A little note on how this vacation came to be - over a year ago, we were at a Ducks Unlimited banquet that had a silent auction as part of their fundraiser. One of the 'items' was a 5-day, 4-night trip to an all-inclusive in the Caribbean. Aaron had bid on it and won. Since we had to cover the airfare, I wanted to go somewhere that Southwest flies so I could use my companion pass and only have to pay for one flight. We ended up choosing Cancun!
June 8, 2025 // Day 1
We were up bright and early at the ripe ole time of 2:30A. Our flight was set to start boarding at 4:30A, and though we were quite near the airport, I knew we’d have to check a bag and show our passports to get tickets printed and so because of who I am as a person, we still got there over an hour early.
Our first flight held roughly 175 people, but only had 70 set to fly which was awesome as we got our own row. The next flight was also not full, but we were set to have a tight connection, so we sat very near the front and someone snagged our third seat. Luck was in our favor as we landed early, departed on flight #3 late, AND got the row to ourselves again due to it not being a full flight.
I was nervous that I hadn’t gotten any confirmation emails from either our resort or the shuttle. I had sent an email to the shuttle company prior to leaving on flight number three, I was relieved to have a message from them as we landed in Cancun. We went with Amstar, because our hotel recommended it. It was very easy. We just had to find the guys with Amstar shirts and signs and they would give us directions.
The shuttle ride took about 20 minutes and once we got to the resort, it took at least another 10 minutes for us to get checked in, followed by 10 minutes of some coupon lady named Susana trying to sell us on going to one of their partner resorts for a free buffet like we weren't already getting "free" food at our current resort. Then we finally made it to our room in building 10 on the fourth floor. We went up the elevator to get there, only to come to the conclusion that we wouldn't be doing that again! You could fit no more than four people in the elevator, and even that was a squeeze. It also moved very slowly, and we had been told "Oh good, the elevator is working again!" Safe to say we took the stairs up and down from then on. Our butler Sandy came up to meet us and tell us about our room and amenities and then our luggage was delivered. The resort we were staying at was Hyatt Ziva Riviera Maya.
We went for a walk to find food as we had not eaten a proper breakfast or lunch and it was already after three. I wanted tacos so once we tracked down the taco restaurant, we quickly took a seat. Aaron had shrimp tacos and I had fish tacos. OMG they were delicious. I wanted to order more right then and there.
We headed back up to our room to put on our swimsuits with plans to hang out at the swim up bar, only to come back down and realize that it closed at 5 o’clock, a time in which it was now after. Everyone seemed to be going to dinner so we went back up to our room and changed once again.
We ended up taking a walk around the resort and hanging out at a different bar. We decided to do a late dinner at the French restaurant. Actually, we weren’t sure where we were going to eat dinner, we just wandered and then I stopped at what I thought was the Italian restaurant. Turns out it was the French restaurant. Nothing on their menu particularly called out to me (besides dessert), but I ended up ordering the mahi mahi that came with potatoes and carrots. Once it arrived I was ready to dig in, only to find out I do not like mahi-mahi. Thankfully, Aaron ordered chicken cordon bleu so he traded me. I ate about half of that as I was still sort of full from lunch, and what I really wanted was dessert. I had the chocolate fondant heart with coconut ice cream. So yummy. Aaron had a crème brûlée with berries, that also looked delicious.
We headed back up to our room, exhausted from a long travel day. I attempted to get things organized after I showered, but I was so tired. I knew nothing was going to be accomplished. So much for reading before bed! I fell asleep not long after 9 o’clock and slept soundly throughout the night.
June 9, 2025 // Day 2
I woke up at my usual time this morning, and then managed to pull myself out of bed somewhere between 6:30 and 7. Today was suppose to be my sleep in day, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen.
I ended up getting dressed and grabbing a book, then headed downstairs. My intention was to lay on a chair and read, but I ended up wandering around for a bit first. It was already hot and humid, but it was so quiet I wanted to explore.
I did end up reading in a beach chair for an hour or so, and then headed back up to our room to get Aaron and head to breakfast. We decided to try the buffet for breakfast (which was really the only option other than room service). The food was fine, nothing special, just typical buffet food.
