Trip Date: October 16, 2020 – Written February 5, 2021
This all started because I was going absolutely stir crazy and my sister went to Cancun. The second I saw her first photo pop up, I checked in with her:
H – “Are you IN mexico?” T – “we booked last night at 6pm” H – “Is it great? send me pics!!!” T – “This was the line to check in *sends photo of boyfriend double fisting corona*” H -“Drinking Rona during the Rona” T – “They’re actually safer here than at home with this shit”
And two weeks later, my fiance and I were checking into Royalton Riviera Cancun, a hotel that my sister and her boyfriend turned down in the planning process. The check in process at the hotel was slightly frustrating, but only because we booked the Diamond Club concierge level and their separated check in space was closed during our visit. Our room wasn’t ready at our time of arrival, so we left our bags with the bellhop and headed over to Grazie, an Italian restaurant at the resort that was tucked away between a couple swimming pools in the family area. The food was great, but the service knocked it out of the park. We had four margaritas on the table at one point as a result of the staff making sure everyone was always taken care of. The tuna was excellent. A man holding a pepper mill the size of him was going around to tables to make sure we (all of the guests) were well seasoned, and he took his job SERIOUSLY. It was fun, and every single person we interacted with before we headed back to the check in counter was an asset to that property.
After we formally checked in, the eager bellhop went up to our room with us and showed us a couple spots nearby our building along the way. Once we were settled, our butler Francisco stopped by to set us up with dinner reservations during our stay and arrange any activities we may want, and we were in touch via Whatsapp for the duration of our visit. After we finished up with him, we headed down to the pool bar in the Diamond Club section of the resort and took a dip in the water before the sun began to set.
A category 3 hurricane had just passed through a week before, and the wind damage was brutal. There were areas with shattered glass, dozens of rooms were out of order because the glass panels got ripped off the balconies in the wind, and some pools were closed as a result of glass panels falling 3 and 4 stories and doing what amounts to exploding. As a former hotel employee, I know the show must go on, and they made it work and made sure all of the effected areas were safe before opening them.
Holly’s Happy Tip: After times of destructive inclement weather, cut the hotel staff some slack. They’re working with the cards they were dealt and trust me, they wish they could fix it all for you too.
After the we finished up at the pool, we got ready for dinner at the buffet and the theme night, which was White Night. Our dinner was okay, with the beef tartare being the star of the show.I do want to mention that comparison is the thief of joy, and my bar was based on The Market over at Hard Rock Punta Cana. The fun really started during the light show at the main pool with the bartenders and their seemingly endless supply of prosecco. While we kept our distance from other guests due to the pandemic, for the first time in 7 months, we felt some sense of normalcy. All of the performers and hotel staff were masked up, tables were set up a safe distance apart from one another, and everyone was thrilled.
On Day 2, we snuck over to the adults only section to hang in the Bali beds and away from children in our own section. This is frowned upon, and eventually we were caught. oops! After heading back over to our section at Diamond Club, we got some bevvies and hung in the shallow section of our pool, and met an awesome couple from Minnesota who had the same idea to escape the USA as we did. We went to the beach for a little bit in the afternoon, and after some much needed relaxation, we eventually headed back to our room to get ready for dinner.
We had reservations at Zen, the teppanyaki spot, and tonight’s theme was music night. We were a little bit early to our 8pm reservation, so we went back over to the main area to listen to the violinist that was there. The violinist played top 40 music but it was a real classed up version of it. It was great for talking and relaxing before we went to the restaurant for dinner. Our experience with dinner was fantastic, the food was good, the waiters kept drinks (and tequila shots) flowing, and it was interactive and fun. Thankfully, they only threw food at the faces of the men at the table.
Day 3 was our last full day at the resort. Since I woke up a victim of my own doing (i.e., hungover,) we ordered in room dining for breakfast and took our time getting out the door in the morning. Once we were ready to really start our day, we went over to the beach to lay in the shade and deal with the hair of the dog. Our butler, who was an angel this morning, brought us a fruit bowl. Once we worked up a good appetite, I ran over to a food truck at the main pool to grab us a bite while Adam hung out on the beach. There, I witnessed a huge iguana jump onto a table and steal an entire sandwich from a woman while I waited. I couldn’t tell if I felt bad for the woman or proud for the iguana. It was brutal. Note to self: watch your food in Mexico.
Holly’s Happy Tip: Hangovers! It’s extremely easy to outdo yourself when you have an open bar for the duration of your visit to an all-inclusive resort. I like throwing a few Liquid I.V. packs in my carry on to throw in my water bottles on the go. You’ll still hate yourself a little bit, but you’ll hate yourself less. I recommend having them pre-drinks or during water breaks while you’re imbibing, the flavor can be off-putting for sensitive stomachs the following morning. All of the flavors taste the same: bad.
After a day of relaxation, we got ready for our final dinner of the trip at Taj: an Indian restaurant new to the property. We LOVE Indian food, so this was an absolutely welcomed meal and one we were anticipating. If you find yourself at this resort, I can not recommend it enough. The interior was beautiful, the service was excellent, the food was great (granted not as spicy as we usually like it but you have to appeal to the masses,) and we had a fantastic experience.
On our departure day, we took it easy and walked around the resort. We realized the one section of the hotel we were walking through every night had an open air roof, which blew our minds. We finally got coffee from the coffee shop, which I highly recommend, and we just enjoyed our final views before heading back to the airport.
The Cancun Airport, once you’re through security, I cannot stress this enough – is like the Orlando International Drive of airports. You walk into this massive duty free store and me saying it is massive does it no justice. You can buy so much stuff in there that it was shocking. When you’re done with duty free, you walk into a food court with bars everywhere. It was unreal. After poking around for maybe 30 minutes, off we went to the priority pass lounge on the lower level, before boarding our flight home.
How COVID affected this trip:
at the airport: Upon arrival to Cancun, we filled out health declarations, and went through thermal scanners to make sure no one had a fever. at the time, testing was not required to enter or exit Mexico from the United States.
at the hotel: When we got to the hotel, we had to step onto a mat with sanitizer for our shoes, hotel staff sprayed our belongings with a disinfectant chemical, and took our temperature. Each and every time we entered an indoor restaurant, our temperature was taken. If we wanted to go in the casino, our temperature was taken and hand sanitizer was readily available. At times, you did not have an option but to sanitize your hands.
upon return to the USA: This was in October of 2020, so nothing was done. The Cancun airport made sure the QR codes on our incoming health declarations were scanned on our way out, but once we got to our gate, it was a different story. Our gate required us to take a bus to the plane, which was filled with passengers and zero social distancing was in place. At the time, American Airlines did not require a temperature check to board the plane. There was no temperature checks or health screenings done at customs upon our return to the USA. We just walked right into the country, as if the world was the same as it was one year prior.
Would I recommend travel to just anyone at this point in time? It’s hard to say. I know my health and my comfort levels, but ultimately it depends on your comfort levels to do something that is, what I consider right now, high risk high reward. Vaccinations are coming soon though, and we’ll be traveling together again before we know it.
Holly's Happy Trips 