(This is a continued series from Travel Freely Member Adam’s 70 Days on Points and Miles around the world. Read his introduction here and see links to more posts at the bottom.)
After the Amalfi Coast, we had our plans change quite a bit. The original itinerary included some time in Israel and Japan before returning to the States. However, due to travel restrictions that persisted in Japan longer than anticipated, our flights got canceled, and we had to make a return trip to Cleveland after the Amalfi Coast. This wasn’t all bad, though, since we could make it back to Dakota’s family vacation on Lake Michigan as an excellent substitute! But the entire summer of points travel was not yet over… we had one last stop – Cancun!
Due to scrambling flights around a bit, we chose to buy a cheap flight option to Cancun from Cleveland rather than use points (not many good deals were available). Most tickets were absurdly expensive ($500s), but we used Kiwi.com to get direct roundtrip tickets for only $149. Now to be fair, we flew with Frontier – and many people have had bad experiences with the airline – so we took a small risk! But it panned out for us. A 30-minute delay is all we had to put up with!
We met my brother Ben and his fiancee Taylor at the airport before departing to our destination for the five full days we spent in Cancun. Our resort? The Hyatt Zilara Cancun!
We were able to capitalize on some big benefits on my Capital One Venture X card for this trip: $112 in food at Bar Symon in Cleveland (meals before we left and after we returned to the CLE airport!), lounge access right next to our gate in Cancun, and access for Ben and Taylor to the brand new DFW CapOne Lounge!
Back to the Hyatt Zilara Cancun… what a phenomenal resort! Admittedly, this was our first time at an all-inclusive, but we were simply blown away. This Hyatt resort is an adult-only location, in contrast to its family-oriented counterpart Hyatt Ziva.
I had originally planned to get one room for the four of us, but unfortunately, if booking with points, you can only have two adults per room, so we had to go for two rooms for the five-day stretch. We booked each room for 25k World of Hyatt points per night that we transferred from Chase! Thanks to Zac’s Globalist Status and usage of the ‘Guest of Honor’ perk, we also reaped some awesome Globalist perks! Unfortunately, the resort did not have any suites available for upgrade. Still, we did get to experience private check-in (with welcome champagne!), a private concierge service (VERY helpful), late check-out, and a 2 for 1 deal at one of the special dining events that saved us around $200! Thanks, Zac!!
The rooms were simple but comfortable double full-size bed set-ups, fitted with regal architecture, and even a hot tub in each room! The real kicker was the balcony view, though. Waking up every morning to an ocean view was a treat! (all rooms have an ocean view, to my understanding)
Asiana is, you guessed it, Zilara’s gourmet Asian cuisine restaurant. We ate here three different times, once for a hibachi steakhouse experience and twice for the sushi. Let me tell you – the sushi was top-tier. The four of us downed over 15 rolls in one sitting… all-you-can-eat can be dangerous.
Maria Marie is their Mexican restaurant with delicious options and an upscale feel. We ate here on our first night and absolutely loved the atmosphere! It was a wonderful way to ease into the resort’s vibe for our first dinner. We ordered a couple of the same enchilada entrees, but we opted to get one of each dessert so we could mix and match. Every bite was incredible!
Spice is the buffet-style dining area where you can grab and go as you wish. We only ate here for lunch on our first day since we preferred some other options, but this is a fantastic place, especially if you have outings planned outside of the resort and need a quick bite!
Chef’s Plate was the only dining experience that cost us any money. The price was $169 for the four of us with Zac’s Globalist benefit. The price included a fine dining experience consisting of six different courses prepared by Zilara’s executive chef in an intimate restaurant location. There was an event host who described our dishes to us as we went, as well as recommended different wines to accompany each dish. Some of the highlights were popcorn soup, an incredibly prepared wahoo, a special-recipe risotto, and a filet mignon dish. I’ve never eaten fish before (don’t judge me too harshly), so the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed the wahoo is saying something!
Last but not least, however, is the Punta Vista Restaurant with an open patio that overlooks the ocean. This was our favorite restaurant, and since they have different menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we frequented this location the most!
Now the food was phenomenal. But the stay in its entirety was impressive. I think five days was the perfect amount, and the resort could potentially get a bit stuffy if you stayed longer than that. However, for our five-day stay, we were entirely entertained and thrilled with what the resort offered! They had an awesome event staff that we became solid friends with and loved seeing every day. This staff put on daily events like water volleyball games, ping pong tournaments, raffles, and a ton more. Every night they also had special events in the main lobby, like opera night, incredible rollerblading shows, and even a casino royale. More than anything, the pleasantness of the workers and their genuine enjoyment of their jobs made the stay great. Shout out to our friend and Zilara staff member Tommy Corzo for the exceptional work!
We loved swimming in the ocean, exploring the different portions of the extensive pool system, napping on the cabanas on the beach or poolside, and competing in couples billiards games. I am proud to say Dakota, and I came out on top of the billiard games over the course of our stay. We even ended up finding a bit of an isolated rooftop pool that had an incredible view of the bay.
Would I recommend the Hyatt Zilara Cancun for your stay with points? Ab – so – lute – ly. In fact, I am arranging for my parents to take a trip down to the resort for their anniversary, we enjoyed it that much! As I mentioned before, more than a few days might require some venturing beyond the resort to stay stimulated, but we were so enthralled during our stay we never felt bored for even a moment. One important thing to remember during your stay is that, although you don’t have to pay for nearly anything, tips are appreciated greatly by the staff! Make sure to bring some cash to be able to tip your servers and other staff members.
That is a wrap on our summer of travel… but watch out, next year will be even crazier. Don’t believe me? STAY TUNED!
More from Adam’s 70 Days on Points and Miles:
