Travel Guide | Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas to Western Caribbean

Our cruise on the Carnival Vista was a great vacation, but the overall experience had us considering switching over to Royal Caribbean. I missed the Royal Caribbean ships with all the things to do. We decided to go out of Galveston again just so we didn't have to mess with the hassle of flying to Florida for a cruise. Luckily, we decided to go on another cruise right when they were having a Kids Sail Free and 2nd Adult 60% Off sale, so we got a pretty good deal for this cruise given we were only 5 months out from sailing when we booked it. We then discovered that, after this trip, I would only be 15 nights away from Ryan and I each getting 4 free drinks per day on Royal Caribbean cruises!

Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas Review

This was actually the biggest ship I've ever been on, and yet it was only about 8,000 gross tons bigger than the Carnival Vista, yet it felt much bigger. I think the way that Royal Caribbean designs the inside of their ships is what makes them feel better. The best comparison I can think of is how much bigger homes feel when they have an open-concept kitchen and living space compared to separate spaces. Mariner just felt more open and easier to navigate than the Vista.

 

The Rooms on Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas

We love to get balcony rooms. I think it's partially because my husband and I are homebodies, so enjoying where we're staying is important to us. But also, traveling with a toddler means you spend a lot more time in your room, and that little extra space goes a long way. Unfortunately, our balcony door was squeaky so we weren't able to utilize it during nap time like we did on our Carnival cruise (Carnival has a door that swings open whereas Royal Caribbean has a sliding door). 

Mariner of the Seas common areas were updated in 2018, but the rooms were not and you could kind of tell because the style of the room looked dated, our door was a pale pink. Our room also felt a little smaller on Royal Caribbean because our Carnival room was able to fit a Pack n Play and a coffee table, but there was no coffee table in our Royal Caribbean room.   

Our room had 2 plugs at the vanity area and 1 plug in the bathroom. There was a phone by the bed, but apparently the plug was behind the wall because we couldn't find a plug behind or near the bed. I was very happy I had brought a European outlet adapter so we were able to have 3 plugs in the bedroom. I was also glad that I brought a portable iPhone and Apple Watch charger bank that could charge our devices on our night stands like what we're used to back home. I had brought a plug-in dusk-to-dawn nightlight for the bathroom plug, but it seemed the outlet only worked when the bathroom light switch was on, which defeated the purpose of the nightlight. 

Eating on Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas

Because we were traveling with an almost-two-year-old, the My Time dining made the most sense to us, as it would allow us to keep her normal 7pm dinner time while still getting to eat in a dining room instead of a buffet. This turned out to be a mistake. On our Carnival cruise, we were able to just put our name on the waitlist as we were getting ready for dinner, and a table would usually be ready by the time we got down to the dining room. Royal also had the My Time dining in the same room as the early and late dinners, just on a different floor, whereas on Carnival the My Time dining room was on a different part of the ship than the main dining room.

For Royal Caribbean, we actually had to make reservations before our sail date, and unfortunately by the time I learned this the earliest dinner reservations were 8pm, which is our daughter's normal bedtime. Pushing her dinner to 8 wouldn't be as bad if dinner itself wasn't an hour ordeal. Thankfully, on Day 1 we went to the main dining room and were able to talk to someone who helped us get a reservation for 6:40 every night. This turned out great, as we had the same table and same waiter every night whereas on Carnival we had a different table and different waitstaff each night. This was so helpful for us as after the first night the waitstaff learned our daughter's preferences and would anticipate her needs before we even asked. For example, when your kid is seated they immediately bring out a bowl of diced fruit as an appetizer to help keep your kid entertained while they wait for their entree. Our assistant waiter noticed our daughter only ate the strawberries and that we asked for more strawberries, so every night after that he only brought her a big bowl of strawberries and she was a happy girl. We liked the food we had each night and often tried a two entrees or appetizers. 

We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches at the Windjammer buffet, which was a mistake our first port day. We circled the whole room twice and finally found a seat sharing a giant table with another family, but had to spend more time trying to find a clean high chair. Next cruise, we'll stick with the main dining room for port days since everyone seems to be on the same schedule of eating right before they let us off the ship. On sea days, it wasn't so bad since everyone was on different schedules and their mealtimes were more spread out. I noticed between the breakfast we had at the main dining room seemed to be all of the options given at the Windjammer, just that the Windjammer had more options. But, the Windjammer only had pre-made omelets with ham or cheese, and the main dining room had create-your-own omelets as an option. We got mimosas on the first breakfast at the Windjammer, and both the orange and strawberry mimosas were made with cheap-tasting champagne so we didn't like them. 

