Are you considering a trip to Planet Hollywood Cancun? If you are, you are in the right place! I have made a list of 5 things you should know about Planet Hollywood Cancun before you make your final decision! I am a travel agent that specializes in all-inclusive resorts and this one is one of me, my family, and my clients' favorites in the area! I absolutely love this resort, and I will always sing it's praises!
With that being said, there are things that sometimes are not very clear when you are making your reservation or weighing your options so I have made this list of things that you may want to consider. The location of the resort, the difference between the family side, adult scene, Star Class, non-Star Class, what is actually included and what is an extra cost, and bedding and room selection are all things that, as an agent, I think are important for you to know about.
I am going to be doing a full review not only as an agent, but as a mom who spent a week there with my husband and 4 kids. If it is not linked here, I haven't published it yet but please bookmark this page, join our email list, or follow one of my social media channels to be notified when it's up and running!
If you are ready to book and would like me to help (no cost to you!) please reach out via my contact page or there is also a form you can fill out below. I would love to have the opportunity to assist you!
1. The Resort's Location
The name "Planet Hollywood Cancun" is a little bit misleading.
While the resort is near the famous Cancun hotel zone, it is not actually in the Cancun hotel zone. It's actually the northern part of Cancun in the area called Costa Mujeres. Still Cancun, but farther north than the area that usually comes to mind when many people think of Cancun.
It's not necessarily a big deal, but there are a few reasons why this is important:
- It's about 45 minutes from the Cancun Airport (and if you are taking a shared shuttle it may be longer if there are other stops to make).
- A lot of excursions offer pick up from your resort, but we noticed that many do not offer pick up this far north so if you book through a site such as Viator you need to double check that it has pick up from here when you are reviewing the excursion information.
- SEAWEED SITUATION: This location is directly across from the famous Isla Mujeres. Of course there are excursions from Planet Hollywood to Isla Mujeres, but I really want to mention it because it *typically* gets LESS sargassum (seaweed) than the Cancun hotel zone resorts or Playa Del Carmen beaches farther south. Of course there are days that are worse than others but while we were there in early June 2025, we got very little compared to the massive piles of it on the beaches south of us. ***Please understand that nature is not under the control of Planet Hollywood Cancun*** Just had to put that out there!
2. Adult Side or Family Side?
This resort is actually comprised of two different sides. There is a family side, and then there is a separate-ish adults-only side called the Adult Scene for guests ages 18+.
If you have kids under 18, none of this will matter because you can don't have an option to choose between the two sides so you can skip on over to the next point.
But... If you are a family or a couple and everybody is 18 and up, you can book at one or the other... whichever you prefer, or whichever is pricing better for the room category that you want. There are a few things to keep in mind:
- If you book the adult scene, you will still have access to the family side and it's amenities. So you will have access to the restaurants, pool and bars on the adult side, plus access to the pools, bars, restaurants, lazy river, spa, movie theater, entertainment, and more on the family side as well. But just to be clear, because a lot of the popular amenities are on the family side, you will still be surrounded by kids quite often if you leave the exclusive adult section so if you want a kid free vacation, this is not it.
- The adults scene has two exclusive restaurants all to itself so only those with access to the adult scene can dine there. Certain room categories on the family side give the adults in the rooms an adult scene wristband just FYI, but not all of them do. Kyle and I were given adult scene wristbands even though we were booked on the family side (Star Class).
In the image below, you can see the adult scene / section (the dark buildings on the bottom of the map) and the family side.
3. Choosing Between Star Class and Non-Star Class
This is perhaps one of the most widely debated subjects between guests on both the family side and the adult scene. My two cents is that it depends on the person or the group you are traveling with... super subjective.
Everybody has their own list of pros and cons for why they chose Star or non-Star Class and I really do try not to be biased... Now that I have sent NUMEROUS families to this resort over the last few years and have been here for site inspections and family vacation myself, I have a pretty good grasp on the differences.
Star Class truly is not everybody's cup of tea, but it is my cup of tea so I will share what I found valuable for me and my family, and you can decide for yourself if you think any of these pros are something you care about or not.
- The Star Class pool was consistently less crowded than the family pool. We never once had to fight for a lounger around the pool. Tons of people at the family pool made complaints about not being able to find chairs around the pool so we were glad to avoid that.
