Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun Review – 117

Enjoy this review of Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun, a smaller all-inclusive resort with great pools, excellent food, and activities for the whole family.

Scroll down or click here to see my full review and photos.

Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun Review

• Room amenities
• Resort grounds
• Pools
• The Beach
• Resort activities
• Resort bars
• Restaurants
• Who is this resort right for?

Question: What do you want to know about Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun?

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My Detailed Review of Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun

Selecting the best all-inclusive resort for you in Cancun is even worse than picking the best coffee for you at Starbucks. There are so many options! Just as I have ways of guiding you to the best choice of java, I have my methods of guiding you to the best resort selection.

Spoiler alert: it’s not searching online, sorting by price, and picking the first one.

Since I recently spent a few days at the Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun, I’m going to run it through the same process to see if it would be a good fit for you.

Is it family-friendly?

Azul Beach Resort is a family-friendly resort. They have activities the entire family can enjoy, plus a kids club. 

• Azulitos Playhouse for ages 4 – 12
• Extreme Breeze Teens for ages 13 – 17
• Playhouse splash pool
• Tennis
• Archery
• Ping pong
• Water polo
• Spanish lessons
• Dance classes

Azul Beach Resort’s Vassa Spa even welcomes kids 5 – 17 to enjoy spa service with you if you’d like. (Don’t tell the 15 – 17 year-olds I called them “kids.”)

• The rooms provide 
• Baby monitors
• Baby baths
• Cribs
• Changing Tables
• Strollers (Have you tried bringing those on a plane?) 

Azul Beach Resort even has these baby robes and slippers to help your kids feel more grown-up and vacation just like you. Yes, I used vacation as a verb.

Where is Azul Beach Resort Located?

The trip to the resort from the airport was a little under 30 minutes. It is outside the Hotel Zone, so it’s a quieter resort. 

While I think Azul Beach Resort is better for a shorter, relaxing, and unwinding vacation, they offer excursions to the region’s cenotes and ruins, which would be a 45 – 60 minutes trip away.

How Big is Azul Beach Resort?

Resort size is essential to your all-inclusive experience. Here’s the summary:

• 435 suites
• 8 restaurants
• 8 bars
• 6 pools
• 1 spa

Even with those numbers, Azul Beach Resort is a surprisingly small footprint.

The resort did an excellent job of making everything within a couple of minutes’ walk while not feeling cramped. The way the pools weave through the grounds and the vegetation separates the areas give the resort a pleasant and relaxing tropical vibe.

As I said in the podcast, I enjoyed leaving at 7:58 and arriving early for our 8:00 breakfast. 

You may want more amenities for a more extended stay and thus a bigger footprint, but Azul’s size was perfect for unwinding and having fun for 3 or 4 days.

How’s the Beach?

I’m usually a beach bum, sunrise to sunset. On this trip, watching sunrises was my only beach time. Azul’s beach would be a lovely, swimmable beach if not for the seaweed. It would be great for kids to play in. 

However, while we were there, there was too much seaweed. Seaweed is an issue throughout the Quintana Roo region and the rest of the Caribbean. 

How are the rooms?

Here is the view from my balcony. There is something comforting about being able to see the Starbucks from your balcony, especially when said Starbucks is under a palapa!

I took this around 7:00 in the morning. Notice the crowds of people. There is nobody there, and the resort was booked pretty close to capacity.

I loved my room. I could live there. It was nice, open, and spacious, and the decorations were nice and not overdone. 

I stayed in a Junior Suite. It’s funny that I thought I insisted on an ocean-front room. However, I really enjoyed my views of the pools and vegetation.

We enjoyed a nice storm Sunday night, and I was so happy sleeping on the large sofa on my balcony, listening to the rain. 

I hadn’t much free time since I was touring Karisma properties, training, and meetings. Otherwise, I would have spent a few minutes enjoying my in-room hot tub. 

The resort also has the following rooms:

Luxury Suite, starting at $390

Luxury Ocean View Suite, $394

Junior Suite, $422

Luxury Walkout Suite, $437

Family Suite, $ 469

Family Ocean View Suite, $495

Premium Suite, $495

Swim Up Junior Suite, $598.67

Premium Swim Up Suite, $672.00

Honeymoon Oceanfront Suite, $747.67

Connecting Luxury Ocean View Suite, $1,037.67

Two-Bedroom Presidential Suite, 

One-Bedroom Presidential Suite, 

Royal Suite

Presidential Studio

Royal Swim Up Suite

This is a picture of a junior suite, taken with my iPhone at about 5:30 in the evening with the lights turned off. All the light in the photo is evening natural light.

Azul Beach Resort Restaurants

Although I didn’t get to try all 8 restaurants, the restaurants I tried were quite enjoyable. I wouldn’t call it more refined gourmet dining, but I enjoyed every meal—even the Italian, which isn’t my favorite cuisine. 

