For Amanda’s birthday this year, she spent a week celebrating in Cancun, Mexico with her first ever visit to an all-inclusive resort! She stayed at Atelier Playa Mujeres and absolutely fell in love with it. In this post, we’re sharing all the details of her week-long stay. Amanda reviews the food she ate at the resort and the fun activities they did as well as things she wished she knew before the trip so you don’t make the same mistakes!
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What to Pack
Amanda went to Cancun in November – the weather was in the 80s during the day and at night. The humidity fluctuated but stayed between 70%-80% each day (She is from the southern US, so is accustomed to this type of humidity, but it may shock some travelers from other parts of the world!).
November is the perfect time of year to visit. It isn’t overly hot, and it’s considered the “off-season” so crowds are low! The peak season for Cancun is December – April, so visiting during that time of year may be a bit more crowded but still very enjoyable weather!
Amanda’s favorite clothing items for this type of weather are linen pants, jumpsuits, and casual dresses. She frequently stresses over what to pack and wear on trips (cheers for anxiety!) and was concerned with what type of attire would be expected or required during the day and in the evenings at the 5 star resort.
There was a wide range of attire from the other guests though that all fell on a spectrum from t-shirts and elastic waistband shorts to high-end dresses and heels. Amanda typically dressed somewhere in the middle of that range with her outfits and felt like she fit right in! You can find our other favorite packing essentials HERE.
Things Amanda wished she packed:
- Waterproof phone pouch to take pictures and videos during kayaking and paddle boarding activities
- Two bottles of sunscreen instead of one bottle (Take it from us, you don’t want to run out on your last day and get sunburned!)
- Smaller bills for tipping the staff that went above and beyond*
- Tumbler to keep all the yummy poolside drinks cold!
*Gratuity is included in the package price of the resort so tipping is 100% optional. However, it can be nice to have some cash on hand as well to show extra appreciation to hard working staff. The front desk is able to exchange US currency for local currency as well as exchange the bigger bills for smaller ones – a welcomed courtesy, but they wished they would have thought of this going into the trip!
Packing Tip: When guests arrive, bellhops will collect their bags and deliver them to the room when it’s made available. Depending on your arrival time, this could be HOURS later as rooms aren’t ready until after 3pm. However, you have access to the resort amenities before your room is ready! With this in mind, you should pack a swimsuit, sandals, sunscreen, and whatever else you need to be pool ready and keep it with you. That way, you can immediately begin enjoying the pool or beach! Amanda made the mistake of NOT doing this and had to wait a long time before diving into the pool.
About The Resort
When you book your stay at Atelier Playa Mujeres, you’ll be introduced to an all-inclusive experience like no other. Nestled along the exclusive shores of the Caribbean, Atelier Playa Mujeres beckons travelers into a world where luxury, Mexican traditions, and international cuisine converge to create an unparalleled vacation experience.
The resort holds nearly 600 suites spanning three interconnected buildings and five floors. Atelier’s amenities and benefits are divided into two categories – regular guests and Inspiria guests.
Those vacationing with the Inspiria program can enjoy special benefits such as an earlier check in time, exclusive access to additional lounges and pools, a personalized butler service, and more. The Inspiria suites have additional diversity in style such as oceanfront suites, swim out suites, and rooftop suites!
In comparison, regular guests are able to choose between a standard room or an ocean view room. Amanda opted to not participate in the Inspiria program on this trip and still had a magical vacation – no need to upgrade for an unforgettable experience!
Do you like staying in luxury accommodations in beautiful sunny settings? Check out our post on Samara, Costa Rica!
The Food – Yuck or Yum?
The type of food and quality of it is always one of the top priorities when planning a trip – especially when staying at an all-inclusive for a week and going elsewhere is impractical! Atelier has fourteen food spots on property, and Amanda was able to try twelve of them during her stay!
The resort uses a reservation system to book dinners each night. There are iPads located outside of each restaurant, and from there each guest is able to login with a unique pin created at check in to reserve dinner at any restaurant across the resort. Reservations can be made up to two days in advance.
Some of Amanda’s favorite restaurants and meals are recapped below:
Kopai
Kopai is a revolving sushi bar and was the first restaurant they ate at during their stay. Being MAJOR seafood and sushi fans having been to a couple of revolving sushi restaurants before, Kopai was a must try. This restaurant was an excellent first impression of the quality of food that the resort has to offer. They enjoyed various sushi rolls off the revolving bar and ordered a trio of Sashimi and Nigiri, and a Pad Thai entree. It was quite the feast!
El Suspiro
El Suspiro is the restaurant they frequented most at the resort. By the end of their trip, this was the go-to for both breakfast and lunch. It is conveniently located next to the main pool and beach, making it incredibly convenient when passing through. Some of the highlights at this restaurant were:
Breakfasts – Chilaquiles, House Pancakes, Florentine Omelet
Lunches – Ceviche, Fish filet stuffed with shellfish, Fried Whole Fish, Tuna Filet, Fish Tacos
Los Abrazos
This was the hardest restaurant to get into! Amanda and her wife got up very early one morning to watch the sunrise and made reservations for Los Abrazos on their way to the beach. By the time the sunrise was over and they were headed back to their room to get ready for the day, all of the reservations were gone!
The restaurant has an elevated salad bar and other accouterments from around the world – dripping honeycomb, too many global cheese’s to count, a plethora of crackers and breads, flavored butters and other spreads, and a fully stocked salad bar. It is an excellent tapas style buffet while waiting for entrees. Amanda enjoyed oysters and a ribeye steak for her meal, while her wife loved an entree of elevated french onion soup and rack of lamb.
