Ryan's Dominican Republic Honeymoon Experience

Join travel advisors Ryan and Julie on All Things Travel as Ryan shares an in-depth review of his honeymoon at Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic. After Hurricane Melissa forced a last-minute change from Jamaica, Ryan and his wife Jasmine discovered this stunning adults-only all-inclusive resort turned out to be the perfect destination.

Planning & Arrival:

• Dominican Republic entry requirements including the e-ticket process
• Transfer experience with Amstar and 15-minute drive from Punta Cana airport
• First impressions of the modern, open-air resort with ocean views

Club Level Benefits:

• Exclusive breakfast and lunch restaurants with sit-down service
• Private club pool with enhanced amenities
• Personal concierge service (Larissa) for reservations and requests

Resort Experience:

• Swim-up room review and honeymoon amenities
• Daily cabana rental at the club pool - the ultimate pampering experience
• Beautiful beach conditions and water sports including sailing on a Hobie Cat
• Resort layout that "eats people up" so it never feels crowded

Dining:

• Traditional Dominican breakfast and diverse lunch options
• Restaurant reviews across both Zilara (adults-only) and Ziva (family) sides
• No reservations needed - first come, first served system

Activities & Entertainment:

• Daily schedule from breakfast through evening shows
• Fitness classes, aqua cycling, and water sports
• Afternoon tastings: cocktails, rum, coffee, and cigars
• Wine and painting, silent disco, and nightly theater performances
• Michael Jackson and Queen tribute shows, circus acts, and magic shows
• Why it felt like "adult all-inclusive camp" in the best way

Multi-Generational Travel:

• How the connected Zilara/Ziva properties work perfectly for families
• Easy access between adults-only and family sides
• Shared beach and pool spaces on the family side

Whether you're planning a honeymoon, romantic getaway, or multi-generational trip to the Dominican Republic, this episode provides honest insights into the Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana experience, club level benefits, and tips for maximizing your all-inclusive vacation.

Keywords: Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana, Dominican Republic honeymoon, all-inclusive resort review, Punta Cana resorts, adults-only vacation, club level benefits, Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana, Caribbean travel, honeymoon planning

Transcript

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 0:00

Hello and welcome to all Things Travel. weeks ago we talked about how Ryan had a sudden change in his honeymoon plans, and it was very stressful for him. truly think it worked out for the best. I'm so excited for today's episode for Ryan to share all about his trip because him and I haven't even talked about it really.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 0:20

Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts. Ryan and Julie. I'm your travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation, and she's a Disney loving Maryland mom of three and a specialist in family travel. Whether we're discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 0:44

I am really excited today. We are recording episodes about your trip and my trip,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 0:49

Yep.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 0:49

have not spoken face to face about either of these

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 0:55

Not really. Just a few, just a few random texts or things like that, but nothing too in depth.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 1:00

Yeah. So we're gonna do this kind of interview style where I'm gonna ask Ryan questions and he's gonna share

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 1:06

Well, before we get into that, Julie, if you did not listen to last week's episode, we covered cozy winter getaways. Whether you want to enjoy winter snowy weather or soak up some sun to get some vitamin D, we've got you covered.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 1:21

I mentioned earlier, and we talked about this a couple episodes ago, this resort was not like your first choice of resort. you know, recap that a little

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 1:31

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 1:31

how you ended up choosing this resort, the change you had to do, that, that information

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 1:36

So when Jasmine and I started talking about honeymoons, we knew we wanted an all-inclusive, that was really our vibe for a trip like this. I had heard great things from you and also doing research that Hyatt Zaras is someplace I wanted to check out. I always like to have personal experience. I like to have a few. Resorts in my back pocket of, Hey, I've been here. I've got this information. And so I really wanted to try that. And as we talked about locations, we had been to Mexico together in the past, so we didn't want to go there. we kind of landed on Jamaica as a place I had been once. and she had never been. So she's like, well, as long as we go to a different. Place I'm, I'm fine with that. And so we chose Hyatt Ziara Rose Hall, which is an adult's all-inclusive, up kind of in between Montego Bay and Ocho. Rios has a family, Hyatt Ziva as part of it. Then thought we were good to go. We were excited to go, had everything planned out. I even had our transfers, I had Club Mo Bay booked and all that kind of stuff. then of course, hurricane Melissa came and changed all that. we talked a little bit about that on the show a few weeks ago. I still wanted to stay with Hyatt, Zara because as I had done some research. I was really excited about staying at those properties and neither Jasmine nor myself had been to Dominican Republic. you said you get rave reviews about that resort. that's when I started to look into there. making the switch was easy. I did have to, cancel my reservation and rebook. They weren't at that time doing kind of a swap over, so I went ahead and canceled my first reservation. I got back the money for the resort, but then I have airline credit for the flights. the resort in the Dominican Republic was more expensive, but, well worth it as we talk about this today.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 3:29

