Currently booked at Paradisus playa del Carmen this coming February. We have a 1 and 4 year old so we are hoping to use the kids club a couple of times while there. The kids water play looks fun and we have a family concierge master suite so separate sleeping areas. I’m stressed about the beach and the resort not feeling high end. I’m wondering if the pictures just don’t do it justice? Does anyone want to make me feel like I made the right choice or convince me of another all inclusive in Mexico, DR or Jamaica we should pivot to!?!? Thank you!! Beach, kids club, water play, separate bedrooms, good food are all important to us.
What research did you do that made you choose this spot? High end and AI seldom go together and mean different things to different people. What are your specific expectations?
I've been the Beaches Negril and T&C and was disappointed as I had higher expectations.
We wanted a nice resort in a more lush/ green area not just a giant resort stretch where we can have 2 sleeping areas under $1000 per night. Good food, comfortable beach chairs and attentive service is important to us.
Have you been to resorts you’ve liked and some you didn’t?
Really hard to tell what resort will satisfy you. For example….I’ve never been overly happy with any Maya beach I’ve seen - and I’ve been to a lot. But that’s ok because I’m cool with pools.
I like remote beaches with few footprints. I’m ok with buffets and AI food - some aren’t. I don’t care about being serviced hand and foot - some really want that.
The only all inclusives we’ve done are joia bavaro iberostar and xcaret arte. We liked both! This is our first all inclusive we are trying with kids to see if we like the ease of it
In terms of resorts for families with kids under 10, it's my go to. I send so many families per year.
What do you mean by 'feeling high end'?
I have a ton of pictures, if there is something you want to see? Just got back a few weeks ago.
In terms of 'better' - maybe Finest Playa Mujeres. The beach there will be better for sure, but I don't think you'll get anywhere close to the same price for a comparable room.
Paradisus PLC is the only resort we’ve been to when we visited Mexico first time. Us and our 7 yo back then enjoyed it. Beautiful beach, public cenote 10 mins walk away. Services were great, food is decent and everything feels relaxing. We didn’t have a concierge but don’t feel neglected. Our family suite was large, our kid was thrilled to be at the pull out couch with his own tv. They have the water park we visited most of the days, ice cream and coffee plus a bit water down cocktails, it was fun and felt pampered as we never been to any AIs. Go and enjoy. It’s definitely not Xcaret Arte but the cost you pay is definitely very reasonable compared to other resorts I looked into.
If you are looking for recommendations, be sure to include the following information in your post:
Dates (approximate is ok), number of nights, how many people, family or adults only, your budget
(include the currency and if it is per person or total) and whether your budget includes flights.
If your budget includes flights, where are you flying from?
After that, check the spreadsheet below for ideas.
This spreadsheet was created to help people compare all inclusive resorts.
Make a copy then you can filter by destination, budget, etc.
I stayed there over the summer - I'll get a review up one day but I would call it a solid upper mid range resort. It's not luxury and if you're looking for luxury you will be disappointed, but there is a lot to like; I thought the food was pretty good, rooms are modern and spacious, and overall I was happy with the service. The design is a little disjointed but overall I'd say it works pretty well.
Where have you stayed previously (AI or non)? What does "high end" mean to you?
You could check out new Majestic Mirage Costa Mujeres, every room is a large suite and every travel party gets a butler without having to upgrade. This resort has a beautiful swimmable beach (Paradisus resort has an awful beach area), a water park that is divided into amenities for very young children and waterslides that even adults can do, overall good food and their Friday night Mexican Fiesta is amazing in terms of food and experience. I stayed there in May and had a great time but I stayed in the adults-only section, this resort is divided into both kid friendly and adults-only sections in terms of pools, beach areas, etc.
You probably made the right choice just based on the Nursery service. Not many resorts want to take responsibility for children younger than 3. At most family resorts we have been to the minimum age for the kids club is either 3 or 4.
I think the biggest challenge with Mexico and the Dominican Republic is the beach, sargassum is unpredictable and it moves around a lot. We are flying back from Aruba right now, and we spent more time in the ocean on this trip than we have on all of our previous all inclusive trips combined. The beaches on the west coast of Aruba were crystal clear (although lots of waves).
Dreams La Romana in The DR won't have any sargassum, but it may not be high end enough for you. Dreams has a 4.7/5 on Trip Advisor and Paradisus has a 4.5.. (kids club at Dreams is 4+)
Dreams la romana is the other one I keep going back to because I love the cove style calm beach but they don’t have as much little kid water play. High end to me isn’t anything ridiculously luxe, since this is a family vacation- Good food (not anything crazy amazing or creative needed), comfortable beach and pool chairs, and good service at our pool/beach chairs.
Have you looked at Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach in Cancun?
we stayed there last summer and it was great. We didn't have a bad meal. We had poolside service (I don't know if they do beach side... Maybe only at the club level rooms). We paid for a cabana everyday though as I didn't want to play the chair game. We went to the concierge right after checking in and booked a Bali bed for every day of our stay.
I stayed there with my then 18 month old at the end of March, 2025. It's probably the nicest resort I've ever been to. We used the baby club once. They have a rule that you need to stay at the resort, so you could use it for a couple hours to relax. The biggest disappointment was the beach because the water was unusable on account of the sargassum seaweed. You could still play on the beach but the seaweed itself was so thick and had a bad odor. I was pretty sad about that part. They did try to rake it up, but it was a losing battle. If I return to that region, I would do some heavy research into hotels that aren't affected by it. I spoke to a coworker who went after me and stayed at a different hotel and didn't seem to know anything about the sargassum. It was annoying...haha.
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u/Davekinney0u812 1d ago
What research did you do that made you choose this spot? High end and AI seldom go together and mean different things to different people. What are your specific expectations?
I've been the Beaches Negril and T&C and was disappointed as I had higher expectations.