Here is a list of the restaurants:

• Le Chique – Avant-Garde Cuisine
• Spoon – World Cuisine
• Tapaz – International Cuisine
• Siena – Italian Cuisine
• Zavaz – Caribbean Cuisine
• Zocalo – Mexican Cuisine
• Zocalo Al Fresco – Mexican Cuisine
• Pizza Pizza! – Pizza by the kids’ splash pool

My only complaint is the lack of a grab-and-go type place. I would have enjoyed grabbing a quick burger or hotdog rather than having to sit and order.

For an outdoor pizza place next to a kids pool, Pizza Pizza was really good.

Since I love being out and about, I didn’t try room service. My friends who did try it said it was quite good. As you can hear in the podcast episode, we ordered drinks from the patio and had them delivered there. Pound sign: awesome!

Bars

I loved the bars. The Mojito bar is fantastic. Their signature drink, the cinnamon Mojito, is one of the best I’ve ever enjoyed. 

Pool bars are so much fun! You may not find the best cocktails at pool bars, but they had whiskeys and beers, and I didn’t hear anyone get turned down for a drink request. And I’m pretty sure I heard everything.

We participated in a Tequila tasting session. It was so much fun. The tequila and mezcal expert gave us a few tequilas to try with food pairings. He told us some Mayan mythology and how spirits are made.

He even gave us a bad pairing so we could appreciate the difference. I highly recommend this activity!

Do they have Starbucks?

Yes, Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun has a Starbucks!

The drinks are not included, but you can charge them to your room. Unlike most Starbucks like this, the prices are closer to what you’ll find in a normal Starbucks store.

This Starbucks is super cool! It’s under a big palapa with hammocks, swings, and swinging beds. It’s also the location of Spanish lessons and painting classes. See the picture above from my room.

My Overall Thoughts

I look forward to returning to Azul Beach Resorts for relaxing fun with friends and maybe a romantic getaway with my wife. 

For a family vacation, we’ll probably find a place (probably not in Quintana Roo) that we know has a nice swimmable beach. Perhaps the Azul Beach Resort Negril in Jamaica or the Azul Beach Resort Montenegro. 

Check out the complete list of episodes.

Episode 117 Transcripts

Episodes are transcribed with artificial intelligence, so there are likely some highly amusing translations!

Shayne: Hello and welcome to All Things Travel. Ryan and I have spent a few days in Cancun, Mexico with a few of our Creating Magic Vacations friends. We’re touring various Karisma property resorts, and we have been headquartered in the Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun, and today our friends are gonna give you our impressions of this resort. You’re. Listening to All Things Travel episode 117 original air date to July 2022.

Ryan: All right, folks. We’re back at it again. We’re working hard on our work vacation. And today we’re gonna talk about Azul beach resort. So remind everybody who we’ve got here. You met them a couple episodes ago. Heather, why don’t you remind people who you are and where you’re from.

Heather: Awesome. I am Heather Wheeler from Houston, Texas, Texas,

Julie: Michelle Heminger from Mandeville, Louisiana, Julie Shafer from ER, Maryland.

Ryan: All right, well welcome. Ladies.

Julie: Thanks. Thank you.

Ryan: Thanks for, thank you for being here again. So we are at our, uh, all things travel headquarters, which, uh, is AKA Michelle’s balcony . And so that’s where we’ve been hanging out, cuz she has a floor level balcony by the pools here. It’s a, it’s a patio walkout.

It’s a patio. Oh, it’s a patio. Um, it’s a great spot. And so today we’re just gonna talk about Azu beach, the, the resort and, um, get. Talk about this resort and see if it may be right for you and your family. Uh, so, uh, Azo beach is about a 20 minute drive maybe from the airport in Cancun.

Julie: Yes,

Ryan: that’s about right.

Yeah. And it’s part of a resort cluster. So you drive down the main drag outside of the airport, and then you turn into, um, an area of resorts and Azo beach being one of them. And let’s talk about our first. Of OZO beach. We’ve been here for a few days. We’re staying one more. When you first got to the resort, what, what did you think?

I

Julie: thought the lobby was really pretty. It was nice and open. I liked that it is a

Michelle: smaller resort. I, yeah, I like this. The close feel of everything being nearby

Julie: and

Ryan: somewhat central often. Yeah. This is not a golf cart resort. This isn’t a transfer, you know, buses in the middle. I mean, everything is walkable.

Yes. I do

Julie: love that. I do like that. It takes like three minutes to get to breakfast. I love that at like maybe two minutes.

Shayne: It was nice for fast being able to leave at 7 58 and arriving early for our eight o’clock breakfast. Yes. Yeah.

Heather: I love that. So I love that.

Ryan: So let’s talk about the rooms. We each have, um, our own room, um, as.

Of our fam trip, which has been a really nice, uh, nice little perk here. So my room has two queen beds, a nice size double sink bathroom, a very nice size balcony, everything that I could want. It has an in room jacuzzi.

Um, I would say the rooms are nice and long. If you think about hotel rooms, they’re they’re, it’s a nice long hotel room looking out on the second level, looking out over. The swim up, uh, pools. Uh, some of you have king beds, correct? I

Julie: have a king bed

Michelle: and it’s basically the same, except I have the king bed and a sofa

Julie: bed.

