Occidental at Xcaret Destination | Playa del Carmen | Quintana Roo | Mexico

Hola Explorers! In this video we head to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, to stay and review the Occidental at Xcaret Destination. This all inclusive resort was amazing! We spent 4 nights here and still had a hard time capturing everything there is to do. You feel like you are in a natural jungle setting along the coast but still pampered the entire time! We could not have been more pleased with our stay. Stay until the end to see our list of pros and cons about the resort. Come along with us!
Previous Video: • jetBlue Flight From Ta...
Timeline for this video:
0:00 - Intro
1:09 - Lobby
3:27 - Breakfast Buffet
5:31 - Ruins & Coast
7:42 - Arena
11:10 - Main Pool
13:34 - Pool Bar and Lunch Buffet
15:46 - More Pools
17:57 - Other Areas
19:28 - Our Room
24:44 - Evening and Specialty Restaurants
26:32 - Vacation Club Tour
27:57 - Our Review - Pros
31:46 - Our Review - Cons
Link:
www.barcelo.com/en-us/occiden...
🌴 Follow us on Instagram:
floridanbeyond?...
Patreon:
/ floridaandbeyond
By Us a Beer:
www.buymeacoffee.com/floridan...
Music From:
www.epidemicsound.com/
Recorded Date:
03/25/2024
=-=-= Our Filming Equipment =-=-=
Sony Alpha a6400 24.2MP Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-135mm Lens
amzn.to/3pOE2m3
Sony ZV-E10 Mirrorless Camera with 16-50mm Lens, Black Bundle with ACCVC1 Vlogger Accessory Kit Shooting Grip - 64GB SD Card
amzn.to/3NXuBNR
GoPro HERO8 Black
amzn.to/3ToptTS
GoPro HERO10 Black
amzn.to/3KpKbi2
Dual Battery Charger
amzn.to/3cqpO7R
Taisioner Mini Selfie Stick Tripod Kit
amzn.to/3wEtBp0
On-Camera Microphone with Rycote Lyre Shock Mount
amzn.to/3wBzMdl
SAMSUNG T7 2TB, Portable SSD
amzn.to/3dRkXg7
USA GEAR DSLR Camera Backpack Case
amzn.to/3e5LDdn
=-=-=-=-=-=
Above are affiliate links which means we receive a percentage of the revenue made from purchasing products using those links
#Florida #FloridaAndBeyond #explore #exploring #vlog #vloglife #resort #occidental #xcaret #xcaretmexico #mexico #cancun #quintanaroo #playadelcarmen #playadelcarmenmexico #cove #arena #pool #bar #swimming #jungle #monkey #iguana #flamingo #boat #river #mexican #food #drinks #beach

[@amberbamber8509]

My dad surprised my husband and I with a fully paid 7 day trip! We’re going in June. Only 6 weeks left. No kids (4) ! 😩 great job on the review. I’m so excited 🎉🎉🎉

[@FloridaandBeyond]

That is an awesome surprise! Thanks Dad! It was an amazing trip for us. Bring pesos and definitely check out Xcaret. The caves are so much fun! Safe travels and have fun! 🙂

[@EpicAdventureCouple]

We just got back from there. Hello friends in Florida. That place was awesome. The caves, the history can't wait to go back and stay for more than a day. Enjoyed watching Stay blessed new friends 👍👍

[@FloridaandBeyond]

It was an amazing place! We would definitely return ourselves. Thanks for watching! 🙂

[@RoadiewithRich]

As a big history buff I enjoyed the ruins. Water looked good too… pretty genius putting up the net to limit the seaweed. Beautiful place 🤩

[@FloridaandBeyond]

It is amazing! We had so much fun. We would love to go back one day!

[@JenniferSparksSavoy]

OMG that pool! What a beautiful resort! Love the monkeys! The lizards I would have to get used to! lol nice to see your boys helping with the tours. Great video 😃

[@FloridaandBeyond]

The pool area was amazing, and so was the arena. I loved the little boat that brought you over to Xcaret. You felt like you were in the jungle with all the animals that roamed the property. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

[@FloridaFlipFlops]

Hello from Naples, Florida. Now, that was nice!! We enjoyed. Thanks for sharing the amazing views with us, have a great week 👍 💯 ❤

[@FloridaandBeyond]

You are welcome! We had the best time! 🙂

[@Writesparky]

this is so stunning, I cant wait to visit someday too. Thanks for sharing.

[@FloridaandBeyond]

We were in love the whole time there! The resort was amazing! We would like to return one day and stay in the Royal club rooms. Thanks for watching! 🙂

[@cheryldeynekin4549]

What a great place! Thanks for sharing. ❤

[@FloridaandBeyond]

Thanks for watching! 🙂

[@AlphaTraveler1]

Like 15! What an amazing place! I’m so surprised that some of these places can rival the really good Hawaiian resort! Amazing! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@FloridaandBeyond]

That is what Mike and I were saying. Mexico is like Hawaii, but it is closer and cheaper. Everyone should visit at least once.

[@PrimeTimeTravelers]

Wow that is just beautiful! Amazing place!

[@FloridaandBeyond]

It was a little slice of paradise! Seriously, Mexico is beautiful like Hawaii, closer, and cheaper. You just can't drink the water lol. It is definitely worth a visit at least once. We recommend using shuttles and taxis your first time. The driving over there seemed like the most dangerous thing lol. 🙂

[@PrimeTimeTravelers]

@@FloridaandBeyond We have been to Mexico a few times. Yeah stay away from the water! I took a taxi in Matamoros years ago and the driver stopped on green and floored it on red! It was so crazy!