- The Star Class Grill (which is by the Star Class pool) offered some really yummy lunch options. The flank steak was so tender and tasty, and the grilled octopus was a favorite of mine as well. My kids enjoyed the chicken tenders and burgers they had there.
- You get complimentary bottles of alcohol in your room. We received a bottle of sparkling wine, red and white wine, and were given a choice of another liquor as well. We chose an Irish cream. There is a list that they will show you at check in that you can choose from. We ended up bringing some of them home because we had no chance to open them.
- The butler service was so helpful! Being a family of 6, dinner reservations were sometimes a bit harder to get but our butler got us exactly what we wanted and we did not have to do anything except say what we would like and voila! No stressing over it. Another perk of having a butler was that any time we had a question about ANYTHING, we could message them on WhatsApp and they would respond very quickly. For example, we had an issue with one of our t.v.s and once we mentioned it, they had it fixed for us very quickly. We had a question about the daily schedule and they answered fast for that as well! They send you a detailed daily schedule each morning as well, which we found more helpful and up to date than the PH app.
- HYDROTHERAPY--- A surprising highlight for Kyle and I! Each adult gets a complimentary hydrotherapy session at the spa and we really enjoyed that. I'm going to do either a post or a video about that so stay tuned!
- The Star Class breakfast buffet at The Shores restaurant was A HUGE SELLING POINT for us. Let me start off by saying we did visit the main buffet once and all of us agreed that we preferred The Shores. Here is why: The Shores and the main buffet had similar food offerings but the main buffet was always full, loud, and much too overstimulating for "morning me". The Shores was quiet, the selection was still fairly extensive although a bit smaller than the main buffet, and there was never a line when I went to the omelet station so that made this egg loving lady very happy. It was a relaxing way to start our day each time we went.
There are other inclusions with Star Class that I haven't mentioned here, but I will share a photo of the list here so you can check it out. You can check the price differences between the Star Class and non Star Class and weigh the pros and cons for yourself.
4. Know What Activities Are An Extra Cost
This is a bit of a sore subject for me because when I initially booked our trip (almost 2 years in advance), FlowRider (surf simulator) was included in our Star Class booking. The powers that be decided a while ago that it needed to be an extra charge and so it was removed from the inclusions. We were told it would not be honored, and it wasn't. So we had to pay for it even after we had initially had it included. I had even reached out to my connections as a travel agent and was still told that it would be an extra cost for us no matter what.
So, especially now that I have taken my own family there PLUS gotten really good feedback from clients, I want to make extra sure that guests planning a trip here know what to budget for if necessary.
- FlowRider Surf Simulator - This is no longer included with Star Class. Guests interested in doing the Flow Rider can purchase a day pass for $40 per person per day. You also have a bundle option which I will mention in a moment.
- Planet Play Trampoline Park - There is a small indoor trampoline park here, which my kids really enjoyed but it does come at a cost. You can get 30 minutes for $20 per person, 60 minutes for $25, or a Full Planet Pass which is a bundle option I will discuss below.
- Arcade - There is an arcade at Planet Play. It's not large but has a nice room full of games that cost $2 each to play.
- Splatter - I do not completely understand what this is since I have not personally done it, but it is described as a room where you can throw neon paint all over the walls, yourselves, and your artwork. It lasts like half an hour or so. You can buy the pass for $29 per person or $99 for 4 people.
- Batting Cages - Although there are free demo times daily, outside of the demo times you will have to pay for a pass which ranges from $20 - $45 for up to 6 people depending on how long you want to book for. We did not do this so I can't speak personally on the experience.
- Hollywood Fast Drivers - This activity takes you for 0 to over 60mph in less than 3 seconds as you are in one "fast car" racing another. You can choose between a hot rod or a Shelby Cobra. It's a straight track, the cars are on the track so you really can't wreck thankfully, and it only lasts a few seconds from start to finish but the experience seems pretty fun if you're a car person or have a need for speed. I'm sure my husband would have done it except neither of us were willing to fork over the cash to do it. The price ranges from $50 to $200 depending on how many races you want to do.
- Spa Services - I feel like this almost goes without saying but I'm going to just drop a friendly reminder that spa services are not included. If you book Star Class, the adults in your room will each get 1 complimentary hydrotherapy session which is an hour split between sauna, steam room, whirlpools, and more (Kyle and I really felt awesome after we did ours--- highly recommend) and you may receive some coupons or discounts but the services do have a cost.
