Hyatt Dreams Sapphire Cancun Review

Dreams Sapphire resort in Cancun, Mexico was one of the first six all-inclusives added to the World of Hyatt program as part of AMR acquisition. More properties were added this month, and there’s also a 5,000 points bonus.

I took a trip to Mexico last week for a short vacation, and to take a look at the newly added resort. Dreams Sapphire Resort & Spa is a Category B property, which means that you can book it with as little as 17,000 Hyatt points per night off-peak. Standard pricing is 20,000 and peak pricing 23,000 points per night. 

I stayed for five nights. I’ll try to provide some information that will hopefully be useful to readers who are considering staying at this Hyatt Dreams Sapphire Resort.

Location

This property is located about 15-20 minutes from Cancun airport. It sits next to Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun, and it’s quite a drive from El Centro and the popular Hotel Zone in Cancun. I prepaid $80 for transportation for two, which comes out to $20 each way per person.

Pools

There are three pools in the property. The main pool is the largest one and that’s where all the activities take place. It’s a decent size, and there are plenty of beach chairs around it, and in the pool. It was never really crowded. There’s a pool bar obviously and a snack place right next to it, offering lunch from 11:30am to 5pm.

Pool closes at 6pm.

Then there’s a small kids pool with water slides and an activities shack right next to it, which should keep kids occupied for a bit.

And then, there’s third pool for adults only. This one is meant to be for Preferred members, but I’m not sure if that was enforced. There only a handful of people in there and it was much more quiet than the main pool. There’s a bar in there if all you want to do is tan and drink.

Beach

The beach was nice, with clean white sand, but it was full of seaweed, which was apparently an issue more than usual this year. They clean up the seaweed almost everyday, but there was still a lot of it in the sand.

Rooms

The rooms are a bit dated. There are a lot of little things that were just patched up instead of being properly fixed or painted, such as door handles, chipped corners, and things like that. They have decent comfy bed, a plain bathroom with separate shower and toilet area, and nice sized balconies our swim out pools in the back. Pictured below is the semi-private pool for the Preferred Club Junior Suite Beach Front Swim Out.

Hyatt Dreams Sapphire Cancun Review: Bars and Restaurants

There are several restaurants and bars in the property, but dinner options are quite limited on any given day. Some of the restaurants are only open a few days a week, so you need to plan ahead if you want to try them all. There are five à la carte restaurants, a buffet, a grill and a café. There are also pool bars in the main pool and adult pool, a beach bar, a bar in the common area where people hang out in the evening, and a sports bar open late at night. Plus, options like private dinners and room service.

Here are some details about the restaurants.

El Patio

• Mexican cuisine.
• Open only two days a week.
• Dinner 6 p.m. – 11 p.m.
• No reservation required.
• Casual Elegance attire

I ate here once. The restaurant is a bit hard to find, as it is not visible from the outside. The menu was small and the food was average at best.

Himitsu

• Asian cuisine.
• Open daily.
• Dinner 6 p.m. – 11 p.m.
• No reservation required. Includes teppanyaki tables that require reservation.
• Casual Elegance attire

I ate here twice. The first time was with a reservation for seats at one of the teppanyaki tables. The food was average/good, and similar to what you would get at Arirang (if you’ve been to one), but with less of a how. The next time was just a sit down dinner, and I wasn’t a fan of the food at all. It didn’t look as fresh as what you would get at the teppanyaki tables.

Bordeaux

• French cuisine.
• Open only three days a week.
• Dinner 6 p.m. – 11 p.m.
• No reservation required.
• Formal attire (not really enforced)

I think this restaurant had the best food on the resort. I would have had dinner here again, but I wanted to try the other restaurants as well.

Portofino

• Italian cuisine.
• Open daily.
• Breakfast for Preferred guests 7am to 10am. Dinner 6:30pm to 11pm.
• No reservation required.
• Casual Elegance attire for dinner

This was another below average restaurant. I ate breakfast here a few times, which was decent, and dinner once, which was very far quality from the Italian food I normally eat in NYC.

Bluewater Grill

• Fine dining with ocean view.
• Open daily for lunch, four days a week for dinner.
• Lunch 12:30pm to 5pm. Dinner 6:30pm to 11pm.
• No reservation required.
• Casual Elegance attire for dinner

This was the best place for lunch I think and the second best for dinner. It was also in a better location compared to the other restaurants, with seating next to the beach.

Others

Then there’s Barefoot Grill for light lunch options by the pool for lunch, Coco Café with coffee and snacks open 24 hours, and World Café which is the buffet for breakfast lunch and dinner. The buffet didn’t have as many choice as I would have expected, but there was still plenty to choose from. Quality wise, it was a mostly average to below average I would say.

Hyatt Dreams Sapphire Cancun Review: Wrap-up

Overall, I think the property needs some major upgrades. I don’t stay at all-inclusives often, but I have been at one other Hyatt all-inclusive property, the Ziva/Zilara in Montego Bay, Jamaica. I think that property was way better overall, but it is also in a higher category.

Staff at Dreams Sapphire Resort & Spa was nice and room was cleaned regularly. There’s a small mini fridge with soda, water and beers. But there weren’t many dining option, and the quality was just OK. Beach was full of seaweed, so there was barely anyone on the sand. The main pool was nice and big, and that’s where most people hung out during the day. You have to get out by 6pm though.

You get the usual entertainment during the day for kids and adults, and there are daily bike trips to the nearest town if you want to get some shopping done. There’s live music usually at night, and the sports bar is open to adults who want to get a late night drink and watch their favorite teams.

I probably won’t visit again. Let me know if you have stayed at this or any other Dreams resorts!