.png)
VISIT #2:
CANCUN 2023
Jan. 1, 2023
Happy New Year! Even after going to Alexis’ NYE party and watching the ball drop with my parents the night before, we were up nice and early for our 11:45 AM flight from JFK to CUN. We got ready, said goodbye to my parents and the puppies, and made our way to the airport where we grabbed our obligatory Starbucks and bagels. We ate, then boarded the plane, and we were off. 3 hours and 45 mins later, we were in Cancun, but with a catch. As soon as we landed, the pilot shared with us that our jet bridge was’t opening, so we’d need to wait for a new ramp to be towed over to us. We waited one whole hour on the plane before we could get off. Then, after going through customs, it took another hour to get our baggage. After not eating or drinking anything basically all day and being almost 3 hours late to our resort, we were both irritated and antsy to get to the resort.
When we finally got to the resort, we were disappointed. Coming from previous resort experiences, we’d expected more of the room and amenities for what we paid for. We met up with our family and had a [pretty drab] dinner, then headed over to the beach for an evening stroll together. We sat on the sand and let the waves roll over our feet, which was lovely. Getting to spend time with family like that made the entire day's antics worth it. Eventually, we made our way over to the lobby bar for some drinks and shots. After drinks, we all decided to head back to our rooms for some rest. What a day today was.
I got to work on this blog during the flight thanks to JetBlue's free Fly-Fi!
Daily Details
Hotel: The Pyramid at Grand Oasis Cancun
Blvd. Kukulcan 5-Km 16, Zona Hotelera, 77500 Cancún, Q.R.
Jan. 2, 2023
We woke around 9, got ready, then grabbed breakfast with everyone. After breakfast, we all made our way down to the beach, where we spend the majority of the day lounging and swimming in the rough ocean. Brit, Dakota, Jarren and I had a special dinner reservation at 7:30, so we went back to our rooms around 5 to start getting ready.
We all grabbed a drink at the lobby bar, then showed up at our dinner reservation at Benazuza, where we were taken on an incredible culinary experience that I will probably think about for the rest of my life. We were served cocktails, but in the form of an actual dish instead of liquid. I’d never experienced anything like it. The first cocktail was a piña colada in the style of a sunny side up egg, with the “yolk” being the pineapple juice and the “egg whites” being the cream of coconut. Next, a mojito in the form of jelly, laid over a lime sliced in half. Then, a peach bellini in the form of an ice cream ball. It was incredible. We went through a few more tapas sized courses, then got to our entrees and desserts. When dinner was over, we were all left in awe of the truly phenomenal experience we’d just had.
We made our way over to the cigar bar to have a cigar with Ashley. After scrolling through the book of cigars, we all ended up getting vanilla cigars from the Dominican Republic. I didn’t know what to expect, as I’d only had a cigar once before and it wasn’t flavored. This cigar was sweet and smoky all at once, and I was blown away at how much I loved it. We smoked around the koi pond outside, then grabbed drinks at a few of the bars before deciding to head to bed for the next day.
A good ole Pina Colada on the beach to start the day.
A good ole Pina Colada on the beach to start the day.
Jan. 3, 2023
I took a melatonin the night before, making it impossible to wake up this morning. We missed breakfast with the fam because we strolled out of bed too late, but we caught up with them shortly afterward at the beach. Another great day of sunning and relaxing, we laid out, got assaulted by the waves in the ocean, did some people watching, drank our newfound top tier recipe of a double Bacardi anejo in our piña coladas, and ate some burgers and wings. We all played beach volleyball for a bit (where I bragged that I was captain of my middle school volleyball team and then absolutely shit the bed on a handful of my serves), then got some “shots” poured in our mouths by the resort party staff. I put shots in quotation marks because they absolutely were just grenadine in a bottle and nothing else, were super sticky and managed to stain everyone’s clothes. Jarren and I decided to grab lunch shortly after. On our way back to the beach, we stumbled upon a- I kid you not- booty shaking competition. We watched as a line of girls shook it out for a chance to win an invitation to some exclusive party. The winner was a Brazilian girl in a white bikini who absolutely blew everyone out of the water. She knew she was going to win the second she got on that stage.
Anyway, after relaxing on the beach some more, we decided to head back to our rooms to shower and get ready for our dinner cabaret show. When the time came, we met our family at the cabaret, had a decent dinner, and watched the show. Afterward, we hung out at a bar and a club, then went back to our room to prepare for our flight back home the next day.