After breakfast we went to the pool. Finding chairs was not near as difficult as I was prepared for. We laid out and I read for a bit before the heat became too much (and also the swim up bar opened!) I expected the pool water to feel like bath water since the coolest it gets overnight is 80 degrees but it was pleasantly cool!
At noon we headed back to our room to shower off and change before going to lunch. We decided on the same place we had gone the day before. This time I got mushroom quesadillas. They were delicious, but not filling enough! I decided I would grab a snack in our room as I was ready for a nap!
We ventured out again at dinner time, only to find the Italian restaurant we were hoping to go to was closed for the day. We ended up going to the Mexican restaurant, which was delicious! First we ordered tequila soaked watermelon as an appetizer. Then, I had Cochinita Pibil tacos. This was technically also an appetizer, but I ordered it as my entree. I followed up with churros for dessert!
Then we headed outside and sat by the bar as a guitarist entertained with mostly country music. When he finished, a DJ came out and we went for a walk. I was hoping to go lay in the chairs by the ocean, but then I saw what looked like a very mangy raccoon and said NOPE!
We explored parts of the resort that we hadn’t been to yet. It may have been almost 90 degrees, but with that sea breeze coming in, it didn’t feel anywhere near that.
By now the sun had set and I was ready to wash the sunscreen off. We headed back to the room to shower and settled in for the night.
June 10, 2025 // Day 3
Despite knowing I had a long day ahead of me, I still didn’t sleep in to my alarm. Though to be fair, my alarm wasn’t set until 7.
We were picked up from the resort lobby at 7:55 by a shuttle van that took us to the meeting spot where we boarded a large coach bus for the 2+ hour drive to Chichen Itza to begin the excursion I had booked for the day.
The first place we stopped was a string of shops for a bathroom break and shopping. I bought myself a pair of earrings, a magnet as our souvenir, and a couple of Christmas gifts. We also had delicious freshly made tortillas with salsa. After 45 minutes or so, we boarded back onto the bus and headed to the Mayan ruins.
Our guide, Jesus, took us in and led us around for the first hour. He is half-Mayan himself which I thought was cool. He called our bus crew the “very energetic group.” FWIW, we were NOT very energetic - not because we weren't interested in our excursion though - I think it was just a bus load full of introverts!
Jesus told us about how long ago the rich Mayan people lived in the area we were touring, and the lower class citizens lived away from it. He talked about how the upper class had flat heads whereas the lower class did not. Eventually the lower class rose above killing off the upper class, therefore killing off the people with the knowledge, which led to the fall of their people.
There was a legend that if you clap at the bottom of the main pyramid and hear its echo you are a good person, if you don’t hear its echo then you’re not. He had us clap one by one, then all together. It was really cool to hear the acoustics! Inside the big pyramid is a smaller one. Additionally, they found two objects that looked like animals - one of which had Jade in it. However the Jade is not native to the area, it came from India. There are 364 steps on the pyramid, 365 if you count the bottom.
We also looked at other buildings, including one used to human sacrifice. Our guide kept joking that one of us would be sacrificed. The Mayans chose someone from the upper class to sacrifice because they wanted the blood of someone knowledgeable to give back to the gods. We also got to use discs of obsidian to look at the sun - it looked just like it would through eclipse glasses.
We had about an hour to wander the grounds by ourselves, then headed back to the bus. Jesus loved to say "follow Jesus!" He was a lively guy. It was so hot and sunny outside! I never checked the feels like, but the actual temp was in the 90s. Back at the bus they were handing out water, soda, and beer. I grabbed a Coke and a water and boarded the bus back into the AC.
We went back to the shops we had been to earlier in the day to eat lunch. I had some sopa limon (like chicken in broth served over strips of tortillas), and cochinita pibil tacos as well as horchata to drink. It was all quite tasty.