Yeah. Yep. With the tub

Michelle: in the room. I don’t know. Did you, do you have the tub in your

Julie: room?

Ryan: Yes.

Michelle: Yeah. I have the tub. Yep. The big soaking jacuzzi tub in the, in the room

Ryan: and like most, all inclusive resorts this room or these rooms come with a included mini bar, um, with soda, water, and, um, beers, snack snacks, and snacks, some chips and different things.

And you can, um, actually customize your, uh, your selections, your selections, and, and so that’s nice. And it also has a really good room service menu. I think several of you have had room service for, for meals and have been happy with that. Let’s talk about the grounds. We’ll talk about the, the resort proper first, and then we’ll talk about the, the pools and the beaches.

Julie: Okay. I think it’s pretty, I think it’s well maintained. Agree. No, nothing has felt, um, unclean. Yeah.

Ryan: Yeah. It’s very clean. It’s very, very kept up.

Julie: I love all

Heather: the landscaping. It’s very lush.

Julie: I love the flowers. I would agreeing to the leaves, Palm trees everywhere. And

Shayne: it adds some separation between areas. It really does without feeling

Ryan: closed in.

I don’t feel like it’s obviously sunny and warm hot. Um, but I don’t feel like the sun is always beating down on me because of the trees and the, the shading. Yes. A lot of shade. It’s very tropical feeling. I like that. And it, and it also adds to the smallness of it. You just, you feel like you’re in this really, it’s like more, really nice place lagoon area.

Yeah. I would say if you are a pool lover, this is a. Resort. There are multiple large pools. There’s multiple swim up bars. There’s a lazy river kind of pool track pool that goes across half the resort. There’s adult only beach or adult only pools. There’s family pools. Are we happy with that aspect of the resort?

Julie: Yes, definitely. And there’s also a ki a kid’s splash pad

Ryan: area. Yeah. Yes. Lots of swim up room options. So if that’s something that interests you, um, I, you know, there, there’s lots of things here. This is definit. A family resort. Um, we do see lots of kids around here. There’s a kids club. Uh, that’s part of the, the resort.

It’s definitely family friendly, which could work or not work depending on what type of vacation that, that you have. But

Julie: it doesn’t feel like it’s overflowing with children. Like there is the family pool that they are in and we have not really been in the pool with any,

Ryan: I guess that’s true. I, yeah, that, that is true.

You know what I

Julie: mean? Yeah. Yes. So all the, all the little kids seem like they’re in that family pool over by the family building.

Heather: And I do like how the buildings are separated like that too. Yes. Because it does kind of give you a feel like they’re not that many kids.

Julie: Yeah. Right. I hadn’t thought about that.

But when I walked by the Playhouse, I could tell there were a lot of kids in there yesterday, but I hadn’t seen them because we’ve been in the adult

Ryan: pool. So of note, um, Right by the kids area is a nice, uh, splash pad for kids, a little kids slide area, and a nice outdoor pizza restaurant. They have little baby lounge.

They have little baby lounge chairs. Adorable. Those are awesome. With the rooms. You can request a lot of family amenities like cribs, strollers, uh, bottle warmers, monitors, monitors, diaper, genie. Yep. One thing, one thing that was a surprise to me when it comes to kids is with the kids club. Uh, they take ages four to 12.

And, um, if you are under four, you can go to the kids club. You just have to be accompanied by a parent. So if you have younger kids, like Julie, that’s a consideration. If you were to come to a resort like this. Yeah. You could have playtime

Heather: over there, but you’d

have

Julie: to stay with

Ryan: them. Yes. So let’s talk about the beach.

The beach has been quite a topic of conversation while we’ve been here. Michelle,

the

Michelle: beach. I think the beach has a good.

Julie: It, we are in the midst of seaweed

Michelle: season. So that is a factor you should always factor that in. Um, they are working tirelessly to clean it up, doing the best they can, but unfortunately we haven’t been able to enjoy the beach because of the seaweed issue.

Ryan: And it’s not a big beach either. It’s narrow, narrow, it’s pretty narrow. So you, you basically have the beach chairs or the beach. Uh PAASS and then, uh, you know, then the. Maybe five feet. No, it’s a cabana. I haven’t seen any PAASS okay. Alright. Sorry about that. it’s been a, if you’re coming here for the beach, this may not be the resort for you,

Julie: but depending on the time of year, because we did go back and look at some older photos that’s and true.

The beach did look nice, but don’t choose. Just for the beach. If the beach is nice, when you arrive. Great. It’s

Ryan: kind of a bonus. Yes. Yeah. I would say

Shayne: it’s a bonus. I wouldn’t bring my family here because we are beach people. We’ll spend all day in the water on the beach, but if I’m have some friends that I more like, you know, I’m getting away, hanging out at the pool, I would definitely

Ryan: bring them here.

