Budget travel doesn’t mean that you can’t stay at a resort, only that you have to do a little more planning. This trip to the Barcelo Maya in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico took a little creativity, but was well worth it.
Be flexible with your travel.
This is always my first bit of advice for traveling anywhere on a budget. Particularly if you have a particular place or experience that you want to include. Generally this involves choosing a location, in this case Barcelo Maya Caribe, and then looking for deals around a very broad and open date range. Sometimes that isn’t an option, especially when kid’s schedules are involved, and generally you end up paying more because of it. If it is a school vacation, or break from work, you are sometimes stuck with a very narrow date range that you can travel. In that case, I would advocate for being flexible about the location. This will open up many more opportunities to work within your budget. This particular trip allowed me to follow none of that advice. We were headed to a very particular resort, for a very particular date range. My sister’s wedding to be specific. While other resorts were available in the area, we would not have been allowed access to the wedding activities at the Barcelo, so our hands were tied on this account.
Shop sales. Do your research.
We had the services of a travel agent that we could book through. After a few calls, back and forth, various price quotes for different packages, it was a hard no. There was no way that we could go for the quoted fare, and I thought that was likely the end of it. But, not to be fully deterred, we began watching the Barcelo’s website, Expedia, Kayak, and Travelocity for deals months ahead. Also, the cancellation and insurance policies on those sites were important to give us the most flexibility. Those particular dates had us in the bind, but eventually a short term sale came up. The entire package for $1,000 less than the lowest price the travel agent had quoted us. Suddenly the trip to Barcelo Maya seemed within reach.
Use Miles and Points when possible
After some wheeling and dealing between Delta and Expedia, we managed to book the package for 3 flights and 4 hotel room occupants (One room, three beds). Then leveraged Delta flight miles for the 4th airline ticket. This all took a while, but was well worth the additional savings. Flight miles can be a deciding factor in making travel possible, as I discussed in my post about Hawaii, where we flew a combination of business and first class from Boston to Honolulu entirely on miles.
And be prepared for flying with the kids. Mine have spent a fair amount of time in the air, and do pretty well while traveling. If you haven’t taken them anywhere yet, here are some pointers for Flying with Kids.
Use TripAdvisor and similar rating services.
Our package, unlike those booked through the agent, did not include shuttle service to the resort. So, after a bit of online searching and reading reviews, we decided on USATours for our hour long shuttle service. They were very professional and saved our drive home to Boston by delivering my glasses to me when they picked us up for our ride back to the airport. I had figured them lost somewhere between Customs and the Barcelo, never to be seen again. Our drivers, Memo and Gerard, were very kind and professional. A word of advice, do not stop in the airport. Our booking paperwork advised us to make straight for the shuttle and not speak to anyone. Sure enough, a kind seeming gentleman said that he worked for the airport directing people to their prepaid shuttles and told us that our shuttle would be at bay 27, and to proceed directly there and get in. Totally different shuttle company trying to scam us into their service. It was a good lesson for the kids in following instructions and not trusting people on the street to have their best interests in mind.
Ammenities at the Barcelo Maya
Barcelo’s Barcy Kids Club
Research what the hotel/resorts offer for services, especially for children. We noticed a posting when we came in offering babysitter services for $15-20/hour. This could have been utilized to go out to one of the many adult/late night shows offered after the kids bedtime. But what was not clearly posted was the included child care services. The Barcelo Maya has a Barcy Club for kids. The Kid’s Club opens at 0930 and goes until 1700, with some additional activities in the evening. The daytime activities are free for the most part, with a few very nominal fees for service. (the Barcelo has a pay per use waterpark on the premises, generally a day pass is $20/person, but if the kids go with the kids club when it is on their schedule it is only $5 each.) The activities changed daily and included mini-golf, swimming, pirate day, a visit to the resorts arcade (for no additional charge) and many more things. Not only were the kids pretty happy with the activities, they also earned point cards while participating. These could be turned in when they had enough points for items in the gift shop. So not only did the Kid’s Club free up most of the day to enjoy the resort, it also provided souvenirs for the kids at no additional cost.