An hour after we arrived, we boarded the bus again for the nearly hour long drive to the Selva Maya Cenote. Once there, we got off the bus and bought passes for life jackets and a locker ($5 each). Already in our suits, we stored our things in a locker, showered off to remove any chemicals that could negatively impact the natural water, got our life jackets, then wandered down into the cenote. I was bummed I forgot my waterproof phone cases back at the resort because it would have been cool to have pictures of this experience.
The water was heart-stoppingly cold to get in, but once in, it was very refreshing. Some people were jumping off the raised platform into the water. I had a hard enough time getting in the first time - I wasn’t about to submit myself to that torture again!
It was late afternoon/early evening by the time we were finished at the cenote. It was roughly two more hours on the bus to get back to the resort. Immediately we went to the room for showers, then downstairs to the Italian restaurant to eat. It is tradition that we go to an Italian restaurant once on vacation! As starters, we had Caprese salad and SO. MUCH. BREAD. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs but couldn’t finish it, meaning I had no room left for dessert which was so disappointing. We headed back to the room and CRASHED.
June 11, 2025 // Day 4
It was an early vacation morning for functioning. I was up at 5 with my alarm set for 6 as we had a 6:55AM pick up for our excursion. I know you're suppose to relax on vacation, but I don't sit still well!
We took the 40 minute shuttle ride to the meeting spot for “Travel Cancun.” From there we boarded the shuttle with our driver Danny and guide Carlos, as well as 7 other guests, and headed south.
Our first destination was an underwater cave that we were going to swim in. On the way there, Carlos taught us some Mayan language. I learned that Playa del Carmen has a Mayan name - Shaman ha (spelling?). It translates to “water of the north,” but now I’ve forgotten which word means what. Also ‘Can cun’ translates to “snake nest” in Mayan.
After a very bumpy ride down what can only be considered as back roads, we reached Cenote el Sueño. This cenote is part of the cave system in Yucatán. Yucatán has the largest underground cavern system in the world.
Carlos gave his speeches in Spanish first, then English, so it was fun to try to understand the Spanish first before I had it clarified in English. As we arrived at the cave, we were told to leave everything on the bus as they didn’t allow photography. They took their own photographs that you could buy if you wanted them (for the record, I was the sucker that bought them - no regrets! 😬). We all hopped out in our swim suits and wandered down the path to shower off. You must shower before going in to get rid of any chemicals on your body so not to impact the water. Then we were given life jackets and trekked down the stairs into the cave.
They had lights set up in the main chamber that we entered. The water was so clear you could see to the bottom in most places (the places that were shallow enough). There were bats flying all around! The water was soooo cold. It took me a moment to get in and catch my breath. We swam around, weaving under the stalactites as we explored the main chamber.
From there, we swam single file between the very narrow walls of the cave to the next chamber. Carlos had a flashlight, without which we wouldn’t be able to see anything. He proved this to us by shutting the flashlight off for a few moments. The ceiling was much lower in the second chamber.
Then, we swam through another thin passage way into the third chamber. It was pitch black without the flashlight, and this was when the claustrophobia set in for me. In chamber two, we at least had a little glow at the passage way where we had just swam through from the first chamber, but now there was nothing. Once I realized I could use the tiny light on my Apple Watch if I got stranded there, then I was fine. Carlos showed us a safety line under water that could be used to get to the fourth chamber. We did not get to visit the fourth chamber, as you had to go under water to reach it. We were told that the water was safe to drink, though he recommended not to. Carlos said if you were stuck in the jungle you could drink the water, then suffer from two days of a stomach ache and diarrhea, but you would survive which is the whole point.
We weaved back through the passage ways to the main chamber and climbed back out of the water, and then out of the cave. Back on ground level we dried off, had some snacks, then hopped back in the shuttle for the next destination.
Back down the bumpy backroads, then onto the highway again, we headed north away from Tulum and closer to Playa del Carmen. The destination this time was less remote. We pulled off once we reached Paradise Lagoon.
Since we had already showered off, we did not have to again, though sunscreen was still not allowed. We were given life jackets, goggles, and a snorkel, then waded in to another freezing pool of water. Carlos said we were lucky, as the area had a lot of seaweed in it when he was there earlier that week. That meant the area we could explore was much larger. Carlos loosely led us around as we searched for fish. We saw a lot of “Dorys” as Carlos put it.