[@keshwannaidu3943]

Great video folks. We will be going there in August.🤘

[@FloridaandBeyond]

We had a lot of fun! Hopefully, you will, too. Definitely check out Xcaret right next door. You can take a little boat or walk a few minutes. Good luck and have fun! 🙂

[@londonarevalo2480]

Great Job guys!!! I've always wanted to check out one of the Xcaret hotels. This looks like soooooo much fun! I don't know how I feel about monkeys flying over my head daily, but man does it look cool! I can't wait until we can get our turn to go! Fantastic video we loved it! ~ London and Nat

[@FloridaandBeyond]

Look for a deal on Black Friday! The Occidental is more affordable than Hotel Xcaret. I think because your kids are still little, they would allow 4 to one room. They didn't allow four adults to one room. That seemed like a common thing in Mexico. Everyone was very excited when the monkeys came out lol. Thanks for watching! 🙂

[@spiritdaysarah]

You captured the beauty of this place so well!

[@FloridaandBeyond]

It was a beautiful place! We would definitely go back if we had a chance!

[@spiritdaysarah]

@@FloridaandBeyond you should make it your vacation home

[@FloridaandBeyond]

@@spiritdaysarah I wish! Lol

[@spiritdaysarah]

@@FloridaandBeyond😂😂😂

[@johnnyb2433]

Did you find they were constantly trying to get you to timeshare/membership meetings? One of my least favorite things about some all-inclusives!

[@FloridaandBeyond]

We did not have that experience, but we did agree to do the timeshare like the second day. It was an interesting deal, but we did not buy. We have done a lot of timeshare presentations and this was the least pressure and probably one of the better deals as it wasn't actually a timeshare. They gave us a free taxi ride to Cancun, which was like an hour and saved us a few bucks. I say no, thank you a lot, or we have already talked to someone about this when they ask. Have a great day! 🙂

[@ThreePinkButtons]

Hi!! We are going next month, appreciate this review. As far as tipping, should we convert our USD cash to MX? Or can we tip in USD?

[@FloridaandBeyond]

We found a local money exchange place and got like 8k pesos to bring with us, which is like a little over 500 USD. We made sure we got 20, 50, 100, and 200 pesos. I watched a video that recommended what to tip each person. 25 to 50 pesos a day for cleaning staff, 40 to 50 for Hotel porters, and 10 to 20% in restaurants and bars. I tipped about 100 peso for breakfast and 200 peso for dinner. You can still tip in USD, but we wanted to tip in Pesos because it is easier for the staff. We have heard they have to pay an exchange fee, which means the staff loses money on the tip when in USD. Most people will tell you to pay in pesos. We used USD when we needed to and our credit card at certain places that were bigger, like Xcaret. We also heard that you shouldn't put tip on credit card. Have fun next month! The place is amazing! 🙂

[@VirginiaSlimRTM]

Question: You mentioned having to wait an hour for specialty dining. Did you mean you had to wake up early, wait in line for an hour, just to get a reservation to the non-buffet dining restaurants?

[@FloridaandBeyond]

Yes! I got up at 6:50am and went down there to find a huge line. I had to wait until 7:50am in line to book my specialty dinner for that night. The buffet, pizza, and taco place is good, but we wanted to have some of the specialty dinners. We only made it to one out of the 4 nights we stayed there. We wish they would have a better system, like book the night before online. It would have made it easier. We enjoyed this resort a lot, just not that. 🙂

[@VirginiaSlimRTM]

@@FloridaandBeyond Thanks for the quick reply! I saw on their website a dress code for the specialty restaurants too. DO you recall if they were strict about that? It said long pants and closed toe shoes.

[@FloridaandBeyond]

@VirginiaSlimRTM No shorts, no beach wear, and closed toe shoes. I did not have anything dressy, so I just wore black pants and a shirt with sneakers. They seemed okay with that. The boys wore jeans pants and polos with sneakers.

[@cathytan3896]

Are those special restaurants easy to make reservations daily? Thanks

[@FloridaandBeyond]

We explained it in the video, but to recap, you could only do it the morning of. I had to get up at 6 am and go down to the help desk. I waited an hour to get reservations. It was the one thing we did not like about this hotel. We did a whole pros and cons at the end of the video. 🙂

[@xrpharoah9833]

We are going in july!

[@FloridaandBeyond]

We had a lot of fun! It is like staying in the jungle with amenities. The staff was friendly. The arena was incredible, and the giant pool with the cups was one of our favorites. The food was really good too. We tried a lot of Spanish food at the buffet and the Hacienda Specialty restaurant. We liked taking the boat over to Xcaret. I hope you have as much fun as we did. México is a blast! 🙂

[@FloridaFlipFlops]

Like 44 👍 💯 ❤

[@FloridaandBeyond]

Thank you!

[@barakuna]

When did you stay here?

[@FloridaandBeyond]

Just last month over spring break!

[@keyia1983]

Hi. Is there room service?

[@FloridaandBeyond]

We did not use the room service. From what I can find online, there is a 24-hour room service. It will cost a fee through unless you are staying in the Royal Area. I would double check though with the hotel. They have presents on Facebook to ask any question. Hope this helps! facebook.com/OccidentalatXcaretDestination?mibextid=ZbWKwL

[@setobabee]

no food in the room....suppose to be relaxing

[@FloridaandBeyond]

Well, I think they may have allowed room service, but it says fees apply. We did not use it.