Great Resort on the Cancun Hotel Zone: Grand Oasis Sens – My Experience

Here is the review I promised of the hotel we chose in Cancun Mexico.

It was just a short ride from the airport. That is one of the upsides of staying near Cancun is that if you don’t have a long ride from the airport.

When you stay in the Sian Ka’an category you are treated us as VIP’s.

If you have a problem with your room be sure to ask the concierge or front desk to help you. Be articulate and tell them what they need to do to make you satisfied. Mostly be patient.

This is a quiet romantic relaxed hotel.  It’s sister resort the Grand Oasis Cancun which was much louder, crowded & busy.

It is good to know what atmosphere your looking for when you book a hotel. This trip we wanted an adult only quieter resort and the Sens fit it nicely.

Booking the Sian Ka’an Category has many advantages:

The have larger room. I would request one with a plunge pool & deck.

That the specialty reserved restaurants were included if you were Sian Ka’an.

Reserved beach beds with drink & lunch service.

The “Foam Party.” is one of our favorite activities but they only do it on Saturday.

We loved the choices of restaurants all of which were excellent with so many menu choices we couldn’t try it all in a week. Don’t miss out on the Black Hole, Benazuza Specialty restaurants. We also loved the Maki Taco & Hippie Chic along with a lot more.

We loved this resort built on different levels with  lots of stairs, amazing food, fun activities, great beach, large clean rooms, and a relaxed atmosphere.

The beach was good and they had lots of beach chairs.

There were so many restaurant choices, activities & shows. See my TripAdvisor review for all the details, reviews and tips.  My TripAdvisor Review

Booking an All Inclusive Resort Vacation

I am looking for an all inclusive vacation to the beach in Mexico. I do this every year sometimes twice a year. An all inclusive resort vacation on the beach in the Riviera Maya Mexico area is my ultimate vacation.

The picture above from our room where we stayed last year at the Secrets Silver Sands Resort Riviera Maya Mexico. It is beautiful and very high class. It had some of the most impressive restaurants of any all inclusive resort we have been to. It also had the best ocean view room. But it was a bit over our price range this year.

This year I look for all inclusive packages that  included the room and all the taxes and fees with that go with that, included your food and drinks, several options for non-motorized water activities, taxes, gratuities, and the airfare with in our budgeted price range. That way I can book it and then forget about worrying about anything or paying for anything else.

I am a picky traveler my criteria for an all inclusive resort is that it must have the following:

The Room:

• An Ocean view room
• Jetted tub
• A balcony
• Unlimited included mini-bar

Dining:

• 4 or more a la carte theme restaurants that include a Japanese restaurant (teppanyaki style) & Mexican restaurant
• A lunch option near the beach
• 24 hour room service
• A Ice Cream Parlor is a real plus

Daily activities that I like:

• Exercise Class
• Cooking Class
• Contest like: horse shoes, trivia, archery, ping pong
• Tennis
• Pool Games
• Archery
• Snorkeling from the beach
• Kayaking
• Bikes

Nightly entertainment:

• Theater style entertainment
• Rockin’ disco or nightclub

Other amenities:

• Free Wi-Fi in the room
• A fitness center or gym
• A spa that you can use the basics of spa for free

Is all that too much to ask? Well not for all resorts. I find so many that I have a difficult time deciding between them.

The biggest problem I am having this year is finding a resort that has enough rooms available in the ocean view category for my entire group. There are 10 of us going together.

It seems like that the Mexican Riviera All-Inclusive Resort Vacation has become very popular which makes it sell out quickly. Part of the reason for that is that there are more and more airlines that are now flying into Cancun.

Added to that Countries like the United States, Canada and the European countries are all freezing in January and February so they want to go somewhere warm on their vacations.  The all inclusive resort vacation has become popular because you pay once then don’t have to worry about money again. (some resort do charge for extra things)

Well my search is on and I will let you know what happens. Do I find a resort worthy of my picky criteria? What is the lucky resort?

Exotic vacations need not be what you would normally think. Exotic vacations to me are ones where you have unique experiences or ones that are different, foreign to you or make you feel extra special. That opens up a lot of room for you to have an exotic vacation.

I have been to Venice a couple of times and it was defiantly a unique, different, foreign and memorable experience. I had never seen or experienced anything like it before. Some other exotic vacation experiences I can tell you about are Egypt, a Safari in Africa, canopying & the mud spa in Costa Rica, and even laying in the sun in Mexico.

