The Morgan’s Spring Break in Cancun, Mexico March 2010

The Morgan Family on the Beach

On Saturday, March 27, 2010 the Morgan family took our second annual spring break vacation. Last year, we went to San Diego and had a great time. In thinking about what we wanted to do this year, Cancun, Mexico came to mind. We know folks who have gone and said Cancun was a really great place to visit. This was my third trip to Mexico (Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta were the first two) and Liz’s second trip (Puerto Vallarta was her first and the place of our honeymoon in 1997). Thirteen years later, we return with our two girls and look to improve upon our previous visit(s).

Ian and Liz on Beach

Girls in the Resort

Taking off from Denver’s DIA Airport was a bit sketchy. We got up at 3AM and were at the airport around 4AM. Weather was cold and sleeting. The girls were very excited and you would have thought they downed a tablespoon of sugar before we left. Since it was cold and snowy, the plane was de-iced and that was a little unsettling for the wife.  Off we went from Denver to San Francisco. Odd, huh? Head west to end up south in Cancun. Stupid travel agencies and their oddball air packages. Whatever. We got to San Francisco and headed to our international gate. After a little while we hopped the plane to Cancun. One of the more memorable events on this plane trip was an earth friendly family (husband, wife, and mother) whose bosoms likely have never seen a brazier. The oldest female, with her melons gently swaying near the southern hemisphere of her naval, obviously passed on the skills of how not to wear a bra to her daughter. Needless to say, it was a nasty thing that was hard to avert your eyes from.

Haley on Beach

Around mid-afternoon, we arrived in Cancun. After going through customs and several bag checks, (like Mexico is the one trying to keep people out of THEIR country) we exited the airport in search of Best Day. Best Day is fairly large company in Cancun that handles transportation, reservations, and activities for your vacation. They were all ready for us and had us on our way to the hotel within 10 minutes. It’s a good thing because the heat and humidity was beating us down in our jeans. Best Day did a wonderful job in handling all the mundane things you don’t want to think about.

Cancun Beach

We selected Crown Paradise Club for our stay in Cancun. It is right along the hotel region of the peninsula south of the city of Cancun. The resort was all-inclusive and right on the beach side of the peninsula. The check in process needs some serious improvement. With only a few people in line, it still took close to 30 minutes to get to the counter. During our stay, we experienced several more issues like this when we needed something from the front desk. Other guests echoed the same irritation so it was not just us. After our extended stay in the reception area, we got to our pleasantly spec’ed room. We had two beds and a balcony overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

Liz and Ian on Beach

Crown Paradise Club has four pools—two outside close to the ocean, one heated interior pool near the kid’s water park, and one adult only pool on the first floor. Free things to do include miniature golf (pretty fun), basketball courts, game room, two tennis courts (where the girls promptly deposited the balls over the fence into the street), evening shows in a theatre (dancing dogs, ropers, Mexican dancers, etc.), sand volleyball courts, water slides, beach soccer, and probably a few others we didn’t indulge in.

Liz and Brianna on the Beach

Since Crown Paradise Club is all-inclusive, the food and alcohol is free. Assorted “bar like” areas offer up whatever you may need, while other specialty areas served different sorts of snacks. One could grab a snack of nachos, hamburgers, hotdogs, Asian cuisine, or sushi. Surprisingly, the kids woofed down the sushi. I was impressed that they even tried it and even more surprised they liked it. Haley, Brianna, and I partook in California and tuna rolls. The main eatery for Crown Paradise was what we called “The Hut” because it was a huge hut where a large buffet was served. They had a ton of different things that one can choose from. Unfortunately, food was not one of the better things the resort offered. It’s not that it was terrible, just not that good.The poor quality of food extended to the “restaurants” available.

Ian and the Girls at Italian Restaurant

Crown Paradise offers French (adult only and dress code required), Mexican, Italian, Steak, and Seafood restaurants. The resort requires the guests to make a reservation in order to dine at one of these establishments. This system is majorly flawed. We were unable to get into any but two of the restaurants because they were “full” and to add insult to this, we would go by the “full” restaurants in the evening only to find out there were MANY tables available. When going to Crown Paradise, don’t expect great food and reserve restaurant seating as early as possible. Two days out is not too soon.

Our Footprints in the Sand

The service staff was excellent. They were always around without being in your way. The staff was always friendly, helped with anything you may need, and went over and above what I would have expected from the resort. I can’t say enough about how well they performed their job. The maid for our room even went so far as neatly folding Brianna’s blanket and placing carefully on the made up bed. In the food areas, the staff made sure your drinks were full and were near at hand with forks, napkins, and anything necessary. They were always smiling and were simply a treat to have around.

The Girls on the Beach in the Waves

Brianna Playing in the Sand

The beach was extremely pretty. The gentle waves would roll up onto the white beach one after another. The sand was never hot, but stuck to EVERYTHING. Aside from that, the beach was the best I’ve ever seen. The kids had a good time playing in the surf, collecting seashells, and making sand castles. The wife and I enjoyed watching people cruise the beach with far less clothes on than they should have—not because they looked good, but because they were trying to squeeze their four asses into something they wore in high school.