Yeah. I would bring my family here because even if we’re at a place that has both a beach and a pool, we tend to find ourselves at the pool most of the time. Got it. So let’s talk about activities. So Y. Was our O geomorphic no, no, no, no. So yesterday was our resort quote unquote resort day. And we did a lot of different activities.

Let’s talk about some of the things we took advantage of.

Heather: I wanna say first that I just love the app. The app really helped you see what’s going on today. It’s a good app tomorrow and

Julie: set your preferences for what you wanna do or wanna

Ryan: try to make. Now, one, one thing to, to chime in about the app. You can’t do much with it before you arrive, right?

You have to check in and then the app becomes active. If you. True, but yeah, you can set a schedule. It’s really nice. Cause don’t you have to type

Julie: in your room number, I think. Yeah. When you sign in the first time, maybe no, it, it assigned

Michelle: my room number.

Julie: Like it,

Heather: you just had to type in your name yes.

Julie: In your email email.

Ryan: So what type of things did we do yesterday? What did you enjoy? So the

Julie: first thing that we did yesterday was the cocktail class. Is that right? The class that, so we, we did run into a small, you know, it was raining. It was a little concern. Is it gonna happen? Is it not gonna happen? We finally. Found it, it happened and it was a great surprise for all of us.

They just run on Mexico

Ryan: time. Yeah. I mean, I would say most of the activities we did started about 15 minutes later than post it, but it was good to be there at time because some of them were first come first serve. Yes. So that was, that

Julie: was helpful. We’re not gonna give away all the details of. Class, but it was very entertaining.

Ryan: They’re very entertaining. There may have been Shane and I taking, uh, shots of teki mainly,

Shayne: and then screaming some

Ryan: primal yells afterwards, and our friend Colleen being put in some compromising situations.

Heather: I can say the mixology class was adult only. Yes. And

Julie: Jurassic contrast

Michelle: the adult only pool so that the pool bar, but, um,

Julie: and, um, I believe.

Ryan won second place.

Ryan: I did Ryan second

Julie: place, unfortunately, no prize for second place. Oh man. Oh man. And so the mix,

Heather: all of your last little thing that I just of what I was expecting versus reality was I thought we were

Julie: gonna learn how to make cocktails me too, but

Heather: they just told us what was in it. And then, uh, the bartender just whipped up.

Like however many people were in there, like 12 glasses and we just got

Julie: like a sample, right?

Ryan: It wasn’t a cocktail. Yeah. It wasn’t a class. It was a tasting,

Julie: which was fun. It was fun. Still and entertaining. Super fun. Just not what I was

Heather: expecting, but yes. Hat of

Shayne: blasts. And they may base that on how many people show up.

They may have the, the class version depending on

Julie: there. Yeah. Yeah. Black people show up, but because it was raining at that time, more people came. Yeah. Because we were undercover of a large Pulla

Heather: except for the hole in the roof that Michelle was sitting under.

Michelle: Yes. . I keep sitting under all the holes

Julie: in the

Ryan: roofs.

So then after having a, a mixology class, of course we decide the next thing to do. Is our group had a private tequila tasting. Yes. And this is something that you can purchase. This is an extra thing. Our group did it as part of our group programming. I had a lot of fun with this. I did, I enjoy enjoyed it.

So basically what we did was we had a private class with the Soma Rodolfo, um, who took us through. Understanding tequila. He talked about the different varieties of tequila. He paired, uh, tequila with different food samples and talked about kind of the history and the culture around tequila. And also Mecal, we certainly, uh, add some samples and, um, had a really good time.

It was, and it was in a very beautiful part of the resort. The Mexican restaurant here, we’ll talk about restaurants in a minute or two. Um, has a back patio with a bar overlooking the ocean. I was. A really nice, quiet area of the resort. It’s a great place to have the such a great breeze. Yes,

Shayne: that’s

Julie: glorious.

It’s very nice. So the, the really interesting part of the tequila tasting was when we had food that was paired specifically with each tequila and how it changed the taste of the tequila in a, in a good, or, or he showed us how it could change in a bad way and why that was worth it to go for the pairings

Shayne: and to be candid.

I. I wasn’t looking forward to it because I thought my tequila tasting days were behind me but getting there and having him have a, let us sit up the various types, pairing him with the different foods was quite

Julie: enjoyable. Yeah. And the educational was so cool. The history of it was so, so fun. Yeah.

Shayne: Little history, a little, my daughter and I are both really into different mythologies and learning some of these new mythologies from this area was yeah, I

Heather: never, and it’s

Michelle: interesting how he.

Explain the different color variations of the tequilas,

Julie: how they’re produced. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. I definitely feel like when I go shopping for tequila back home, I would think about it a little bit differently.

Ryan: Right? Not, not if, but when I heard you say, yeah, you

Shayne: misspelled when

Heather: yeah. Do I do like that?

Olfo even talked about how this is not. Like tequila shots. Yeah. We’re not

Julie: doing tequila shots. It was, it

Heather: was a tasting. Yeah. I did enjoy that.