Talking of Mexico I am preparing to go on my annual Riviera Maya Mexico vacation. This year we have chosen two different resorts. One of them the Secrets Silversands Resort. We chose this resort because we are looking for an exotic vacation. Exotic because it is supposed to be a classy high end luxury resort with a high level of service. I wanted to be spoiled this trip so we will see how this resort measures up to my hopes.

We are now staying in Playa del Carmen at the Real Playa Hotel and Beach Club. We are staying with hotel only. They offered us the all inclusive package at a reasonable rate but we wanted to go out and wander the 5th Ave tourist street and beach and eat there. This is an older hotel but the rooms are clean and near the beach. It is crazy with people for Spring Break and the Mexican Holiday as well. People everywhere. We walked to the beach and there were big concert stages set up but high walls around them so you had to pay to go in. The beach was very very crowded.

The worst was the partiers coming back during the night very drunk and very loud.

Guess what we found? A Fish Spa. I did this in Spain with my sister in law and friend. It was a great experience and my feet really were soft when I was done. It was so reasonable that I got dad to do it too. It was $21 for two people of $15 for one. Since it only cost  Gaylan $6 he decided to do it. People would stop and ask how it was. We were such good sales people that the spa manager kept giving us 5 more minutes. So instead of 15 mins. We go to stay for 45 mins. We got them 3 more sets of customers at least. It was great.People kept asking, “What does it feel like?” My answer is it it strange when you first put your feet in and all the little fish attack. It tingles almost like they are spot by spot numbing your feet. Once you get used to it you love it.

This town is really touristy. There is one street called 5th Ave. Norte. It is a walking only street with shops, restaurants, and bars for abt 30 blocks. We ate at a restaurant called “100% Natural Restaurant” We had fajitas and this fabulous green drink. It was cucumber, spearmint and lime.

Then we went shopping at the supermarket for snacks and breakfast food. At the bakery they give you a pizza pan and a pair of tongs. You pick out the pastries you want with your tongs and put them on the pizza pan. Then you take them to the counter and they wrap them individually in plastic and then place them in a paper bag with a price sticker on it. It was kind of cool.

We are loving having all these new experiences. I learned watching friends who always intended to experience new things and travel end up with health problems or as they got older their fears prevented them from trying new things. I am glad that we started traveling and having new and different experiences from the first when we were married even if it was a day trip somewhere.

We are going looking at condos and houses today but we think they will be too expensive on this side plus so far here we can’t see ourselves living in this area. Gaylan is a great driver and I navigate. It works out very well.

Knowing ahead of time what to expect at an all inclusive resort will make your stay more fun and you will be able to do more. There is so much to do that going prepared is essential especially if it is your first vacation of this sort. This is the third in a series of all-inclusive resort vacation travel tips articles.

1. If you are irritated by loud noise, music, or snoring bring a pair of ear plugs. Some of the shows, the disco and even noises from outside your room may be a little loud.
2. Most resorts are quick to solve a problem if you inform the front desk or if they don’t contact your booking company representative and they will aid you in getting help.
3. Bring a duffel bag or beach bag to carry your towel, books, suntan lotion, etc to the beach.
4. Bargain with the vendors and store personnel when shopping for souvenirs if it is the custom for the country that you travel to and if you don’t bargain you will over pay. Even companies selling tours will make a deal.
5. When you land you may be greeted by timeshare people offering you all kinds of incentives especially in Cancun. Unless you really want to attend a 3 hour (they say 90 min.) presentation and give up part of your vacation and get caught up in the sales pitch walk right past them.
6. Your information should tell you where to meet your transfer representative. If not they will either be where you come out of immigration/customs, in the luggage area or just outside the doors by ground transportation.
7. Bring some dollar bills or small bill denominations in the currency of that country if they don’t take dollars for tipping tour guides and buying small items. No tipping at the all inclusive resort.
8. At many of the locations that have all inclusive resorts they also have topless sunbathing. Don’t be shocked if there are topless women on the beach or around the pool. If you are offended by this or don’t want your children encountering it book into a resort that doesn’t allow it or has specific areas so that you can avoid it.
9. Large spread out resorts will usually have some sort of transportation to shuttle you around the resort.
10. If the resort is part of a chain of resorts and they have several hotels in the area check and see if you are allowed to use the amenities at the other sister resort hotels as well as you own. They may even have a shuttle.
11. Most resorts have an area that has computers that are connected to the internet but most charge a separate fee for using the internet. Some of the resorts will have wireless internet.
12. Join the contests and competitions; they usually give prizes or points toward prizes. If you win one see if they have a time before, during or after the evening entertainment where they present them to you.