Testing Positive for Covid at Hyatt Ziva (Cancun, Mexico)
After our wedding and honeymoon, we tested positive in Cancun and couldn't return to the US quite yet. Here is a detailed blog of our experience.
Hey everyone! Wow.. It has been awhile, but I am back! Over the past few months we have been traveling lots and finishing all the final touches for our wedding. Our wedding turned out absolutely beautiful and we are so thankful to be married now. I will have more to come on that later, but I wanted to start back up with our experience of testing positive in Cancun. Here is our detailed experience of it all.
The Testing Process / How We Found Out
To return to the United States you need a negative test within 24 hours of departure. The resort we stayed at was Hyatt Ziva Cancun and they offered tests right on property (as I am sure most resorts are doing). With a minimum of a three night stay you get a test for free. They have you sign up for an appointment within your first couple days of arriving and the scheduling/appointment process was very simple.
Upon arrival for your test you sit in a little waiting room until the doctor brings you back for your test. It is all done within 5 minutes and you are out the door. They let you know that if you are negative you will get your test results by the end of the day. However, if you test positive, they send you the results within minutes.
I saw an email pop up on my phone just minutes after we had gotten our tests, and I knew that wasn't a good sign. We both had tested positive. We hadn't been showing any symptoms besides being tired, but we just thought that was from the weekend of wedding celebrations. We quick rushed back to our room and waited for someone to come up and talk to us.
How The Following Days Transpired
Two people came up to our room within 30 minutes of us being there. I believe these two people were in charge of the testing as well as managing anyone who tests positive. They informed us of our options that we could leave the resort if we wished, but would not be able to come back with a positive test. Or two, they would move us to a new room the following day as our reservation we had booked as ending. We had got the travel insurance through the hotel, so we were not having to pay for the room each night (more on this later).
We were informed we would need to stay in our room, and of course we weren't going to go anywhere to infect anyone else. We had the doctor come up to our room to give us a PCR test ($200 for two tests and $20 for the doctor visit) just to ensure the tests were accurate. They unfortunately were both positive as well. We are thankful for the room service we were able to order still and this became our best friend over the next few days. The room service staff has protocols in place for people who test positive, and they really did a great job of helping their employees stay safe.
The following day they moved us to one of their quarantine rooms, which still had an incredible view of the property. We were told we would stay here until we tested negative. They were not very pushy on taking the tests everyday, which I was surprised since we were staying basically for free until we tested negative. However, we were starting to feel cooped up and were ready to get home, so we tested 3 days after our original tests (Friday) to see if we had made any progress ($60 for two tests and $20 for the doctor visit). I tested negative this day, but Vince was still testing positive. We were a little bummed out but knew we had to be patient about it. We had our flight pushed back to Sunday, so we knew we had one more shot on Saturday for us both to test negative to keep that flight Sunday.
The doctor came back the next day, about 20 hours after our previous test, to try again (Another $60 for the two tests and $20 for the doctor visit). We had Vince test first as it wouldn't make sense for me to test again if he was still positive, and luckily his test came back negative as well! We high fived we were so excited and the doctor was very excited for us as well. The whole experience with the doctor's was really great and they were so friendly/helpful. We were very blessed to have such amazing service from them.
We were then talked to again by the two people that came into our room originally to tell us our options. They informed us we were free to go about the resort and enjoy the place. We informed them of our flight the following day and they had to move us again. This was the only part of the process that really didn't make sense to me. They told us they had to move us to a new room so they could clean our old one. However, the following day we could see that it had never been cleaned. It would have saved everyone some time if we could have just stayed in the original room, but we were just happy to have a room for one more night.
Thoughts On How The Resort Handled It
Hyatt Ziva Cancun was truly an incredible place from start to finish. As I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, the resort has a lot of protocols in place for people who may test positive at their resort. We were so blessed to be able to be at a place that still truly took care of us despite us not really even paying for the room. We were worried they would stop giving us the amazing service we had the prior days, but nothing changed. Each employee we had interactions with over the phone to help get us what we needed (since we couldn't leave the room) was so accommodating and didn't treat us any differently than they would a normal paying customer.
They also never made us feel pressure that we needed to leave. They understood and had sympathy for our positive tests and just wanted us to get better. The room service people went above and beyond on bringing us extra waters to help us stay hydrated and made sure we had everything we needed before leaving. Another example of their incredible service is a doctor came by our door one day just to make sure we were doing okay although it wasn't part of their protocol.
Hotel Insurance
I wanted to end with how important it was for us to have gotten the insurance the hotel was offering during check in. The hotel was offering for $50/person, if you were to test positive at the resort, you would get up to 10 free nights at the hotel to test negative. I was hesitant about getting the insurance, but Vince convinced me that we should get it. Which, I am so happy he did. We ended up needing to stay 4 extra nights before testing negative, and would have had to pay full price for each of those nights if we had not paid for this insurance. For $100 we were able to stay these extra nights without the stress of having to pay for the room. Even if we didn't need the insurance, it is just such a nice feeling not having to worry about getting stuck their and paying full price.