This post is a combination of a review of a resort and our experience of traveling with kids during the pandemic. I know, I know. Many people aren’t traveling. Those that are sometimes won’t say they are for fear of being shamed or ridiculed. I get it; I felt some guilt and shame at traveling with my kids over the Thanksgiving week 2020. We left on Monday and returned home on Thursday, hoping those days would not be filled with travelers. We had bought our tickets to Cancun in June, near the height of the pandemic. We figured the novel coronavirus might be better controlled by November and that the airlines have such flexible policies now that we had nothing to lose buying so far out in advance. Plus, we needed the break.
GETTING THERE
Initially our outbound tickets to Cancun were on American. It had a 6:15am departure and a layover in Miami. A couple days before the flight, my husband began to feel less confident about what was looking like a full flight on both legs of the outbound. We decided at the last minute to check direct flights and got a super cheap, nonstop ticket on Spirit that left Houston in the early afternoon.
IAH airport had very few travelers. Yay! But then our flight was delayed. With flights backed up, things started to get crowded in the airport and we searched for places to be 6 feet away from people for as long as possible. The children did well following instructions not to touch anything.
The flight was uneventful. We had on masks, face shields and hubby wore gloves. We wiped down everything on the plane with 7th Generation disinfectant wipes!
ARRIVING THERE
The airport in Cancun was not crowded but there was no questionnaire asking about covid symptoms or a test. We did pass a temp check station but we didn’t have to stop and have our temps taken. We had a nonstop private transport to the reosrt so that was a relief. The driver had on his mask (and so did we and the children).
THE RESORT
At the hotel, the staff took temps, sprayed the luggage and wore masks. The hotel told us to use wifi to access the amenities and all the resort menus and activities were accessed using a QR code, for a touchless experience. The rooms are beautiful. There is an outside hot tub where a balcony would be in most hotel rooms. 
The beach and grounds are nice! At first it seemed relaxing but then we saw the tables could be packed during meal times. While the tables were spaced apart, every table was being filled and that made me uncomfortable. We haven’t eaten out at restaurants at home yet. There were several restaurants for dinner but restaurant choices were limited for lunch and breakfast. Many times, when people left the restaurants, they didn’t put their masks back on or people just walked the corridors without masks. I didn’t like that. The staff kept on their masks, staffed the food and kept the tables and utensils ultra sanitized. That was an absolute plus.
The beach seats were spaced apart, which is good, but the resort didn’t keep beach seats or the sand clean.
The whole time we were there there was only one pool open. It was crowded by 10:30am and there was no seating. We went down one morning and stayed until the crowds got there. The second pool opened the day we left.
There was a kids cub but it was limited to 12 kids for distancing reasons. We tried to take our kids one afternoon but there was no way to sign up. Once 12 kids arrived that was it; the kids could stay the whole day and other kids could not come in. We would have preferred a sign-up list or a limited time for kids so that others could visit.
GOING BACK HOME
We had private transport on the way to airport, which was great. We have priority pass and so we waited in the lounge for our flight. It was a relief that so few people were in the lounge and it was clean and socially distanced. Like the resort, the menu in the lounge at athe Cancun airport was on the QR code and staff were wearing masks. We flew back home on Southwest and on a half full flight. At the time Southwest was still blocking middle seats.
All in all, it was good to get a way for a few days and enjoy the beautiful beach waves. The children loved room service, building sandcastles and wading in the water. However, if I were to do it again, I would have rented an Airbnb instead of staying at a resort. While I did not feel like cooking and cleaning during our trip, I would have had more peace of mind because fewer people would have been around us. Plus, our tv would have worked. It went out the last day at the resort.
