We're back with the second part of my bachelorette party in Mexico! With this final post I feel like it's really over :( I still hope you enjoy the recap as much as I did!
If you missed day 1 & 2 from the trip, you can catch up by reading this post. We're now on to Saturday of the four-day trip and our last full day in Mexico. We had to wake up really early for our excursion. We met at the buffet around 7am and grabbed all the food we could before we left at 7:20. The original plan was to drive to Cancun, take a boat to Isla Mujeres to snorkel, spend the day at the beach, shop, swim and parasail back to the hotel. But when we woke up that morning it was pretty overcast and super windy.
As it turns out, once we arrived in the lobby they decided to cancel our tour. The water was way too choppy for us to go out and the ports in Cancun closed. I wasn't too disappointed because I'd rather they cancel it early than cancel it once we got to Cancun. So we went back to the buffet for a real sitdown breakfast. I was easily the most overdressed person there lol.
After breakfast, some girls went back to the room to sleep, and others to the pool (like me) to read and hangout. I took a nice little nap as captured by Morgan's photo below haha.
We spent most of the morning at the pool. A few girls went to explore downtown and have a bite to eat. The sun was peaking out here and there but nothing like the day before. Thankfully it was still warm, and the spot where we were in the pool was blocked from a lot of the wind!
Also, this was my favorite look from the trip! I felt so sassy and bridal. It was fun.
There was also a foam party at the pool. Of course I wanted to view it from afar, so we hung out in the pool but far away. It was still super windy so some of the foam bubbles were flying over to us. One of them smacked Caitlin right in the face and it was pretty funny.
Ultimately, we discovered another excursion very similar to the one we were originally going to join. Instead of a full-day it was a half-day and instead of Isla Mujeres, we would go to Cozumel. We decided to go for it. In hindsight, I probably wouldn't do it again but it sure is a fun story to tell! Because the docks were closed in Cancun, we left out of downtown Playa Del Carmen. It was about an hour long ferry ride straight across the ocean. It was still super windy so the dock area was a little crazy. I've never been sea sick like this before! Thankfully the further away from Playa Del Carmen and closer to Cozumel we got, the more the water calmed down.
The excursion was a catamaran tour. I've been on a lot of excursions in my life -- Andrew and I take one or two every trip we go on -- so I can say it wasn't the best, but it also wasn't miserable. If the weather was better and the music louder, it could have been more fun. The sun would pop out here and there and the water was calm enough, but the hosts were kind of "meh" about the whole thing.
What made it fun was having everyone in Lilly! I originally wasn't going to make it a thing, but after we had hopped in the pool in the morning, I thought a quick outfit change could be fun. Lilly Pulitzer was so kind to us for my bachelorette. They gifted all the girls a swimsuit and dress of their choice from their current collection. It was fun to see everyone in their swimsuits and have most of us matching!
One-piece on Jen, Allison and Ashby / Bandeau top on Kim, Morgan and Caitlin & bottom / My one-piece
The first stop was for snorkeling and only Ashby joined. I love to snorkel, but didn't feel like hopping in. Most of the other girls didn't either. I've been to some of the most amazing snorkel spots in the world and I didn't think I'd be missing much at this location.
This is where the trip kind of went dull. It was a very long and drawn out process of getting to the ferry, waiting to get on the boat, waiting to leave, waiting to get to the snorkel spot, waiting an hour at this spot, going all the way back to the other side of the island to swim ... everything was just long. And a lot of us were tired. The weather wasn't nice either.
BUT THEN it all turned around when we got to our next spot. They docked the boat and said this was a great place to swim. Me, my sister, Ashby, Caitlin and Morgan were going to jump in, but when we got there, no one really felt like it. We were sitting around and playing games (starving also btw lol) and then the sun popped out. And it stayed!
It was really nice and I really had to pee (haha), so I jumped in. We all banded together and said, "If you jump in, I'll jump in." So my sister, Caitlin and I decided to go for it. Morgan joined at the last minute and we all jumped off the front of the boat into the warm blue water!
The waters were fine and the sun was setting. And then we got closer to the Playa Del Carmen dock...
The next part of this story turns into a drama. The sun had completely set by the time we reached the dock. We all looked around the boat, and it was tipping from side to side. We were parallel with the waves as we waited for the other ferry to leave the dock. We were getting thrown around pretty good. Then we tried to dock.
