Sometimes we just need to get away from the day to day and do a whole lot of absolutely nothing. We did just that on our latest adventure in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The plan? Indulge in the all inclusive resort life for 7 nights of relaxation.
~ Journey of a Thousand Miles ~
Waking up early is usually pleasant for me but when you have a gorgeous resort to get to? I do it with a smile! Since we were only staying for a week, we kept our packing to a minimum; just carry on bags. Our car service arrived promptly at 6:00am to whisk us away to the airport – we use the same service every time we travel and they are the BEST! Shout out to Eastside Towncar & Limo – always on time, immaculate vehicles and friendly service.
We enjoy boujie style travel – we like to fly Business or First Class, prefer car service pickup and drop off at airport, and just generally enjoy the niceties of traveling. Once we started flying via business or first class, traveling coach was not an option. The cramped seats, crawling over people to get to the restroom, any sort of recline by the person in front puts them in your lap. . . no thank you. Bonus? Being able to hang out in the airport lounges. So, for me, it’s almost a no brainer. This trip was a fairly short flight – Seattle to Cancun airport direct. and as soon as we sat down on the plane, I felt myself start to relax and let go of the stress of the daily grind – just breathe it in – 7 days of ahhhhhh……
Flight was uneventful – watched a couple of movies, had some grub and then we were in Cancun. Unfortunately, checking through security was quite an event with a long line of us and with the agents constantly leaving their desk to attend to other matters making the wait to get through even longer. Definitely could use some work with efficiency there. The Cancun airport also requires use of the “avoid eye contact” technique – to get from the airplane to the location of your transportation for pick up is through an area full of sales tactics for transport and excursions. If you don’t know how to say no to these, watch out! After squeezing our way through this, we arrived outside to the sign for our pre-arranged private transportation – a very nice luxury SUV with a friendly driver.
~Impressions Moxche & Secrets Moxche~
There is nothing quite like being greeted with a cool cloth for the face, a glass of champagne and the words “Welcome Home” as you step out of your ride from the airport. Let the relaxation begin! Impressions Moxche and Secrets Moxche and part of the same resort but if you book into the Impressions suites, it includes access to exclusive restaurants, pool areas and other Impressions only benefits. Impressions also has its own check in area where we met with one of our butlers, Zulda, who showed us to our room – our other butler, Nuftali (or “Netflix”as he told us to call him) was the “daytime” butler.
We booked into a Signature Suite Tropical View King on the Impressions side and were automatically upgraded one level to a King Suite with swim out, Room 1114. Zulda (or “Zelda”) took us on the tour of the Impressions side of the resort and helped us book dinner reservations, set up our romantic dinner for our anniversary and filled us in on entertainment happenings. When all this was done, we ended up for dinner at Seaside, one of the Impressions specific dining areas for a wonderful dinner and catching the second half of a Cacao Ceremony.
~ Signature Swim Out Suite ~
This Signature Suite Swim Out was very nice, the swim out pool fairly private (tho as we were to discover accidentally one morning post shower – the cleaning crew does show up and has quite the view if you don’t shut those shades…), and was more than enough for what we wanted. Our in room bar was stocked with water, juice, rum and wine.
Moxche has shows in the theater every night – some more engaging than others and the theater reserves a section for Impressions members with it’s own bar service (and popcorn). The show that night was the Cirque Deliria – akin to the Cirque de Soleil shows on a slightly smaller scale – and it was fantastic! It was so worth staying up for after the long day of travel – highly recommended and a great way to complete our day of travel and settling in to the ahhhh of relaxation.
Chocolate covered strawberries sprinkled with coconut flakes in the room awaiting our arrival after the show. The strawberries were so incredibly sweet – I’m not sure I’ve had strawberries as sweet. We indulged in those with a glass of champagne and called it a night – off to slumber.
~ Exploring the Resort ~
The next day was mostly full of exploring the different areas of the resort, restaurants, cafe, different pool areas and the shops. This is not really the resort to head to if you want a nice wide expanse of beach to relax on – though you could walk down the beach, it was a bit narrow and felt a bit lackluster. The pool areas did their best to make up for it though. The first pool area looked like a lagoon complete with sand and water that got gradually deeper – gorgeous area. There are also some “cenote” areas with smaller pools perfect for just a couple people and fairly private, the “entertainment” pool with the more boisterous drinking crowd and an in betweener.
We also ended up transferring into a Master Suite with a partial ocean view giving us the view we prefer and a huge room that we only used maybe half of. Boujie indeed. A video walk through of this gorgeous room here: https://youtu.be/gZBgIq9sS8Q. In contrast with our swim out suite tropical view, this room had a massive deck with table for 2, a bar height table and a massive tub with a view of the tropics and the ocean, a living area separate from the sleeping area with a sofa and another bar height dining table, sink & coffee, plus an additional wine cooler.
The “entertainment” that night was “Roads Through Mexico” – different areas with food and drink, art by local artists, entertainment (great Mariachi band!) and full of color.
~ It’s all about the Boujie ~
Wednesday was a full day with a massage at the spa (wonderful!) followed by a 7-course dinner at Teodoro and the Elements show. Teodoro is a lengthy affair – 7 small courses along with wine pairings for each dish- Octopus Carpaccio, Lobster Taco, Beef Sweetbreads Soup and Duck Sous Vide with a Citrus Souffle for dessert. So much yum! Of course, I had to have them stop with the wine pairings after 2 courses as I was feeling the effects and wanted to actually enjoy my meal.
The Elements show that night was one reminiscent of the 80’s? with B-boys doing their thing with stick man lights and some crazy breakdancing styles.