I was gonna say, I remember telling you there's a reason that this one is more expensive because I truly think this destination is better and that resort is a little more elevated,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 3:39

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 3:40

that's the Hyatt Zara Cap.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 3:42

Hyatts Zel, Laura Capa. So Capna is kind of a suburb of Punta Kana a gated community. once you hit Capna, it's like you go through a gate and it's a completely different world. and it's just really beautiful. There's multiple resorts there. Hyatt, Zara Capano was right next to, or connected to, I shouldn't even say right next to, but connected to Hyatt Ziva, and then Secrets was right next to that. and, I believe, sanctuary is also in that area. So there's a, a cohort of resorts there.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 4:16

And it tends to be like a trusted area for good beaches. That's my

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 4:20

the beach was gorgeous. Now we are not beach people, so I mean, we went down there a couple times and did some things with water sports and one night they had a beach party, so we were down there. But we spent a lot of time at the pool, but the beach was absolutely stunning. and I will put pictures up this week, of things from our trip.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 4:41

I remember texting you pictures of the beach like my clients that had been before, just being like, I'm so jealous you'll have this view.'cause I am a beach person. All right, so, so with this quick change, did you do any specific prep or do you think that you would have done any prep for this? Specific resort or destination? If you had more time, if, if this was where you had booked way back, do you think you would've done anything different as far as like excursions or fast track experiences

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 5:08

no. we still had time to figure all that out. As far as looking at the resort, I was pretty familiar, with the structure of it, because I had been looking into Rose Hall. we looked at excursions. There wasn't really anything that. piqued our interest that much. so we decided to use that money and get a cabana at the club pool every day while we were there. And that was just over the top pampering. better than any excursion we would Have taken, as far as fast tracking and stuff, I looked into what the airport had and I just wasn't convinced that we needed to do it. And really, to be honest, even though they do have something similar to Club Mo Bay and in Jamaica, and if that's your thing, I think you should totally do it, there wasn't much we had to do. To be honest. You don't make reservations ahead of time. in fact, at the Hyatt Soars, you don't make reservations. it's first, come first serve with dining. So there really wasn't much to do other than get familiar with the daily activities. reading through menus, reading through activities, and getting a sense of the stuff that we want to do on the resort.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:12

So some resorts, that app doesn't really like go live

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:17

Yeah,

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:17

up. Did was that app like updated

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:19

Y

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:20

got there? With activities?

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:21

because it's not really an app. It's more like a website that they just have you put on your home screen on your phone. And so I was able to see everything. Um. Ahead of time and look at daily activities and all that kind of stuff. I was prepped.'cause you know me, I'm gonna geek out about that, right? I know we're gonna go to this restaurant, what am I gonna have to eat? Or on Tuesday afternoon, what are we gonna do? So there wasn't a lot of prep to do, but like I said, when we go to an all-inclusive resort like this, we like to enjoy the resort. so we don't do much planning ahead of time.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:53

But you had an excursion planned for Jamaica,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 6:56

We did. Um, I hadn't booked it yet, so, um, so that was one thing we were gonna do, Dunns River Falls and before I had booked that the hurricane situation popped up. so I didn't have that plan, to be honest. With Dominican Republic. Do you want to go to Santo Domingo, which there's lots of excursions there to get some history, some culture, but it's a two hour bus ride each way. Do you want to get on a catamaran and go snorkeling, which we were excited about. But then as I started to look at pictures, it was like your catamaran was amongst 50 other catamarans. do we want to go to a beach day? Well, we have one of the nicest beaches in the Dominican Republic right outside our door, so. You know, I was interested in maybe doing like rum, coffee cigars, but really those excursions were, we're gonna take you to a store so you can purchase that stuff. And it's kind of like, it just didn't really fit.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 7:50

And that is one of the reasons I really love that resort is because you really don't have to leave.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 7:58

