Sandos Cancun Luxury Resort

Staff at Zango (especially Ignacio) went above and beyond daily - especially making my best friends birthday extra special setting up a breakfast booth with balloons, sending over a birthday plate - was amazing. Looking forward to coming back next year and hope to see him again!!!

Okay this is going to be a long review of Sandos Cancun. In short, this stay was beyond what I expected! I got the suggestion from a coworker to stay here. After researching and tracking prices for a month, I decided it was the one! Staff 10/10 - Discussing this first as this was what MADE our trip so great. All staff were friendly, helpful, and respectful. We definitely had some standouts though. Daniel, Karla, Juan, and Paula were AMAZING performers and party hypers. Their energy and friendliness was unmatched. The biggest standout for me was Papacito Lopez, haha! He's a server at a few of the restaurants, but MAN the first night the guy got us drunk as heck introducing us to Centenario Tequila. I DO NOT drink tequila as I hate the taste, but this stuff is smooth, and I wasn't saying no to the boys! We saw Papacito Lopez a few more times, twice at the Italian restaurant, Frattini's. He put on an AMAZING fire show for dessert both times. One was with the tiramisu, and the other was a non-menu Mexican Coffee dessert which was to DIE for. He played jokes pretending to spill soup on the guys with an empty bowl both visits that actually startled them, LOL! The guy is a pure GEM and an amazing person who we tipped the heck out of all 3 times as he really earned it. SANDOS PLEASE TAKE CARE OF AND RETAIN THESE PEOPLE! Our daily schedule basically went like this for 8 days: 9am Gym (No thanks, I slept until 930am LOL) 10am Breakfast Buffet @ Zango 11am Ocean Swim 1pm Pool Party 3pm Lunch @ St. Trop 430pm Ocean until dark 7pm Dinner at Seasons/Frattini's/Gaijin, sometimes buffet after! :P 10pm Night Party/Performance Restaurants - 9/10 - Shirt, shorts, and sandals okay at each restaurant. Only asked to dry off at St. Trop as it was poolside, but was no problem after doing so. Best part about the restaurants, is they're all walk-in except Gaijin! Make sure you book Gaijin right away because our group of 5 had to wait 3 days and the hotel wasn't full, but we got in 2 nights in a row! Not all restaurants are open everyday, or have varying schedules, so plan way ahead! Every restaurant asks about allergies too, which is nice as it takes the pressure off people that require adjustments often. Our single biggest concern before booking our trip was eating good tasting food; the selection, quality, and availability was WAY beyond what we expected for what the trip cost! These ratings are based on my experiences on how good the restaurants were for an all-inclusive resort, not just as independent restaurants. I'll post pictures of the menu's so you have an idea of the food variety in case you have restrictions, but they may not be current as Seasons was different, for example. Seasons - International - 8.5/10 - Dinner only everyday - Very tasty dishes, some fine dining sizes. Maybe 1 or 2 I didn't like, but it was just my tastes as my other guys did like them. Beef Tartare was AWESOME and not something I've ever had, and the steak was good to satisfy the craving, not an amazing top-notch steak, but lean and very edible meat, cooked correctly at medium-rare. Zango - Buffet - 9/10 - All meals every day, closed 11am-1230pm and 4pm-6pm for meal prep; sometimes they change as the Thursday after we left was only dinner for Mexican Night. The hostess knew us pretty quick and sat us down every time except one day at the "VIP" (LOL) table we preferred without even asking. They're super friendly, and helpful too. The buffet had a great variety of food at each meal time and changed day to day. It wasn't too big for them to keep up with either as the food was always warm and fresh. Some very tasty stuff here for sure and top notch for an all-inclusive. The vanilla custard cake was to DIE for, I wish they had it again after the 1 time I got it. You can even ask for made to order eggs or omelette at breakfast! St. Trop - Poolside Variety - 9/10 - Breakfast/Lunch only everyday. I was SHOCKED at how good the wood fired pizzas were; YES, WOOD FIRED! The classic pepperoni was good, but the seafood HIT with the shrimp on it. I'm not a Mediterranean or Hawaiian pizza guy, but even those were tasty! The Squid Romaine was a staple each day, the Sandos Burger was surprisingly AWESOME I wish I got more than once, and the nachos were very good. I DO NOT recommend the Tres Leches cake, but maybe it's because I don't like it. I've never tried it anywhere else, so I'm not sure if it's not for me or it was low quality. HOWEVER, the Lemon Carlotta was very good, which I also had never tried before! They got our drinks wrong on checkout day once. Frattini's - Italian - 10/10 - Dinner only, but opening days vary as they were closed 3 days for us, but I saw only 1 the week after we left. Hands down my favorite restaurant! The potato Gnocchi was to DIE for! I had it 3 times on 2 occasions, haha! The Shrimp risotto was VERY delicious, the tomato cream soup was very