We had lunch one day at the Cafe Promenade because they had pizza which is a quick go-to to get our daughter fed. There were also little finger sandwich options if you didn't want pizza. Cafe Promenade is weird because the food in it is free, but it's right across the hallway from a bar that doesn't have free food, so it's hard to know what is free and what isn't. We also grabbed breakfast there too, they just had breads and breakfast sandwiches. The selection was small, but the food was pretty good, it seemed more geared towards coffee and tea drinkers.

On our last sea day, we had lunch at Johnny Rockets. You pay $18 and then can get whatever you want off the menu, but milkshakes cost extra. It is a small room, but it took them forever to find us a clean high chair. We ordered, got my root beer float (so good!) and onion rings (amazing!! great ranch, they need to make fried pickles!!) before we got her highchair. The burgers were good, Ryan said the 12 burger "special sauce" seemed to just be ketchup and Tabasco mixed together. 

 

What to do on Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas

Given that we had signed up for The Key, it was easier for us to do activities like the rock wall climbing and Flow Rider since we had reserved times. I volunteered to be the babysitter while my husband was the adventurer doing all the things. 

 

We did the Mini Golf together the morning of our first port day, and it had such a great view as we were pulling into port! I recommend the Mariner Dunes area as a great place for a sail-away view or to watch as you sail into port. The Mini Golf was a cute little ocean-themed course, and was easy for kids to do.

We went to the ice show "Under the Big Top" and really liked it! It's 45 minutes, but the first part is loud and flashy, which scared our toddler. The rink has 2 long sides and 1 short side, and the front row of the 1 short side had a lot of audience involvement. Keep this in mind if you have small children that might be afraid of people running and jumping at them. 

We spent the vast majority of our time in the open-play toddler room. It was huge and had a surprising amount of baby and toddler toys. Our daughter loved to play in here, and we were happy to be able to sit down and relax because she's old enough for independent play. But of course we spent a lot of time playing pretend for her and looking up whether we should buy her favorite pretend food truck toy.

When our daughter was in the paid drop-off child care, we loved the Solarium! It was a much better experience than the adults-only area on our Carnival cruise. It was quiet, kid free, had 2 hot tubs, a good size pool, lots of chairs and even day beds both in the shade and sun, the bar was never packed even on sea days, and there were waiters taking drink orders and occasionally a beer cart would come by. 

5 Night Western Caribbean Cruise Itinerary

Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico

I think this was my first time at this stop. I tried looking up my past cruise itineraries, but Royal Caribbean only saves them for 7 years and apparently I haven't sailed with them in less than 7 years. Yet another reason why I have this blog. My mom told me she's been here on a cruise, and thinks I was with her on it, but I honestly can't remember. The port itself is actually really nice, we saw 2 pools (at least 1 I noticed had a swim-up bar) that seemed free, and several restaurants and a lot of shopping. I honestly think this is one of those ports where you can get by without an excursion just hanging out at the port. The day we were there, we were the only ship so it didn't feel overcrowded at all. We didn't get there until noon and had to leave by 6:30, so it was a short trip. Getting there at that time meant that we were walking through the port at a very hot time of the day, which wasn't ideal. I didn't have time to take photos of the actual port because we were rushing to make sure we made it to the meet up point on time, since a toddler slows us down, but I did grab photos on the way out. 

 Our daughter fell asleep so we carried her trike since we didn't bring the trike backpack

None of the excursions offered through Royal Caribbean seemed like something we'd want to do with our daughter, so we did our excursion outside of the cruise line. We dabbled with this in Belize and really realized that you can get a lot more of your time out of your stop if your excursion is catered specifically to you rather than a group, so we felt like we could do it again. This experience was better than Belize because we had it booked well in advance.

We ended up booking a day at Maya Chan. We paid $79 per adult and $19 for our toddler via PayPal, and got all-inclusive food and drinks plus a free ride to the beach. What's nice is that it's ran by Americans, so there was no communication barrier when booking, and they sent lots of follow-up emails leading up to the day with confirmation of our reservation and information on how to find them on the day of and what to do, so I felt very reassured doing this on our own. 

It was a little intimidating doing it this way because usually if you do an excursion through your cruise, you'll all meet as a group either on the ship or immediately off the ship and then all go to your excursion together, and Maya Chan did a really good job of trying to make it similar to that. They emailed us a map to exit the port (it is a pretty big port) and walk to a meet up spot. The map and instructions were pretty detailed and we felt fairly confident figuring out where to go. Just keep left after the dolphin area, don't continue on into the shops. They say it's a 1/4 mile, but in that heat it felt like half a mile. We were so happy we brought our Doona trike for our daughter, there's no way she could've made it without having to hold her if we didn't bring it. I'm also glad I had a stroller fan attached to it for her, because even though she wasn't walking, she was dripping sweat by the time we got to the meetup. I just wish we brought our neck fans because we were dying pushing her and carrying all our beach stuff in the heat since most of the walk is uncovered. I also wish we had brought our trike backpack because we had to carry her stroller around the rest of the trip. 