Oh, you don't, you don't.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 7:59

great experience there.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 8:00

we were as busy or not busy as we wanted to be from breakfast to bedtime. there were activities all throughout the day that we wanted to do. I'm sure we'll talk about that. we kind of got into a rhythm. It kind of, it, it felt like an adults all inclusive camp, right? Because there was like, at this time we do this, at this time we do this. And you would see the same people that had kind of the same interests. It was kind of fun. I'm excited to talk about it.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 8:24

back for the rum tasting again.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 8:26

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 8:28

And now it's the tequila tasting. It's all the same people. Um, okay. So tell us about your arrival experience to the resort and Like the Like how was the airport upon arrival? how far was the resort?

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 8:40

Sure.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 8:41

like

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 8:41

the airport was not bad. First of all, the airport is very nice. I can tell that there's been recent updates on both the arrivals and departure sites, so no issue there we did have to wait a little bit for immigration. I had done the etic ahead of time and I think if I would've figured it out fast enough, I think there was a line we could have gone through, but they weren't very clear about that. that took a little bit of time, but that wasn't a problem at all.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:08

Pause for just a moment. You mentioned E ticket, so give brief,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:12

sure.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:13

explanation of that.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:14

So Dominican Republic requires an etic, document that, tells the dates you're gonna be in the country and who's gonna be there, and they give you a little QR code. I handed it to the woman, she handed it right back without even looking at it. Nobody ever asked for it. so I don't have any. knowledge of how that actually works, but I knew I had to do it and it literally was like, two minutes time and I did it directly from Delta's, homepage as I was checking in for our flight. no problem at all.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:43

That's nice

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:44

Um,

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:45

like a, within three days you can do

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:48

yeah, no.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:48

there a fee?

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 9:49

No, no, it's free. It's free. as we left the baggage claim, it felt very Cancun ish as far as, Hey, hey, you know, do you need help with this? Do you need help with that? I actually had somebody lead me to a desk and quickly realized, Nope, this is not where we want to be. I had. Organized a transfer through the resort with Amstar. and walked right up to the Amstar desk and I would say within 10 minutes the guy had our van there. the resort was probably a 15 minute drive. super easy.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 10:21

That's amazing. And again, another reason I like working with this

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 10:25

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 10:26

is they're transfers are very easy to

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 10:29

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 10:29

they're, they're trusted transfers

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 10:31

I would say I've used Amstar in the past several times, and this is my best experience with them. getting to the resort checking in was probably, I would say it, it was confusing and frustrating. Which was odd. we had a club level room. When I priced out the rooms, it was only a hundred dollars more to have the club for the entire time we were there. So I'm like, why wouldn't I do it? I'll talk about some of the benefits here in a minute, It's a no brainer. one of the things they do is they take you to the club lounge and then they have somebody come and check you in. So there was us and another couple, and they took us to the club lounge and they said, hang out here and have some food and drinks if you want. And then nobody came. And I would say like 10 minutes, somebody came and they checked us and then said, okay, now I'm gonna go get your room keys. it felt clunky and that's not what you want at the end of a travel day. I knew we were in the right place. I knew nothing was wrong, but it was just kinda like, okay, I'm ready to get this party started.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 11:28

That being said, it is the Caribbean. They move a little

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 11:32

I get it. Absolutely.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 11:33

let's go.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 11:34

You know, this was the, this was the first resort that I didn't get a welcome drink. I mean, it just wasn't very streamlined. And having spent the rest of the week there, my guess is that's not how it was supposed to be.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 11:47

Oh. Hmm. Okay. That's odd. Back up a little

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 11:51

Yep.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 11:51

Beyond the check-in. What about like your initial impressions cleanliness, the look of the resort, the feel of the resort, those things?