Meals outside of Barcelo Maya’s Buffets
Also available at the resort were included dinners at their pay per service restaurants. This was not clearly spelled out to us when we checked in, and the voucher cards strangely did not say anything that could be construed as dinner tickets. But, doing our research, we spoke with the concierge, and found that we had the option of two fully included three course meals for the four of us at no additional charge. These had to be booked well in advance, and if I had not found out about them until later, would have not been able to get reservations at a time that made sense for the kids.
Get to activity centers early
There were also a wide variety of water-sports and scheduled activities available at the resort. Most of these required signing up in advance and knowing this beforehand was very important. The water-sports in particular (jet-skis, kayaks, windsurfing) were first come/ first serve, and you had to be at the counter at 0845 in order to get a spot for some of the equipment.
At an all inclusive resort, your room is primarily for sleeping
The Barcelo Maya did have the option of “Family Rooms” but for the most part, these did not make sense for us. Not only was the price increase unreasonable, but the accommodations were not realistic for the situation. They did include a bedroom with a door, which is better than the suites. And, oddly for an all inclusive resort, a kitchen. I am really not sure what you would do with the full kitchen when all of the food is included and available 18 hours a day, but I suppose if you convinced your shuttle driver to stop at a market you could get something to satisfy 2am cravings…
We opted for a standard room. Two full beds and a twin couch/bed. They had tried to “upgrade” us to a king size bed, but were eventually convinced that we did actually need at least three beds for four people. There was a balcony on the room, and a decent sized bathroom. The mini-fridge was stocked with water, soda, and a couple Coronas. And peanuts. Jalapeño peanuts to be exact, so make sure you know what the kids are grabbing to eat before they freak out. The room was crowded, and quite a small space for four people to spend a week at that price point. We did get to see the next size up, Junior Suites, and though these were a little larger, it was at nearly double the cost, there was still no separate bedroom, and some of the bathrooms didn’t even have a full door on them. One of the big downsides of the entire pricing plan was that you are charged per/person in the room, even when children are involved. Not only that, but the children’s rate is only good for those under 13. So I don’t know if you think that the cost of the all-inclusive free alcohol should be the price point for your 15 year old, but it made no sense to me. Our cousin also had to book a suite purely because they had five people, even though one was a two year old and could have easily shared a double size bed with a sibling.
Control the chaos.
Rules. I have found that if I have clear rules, the kids are much happier and less moody over the course of a trip. While they may feel at times like they aren’t getting to do anything that they want, it helps to reign in the over-stimulus and keep them grounded. One place that rules were paramount was at the buffet. There was a “kids counter” at most of the buffet’s. That seemed to be code language for “junk food that kids won’t complain about eating, but won’t actually provide any nutritional value.” My kids eat food. Real food, every day. Just because donuts for breakfast seems to be an option that resort goers gravitate towards doesn’t mean that they need all of the dis-regulation that a sudden influx of junk food would cause.
So, I gave clear rules on food, but also made it into a scavenger hunt of sorts. The buffets were huge. A six year old tasked with finding a piece of fruit, a protein and a vegetable for breakfast stares around like they have come right into Narnia. But they were pretty happy with their options. I didn’t force them to eat anything particular, so the choice was theirs, but by limiting the options somewhat, it made it easy for them to eat healthy, and not feel like they were missing out. I also kept desserts to a minimum by allowing some at specific times, if they finished their main course. This puts the onus of getting or losing dessert on them, and if they have to eat from certain food groups to begin with, they can’t try to skimp on the meal to get the sugar.
Embrace the fact that you are at a Resort
This can be hard when you’re trying to guess what kind of trouble the kids are going to get into. But remember, this is your vacation too. Make sure that you find the time to do some of the activities on your agenda, and not just chaperone the kids around. It is helpful if you vacation with another family, and can give each other a break with the kids for a date night or to go to a show, but even if you don’t, find a way to work your vacation into this. That’s the whole point anyway right?
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