We got there and within a minute we were given paper wristbands and then a van took about 10 of us to the beach. It was about a 20-30 minute ride with traffic, but it was worth the effort! This was a perfect excursion with our toddler. Right when you get there, they have a wall of life vests in all sizes (small enough to fit our 25-pound toddler), snorkel masks, and leftover toys that prior families had left behind. We were given ice-cold filtered water, the Wi-Fi password (there's 2 Wi-Fi options, one for the Bar and one for the Beach so you have a great connection wherever you are and they're the same password for both), and then were taken to our area. 

Our area was PERFECT! A huge covered area that had 4 Adirondack chairs, 2 tables, a daybed, and a hammock! All just for the 3 of us. I had brought my baby Bogg Bag specifically so that I could use the little tray insert to have an extra table for all our stuff, but didn't even need it. 

 

We hadn't even sat down all our stuff when we were given the best rum punch welcome drinks I've ever had, and they even had a fruit punch version for our daughter. Right after that, we were given homemade tortilla chips and fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. They do use small 8-ounce cups like a lot of all inclusive resorts do, so I recommend you bring an insulated tumbler so your drink doesn't run out as fast. They were the best pina coladas we had ever had, and that's my husband's go-to vacation drink. The drinks didn't taste very strong (probably because they were so flavorful with the fresh pineapples), but when I asked for a double it was a little too strong. 

The ocean was nice, but for our time of the year the sea grass was definitely present. They had 2 guys on the beach and in the water trying to rake it away, but there was just so much that they weren't able to make a lot of progress. Once you got out a little ways, there was no seagrass. I wore my water sandals into the water because I don't love stepping on textured surfaces in open water, but I wish I'd worn my water socks instead because when I walked over/through the seagrass, some got stuck between my foot and sandals and it freaked me out. But, the water was nice and warm and they provided floating chairs on a first-come-first-serve basis, the water was nice and calm so safe for littles with the use of their provided life vests, and you could even see our ship from the beach! The beach was secluded in a jungle area and we didn't see anyone else at the beach. They also let you use their snorkel masks, stand up paddle boards, and kayaks for free. ]

For the people who didn't want to deal with the seagrass, they did have a pool. It was about half the size of a backyard pool. Unfortunately, a lot kids took the floating chairs into the pool which basically took up the entire pool, so we didn't feel we could squeeze in and try it out. The bathrooms were right by the pool.

The pool is bigger than this angle makes it look

Their service was the best service we've ever had. Lots of people always walking around in case you needed them, and occasionally they'd ask if you need something, but it was the perfect balance of being attentive without being annoying. They would even come into the ocean to serve the drinks. And one time I was going to the bar area anyways so I just went to ask for a refill myself and the bartender instantly recognized my cup and asked if I wanted another pina colada. They confirmed our cruise line and ship name, and then let us know they could take us back 70, 60, or 50 minutes before our boarding time, and then gave us a 15-minute warning before our ride was ready back.

What I really appreciated about this excursion as a toddler mom was that it wasn't a party atmosphere like a lot of places are on vacation. There was some music at the bar, but even at the bar it wasn't loud and you could easily have a conversation. Since we didn't get to port until after our daughter's lunch time, we had already eaten before we got off the ship so we didn't eat the provided lunch, but the chips we snacked on a bit were really good so I do think their lunch was also probably really good. The only kids we saw there were elementary aged or younger. Teenagers probably wouldn't love this place if they wanted a lot to do. But, I thought it was the perfect relaxing place and I would love to go there again just to sit and read a book with a drink in my hand. If I can't do that, then I'm just as happy to come back with our toddler and let her have a great day at her pace just playing in the water and the sand and taking naps on the beach.

Cozumel, Mexico

This was our second trip to Cozumel in two years (cruising out of Galveston will do that to ya), so I was so excited to put my daughter in the same outfit she wore the last time she was here. Last time, we just hung out at the Carnival port and did a little shopping and a little eating before going back on the ship. We were here from 7:30 until 4:30, so we had a good long day here. 

