I woke up this morning before the 6AM mark.  It was cold, dark, and SNOWING! What the heck? Since  I’m really just not ready for the snow flakes I think a little Cancun, Mexico edition of Take Me Back Tuesday will put me in much better spirits!

This past May me and Andy ventured off to the beautiful beaches of Cancun, Mexico.  Funny story about why we decided on Cancun.  We were planning on being there for my birthday, Cinco de Mayo (pretty awesome birthday).  Silly me thought how fun it would be to celebrate the Spanish holiday in Mexico!  Well come to find out, Cinco de Mayo is not very Spanish at all.  Americans have basically made it what it is, which is primarily a drinking and partying holiday.

With that aside, we ended up having an awesome first vacation, in a beautiful place, for very cheap! Here were the details of our trip.

Booking

We booked our trip on CheapCaribbean.com.  This site is awesome!  You can find some fantastic deals, many which include flight and all-inclusive hotels.  We ended up booking our 5 night vacation, including airfare, hotel, and airport transfers for under $1000!

Hotel

We stayed at the Grand Oasis Cancun.  This hotel was huge!  Definitely not a 5 star resort but we had to keep in mind how much we paid.

Positives

• We scored an Ocean View room.
• A few different pools, some with swim up bars.
• A small gym.
• The beach was big, clean, and beautiful.
• A good buffet breakfast place.
• A great Brazilian Steakhouse and awesome Sushi restaurant.

Negatives

• You had to book reservations for most of the restaurants in the resort the day before very first thing in the morning.
• You had to reserve beach chairs very early in the morning if you wanted to get any.
• No wireless connection.
• At certain restaurants, the best items on the menu were “extra.”
• It seemed one half of the resort was filled with college kids on spring break while the other half was for couples/families.

Excursions

Isla Mujeres, Snorkeling, and Swimming with Dolphins

We bought this excursion from the CheapCaribbean reps that we had to meet with once we got there.  This was an absolutely awesome excursion that included three exciting activities.  We started the morning sailing off on a catamaran.  We were completely catered to by the crew.  They served us drinks until we got to the snorkeling area.  The snorkeling was so great I think it may even beat Aruba’s.  We saw some really cool fish, and the water was so blue!

After snorkeling we headed to Isla Mujeres, an island off the coast of Cancun.  I absolutely loved it here.  The island has a fisherman village type of feel and makes you feel off the beaten path, especially compared to the touristy hotel strip of Cancun.  Here we really just walked around, took some pictures, and found some cool secluded beaches.  I would spend a few days here next time if I could!

Our last stop of the day was to Dolphin Discovery!  I have wanted to swim with Dolphins since I was a little girl so was ecstatic for this part of the trip.  You can read my review on Trip Advisor to get all of the details.  All you have to know is if you ever go to Cancun, you should definitely swim with the dolphins at Dolphin Discovery!

A Night on The Hotel Strip

For my birthday night we decided to leave the hotel and explore the restaurants and bars on the hotel strip.  We went to a fantastic restaurant called Lorenzillo’s where I ordered an amazing surf and turf meal.  Filet Mignon stuffed with lobster!  We also had a friendly visitor during dinner.

After dinner we headed to Senor Frogs for some good ol’ touristy shenanigans.  They very much so celebrated Cinco de Mayo here for all of us Americans.

I really enjoyed Cancun.  It was the perfect, relaxing vacation where we didn’t feel pressured to do too many activities or sight see. Where is your favorite relaxing destination?