2014 has been a big year for this momma! I turned 40 in March, and my oldest daughter graduated high school in June. In just 2 short weeks, I will load her up and take her to college. Where does the time go?? To celebrate this milestone event in her life, she invited Michael & I to tag along on her senior trip to Cancun with friends. We made lots of wonderful memories. It is definitely a time we will cherish forever!
We stayed at an All-inclusive beachfront resort, The Fiesta Americana Condessa Cancun. It was about a 15 minute ride from the airport, smack dab in the middle of the hotel zone, near the market area. It is located between the Nichupte Lagoon and the Caribbean Sea. Upon check-in, we were greeted by a waiter who immediately brought us a welcome cocktail of our choice. We arrived a few hours before check-in, but our room was ready so we were able to settle in and head straight for the beach to meet the rest of the group who had arrived a few hours earlier. There are 3 Towers (Sun Tower, Sea Tower, and Moon Tower) with 4 different room options...Garden View, Lagoon View, Ocean View, and Ocean Front. There are also 4 types of suites available...Junior Suite, Master Suite, Governor Suite, and Presidential Suite. We had an "Ocean View" room in the Sun Tower. It was very clean and roomy. The rest of the group had booked a few weeks earlier than us so they were able to get the less expensive option, "Garden View" rooms, but were upgraded to "Ocean Front" rooms in the Sea Tower at check-in for a small up charge. So, if you're planning on staying at this resort, you may want keep that in mind!! Book the cheap room and try for an upgrade when you get there! Some of the services available at the resort include free wifi, spa, fitness center, laundry services, room service, ATM machines, kids club, doctor on call, and facilities for the disabled.
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| Lobby |
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| Ocean View Room |
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| Sun Tower |
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| Sea Tower |
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| Moon Tower |
There are 4 restaurants on the property. The dress code is casual in all of them except for the Rosato Italian Restaurant, which requires pants for men, long skirt/dress for women, and no sandals for either. Children under the age of 5 are not allowed in this particular restaurant for dinner. We ate in all of the restaurants except for the Rosato Italian. Again, we are on a beach vacation and do not think it should be "required" to dress up to eat! All of the food was excellent. A fan favorite was the shrimp tacos at Cevicheria, an open air eatery near the pool. There are also a couple of small buffets set up around the pool at lunch time, which is nice. The service is outstanding. I would personally like to give a "shout out" to Victor! He went above and beyond to make sure we were well taken care of.
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| K'ambu poolside/beachfront restaurant |
There are 2 very large pools. An upper level infinity pool spills over into a lower level beach pool (which is also connected to the kids pool). The lower level beach pool has a swim-up bar. There is wait staff for the pool and beach, assuring you always have a drink in hand. The popular drinks among our group were the Superman shooter and the Miami Vice frozen cocktail. There is plenty of seating around the pools, but shaded seating is very limited!! As with other all-inclusive resorts, you have to get up very early and go "stake your claim" if you would like a shaded lounge chair. There are various daily activities and contests. Some of them are really fun. We participated in the paper airplane contest and Michael won!
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| infinity pool and beach pool |
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| infinity pool |
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| swim-up bar |
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| poolside seating |
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| beachfront massage palapa |
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| Miami Vice |
The beach is enormous! The sand is white and powdery, and the water is absolutely gorgeous. It is really rough though. The red flags were up the entire time. Perfect for some fun boogie boarding! There is a lifeguard on duty!
There definitely needs to be more beach seating in my opinion. That's really the only complaint I have about this resort. I can sit by the pool at home. When I'm at the beach, that's where I prefer to be!!
At night the pool bar closes down, and there is a small bar off the lobby. It appeared that they were expanding this bar area because there was a large section blocked off that was under construction. This is a good thing, because this bar was waaaay too small for the size of this resort!
We went into the market area at night. Tip...if you walk just outside the resort gates, you can catch the bus into town for $1. It was ideal for us because we had a large group. Or, the resort has taxi's available. Senor Frogs was the first stop. It was a huge hit with the teenagers, not so much for the adults. This place was insanely crazy, and got increasingly crowded as the night went on! Loud music, the tequila was flowing, glow in the dark paint was slinging, and there was lots of dancing. Senor Frogs was definitely the place to be.
The second night we went to Margaritaville. This place was dead, it was kinda sad. But, we still had a good time!
On the last night all the teenagers did the party hopper bus. It was $75 and took them on a 6 hour bar hop to Senor Frogs, Congo Bar, and Coco Bongo. They loved it!
Half of our group went scuba diving. 2 were already certified, but the others had to take a 2 hour class, available at the resort pool, before the dive. The boat ride to the reef was a bit rough, but they had a blast exploring!
My favorite part of the trip was swimming with dolphins at Dolphinaris. It was about 10 minutes from the resort, near the airport. The price includes full day admission to Wet 'N Wild Water Park, which is connected to the dolphin park. The "dolphin swim program" lasts 60 minutes, 40 of which is spent in the pool. We were placed into groups of 10 or so. We each got one-on-one time with the dolphins, which included a hug, kiss, hand shake, and dolphin "ride". Hang on to your swimsuits girls!! There is a photographer and videographer capturing the entire event, but the prices are outrageous! It is Mexico, so negotiate a deal. It was such a great experience. Love these amazing creatures!
We had such a great time on this trip. I am so thankful for this one last "hurrah" with our girl before she begins this next chapter in life. I am so proud of the amazing young woman she has become. I'm sad to let her go, but excited to see what her future holds. Go POKES!
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