These waves were NO JOKE and were hitting the boat hard. These poor guys out on the dock are trying to wrangle in the ferry as they're being hit by the waves and pulled by the ropes. It was crazy. The waves were so big they were reaching the second floor. One even came up to the third deck and drenched a bunch of people sitting behind us.
The mentality on the boat was pretty much, "Kids and elders get off first." The stairs to get off were packed with people so we decided to wait it out. As we're seeing the boat get thrown around by these waves and people flying around, it clicked: we need to get off this boat ASAP. Honestly, I was surprised they even docked. It was NOT safe, but there was no way I was staying on that ferry or going back to Cozumel. We needed to get home.
We made a bolt for it. Ashby and I got off first and it was a race to run off the boat. They had workers holding us back until it was safe, then they were yelling "big steps!" and "move fast!" as we ran off. It got pretty scary at the end of it all. When Ashby and I made it to land we hugged and jumped and were like, "Let's get the F out of here."
Everyone made it off safely in our group, although Allison gave us a scare. The bridge from the ferry to the dock swung her left and right before she jumped off. It was crazy and scary and funny. How did we let ourselves get in this situation?!
We were supposed to be back around 7pm, but didn't arrive until around 9pm. Thankfully everyone was a trooper and we decided to quickly get ready for dinner and put on our Lilly for our last night.
We wandered a bit after dinner looking for dessert, but 11pm on Saturday night was a dead time for the hotel. It was so weird! We went back to the room to play more games and have some fun girl time before leaving the next morning.
Day 4:
Sunday morning we all met for brunch at the buffet and yet again stuffed our faces lol. Morgan, Catherine and Jen had early flights, so soon after brunch they were off to the airport. Caitlin and I got ready in our room to take some blog photos. Ashby was at the pool and would help when we were ready to shoot. My sister and Allison went into town to do some shopping.
Sunday was another overcast, humid day, so I didn't mind leaving! After we were done shooting, we packed up our bags, hung by the pool a bit longer and then were off to the airport.
The rest of the day was spent traveling home and watching GOT! Nothing overly exciting. Just a no-fuss travel day. All in all it was an amazing bachelorette and I cannot thank my friends enough for such a wonderful weekend. I'm so sad that it's over. But I'm happy I can stop stressing over it! Honestly, I want to go back asap.
What does make me really excited when I think about it was how well everyone got along. Not that I was worried about that, but it's so wonderful having your friends come together like we did. It meant the world to me! It's great because we'll all be reunited again (except for Catherine, she's dead to me!!!) at the wedding.
Now I'm on to planning our couples shower which is happening in less than a month!!
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Peak and pit from the day?
What would you do differently?
Did you go into town? Did you feel safe?
What was your favorite part of the trip?
How did you decide on location? How did you decide where to go?
Are you glad you opened it up to friends?
How did everyone get along?
Everyone got along really well! I don't deal with dramatic people in my life, so I wasn't worried about this at all.
How did your makeup hold up?
It was great! I'm doing a new routine that I LOVE and it worked like a dream.
Did you use a travel agent/were you able to get any deals through the blog or for being a larger group?
No, we just booked directly through their website. My sister was able to get a discount because she was a Hilton rewards member, and we booked/paid right away with no option to cancel.
Average cost for the trip?
I honestly don't remember what I paid. But outside the reservation and excursion (which was $100 pp) there were no other costs.
Pros and cons of the hotel?
Pros -- all-inclusive, great staff and a fun time
Cons -- drinks were weak
Who planned what for the trip?
I like to think I was involved with pretty much all of the trip's planning. I gave input but the coordination of most everything else was my sister (MOH).
How did you coordinate outfits?
Caitlin emailed everyone in advance saying that we were having a gingham night. Everyone was aware and had time to shop. Lilly let everyone pick out an outfit and swimsuit for the trip as well (that will be tomorrow's post). They knew we'd be wearing that for one night.
How did you convince friends to join due to timing and price?
I didn't really need to convince them. I feel like since we're older and have money (vs. right out of college) it wasn't an issue. It just so happened we found a weekend that worked for everyone. The price, being that it was an all-inclusive was too good to pass up!
Most thoughtful thing the girls did for you?
I really liked the marriage game and how they each had a little part of putting it together!
How detail oriented were you with scheduling the weekend?
I was super chill about what we did and when we did it. No plans other than a gingham night, an excursion and a Lilly night. It was all up to us when we did what.
How was the beach?
We actually didn't end up going. Well, I didn't! A few girls dipped their toes in the first day. Playa Del Carmen isn't really known for their beaches. I heard from hotel staff it was super rocky!