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 12:01

Um. both complexes, Ziara and Ziva are modern. They look new, they look fresh. as you walk into the Ziara lobby, it's open air, so you're looking right out into the ocean. it's big and what I love about it is. The resort space is large, so it eats people up. Kind of, we talk about that with theme parks, right? So it never looks crowded, even if there's, thousands of people there, which we did find out this was the best time to travel. Being an American because it was the week before Thanksgiving, and so no one was traveling, right?'cause people were gonna wait till Thanksgiving to travel. In fact, the first couple days we were at the resort, there were at, at least in the public things where people talked about where there were from. There were very few Americans. And then as it got closer to the weekend before Thanksgiving, there were more and more. But I think the bartender the first night said that the two resorts were probably about 55% capacity. So. It was really, really enjoyable.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:06

That's amazing. And so like pulled up to the resort we made a good decision.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:12

yes, absolutely.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:13

so great you know, when we book these resorts for our clients, we want them to

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:17

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:18

when

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:18

and I will say as soon as we got checked in, they had two bell people come and take our luggage. they had taken our luggage when we first got there and gave us a a walkthrough of the resort as we're walking through our room. So it was all good, you know, it was just those first couple minutes that felt a little clunky.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:36

Yeah. Yeah, I get that. So you, you mentioned that club level was not significantly extra.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:41

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:41

say that personally, whenever I am proposing this resort to a client, I always include the club level. So tell us a

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:49

Yeah,

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:50

for club

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 13:51

And I'm gonna talk about it from my perspective on the adult side, but it's very similar on the family side as well. the first is there is a club lounge. we did not utilize that very much because of having our private space with our cabana. We really didn't feel like we needed to, but it was there. it's basically a smaller bar for club members. there's a club pool, which was very, very nice.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 14:15

nice.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 14:15

even though neither of the pools were crazy, it was A little more secluded, had a little more amenities as far as, padding and pillows and shade So that was a really good benefit. the benefit we took advantage of the most was, One of the restaurants on the Zara side and one of the restaurants on the Zeva side were open for breakfast and lunch for club members. and not anyone else. So we only went to the buffet one breakfast, and then we're kinda like, no, we're ready to go back. we had sit down breakfast and lunch every day while we were there, and that was really nice. That's not something you usually have at a resort.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 14:51

especially like lunchtime at some, all inclusives kind of feels like a little crazy

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 14:56

Yeah. And, and that is that. Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 14:58

and go here. Sometimes it's hard to find the grab and go. I,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 15:01

Sure.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 15:02

can be like a little bit of a pain point, so that's really

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 15:04

Sure. I think those were the main things that we did, as far as club benefits. Was it worth it? absolutely. It was worth, oh, well, I'll tell you the major one I forgot here. We had Larissa. Larissa was our quote unquote, but, or even though she really wasn't a. Butler per se, but she would check in with us every day there were times when we'd be like, Hey, we want to have dinner. She would make reservations for us, for dinner, especially when we went to the family side, because that was much busier. so we knew we had a reservation, so that was, that was very nice. she did things like, Hey, we need some extra hangers in our room, or, Hey, we need this. housekeeping would've taken care of that. But it was nice to just talk to somebody face to face, and she took care of it.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 15:46

and your room was nice.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 15:49

Room was nice. I had originally booked an ocean view room in Jamaica. Prices were different, so I opted to do the swim up room in, Capna because we had never had that before. That was really fun. What I will say is because we had the cabana, we didn't use it all that much. but I really liked it and the location of it was absolutely perfect. I had, written ahead to say that it was our honeymoon. when we got to our room, there was a nice little honeymoon banner on our door. We had, Champagne and a chocolate cake waiting for us in the room. Now what was funny was they leave a little note from your travel advisor, right? So the note said to Ryan Hetro from Ryan Hetro. I thought that was pretty funny. The room was beautiful. nice big king bed, sofa, dual sink bathroom. Which was really nice. no complaints with the room. it was modern, it was fresh. Really, really liked it.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 16:44

Ah, that's so great.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 16:47

So Julie, I am really excited to get into the nitty gritty and all the fun that we had on this honeymoon trip. But first I wanna know where in the world is Wonder and beyond Travel.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 16:58

Okay, so I'm gonna take the lead here and highlight a couple of things that I've been working on since I came back from my trip last Ryan can attest to this. always happens that when we're traveling, that's when we receive the most inquiries.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:14

percent, which is fine. We're happy to get your inquiries, so don't, stop sending your inquiries just'cause you see us traveling. it is kind of interesting.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:23

Yeah. you know, I truly enjoy it'cause it makes me feel like us traveling is inspiring you to travel.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:27

Yeah. I love that.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:29

that. that's very cool.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:30

I.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:30

just wanna highlight Disney Cruise Line because that was the biggest ask that I was

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:35

Really

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:36

And have a lot of clients I work with. We know this, that our young families, a lot of people go to Disney, and to me, their next logical step is Disney Cruise

