Occidental at Xcaret Destination - All-Inclusive

Just returned from an 8 day trip to the Occidental at Xcaret. What a great experience. There were 12 people in our group and they made every effort to keep us all together from our rooms to dinning in the evening. The Pros: The rooms were in good condition and kept very clean. Great job to the cleaning staff. The grounds were well kept with a variety of flora and fauna. Restaurants were not crowded and we were able to be seated quickly. Food was average and was always plenty to eat Adult only tidal pool.......incredible! We also got the unlimited access to the Xcaret park, which was well worth the extra money. We were able to go into the park in the mornings and spend time looking at the exhibits before the park got too busy or got too hot . The Cons: The beach area was very small and had an odd Oder most of the time. It did not stop us though from spending our afternoons lounging in the Mexican sun. All and All a great trip!!!

We booked a trip in March for the beginning of April. We were looking for a quick getaway that wouldn't break the bank -- and that is exactly what we got. The resort was huge, but accommodates people with a shuttle service. It was beautiful as well; lots of greenery, animals (monkeys, deer, and birds), Mayan Ruins you can explore, and rock/beach scenes of the ocean. The staff was friendly and very helpful in every way. Upon arrival, our stay was upgraded to "first class." This gave us access to a separate pool that was not crowded with teenagers and kids, a spot to lay out with or without an umbrella, and a bar with limited lines. It was located about midway between the lobby and ocean, so we were able to visit both locations easily. I was told the other pool was VERY busy. It was Spring Break for the kiddos, so I am assuming that played a role. Unfortunately, the actual room was not what we expected. Our room was extremely humid and smelled musty. We struggled to get the AC up high enough to be comfortable. Our view was of the dumpster outback (which made me think of rodents, eww). BUT who goes on vacation and hangs out in the hotel room?! Some of the other guests did not have these problems -- so ask for a room on the second or third floor! The beach does have a weird odor, but is gorgeous. If you walk toward the ruin at the end of the main walkway (coming from the Lobby), there is a rocky beach that is perfect at sunset. We didn't go swimming in the ocean, but a lot of people did -- so I am sure it was great. The restaurants were AMAZING. My husband and I LOVED the steakhouse and Paco's Tacos. Fabulous food and great service -- did not have to make reservations and only waited a half hour at most. HOWEVER, the buffet (lunch and dinner) was poor at best. I ate a lot of bread and fruit that week. My husband eats about anything, so he tried it all -- and didn't feel it was too bad. The breakfast was alright, but the same day after day after day.... NO WIFI in the resort besides the Lobby (unless you want to pay $$). You only get an hour, and the service is spotty. It was great to see kids around the resort actually communicating with their parents and playing outside. It was enough internet to call home, but not spend all day staring at a screen. Would we go again? Maybe .. it was a good experience, but I may explore other options next time I am in Rivera Maya.

Pros: **This resort had beautifully maintained grounds and lots of wildlife to view (deer, iguanas, monkeys). **Buildings, restrooms, hotel rooms were very clean. **Bartenders did an excellent job with making drinks. **Huge pool areas. **Hideway bed available, very comfortable. Cons: **Three of us stayed in one room; however, we had to continually ask for more than 2 towels, the first day, it tooks us 4 phone calls to the front desk and 3 hours before they brought us 2 more towels and no washcloths. **Very small beach area, the "cutout" area where there was extra beach space, smelled terrible of seaweed and the water was not clear, like shown in the pictures. **Our room was next to the main building, which was a good 1/2 mile walk to the beach (it was a pretty walk, as long as you have the capability to walk this far). **If you want to use their free WiFi, you have to sit in the lobby area and you have 1 hour to use it, if you walk out of the lobby, you lose service and will not be able to reconnect that day. The Free WiFi available is VERY, VERY SLOW. We ended up having to pay $79 for the week, so we were able to stay in contact with our family back home. **There was a wedding the last day we were there and we were not able to walk back and forth from the bar/restroom area to the adult swim area during the wedding, they made us walk around this area, not very ideal for paying customers. **Not enough servers or bartenders available. In all the restaurants onsite, we had to wait 30-45 minutes to receive our drinks (tea, water, etc.) The staff were polite, but very overworked. I do not blame them at all,management definitely needs to look into adding for waiters, servers, bartenders, housecleaning staff to this resort. **VERY Limited "cabana" wait staff, we had to nine times out of ten get our own drinks, even when tipping genorously. Overall, this is a huge resort and requires a lot of walking. There are a few courtesy "golfcart style" shuttles, but you still have to walk a ways to get to these shuttle areas.

We had a blast on this trip. Service was great. People were friendly. Food was descent. We did two excursions, the hotel and cheap carribean made it easy for us to book and do those excursions. There were a lot of people at this resort but it never felt crowded. It was a short wait for dinner. If you go scuda diving definatly ask for Dexter to teach you he was phenomenal!! We were a couple surrounded by a lot of families but we never felt like it mattered since you didnt feel crowded or bothered by children. We were given space to be alone and us. Beach was gorgous. Not to much beach area but the area they had was spectacular. The best part of the beach was it wasnt over crowded and noisy like most all inclusive resorts. I recommend the spa for your last day. Juan was great! The monkey were palying in the trees! At one point the monkeys were running on the balcony. It was fun to watch! If you love animals the jungle is a big part of this atmosphere, you will love it here! Some thing I would like seen differently is the fact that people claim chairs early in the morning with the resort towels and they arent even in the pool, even though it is against resort rules. I saw one family put towels on chairs then have breakfast in the same place as us then walked down to the excursion. I would not be surprised if many more families were doing this. Another thing I would like to see is maybe put up signs that tell you what animals are with an interesting fact about those animals. The last thing I would change is putting an icecream station in the restaurant court yard. There were nights I wanted icecream so bad and the only place serving just regular icecream was the buffets. It feels so great after a dinner to have ice cream on a hot night and relax while listening to music being performed. Overall wonderful time, wonderful service, wonderful bedroom, wonderful excursions, wonderful time!