Oh Cancun, what it took to get to you! Well, it all started a bit rough with a couple of long layovers, and just an all around long travel experience just to get there. Then once we arrived in Mexico, we discovered, our luggage decided to stay back in the states! WHAT! So with all that said, it made it even more rough. But, let me tell you; I didn’t think about our luggages once I saw how amazingly beautiful that water was once we were headed to our hotel. OK, I did think about the luggage once we checked in, and the first thing we all wanted to do was immediately jump into the ocean, but I mean c’mon, look at the pictures! Breathtaking right? So, it was really hard for me to be upset with all this beauty surrounding me. Plus, we made it work until our luggage arrived. Oh, and let me be the first to say, NO THESE PICTURES AREN’T PHOTOSHOPPED OR EDITED! This is straight from my iPhone! Yeah, talk about jaw dropping!
Our hotel that we stayed in was an all-inclusive hotel called, Occidental Tucancun (my full review on the hotel will be listed at the bottom of the blog).
Day 2 in Cancun: We finally got our luggages, and I never felt more relieved! Let’s just say, I can FINALLY start my vacation!
Our hotel was located right behind a mall (literally), which we did have to check out of course. We found a pretty decent size grocery store located inside of the mall. I do recommend finding a grocery store or a Wal-Mart, and buying water there or any other items/essentials. We bought tons of water bottles that would last us throughout the week, for when we did our excursions. Our hotel did offer water bottles, however, we were limited to how many we could get at a time, which was a big bummer. However, if you are planning on leaving sun tan lotion and other summer essentials at home to either eliminate space or whatever the case may be, I would suggest not to do that; unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for it at your destination. Lotions here are EXPENSIVE! I’m sure we all know why. So, if you can try to squeeze those in, do so!
Other than visiting the mall, we spent the rest of our day swimming, relaxing, jamming to some music, and doing what we do best, eating and drinking!
Day 3 in Cancun: Our first excursion, XCARET! This was an excursion that was on my bucket list, and now I can cross that off. So, if you ever pinned or googled “XCaret” let me just tell you it’s everything you dreamed of! This place was huge, and we only covered about a 3rd of this place. So, YES, we’ll be back! I was worried that there wouldn’t be anything or much to do for my 4 year old, but there was plenty enough for her to do there. We first swam through Rivera Maya. There were 2 paths you could take, the shorter swim which was about 15-20 mins, and then the long path, which was about 45 mins. We did take the long route to get the full experience. The water there was a bit chilly, so we did experience the kids complaining almost the whole time! In fact, my husband and youngest had to get out of the river about a fourth of the way in.
We, also did snorkeling, which was awesome (that was our first time snorkeling), and we swam in little pools, which was connected directly to the ocean.
Pros:
- beautiful views and plenty of activities to do for all ages
- plenty of restaurants and buffets to choose from (most included in your park fee)
- all staff was very kind and helpful
- very clean, including restrooms
- locker rooms are provided and clean
Cons:
- We ate at one of the buffets there for dinner, which overlooked the ocean, the food was not that great. Definitely trying another buffet when going back again *I’ve heard the buffet in the cave was pretty good (not sure of the name of it though)*
- mosquitos **BRING MOSQUITO SPRAY**
- not everything you do there is all included. You will have to pay additional to swim with the dolphins, swim with the sting rays, etc.
- can get crowded
Day 4 in Cancun: One simple word, relax! Yup, and that’s what we did most of the day. The kids went swimming, and we of course went back at it with drinking and eating. We did step out of the hotel for a bit and went to downtown Cancun, which I had some very sweet and tasteful mangos. Downtown Cancun is where we did our souvenir shopping. There are so many stores to choose from and all I can say is bargain, bargain, bargain!
Day 5 in Cancun: XPLOR!!! OMG, if you love adrenaline, zip lining, driving through a cave, swimming in a cave, and logging through a cave, then this is the place for you! I can’t tell you enough how much fun we all had, and yes; my 4 year old was able to do just about everything we did, even zip line! Just a recommendation if you go here, do all the zip lines first!!! We did not, since we have kids, and of course did not want them to be cranky as they wait with the grandparents lol, but it is something I highly suggest doing first. In fact, we were even told by our tour bus instructor to do the zip lines first, and did we listen, NOPE! By the time we did everything else but the zip lines, the lines for the zip lines were over an hour-long, but we did squeeze it in with minutes to spare from the park closing.
The park does close around 5, I believe. But, once the park closes everyone heads to the pyramid, where they put on a show. The show was about an 1 1/2, but was very good! Recommendation- if you haven’t done any souvenir shopping throughout the day and waiting until you leave (like me); I would suggest you leave the show a couple mins before it’s about to be over, so that way you don’t get stuck in the huge crowd and the lines get crazy long with people trying to check out.
All in all, I will definitely return to XPlor again, without a doubt!
Pros:
- very clean and professional
- all employees/staff were very kind
- lockers provided and clean
- restrooms were always kept clean
- not really in the sun most of the time here (mostly under the cave); unless going to the kids area or doing the zip lines
- a lot of things to do there for toddlers to enjoy
Cons:
- mosquitos, mosquitos, mosquitos- There were so much more mosquitos here then there was in XCaret. Definitely need to bring a lot of spray!!
- kids adventure course and area was in the middle of the jungle with surrounding trees, which means tons of mosquitos. This is where we mostly got bit at.
- food was ok; only 1 buffet option available to eat at.
Day 6 in Cancun: Well, unfortunately, it didn’t turn out so great towards the end of our trip. I woke up with a fever and both of my kids had a horrible upset stomach (I mean the whole nine yards). I’m not sure if it was the food, the ice, or one of the excursions that we went on, but it also affected my other family members as well and including my husband. However, even with the kids upset stomach, they so badly wanted to swim one last time before leaving the following day. So, they did and luckily there was no accidents in the pool!
We ended our night thinking maybe “American” food, Chili’s, would make everyone feel a little better; nope we were wrong!
Day 7 in Cancun: Time to head back home! This time there were no headaches coming back home, thank goodness because, the last thing I needed was to have another headache on my hands, especially with me not feeling good and then having a husband and kids with bubble guts!
Hotel Review:
We did love our stay at the hotel. The staff was very kind and always helpful. However, the hotel was a bit small, which we pretty much expected when we booked the hotel. They did have a couple of swimming pools and 1 adult pool, but did not have a kids area. Although, they still had a blast! The food at the restaurants were ok. Come day 5 of being there, we were all sick of the food. It seemed that they offered pretty much the same food every day. Honestly, the best food there was the “snack” area which was located by the bar. They would put out tacos, quesadillas, etc., and throughout the day and night we would always find ourselves eating there.
Other than the food at this hotel, everything else was very pleasant! The only reason I would not come back is because of the food and because a lot of the family got sick, which we did find out that they all had the “travelers flu”.
Trip Review:
All in all, our trip was amazing! We had a great time with family and friends. I would definitely go back again! It was beautiful, relaxing, fun, and the people and staff wherever we went, were great! Xplor and Xcaret are what made our trip memorable!
All with love,
Christine
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