There’s only one week a year I get the kids for a full 7 days, and I always try to make that one week the best adventure possible. This year, I saved up all of my hotel points and took advantage of my business travel status as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member and booked 5 nights (fifth night was free) at the Royalton Riviera Cancun.

We checked in a few days after my youngest’s ninth birthday, and I had emailed the hotel in advance and told them we would be celebrating there. They put a banner on the door of our room to welcome us, which was such a nice touch (and helped us to always be able to find our room in this massive place!).

As a member of the hotel’s loyalty program, they gave us an upgrade to rooftop jacuzzi, ocean view room. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Upon entering our room, some stone stairs led to… a rooftop jacuzzi with an ocean view!

The boys were insistent that this was the nicest hotel they’d ever been to. And they probably weren’t far off. Although showing signs of wear in some of the common areas (note, when it rains all day, the roof definitely leaks), the pools and food and other amenities more than made up for those things. AND WE HAD A JACUZZI. ON THE ROOF. OVERLOOKING THE OCEAN.

Over the course of the week we spent a lot of time at the kids club, the pools, the beach, and tried all the restaurants. I gave my kids ample $1 bills for tipping and they went crazy on virgin drinks. (Mama opted for drinks with a little more punch.)

One of the nights, we were fortunate to participate in a baby sea turtle rescue program, which was one of the highlights of our trip!

Another highlight was getting up for the sunrises. The view from the ROOFTOP TERRACE (WITH JACUZZI, IN CASE THAT HASN’T BEEN MENTIONED) was amazing.

The beach wasn’t the nicest I’ve seen, and had a lot of seaweed. But that didn’t stop junior from any of the fun.

We had an amazing time. The food was good (some restaurants better than others, as is usually the case). One night they had a kids night with balloon artists, magicians, and tables upon tables of candy and baked goods. No wonder the kids loved it.

All said, it was a fabulous time. My goal was to feel the kids out a little to see if we had a preference for an all-inclusive or a cruise. I definitely think the all-inclusive was the way to go for us, especially considering the room was free using points (most of which I accumulated using the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card). I was at 0 points in February and had accumulated 240k by the time of the trip thanks to strategic spending (basically putting everything on the card). This is a great card and comes with automatic elite hotel status and free nights (either 3 or 1 depending on the card you select) for a low annual fee.

We are already looking forward to planning our next fall break at another Marriott all-inclusive. Would love to hear any and all input!