When our time was up, we all once again got dried off and climbed back into the shuttle. Carlos had taken the time to change, whereas none of us had. He thought it was comical that we were all back to the shuttle before he was.
It was an hour or so drive back to the resort. Aaron and I were the last ones dropped off. After stopping by the Amstar desk to confirm our transportation to the airport in the morning, we dropped our things in our room, then headed down to Los Habaneros for lunch (for the third time). It was hours after our typical lunch time, so we were famished. I ordered the fried chicken tacos as a starter - assuming they would be made of fried chicken in tortillas. Nope! It was literally a fried taco with chicken in it. More like taquitos! Then, I had the fish tacos again for lunch.
We waited exactly zero minutes after eating to get into the pool. The water was much warmer than it had been on Monday, and there were more people in it as well. We grabbed drinks in the swim up bar, then watched as staff held a shoe flinging contest on the edge of the pool. The goal was to see who could fling their shoe off their foot the furthest into the pool. It was mostly children participating, and it was kind of comical to see how many people were entranced by this competition.
Eventually we got out of the pool and headed back up to the room to shower and chill in the AC. I read my book while also keeping an eye on a low budget horror film Aaron had found on TV (it was called Tarot I think??)
We went down for dinner around 8, going to Parrilla - the grill house - for our last dinner at the resort. The main dishes were mainly based around a hunk of meat, which is not my favorite kind of meal. I ended up ordering the birria tacos off the starter menu (but forgot to order consume) and a side of Parmesan truffle fries. The waiter asked if I was on a diet as he deemed this not enough food. (For the record, it was!) I told him I needed to make sure I had room for dessert. Also, don’t comment on people’s eating choices.
The tacos were okay. The meat was flavorful, though a bit dry/chewy. The tortillas did not stay together well. Also, they weren’t fried and didn’t have cheese like I’m used to in birria tacos. I ended up getting a delicious brownie with ice cream for dessert.
We headed back up to the room to finish packing and found Harry Potter on TV (in English!) to watch until we went to bed.
June 12, 2025 // Day 5
For once I didn’t book us a crack of dawn flight (though we still got up at the crack of dawn). The shuttle picked us up from our resort lobby at 5:40AM. We picked up 3 others from a resort nearby, then headed to the airport. It took maybe 20 minutes to check my bag, have our documents checked, then go through security.
With plenty of time to spare before our flight boarded, we sat down at Guy Fieri’s Sammich Joint. We are big fans of Guy! Both of us had the Italian sandwich with a coke. Breakfast of champions!
We found our gate, then went to the bathroom, getting back to our gate with 5 minutes to spare before lining up to board. I expected not to have a full flight (because who flies back from Cancun on a Thursday??) Well, apparently a lot of people do because they said there would only be 10 unoccupied seats on the flight.
My goal was to be asleep by the time we took off, and while I didn’t meet that goal, I don’t think we were very far off the ground by the time I was out. I only managed to sleep for an hour or so which was disappointing because I didn't know how I was going to keep myself occupied for the remainder of the flight. I had plenty of books/podcasts, etc. but sitting that long is a real test of my patience.
We landed in Chicago with a three hour layover ahead of it. First we found our gate, then had lunch at a sit down restaurant in hopes it would kill some time. Our second flight back to MSP was uneventful!
My overall resort experience-
This was my first resort, so I have nothing to compare it to - though I did find myself comparing it to the cruises I’ve been on. First, let me say, I will never complain about roads in Minnesota - or Tennessee - again. Or at least not for another week or so. Which has nothing to really do with the resort, but something to note about Mexican backroads. I found the food to be quite tasty, and was only really let down by the chocolate cake. We ate at all but one dinner restaurant, and only had the buffet once for breakfast. The room was cool enough for me, but Aaron would have liked it to be cooler. Most of the bars were only open until 5 which was disappointing - especially the swim up one. Our room felt huge and the bathroom was huge. Oh, and the balcony was huge! There was a nice set up on the balcony that would be great to read on, but quite frankly, it was far too humid!