tasty, and the Raviolis were VERY good. I'm not big on Tiramisu, but Papacito Lopez recommended it and put on an AMAZING fire show for us! The second time we went he made a non-menu dessert called Mexican Coffee, again with another AMAZING fire show! Such an experience that was. I'd eat here everyday if I could! Gaijin - Japanese Teppanyaki - 9/10 - We went here twice. There's 4 tables, but not all in use both times. Both cooks put on a good show doing different performances. They also check for allergies or food preferences before cooking. The food for me was AWESOME, but I've only experienced Teppanyaki back home in Vancouver years ago just once, and I can't remember it. But I found everything super tasty. There was a variety of grilled vegetables, a big amount of fried rice, prawns, and fresh cuts of beef/chicken. Bar One - Behind check-in desk - 10/10 - Served some pretty potent drinks! Nice atmosphere, good music, some live performances, even an Elvis dedication night, and a lady who killed the piano! Open late until 1230/1am Bar Two - Poolside bar - 10/10 - VERY potent drinks, these guys are very good! Bar Six - 6th Floor bar - 5/10 - Never went while it was open as I think it closes around dinner time, but they have two huge 85 inch screens for watching sports. We tried to watch Football up there, but the one TV that had the game in English kept buffering as the WIFI sucks up there only, and the other had mostly Spanish channels on Satellite, so that was very annoying. This needs to be fixed so BOTH TV's have Satellite TV in ENGLISH with all the North American sports channels! Any restaurant we went to we had 2-4 servings of food EACH. We definitely got our monies worth, but got to taste a lot of things too. The servers never attempted to cut us off; they were really there to please! Entertainment - 9.5/10 Sandos really shines here, especially because of Daniel, Karla, Juan, and Paula! Those guys really know how to run the pool and events. From the daily activities like pool volleyball to the daily pool parties to the night parties/performances; they are AWESOME! If you look at my daily schedule at the start of this review, you'll see we attended the pool party and night party/performance everyday; yes, they were THAT fun! My guys started the pool parties though as it would start pretty empty then we got out there and got it going with hyping up from the mentioned workers. Once the people joined, then those guys were keeping it going consistently. The pool parties had DJ's each day, but even had live musicians playing over the DJ's songs to match the rhythm, they were killing it out there! The Pool Parties were a variety of Colours (basic colourful party, twice), Violinist, Circus (yes circus acts and dancers), Trumpeter, Latin Explosion (dancing performances), and Electric Guitarist. They really go all out to entertain you! They get tons of long balloons out to wave around and get hype, then get beach balls out to take it up a notch. Let me tell you, EVERYONE joins in bringing even the most shy out of their shell! The night performances were usually at 10pm, and were rocking every time. There was a live singer, Extasis (sexy dancing type female performers), Trance (neon colour), Pura Vida, Exotico (very sexy dancing partner performers), Karaoke, and Live DJ (twice). All the nights were fun, some more than others for sure, but none disappointed; just depends on your mood I guess! I highly recommend attending these parties. The performers do their thing for a while, maybe 30 min. max, then turns into all the guests dancing. It can get pretty fun as one night I was having a dance off with a couple guys, and I don't dance; I guess it was liquid courage, haha! They toss out long balloons there too so I would tie 2 together and put them around couples to get them to really dance centre floor; they were givin'er! Sometimes I became an unpaid worker there, LOL! The day after that party I'd run in to people who were there and would go out of their way to say high to me, it was hilarious. I do believe from watching the DJ's they're not real ones; they're just a bunch of knob twisters that play a premade mix and don't take requests. I even Shazam'd their songs and it came up as a mix, but haven't confirmed the result. There was one DJ at a night party that was real though, and was even scratching during his set. Kind of what you expect from most DJ's these days though. Beach I have a hard time walking on rocky/shelly beaches due to sensitive feet with pointy objects. I wore water shoes the first couple days, but they were a pain to clean. I then went barefoot and I was pleasantly surprise how smooth, soft, and silky the beach and ocean was. I stepped on a few irritating objects, but nothing like I usually experience elsewhere. The beaches were fairly clean with plenty of room. There wasn't a day we weren't able to get a beach chair. This was my first experience in the Caribbean Sea, and man is it beautiful! The waters are crystal clear in and above the water. The ocean was very swimmable except for 1 day near the end of our trip the waves were too violent, and the day before was borderline too much as well. The jet skis and