Travel Mistake: Booking Resorts with Unheated Pools in Winter

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It’s winter. Some folks are itching to fly to a warmer place to thaw out. I get it! Even though Dallas isn’t the coldest spot in the winter, our temperatures will be in the high 20s/low 30s this week for the lows. Brrrrrrr!

So, people book trips at this time of year to warmer destinations that are almost guaranteed to be 70 degrees or warmer. They have visions of lounging with a drink at the side of the pool and cooling off in the pool throughout the day. Sounds good, right?

Unfortunately, for some this dream is shattered when they dip a toe into the pool and find that the water is FREEZING COLD!

How Unheated Pools Can Ruin Family Vacations

For some people, unheated pools aren’t a deal breaker for any winter vacation. Maybe they don’t care about swimming but just want to lay out by the pool. Or, perhaps the pool isn’t even on their daily agenda.

But for some families, the resort pool is EVERYTHING. It’s the one activity that the kids want to do every single day. It’s the place where kids meet other kids and forget about squabbling with siblings. Pools can be the destination for the day, or the welcome refuge after a day of touring.

Since swimming pools can play such a large role in family vacations, it’s a major disappointment when the water is too cold to enjoy. In the winter, many warm-weather destinations get into the 60s or even 50s at night. Even though it may warm up to the 70s in the day, the pool water still feels too cold.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen travelers complain about cold pools in Cancun, Cozumel and The Bahamas. Imagine booking an all-inclusive destination at a resort with a swim-up bar, but you’re too cold to make it to the bar!

Royal Caribbean just revamped its private island in The Bahamas, CocoCay (see Leana’s review here). One of the biggest complaints I see from recent cruisers is that the pools are too cold.

A few years ago on a cruise in February, my family went to Nachi Cocom in Cozumel. The pool was unbearably cold! While that didn’t ruin our vacation, it was a disappointment. The next time we visited Cozumel in January, we picked a resort that boasted the only heated pool in Cozumel (see my review here).

How to Find Heated Pools

Many hotel websites don’t indicate whether the pool is heated or not. I recommend contacting the hotel directly, and/or checking TripAdvisor reviews. Read reviews during January and February to see if people complain about the cold pools, or ask on TripAdvisor’s Q&A section if the pools are heated.

Last year, my kids and I stayed at a resort in Phoenix for spring break on points. Our goal was just to relax and unwind at the resort’s water park. You can bet that I made sure those water park pools were heated! In March, the temperatures in Phoenix dipped into the 50s at night. There’s no way we would have been able to enjoy unheated pools on that trip.

Bottom Line

Unheated pools don’t have to ruin family vacations. For some families, pools are just a small percentage of the activities of the trip. But, if you plan to have pool time be a major part of your entertainment and recreation on a winter vacation, double check to see that the pool is heated.

Are pools a big deal for you and your family on vacation? Has a resort pool ever disappointed you by being too cold to enjoy?

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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.