Mexico Afternoons

For lunch in Mexico we went to the Lobster House a few times, as Christopher cannot get enough of their fish taco appetizer.  They got to know him there pretty quickly, and always whipped him up a special hot sauce - the hottest they could make.

I'd sometimes have one fish taco, and then grab a little something else at the buffet.  We also visited The Grill for lunch (steakhouse):

And sometimes we'd grab a wood fire pizza and enjoy it by the beach or in our yard:

Las Olas is the restaurant on the beach that is open for lunch, and serves up food buffet-style, with a different theme each day.  One day it was Spanish, and they had some seafood paella cooking off to the side of the buffet.  We never ended up trying any, but it smelled great!

We actually haven't eaten at Las Olas at all on any of our trips - maybe next time!  There are just too many options for places to eat.

Room service another day:

After lunch we always spent time on our day bed soaking up a bit of sun, and then alternated to the hammock, or a shady spot to cool off.

We each read 1.5 books on this trip, and it was all about relaxing for us.  At Christopher's job he is always on a tight schedule, and everything is down to the minute - there is always somewhere to be quickly, and he has to be there at an exact time.  Beach vacations for us are a time to do absolutely nothing, to have no where to be, and to never set an alarm.  Ha - we don't even want to have to make reservations, so that is why we choose a place where we don't have to.  We have done excursions in the past, but always find that we feel like we wished we hadn't left the resort, and hated having to be somewhere at a certain time.  These all-inclusive trips are obviously not adventurous travel, but rather relaxing holidays ... and after the winter we've had, this was exactly what we needed. 

Later in the afternoon, while most people were still at the beach, it was always a nice time to take a walk around the resort, hit the coffee shop again, and snap a few photos.

But as soon as we were done those coffees, we were back out in the sun!

What is your favourite way to relax?

(I'd say one of mine is definitely reading).

Mexico Mornings

Last Saturday morning we were up around 6:15, and at the airport an hour later.  After passing some time with bagels, coffee, and #usies, we had a direct flight to Cancun.

I don't think we've ever seen a busier airport than the Cancun airport when we were both arriving and leaving from this trip.  It was crazy busy, and the lineups were long, but our traveling went very smoothly.  After a short drive to our resort, we were all settled in for a fabulous week at our favourite resort in Mexico.  We went back to Excellence Riviera Cancun, where we were the past two Januaries.  We've been to many other resorts in the past, but this one really cannot be beat.  It has everything we could ever ask for in a resort (things we cannot find in other resorts of similar price points and ratings), and just keeps getting better.  We'll absolutely go back again too!

Our mornings in Mexico usually started with one of us rolling out of bed first, and heading straight to the hammock to listen to the birds waking up, and to take in the quiet peacefulness.  After enjoying the quiet of the morning for a while, we would get ready to go to the buffet for breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

On our last day we noticed this contraption that was dripping out honey straight from the honeycomb.  Apparently it had always been there, but this was the first time in all our visits that we ever noticed it.

We both had oatmeal with toppings, including a good serving of the honey.

The Lobster House was open for a la carte breakfast each morning, but we stuck to the buffet.  Once we ordered room service breakfast.

After eating we always went straight to the coffee shop.

Our typical order was two double espressos.  We sometimes went back for another round of espressos, or tried something else off the menu, such as a mocha or a fruit blend.

Often we took our coffees and went for a morning walk around the resort or on the beach.

Then we'd hit the beach, the pool, or our yard for a couple hours of reading and relaxing.

Some days we grabbed a coconut on the beach at 11:00, and if we were feeling snacky, we'd order a little mid-morning snack to our yard.

There was always a server coming around to the yards to take beverage orders, or just say good morning.

How was your Easter?  Your week?  Your weekend?   

Check back in this week to hear about how we spent our afternoons and evenings in Mexico.

Mexico Vacation: Excellence Riviera Cancun

On December 30th we were up well before the sun. It was the coldest day of the year, and we were wanting to make it to the airport for about 3:30 a.m. to catch our flight to Cancun.

Our flight went really well, and we were at our resort by the early afternoon.  Our room wasn't ready for about half an hour, so we went to Aroma, the excellent coffee shop, and grabbed a couple bevvies.