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:45

totally agree with that.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:47

Yeah, and you know, the Disney Wish is still fairly new. The Disney treasure is still new, and now the Disney Destiny just started sailing. So if something like a Disney

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:57

I.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 17:58

is on your horizon, this is a really great time to start looking into that. They have itineraries out like early 2027 and the wish is very like fairy taily themed, but the treasure has a lot more of this adventure theme. the destiny is very like villains and superheroes and I just love there's these different immersions on each one. And I actually have a client sailing on a Disney cruise in a couple of months. and they're doing a Pixar Day at Sea and

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 18:31

Fun.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 18:31

this is really cool because their itineraries just started popping up with the things that they can book that are special to the Pixar Day at Sea. So there's like, um, a toy story theme, breakfast, a couple of the days that they can add on. They're special meet and greets Rex from Toy Story The Incredibles family, and I think that's such a really cool add-on. I would book that cruise just to be able to meet Rex because he is my favorite character of all time. he's just so cute. Um, but yeah, I just wanna give a nice little shout out to Disney Cruise Line. I think that's, that's such a great way to go once you've done that Walt Disney World trip.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 19:05

I love that idea and I actually have a family who has booked numerous trips with me, and they will often go to Disneyland for Pixar days, Disneyland doesn't have those anymore, so. I need to push along the Pixar Days at Sea and see if they're interested in those. thanks for reminding me about that.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 19:23

activities looked really I, I was actually surprised by their offerings. I really liked them.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 19:29

we love celebrating where our clients are headed. It inspires curiosity in them and us, and we can't wait to hear about their trips when they get back. And so if you work with us, who knows, maybe we will feature your trip next.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 19:45

we talked a little bit about you thought the beach was gorgeous, you really liked the pools. Any other impressions of either the beach or the pool that you wanna share?

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 19:54

plenty of seating. At both the pool and the beach. no problem with that. We did talk to a person who had been there the summer previous and said it was much busier at that time. And so it was a bit harder, to get space. But this was, laughable, how easy it was. we had rented a cabana, so we had. Somebody that was there every morning getting our stuff ready, but we saw him helping people both at the club pool and the regular pool. getting their, towels set up, their pillows set up. it was really, really nice. the landscaping was gorgeous. The layout of the resort was gorgeous. I can't say enough. I love this resort so much.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 20:33

And I know that you're not a beach person,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 20:35

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 20:36

what was the water like there? Was it swimmable? Were there waves?

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 20:40

there were, very little waves. so we didn't worry about that. It was swimmable. In fact, we went sailing one morning. That was a water sport activity that was available to us. We had a little hoby cat, that they, that they, took us out on or that we thought they were gonna take us out on, but they actually just let me sail it. they're like, who's the captain? And Jasmine just pointed at me and he is like, okay, well I'll teach you how to sail it.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:02

I remember you sent me that picture and I was like, so glad you came

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:05

I would say there were not people in the water that much, but the temperature was great and all that. there also was a dock at our resort. So it looked like some people left for an excursion directly from our resort, and you could walk either through the resort to get to the Zeva side. or you could walk on the beach We did go over to Ziva one morning to the waterpark, and I would say it was a really nice little waterpark, probably better for littler kids, but with the Lazy River, multiple slides a little to or to, or play area. Very, very cool.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:39

That was my next

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:39

Yeah,

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:40

ask about the waterpark, because that is something I always look I, I've seen great

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:44

yeah, and I think.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:46

you.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 21:47

I've been to water parks at, hard Rock Riviera May. I've been to water parks at the Moon Palace Grand, both in Mexico. You and I toured the Nickelodeon waterpark, which I think was amazing. I definitely think this one was better than Hard Rock and Moon Palace Grand.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:06

Yeah, and it's also a little unusual to find a Caribbean resort with a beautiful beach.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:14

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:14

a waterpark. It's usually one or the other. Like they usually have a waterpark because their beach is

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:21

Right, right.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:22

another reason that I really love this resort, because it does have both options. All right. Onto the food.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:30

Okay.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:30

important to you. Tell us about the food.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 22:33

