Under Canvas Acadia Review: Is this glamping resort worth the points?

Quick Facts:

When traveling with kids, you know how you have to mentally separate a Trip from a Vacation*?

Like Disney for instance: For me, Disney is a Trip. Fun (kinda, sometimes,) rewarding and definitely worth doing, but also super fast paced, high energy, and high potential for crying (both kids and adults.) A trip is not for relaxing, so don’t even think about bringing a book. A trip is for exploring, and adventuring, and making epic memories… not for curling up with a book and letting your hair down.

On the other hand, a Vacation is a trip that is also relaxing. Bring that book, girlfriend!

*Disclaimer: if you have really little littles, every trip is a trip right now. That’s ok. Word to the wise: Keep lollipops in your bag at all times. My favorite are these little organic lollipops. They cover a multitude of issues. Meltdown on an airplane? Missed naps? Late dinner + cranky kids? A lollipop is always the answer. This isn’t the time to shun sugar or hold boundaries, guys. You just need to make it to bedtime. Parenting can wait. You’re doing a great job. Your vacation time will come.

Now that my kids are a little bigger, I try to plan a combination of Trips and Vacations so we gain a well-rounded travel portfolio. As one of our trips this summer, I planned a road trip through New York City and then on to Coastal Maine and Acadia National Park. We had just come off our Hawaii Vacation in April, so we were due for a trip. I was mentally prepared.

I go over all the details of where we stayed in NYC and Portland in this post but for now I want to talk about the real star of this Trip-turned-surprise-Vacation: Under Canvas Acadia.

What Is Under Canvas Acadia (And Why Book It With Points)?

Under Canvas Acadia, a World of Hyatt Resort, has been one of my bucket-list hotels for years and I am excited to report that it lives up to the hype. Under Canvas is a luxury glamping brand that sets up glamping compounds across the US near National Parks and I have been DYING to try it. As A Child Who Was Forced to Camp (I’m sure there’s a support group link for this and I’ll find it later) I have vowed never to camp in my adult life or subject my children to such savagery. I have wanted absolutely none of it… until I found Under Canvas.

What do you MEAN I can order lattes and seared scallops from an Adirondack chair overlooking the ocean and say, “Put it on the room.” Then roast unlimited marshmallows around a staff-tended fire, and retreat back to my canvas tent where I can flush my own personal toilet and SHOWER INSIDE my TENT? Ok fine… I can camp.

GUYS… It was a phenomenal experience. Let me reiterate that I am NOT an outdoorsy gal. So this was right up as close to that outdoorsy line as I am comfortable getting, without crossing it.

AND my kids, who love the outdoors, DID get to cross the outdoorsy boundary while I watched from the safety of my Adirondack chair. Under Canvas owns so much property around the camp that it feels completely safe for the kids to go off and explore, especially since they move in a little child-gang with all the other guests’ children. All the kids staying at Under Canvas quickly became like summer camp friends: organizing games of football, walking down to the shore to check tide-pools for starfish and periwinkles, exploring the grounds… it was truly a magical experience for everyone. And well-worth the heftier points price tag.

One other MAJOR bonus is that there is intentionally no wifi available. So all of the interaction with the other kids at camp was all 100% device free. 90’s summer vacation unlocked, guys. It was incredible.

The cash price for any Under Canvas is on par with any many other luxury hotels ($400-$1600) per night depending on the tent and the season.) The cash price for our specific trip dates would have been $4,458. Being able to book it with points, for free, felt like such a huge win. I go into how many points we actually spent below.

Under Canvas Acadia Accommodations & Points Cost

While Under Canvas does have tents large enough to sleep 6 in some locations including Acadia, I didn’t book early enough to secure this tent. Instead, I booked one tent that sleeps 4 and one tent that sleeps 2. As usual when we travel, my husband and I split up so each group of kids has a parent. We just aren’t there age-wise to feel comfortable with them being alone. Not ideal but it’s a sacrifice we’re more than willing to make to cash in our points for epic memories.

Here was our 4 person tent, called the Suite Tent:

We booked this tent for 45,000 points per night.

It had a king bed and a full size pull out couch. Each tent is equipped with its own bathroom with a toilet, sink and pull chain shower with a limited supply of hot water. I won’t lie, this hot water situation was the only part of the experience that felt truly like camping and I hated it – HA! Your girl likes a 20 minute screaming hot shower to end the day. But that’s ok. Now I’m basically an Eagle Scout so it was worth it.

Here was the 2 person tent, called the Deluxe Tent:

We booked this tent for 30,000 points per night.

It came with the same bathroom setup and was nearly identical except it didn’t have the pull out couch. Each tent is also equipped with a wood stove and full fire-making setup complete with step by step instructions for those of us who have actually never started a fire without a light switch (WHOOSH… iykyk.) Tents also come with several battery powered lanterns and fans, and battery charger packs for charging any other devices you would like to to charge. The staff will deliver these to you any time you need another or you can just swap them out at the front desk.

Our tents were about 75 yards apart. Others can be as close as about 200 feet. The tents feel close enough that you feel like you’re part of Under Canvas, but far enough apart to offer privacy.

Confession time: It took exactly 2 minutes for me to decide that I was absolutely not going to be able to sleep in the great outdoors by myself, 75 yards from my big, strong husband who I know would fight off moose and bears for me. So we ordered a cot for $25/night and all slept together in the big Suite Tent. It was tight. If you’re normal and braver than me, I definitely recommend just staying in the regular configuration.

Activities at Under Canvas Acadia

Under Canvas Acadia had free morning and evening activities planned every day. The two that we took advantage of were watercolor bookmark painting and an Ecology Tour with a marine biologist on the beach in front of the resort. This was fascinating! They did offer daily yoga in the morning which I would have loved if I had mentally planned for it… but remember this was supposed to be a trip 🙂

Food, Beverage & Hospitality

This is really what makes Under Canvas stand out as a luxury experience. They have thought of everything, from having backup battery packs ready for your lantern and phones, down to leaving packed pails of kindling and fire starters near the front desk so you can grab some on your way back to your tent. The staff were all extremely friendly, attentive, personal, and made us feel like we were their favorite and most important guests. This is an increasingly rare experience these days, even in the luxury market, and Under Canvas Acadia nailed it.

Two of my favorite parts of Under Canvas Acadia were the mornings and evenings. Waking up to the sound of chirping birds, heading down the lobby tent to order a latte and breakfast while the kids found their camp-friends and played on the beach… epic. Then returning to camp for dinner after a day of exploring Acadia and settling in around one of the five already-roaring fire pits, hot tea in hand, while the kids and their new friends made s’mores and played football. I mean, COME ON! Truly the perfect melding of a trip AND a vacation.

Was Under Canvas Acadia Worth the Points?

I spent a total of 195,000 points at Under Canvas, transferred from Chase to World of Hyatt. I think it goes without saying, but it was 100% worth it and I can’t wait to visit another Under Canvas using my Chase or Bilt points, transferred to Hyatt. This place went from a one-time bucket list hotel, to a “let me see how many of these I can hit before I die” kind of place. We even have tentative plans to meet up with one of the other families at an Under Canvas out West next summer. In the Points and Miles world, there are many places that are points-expensive but over-hyped and I don’t think they are really worth it… but this is not one of them. If you have the points and this is anywhere on your radar for upcoming trips – book it. You won’t regret it.

My one and only regret from this entire experience: I should have brought a book.