7 days and six nights for an All-Inclusive beach resort…including airfare for only $725?
Cancun – if you haven’t been there you’ve probably at least heard about it. Sunny, white beaches, aqua colored water, all-inclusive resorts, perfect vacation?
It is indeed a paradise and restful. If you’re the type that likes extra curricular activity in addition to what the resort offers, there’s plenty to do.
Water related activity
The beaches are fun and they have pools, but one of the things we’ve done outside of the resorts is The Catamaran. One tour takes you to the Isle of Mujeres (shopping, eating), fishing, snorkling off of a catamara. The first time we went they were offering massages for $10 for a half hour. Gary went straight there while everyone else ate.
When we went shopping, we discovered that none of the 4 of us had either cash or a credit card with us. After we had negotiated a killer deal (see Negotiating Currency for more info), we realized it. The shop owner on the Isle of Mujeres asked where we were staying and when we anticipated getting back. He said he would take all of our things and bring them to the resort we were staying and we could pay there. So essentially we didn’t have to cart it back via the boat. That was an even better deal!
History
We also went to Chichen Itza to see the pyramids historic tour. This one is a bit on the “touristy” side. As soon as the bus drops you off, there are people waiting to sell you trinkets. It’s still worth it though, the buildings give you an understanding of how the Mayans lived. Our tour guide gave us good information about the city. There’s also the Archeological Zone of
Night life
There are some great night clubs like Coco Bongo. We got tickets for $45 each. At first we thought it was a lot of money. When we went to get in the back of the line, the employee there asked if we had tickets. We said we did and when he saw them, he personally ushered us past everyone who was waiting through the empty line, waived the tickets at Will Call, then took us down on the floor of the theatre in between the two bars. Except we didn’t have to go to the bar if we didn’t want to. We had servers come by and bring us our drinks. Most everyone else was packed like sardines in the stadium type seating (where you had to stand as well) and had to fetch their own drinks.
Then the show itself. Turns out it was a cross between a DJ, cabaret, and aerial acrobatics (similar to Cirque de Soliel). For 9 hours, from 11pm to 8am (it was definitel a night club). All the alcohol you can drink. We stayed until around 6am, and took a taxi back to the resort. That was a lot of fun!
There’s even a permanent Cirque de Soliel show within a short drive by taxi. Because it’s not in the US, it’s significantly cheaper and just as good.
Practical Stuff
Don’t stray out of your resort unless you’re going somewhere. It can be dangerous, people have been killed in Cancun. You can go there and stay safe, but make sure you are always are of all the Safety (Security) Details of your location.
Like everything else, timing can be important. Our great rate of $725 including airfare was during their hurricane season. In our case, we gambled and won. It’s another detail to consider when you’re booking what seems to be a fantastically cheap vacation.
Getting to and from where you’re going is pretty easy. There are a sufficient number of taxi drivers who don’t care how many drunk people you stuff in their car (the caveat is don’t be those drunk people) and they don’t charge much. Depending on your individual resort location you may be able to walk to where you’re going. A couple of times we could’ve walked but chose to support the local taxi drivers and stay safe.
If you do the Catamaran tour, be forewarned that there is a restriction on most sunscreens. This is to protect the environment, aka the fish and coral you are about to see firsthand while snorkling. It’s really not a big deal and you can purchase the environmentally sensitive sunscreen in almost every drugstore or grocery store (Walgreens, CVS, Harris Teeter, Giant, Acme, etc.) in the US.
If you’re the type that can’t leave everything behind, most resorts have wifi, and most phone carriers offer extension to Cancun as if it were part of the US.