boats stay very far away so there's no risk. The beach is SUPER long and is shared between all the hotels. Police monitor the beach on their ATV's also checking the credentials of sellers to ensure they're legit. The sellers on the beach are very friendly and respect when you're not interested. But always negotiate with them, and be aggressive in your pricing! Pools 9.5/10 The THREE pools were very clean, with plenty of room to move except the bottom one during the pool party as the crowds were huge! It was pretty easy to find a place to sit, and we weren't bothered by staff when we sat in the VIP area when it wasn't busy. The one time it was busy, someone who rented 2 of them politely let us know and we moved while also striking up a conversation. Only knocked half a point because of some of the pool tiles being scratchy on the feet, not sharp though. There's a server that comes around the lower pool to bring drinks, not sure about the 2 upper pools. They were very good at it too, and ensured to keep coming around and pickup empty cups. Gym/Spa/Sports - I didn't use the spa, but did shower there on checkout day. It's a BEAUTIFUL spa, just wasn't something I wanted to do. Toilets were clean there too and privately roomed from each other. The gym is the biggest I've seen at a hotel. It's about the size of any local independently owned gym where I live, but not nearly the size of the bigger chain names. It has about 20+ Life Fitness machines, 2 dumbbell racks, an Olympic bar lifting cage, stretching area, lots of stepping boards, 3 treadmills, and a few ellipticals. I'm probably missing a couple things too. Upstairs from the gym is 2 tennis courts. 1 net was broken, but the other was good. Never got to play though as we were enjoying the ocean too much! Guests 10/10 This, for me, was the most surprising part of our trip. We met a ton of amazing people! Many, like us, from all over Canada, some from USA, and few from Europe. Some Americans were funny thinking we'd throw shade because of the tariff war going on, but I told them that's politics BS, we were all there with the same goal, to have FUN! Then it was all good after that. Many of us partied together, ate together, and/or drank together, and would make a point to say hello in passing everyday. These were people of ALL adult ages too. We made some lifelong friends of all ages that want to meet up there every November, and we plan to do so! My guys were so satisfied we want to repeat that experience forever! Safety 10/10 I'm not an publicly active LGBTQ supporter that's out there actively fighting for them, but I have gay friends and support everyone's right to feel safe and have a great time. We met multiple gay couples while staying here and even partied with them. Both them and us felt safe, and was just like chilling with the boys. It was a great time for all, and no risk to anyone as it was always kept respectful, heck even some of the performers/workers are gay too. And who cares? We're all just people, right? Near the end of the trip I saw some lesbians comfortably on the beach too. I didn't see any other obvious LGBTQ people, but I'd feel pretty confident in their safety at Sandos. I'm mentioning this as it's important for people to know where they'll be safe because even at resorts who support LGBTQ people, that doesn't mean the other guests make them feel safe. Carrying on, at no time did my group feel unsafe at the resort or at risk of losing our belongings. There were no suspicious people roaming around looking to steal anything. Everyone's stuff was respected even when in the open. Even some of the amazing guests we met would keep all our stuff together sometimes; pretty trusting of people you just meet! The police drive up and down the beach on their ATV's and even check credentials of the sellers to ensure they're authorized. There's lifeguards at each resort monitoring the ocean for people who swim too far out and will get whistled back in if that happens. The hotel zone is a very well looked after place. Service 9/10 The front desk is helpful, the late night room service is awesome, the concierge is super helpful, and the housekeeping is very good at what they do! No people to complain about particularly and almost always had my questions answered. The concierge wasn't sure of 2 event locations or times that weren't on the schedule, not their fault though. Room service had very tasty food especially for middle of the night. The menu had a surprisingly great late-night selection; the club sandwich was pretty good, and the hot chocolate was AMAZING! The wait for food took about 45 min. and on a separate night the hot chocolate took 30 min. Everything was hot and fresh though. A great checkout day feature is, although you have to checkout by 12pm or pay hourly to extend, you don't need to! You get a paper pass to access the whole facility until you leave. You can even swim or hit the ocean and have a shower at the spa, which I mentioned I did and was a very nice shower! You can also leave your bags at the front with the bellmen by the concierge no visitor can access, and isn't left unsupervised. I took a point away because of the uncertainty of 2 event locations