2023

2024

Similar to Costa Maya, we didn't really see a great toddler-friendly excursion offered by Royal Caribbean, so we booked Nachi Cocom on our own. We paid $69 per adult and $0 for our toddler to again get all-inclusive food and drinks. The reason we chose Nachi Cocom over other Cozumel options like Paradise Beach or Mr. Sanchos was that they limit the amount of guests per day. Having a toddler, it was really important to me that she felt she could run and play without getting trampled by a huge crowd. It also didn't have any big water inflatables that attract big kids who can run around and run over my daughter.

Navigating the Cozumel port to get to Nachi Cocum was an easier experience than navigating the Costa Maya port to get to Maya Chan. We again brought our Doona trike and this time remembered the trike backpack, but my husband thinks our daughter could have made the walk.We just followed the signs that pointed towards the taxi pickup. The one sus part was at the end there was a sign pointing to go to the right to get to the taxis, and then right behind that was a store with a sign pointing to the left down a hallway to get to the taxis. We thought this was a scam and went right, but actually you do go take a right until you get to the store and then take a left and go down the hallway to the taxis. What I appreciated about the taxi pickup was that they had a board with prices to the major tourist areas with a flat rate per 4 people. Whereas in Cancun all the taxis are white with a green stripe, here all the taxis were white with a red stripe, so you could feel comfortable knowing you're getting into a legit taxi. The trip was only about 20 minutes to get to the beach. 

Once you get there, they have you take a welcome photo and then later they offered us to buy it for $12. It was a cute photo, and I'm glad we bought it because with the chaos of a toddler we completely forgot to buy photos from our ship until after we got home, so this was our only professional photo of the trip. They then will take you to complete your payment and then give you paper wristbands and let you know who your waiter will be and then your taken to your beach chairs. There's actually a QR code that you need to scan to connect to Wi-Fi that we missed and had to go back, because the waiter we asked for the Wi-Fi code either didn't know it or wouldn't give it to us, so don't forget to scan the code before you leave. The Wi-Fi worked much better at the pool than at the beach. We were seated by the beach bar which made me nervous at first for nap times, but thankfully they didn't have the music too loud. 

What was the only con of our Nachi Cocom experience was that the beach area they brought us to initially had a big umbrella covering 4 beach chairs and a table, but as we were setting our stuff down, they took away the 2 beach chairs, leaving only 2 beach chairs for the 3 of us. I know that our daughter was free, but she still deserved to have her own chair and I wasn't a fan of this. At first I was just thinking they were rationing the chairs so that later-arriving guests could have a seat, but the chairs just sat out in the middle of the sun unoccupied for the rest of the day. The table they left us with was small, so I was very happy that I brought my baby Bogg Bag with my little tray insert to have an extra table so not everything had to go in the sand. 

The beach was also large and didn't seem to have a lot of sea grass, but I do recommend water sandals because there are a lot of shells. I'm glad we brought a little mesh bag for our daughter to collect shells in. There was no beach toys or floats offered, so make sure you bring your won. They have showers at the bathrooms to the right of the beach bar to wash off ocean water, and they have a food wash station near the pool to wash off sand. 

Nachi Cocom isn't a resort, but it does have a resort-sized pool. It was huge with a very large shallow ledge for adults to sit and talk or toddlers to play, an adults-only hot tub, and a swim-up bar. This was were my toddler wanted to spend the majority of the day, and we were just fine with that. 

Around the pool was a bunch of outdoor dining tables, so we had lunch by the pool. There was a good variety of options, and I really liked the food. The mixed drinks weren't the strongest, so we just stuck with beer to save on the empty calories. I never saw water sitting out like at Maya Chan, so I was glad we brought several bottled waters with us off the ship.

Regular menu

Kids menu

When it was time to go, they ordered a taxi for us and it was there about 5 minutes later. Overall, I think this would be a great sit and read a good book with a drink in your hand excursion. They specifically have signs saying they don't allow "spring break" behavior. Like Maya Chan, it seemed to be the perfect place for early elementary kids and younger to just hang out and enjoy the beach or the pool. We'd definitely come here again, but next time I do want to talk to them about having 1 beach chair per person rather than 1 beach chair per paying adult. 

Overall thoughts on this cruise

This trip was much better than our quick 2-night stay in Cancun, but felt just a little too short compared to our last 7-night cruise. But, we had a great time! It was definitely easier traveling with our daughter now that she can walk and explore the ship, but more exhausting because all she wanted to do was go up and down the stairs. Meals were also much easier with her being able to eat table food the whole time and not having to worry about formula and filtered water. 

Our next trip 

Ryan and I have agreed after going to an all-inclusive and then this cruise within a month that we just really prefer cruises right now. There's so much more variety of food to eat and things to do on a cruise, especially with a small kid. 