We enjoyed espressos while wandering around our favourite all-inclusive property.  It was just as beautiful as we remembered. 

Our room was ready in no time.  We had requested to be in the same room as we had last time, and although they couldn't get us the exact same room, they got us a couple doors down.  I had emailed this request in about six months ago, and they had it on file, and did their best to accommodate.  The service at this resort is outstanding.

We were in a swim-up room, which is simply the best.  The yard, our personal day bed, and hammock, cannot be beat.

Since we were return guests, they had a couple little gifts on the bed for us when we arrived, which was a nice touch.  Christopher wore his Excellence hat every day, haha!

We ate breakfast at the buffet a lot of the time, but once we went to the Lobster House for breakfast, and twice we ordered room service.

The smoked salmon with capers, cream cheese, and onion was one of our favourite things to eat at the buffet. 

A couple of our lunches were eaten at the Lobster House, as Christopher is obsessed with their fish tacos.

 

I had the fish tacos on one of our visits, but another time I tried the pibil chicken.  It was amazing!

We also ate lunch at the the Steakhouse, and one of the Italian restaurants, got wood fired pizza by the beach, and ordered room service.

The dinner options are endless.  Sometimes we ate an appetizer at one restaurant, and then moved to another a couple hours later for the main course.  Since we love Indian food, and it was so good, we ate at Basmati the most.

One of the servers really liked us and told us to come back on our last evening at the resort, and he'd have a special table for us.

On New Years Eve every restaurant had a set menu with multiple courses.  We eliminated a couple of the courses, and just went with three, which was way more than enough.  The beef was great and tasted just like at home.

Later in the evening we rang in 2018 on the light up dance floor.  There were light up accessories for people to take (sunglasses, rings, glo sticks etc.), as well as beverage (bubbles) and food stations, and little favours to take back to your room.

It was a super fun evening!

For dinner another night we went to the French restaurant, which is definitely one of the best. The duck confit was so good last year, that I had to get it again.  The lighting wasn't great for photos though.

We also ate at the Asian restaurant, where I had delicious pad Thai.

And a tapas restaurant, where Christopher raved about the anchovies, paella, etc.  I didn't have too much, as I was full (this was a late night double-dinner - haha!  Have to take advantage of that all-inclusiveness). 

 

We had lobster one evening too, with coconut shrimp to start:

We didn't even get to two of the restaurants (Mexican and one of the Italian places) on this trip, and didn't eat at the Sports Bar or beach diner, Las Olas.  There are just too many options, and everything is so, so good.

We did play some pool at the Sports Bar:

And did a lot of reading and relaxing.

 

 

I think this was the most relaxing vacation we've ever had, and it was definitely what we needed.

Much of our time was spent around our swim-up pool.  There were always numerous, if not all the chairs, free to choose from, and servers were always prompt to come around to these chairs, or to our day bed or hammock.  They often brought surprise snacks to offer people too, which was nice.

We didn't spend a lot of time at the beach, as we're more just looking for the heat, and aren't much for going in the water anyway.  The beach was beautiful though, and we loved walking in the soft, white sand.

The resort was at 100% capacity when we were there, and yet it was impossible to tell.  We often felt like we had the place to ourselves.  There were never any lines or waits for anything, which is probably due to how well the resort is laid out, how much there is to do, and how many people they employ.  You don't have to walk very far to get to anything either, which is really nice.  It is definitely not one of those resorts that has golf carts or other types of carts to get around; they aren't needed.

This was the swim-up bar in the middle of the afternoon one day ...

Ha!  Everyone must have been at the beach, or lounging in their ultra-comfortable rooms ordering room service.  If you like privacy, you can clearly get a lot of it at this resort.  If you want to mingle, you can do that too, especially around the martini bar in the evening. 

Everything is #topshelf

I suppose it's needless to say, but we'll be back.

If you are thinking about visiting this resort, you'll want to read this post, and this post, that I did last year that explain all the amenities, perks of the resort, dining options, etc.

What did you do on New Years Eve?  
Do you have any trips coming up?