or times that were not on the schedule, and the long wait for room service for a simple hot chocolate; cooked food I'd understand though. Rooms 8/10 The rooms are a decent size, can't complain. They housekeeping did an awesome job cleaning each day and even organized our things unasked. The fridge has plenty of drinks including some beer, and there was a coffee machine that had some very tasty coffee. The beds were comfortable with some very nice pillows; I slept great the whole trip! There was enough space to leave our luggage on the floor by the chairs for easy access. The bathroom had a very small bathtub only a woman could fit into. The shower was nice and big, loved it! Sinks and toilets were clean and functioned well with plenty of space around. The room safe had plenty of room and was easy to use. We debated using the laundry service, but it was way too expensive as $ per item rather than a load or something. I have no real complaints, but I took points away only because I've stayed in much nicer spacious rooms as similar pricing. I'm definitely happy with the experience though! Suggestions to Sandos Retain and give raises to Daniel, Karla, Juan, Paula, and Papacito Lopez! These staff MADE the experience unreal for us. Just real genuine, fun people, that really want you to have a good time. But they also put in WORK doing events all day or only getting 1 day off at a time. I want to see these people every year! The influencers party you had this past weekend was a ton of fun, but the influencers mostly really aren't. They're not bad people, but they don't party in the pool, and barely on the dancefloor. They're more of the stereotypical snap pics continuously then stand around like a high school dance, type of people. But the ones I did talk to were nice. It just seems forced when they're never actually involved in the parties. One chick was in the pool once to snap a pic on a floaty then never left the bed area again. If you just retain and seek out staff like the ones mentioned above, you'd have no problem with people flocking to your hotel! Influencers area a waste of money, but I'm not sure if you pay for their stay and give them extra services only receiving an obvious forced positive review in return, OR if it was a sponsored party maybe? People don't care what influencers say as we all know their opinions are paid for. I care about real reviews from real paying visitors; that's how we know the true value and quality of a hotel! I did hear the champagne brand sponsored that pool party, so maybe it was them who paid? I don't know, but Sandos shouldn't waste their money on that at least. Certain events I found out about through concierge weren't on the Sandos News sheet in the morning or listed on your app. You guys should list everything or update it online so the guests know their options more accurately. One example is the white dress party, it was dead and a waste. The Sandos News sheet is also more accurate than the app. The app should be updated daily, or even post the Sandos News to the app so we always have easy access. The sheet is very helpful to plan your day though! This is a place we definitely will return to yearly as long as the experience is the same. It was beyond anything we expected! Loved my first Cancun/Caribbean experience, and hope for many more! I don't normally write long reviews on anything, but Sandos really deserved it so people know what they're getting. This review has taken me hours to write so I'd just appreciate a thumbs up or down so I know if it was helpful for you. Thank you SO MUCH Sandos Cancun!

The service was amazing thanks Pedro you went above to make our night! Pedro went out of his way to get us chilly sauce and thanks again!

Pedro Canul was the best! Thank you Pedro! Pedro fills me heart with joy every time he looks our way. Pedro made me feel whole again.

It was too small for our preference No matter where you were in the resort you could hear the pool music blaring. I’ve been to smaller resorts but they’ve always had a quiet pool and a lively pool but this one didn’t. It was hard to relax, even at the beach you could hear it The other big issue was the food , we ate dinner at the buffet once it was disgusting. The resturants were just okay. They only had one restaurant open per night aside from the buffet, and they weren’t taking reservations you had to go line up at 6pm when it opened and come back two hours later to eat. Racing other people to line up so your able to eat isn’t my idea of relaxing There was not enough chairs at the pool or beach at all , you could see people laying in the sand every day There were also many days where we couldn’t get a towel Service on the beach and pool was inconsistent Maybe it’s just the party vibe of Cancún, all the other resorts near us looked small as well We paid $2500 pp for a week and we just expected more for the price Positives: Most of the staff was friendly We got the basic room and it was fine The restaurant by the pool was good we ate breakfast and lunch there everyday We still had a great time bc we went with a lot of people. It was just disappointing for the price we payed based on other resorts we’ve been to