Takeshi
This was their last dinner at the resort, and they could not think of a better place to end such a wonderful trip! They shared three sushi rolls (Salmon tartare, Tuna tataki, and Hamachi Uramaki), and they had the Chicken Tikka Masala and Pad Thai as their entrees.
Honorable mentions
Cilento – The seafood risotto is a must try, and the pasta Alla Ruota was quite the show!
Cafecito & Azucar – Identical coffee / bakery / gelato shops on opposite ends of the property that were frequented daily (and sometimes more than once a day!) for little pick me ups or dessert after dinner! The coffee was as expected and the gelato was the best they’ve ever had!
Mercado 19 – Amanda enjoyed their breakfast buffet more than their dinner service
In all, the food went above and beyond expectations! Not only is there a wide variety of restaurants available, there is a wide selection at each restaurant as well! Amanda is gluten sensitive, so she often opts for gluten free meals and snacks when able (but don’t let her fool you, she will thoroughly enjoy a non-gluten free meal as well if she feels it’s worth the risk!). Her wife on the other hand LOVES carbs and cannot survive without eating them on a daily basis. It can be quite the challenge for both of them to find food at the same place that they equally enjoy, but somehow Atelier made it possible at each restaurant!
Things To Do
The obvious attraction at an all-inclusive ocean side resort is relaxing poolside and beachside. Atelier has four pools (two pools included with the basic package and two pools specifically for guests staying with their Inspira program). The main pool is quite large with two swim up bars and an oversized hot tub. The whole space gets very busy and vivacious during the day. The secondary pool on the other end of the resort is smaller and quieter with one swim up bar. Both pools have a casual restaurant next to them that provides food service. This luxury is fab when guests want to have a snack (or even lunch!) from their pool chair.
The resort also has a private section of the beach reserved for their guests with plenty of daybeds and beach chairs setup. Both at the pools and beachside, wait staff circle constantly asking guests if they’d like to order drinks or food and hand out ice cold waters. While the speed of the staff varied based on crowd size and location, Amanda was continually impressed at the timing of the staff. She could hardly finish one drink before the waiter was already bringing a second or asking if she wanted one!
One of the concerns people may have going into an all-inclusive trip is whether there will be enough things to actually do other than lounging at the pool or beach. It was a pleasant surprise though how many activities the resort offered during the day! There was a dedicated staff that hosted all of the activities. By the end of the trip, they knew both Amanda and her wife on a first name basis because they attended so many events!
Similar to cruises, the resort has a downloadable app that has helpful info such as maps, restaurant operating times and their menus, room service ordering, and the schedule for the week. Throughout their week-long trip numerous activities were enjoyed – Sushi making workshop, Beach Volleyball, Latin Dance lessons, Paint & Sip, Guided Bike Ride, Guided Kayaking Adventure, and an Aqua Dance Class!
Honorable mentions – while not a hosted activity, the resort has an equipment shack on the beach (included of course!) where guests can sign out kayaks, paddle boards, and a catamaran (either self utilized if experienced or available with a guide). Amanda and her wife not only participated in the kayak adventure activity but they also signed out the paddle boards and took those for a self guided spin on the ocean! This is where Amanda wished she had a waterproof phone pouch because she would have loved to record all of the wipe outs her wife had on the paddleboard!
Quick shout out to the activities’ staff: they were absolutely phenomenal and truly elevated the overall experience. They were deeply knowledgeable about the area and shared all types of stories about ancient history, local legends, different native plants and food sources, and so much more! The staff was incredibly witty and often made them laugh throughout activities. They truly made an environment where Amanda wanted to keep coming back to do different activities just so she could hangout with them. By the end of the week they felt like friends – Thank you Elisio, Valerie & Joe!
All together, Amanda’s birthday trip to Atelier Playa Mujeres was simply splendid and she is so grateful that she had the opportunity to go! After completing this trip, she definitely plans on returning to this resort and wants to try other all-inclusives in different destinations to see how they compare! While she loves the thrill of planning out extensive trips, it was nice being able to relax and have the resort do all the planning for you. Being pampered for a week in Cancun was an excellent birthday treat!
Have you stayed at an all-inclusive resort before? Share your favorite resort in the comments! Have questions about taking a trip to a resort? Ask away!
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I just stayed here last week. It was ok, I didn’t think it was great. I thought the food was very average and people were getting up at 6am to save pool chairs. Not really what I want to do on my vacation. The staff, though, was absolutely lovely (other than the sales pitch to become inspiria when you check in).
Oh man, sounds like a totally different experience! We went during Thanksgiving in November so the crowds were minimal, there were still come early worms saving chairs before the sun came up but not too many! Thanks for sharing your experience!
I’ve only ever stayed at one all-inclusive (also in Mexico) and when I left, it was like I had forgotten how to take care of myself! Everyone should experience the all-inclusive lifestyle at least once!
No, I’ve never stayed at an all-inclusive. I pictured very little to do except sit around a pool and the food hit or miss, mostly miss. This post shatters those assumptions. Fourteen eateries??? And the food looked delectable!!! A foodie’s paradise. Thank you for mentioning the activities and alternatives to sitting around a pool.
I’ve always wanted to try an all-inclusive resort. This resort, Atelier Playa Mujeres, seems like a great one to try as a first timer.
We are planning an all inclusive trip for March and I’m sharing this with my boyfriend as it sounds perfect! Great review!
Heyy! I´ve never stayed in a all inclusive resort but now I´m actually excited to try it! I did not know there were so many restaurants and things to do so I was worried I might get bored! Another thing for my bucket list!
I’ve never been to an all inclusive resort. Reading through your experience definitely alleviated some of my misconceptions about the quality of food, every dish looked incredible. And those pools are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing, and belated happy birthday!