If you are interested in doing the FlowRider AND Planet Play Trampoline Park, I suggest you *consider* purchasing a full Planet Pass.
- 1 Day Planet Pass = $70 per person and includes unlimited FlowRider, unlimited trampoline park, and $19 for the arcade.
- 3 Day Planet Pass = $140 per person and includes three days of unlimited FlowRider, trampoline park and $59 for the arcade.
Now don't let this information discourage you! It seems like everything costs extra but there are a lot of things that are included! Lazy river, splash pad, basketball, volleyball, mini golf, a small labyrinth, painting classes, pool activities like water polo, a movie theater that shows multiple movies each day, nightly parties/ shows, and more! You really don't need any of the extras above in order to have a good vacation, but they are there if you want to do them!
Check out my 11 year old learning how to ride the waves on FlowRider!
5. The Rooms (Location, Bedding, Connecting Rooms...)
There are a few things about the rooms that I want you to know. Sometimes resorts do not make things like this clear up front and then guests end up getting frustrated as their trip approaches or once they arrive and they can not change things.
- In certain room categories, the bedding situation is not guaranteed. For example, a Junior Suite can either have 1 king bed + sofa bed, or 2 queens + sofa bed. When you make your initial booking, there is no way to guarantee one way or the other.
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- Some rooms, like the Director's Suite or Entourage Suite are more clear on what the bedding will be so there is no surprise.
- You may consider using the online room selector feature on their website (this is not free, it starts at $60 per room) but if you use it and the pre-selection feature is available for you, you can see what bedding configuration is in the available rooms and then select the one you want. I do want to point out that there have been times where the online room selection was not honored. This has not happened to my clients but I have seen it mentioned on some discussion boards. I don't say it to alarm you, I just want to make you aware that there is a small margin of error.
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- Connecting or adjacent rooms are not guaranteed unless you book a certain room type or you may be able to pay extra in some cases. As an agent, I will gladly put in the request with the resort for you to have adjacent rooms and many times I have had a degree of success, but a request is never a guarantee.
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- Certain Room Types: We booked a 2 Bedroom Director's Suite for our family of 6. The name is a little bit misleading because it's not all-in-one, it's 2 different rooms connected by a small hallway/ entryway and each bedroom required you to scan your wristband to enter. It was slightly annoying for the first couple of times going between the rooms, but after that we really didn't notice. Booking this room type is one way to guarantee side by side rooms.
- Another way to have a better chance of having rooms side by side or as close as possible is to pay extra for the ability to pre-select your rooms. You can do this online once you've made your reservations and the cost to do so starts at $60 depending on room type. If you are going to do this, the sooner the better because once the resort starts filling up the options will become more limited, or the room selector tool may not be available. If you have a room category that is more limited like ours was, you may not have the option to pre-select. It really just depends. As I mentioned a moment ago, there is a margin of error here and there have been a few times that the selection was not honored (I do not have firsthand experience with this, just hearsay).
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- Room Location This may not matter to you, but if it does then read on. If you like to go to bed early and your room is in buildings close to the main stage, you may have noise from the night time entertainment. We were in building 22 in the Star Class Section and we could faintly hear the entertainment. It bothered one of the kids but the rest of us didn't care... I actually liked going out onto my balcony and listening to the music from the main stage at night. If you want to be closer to the beach than the restaurants, or close to the splash pad, etc, you can try to use the online pre-selection tool and pay the fee to pick your preferred location.
Here you can see how far we were from the main stage and could hear the music during the nightly shows. Not shown is a nice view of the ocean in the distance in the opposite direction!
I am working on a full review of Planet Hollywood Cancun to share with you--- Stay Tuned!
I hope that you found these 5 things to be helpful in making your decision about booking Planet Hollywood Cancun if you have been trying to decide where to go on your next family vacation! This is a great beach vacation destination with so many things to offer guests of all ages! But, just like every other all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, there are things that are good to know before you go and they are not always clear unless you read resort reviews or testimonials from those that have already been there!
What questions do you have? I am happy to answer whatever I can (whether you book with me or not), and keep in mind that I would love to be able to assist you in booking your trip to Planet Hollywood Cancun or any other all-inclusive vacation, cruise, etc... as well!
Want more information? Thinking of booking? Contact me today!
Lots of great information! It’s nice to hear from someone who has been there!