Found another new all-inclusive resort set to open by the end of the year (the resort is taking reservations starting from Nov. 7, 2021). It is called Hilton Cancun and from the look of things on the Google map, it will be located by the Haven resort and north of Royalton Riviera Cancun. Please correct me if I am wrong here, we all want to know more about this resort!
This year’s World’s Best Awards Survey done by T&L brought some interesting results for Mexico. Lots of Cabo places on the list (interesting because Cabo beaches are black-flagged in many areas (unswimmable–injury or death “imminent” if you enter the water), some for Puerto Vallarta (understandable, it’s a beautiful area surrounded by jungle and mountains), Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo (I’ve only been to the Ixtapa Club Med and that area was very nice), one for Acapulco (Acapulco is too crime-ridden to risk it in my opinion), and a few for Cancun/Riviera Maya. Here are the ones listed for Cancun and the Riviera Maya; not all are all-inclusive. Continue reading
Surprisingly, right on the heels of the recent opening of Hotel Xcaret Arte, the opening date of the newest luxury Xcaret hotel has been announced. La Casa de la Playa, a boutique adults-only resort situated right next to Hotel Xcaret Arte, is now supposed to be open this December–that’s a YEAR ahead of schedule. Wow, what a change from most other new resorts!
Take a quick look at a video highlighting several areas of the new Nickelodeon resort including the Lair Suite–the suite looks very nice with lots of room and a large swim-up pool.
Well, I’ve seen the videos so I have no choice but to believe it. The brand new Nickelodeon Riviera Maya resort by Karisma is finally open August 1, 2021 after many years of postponements. It offers a 6-acre water park with 20 water slides, rooms for families of five, access to 20 Nickelodeon characters, six restaurants, three bars, and an oceanfront infinity pool.
I just got to Catalonia Royal Tulum yesterday and I felt I had to say something about the current road construction which is occurring in the Riviera Maya. If you may recall from a previous post, construction is now occurring for the most part to repair sinkholes to secure the roadway; all this is happening prior to the construction of the Mayan train which will take a couple of years. Be prepared for CRAZY traffic once you travel south of the Cancun airport. My private shuttle driver was delayed (due to traffic) coming back to the airport from a Riviera Maya resort; since I wasn’t in a hurry I decided to wait for him. Here’s the timeline though–I landed at 6 p.m. and didn’t get to my room until 9 p.m. With the driver’s delay and the absurd traffic, you may want to rethink your transportation from the airport to your resort if you will be staying somewhere south of Dreams Natura. I know I won’t be taking any more USA Transfers rides after this trip if I’m going to be going south into the Riviera Maya while this fiasco continues. It may be best to sign up for a cab in order to avoid any unnecessary waiting at the airport–you may pay a bit more, but you will get there faster. You may also want to check out the private driver I had back in November–he also does transport to resorts from the airport. His name is Juan Jose Vicente Tiquet, and his company is Friendstravelcancun.
The soft opening is definitely happening!! There’s a new video of Hotel Xcaret Arte which shows several resort areas including the beach–as in any new resort opening, construction is being completed (I see from the video that some construction is going on in one of the guest room buildings). Looks a LOT like Hotel Xcaret Mexico including the main pool, views from the lobby area to the main pool and beach, river as part of the resort grounds, architecture, design, etc. Opening date for this resort was July 1.
Be prepared for road delays for the next TWO YEARS when coming and going to resorts in the Riviera Maya. Work recently began on the repair of sinkholes and changes that need to be made to support the building of the Maya Train on the main highway south of the airport all the way to Tulum. Current work is focused on repairing the sinkholes at Km. 306 (that’s about where the Catalonia Playa Maroma resort is located–think Puerto Aventuras) and Paraiso Beach area which is just south of the Tulum ruins.
For those of you who haven’t seen the video yet of the Grand Palladium fire which occurred a couple of weeks ago, I thought I’d post it so you can get an idea of how quickly a palapa roof fire can burn at a Mexico resort and potentially spread to other structures. Seeing this video makes me realize how lucky it was that no one was hurt and no other significant structures were burned beside the lobbies.
I just read that Riu Tequila reopened June 1!!! Many have been eagerly awaiting this reopening since there are many fans of this resort. While it’s not on the beach (it’s actually across the street), it has more of a party atmosphere and attracts lots of fun loving guests.