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Just back from Riviera Maya trip mid December. Following observations:

Air travel and airports:
We flew AA connecting in Charlotte. Flights were very full, A321 w Center seats occupied. Boarding is still chaotic by zones, not rows, though we had earlier zone boarding due to AA Advantage CCard. Deplaning is less chaotic as AA is deplaning by rows, so less folks standing in aisles. Airports were very busy, with announcements about “social distancing” vs the reality of standard TSA and check-in and boarding lines, and normal crowded seating in gate areas. Political, “Medical” and Security Theatre of the highest order.

Departure from CUN is more ridiculous than normal with instructions to complete an online Wuflu questionnaire. It wouldn’t work from my wife’s older phone, and she finally got a paper form that was then totally ignored throughout the checkin process.. I was able to complete the online form though I used fictitious information, proving this entire process is a total joke and a government make work endeavor.

Transfers
Typical zoo going through CUN post immigration and customs, with plenty of operators present. Didn’t use Lomas as in the past, will next time.

El Dorado Royals Casitas
First visited this resort 19 years ago! Retuning after a couple of stays and visits, but we are not a RCI “member”. We’ve stayed in AIs before and last -2016- in condo/hotels in PDC. Even though the US State Dept had a travel warning on Mexico, we had no qualms about traveling to Mexico and staying in an AI. Very self contained, no reason to leave the property and the casitas section is a small resort within a resort. Our Casitas section 30 was only 36 rooms sharing our own swim ups, pool, bar, beach, etc. - with smaller restaurants one or two sections near in either directions. I’d guess resort was less than half full. Service, food, booze all top flight. Check-in & check-out was unnecessarily time consuming and cumbersome...only negative of the stay.

Reason for traveling to Mexico?
No Wuflu travel testing nonsense, and normal wonderful, welcoming Mexicans! We missed the smiling faces, but felt confident the smiles were behind their masks. Once in the resort, guests with masks were few. Some ridiculous couples walking the beach with no one within 50 feet, but certainly no masks in the pool.

Wished we were somewhere in the Caribbean on a sailboat, but not going to put up with the asininity of the Caribbean countries right now. Glad we went, suggest you give Mexico a go for a getaway.

“...and normal wonderful, welcoming Mexicans!”
The main reason we chose to retire there!

Thanks or your report

I'm truly glad you had a lovely trip. I do wonder what the COVID stats are for Mexico, considering they are not requiring any tests to travel there. Just a thought.

We booked first Mexico trip for May after cancelling St Maarten for end of December. Something new and possibly less travel stress than testing for SXM. Fingers crossed.

Reported federal stats by region -
https://datos.covid-19.conacyt.mx/

Q Roo stats -
https://qroo.gob.mx/sesa/nuevo-coronavirus-covid-19

No clue how many case go unreported...

OK, thanks. I would think there would be a lot of unreported cases. It's just kind of odd to me, that almost every country requires a test and Mexico doesn't.

Yes...it is amazing a negative test isn’t required at the minimum. As you know the BVI has the very stringent entry requirements (the most strict I’ve seen), while other Carib nations have varying test requirements...

Yes, I kind of think that the BVI has gone round the bend and perhaps Mexico the opposite way.

Lol..yes!

And I see no testing requirements for those returning to NYS from outside the US, other than the new UK test requirement.
Am I missing something there???

Looks like Mexico’s deaths are running in line with the US ..about 1/3 the population and have about 1/3 the deaths at now 126,000 in Mexico. There is obviously a lot less testing because they list only about 1.5 million positive cases. While the US lists about 20 million cases for about 1/3 of a million deaths. There’s plenty of it around and one always needs to be aware of the medical care available. For the unlucky you get real sick, real quick.

The numbers are unreliable in many countries for sure, including the US. We follow the hospital occupancy % rates more than any other numbers as they are more reliable, and these are low in our Q Roo area as compared to our home in NYS and in other US areas...

The positivity rate is creeping up a bit the past few weeks, and we will see what the influx of tourists does to impact that...

We are lucky to be here enjoying the beautiful weather, but we feel a bit ashamed as well...

We are going to Mexico in May for various reasons one is they dont require a test as of noe.

And gee, that makes you feel safe to GET ON A PLANE and go there????

You will need a negative test now to board your plane on the return trip. From people there it seems they are readily available.

Since there is such a high percentage of asymptomatic individuals in the population, even more reason to get a test before you leave the country.

Now at “Orange”, Governor is threatening Red. We should have been at Orange weeks ago based on the reported numbers...

Still no entry requirements for tourists (or residents) which is just nuts...

For tourists staying at resorts, many resorts are offering free rapid (antigen) tests (for US flights home), and an extended FREE stay up to 10 days with a positive test.

For those not staying at the major resorts, or for residents, there are test modules at CUN ($250 pesos) and Costamed and other labs are providing rapid tests for $1000, and PCR tests for ~$2,700.

As I said, to ME, the fact that there are still no testing requirements would make me have ZERO desire to travel there...

We chose to come here rather than Tortola, for example, because we have a home here, we decided we were ok with the safety measures put in place by Delta (we were even luckier to be sitting alone on the flight), and as residents we avoid the congested immigration area. We feel safer in our community here as well.
But if we were vacationing it would be in a destination that has actual testing and quarantine requirements in place that are actually monitored and enforced...

Someone who has a home there can better protect themselves than a regular tourist, for sure.

Absolutely...

We feel absolutely safe in Playa. You can take the same precautions there that you do at home. We stay in small hotels and avoid crowded places just like we do here at home. We also have been vaccinated which helps our peace of mind too.

We just spent 4 nights at one of the nicer resorts in the area for my wife’s birthday and the resort has excellent health and safety precautions in place. But the hygiene of some of the other guests is disgusting...So you have to practice good hygiene and masking to feel safe anywhere, really....

Scurvy--well, duh, I would feel safer if I had been vaccinated also.. NO idea when it will happen.

Well it is getting busy in the Riviera Maya, resort capacities are up from ~20% to over ~70%, and it looks like there is a lot of activity with long-term condo rentals based on long-term car rentals reported by agencies. And of course since there are no real entry requirements spring breakers will be raising the numbers.

In some areas of Cancun, such as the night clubs, if you have seen a huge amount of people, I would think twice before going to those areas, even in the site about the COVID at the airport there are good links to see the measures taken by some hotels to avoid spreading COVID.

"Mexico’s not considered safe, and the crime rate here’s higher, but it still makes a better impression than the US"

Better than the warm states of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, etc?

Not sure I am following "makes a better impression than the US"?

I am certainly no expert on Mexico. But unless you live in a large city that has seen the crime rate jump, there are many rural cities in warm states here in the good ole USA that are still very safe. Does Mexico have a medical system that is better or as good as the US? I honestly don't know. For me, that would be my biggest concern as I age. More so than crime.

ndfan--that person is a spammer, so I deleted their notes, which I agree, were nonsensical.

Thank you Carol. My patriotism wouldn't allow me to just let that go.

No problem.

Just in reply to your question on the quality of medical care and treatment in Mexico, I can report from personal experiences the quality is excellent. But be aware the best care is in private hospitals like Hospiten…

And very important to folks without international healthcare coverage visiting for 6 months or less - get a good trip insurance policy with decent medical and medical coverage limits. We use comprehensive trip insurance policies like Allianz and other insurers provide.
And of course most policies do not cover injuries sustained during recreational/adventure activities, look at policy riders for that coverage…