I'm gonna talk about our experience with the club dining and being on both the adult side and the family side. if you're an adult staying on the family side, you can have access To the adults only section. they do have security there because there is kind of like the entertainment area where the nightly shows are. There's a sports bar there, and that's kind of for both resorts and then it, changes from there. So that's kind of like the no man zone, between the two resorts. The food was very, very good. In fact, the sit down restaurant we went to, was right on the beach for breakfast, and that was also the place we had dinner the first night. Again, no reservation, so it was first come, first serve, but because of how many people were at the resort, there was only one night where we had to wait at all for dinner. breakfast was, you know. Lots of options. I always, most of the days I had the Dominican breakfast, which was, salami, eggs, fried cheese, and avocado. and then mango, which is boiled and mashed plantains, lots of plantains going on at the resort.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 23:39

Yum.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 23:40

if you didn't have that, you either had room service of the buffet. Like I said, we went to the buffet one day. Buffet was very nice. We just enjoyed the sit down. Better. lunch, there were several restaurants that would sit down. the steakhouse. Anybody could eat there for lunch. So we'd go there and get like burgers, fish sandwiches, tacos, things like that. Or this other restaurant for the club members was more kind of a. Caribbean menu. very good things there. There was a pizza place where they had wood-fired pizzas. The buffet was open for lunch. so lots of options there in the lobby.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 24:16

the

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 24:16

there was a coffee shop that had coffee drinks, boozy coffee drinks, pastries sandwiches, all that kind of stuff. So we didn't go hungry during the day. And then as part of our cabana. we had about noon every day. They had a little snack basket they would bring to you.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 24:35

So you would say the food was good.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 24:37

The food was wonderful. as far as dinner goes, we went to, the Italian restaurant and the Asian restaurant over on the family side. Can't say they were super exciting, especially the Italian restaurant was rather disappointing. We did go over to the buffet over there just because they had a chocolate tasting one night. So we went over to try different chocolates, and that was really nice.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:01

they're like for the children,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:03

Yes.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:04

chocolate tasting. And Ryan's like, we should go to that.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:07

so we actually did go over to the family side a little bit more than I thought we would for stuff like that. But, we were always happy to get back to the adult side. the buffet is not open on the adult side for dinner.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:18

dinner.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:19

there was a steakhouse.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:20

a steakhouse.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:20

the adult side that we went to one night, there was a French Polynesian restaurant, there was an Indian restaurant, there was like a Caribbean type restaurant. and then the sports bar had things. some nights especially as the week went on and we knew what we liked, we would go, maybe we'd go to the sports bar and get appetizers, and then we'd go to the. French Polynesian to get desserts or mix and match stuff. another thing they had for lunch is a grill station set up by the pool. So they were doing hot dogs and burgers and, you know, meats and things like that. So, no, you did not go hungry at this resort.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 25:53

And again, that's really great to hear that you enjoyed the food because that's another thing that happens a lot is food is not great at all. Inclusives and a note on that Italian, I feel like that's like that at

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:04

it is. And it,

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:05

all inclusive resort.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:07

It was funny because Jasmine was even kind of like, now I know you say the Italian's probably not gonna be good, but we should go check it out. And man, she even tried it and she's like, we have better ravioli from Kroger at home. Um, so it,

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:22

of how

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:22

it was really, yeah, I would say that was the only one we're like, huh.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:26

Now I will say the desserts usually pretty

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:28

Yes. that was the only time where we're like, we don't really care for this. Everything else was phenomenal. there were restaurants that we would go back to just to get a particular dish'cause we had had it in the past and then moved on someplace else. and again, partly we were able to do that because there weren't a lot of people there, so you didn't have to wait to get into a restaurant.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:47

Okay. You mentioned entertainment just

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:50

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:51

but tell us a little bit more like what was available in the evenings and was that shared between the

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:57

Yeah, So

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:58

options? so

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 26:59

both, there were some that was just on the adult side, mostly like singers instrument, you know, like instrumental, things like that. silent disco type stuff. And then there was a, that shared space every night there was some sort of. Theater show, like there was like, you know, tribute to Michael Jackson, tribute to Queen. There was a, there was a circus, I don't know, it's really, really weird.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 27:22

every, all

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 27:23

you know, you can't, you can't beat it. Um. But yeah, magic show, you know, that kind of stuff. so that was always available. we went to wine and painting a couple nights, different things like that. during the day there were different activities that we wanted to do. Most of the time we were at the cabana, just kind of relaxing. And the cabana, there was like a bally bed. Open and then you could close it with curtains if you wanted, but it was right there at the pool. in fact, you could reserve the chairs in the pool right by there. usually we would get there after breakfast, kind of chill for a while. Once the pool bar opened up, we would get in our floaties and head down to the pool bar. yes, I had to navigate that. The, uh, the, um. Bartender laughed at me the first day trying to get my floaty to work, but by the end of it, I got pretty good.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:14