We really wanted to book our next cruise while on this ship (I'm only 15 nights away from Diamond status, which gets us each 4 free drinks a day!), but we're still at the growing stage of our family, and you can only cruise up until 26 weeks in your pregnancy. It just seems too soon to book a cruise when we don't know if/when I'll be pregnant before the next cruise. But, once we have that information sorted, we're on board to cruise again soon.

We have pretty much committed to being Loyal to Royal from the elevated experience you get with them. We're not completely against Carnival, and have even talked about going on the Vista again to stay in one of their Havana extended balcony rooms that has a little courtyard as a balcony (how perfect for babies!!). But, we do think we're ready for a break from Western Caribbean itineraries. I'm thinking our next cruise should go to Coco Cay because I haven't been there since they did their big renovation, and Ryan has never been there. I'm also itching to go on a larger ship, especially with little ones. I think our daughter would have loved being able to play on a splash pad on the cruise, so I'm starting to look at what the ships offer that would be best for them. 

And for our next trip.... we're going to Disney!

Is Royal Caribbean The Key Worth it for Families

About The Key

While I was looking online at the add-ons to book, I saw that there was a sale for the "VIP passes" for their Key Program was only $5/person/day more than the Wi-Fi. So, for this sale for our cruise, we could get the Voom Wi-Fi for $20/person/day or The Key for $25/person/day, and The Key included Voom Wi-Fi + priority boarding the ship and exclusive lunch on embarkation day, priority departure at tender ports, exclusive times for ship activities, reserved seating for shows, and a priority breakfast and flexible disembarkation time. For us, the boarding and departure upgrades were worth the extra $5/day for us because we were traveling with our 21-month old daughter. 

The Key embarkation process

On embarkation day, it was nice having a special line to go to since we were traveling with a toddler. We got through security SO FAST on embarkation day! There were 2 The Key lines reserved to go through security, but you're not limited to only those lines so you can go through the shortest line. When we got there a little after 11am, we were the only people going through The Key lines. While the Carnival Galveston port took almost an hour from walking in to getting on the ship, Royal Caribbean Galveston port took us less than 10 minutes, and that was with a diaper change stop. 

They also let you leave your carry-on luggage before lunch, and they'll drop off your carry-on to your room for you. We brought 2 bottles of wine and some other items that couldn't be checked, but were heavy so it was nice to drop them off right after we got on the ship. Our carry on bag was already in our room by the time our room was ready around 1:30pm, even though our checked luggage wasn't delivered until around 4pm. They gave us special The Key luggage tags that had our room number on it so we didn't need to use the boarding luggage tags, but I had added those as well just in case.

You're given The Key luggage tags after embarkation for your drop-off bags

Another perk that I liked was getting the lunch from their specialty dining steakhouse restaurant, Chops Grille, on the first day. Usually on embarkation day, everyone heads up to the pool deck to walk around and explore or claim a chair and start chilling, and then everyone eventually heads to the Windjammer buffet to get lunch. This can make both of these areas very packed and make it hard to find a seat. Since we had a reserved lunch in the main dining room, we didn't have to fight other guests to get a table and eat. They didn't have a kid menu, so the waiter just brought us mac and cheese which was just buttered noodles covered with 2 slices of cheese and some fries. My husband and I got the burgers and they were just okay, which I was surprised because usually steakhouses have great burgers. 

The Key reservations

On the ship, we really liked having reserved times for the activities on sea days. Ryan is an Eagle Scout, so he was excited to hit the rock-climbing wall without having to wait in a really long line. When he went to rock climb, he was the only person for the first 15 minutes, and then 1 other girl came and they had the whole area to themselves. He was able to walk right up and fill out the waivers without any wait and was able to climb the wall as many times as he wanted without a wait. We had a similar experience with the Flow Rider, there was no line for filing out the waivers and he was one of 3 people doing the Flow Rider so he was able to go as many times as he wanted with only a few minute wait between runs. 

 

Reservations for activities were for Sea Days

Rock Wall was all to ourselves during The Key times

We didn't do the reserved time at the ice rink, but we did take advantage of reserved seating for the ice show. I really liked our seats and thought it was a great view. The only down side is that they open the reserved seating area to everyone at 10 minutes until showtime, so you have to get there early to take advantage of the reserved seats (they recommend 15 minutes before showtime). I feel like the seating was empty enough at 15 minutes before showtime that we probably could've gotten the same seats anyways just from being early, which kind of defeats the purpose of reserved seating if people who don't have The Key can show up after you and sit in your same section. 