Shayne: Yes. And I thought it was fun that he gave us a bad pair to

Ryan: yes,

Julie: that’s my, that’s what I mean. Yeah. That was cool.

Ryan: Yeah. And so you can purchase that as part of your time here.

It’s not very expensive. I, I think when I looked it was wrong, $30 a person, I think they said 30. I would high I, to me that that’s a no brainer as far as value,

Julie: but you’re getting a little snack. Yeah. You’re getting, you know, if, if like Heather said there were sips, but you. Ahead and finish your sample of tequila as well.

And they would just refill

Ryan: it. Yeah. And then after a short lunch, um, obviously because we had gone to two alcohol tastings that day, we decided that archery would be the appropriate, uh, next activity. And these are, they have different sport activities throughout the day. Um, archery is what we took advantage of yesterday, but there was also beach, uh, soccer.

There was volleyball in the pool, but they are scheduled, but they are scheduled. Yes. They’re all on that. Yes.

Julie: You can’t just show up and do archery or volleyball at any

Ryan: time. Right? Right. So we had, uh, a staff person, an entertainment staff person come with the equipment and, uh, gave us a quick intro to, you know, how you hold the bow.

You know, what’s the, what’s the proper mechanics for shooting the arrow. And then everybody got five shots. At the target. And that was a lot of fun. It was, it was kind of a quick activity and just kind of something different. I don’t, I don’t do a lot of archery shooting in my day to day. You

Shayne: did a great job of teaching you enough where you could enjoy shooting it, but then not hounding you on your.

Warm and everything. Just letting you enjoy taking a few shots, the experience.

Ryan: Yeah. Some of the other things that we’ve, uh, enjoyed activity wise here, um, we’ve enjoyed the entertainment at night. I would say, you know, like most resorts you’re gonna kind of find the same types of things for, for whatever reason.

Most all. Inclusives tend to have like a Michael Jackson tribute. Um, I have seen that at other resorts, uh, you know,

Julie: was, uh,

Ryan: the British invasion, British invasion. There was reggae. So there’s gonna be, there’s gonna be different things, um, at, at resorts like this for you to enjoy in the evening. What else have we been doing?

Entertainment wise or activity wise

Julie: swim up our,

Ryan: yeah, the swim bar and the mojito bar have been part of our entertainment. Um, let’s talk about the bars and then we’ll transition into restaurants. How have we felt about the. The bars here, uh, swim up or, or lounge bars.

Julie: I mean, I would think most swim up bars are not gonna have the best drink that you have experienced on, on the resort property, but it it’s still good.

It’s a good experience. We’ve never had a wait very long for a drink. They’re never very crowded. Yep. Do a good job of hustling. I’m sure. Absolutely. They’re

Ryan: moving back there behind that bar. Um, a drink that I’ve really, um, liked this time is at the mojito bar. Their signature drink is a cinnamon. Mojito delicious.

Fabulous. It’s a very, very good drink. Um, yeah, it it’s, it’s really good. I’ve learned that I like cinnamon mojitos and I’ve learned that I like mescal

Julie: and many other forms

Ryan: of Tela and I guess, many other forms of tequila, important lessons. Yeah. So restaurants, there’s a variety of restaurants here. Um, we have been to, and I’ll just list them off.

We’ve been to the buffet for both breakfast and lunch spoon. So spoon is the name of that.

Julie: Azu or charisma properties do differentiate. They don’t have buffets where the food is out. Oh yeah. That’s for a long period of time. What was the word that they used, where they replenish? It’s a smaller portion that they set out that it’s replenished more

Ryan: frequently.

Yeah. You’re not gonna find the big warming tubs of meat or potatoes. They, they have smaller plates of things, just like Julie said. Um, I, I like that. I, it seems like there’s more variety that way it was spread out

Shayne: nicely. There wasn’t any areas where you were too bunched up. Yes. Waiting in a. You could easily skip a spot if there wasn’t anything you were.

Yes. I

Julie: never felt like there was

Ryan: a line. I think we decided that we liked the breakfast offerings better than

lunch.

Julie: Yes.

Michelle: They do have little kitty sections too with like kid

Julie: friendly foods.

Ryan: Yep. The donut wall, the donut wall and different things like that. Uh, for lunches, we’ve also had, um, the pizza pizza, which is a brick, uh, oven, uh, roast.

Okay. Yep. Everything’s great. Thank you. Would you like something? Would we like something to drink? We might. Well,

Heather: all of them Mosa, please. Margarita

Julie: margarita.

Yes, please. I’ll take one of those two

Shayne: margarita

Ryan: margarita. I

all thank you so much. Thank you. My name is a gonna be

Shayne: today. Thanks

Ryan: a this a thank you. And

Shayne: that’s what, how cool is that? Hey, there you go. Recording.

Ryan: Fly take record

Heather: podcast. That’s what I call a working meeting.

Shayne: It’s 10:00 AM somewhere right? 10:00

Michelle: AM. Right. But the service here has been very good. I’m happy with the service.

