Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Riviera Maya By Kari

Best. Vacation. Ever.  Overall, we had a blast at the Nickelodeon Resort in Maya Riviera. We went with our two kiddos, age 4.5 and 2.5, as well as my brother, sister in law, and their two kiddos, age 9.5 and 5.5. All four kids had the best time of their lives. I will break my review down into the following categories: things to do, food, and hotel.  Things to do: There was so much to do! There were big water slides for the 9 year old to enjoy (as well as us parents!) Mid size slides for the kindergartner and preschooler, as well as splash areas for the toddler. When the sun got too much for us, we hung out in the Kids Club area, which was indoor. Gabi, Edwardo, and Liz were three of the people at Kids Club that really went above and beyond with our kids (but ALL of the staff were amazing!). They did crafts with the kids (on the schedule you can see what is happening at what time). They were always so friendly and helping the kids complete the crafts, giving them the perfect blend of autonomy and direction. Additionally, there were so many different characters to meet! My kids are really into the paw patrol, so we made sure to meet Skye, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Everest, and Chase! We also were able to meet all 4 teenage mutant ninja turtles, Blue from Blues Clues, Aang, Dora, and Boots! The lines were never long and the staff were so great at taking pics with your phone, so you have the memories of the trip.  Food: The food was really great. What we loved the most were the live stations at Le Spatula for breakfast. You could pick your ingredients for an omelette and they would make it for you right there, or a crepe or a smoothie! It was all so tasty and fresh. We also loved the pizzaria, where the kids had pizza almost every night for dinner! Billy and Pablo at Good Burger also always kept fresh fries coming for the kids. Also, there was room service available, so if a kiddo needed a nap, we were still able to get food to our room, which was so clutch! Hotel stay: I was so impressed with the room! Every room has ocean views and an infinity pool attached to the room. See picture of sunrise from our balcony attached! I have never been in an infinity pool before, which felt like the ultimate level of luxury!  Being able to wake up and take a swim before breakfast was fantastic. We also had rooms next to each other, so the kids were able to have cousin time in the pools in the morning. Additionally, there was a coffee shop on the 6th (top) floor that had amazing greenery, overlooking the forests, and serene music, where we went to have a cup of joe and a croissant with the kids, which felt like paradise. Irwin, the barista, was always so pleasant making me an almond milk latte in the mornings.  I highly recommend visiting. It might feel like a lot of money up front, but then once you are there, you really don't have to spend extra money. A lot of other resorts have a lot of "hidden" costs, which this did not have! While they do have professional photography at the resort, the staff takes great photos from your phone, so you don't have to buy those, as you will have amazing photos with the characters on your phone to print. There are things you can do for additional costs, but if you don't want to, there is so much to do included in your stay.

We visited this resort as guests of Exotic Travelers members. This allowed us to have a connecting king/2 queen swim-up ocean front suite at a discounted rate. Nevertheless, this resort is indeed very expensive. Given the price point for this resort, I was surprised at how subpar many of the amenities were. Our children had a fantastic time; nevertheless, this resort is not on my top places to return to. FOOD Overall, meh. Breakfast at Le Spatula was the best. There is a wide variety of food. Be on notice that the booth seating with televisions has an additional cost. The staff was top notch (as they all were across the resort). When we checked in, there was NO mention that breakfast at Bikini Bottom is an option! When we found out, we went there for breakfast. The pancakes at this restaurant are the best at the resort in addition to their side items. So please be on notice you do NOT have to go to Le Spatula for breakfast; Le Spatula has exponentially more food options than Bikini Bottom. As Exotic Travelers guests, we had the option to eat at a small restaurant inside the Exotic Travelers lounge (5th floor). However, nobody told us about this. We found out after we decided to wonder into the lounge and ask about the amenities. The food at Bikini Bottom for lunch was not spectacular. The food at Nick Bistro was close to awful. We had a rice pilaf that made everyone immediately spit it out after one bite. This is the ONLY resort in Mexico we have ever been to (and we go to Mexico on average 2x a year over the past 10 years) that had NO clue to how to make rice. Mexico. And they cannot make rice. Even worse. The Mexican rice was the worst. It was water and undercooked. It looked disgusting. This was the same for Yacht Club. Do yourself a favor. If you go to Yacht Club, ask for grilled shrimp. This was the best meal in the restaurant. They cook it to order. The red pozole always had mussels. Why - en el nombre de Dios - would you put mussels in red pozole (or ANY pozole)??? I asked a chef at Yacht to make some red pozole with pork and no mussels (how it is traditionally made) and it was good. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP with the nonsense of putting mussels in red pozole!!! The made to order tacos at the far right end of the restaurant are pretty good. The tamales were small and SEEECCCOOOOO (dry). I mean, seriously. This is Mexico. Bad Mexican rice and dry tamales? Sinverguenzas. The food at the Aqua Nick is just ok. The french fries are greasy. The quality of the meat used for the burgers is pretty mid. The pizza stand - they take FOREVER to make one pizza. And when they do...it's like "where's the meat?" And be on notice that (as with many resorts in Mexico) what is considered sausage in the USA is not what they consider sausage in Mexico. Sausage in Mexico varies from being hot dogs to who knows what. And the quality of the peperoni is also mid. If you eat at Good Burger, do not expect a good burger. This restaurant should be called What?A-Burger? This spot tries to do too much and be too fancy. There isn't a single basic hamburger on the menu (you need to know how to QR code menus before you go to this resort just fyi; there is one or two printed menus floating around if you ask for one). Nobody in our family liked anything we ate here. The burgers were not good. The spaghetti was bad. Just overall not good food. I am not talking about anything special. Just a basic hamburger or basic spaghetti. It is like this resort employs cooks who do not know how to cook. If they would just boil a pot of store brand spaghetti, buy a bag of frozen meatballs from Walmart, and open a jar of Ragu and put a little basil and paprika in the sauce, they would be doing WAY better than the junk they serve at Good Burger. I can say that the ice cream truck was on point!! The food here is the antithesis of gourmet. Gourmet must be Latin for garbage. And room service. Not much better. There are a few items that you can order that are just o.k. And do not bother ordering any of the desserts - they are not tasty. Just ask for a few packs of Oreo cookies (not on the menu). SHUTTLE This was probably one of the most annoying aspects of this resort - so much so it makes me not want to return. The main building is located to the back of the resort complex near the sea. As other reviews mention, the beach is only worth looking at and not going to. The lobby, Le Spatula, Aqua Nick (with Main Stage's nightly entertainment) are all located near the front of the complex - which would require a (not super) long walk. The issue with walking is that you would have to traverse a route that is not very populated with other walkers (thus feeling isolated), you would be walking through dense jungle and the signage is (seemingly intentionally) poor. Thus, one could easily get lost. Thus, it seems as though walking is disincentivized and discouraged (though not verbally). It got downright annoying to have to hop on a shuttle 2-3 times a day. The frequency of the shuttles was fine. If you see a digital sign that says "Next Shuttle: 20:01" pay no attention. The digital sign said that the whole time we were there. But be on notice that if you go to one of the shows at night or plan to leave the water park at closing time, you will want to be one of the first people in line for the shuttle. We left every show at night early because we didn't want to be in a line of 200 people waiting for a shuttle (and the vans hold about 16 people). The food and the shuttle construct are two factors alone what make me not want to return here (our lovely daughter is begging to go back! Yikes!) MISC ITEMS We had a maintenance issue almost daily. Televisions for some reason lose connection frequently. We finally discovered that you can unplug the t.v. and re-plug it and it seems to fix the problem. One of our bathroom sinks was clogged. A lightbulb in the bathroom burned out. Whoever decided to build a resort with swim-up pools with non-heated water should be ostracized. The water in those swim-up pools is FRIGID - and the ambient temperature outdoors when we were there was about 88F/31.1C. The swim-up pools are almost impractical. And by the way, who the heck decided it would be a good idea to build a resort aimed at younger children and make almost every building have steep, monolithic staircases!! The prices for shirts, plushies, the arcade...you name it...was just ridiculous. Our daughter wanted a Gary the snail plushie. She saw the price in pesos and when we told her the price in US$, even she said "that's ridiculous." So we ordered it on Amazon for home delivery. Saved at least 65% off the price at the resort. Personal gripe - when we go to Mexico, we want to be in Mexico. These resorts pipe so much non-Mexican music. Every now and then there will be a live band that plays traditional Mexican music. But far too many resorts in Mexico, this one included, do not play Mexican music. This is YOUR country. Embrace your music. It is something Mexico should be proud of. The staff at this resort are all wonderful. Not a single complaint here.