The Key tender ports

Unfortunately for us, we didn't have any tender ports, so we didn't get priority departure on port days. Your ship can either park and let you off at a cruise pier, if the water near the coast is deep enough, and then you just go down to a lower level and walk right off the ship and down the pier to the port; or, if the water near the coast is not deep enough, then the ship will dock in the water near the port and they'll have a boat tender you over to the pier. I'm not sure why you only get priority departure on tender days, but it would have been nice to get it at each port stop. 

The Key disembarkation process

On disembarkation day, again it was nice having specialty treatment. We were given The Key disembarkation luggage tags, and were able to leave the ship at any time without a reservation as early as 8am. Our bags were also in a The Key waiting area, and there weren't many other bags so we could find ours very quickly. 

Embarkation for The Key is whenever you want

Disembarkation can include a lot of waiting around, so many people head up to the Windjammer buffet to eat while they kill time. Just like embarkation day, this makes finding a place to sit down difficult. With the key, we had a private breakfast so we weren't fighting to get a table. The food was definitely elevated, I had crab cakes benedict and my husband had steak and eggs. What was great was that right after we left breakfast they pointed us to The Key exit and then we had our own much shorter disembarkation line. From the time we left breakfast until the time we were through the terminal and had our luggage was only about 10 minutes. I really appreciated this having a toddler who can't stand in long lines. 

We thought the * would indicate an upcharge on items, but it was just warning you about consuming raw or undercooked food. No extra price for the steak or crab benedict

Is The Key Worth It?

Overall, for only $50 extra (we didn't have to purchase The Key for my daughter because she's a toddler, but you must buy it for everyone in the room 6 and older) it was definitely worth it. If there hadn't been a sale and the price was much more than the Wi-Fi package we were going to get anyways, then I don't know if I would recommend it, depending on the price. If there's not a sale going on when you go to check on it, put your cruise info into Royal Price Tracker and it can notify you when the price drops. I think if they did The Key specialty disembarkation on port days as well and maybe like one complimentary drink then it could be a must-do purchase. 

Travel Guide | Hotel Emporio in Cancun, Mexico

For our 3rd anniversary, Ryan and I decided to visit an all-inclusive. We went on a cruise for our first anniversary/babymoon, and went on a cruise for our second anniversary with our infant daughter, and contemplated going on another cruise for this anniversary. What changed our minds was that we decided to go just the two of us, and I haven't been able to just relax and drink on an anniversary trip since I was pregnant for our first anniversary and taking care of a baby for our second anniversary. Drink packages can really add up on a cruise, and sometimes on a cruise you are at a port for less time than you want and feel rushed away. An all inclusive just seemed like the better option where we could forget about our parenting responsibilities and just spend the day having drunk naps at the beach.  

Why we chose Hotel Emporio

Once we had decided to go on a long weekend getaway to an all inclusive, we knew Cancun would be the obvious choice. Cancun is just a 2 hour flight from Houston, and we enjoyed it the last two times we went. Although we're still wanting to get back to Moon Palace, we wanted somewhere a little more affordable this time. And although Panama Jack was affordable, there's just so many resorts that we didn't want to repeat the same one twice yet. 

So I just started searched online through Expedia and Trip Advisor and came across Hotel Emporio. It seemed like a great fit for us because it wasn't crazy expensive, yet still had good reviews. We were able to use our Chase Sapphire card points to book our hotel and our Southwest card miles to book our flights, making the trip basically free for us.

Since we decided to go without our daughter, all I felt comfortable doing was a long weekend because it was the first time we had both been away from her overnight. We ended up flying out early Friday and flying back Sunday afternoon, which was a great trip, but maybe one day too short. 

A pro tip I learned when I studied abroad is that most hotels will actually allow you to arrive to the hotel prior to the check-in time. Your room won't be ready yet as the last occupants are either still there or they just left and the room hasn't been cleaned yet, but the front desk will likely store your luggage until your room is ready. They likely will still give you your wrist bands when you get there and allow you to start enjoying the hotel while you wait for your room to be ready. 

Hotel Emporio Cancun Review

I'll be honest, this resort didn't really impress me much at the start, but it grew on me as we stayed. The lobby is one of the tiniest lobbies I've been to, and it was a crowded and slow process to get checked in. However, I did notice that there were a LOT of pilots and flight attendants checking in both on the day we got there and the day we left, so it seems to be really popular for flight crews.

One thing that I did like about the check-in process was that your resort wristband also had an RFID chip in it, which acted as your room key & could be scanned at the bar or restaurant to show you had the all-inclusive package. I love not having to carry around a room key and always knowing I have my room key on me, even if I'm just in a bikini. I hope more places start to adopt this technology, because it's the easiest customer experience. 

