Cancun, Mexico
January 2019
An all-inclusive honeymoon with plenty of adventure beyond the resort
Our January 2019 honeymoon took us to Sandos Cancun, where we used RCI points to book a week at the resort and added an all-inclusive package covering three daily meals, drinks and one spa treatment each after we arrived.
But this was never going to be a vacation spent entirely beside the pool.
We rented a car using credit-card points, ate inexpensive lunches at local places and headed beyond the resort for parasailing, SNUBA, snorkeling and an excursion that combined mountain biking, hiking and swimming through a cenote.
The resort gave us an easy home base. Exploring made the honeymoon ours.
This Cancun destination page brings together the stories, experiences and travel lessons from that trip—including an honest look at whether paying extra for the all-inclusive package was actually worth it.
We Paid Extra for All-Inclusive, and Still Left the Resort
Our room at Sandos Cancun was already covered with timeshare points. Then we paid approximately $1,200 more for meals, drinks and spa treatments—even though we regularly skipped lunch to explore. Here’s why we still don’t consider the upgrade a mistake.
What It Was Like to Explore Río Secreto
We drove an hour from Cancun, rode mountain bikes through the reserve and hiked to an underground cave filled with clear water and extraordinary formations. When everyone switched off their helmet lights, the darkness was absolute. Nearly eight years later, Río Secreto remains our favorite adventure from the honeymoon.
Beyond the Resort: Our Cancun Honeymoon Adventures
We enjoyed the convenience of our all-inclusive resort, but our favorite memories happened beyond its gates. We drove a speedboat through the mangroves, parasailed together, rode underwater scooters and biked, hiked and swam through Rio Secreto. We even found outdoor ice skating in Mexico—only to be defeated by our inability to find two pairs of socks.
Cancun Reviews - These ratings reflect our personal experiences during our January 2019 honeymoon. Properties, tours, staff and inclusions can change over time.
Our favorite excursion of the honeymoon combined easygoing mountain biking, hiking and swimming through a remarkable underground cave system. The guides handled the experience well, the activity level was manageable, and the moment everyone switched off their helmet lights remains one of our strongest memories from Cancun. Even with the separately purchased photo package, Río Secreto was absolutely worth it for us.
Aquaworld gave us one of the trip’s most unusual experiences: riding BOB sub scooters approximately 15 feet underwater while breathing inside air-filled helmets. The guides made the process easy for Gina as a first-timer while still making it interesting for me as a certified scuba diver. The BOB tour has since been discontinued, but our experience with Aquaworld was organized, enjoyable and memorable.
Sandos gave us a comfortable honeymoon home base, enjoyable breakfasts, convenient beach and pool service, and decent dinners. However, the stay included several aggressive upsells: a lengthy all-inclusive sales pitch at check-in, persistent pressure to attend another timeshare presentation, and vendors regularly approaching guests on the beach. We received reasonable value from the all-inclusive package, but the included spa treatments were inconsistent—Gina loved hers, while my massage was rough and impersonal.