Sprinkled with granola: NOW Jade

NOW JADE RESORT - CANCUN MEXICO!!

I looked everywhere online to find someone that did a review of the NOW Jade resort and I couldn't find one. So hopefully this will be helpful.

What the website doesn't tell you:

1. This property is off the beaten path, you can't just walk out and explore the town or Port Morales.

2. You don't need to worry about converting your electronics. They use the same plugs that we do in America at the resort.

2. There are two sides of this resort - the Preferred side and the "normal" side. You have to pay an extra $100 a day if you want the preferred side. The preferred side includes the ONLY access to a hot tub on the property and the tennis courts.

3. There are a couple of pools but only one is "heated" so if you go in the off season (like we did) it will be too cold to get in the ocean or the pools.

4. You get "resort" coupons when you arrive. You can only use them on certain things and you'll be spending extra money to do so. You can't use them how you want.

5. We weren't allowed to say we were in the Army. My husband had to say he was a personal trainer for the Army (and he had to emphasis that he wasn't IN the Army, which was a lie) and I just said I worked for the Army as an admin which isn't untrue. Something about how they can't been seen as "helping" the American Army, or that special favors were given. All of the people in our group worked for the government in some capacity. We had a IRS Lawyer, Federal Probation Officer, Border Patrol Agent, and Resident Supervisor (that watches the people that are caught coming over the border illegally). Everyone had to change their jobs to be NOT directly working for the government.
6. Most of the restaurants you can come as you are. There are a handful that don't allow shorts. But most of us packed a pair of jeans and a nice shirt. My husband never wore the slacks he packed.
7. Call your cell phone company. We have a Verizon unlimited plan (I'm not sure if it was our plan or just Verizon in general) but we were able to use our phone and data just like we were in the states and we didn't have to pay anything extra. One family had to pay per call and the other could have paid the $7 extra for the month to get international calling, but he is a self proclaimed cheapskate so he said it wasn't worth it to him. Which was fine we let them use our phones to call and check on their kids. Two of the couples had iPhones and the other had droids. We had free WIFI at the hotel so we could communicate back and forth, we just set up a Facebook messenger group and texted back and forth our plans and where (if we were separated) we needed to be at certain times. Had all of us had IPhones we could have just had use IMessage on WIFI but because the one couple didn't we went the Facebook messenger route.
8. We all arrived to Cancun between 10:30 in the morning and noon, we couldn't officially check into the hotel room until 3. Because we wanted to be close to each other had to wait till 315 for all three to be ready. ONLY reason this matters is because they wouldn't give you the room number you'll be in, so you could sign in to the WIFI. So our two phones were the only phones we could use for a few hours. While we waited we had full access to the resort and ate lunch and had a few drinks and walked the property.
9. We paid $3800.00 for this trip and that included airfare. It was a Friday-Friday trip. We arrived Noon on one Friday and we were leaving on the transfer to the airport at 9am the next Friday. I don't know if this resort was worth the price tag in the OFF SEASON. The food was delicious, I tried a lot of stuff I've never tried before. We all ordered several entries at dinner (and they were small portions because I think every one does that) and we all shared and picked off each others plates. The staff was phenomenal. Always greeting you, asking how everything was going so far.

We went with a group of 7 (we had the son of another couple that turned 18 on our trip, but he didn't spend a lot of time with us :P ) Getting a table for a group of 6/7 sometimes was challenging if we waited to eat until 6:30 or 7. So a lot of times we were eating dinner at 5:30 or 6 so we didn't have to wait. Which was fine as most of us don't eat too late anyway.

When we arrived at the airport waiting for our transfer we were approached by a "Jade" employee (I'm not sure if they were a Jade employee or not), about attending a demonstration on the "Unlimited Vacation Club" you can join. Normally we would say no but our friends that arrived an hour before us signed up so we figured why not. They offered us "breakfast" (but at an all inclusive we are getting breakfast anyway) a bottle of tequila, and $150 in leisure cash that we could use on an excursion if we chose to.

