The Sens Cancun — Hotel in Cancún

First off I'd like to say that this is a very pretty hotel, but it comes at a Before I actually review the hotel I should give some background. I stayed at this resort from February 4-11, 2020 with my boyfriend. When we booked our vacation we thought that there was going to be a lot more than there was. The hotel is marketed as a party resort, which was fine, but upon arrival there was little to nothing to support that fact.

For example, we arrived at the hotel around 2AM and there was very few people out except for the people at the late night bar. All other restaurants and bars were closed. There was absolutely nothing going on. You'd think for a "party" resort there'd be something going on. Nope. Zip, zero, nothing. Completely dead.

And before I go too deep, I'd like tp point out that if you're going to do any excursions go see Oscar. Oscar is amazing and went out of his way to make sure that we had a good time, and that our excursions work outed for us. He was an absolute pleasure.

And now for the rest of the hotel...

The outside of the building is very pretty lobby and has great landscape. However, there is a feeling of disconnect when you (and almost disappointment) when you see your room for the first time.

The rooms feature wood furniture, which is beautiful. However, the rooms fall short with problems. Hallways echo like nobodies business. You can hear literally everything and at 3AM you really don't want to hear the drunk people on the other side of the resort finding their way back to their room. And if you're room faces the street and it's windy. Forget about it. Good luck trying to sleep. That being said, the mini bar was well stocked and the bed was decently comfortable.

The bathroom in our room smelled. We tried to avoid using the showers as much as possible as the water reeked of sewer and the bath looked like it wasn't cleaned properly. Also, there's a window that connects the bedroom to the bathroom. I understand it's there for extra light, but that was awkward...

For a party hotel it completely lacks any kind of entertainment other than day drinking. The DJ just blasted songs that where warped to the point you couldn't even tell what song it was. The dancers looked like they were forced to be there'd couldn't wait to leave.

The pool is very pretty and nicely designed with a dedicated "Swim" area and a shallow area near the swim-up-bar for everyone to dance and drink. The biggest problem with the pool is the stupid water works. There are "sprinklers" and other water features that just spray you all the time. There's water chairs in the pool and you can't use them unless you want to drown. User beware.

The area around the pool has cabanas, but in order to get one you have to wake up for 6:30. Most people would just leave their towels on them and not use the space all day. The beach is well maintained, but very packed. The hammocks are an awesome little addition to the water.

Onto the food.

The food was so amazing for the 1st and 2nd days. However, it was like there was no budget for food after that. The buffet was inconsistant and didn't really serve real Mexican food. There was only 1 or 2 actual Mexican dishes and they where so dry and poorly done that we just ended up not eating.

The Whitebox is decent, the pizza was nice, but took forever to be served. Be warned that the steak house is unable to accurately cook meat. When you order rare, you get well done. Order a medium rare and get rare. Also, I guess 8oz means something different here because the fillet mignon (which was the biggest steak you could get) was tiny (maybe 4-5oz). The the 8oz rib eye was huge, but barley a cm thick.

Cafe del Mar honestly just sucked for lunch. You can get sushi which was ok, nothing incredible. But anything else on the menu sucked. Most of it would come out cold and had little to a plate. I ordered chicken fingers and was given a single chicken tender and less than half a...

