Planet Hollywood Cancun: Planning
This is my first all-inclusive resort booking. After shopping around for a couple of months, I don’t think it will be my last. I found quite a few resorts I would like to visit and as long as cruises continue to get canceled, I will continue to book all-inclusive resorts.
When you search for Cancun all-inclusive hotels, you will actually find hotels in three very different areas: Riviera Maya, Hotel Zone, and Costa Mujeres. I found hotels in all of these areas that interested me. Ultimately I decided on Planet Hollywood which is a brand new resort in Costa Mujeres.
Dining
The most important factor for me was dining options. Some of the resorts only have a buffet. Many have a number of their specialty restaurants closed or on a rotating schedule where you only have one option each night due to COVID-19.
Planet Hollywood has a coffee/pastry/ice cream shop and a buffet that are open for all meals. Guy’s Burgers is open for lunch. The Italian restaurant is open for lunch and dinner. They have Japanese, Indian, and Mexican restaurants as well as a sports bar that are open for dinner only. The dinner restaurants are on a rotating schedule where only about two of them are closed each night.
If you are on the adult side, you also have access to seafood and Brazilian restaurants. One of the two is open for dinner each night. The seafood restaurant is open for lunch every day. Having the seafood and Brazilian restaurants was important to me and one of the reasons I booked the adult side. I have since found out that adults staying on the family side can eat at the adult side restaurants for a fee.
I read that they also had a chef’s table but I haven’t seen or heard of anyone who has been to it. I reached out to a resort employee and was told they do have it for $180 per person and they require a minimum of 10 people to have it. I was thinking it would be closer to $100 so I will probably pass on that one. You are probably paying for some high dollar wines and I’m not a wine drinker.
Room Types
I knew I wanted either an ocean view balcony room or a swim out room. I was leaning swim out but in the end the hotel’s availability made the decision for me. The only ocean view rooms they had available for my nights were on the family side in STAR Class. The total cost would’ve been the same as I paid for an adult side swim out without STAR Class. While I would’ve gained STAR Class privileges, I would’ve lost access to the Seafood and Brazilian restaurants which was the deal breaker for me. If I booked STAR class on the adult side, I would’ve lost the swim out and I couldn’t get ocean view either. So availability made my decision to book a junior suite with a swim out on the adult side without STAR Class.
There are many other room types. They have entourage suites, director suites and producer suites. The producer suites are really amazing with two bedrooms, a separate kitchen and bar, a living room with a pool table and big screen TV, a dinner table that seats about 10, and a large balcony with entrances from all rooms that includes loungers and a jacuzzi. All of those are way out of the scope of what I need for just me.
STAR Class
What do you lose by not booking star class? Let’s take a look at that. This is the list of Star Class benefits currently being distributed to Star Class guests at check-in.
Green Lounge
I have seen pictures of the building 21 snacks. They consisted of small bites served buffet style so I probably would’ve skipped that.
STAR Class Pool
I have heard the STAR Class pool is the only heated pool on the property. That has been big when reading reviews from February. The negative I’ve heard about it is all of the STAR Class kids are also using that pool. For that reason many of the STAR Class guests on the adult side have been sticking to the adult pool. I have also heard that the fun activities during the day are happening around the adult pool.
STAR Class Bar & Grill
The way I understand the STAR Class Bar & Grill is just a pool bar/grill that is only open for lunch. I have heard that it does have good food. It’s probably nice to have but not a necessity to me. The aspect of it that they don’t even mention which has potential to be big is I have heard the STAR Class pool bar has alcohol the other bars don’t have. This is definitely something I want to investigate further while I’m there. . I wonder if that means you have to go to the pool bar to get the upgraded alcohol? That’s what it sounds like to me. If you’re in the sports bar or on the beach or in the nightclub after the pool bar is closed, I’m thinking you won’t have access to the additional alcohol options. Some have said the differences aren’t worth the upgrade cost. I will try to find out during my trip and report back.
