We visited this resort in Dec 2018 and enjoyed ourselves, so thought of returning and did so Dec 2025.The Reason for our return is the resort is not far from the Cancun airport, about a 1/2 hour drive and overall we had a positive experience.
Transfer: We flew with Air Transat and the transfer from airport to resort went smoothly aside from a couple of people that were "no shows" for the shuttle. So, the driver waited quite some time and finally decided to leave without them. The drive time is very reasonable.
Check in: We arrived by noon and the check in went quickly. Check in time is 3:00 pm and therefore our room wasn't available until that time. The wristband provided is your key to the room. At this point, you can download the App so ala carte meals can be reserved. When reserving ala cartes, log on to the app before 10 AM and have your restaurant picked out; sometimes you may be able to get your reservation slightly before 10, but by 10 AM the app is active. I believe Privilege guests may have some "perks" with arranging ala cartes ahead of time...I don't know too much about that.
Room: Our room was a Daisy Junior Suite Garden View. This is basically on the family side. We were building 15000. We found the location easily accessible to everything. We were on the ground floor and I was happy to see that a proper working lock was on the patio door. Our room had a humidifier, which we turned on a few times and it filled with water quickly. The thermostat for some reason was a bit "wonky" as the first night the temperature dropped to 16 degrees when it was set at 22. We spoke to someone at the front desk in the morning and the thermostat issue was quickly resolved and staff brought an extra blanket that morning. We were typically out of the room by 8 AM and our room was cleaned by 10 AM. So, a very positive review on service.
Loungers/Towels: We had no issues getting a lounger, even by 8 AM and there would still be quite a few left. We did not reserve our spot for hours on end without showing up, although there are guests that do this. Typically, we only left our towel while we went for a bite to eat and come back. I did not see any signage stating that reserving lounges wasn't allowed, but it's common sense to be respectful of other guests. However, there was signage stating that smoking/vaping is not permitted. Generally, guests would either smoke at the beach, outside of the front lobby or somewhere more secluded. There are no towel cards, you simply provide your room number when getting a towel and return it by 4:30 PM and if you want a fresh one for the next day. There are 2 shacks to pick up towels between the pools and beach.
Pool/Beach: There are 4 pools. There's a kids pirate theme pool that offers a snack bar, bar and kiddy lounge chairs. There's a family pool that is central to bar/restaurants and caters to kids and family; shallow with a deeper end. This area tends to be quieter. Then there's the activity pool, which is geared for fun activity, a foam party, swim up bar and it does tend to be louder with music playing. In the El Beso Adult section, there's an adult pool. No children allowed to my knowledge. The pools I believe are not chlorinated, but salt and are very clean. Some spots are showing their age and small tiles are missing. The beach was cleaned regularly with only a little sargassum washing up to shore.
Grounds: The grounds are impeccably maintained. Maintenance crews are out cutting grass, pruning shrubs and cutting down palm leaves/coconuts, picking up garbage, sweeping the grounds around the pool. Bar staff are always picking up empty cups. That said, bar staff do come around for drink orders. There's plenty of wildlife, coatis, iguanas, agoutis, raccoons, lizards, and off behind the buildings there's a fenced area with crocodiles. Plenty of pelicans flying overhead.
Restaurants/Bars/Service: There are several restaurants, however, we only went to a few. I want to stress that IMO, the service in the restaurants we visited was fantastic. The Buffet offers a nice variety of food, but sometimes "hit and miss" depending on your likes and dislikes. One night the roast beef was amazing with the mashed potatoes, etc. and another night the roast beef was really tough. Route 66 is great for a fast food dinner, but again "hit and miss" on meat. We went to the Italian restaurant Ritratto d'Italia 3 times, and each time were pleasantly surprised. Some reviewers have mentioned that the staff is pushy with the wine list, but we didn't find this. We just ordered the house wine. There is also the Blue Moon, Sensai (Japanese), Villa Marina and another Italian (outdoor) restaurant. There's another restaurant for Privilege guests (signage stated only for 14+ and adults). There are bars close to everything and they all offer good service and drinks. The Lobby Bar makes a very decent Caesar. Near the family pool there's the Fresca Bar which offers refreshing smoothies and next to it is an Ice Cream Parlour which is open from 3 PM to 9 PM.
Entertainment: The entertainment stage is outdoors. Pre COVID there was a theatre building. As we're not really "nighthawks", we only saw 3 shows all of which were very professionally done. There was no "pre kids show" with musical chairs, fine by me. The Michael Jackson show, which I thought I'd seen a lifetime of, was very well done. The one thing that we missed was the Lobby Lounge entertainment. They used to have someone playing the baby grand piano with someone singing along. Now the piano sits in the middle of the lobby with no one ever playing it, such a waste. On our last evening, there was a group of school children singing Christmas songs and entertainers dancing. The lobby was beautifully decorated for the season as well.
In conclusion, I'd recommend this resort to solos, couples or families. It's a solid value for your money kind of resort.