The next morning we were met with Adriana and we had breakfast with her (along with the other family.) We all assumed a bunch of people would be sitting in a room and we would be told about the club and we could decide if we wanted in or not. Nope Adriana asked us a bunch of questions about our previous vacations and how much we paid for them. She walked us to the preferred side so we couldn see what we were missing. Which wasn't much as the only difference I saw was there was a door to the bedroom and they had a jetted tub on the outside on the patio as opposed to the same one we had in our bathroom. Then we sat in a conference type room and we had several people (FIVE) bring us "deals", each one was better than the last because they were that persons manager. We had to say no we don't want to join 5 different times. Was the two hours at 8:30 in the morning worth it for the leisure cash. I say yes, my husband says no. We used it for a great excursion and only paid $43 for the both of us to go.

The first night we attended the "Beatles Show" as a dance mom it's hard for me to enjoy these shows as I see every little thing they do that they shouldn't as a performer be doing. I was disappointed in the look of the theater. It was outdoor patio furniture as the seats (which was nice if you wanted to lay down and watch, or tuck your feet under you and sit), and the décor was just "ehh". I reminded me of the "Mexican circus" acts that the Shriner's put on every year. It just wasn't what I thought it was going to be at an all inclusive resort.

It was cloudy and overcast/windy on much of our trip. Out on the coast line you can see the city of Cozumel. You could often see the cruise ships coming in and out of that port.

My friend and myself did walk along the coastline for a bit. You can see our hotel is the one near the jetty's.

We also got another excursion for free if we visited a Jewelry Store/Whiskey Shop. This one was easy to say no to, and we walked next door to Whiskey/Souvenir shop. Did some browsing then we waited outside for the van to take us to shopping at Playa del Carmen. This extra 30 minutes saved us $17 per person on the cost of the drive to Playa del Carmen. We got 2 hours at PDC which we felt was rushed, but we didn't pay out of pocket so whatever.

This is the main "drag" of the hotel. You can follow it from the "normal" side of the hotel to the pools, the lobby, restaurants, shops...

You can see the bar sitting there at the back of the picture. There was one directly on the other side inside the lobby as well.

On our walk to Building 3 - where our three rooms were. The hotel was great and got our rooms close together. We were across the hall from one couple and the other was adjacent to them. It was nice to text and say "ok meet in the hall at 530 for dinner" we could keep our door open when we were ready and they would just walk over.

This is the entrance to the NOW Jade resort. Anytime we went off property the driver had to "check us out" and then back in when we were coming back. We could have walked off and walked the few miles to the neighboring town, but we ain't got time for all that! :P

This is the vendors that set up 3 different nights we were there. Most of them are expensive but I was able to get my son a really cool nightlight from one, and my daughter a hand painted "coaster" (he was painting with his fingers and I FaceTime'd with her and she was AMAZED!!) IF you are able to get off property I would avoid buying from most of them but it's a great way to get souvenirs if you don't.

Most of the time this TV is playing sports. During the major football games this area was packed.

This is one of the pool areas that overlooked the ocean. Sometimes this place was packed and you couldn't find a lounger. Not a lot of people were in the water, but they would just lay in the lounger with a blanket/towel over them for warmth.

Our room was spacious and the bed was HUGE, we have a queen at home and this is a king.

Our room was boasted as a "tropical view" which we overviewed a swamp. Our room had the best view out of the three we had. The other couples had trees right off their balcony and you couldn't see anything else.

A sitting area. ONLY thing I didn't like about this area is that there was 2 steps down. This is an all inclusive resort I was worried about a drunk person falling and hurting themselves!

We had a closet and a safe inside the other side.

Our bathroom with a jetted tub. On the right side of this picture is a bathroom with a bidet, and a stand up shower.

Each couple had someone with a birthday in January. When they cleaned our room they added a little banner to celebrate the individual. I definitely took this home to use on my kids doors!!!