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El Cid Timeshares Vacation Club: Returning to El Cid, Cancun

When we went to El Cid 4 1/2 years ago, we loved it.

El Cid Cancun was like a magical tropical paradise where drinks magically appeared from the bar, people only ever wore sandals all day, and the snorkeling experience (the first time we went) felt like something that could be a “once in a lifetime” kind of experience for most people.

Here’s the video review we made the first time we were at the El Cid Cancun in 2008:

Since that time, Carrie and I have been in 31 countries, slept in at least 123 different beds, eaten foods at hotels and in homes (and from street vendors) all around the world.

So with that experience, what do we think about the El Cid now?

It’s even more awesome!
Going with my parents’ vacation club time share, we were able to be on a family vacation, but my parents are fantastic and used their time share points to get us all rooms. 9 of us went (just Deanna was missing), and the 7 of them had a suite which was three rooms with a common entrance, but all separate rooms.

One of the rooms in the suite had a family room, dining area with 10 chairs, and a nice sized kitchen.

Not that you need a kitchen at El Cid because there’s ALWAYS plenty of food.

Carrie and I were really looking for some time just to ourselves, so my parents booked us an amazing room on the third floor with a view of the ocean.

We could hear the waves soothing us as we slept. It was a fantastic place to get some serious rest and relaxation, with time away from everything that goes on in our busy daily lives in the states.

At the same time, we could all be on vacation together, but have our own space to have private times together as couples, and alone as well.

Updates they have made at El Cid:

  • The marina restaurant is now glassed in. It’s a very nice place to eat now. (We didn’t know we were going to be eating dinner with the president of Mexico, but he was at the El Cid marina restaurant with a FULL security detail. He was having dinner with his family about 3 tables away from our family while we were eating dinner. I would have gotten a picture, but didn’t have our camera and also he was having dinner with his family. I thought it might be rude to intrude.)
  • The Internet access at El Cid now covers the whole resort. There are some spots you can’t get it, but my brother paid $20 for the week and said his Internet access at El Cid was good.

Those are the big changes I noticed at El Cid.

Otherwise, things are pretty much the same level of awesomeness as they were the first time.

They have awesome shows as well. One night they had the Fire Show, which was great!

However, even though El Cid is pretty similar, Carrie and I have changed.

Now being SCUBA certified, El Cid is amazing because with the marina so close, and a dive shop right there, it’s possible to wake up, walk to the shop, and be in the water right away… no public transportation necessary.

I would recommend scheduling the dive in advance, however.  Other divers might have the same idea and want to go the same day you do…

My parents and brother even took the intro to SCUBA class, so we all got to go together for 2 dives.

On the first dive, we saw a turtle chomping on grass.

Carrie (and her supersonic hearing) could hear the chomping of the turtle.

(We got pictures of that too, but I’m not finding them at the moment…)

I was glad to get to share our love of diving with my parents and brother.

It was a lot of fun!

Other than that, the El Cid is as awesome as ever (I think I already said that?).

I’d recommend to anyone to take a vacation there.

It’s all-inclusive and expensive, but if you need a place to get away for some serious R&R, it’s (so far) among my absolute favorite places to be for that sort of thing.

Back to the point of this 3 series set of articles…

I still don’t know that Carrie and I would buy a time share for ourselves at this point in our lives.

We’re still very mobile and we really enjoy seeing lots of places. However, I think with my parents having their time share at the El Cid, we’ll be going back to Puerto Morelos on some kind of frequent basis. Assuming of course that my parents are willing – which I think they are. It’s a great place to spend time together as a family.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m feeling nostalgic.

I think I’m going to go dig up that old pong console and black and white television from my parents’ house. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s the one I mentioned in Part 1: Are Time Shares A Good Way To Travel?.)

2 thoughts on “El Cid Timeshares Vacation Club: Returning to El Cid, Cancun

  1. Lisa

    This is great!! I could listen to your original video at the same time as read about your experience with our recent trip. It was totally awesome having everyone together again at El Cid. The only thing that would’ve made it more perfect would be that Deanna could’ve come too, but it’s getting harder and harder to find a time when everyone can make it. El Cid is truly an amazing place to share with a totally amazing family!!

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