Julie: Yes, definitely.

Heather: Staff is Great’s so nice. Yes. I find that everybody’s very

Julie: kind and bulky. Yeah, absolutely. Very helpful. I think your,

Heather: your made is a little feisty

Julie: yeah. I,

Heather: I like me as a blast.

Julie: That’s the, I love language barrier. I know. I.

Michelle: Fusing at us, or if she’s

Julie: I joking, I think she’s joking and

Heather: blank.

Cause she wants get sauce and she was trying to make noise just to be silly and show up in the

Michelle: podcast. But she also has made me a difference how animal, every phenomenal. And they are the toast one on the, um, on the all things travel podcast paid. Yep. After this is released, I’ll have

Julie: to show my answers.

All right. Back to the

Ryan: restaurant. Yeah. Back. So Sono, another place that we’ve enjoyed for breakfast is the sit down option. A buffet option or room service for breakfast, but then there’s also Z Oz, which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And we’ve been there for breakfast. In fact, we were just there today.

What are our thoughts about Z

Julie: Oz? I really enjoyed it.

Michelle: I, I do enjoy that, that restaurant

Julie: for the breakfast.

Ryan: They’ve they’ve got a mix of both, uh, what I would call American traditional breakfast, but then also Mexican, uh, dishes. And I’ve enjoyed both. Yes.

Julie: live. I will see that the first day we were here, we did walk into that restaurant as an option for lunch. And it was way too hot. Yeah. It was way too hot because of the location. It’s right out in between some of the pools. Which is a pretty location, but better for breakfast, but they also said

Michelle: that they had an air problem there.

Oh, okay. So that could have been the issue.

Ryan: Yeah. So two, um, dinner spots that we’ve been to, and again, we’ve been traveling here and there as part of our programming. So we haven’t tried all of the restaurants certainly, but two places are the Mexican restaurant name, alwa alwa. Um, I thought it was excellent.

I loved it. It was, was great. It was lots of really good food. One of the things that was fun is they have. Chef’s choice, um, 10 taco plate for the table. Yes. Um, and so we shared a couple of

Julie: those. Yeah. For some reason he thought that the seven of us needed two of those. Yes. As appetizers and all the other APPE, along with the order three K so appetizers and, and

Ryan: we had a, we all had a really good meal there.

Yes. We all ordered different things and we were all happy. Yes. Lots of great options. And then last time we went to Sienna, which is the Italian restaurant. And I would say that I had a very good meal. Pleasantly surprised. Yeah. Yeah. I had some seafood. OTO Shane had that as well as well. We had, uh, miso Frito, which, which is Frito miso, Frito miso.

Thank you, uh, Julie for, um, Italian heritage . Um, and then I enjoyed my pasta and then I had a really, really good, uh, concrete ribs, or it was kinda like a pork SHA, um, type thing. And I think everybody was really happy with their food. I would say, I would say the food here is not gourmet gourmet, gourmet.

But it’s very solid

Julie: and

Michelle: I believe anybody can find something

Julie: to eat at any other restaurant. Yes. Now, yes. It’s not the best Italian I’ve had, but it was still enjoyable. Now, speaking of the Mexican

Ryan: version of Italian, yeah, there you go. So speaking of gourmet, gourmet, gourmet as little beach does have on property LASIK.

Yes. And LASIK is a, uh, triple a five diamond restaurant. It’s been voted one of the best hotel, the best hotel restaurant in Latin America. they offer up to 24 courses of a tasting menu. Um, and this is extra. This is about $150 a person. Um, so it’s definitely something that if you want to enjoy on your trip, you need to, to plan that.

But it cer it was a beautiful space it’s available on open table. It’s available on open table. So even if you’re not staying. ATSU beach, you can have it part of your Cancun vacation. It seemed like a really good special meal on your trip. Yeah.

Shayne: I don’t consider myself a foodie, but if we had had the time, I would’ve, I would’ve

Ryan: tried that.

I would’ve been, I would’ve been talked into it. Yep. It is adult only. Yes. Adults

Julie: only. And for an

Heather: additional fee, you can either do

Julie: wine pairing with it or tequila pairing. Yep.

Ryan: Yep. That’s cool to pause is the restaurant we have not been to, um, that is off the lobby there it’s. Space and we have not, it’s Mediterranean.

Yeah. It’s Mediterranean. Which as you look at the menu, it doesn’t look very Mediterranean, but , um,

Julie: it’s the Mexican version of

Ryan: Mediterranean. There you go. And it’s a gorgeous place, but it’s a gorgeous space. Absolutely. So, you know, I, I think there’s a lot to offer here when it comes to restaurants and bars.

Um, well the one thing that we have said that we wished was more grab and go type options. Yes. The pizza pizza was very good, but again, it took, you know, 20 minutes or so for your pizza to be.

Julie: Yes, because

Heather: personalized you order it. Yeah. And

Julie: they oven and bake it right then and make it, but there’s yeah, they do have like a popup location kind of in the middle falls every day at one o’clock.