Hold on. hold on. We need to take a minute here because I don't think that we shared this before,

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:19

oh God.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:20

Ryan's, at Ryan's wedding, his son Caleb was, how old is Caleb? like

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:26

Caleb's 16

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:28

Yeah, so he was giving a Best man speech

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:31

I.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:32

the reception time, and he was talking about like experiences he's had with his dad while traveling, which was really a sweet idea, but it just turned into him making fun of you a little bit.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:43

uh, yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:45

And I was really happy to be included on one of those experiences from when um, took all the back roads

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:50

Yes, yes.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:51

drew through some sketchy areas.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:53

Very much so.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 28:53

the other one that he shared was he that about you getting in and out of a poof tube.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:01

Yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:01

was just, I was really excited that Jasmine would get to experience you getting in and out of a pool tube.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:08

it was really interesting because you haven't really seen people with the floaty chairs and stuff, and we noticed that at spring, breaking in, the Riviera Maya so we decided to take them and they were all over the place. a lot of people had them at this resort. usually around noon there was some sort of fitness class. So sometime we would go do that. Maybe it was, you know, Aqua aqua cycling or different stuff. And then we would go get some lunch two o'clock, it was time for some sort of, tasting. maybe it was like a cocktail tasting or making class or a rum tasting class. and then at four o'clock there was crafts. So over the week,

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:45

It's just like you sound like it's Like preschool.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:48

Hey, you know what?

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:49

some and then we did crafts

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:51

is my retirement home, I am pretty darn happy.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:53

home. I'm pretty darn. Oh man, I love

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:56

So yeah.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 29:57

on. Could you also see the activities on the family side? Like was there, did it seem like there was a lot of activities as well?'cause you know, they're not really doing the rum tastings

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 30:05

know, honestly, I. Didn't, no, I didn't see the activities.'cause that wasn't on our version of the app, But, but I would assume there's the same type of things. there's water sports, beach volleyball, all sorts of stuff. we did the sailing. there was as much to do or not do as you wanted. I just. I kind of like to relax for a few hours, then go do something, then relax a bit, and then go do something. I kind of like to pepper that throughout the day, and this was absolutely perfect.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 30:32

I love that. So, wrapping up just a little bit, would it be a good idea, in your opinion, because there is that family side and there's that adult only side, do you think it would work well for like a multi-gen family to split between those two

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 30:46

I think it

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 30:46

too complicated for this

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 30:48

no, I think it'd be great because they are literally steps away from each other. if I wanted to go over and see somebody on the family side, in 10 minutes I could be over there from any place in the resort. Um.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 31:01

would be easy to share like pool space and beach space as long as you were going to the family

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 31:05

Yes. absolutely. nobody checked anything when we went over for meals or to check stuff out. there was no problem with that at all. under 16, you couldn't get over to the adult side. But as far as meeting up for dinner, meeting up at the beach, meeting up for, for pooled space on the family side, No problem at all.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 31:27

so what's next? Where are you guys

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 31:28

Oh man. Well, not as an exciting vacation, but something we really enjoy is tomorrow we're going up to Grand Rapids, Michigan and spending the night and doing, Christmas things. We did this in Chicago last year, there is a really famous gardens and sculpture. park up there that has like a walking lights tour that I have tickets to for, the night. And then there's a couple breweries we want to try out, some shopping we wanna do. And then they also have a Christmas market we're gonna go on Sunday and do all that stuff. So we're gonna get a way for just a quick night to experience some Christmas stuff. So, very different trip, but we're just as excited.

j_1_12-12-2025_135507: 32:11

that is totally your vibe. Totally your vibe. the world is full of wonder and your next great adventure is waiting at Wonder and Beyond Travel. We work with you to create a one of a kind journey, taking the stress off your plate so you can focus on the joy of exploring and the memories that will stay with you forever. If you're ready to start planning or just want to dream a little bigger, head over to Wonder and beyond travel.com. We'd love to help you get started.

ryan_1_12-12-2025_135507: 32:38

We look forward to talking to you next week on All Things Travel, when we discuss Julie's family trip to Walt Disney World for the holidays.