Hong L
The most relaxing vacation we've had with kids!
Club Med exceeded our expectations for our spring break vacation. We felt worry-free, especially with the kids, and our family (kids aged 8 and 10) had a fantastic time. We’ll definitely be back!
Pros:
-The resort is the perfect size—small enough to feel safe, but with plenty of space and really nice to run into kids as they crossed the resort with their kids club.
-Mini kids-club was amazing. We dropped the kids off at 10am and picked them up at 5:30pm. They had so much kids programming and the counselors seemed very watchful and careful of tracking kids. Every day our kids also chose to stay for the evening kids’ dinner and programming too (additional 7-9pm of childcare!). Our children made friends quickly, we gave them “free status” so they could come and go with their new friends, which they loved. We felt comfortable allowing this independence since resort was so contained
-Evening shows and performances can feel campy for adults but kids loved it.
-The food was really good—plenty of fresh meats, seafood, salads, and breads. Also restaurants had very long serving windows (breakfast until 11, lunch until 3pm, dinner until 10pm)
-When our son needed medical attention due to ear infection, the nurse and staff were very helpful, coordinating with a doctor and getting medication delivered to our room.
-Airport pickup was smooth, easy and very safe-feeling. Greeters met us at airport exit and we departed after ~10 minutes and all passengers boarded the bus.
-Very comfortably warm at night in April, no bug spray needed at the time.
-Resort felt very safe--we saw private security on the beach every day
Cons:
-As expected, the rooms are dated, and we had a couple of minor issues (stiff faucet and occasional toilet odor). Still, very decent for price and we loved having 2 adjoining rooms
-My daughter has a dairy intolerance, and it was sometimes hard to figure out what contained dairy. While the chefs were accommodating and made special meals on request (eg vegan soymilk pancakes), there weren’t any dairy-free baked goods. She ended up having a lot of sorbet.
-Desserts looked great, but many didn’t taste as good as they looked. The homemade ice cream was definitely the best option, but other desserts had a strange taste, possibly due to use of palm oil.
Tips/Other:
-Tell kids they need to try kids club for at least 2 days and they will meet friends and want to return. We also saw many teens doing various activities together in teen club (great to see so many screen-free kids)
-There’s a nice bike path near resort to Ixtapa--you can rent bikes for ~$25US from resort
-We brought some cash for tips, etc but didn’t leave resort much so didn’t need to exchange for peso
-Don't feel any pressure to dress up for the theme-nights but do bring at least a white shirt for their White Night where they serve dinner on the lawn--feels like a wedding and makes for lovely family photos