This resort had the option for food & drinks included, breakfast included only, or pay-as-you-go. I'm not a big fan of resorts having different packages with all-inclusive or not. It goes faster when you're trying to get a drink in the bar because no one is having to sign a receipt, we're all just grabbing a drink & leaving a tip & moving on. I also don't like it because it can be very hard to tell what is included in the all-inclusive and what is an extra (like certain restaurants or drinks). 

The hotel reminded me of Europe because there are LOTS of stairs to utilize the resort. The main level had the lobby, kid's pool, adult & kid's pool, and pool bar/buffet. The level above the main level had the buffet. The level below the main level had the kid's splash pad, adult's-only infinity pool & bar, the gaming bar, and a restaurant. Then there was another set of stairs to an adult's-only oversized hot tub. Then the level below the adult's-only pool was the beach. It was very confusing to know we're you're going and a lot of things seemed to be hidden, so it's worth it to spend a day just wandering around the resort to find out where's what. But, that being said, all the steps did help to really space things out. The toddler splash area is its own area, the kid's pool is a completely different area, and the adult's-only was its own area. 

The view from the adult's only hot tub

The all-ages pool has hammock and a entertainment coordinator who runs games like cornhole

The kid's pool had a pirate ship slide

The toddler are had 2 water tables and lots of sprinklers

The staff was iffy on service. I asked our room attendant for an extra water bottle and she said no, the front desk gave my husband a hard time about towel cards (which was a weird process itself), and we spent our whole time during the days either on the beach or in the adult's-only hot tub, and only once at each location did a server come to take a drink order. But, the staff at the bars and the staff helping with luggage and waiting for our ride were fantastic. 

The rooms at Hotel Emporio 

We reserved a "suite deluxe sea front" room, Room 902L. It was a nice room, but I don't know if I would call it a suite deluxe. It had a bathroom with a large shower and separate tub, a king size bed, a couch, and a balcony that overlooked the resort mainly, but if you looked up you could see the ocean. Usually, we love to order room service for breakfast and enjoy it on our balcony, but this resort charged $20 for room service. This wasn't worth it to me, but the buffet was a trek from our room, making it unrealistic to go grab something from the buffet and bring it back to enjoy in our room. 

The room itself was a really nice, standard hotel room. It was clearly renovated recently, the bed was really comfortable, and the AC worked really well. There were two closets, one for hanging clothes and one that I think was intended to store your luggage. It had a table that you could not move, so I think that was supposed to be an upgraded version of a luggage rack.

Unlike other all-inclusive resorts we stayed at, this one didn't keep any snacks in the room or beer/soda in the fridge. We got 2 water bottles by the mini fridge and 1 water bottle in the bathroom. We did not realize on the first day that the water bottles would be so hard to come by, so we accidentally drank all our water down at the beach and then both woke up parched in the middle of the night that first night. Like I mentioned earlier, on Day 2 I just so happened to run up to the room while it was being made up and the room attendant wouldn't give me a spare water. I'm so glad I brought a stainless steel water bottle that I could have the bartenders fill up with drinking water, because we would've been rationing water without it. 

Eating at Hotel Emporio

While we waiting for our room on Day 1, we headed straight out of the lobby and to the pool bar and buffet. The bar gave us great drinks fast, and it was easy to find a seat at the buffet. That buffet is right in between the kids-focused pool and the all-ages pool, so it makes sense that the only options were hamburger, hotdog, chicken fingers, or tacos. And I mean only options. The hamburger and hot dog buns were definitely above what you'd get at a sonic, but the meat wasn't great. At first we thought this was the only buffet option, and I was starting to panic that we had chosen the wrong resort if that was our only option. 

Luckily, my husband asked around and found out about the roof-top real buffet that you get to by walking through the pool buffet and up the stairs. It was great! The views were amazing and they had a lot of choices and a lot of freshly cooked food, some even made-to-order. The one downside was that we ordered a beer and glass of wine when we sat down, and we were almost through our meal by the time our drinks came. Then, our waiter mentioned something to us about how we'd have to sign something for our drinks so we waited and waited and he never came back, so we just left. I'm assuming maybe it's because he first didn't realize we were all-inclusive but then realized we had already pre-paid for our drinks? Not sure, which is why I don't love these hybrid resorts where not everyone is all-inclusive. We had dinner at this buffet the first night and breakfast here the next two days. 

For our one full day, I went ahead and ate lunch at the roof-top buffet by myself while my husband took a beach nap. After he woke up, he was headed up to the breakfast buffet and noticed there was a restaurant right by the adults-only pool and checked it out. He said the pizza was amazing and it was a really great restaurant. I was bummed we weren't staying long enough for another lunch and already had dinner plans, so I never got to try it. 