Butt Crack Girl

One girl took it so far as to have a bikini bottom on that allowed the top of her ass crack to remain perpetually hanging out and winking at you. I wanted to toss a French fry or two in there, but Liz wouldn’t let me. This distinctly poor dress attire was a consistent theme while we were there. I cannot tell you how many people were working their four tires around their waist, pocked legs, and huge ham hock arms whilst sprawled out in a bikini 12 sizes too small. I still have the taste of throw up in my mouth…

Brianna on Slide

There is a shipwreck water park that is part of what Crown Paradise calls the Kids Club. We had the kids spend a

Haley and Brianna on Beach

lot of time there because there were a number of staff and plenty of water activities to do for them. This allowed Liz and I to spend some time at the adult pool laying out and burning my delicate vampire skin. In reality, I did pretty well, as did all of us. Compared to the 8th degree burns we all succumbed to in San Diego last year, we consider this vacation a success with very minor redness. Allowing the kids to have a little free run of the resort was a relief for the kids and us. Those that know our family realize we are probably over protective with the girls, but weren’t concerned about leaving them at the water park and having them come get us when they were done. The girls really enjoyed this and appreciated their newfound responsibility. The only thing that was annoying was that both of the girls felt the need to pee about every 5 minutes. We think it was an independence thing, but it really got old. Really.

Girls Painting Artwork

Along with the several gift shops the resort has to offer, there are tables where you can purchase ceramic sculptures. They are white with lines that the kids can follow for painting. We bought Brianna a dolphin and Haley a Toucan bird. They both really enjoyed painting them and the staff kind of touched them up after the kids finished. A coating was painted over them for a finishing touch and the artwork will become a permanent part of our children’s collection.

Nasty Corona Bottles

We only left the hotel once to go to a local mall called La Isla. The mall was great and we shopped for a little while there. Since we forgot our map at the hotel, we blew past it on the little public transportation bus there. Not that it cost that much, but we had to pay more to get where we wanted to go than we needed to. Oh well. The mall had some aquarium stuff you could do (expensive) and many shops that are familiar to Americans. Some establishments had some rather interesting bottle work. After our shopping excursion, we headed back to Crown Paradise. Honestly, we really had a great time simply hanging around the resort.

Ian and Kids Heading out on Waverunner

Ian and Kids Riding Waverunner

On our last day, we decided to rent a wave runner (jet ski). Brianna, Haley, and I went out on it for about 30 minutes and had a blast! Both girls seem to think it was one of the best parts of the trip. Brianna played “windshield” for the whole ride and soaked up most of the spray we made. She was shivering and wet when we went back. Haley was behind me and giggled most of the way.

Ian and Kids Returning from Waverunner Ride

Brianna Looking Like Hell After Waverunner Ride

Thursday, April 1 came around and it was time to head back to Colorado. Our flight with US Airways was scheduled to leave at 1:40PM. Best Day had us leaving on a shuttle from the hotel to the Cancun Airport at 10:35AM. We figured that would be PLENTY of time. When we got into the terminal at around 11AM, there were HUGE lines at the ticketing

Ian and the Girls at the Cancun Airport

counters. I saw the American Airlines line and commented to Liz that it would suck to be them. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, we found the line for US Airways and it was longer than American’s. Sucks to be us. Around 1:10PM, we finally go to the ticket counter. Yes, that is roughly two hours of standing in a line with two kids lying on the floor pissing and moaning the whole time. The agent told us that he couldn’t find seats on our plane for all four of us—basically, we would all have to sit in different areas of the plane. This would not work since our youngest cannot sit alone. So here comes the bright side—US Airways said they could book us on Frontier Airlines straight through to

Haley Getting Hair Braided

Denver (our original flight was to South Carolina and then over to Denver). The delay would be under two hours for departing so we were all over it. Surprisingly, the agent came back with four vouchers for $450 each because we voluntarily changed flights. BONUS!!!! Airfare for spring break next year! So, the wait was worth it at this point. After getting our tickets. We went and waited in line at security for another half hour. Cancun’s airport system sucks and really needs revamping. I

All the Girls on the Beach

thought DIA was bad…Actually, DIA is the worst security process I’ve ever seen. They take the WHOLE airport through one security checkpoint instead of security checkpoints at different locations. Concourse A actually has a security checkpoint you can go through as well, but still. It really stinks. The flight to Denver was pretty good, but Liz was about to hurl from the turbulence. While Liz’s stomach was back flipping, the girls were riding the turbulence like a roller coaster and loving it. We got back around 8PM to sleet. Going from 80 degrees to 30 something was an experience. I liked getting back to the home environment that is dry and cool so that was nice.

The Family at the Cancun Airport

Brianna Playing Hobbit on the Beach

Cancun was a great experience for the whole family. Overall, Crown Paradise Club was pretty good and I would recommend it to anyone with children. Nearly EVERY party at the resort was there with kids—it is a most friendly destination for those with children.

The beaches in Cancun were simply marvelous. There are a ton of other things to do while in Cancun, but we’ll save those for next time (using our free flight vouchers!). If you haven’t been there yet and are thinking of a relatively inexpensive vacation, make sure you consider Cancun. We had a great time and look forward to visiting again.

Setting Sun