Be prepared, this is going to be a doozy... I do not recommend this hotel at all. This resort claims that it is 5 star "luxury", and it is far from that. First off, check-in was efficient for us, as our flight was delayed. The problem with check-in is that the staff does not inform you of any of the amenities or locations of restaurants, etc. We actually booked at the Grand Oasis Palm, but apparently we were moved to the Sens so we ended up getting better access to the property's restaurants. However, their restaurant reservation policy is a joke. You have to make reservations at all the restaurants for dinner except the buffets. During our stay, the 2 restaurants we were able to book were only at about 30% full, so having a reservation was pointless. Two nights our only option was to eat at the Mirimar, and one of those nights when it was breezy and chilly they said we had to eat outside because the inside was for "Adults Only" and we saw only 2 couples inside the restaurant. The breakfast at Mirimar was good, and Manuel was our server. He is very kind and accomodating. The dinner is not that great. Very small portions so you need to order all you can. Finally we were able to try another restaurant for dinner, Cocoa. Don't even bother. Again, reservations were required and there were several open tables. It was another breezy, cool evening and we were sat next to a large opening that didn't have a shade for them to close to block the wind. But right next to us were 3 open tables that we could have been moved to to get out of the wind, but no one offered to move us. Our server didn't get our orders correct and she basically brought out the same thing for everyone. We ended up going back to the buffet to get more to eat because the portions were so small and the food was just not good. There are lines everywhere you go...the restaurants, the bathrooms, the bars, Kids Club, the freaking elevator. The rooms are awful. The beds are uncomfortable and small and the sheets smell like mildew. They only put sheets on your bed, but there are heavier blankets in the closet. We booked a "Family Suite", which was just 2 connected rooms each with 2 double beds. My husband and I couldn't even sleep in the same bed. The toilets in both our rooms were constantly running and our shower faucets leaked. The water temperature of the shower constantly changed from hot to cold. The hallway smelled like cigarette smoke all the time. It sounds silly, but there were just random pieces of garbage laying on the floor in the halls for days. If you want to sit by the pool or on the beach, you have to get downstairs and claim your chairs with your towels, otherwise you're S.O.L. Oh and you want to drink? Well I hope you enjoy the taste of sanitizer because every beverage we drank from the bar tasted like sanitizer. And they were also really weak. Our kids enjoyed the pool, and hated the Kids Club. Once again, a long wait to check the kids in and once they were checked in we were required to stop by every hour to make sure they were OK. They claim to have so many fun activities for the kids to do, but my kids said all they did for the 2 hours they were in there was color and go into the freezing cold pool. My husband and I also booked massages ( 25 min for free earned by wasting 2 hours of our day listening to their Oasis Leisure Club schpiel). The massages were good, but the lobby of the spa was filled with mosquitos. Save your money and find a better all inclusive experience for you and your family. I wish we would have done more research before booking this trip. I would...

I was booked as a “Grand” Oasis Palm and stated on my receipt/ paperwork that I would have VIPinclusions including a special “check-in” area. Upon arriving, the check in line was very long. When I asked (a few times) about the special check in I was told “ check in here” with a hand motion, motioning me to the very long line. I have traveled a good amount to know what I am doing. I have stayed at Oasis Resorts in the past to know what I am doing but I have never stayed at the PALM. It seemed that no one either knew enough to get me to where I needed to go for my (Grand level check in) or... they just didn’t care. I waited in line for about 15 min when I decided to advocate for myself and I found the concierge desk. When I asked them they said “aahhh yes here” and pleasantly checked me in very quickly! They were very nice but the others were way too busy to be anything but... too busy! There are not enough seating/chairs/sofas for people waiting to check in to sit down and the line takes up the entire walkway. Not a very nice 1st impression. As I walked around the resort to check it out, I noticed a lot ALOT of seagull’s. And then I noticed the white plastic lounging chairs on the beach were all full of bird(seagull) poop! See pictures.... We walked around looking for a clean, poop free chair and I couldn’t find one. This is a kid friendly resort and kids drop food. Food equals birds! I watched as a mom brought a large plate of food over to her lounge chair at poolside and then she walked away to help little Johnny kid over at the shower spout. Yup....20 seagulls flew to her plate and had a piraña frenzy slinging all the food on her plate around until it was gone! There were constant seagulls landing into the pool water ( the bird poop and birds in the pool is not sanitary)! The white lounge chairs at the poolside seemed to be clean (maybe they hose them down at night?) The service at the restaurants seem to be a little bit slow. Maki Taco was delicious but the wait staff kept trying to have us order “ family style” like if I ordered an appetizer , my order would be for both people. NO! I am at an all inclusive, all I can eat and I want my own plates of food! I know the portions from eating at Maki Taco on a different trip! They were insisting, and I had to regularly tell them I want my own order and that I did not want to share. The late night snack bar outside is cold burgers (very processed) and cold hotdogs. Not very good at all! The room was super clean 😁 and the bed/mattress was super comfortable! I did find table/counter space/lacking for two people. My AC worked great ( too cold for my travel buddy and almost too cold for me) but cold is good. When getting day pass to the other resort , the first day I was given a pass for 0900am and that is the time I got it for on a different trip . But the second day I went down to get a day pass the lady insisted it was only for 1000am. I found there to be in consistency on almost anything!

The birds, and their poop alone is a main reason to not book this hotel! It didn’t have a relaxing feel. It lacked any music at poolside!

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS RESORT! I do however recommend the sister resort GRAND OASIS CANCUN about...