On our first night, my husband discovered the Italian restaurant, Bacoli Trattoria, tucked behind the lobby. It was fully booked for that Friday night, but he was able to get us a 7:00pm reservation for the next night. When we got there at our reservation, the hostess asked us if we were celebrating anything special, and we told her that it was our 3rd anniversary. Then she sat us down at the table right behind the hostess stand, where we were so close I could have high-fived her, even though there were less than half of the other tables occupied. I understand that people make reservations and then get busy (or drunk) and don't show up, but it was annoying that we were sat right there in a half-empty room, especially after we had just told them it was a special occasion. Although we've been given a free glass of champagne one night on our last two anniversaries, I don't expect this everywhere we go. But still, it was weird that they took the time to ask if we were celebrating anything and then seemed to not care a bit that we actually were. Other than that, the food was actually pretty good. I'm glad we had the all-inclusive package so we could order multiple appetizers to try out the food. One warning though, the bruschetta had a ton of chopped olives hidden under the cheese. I've never had bruschetta with olives, so I was caught off guard on that one. 

What to do at Hotel Emporio

I think this category is where this resort really shines. Like I mentioned, there's a whole area dedicated to just babies/toddlers, a whole area dedicated to just kids, and a whole area dedicated to adults only. It seems to be equally as family-friendly as it is perfect for an adults-only trip. 

The adults only pools had day beds you could rent, but we spent most of our time down at the beach or up in the oversized hot tub. What was weird was that the adults-only infinity pool also had a hot tub, but the heater seemed to be broken on that. The pool was probably 75 degrees, which would be great on a hot day but too cold for an 80 degree day. If the pool was heated, we would have hung out there the whole time. The views were amazing and it had it's own swim-up bar. This was actually the bar we went to the most often, because it seemed to open earlier than the beach bar and it seemed to not be as packed since the cold pool was basically empty. 

The oversized hot tub on a different deck was great. It was huge so it didn't feel crowded and it was partially covered, so you could choose how shaded or not you wanted to be. It didn't have an actual bar to it, but staff was able to walk around the full hot tub to take drink orders (although I found they didn't come that often and took a while to bring back drinks, so I recommend just taking turns going down to the other bar for a drink). There was only 1 instance of kids getting in the pool, and although they were just sitting and talking, the staff did make them relocate soon after they got in, so it's nice that adults-only areas aren't run over by kids. 

In between the adults-only bar and the restaurant where my husband had lunch on our one full day, there was a little sports bar. We went there after dinner on our last night and it was a great find! It was a long room that had partial room dividers with foosball, ping pong, and pool sections. The last section was a bar area with tables and a DJ (who was much too loud for that small of an area) with a karaoke TV going so it was a group sing-a-long. After the sports bar, we wandered around and found a horizontal rock wall at the end of the infinity pool that my husband had fun climbing.  

 

The beach was great. They had a large area reserved with lots of chairs, umbrellas, daybeds, and chairs. The daybeds couldn't sit up, so it was a rush to make sure you got a chair that wasn't flat the whole time. And not every chair set had a table, so I was glad that my beach bag could serve as a table. There was a good sized beach bar that had swings while you waited for your drink. There also seemed to be jet skis that you could rent, but it wasn't clear if that was the resort renting them or if they just allowed a company to rent them out on their property. 

Overall thoughts on Hotel Emporio

I think this place could have grown on me if I had a few more days to explore what it had to offer, and if I went in the summertime where it was hot enough that a cool pool was welcomed so I could have enjoyed the massive infinity pool overlooking the ocean. The bar staff was great and the drinks were good. The food overall was pretty good. Although there were a LOT of stairs, I liked how things were spread out so that different age groups could enjoy the resort without other ages being right there. 

I just really wish they had given us more waters plus some beers and snacks in our room like other all inclusive resorts. This is the first all-inclusive I've stayed in out of 5 different resorts throughout Mexico and the Caribbean that didn't even include basic beer and potato chips in the room. It's just nice to have a late-night snack or a beer before the bars open. 

If there was a bachelorette trip or something that wanted to go here, I wouldn't be opposed. But for now, I think there's other options out there that are worth visiting first before I come back to Emporio. 

Our next trip

A month after booking this trip, my iPhone memories started showing me pictures of our daughter on our last cruise and I got mom guilt thinking about Ryan and I traveling without her. I just went on Royal Caribbean's website to see if there were any sales, and there was a kids sale free and 2nd passenger 60% off sale! That was all the convincing I needed, so our next trip will be a quick 5-night cruise to Mexico!