For beer I have heard that all bars have Dos Equis and Dos Equis Amber while the Star Class bar also has Coors Light and Heineken. That works for me because I would pick Dos Equis Amber out of all of those beers.
Flow Rider
For anyone not familiar with the Flow Rider it is the surfing machine you may have seen on Royal Caribbean ships. I think listing it as free for any STAR Class guest who stays at least three days is a little misleading.
As you can see from the document below you only get a one day pass with a three day stay as a STAR Class guest. I have also seen schedules that show a time each day when the flow rider is free to all. You may have to deal with longer lines but if you just want to try it without paying for a full day or purchasing the STAR Class upgrade, that’s an option.
The Rest
I’m really not concerned about personalized check-in, late check-out, turn down service, spa treatment discounts, or the personal assistant. I have seen some people say the personal assistant was very helpful and others who said they never saw him. Apparently you get his what’s app number and that’s how you communicate. So if you are going to use this service you probably want to download What’s App and register your account.
Activities and Entertainment
The fact that I’m going to this resort during COVID-19 was one of the reasons I chose a secluded resort away from the Hotel Zone with a lot of activities. In addition to the restaurants and pools this resort has a sports bar, mini golf, flow rider, water park, water sports, a lazy river, a movie theater, and a nightclub on weekends. While I am going to have my second moderna dose prior to leaving, I didn’t know that was going to be the case at the time of booking. I wanted to make sure I booked a resort with enough activities to keep me busy for eight days if I chose not to venture outside of the resort during my stay.
Flights
I was really happy to be able to get Spirit Airlines. It worked out where they had one of the best prices and the flight times were just what I was looking for. I added $149 worth of upgrades to my flights. The checked bag was $43 one way and $42 the other. The exit row aisle seat with additional leg room upgrade was $27 one way and $29 the other. Finally for $8 I got a shortcut security line. This may not be necessary but I remember last year when I flew out of DFW in the morning I thought I was going to miss my flight due to long lines. Fortunately they let me cut to the front line since my flight was boarding soon.
Travel Agents/Booking Websites
I found booking an all-inclusive to be much different than booking a cruise. With cruises it seems to be pretty much the same no matter where you book it. But you can get onboard credit or other perks by booking through a travel agent. My agent only books cruises so I didn’t really check with a travel agent for this trip but I did watch a lot of travel agent videos that included some sample pricing and it seemed like booking with them would’ve been about 33% more than what I paid.
I cast a pretty wide net for my search. At one point I was close to booking a resort on Cheap Caribbean, then I was close to booking a different resort on Hotwire. I checked Expedia as well. For this resort I got the best price on All Inclusive Outlet. I saved about $150 off of what it would’ve cost to book it on one of the other sites and $500 off of what it would’ve cost to book my room directly through the hotel. Plus I got my flight and a shuttle from and to the airport.
The upgrades were pretty much $165 each. Going from the family side to the adult scene was $165 (they are listed as separate resorts on the websites). Going from a Junior Suite to a Junior Suite with a swim out was $165. Upgrading from regular class to STAR Class would’ve been $165 as well. I have heard an upgrade to STAR Class at the resort itself is anywhere from $40-80 per day. For me that would’ve been in the $320-640 range. My shared transportation option was a $23 upgrade. They did have private options in the $75-100 price range as well.
Travel Documents/Fees
Passport
Mine is valid until 2028. The passport application/renewal cost is $110. Information on obtaining a passport can be found here.
Tourist Card
Everyone traveling to Mexico has to get a Mexico Tourist Card. They are free and easy to get. If you don’t get your card ahead of time you’ll will have to do so at the airport.
Visitor Tax
As of April 1st the state of Quintana Roo has a visitor tax of $11 per person. You can pay yours online ahead of time on the visitax website or you will have to pay prior to boarding your return flight.
Continue to Planet Hollywood Cancun: Travel Day