Photo credits to Steph :)
Jan. 4, 2023
An early morning where I once again struggled to wake up because I took a melatonin the night before. We grabbed one last breakfast with the fam, then got coffee and sat around outside for a bit, watching the peacocks go by. As we neared our time to leave for the airport, we headed back to our room and grabbed our things. Shortly afterward, we said our goodbyes, got into our taxi, and went back to CUN, where we waited around to board our flight.
​
Our flight was hot and stuffy as we waited on the taxiway to take off, leading a guy sitting in the row in front of us to actually pass out as we were taking off and scare us all. He finally came to and the rest of the flight went smoothly. We landed at JFK a few hours later and were eager to end the day with seeing our family and our puppies.
Heading back home!
Heading back home!
General
Tips and
Reviews
Cost to Travel:
This flight was more expensive than I would've liked, but I'm attributing this to the time of year that we chose to fly. We flew one way from JFK to CUN with JetBlue, then one way back with American Airlines from CUN to JFK for $472.06 per person. A 4 day trip in January from NYC to CUN usually costs around $350 per person.
​
The Pyramid at Grand Oasis Resort Review:
Cost: $1,164.40
Length: 3 nights
Room: Pyramid Standard
​
Our overall experience wasn't bad, but we both agree that we wouldn't stay here again. You have nothing but options for resorts in Cancun, all with competitive pricing. For the price of our room, it just wasn't worth it to stay here.
We've never stayed at a resort that called themselves "all-inclusive" but then limited us to what we could drink. We had VIP black bands and were still limited. Some bars here will charge you extra for certain liquors, while some wouldn't. Beyond the inconsistency, the liquor didn't even seem to be "good" in the sense that we were all drinking from sunrise to sunset and didn't get drunk at all. I packed an industrial amount of ibuprofen and Liquid IV for this trip and didn't need to use it at all. The only time I ever felt a buzz was at the gastro-dinner when we ordered a special bottle of rosé. Apart from that, it was like I was drinking virgin cocktails the whole time I was there. The bars and restaurants also close super early. Everything is closed by 11, with two (mid at best) bars closing by 12:30.
The food at experiences you didn't have to reserve were just ok, nothing to write home about. The dinner we had the first night we were there was straight up crappy.
The room we had was extremely small and gave us a view of a concrete roof below us. Also - this may be pretentious of me to say, but I'm gonna say it, anyway - I feel like every resort we've ever been to has been a fashion show once the sun goes down, that being on vacation was an event, but I just did not get that from this resort. It felt to me like people here didn't try at all. It's uncomfortable for me to say because it's such a trivial thing to have a gripe about, but I feel the need to share it in the effort of being completely honest with my own personal experience, because it really stood out to me.
​
Some other common resort amenities that weren't present here at all were butler service, room service, room access from your wristband, and good wifi. There isn't any butler service at all, not even for higher tiered guests. We weren't even shown to our room when we arrived and had to figure out the entire resort on our own. Room service is not included in the "all inclusive" rate here, which was basically unheard of to us. Every resort we've been to had room access built into our wristbands so that we wouldn't have to carry around an extra key card with us everywhere, but not here. They also threatened that if we somehow lost our plastic wristbands, they'd charge an extra $115 for new ones. Let me clarify for you that these "expensive" wristbands are the cheap plastic wristbands you get at concerts or special events. And the wifi here? Straight up garbage. It's spotty and disconnects whenever it feels like it.
We had a much better experience at the Majestic Elegance in Costa Mujeres for a bit less than what we paid here. If you're interested in visiting Cancun but are on a budget, I recommend doing your research and booking elsewhere. This is a family friendly resort, yes, but lots of resorts in Cancun are family friendly and probably give you more bang for your buck. If other resorts are out of your price range, I think it's worth it to save a little more and spend it elsewhere on a better experience. You're booking an all-inclusive resort because you want to use the amenities and have a great experience, which you should already know isn't cheap, so why not spend just a little bit more for something truly all-inclusive?
​
The only pros I can speak to here are the beach and the dinner at Benazuza. The beach is honestly the best beach we've had at any resort we've been to, and the dinner at Benazuza is a truly amazing experience. However, all in all, I don't recommend staying here when there are so many better options available to you. 6/10 stars from me.
​
Things I'd Like To Do Next Time:
I don't think I'll be coming back to Cancun again, as there are lots of all-inclusive resorts in places I've never been to that offer the same type of experience as Cancun does. If I do, though, I'd like to make it over to a cenote. According to Wikipedia, a cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. It's just a cool thing to do, and I'm not sure of any other places outside of Mexico where this can be done.