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?

Camping really??? My idea of camping is staying in a cabin at the very least. I love roasting hot dogs and marshmallows then heading indoors about the time the mosquitoes start biting.

We went camping when we were first married. It was all really fun until it got dark and we got in the tent. Then I just knew there were things moving around in the dark outside and I didn’t trust the tent material to protect us. I felt like bait. I jumped and said “what was that” every couple minutes. I was terrified. About 2 o’clock in the morning my husband gave up, packed up and we went home. I think we only went camping in a tent a couple of times after that.

A tropical vacation home but not just any tropical home purchase. I know exactly what I am looking for I just can’t find it. Some day I will have one of those deja vu moments. We love to go stay on a beach for our main vacations but I am always searching…..

In my dreams I have a vision of a beautiful tropical place where we buy a house on the beach. The back of the house faces the ocean although there is a long  island in the middle of a smallish bay before the open ocean. The water is deep enough to boat between the main land and the island. It is close but not close enough to swim to. It has great snorkeling right off our dock. It is not heavily populated in that area. There is one small resort with a store down the road quite a ways. The house needs lots of work but is in an ideal location. It is so beautiful there. Just the place for us to retire on a beach, at least part time.

I know it is just a dream but every once in a while I will look at maps to see if I can find it. Maybe I just watch too much episodes of “House Hunters International.” Whatever the case may be it too is on my bucket list. If you have been somewhere like I described please help me by sending me the location to look at. If I find a photo similar too it I will also post it. Dreams…..

Does anyone else dream of having a house on the beach??

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.