The Last Minute Vacation

Jamie and I were married 12 years ago in the Mayan Riviera on December 4th. Since then, every year around this time, I start to dream of warm sandy beaches and cold slushy drinks. I long for humidity, ocean breezes and amazing tropical sunsets. I seek refuge from the daily grind and imagine long lazy days beside a pool. I dream of Mexico and seriously have trouble thinking about anything else.
Late last year I decided there would be no trips in 2015. We had bought a house and drained so much money in 2014 that I felt we needed to slow down and take a break from spending. This plan was working until I had a conference in San Diego. We used the opportunity to a have a little family vacation in the sun. I foolishly thought it would work. I believed it would be enough to stave off my desires come November but I was wrong.
After one particularly grueling week at work I found myself surfing last minute vacation deals on the web. I wondered "how good are these deals really?" and then more dangerously "I wonder if I could find a Mexico deal for under a $1000 per person?" To make it more difficult I decided it had to be an all-inclusive  4 star + resort with direct flights. Surely no deal out there could reach my unrealistic standards. And then one did.
The Royalton Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa was a brand new 5 star all-inclusive resort offering a kids club and water park only 15 minutes from the airport. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was perfect! I showed it to Jamie who immediately said "No". Unlike myself, he had remembered we weren't spending any money on holidays this year. He made a good point and, to his credit, it was a financially sound decision. I couldn't let it go though. I was obsessing about a beach holiday. Work was tough and the deal was so good - who was I to pass it up?
My next offer was a compromise. I had six vacation days to use up at work before the end of the year. I told Jamie I would take Brandon and he could stay home. He considered my proposal for a few seconds and then said "Book it for all of us". Yippee! We were going to Mexico :-)
Our trip was booked for Nov 25th. - Dec 2nd. We left bright and early with a very excited little boy by our sides. The flight was about 4.5 hours and felt really long. We landed, hit customs and boarded our shuttle for the resort. The trip was only about 15 minutes before we arrived at the Royalton. The ride up to the resort was a long and windy path through a very large swamp. The back of the resort sort of resembled a prison but once we got off the shuttle and entered the lobby - wow! The view out to the ocean was outstanding.

Check in was fast and we were quickly shown to our room. It was very clean and modern with a view looking out onto the kids water park. Brandon couldn't believe his eyes. He was stripped down and looking for his swimsuit in a matter of seconds. We were out the door and to the pool in probably less than 10 minutes. B hit the water while Jamie and I checked out the scene. The resort was very large with plenty of sunbeds and loungers. In our immediate area -  "the family area" - there were three water slides, a toddler water park, a big kids water park, a small pool, a huge pool with swim-up bar, a snack shack, Italian restaurant, hot tub and infinity pool looking out to the ocean. Everything was clean and modern. I could tell we were about to have an enjoyable holiday.

And it really was nice. I think I enjoyed the food the most. They had something like 10 restaurants and one huge buffet. I don't think I ate one bad thing the whole week we were there. We signed up for the Tappanyaki show twice but what was really great was their sushi. We loved the Italian restaurant and had a fantastic meal at both the Mediterranean and Mexican spots. Being really family friendly they even had a section in the huge buffet for kids - a hit with B.

 Even though this resort had 11 pools I thought the beach was really nice. It was quite large and private. They had  lots of lounge chairs and a beach bar. The ocean was murky and full of seaweed but it was warm. Seaweed didn't bother my husband or my son as they could be found regularly playing in the waves or building sandcastles on the beach.

The Royalton also had a kids club which B took a shine to. They offered face painting and balloon animals so it was hard for B to resist. Once he discovered the kids club he wanted to visit it for a little while every day. Jamie and I took the opportunity to grab drinks at the lobby bar and enjoy the amazing ocean views. While in the club, B made a few friends. This was great because he would play with them the next day at the pool or at the beach.

We only caught one show during the week of our stay. It was the "fire show" and held down on the beach. It started at 9pm and featured live drummers and several performers dancing and doing tricks with fire. I was really impressed by the show and even B said he loved it. The show was over by 10pm and we took our tired little guy back to the room. He slept really well on the pull out couch while Jamie and I found the king bed to be quite comfortable. And the shower - wow! Two rainfall shower-heads made for the best shower ever. I'll have to remember that one for any future bathroom renovations we might do.
Being a new resort there were a couple of quirky things. One pool was under construction while we were there. Apparently the builder had used the wrong tile adhesive in all the pools so they had to go around, one-by-one replacing all the tiles in each pool. Also, because it was built on a swamp, the resort was shifting and experiencing cracking everywhere. Jamie and I started to call it "the caution cone resort" as cones were placed every few feet to warn of tripping hazards.
Despite the quirks the Royalton was a beautiful resort and made for a lovely family vacation. Service was good for the most part and I loved all the free WiFi everywhere, even on the beach. Would I return here again? Probably not. Jamie and I were both missing a quieter more charming Mexican experience. That being said though, we did land an awesome deal on this place and most likely couldn't even afford to return once it gets the kinks worked out ;-)