So it rotates, I think yesterday was burritos. I don’t know what it is today, but, but it’s actually only there for, well, under an hour. Yeah. I wonder if it’s until the food is gone. Yes, it could be. So yesterday, every day it starts at one yesterday. We were finished with tequila tasting by one 40. We walked out to try to grab.

And everything was cleaned up. So there’s not like a station that’s kind of available all day for you to just walk up and grab it. You really have to go to a restaurant.

Ryan: Yeah. And that, that is missing. And I’ve been to, I’ve been to all coast resorts where that’s been plentiful and I’ve been to others where it’s the same way.

I wish I’m missing that. I wish there was a counter somewhere where I could just go grab some fries or a sandwich

Julie: or, and bring it to your pool chair because that’s, what’s missing ice cream, like ice cream. Yeah.

Michelle: Like some, a lot of places will have little coffee shops, which this resort does have a

Julie: Starbucks Starbucks.

Oh yeah. That’s

Ryan: Starbucks extra. So there’s a beautiful star outdoor Starbucks space. Uh, but it is extra it’s it’s, it’s certainly not similar cost. I mean, it’s it’s yeah. Similar cost to us. Exactly. Prepare for

Julie: that, but it is not just Starbucks. They also use the space for activities like coconut painting and other indoor more indoor class.

Yes.

Ryan: Yeah. Every day there’s a Spanish, uh, language class. So who is this resort, right? For a quick getaway, a, a quick getaway. Why do you say that,

Julie: Julie? Um, I say that because we are closer to the airport, which means it’s further from a couple of excursions. If you wanna go to the ruins, we’re not very close to that.

Also because of the beach as it is right now, since it’s really more of a pool resort. Um, at least for me, I need a beach day in there, so I’m not gonna stay here for a whole week. I would say, you know, a quick trip. Okay. I don’t

Michelle: disagree with that. I think definitely this is for pool people. Um, at least at this time of year mm-hmm

Julie: come November, December, it might be

Michelle: different.

It would be, it could be completely different, but mm-hmm I would not spend. A week here. I, would you split the time or

Julie: just like a quick trip? Just like what you said? Yes. And like, while we like that it’s smaller and intimate. We are here for four and a half days. So if we were here for a week that small intimate space might right.

And get a little

Ryan: tired and two of those days were out in other we’re away from resort. So, yeah.

Heather: Yeah. But if you’re an active person and. To be social. And you did like a lot of the activities you could definitely stay

Julie: busy and try new things. Yes, you

Ryan: did. I mean, there, there are, uh, there is a lot to do. We mentioned what we have done, but there are certainly, I mean, there’s the app, the app is full there’s yoga.

Uh, there’s fitness classes, yoga strength, training classes every day. I mean, you could certainly be out and about all day long doing stuff.

Heather: You could be UT a lot of the classes. Yeah. But I am personally like a lounger on vacation and I could totally just chill, chill out by the

Julie: pool. That’s what I mean, I be happy for a couple days and

Heather: having cocktails by the pool within like a

Julie: nice dinner, but going back to the girl group and the rooms, we tried this out yesterday, the way that the rooms are set up and it’s like, this is a lot of all inclusive resorts.

It’s a little intimate. It’s a, yes, it’s a little intimate as in, there are doors on the showers and the toilet areas, but they are, are more of a frosted kind of door. And then in the shower, there is a frosted window that you can see, right. Room into the rest of the room. So you may not be shadow box. Yeah.

You may not. You may not be as you’re in the shower, you may not really see out into the room, but if someone’s in the room, they can see you right in the

Michelle: shower. And we definitely tested this

Julie: yesterday. Yes, we were. We were not bathing. Heather walked in and they didn’t

Ryan: invite us to this. I was gonna say, I’m not sure where Shane and I were.

I, no, uh, this is news to us because

Heather: originally good to know, we were supposed to be rooming with each other and I had never met. And I was her roommate. Um, and when I saw that window, when I first walked in, I was like, wow, that could have been really kind of uncomfortable

Julie: to shout that there would’ve been some logistics to plan out.

If you’re on a girls trip, sharing a room, there are, or are any sort of trip where you’re bunking up with another person. There may be some logistics to consider as far as you know. Yeah. And you can get around it. We talked yesterday. You could bring a little tension on, but you know, hang something there very easily.

Ryan: Yeah. Yes. So folks who have older kids. This a place for older kids,

Julie: maybe for a short time. Yes. A short

Heather: time.

Julie: We, like you said, and if they’re active and like to do the sports, like we also, we may not have mentioned this completely. There are the tennis sports and all over there. So if they’re active and they wanna go do that stuff.

Great.

Ryan: Okay. Julie, you have Todd OS. Is this the place for your kids?

Julie: I would say for the right price. Okay. There are other places I would choose first, but depending on the budget, it could be because they do have a very large splash pad. And I liked that option. But I don’t like the lack of the grab and go food because that would really break up our day.

Yeah. Having to go and find a restaurant

Ryan: every time.

