Head Tale

We just returned from a week at the Crown Paradise Club Cancun so I wanted to write a review of our resort while the memories are still fresh.

HOW WE ENDED UP CHOOSING THE CROWN PARADISE CANCUN IN THE FIRST PLACE
Having bought a house in the late fall, our streak of visiting an all-inclusive resort every winter since 2015 looked like it might be over.

But a few factors combined which led us to book a trip only a month ago (normally we book sometime in the early fall, a few months ahead of the trip.)

One of the biggest reasons we booked this resort was that it was a lot less expensive than some of the resorts we’d been to in recent years – nearly half the price of the place we stayed last year (which, to be fair, was also the nicest resort we’d ever stayed at.)

So we knew going in that this wasn’t going to be the nicest resort ever – much closer to the mid-level, worn-out first place we ever stayed in Mazatlan than an opulent higher-end Cancun paradises like our last couple years.

WITH THAT SAID, IT WASN’T A COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED CHOICE

To be honest, Crown Paradise Club Cancun has actually been on our radar for quite a while as we came across it years ago and always had it in the back of our minds since it did look like a very affordable, very family-friendly option with lots of features that made it unique.

Even among the many resorts that try to attract families, Crown Paradise has a lot of unique features – a mocktail menu featuring a wide variety of drinks named after superheroes and cartoon characters, a zipline and a rock wall, basketball courts plus three different kids clubs based on the ages of your children (babies/kids/teens) whereas many other resorts, even that are family-focused, might not have nearly as many of these options.

THE GOOD

Overall, I was very impressed with pretty much everything about this resort, especially considering the low price point.

Service was very efficient and friendly pretty much everywhere, food (especially in the a la carte restaurants) was well-presented and tasty, there was both a poolside grill and a Japanese buffet as lunchtime options near the pool (plus they often cooked special poolside meals as well which led to us having delicious tacos one day), the resort layout was very well designed and easy to figure out quickly, the lobby bar was very relaxing and enjoyable for people-watching.

Being a bit more downmarket, I found this also made the resort feel a bit more relaxed – something as simple as how you could simply walk into the buffet without having to stop to talk to a hostess or spritz your hands with sanitizer [Edit: this was written pre-Covid when sanitizing your hands felt unusual!] or talk about your allergies or whatever was kind of a nice change.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

I think my biggest criticism is that this resort is clearly a bit older and worn in many ways but again, hard to make that a criticism when it was clear from reviews ahead of time that this was the case.  (Another guest I talked to said if they put a few million dollars into this resort for upgrades, it could be one of the best resorts in Cancun.  Hard to know for sure but the basics of this resort seem like a great foundation for that type of upgrade.)

Partly because we knew this and partly because we spent a lot less than we normally do for a holiday, we decided to pay for a room upgrade – something we hardly ever do.

Instead of a standard room with two double beds, ours had bunk beds for the kids in a small separate room plus a king bed.  But even though we paid for an upgrade, we still ended up in a room where the bathtub faucet was hanging loose from the wall (though still working – one person we talked to didn’t have hot water in their room), the lock on our balcony door was very hard to work, we found cigarette butts on our balcony when we checked in and, most alarmingly, what appeared to be blood stains (presumably from a child’s nose bleed…maybe?) on the sheets of the top bunk which had clearly not been changed after the last guest (though a quick call to the front desk got this resolved right away.)

One big advantage of our upgrade that we didn’t realise at the time was that we ended up on the ground floor of this seven story hotel.  We could still see the ocean (which is big for me) but there was a lot of commentary in reviews about busy/slow elevators so being on the ground floor was a bonus as we never had to wait for elevators and we could zip back to our room *very* easily from anywhere in the resort.

The pools being very cold was another common criticism and this was also true.  But we haven’t been to many resorts where many pools are heated (even at higher end ones) and jumping into a cold pool can often be refreshing, especially if you’ve spent a hot day on the beach in the sun.  Plus I always felt it wasn’t as cold once you got in and got used to it either.

OTHER THOUGHTS
This is a lot shorter than many of my other resort reviews but that’s for a few reasons – because we booked this resort so late, I didn’t spend as much time researching, reading and planning the trip as I usually do (which gives me lots to stay when I get back!)

Honestly, that’s probably for the best – I felt like this was one of the most relaxing holidays I’ve had.  Other than our usual day trip to Isla Mujeres and me popping across the street to a convenience store to buy *much* cheaper snacks for the flight home then at the resort gift shop, we never left the resort.  (I keep meaning to go to Mercado 23 one of these trips to experience a bit more of the local flavour but it’s hard to give up a beach day to go to what’s sort of a glorified swap meet/farmer’s market.)

Another random thought – I have a pet peeve with resorts that don’t have clear places to leave empty cups and plates and this resort was no exception.  I’d often feel guilty about just leaving them anywhere on the ground or a counter but they never stayed long so staff are maybe used to this?

I think I’ve mentioned this other years but I’m also not a fan of blaring dance music at poolside – how come so few resorts play oldies (for me, this means 80’s, not 60’s but I’ll take either!).  It’s enough to make me want to go to a Hard Rock hotel which I think is probably way better in this regard due to their branding.  (And on days when I took my smartphone to the pool, I could easily listen to my own playlist in my headphones – not on a bluetooth speaker! – as much as I wanted.)

CONCLUSION
It’s funny – in last year’s review, I said that Shea and I have always like trying, not just different resorts but different resort chains and even different destinations so we’d never found a resort we’d want to go back to in twenty years of going to all-inclusives.

Last year, Hyatt Ziva became the first resort that I thought “This resort has everything I need – I could totally come back here!”  but the high price point – we paid two grand more than we’d ever paid for a resort ever and that was *after* the price dropped by a couple grand already once I was watching it for a few months!

But strangely, as I say at the end of the YouTube room walk-through video at the top of this review, I feel like this is another resort I could see myself coming back to but from the opposite end of the spectrum – it was one of the most affordable resorts we’ve ever visited but also had all of the things we want – decent food, pools, beaches and drinks, decent service – and beyond that, what more could you want?  Or to put it another way, is it worth three grand to make sure your bathroom faucet isn’t hanging loose from the wall? 😉

Anyhow, I’m glad we went to this resort when we did for another reason.  Our kids are getting older and a family friendly resort like this is less important with every year that goes by – we’re way past the baby club and Sasha, age six, often seemed to enjoy the teen club more than the kids club.  In fact, we’ve been talking about it for a while and are getting more and more serious about maybe renting a condo somewhere (Isla Mujeres being the most likely location) for a future trip so we can focus on a holiday that focuses more on getting out and about to explore more, trying different restaurants than what the resort offers, not feeling an obligation to eat and drink so much to “get your money’s worth” and having different experiences (family card games in the evening instead of a show at a resort’s theatre?)

We used this model for our 2012 family trip to Hawaii (where there aren’t all-inclusives anyhow) and that was a very fun trip as well.

But for now, I’ll spend the next few months paying down the new mortgage (I talked to one guy in line at the poolside bar and joked “I work for the bank” when I talked about buying a new house *and* going on a tropical holiday in short order but he actually *did* work for a bank and thought he’d found a colleague.  He was very disappointed when he learned I actually work for a library but only feel like I work for a bank because so much of my income goes to my mortgage and paying interest on borrowed money!) 😉

Anyhow, just to summarize – I admit I was a bit nervous about how bad this resort might be based on reviews and price point but I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed it.