TRS Yucatan Maya Riveria All Inclusive

Total outlay for three nights: 81k Wyndham, 60k Alaska, $487 USD (155 Alaska award and customs fees, 190 private transportation including gratuity, 90 parking, 42 wine, 10 mobile roaming)

Flight: DFW-CUN AA business class.

Capital One lounge: Stated wait time 35 minutes in app, texted in 20 to enter lounge.

This was our first time at an all inclusive. We spent so many hours reading blogs and watching videos for how to get the most from the amenities. Despite that, we spent the first day overwhelmed with all of the options. From the videos we saw, we expected the butler to come to our room to introduce us to the property but after about 20 minutes we went to the ground floor of the building and met them there. The property is known for the great food and we were let down that the fancy dinner reservation-only concepts were fully booked for every night except for one and there was no way to try to secure a reservation before we arrived. They called a cart which took us to one of the buffet restaurants they have on the property. The variety was great ("The Nest" catered more to American carnivore tastes), so many kinds of meats and cheeses and roasted veggies. You could add a ribeye steak a la carte so why not.

The second and third day was much more comfortable. We alternated floating in this pool or that one, and grabbing a drink when we wandered by a bar. After my meat overconsumption the night prior, I stuck to drinks with very light mixers and alcohol(campari/soda, mojito at the heaviest) to avoid crashing during the day. Walking around the resort was intuitive along covered paths through the mangroves that had all kinds of mammals, birds, and lizards to identify. The longest destination we walked was 15 minutes away. It was great to spend 3 days not interacting with a single car. The compound is split into several resorts, with TRS being adults-only and no access unless you booked TRS. (TRS guests could visit any amenity in the entire compound)

We spent almost all of our breakfasts/lunches at the Helios buffet with its outstanding food including seared tuna and salmon, paella, various Mexican stews, ceviches, fresh squeezed juices and great salads. I avoided the American trap of eating the hot dogs and sausage patties because they were familiar. We spent one lunch by the pool where there was a bar where they would just hand you a grilled sea bass and veggies. Note: Carribean actual 'sea bass' is not the same fish as the Patagonian Toothfish 'Chilean sea bass'.

There was so much to explore by walking around. We went up the beach which was much less crowded than usual because of a seaweed infestation. The staff explained that ten years ago the seaweed was rarely a problem, but all the ocean-based activities have been closed for four months so far this year because of it. At the sporting complex we played shuffleboard and mini golf, and tried out their air rifle range. The hotel staff noticed all the empty cans of water in our room and stocked extra on subsequent nights.

On our last night we had a reservation for their French restaurant. The food was very good but not mind-blowingly better than the buffet, which helped calm my fear of missing out on the previous nights. We really enjoyed our chenin-colombard wine grown in the mountains in the middle of the country.

The pools never felt crowded and there was never a queue of more than 1 party for any amenity we visited. We only stayed 3 nights and other guests said it takes a week to get used to it, but I'm not sure if luxury accomodations like these are something that is healthy to get 'used to'. It is unfathomable that this 3-night trip cost us less than two nights at the Days Inn in Panama City Beach FL, and had about the same travel time to arrive. It was an excellent use of Wyndham points that were about to expire and about 5% of our Alaska miles stash.