Julie: What, so they’re currently setting up for what could be a wedding, some sort of private event in front of us, which is then going to take away the kind of open popup food station today. It looks like, well, um, so just know that those things are, yes. It says private events over here on the time may walk through here.

Yes. So no, and it’s gonna be like that at any. Inclusive resort that there could be an area of the resort that’s unavailable to you. But at this very small resort that that’s a large, maybe a little more, a large chunk that’s taken up. I will

Heather: say back, back on the rooms. One of the notes I made was I did love the spaciousness of the room and I love.

Storage. Like there was plenty of drawers and

Julie: closet space. I amenities were great. Yeah. Yeah. The room as well as being long, like Ryan mentioned, it’s not narrow. It’s very wide. I was very impressed by my room. When I walked in the square footage was nice and the beds were comfortable. Everything is comfortable.

Yep.

Ryan: Very comfortable bed. Yep. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a clean,

Julie: nice room room and a very nice patio, spacious patio for everybody. You know, if you’re not on the first floor, you’ve got a balcony, but it still has a big lounger has multiple lounges. It’s a nice space. The

Heather: curve sofa. I loved it. I sat out there last night while it was raining.

Julie: So upstairs has the curve, so, yes.

Shayne: Okay, awesome. That must be a Texas thing. Cause I did the same thing. I pretty much fell asleep last night, enjoying the rain.

Heather: Yeah. I love the sound of rain. I thought you

Shayne: were joking when you texted. No, I was outside. Are all

Julie: our drinks have arrived. Marita.

Michelle: Margarita. Thank you.

Julie: You all things travel sticker. I can put my down. Thank you so much.

Michelle: I know I have one. And then that takes to another point

Julie: that’s been up for topic of conversation is tipping

Heather: because I just tipped him because I just thought that was so

Julie: awesome. Thank you for doing that’s.

Michelle: Y’all know how I am about y’all know.

I am

Julie: a. I’m a tip arrive and that’s

Ryan: fine. That’s yeah, absolutely. That’s it’s appreciated and it, and it certainly impacts service and you know, a few dollars for a round of drinks goes a long way.

Heather: Okay. Absolutely. And not all day, just like maybe

Julie: in the morning or the night, like just all big tipping. Yeah.

All right. I think tipping definitely enhances

Shayne: service, but at no point has it. Awkward like you should. Yes.

Julie: Right. It’s never awkward. Or like they’re expecting

Heather: it.

Shayne: I’ve kind of had to remember to do it because it hasn’t been presented in a way where

Michelle: we don’t. I mean, guys y’all usually have pockets. We don’t always have pockets and dresses

Julie: and stuff like that.

And like in the pool, just from the right,

Michelle: it’s harder to remember to bring dollars. So sometimes it’s better to bring one bigger bill.

Julie: For the whole thing. Right?

Heather: Give it to them

Shayne: early. So make that little investment in your morning.

Julie: Absolutely. So going back on, um, it’s not awkward. We also haven’t really been haggled about anything.

Nobody is coming up and pressuring you to book an excursion. Nobody is pressuring you to book a spa. This is not a time nobody’s pressuring you to do a time chart, nothing like that, which is really nice. You truly can

Ryan: just relax. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. And, and we know from our experience at all, inclusives, that’s not always the case.

Yes. You know, you have to, sometimes you get the. Of people the first day at the pool where you’re lounging around and they, they see you’re a new person and they start, start asking you about various things. So, well,

Julie: yesterday when I

Michelle: went to get towels, um, they asked me, yes, once night’s sleep, I told them to, thank you.

I wasn’t interested. I was gonna enjoy the resort that day. And they were like,

Julie: Okay. Sponsor was law service excursion. Oh, it was an excursion. It was. Yeah.

Michelle: And they were, they were fine. They never bothered me again. They were fine

Julie: with my answer and right. They didn’t ask you the next time you came back.

Yeah. Right.

Ryan: Nice. Well, great. We have enjoyed our time as a beach resort, Revere Maya Cancun. Um, I, as you’ve heard us talk about, there are a lot of things to consider whether this is the right, uh, resort for you and it’s been fun. It’s a beautiful location. We’ve had a great time with friends. We’ve learned a lot about how to help you with travel.

And so speaking of that, if folks wanna reach out to Heather, Michelle, or Julian, talk about all inclusive vacations or further travel, Heather, how can they reach out to you? I

Heather: am Heather Wheeler. So my email is H Wheeler, HWheeler@CreatingMagicVacations.Com. Michelle. I am

Michelle: michelle@creatingmagicvacations.com. M I C H E L L E

Julie: Julie. I am julie@creatingmagicvacations.com.

Shayne: I sense a pattern.

Ryan: I sense a pattern. All right, folks. Well, we are going to continue this series, by having our, BDM or business development manager on the show, talking about all of the different Karisma resorts that we’ve learned about.

And I guarantee within that menu of options, there’s gonna be something that’s perfect for you and your family. Of say tune folks and thanks for listening. All