We’re back from our honeymoon! It feels like no time has passed and yet so much has happened all at the same time. While I wish we were still in Mexico, all vacations must eventually end, and our time in Cancun was absolutely perfect. I have so many pictures and stories to share there’s no way they would all fit in one post. So today I just want to recap our hotel. Josh and I stayed at the Westin Lagunamar in the heart of the hotel district in Cancun. We loved our hotel and could have spent the whole week (and way longer) just enjoying and exploring the property.
Some backstory of how this trip came to be: The Westin Lagunamar is actually a time share property (the Westin has a separate hotel on the other end of the hotel district). I’m a Starwood Preferred Guest and have stayed at a lot of hotels through them for various trips. SPG runs promos to get their frequent members to visit timeshare properties for great deals in hopes of them falling in love with the place and wanting to buy one. Josh and I planned our wedding last year while we were still students. Taking a honeymoon was very important to me, but we were on a limited budget. When a deal came up for a Westin hotel in Cancun for 5 days and 4 nights for $349 (TOTAL!) we jumped on it. Even though it’s a timeshare it’s the exact same experience as staying at a Westin hotel. The service and standards are the same and you don’t have to listen to a timeshare pitch unless you want to. We traded 90 minutes of our time for $175 to use towards our trip to XCaret to swim in the cenotes and explore the Mayan ruins. I’ll recap that another day but it was amazing and one of the highlights of the trip.
We loved our room:
Word to the wise: do not try and drunkenly operate a bathtub with jets. I tried to make myself a bubble bath after a few too many buy one get one Long Islands at the pool’s happy hour and turned on the jets when the tub was still filling. I found the ensuing waterworks hilarious. Josh was not amused when he came in to see I had turned the bathroom into a giant slip and slide.
If I could take one souvenir home from the trip it would be this shower. It was heaven.
The view from our balcony was beautiful:
And we were seconds from the beach:
There were so many fun little areas to relax around the property:
Josh took a million pictures of iguanas he spotted on our trip. This one was sunning itself on the resort’s mini golf course.
There was a swim up bar! It was a fun way to get to meet people.
I loved this random large chess set we found.
There was also lots of kid areas and Mayan ruins that we somehow never managed to find. We saw some amazing ones at XCaret though so we didn’t mind. Directly across the street from the hotel is the high-end shopping mall La Isla. It was beautiful and fun to walk around but most designer goods are out of my price range, unless I’m buying them second hand. Add on the 40% markup over American prices and I found myself sticking to window shopping. There’s also a great workout facility on premise that I didn’t use once. My cough came back right before we left for our honeymoon so I just wanted to focus on all the fun things we’d be doing and not make it worse. We both love to explore places when we vacation and did a ton of walking and swimming. I’m calling it good.
The hotel arranges daily activities with the fun team. I felt like I was at the resort in Dirty Dancing. We went to the tequila tasting with a big group from the hotel that was a lot of fun. We learned a lot about how tequila is made and got to sample drinks that are only available in Mexico.
The hotel has three restaurants on premise. We had breakfast every morning at Oceana and enjoyed the gorgeous views:
We could not have picked a better place to stay for our honeymoon. Everyone was so nice and friendly. The hotel felt completely safe and all the water is purified on premise so you can drink the water, brush your teeth, and have ice in your drinks without having to worry. We’d love to stay there again but due to being invited through a special promotion and us not being timeshare people we probably won’t. We did have dinner twice at the Ritz Carlton just down the street and thought that would be a great place for a future trip back to Cancun. Too bad the nightly rate there is more than what we paid for four nights at Lagunamar. ;p
Questions of the Day: Are you a Westin fan? Have you been to Cancun? Where did you stay? Did you like it?
Looks like such a perfect trip to celebrate your marriage! I like that the hotel sets up fun activities! Sometimes when you go somewhere new you can get a little overwhelmed and having the option of a fun activity right at your hotel and able to meet people is a great alternative.
It was such a fun time! I already want to go back! haha
ooooh I AM JEALOUS.
we rocked the volunteer honeymoon which was great then–but now? I WANT ME SOME CANCUN.
Go get some Cancun girl!
seriously so gorgeous! we went to cancun a couple years ago with my family, but i can’t remember the name of the resort where we stayed
I already want to go back! haha
How fun! I’m glad you guys had a great time away! 🙂
It was such a fun time, definitely the best honeymoon I could ask for.
Gorgeous!
I’ve never been to Mexico. Wouldn’t mind going someday, but it’s not on my short list of “must go to” places.
It wasn’t on our short list either, but the price when we were on a grad school/student budgets was too good to pass up. We were actually really nervous before the trip that it wouldn’t be safe/clean/we would get sick but it ended up being amazing.
Wow looks like a beautiful hotel! I’m a big fan of any place in Mexico, because that is where I studied abroad 🙂
Glad you and the hubby had a great time – can’t wait to read more!
That must have been an amazing time abroad!
SO amazing!! I cannot wait until our honeymoon in June! 🙂 Love your pictures!
I’m so excited for you! Honeymoons are seriously the best!
Looks AMAZING!
It was so fun!!
Omg that place looks amazing. I will def be checking it out. We have done a timeshare presentation before in exchange for a really good deal on our resort an di have to say its def the way to go. I am so glad you guys had an amazing honeymoon.
Thank you so much! It was even better than I could have imagined.
Amazing photos! It looks like you both had such a great time. It sure makes it even better that you got such a great deal 🙂
xo Jackie
We had the best time. It was more fun that I could have imagined.
Very beautiful pictures, people and location. Please accept my very late congratulations!
We are about to go here on the same deal! (not for a honeymoon though.) Any advice?
Can we drink the water in the room at the resort? Did you do any grocery shopping at all?
Ahh I’m so jealous!! You are going to have the best time!! If you’re doing all inclusive you never need to grocery shop because there’s so much food and it’s all so good!! And water is safe to drink anywhere on the property! We had no stomach issues at all, which I cannot say the same when we stayed at the Westin in Cancun! Have a blast!!!!
I didn’t think the SPG deal was all-inclusive? Maybe they’ve changed it, but I’m assuming that if they didn’t say it is then it probably isn’t.
That’s interesting that you had a problem with the water at the regular westin, but not lagunamar. Any idea why? we also extended the trip by two nights up to Valladolid…definitely will be watching out for the water there! But I’m really excited to explore Mayan ruins, swim in cenotes, and get a more local flavor
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry! I thought you were posting on my trip to Puerto Vallarta blog post. That was my most recent Mexico trip. Josh and I got a little stomach bug when we got home from Cancun from drinking the water at the Westin we stayed at, so just a heads up. I would not recommend drinking the water there! We went out to eat for all our meals there because the hotel was not all inclusive. We didn’t grocery shop at all. If you can swing it I definitely recommend splurging for a meal at the Ritz there! The Lagunamar gives you a coupon book for restaurants and we got free dessert at the Ritz. It was a dining experience we still talk about three years later! And the Mexican restaurant across the street from your hotel is GREAT! They also have coupon book deals.
haha, oh it happens! hmmm maybe we should avoid drinking the water, but bottled water is so expensive! thanks for the recommendations! I’m really excited.