Coronavirus
I was in a meeting tonight and in the course of about an hour, my phone buzzed to tell me that: 1) Trump was going to start heavily restricting travel from Europe to US; 2) the NBA was cancelling their season; and 3) Tom Hanks and his wife have the disease. It’s a wild, scary time and I oscillate between thinking everything will be fine and thinking I should start gargling with hand sanitizer and wrapping myself in toilet paper. 😮
Sask Provincial Election?
I’m an NDP partisan but trying to look at it from a completely neutral point of view, is it not *insane* that Scott Moe is thinking of dropping the writ right after the budget is released in a week and then having Sask people go to the polls in a month with so much uncertainty?
(With that said, if Scott Moe picks now to run against *Dr* Ryan Meili, by all means, do your worst. I’ll go so far as to predict that if Moe calls an election during a fucking pandemic, it might go a lot worse for his party than he expects.)
Democratic Primaries in the US
It’s not over yet (someone said Sanders is closer to Biden today than Obama was to Hillary in 2008) but I’m extremely disappointed that Bernie Sanders seems to have cratered after doing so well early on in the primaries. But it’s obviously a huge hill to climb to convince Americans to join the rest of the developed world in having a strong social safety net, reduce wealth inequality and yes, a healthcare system that’s not going to ask to see your credit card before they see your health card. But who knows – maybe Sanders won’t be the President to bring in a national healthcare plan. Perhaps he’ll be the Tommy Douglas, a socialist firebrand, who lays the groundwork for someone else (in Canada, Lester Pearson) to implement a national medicare-for-all plan.
And Finally, Will The NHL Season Be Cancelled Next?
God, I hope not. But it’s a weird coincidence that the NHL’s current best player (er, no offence to Sidney Crosby) has a name that provides a clue!!!
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.)
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.
I admit that I was a bit nervous heading to the airport the next day as the Coronavirus seemed to blow up big (in news coverage if not actual cases) during out week in Mexico but our flight went ahead so, (un)fortunately, we weren’t stranded in Cancun! 😉
I still tell the story of the woman I traveled to England with for a University exchange in 1995 meeting a group of people in a pub and saying she hadn’t changed her pants in days.
Turns out trousers are pants in England and pants are underwear! 🙂
Through the entire Telethon, they have a constant crawl of donors but it’s very rare to see your name on it since the volume of donors is so high. But a few years back, I not only saw my name but managed to get photographic proof!
(TeleMiracle has helped numerous families in Saskatchewan including members of our extended family – it’s a great cause!)
Having just returned from a great week, this made me realise there are lots of other (potential) benefits to booking a cheaper place (but also some risks.)
FIVE REASONS TO STAY IN CHEAPER RESORTS
1. By booking a cheaper place, you’re helping to pay for future trips. Let’s say you stay at resorts that normally cost $5000/week. After four years, you’d have spent $20,000. If you pick slightly cheaper resorts costing $4000/week, you won’t spend $20,000 until you’ve gone for five years – almost like getting the fifth year free!
2. In the same vein, you can also think of staying at a cheaper resort as freeing up money to do other things on your vacation if you don’t spend right to your budget on the trip itself. To use my last example, by booking a $4000 resort instead of $5000, another way to think of it is that you’ve freed up $1000 in your budget to do other things – upgrade your room, go on an excursion, be able to afford the overpriced food and souvenirs in the airport!
3. Lower-end resorts are often a bit more casual and relaxed than the higher-end ones. This manifests in various ways – maybe you can just walk into the buffet whenever you want without having to stop and talk to a hostess to give your room number, get asked about allergies or even have some sanitizing gel squirted on your hands. Or staff might be more willing to bend rules about what time they start serving booze or the height requirements for kids in certain activities.
4. Some would see this as a disadvantage but since cheaper resorts may have fewer activities and amenities, you might not be worried about “doing it all” and instead, you might focus on quality relaxation time on the beach or by the pool.
5. This isn’t pleasant to think about but the reality is that It’s not unusual for people at all-inclusives to get sick because of too much sun/bad food/too much food/too much booze/too many sugary drinks/etc. etc. If you end up losing a day or two because of turista, it’s much more desirable to lose days at a resort where you’re not paying top dollar.
FIVE REASONS NOT TO STAY IN CHEAPER RESORTS
1. The less you pay, the greater the odds that something is going to be of lower quality to save the resort money – food, booze, level of cleanliness, etc.
2. As I mentioned above, a lower-end resort probably won’t have as many activities and amenities as higher-end resorts – fewer pools, less a la carte restaurants, cheezier evening shows where a magician might come out with his fly undone (happened this trip!) or whatever.
3. This isn’t a huge issue for everyone but in my experience, there’s a direct correlation between how much you pay and how bilingual the staff are. If you want to be able to communicate without a lot of gesturing or consulting a translation dictionary, you might not want to go to a cheaper resort.
4. Cheaper resorts sometimes aren’t “bad” necessarily, they may just not be upgraded or as modern so if you want pristine marble countertops and large screen TVs in your room instead of fixtures that hang out of the wall at weird angles (see photo) and little 32″ TVs, the cost savings of a cheaper resort might not be for you.
5. Whether you’re spending $4000 or $5000, you do want to ensure you stay in a resort that has a high enough level of whatever things are most important to you – beach, food, shows – so that you don’t end up feeling like you wasted your time and money completely!
Back from a week in Mexico and will likely do some resort-themed posts over the next few days starting with this one…
And my big thought of the day is – I really have no idea why most Cancun resorts have a Michael Jackson impersonator as one of their nightly shows when you never see anyone else – Elvis, Beatles, Stones, Shania Twain, Cher – only Michael Jackson who we’ve probably seen being impersonated at half of the resorts we’ve been to.
Is it because Jackson is bigger than other acts in Latin America? Is it a licensing issue? (Considering how many knock-off Disney/superhero shows we see, I’m guessing not.) Is he seen as having the widest appeal to different age groups? Is he just a more fun, energetic show than some of the others would be? Better options for costumes? Is there a secret society of Jackson impersonators that get plastic surgery and then work for all these resorts? (There has to be multiple impersonators right? So many resorts with the same show even if they rotate nights couldn’t possibly be up to one person?!?)
