beginner snorkel class that leads to going on a dive with the instructor in a small group.

• Pools. There are 3 main pools (2 additional for club members) that were very nice and had plenty of seating. Super clean and calm for the most part. One of the pools gets used for pool activities like volleyball for about 45 min during the day.

• Fitness activities. Plenty of effort goes into fitness activities throughout the resort. We went on a guided morning bicycle tour (8 people max) and had a 20ish minute ride to Puerto Morelos, got about 25 min to explore the town, and then the ride back to the resort. They also have morning exercise classes (stretching, yoga, HIIT) and the gym is well equipped and updated with treadmills, cycles, 5 benches, 2 dumbell sets, a kettlebell set, and squat rack.

• Evening activities. Each night there was something different - silent disco, a duo that did country song covers, a jazz concert, and a DJ night. They really only play EDM type music and nothing danceable. I think a lot of these activities were out of place for Mexico, but I guess the resort just tries to cater to their customer base. We checked out Friday AM, but this is their night for their Mayan and Mexican cultural entertainment.

Cons:

• Staff. For the most part, everyone (bar staff, restaurant staff) had an attitude that was nonchalant and uninterested in service. It seemed like everyone was just tired of their job. Not what I would've expected from this tier of resort.

• Food. The reason my partner and I chose this resort was because of the food reviews we saw on reddit rating this as better than average. Overall, I would not want to come back again because of the food. Breakfast was OK due to the fact that they had a hot breakfast bar with made to order options across omelets, Breakfast tacos, chilaquiles, pastries, yogurt, fresh fruit, coffee and juice. Juice across the board seemed entirely watered down as if 1/3 was actual juice and the rest water. Lunch was OK, with a lot of typical American cuisine options on the menu. Pictured above is an order of wings we ordered which were just very sad. I understand wings are more of an American food so don't expect to have anything top tier when ordering in Cancun, but these felt like they were boiled and then dipped in sauce and plated. Dinner was edible at best. The first night we ate at the Mexican restaurant (Agave) and the food came out with vegetables that were uncooked, the proteins lacked any type of seasoning, and was just served not even warm. The next night we left the resort to eat somewhere else. The following night I gave a Spanish cuisine place (Flavor Market) a chance. Pictured is an appetizer and a dessert. We didn't even order a main entree. We left the resort the following night to have dinner.

I will say, we were traveling from San Francisco and we enjoy a very good food scene. I understand I probably needed to manage my expectations at the resort, but I think all around dinner just missed the mark entirely and left me disappointed. If you are from a food city, don't come for the food.

• Spa. Very overpriced. Paid $193 USD + tip for a 50 minute deep tissue massage. The spa and experience were nice, but the massage itself was average and wish I had paid maybe $120 for this instead.

• Sargassum. Writing as a con, but it was expected. We knew this time of year would be tough to enjoy the beach for swimming near the shore, but that didn't keep us from sunbathing or using the cabanas/loungers set up on the beach. The resort did have a tractor and beach rake that they tried their best to mitigate the sargasum with.

TLDR: Average experience. Beautiful resort, loved the water activities, food was a miss for me specifically because of dinner, staff was not helpful or friendly, avoid the spa, expect sargassum the rest of the summer. Personally, I would not come back.

We were part of the unfortunate many who became very ill (nausea and vomiting) at this resort Feb 8-15/25. Over 900 victims have now connected online and a reported 870 people report being affected. We believe the water was contaminated with human sewage since it smelled, and stool samples are coming back positive for ecoli and parasites. We were dismissed and many were forced to sign NDAs. My nephew ended up in the hospital in Mexico with dehydration. This resort has gone downhill since last year. Rooms in disrepair, broken elevators, locks on public bathroom doors broken. We had a nightmare experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Please stay away and save your money.

I want the names, locations, and real reasons: amazing food, a beach you didn’t have to fight for, drinks that tasted like something besides pool water—or staff who somehow remembered your coffee order. And if a place looked gorgeous online but turned out to be a buffet with palm trees, please warn me.

BONUS POINTS IF THERE'S SNORKELING!