06/30/2026
***Long post***
My Personal Review of:
🏨 OCCIDENTAL XCARET ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT (Royal Level)
🇲🇽PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO
🏝️ Visited April 2026 w/my husband to celebrate our anniversary
✈️ Fly into Cancun (CUN) airport, then take approx. 50min shuttle ride to & from resort. We used the free shared transfer through the Barcelo resort, but it was just us in the shuttle on both the arrival & return so no extra time was wasted.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5-Star 💵💵reasonably priced all-inclusive family friendly resort, also has a separate adults only pool & a Royal Level section that includes extra perks like priority à la cart dinner reservations, a Royal only pool section & French restaurant, & free 24hr room service.
🏖️There is no traditional beach here, instead there is a sanded beach area around a private lagoon that is blocked off from the ocean with nets which helps to keep the seaweed out. You can still see the ocean & the beautiful ocean views, but the designated swimming area is only in the lagoon. It’s about 4-5ft deep in most areas, has pretty good areas to snorkel, & is much safer than the ocean since you don’t have to worry about huge waves & rip currents. We really enjoyed the lagoon even though a nice beach is normally on our “must have” list, but it was great to be able to be in the ocean & swim around without having to worry about the dangers that come along with the typical ocean beach. Great for families with young children.
🍴Food🍴
-2 buffet style restaurants that serve all meals, 5 à la cart restaurants for dinner reservations only, a snack bar restaurant for lunch, 2 restaurants (tacos & pizza) for dinner & late night dining, & the French restaurant for Royal Level guests serves all meals.
-We only ate at the main buffet one time for breakfast on our departure day. For all other breakfasts & lunches we ate at either the Royal restaurant or the Beach Club buffet, & had one lunch at the snack bar. We found the buffet food to be average resort/cruise type food. Nothing spectacular, but you can always find something to eat. The Beach Club buffet restaurant was our favorite because it had the best view of the ocean & we also enjoyed the ocean views from outside at the Royal French restaurant.
-Since we were Royal Level we were able to make reservations at check in for all à la carts except for the Italian restaurant which was really nice because we didn’t have to worry about not getting in to eat dinners at à la carts each night. Most of the à la carts were slightly above average compared to other resorts we have been to. Our favorite was the Oriental restaurant because the sushi was probably some of the freshest tasting sushi I have ever had.
-We did not like that there was no grab & go options during the day. Everything has to be ordered & consumed as sit down type meals, which isn’t very convenient when you are spending days at the beach or pools. We also felt like Pacos Tacos & the pizza restaurant should have been opened during the day instead of just at night.
~Room service food is available 24hrs for free if you are Royal Level, but otherwise it has to be purchased. It takes about 45 min to get food delivered. The room service food is not all that great, but it’s good enough to have a late night snack if needed. It’s definitely not worth having to pay extra for it though.
🍹 Drinks 🍹
~Miami Vice & mango margarita frozen drinks & the Scooby Doo & Mexican candy shots were all pretty popular. BlackBerry & strawberry mojitos were really good too. Ask for a specific brand of liquor so you don’t get the cheap stuff. Bring an insulated cup to have drinks put in to keep from having to make trips to the bar.
~Rooms have a fridge stocked with beer, soft drinks (Pepsi products) & water
~Since we were celebrating our anniversary we received a bottle of red wine & chocolate covered strawberries in our room on arrival which was nice.
🛌 Rooms 🛌
~We reserved a Royal level Suite which I didn’t realize would have a living room area with a separate bedroom & two balconies. It was way too big for just the two of us, but now we know if we want to bring the kids this would be a perfect room for the 4 of us. I was hoping to be in building 30 so that we could see monkeys on the balcony, but we ended up in building 31 with a partial ocean view. We were able to see monkeys in trees throughout the resort though which was amazing I thought was amazing to see.
~Buildings are only 3 stories high, we were on the 2nd floor, but there was no elevator so walking up & down stairs for some may be difficult.
~Some reviews said wash cloths were not provided so we brought our own. There were none provided at check in but once housekeeping saw that we had ours they provided a couple for us, so you can definitely request wash cloths at least in Royal level.
~Shampoo & body wash was provided although it was very thin & didn’t lather at all, so I would recommend bringing your own. There was no conditioner or lotion provided so we ended up having to buy travel bottles at the pharmacy which was around $6 each.
~Bathroom had a nice walk in shower & big whirlpool bath tub.
~Room was clean, AC worked well, bed was really comfortable, hammock on one balcony, and many nice extra touches like hair dryer, robes & slippers, & a scale which was great to be able to weigh bags before leaving.
~Room & bathroom lighting was terrible. Even with all the lights on in the bathroom my husband couldn’t see to be able to shave properly. If the balcony curtains were not open in the room during the day you could hardly see anything.
🤩Entertainment/Amenities🤩
~The entertainment was the best I have seen at any resort other than at RIU resorts. We saw Michael Jackson, the Circus show, Mexican, & Fantasy. Michael Jackson & Fantasy were my favorites, which normally I feel like the MJ shows are cheesy & Fantasy is Disney themed so I thought it would be mostly for kids, but I really enjoyed both of these a lot.
~There wasn’t a whole lot of scheduled activities during the day & the ones they did have we were either not interested in or it was more for younger kids.
~There is a night club/disco for 18 & up but we didn’t go because the last shuttle runs at 10:30 & the walk to Royal is REALLY FAR especially after a long day & drinks. This was our biggest disappointment at this resort.
~There is a gym/fitness center somewhere but we never saw it.
~Spa on site for extra $
~Excursions available from the resort or your transport company for extra $
WARNING for XCARET: If you plan to go to Xcaret park, buy the tickets online through Barcelo BEFORE arrival. We were told by past guests that we would get better prices for the unlimited pass if we got them at the resort & that was not the case. We were also tricked by one of the vacation club reps (we didn’t realize she was promoting the vacation club)….Right after we checked in she told us to go see her first thing the next morning because she had discounts for us since we were Royal level. We ended up wasting a good 3 hours on our first morning only to find out she had no discounts for us unless we went listen to the vacation club pitches & we did not want to do that. It was a whole mess after that having to get someone else to sell us unlimited passes because they were up charging way more than it was online. Also we personally felt like it was a waste to have unlimited Xcaret passes because we could have seen the whole park in a day & definitely didn’t need more than 2 days. Although it is a beautiful park, we preferred spending our time at the resort but that’s just our personal preference.
📝 Notes 📝
~Bring swimwear in carry on so you can go to beach/pool while waiting for room to be ready
~Be sure to put do not disturb on door when sleeping in morning or for naps
~Bring large yeti or Stanley cup to bars to fill so you don’t have to keep getting drinks & helps to keep drinks cold
~Bring a sound machine because hallways can get noisy
~Bring a damprid bag to hang in room to help with humidity
✅Overall Rating: On a scale of 1-10, I would give this resort an 8.5. The entertainment was better than most resorts, the lagoon was really nice, & the he wildlife on the resort was AMAZING to see every day! This is a great resort for families with kids of all different age groups. I wouldn’t suggest it as a couples or wedding vacation because there are a lot of kids. There is an adults only section but often times kids go in and it seems to go unnoticed by staff. Overall it is a beautiful resort, the à la carts were better than most & having access to Xcaret park from the resort is a bonus if that is somewhere you are interested in seeing.
Call, text, or email me TODAY to book your Dream Vacation! ⤵️
📱 337-205-3036
📧 [email protected]