~Getting Jiggy with It . . . or not . . . ?~
Thursday entailed more relaxing at infinity pools by Seaside and dinner at Allora, Italian dining. As this was our anniversary, the dinner was supposed to be a romantic dining experience but due to some miscommunication it was not so much romantic and actually fairly bland. The food was so-so and the romance of the restaurant was a fail. After dining, we spoke with the restaurant manager who is the manager for both the Italian restaurant, Allora and the French restaurant, Bisou, to ask about the confusion. He was fantastic about wanting to make it up to us and said Bisou would be a better experience and the ambiance is more romantic – so we set up a reservation for Sunday at Bisou.
Our butlers did their best to make the night special for us and they must have timed it with estimating end of dinner as we got back to the room to the HUGE tub filled with bubbles and bath salts, candles around the room and rose petals on the floor and bed upon our return from dinner. So we skipped the show that night (although we heard it was good) so we could stay in – enjoy the bubble bath and follow it up with sitting out on the massive deck with drinks.
~ Adventure Awaits ~
Friday was our one excursion off the resort. As they have an excursion booking option on site through the resort, we chose the Sea Safari to Cozumel. Little did we know what a wild ride it would turn out to be. First, just getting TO the actual excursion turned out to be a bit of a hassle with little direction from the resort we hopped into the large passenger van which dropped us off at a shop. Ummm now what? We meandered around until we found the table where we picked up our ferry tickets – then were told to wait just outside the store for someone to meet us. It was then follow the leader, who disappeared and while we made our way to the ferry, up the escalators to boarding where no one seemed to know what we were supposed to, finally boarding the ferry to Cozumel and walk to the Rib Boat boarding for the snorkeling. We stopped at 3 different places for snorkeling – so much fun! Each stop had different water levels – from 30 feet then 10 feet then finally a 5 feet sandbar area. At the 30 foot level we saw under water sculptures and tons of different fish including a large baracuda! Yikes!
At the 5 foot level fewer fish but we did see a manta ray. The rib boat was not my favorite – we were put in the front and they hit the waves so hard the front end popped up high and then hit down hard – hanging on for dear life on the way and the way back. I thought for sure it would put my back out by the time we finished the ride. Back at Cozumel we did a quick shopping search for a green monkey (perhaps a story for another day) and then boarded the ferry back to resort. And more craziness ensued – we were on the 2nd level of the ferry and with the wind and waves, salt water was splashing us all the way on 2nd level – but it was a laugh or cry situation, so I laughed (maniacally?) all the way back to shore. Disembarking soaked with salt water, we discovered we had lost our group guide. Others from the excursion looked as confused and lost as we did and with the blind leading the blind, we tried to retrace our steps back through the streets to hopefully find the shop we originally met up at, succeeding after a few wrong turns, to meet up with our ride back to the resort.
Finally we were back at the resort, exhausted from the sun, the wind, the salt water, and a very busy day but, rather than doing the sensible thing ~ showering and turning in early~ we went to dinner at Asado and caught the fire show. Asado was set up as a special buffet style grill dinner with all sorts of grilled options followed by a spectacular fire show. Another show worth catching with the ocean as a backdrop.
~ Winding into the Weekend ~
Saturday was more of the same relaxing we were getting used to. We found ourselves enjoying the privacy of a cenotes – sunshine and occasional water tip made for a perfect start to our day.
After the day full of sun and dips in the pool, it was also our specialty dining night at Tanoshi/Omakase. This experience is one of a kind – a sumptuous dinner prepared by Chef Mitsunori Ichikawa and his team of culinary masters indulgence in a multipole course nigiri dinner prepared right in front of you and paired with sakes, wines, beers and tea selected by the chef. Ordinarily there would have been more people in our experience as the table seats 12 but we were alone so the experience was very personal. Chef served all kinds of sushi – and as I don’t do raw fish, this experience was one I signed up for specifically for my husband. The Chef, bless his heart, braised mine as I don’t do raw fish. For me, the texture is just – ick. Surprisingly – for me (as well as for my husband) – I actually enjoyed the eel. It had such an interesting smoky taste literally melted in your mouth. Oh yes! food pics! I do need to get better at the photos but I did take a few.
Another night another show. Saturday nights show was called Quirky – it is described as a magical wordless world which tells you a bewitching story about every one of us, full of enchantment and surprising effects. This was also a not to miss show – fascinating and entertaining! After the shows, you can are given a speakeasy password to get into the Gypsy Club via a secret passage through the Pharmacia.
Sunday we started with breakfast at Seaside, one of the Impression only restaurants, which has some of the best breakfast and then settled in by the infinity pool and our cabana. Beautiful spot to relax for the day ~
~ and a redo of the romantic dinner at Bisou French restaurant with a special menu. The manager personally gave us a Tada! moment with a covered plate unveiled showing a bouquet of flowers beneath. It was sweet how excited he was about it. Coupled with pretty drinks, candlelight and. . . the most AH-MAZING Beef Wellington and topped off with chocolate covered strawberries AND a creme broulee – combined for a lovely romantic dinner with excellent service and tasty food.
After dinner, it was showtime again. Sunday night was Boogie Show – the show was fun doing music that we wanted to sing and dance to though it was also one that we could have passed on and not felt like we missed out on much.
~Home again, Home again ~
Monday breakfast at Seaside before preparing to head to the airport and back to the rainy days of Seattle. Seaside had some of the best food from the Acai Bowl to the Cinnamon French Toast for breakfast to the empanadas we had while relaxing by the infinity pool to the Waygu Burger for dinner.
With that – it was time to grab the bags, head back to the entrance to meet up with our ride back tot he airport. I’m already craving more time at the resort and the flavors of resort living. Adios’ Cancun – See you next time!