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Aventura Spa Palace - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - Nov 2005

Opinion submitted in December 2006 by : Gary Beeley - Hemingfield (46,46 0

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

we had a gret time at this hotel and resort. all the amenities and staff are first class , i can not recomend it enough.we liked it so much weve been back in 2006 and are spending christmas and new year 2007 there, go on try it you will like it.

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Aventura Spa Palace - Cancun

Operator and Date: first chice august 2004

Opinion submitted in Jan 2005 by : Donna & Justin ( 29,29)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We spent our honeymoon at this fantastic hotel in august 2004 and our jaws hit the floor when we arrived. While checking in we were given a glass of champagne and a cold towel as it was very hot and then taken to our room on a golf cart as the hotel is massive. with optics and a double jacuzzi in the room we didnt think it could get much better but it did. The staff were so friendly and nothing was too much trouble, the food was superb what ever you wanted it would be done for you. 

The pool and the lagoon were loveky and you didnt have to leave your sunbed for a drink as there is waitress service.The only drawback was the lobby bars were open air so with no air conditioning so it was pretty humid bur even that couldnt spoil the holiday as you were sat in luxurious surroundings and the cocktails just kept coming Luis the bar man was fantastic and makes the best mojito i have ever tasted! met some lovely people not just from britain but from chicago, pittsburgh and alabama. Chitzen itza is a must but take plenty of water as there are no shops near the piramids. Senor frogs is a must its a great bar with a fantastic atmosphere we went to have a quick drink and ended up staying all night! 

We were treated like a king and queen for the whole time we stayed at the aventura spa and i dont think i will ever have another  holiday like it i actually cried on the plane home because i didnt want to leave!!

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Aventura Spa Palace - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - March 2004

Opinion submitted in May 2004 by : Rob A - (33, 32)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

My wife wanted an all-inclusive holiday with hot weather and total relaxation.  That is certainly what you get at the Spa Palace.

Travel To The Hotel

The outbound flight on First Choice was excellent - very pleasant & helpful cabin crew.

We were a little hesitant once we arrived at the airport at Cancun - its not very big and is certainly not the most modern of airports.  However, we found our way through customs & immigration easily (though a good 30min queue for customs where everybody's bags were searched) and quickly boarded the transfer coach.  The guide (Canadian from First Choice) was very enthusiastic and knowledgable about the area, do's and don'ts etc.  The transfer took about 1hr I'd guess, stopping at a couple of hotels on the way. (The hotel is about 35 miles south of Cancun, nearer to Playa del Carmen)

On the trip down to the Spa Palace my wife was a bit worried about what looked like some 'dodgy' hotels we went past, thinking ours would be similar.  However, when we arrived at the entrance to our destination it was obvious this was completely different to what we had glanced at on the way down - sooo much better.

Its a big place.  The entrance to reception was huge and we were attended to immediately.  The basics were explained quickly and efficiently and we went back outside where a friendly bell-boy already had our luggage on a cart waiting to take us to our room.  A 5-minute trip on a golf cart (told you this was a big place!) took us to the other side of the complex and our room.

The Room

A big air-conditioned room with double jacuzzi.  Bed was very comfortable, and must have been at least a king-size.  TV with a number of channels, mini-bar (with a few cans of beer, soft drinks, bottled water - refilled every 2 days), safe (free, easy to use), balcony (we didn't have a hammock as we were in a corner room, but most rooms did have one).  Small bathroom, but a huge shower.  Plenty of towels.

Overall, an excellent room.  Cleaned (very well) daily, turn-down service at night if you wish, and the maids created a different 'towel sculpture' each day.  (This provided some humour for us too - the first few days were items like an elephant, small dog, heart, but then one evening we came back to the room and found a quite disturbing model of a small child/baby sat on the edge of the jacuzzi! Chuckie's Return!)

Restaurants

The hotel is split into a north and south side.  There are 6 restaurants available with a lot of variety in food styles, 3 north, 3 south.  At night 2 of the 6 require 'smart/casual' attire - no shorts, collared shirt/polo required - the Californian-style (north) and Mexican-style (south).  These 2 are 'a la carte', with just a few choices of meal in each section.  Other restaurants are Oriental-style (a la carte, north), Mediterranean-style (buffet, south), and 2 general/grill restaurants (1 north, 1 south, both a la carte, but much wider choice).

To be honest, we found dinners to be slightly lacking and lunches to be superb, so we tended to eat a fuller lunch and a light dinner.  However, in saying that, you shouldn't be out off by our comments on the dinner - it was excellent and by far the best we've encountered in a large hotel environment catering for the number of people it did.  Our favourite dinner restaurant was the Mediterranean-style where they cooked your choice of pasta meal in front of you, as they did with the steaks on the other side of the resaturant.

We actually found the Mexican-style restaurant to be the most disappointing as it didn't seem to have any 'traditional' Mexican food on the menu.  (But maybe that's just because we don't have much Mexican food here in the UK, only 'our version' of it?) 

Whatever your preference in food you *will* find lots of food that you like here.  You *won't* be able to try everything on the menus in each restaurant - unless you stay for about 5 weeks!

Amenities

As I said, this is a big hotel.  We were on the south side.  The main pool here is big, but generally shallow.  Swim up bar in the main area (Try the electric lemonade!) with cafe attached for light bites.  Plenty of loungers provided, though the sun-shades are usually gone by about 0730 (so get up early if you need one!)  Waitress service all around the pool for drinks, a couple of small 'bars/food counters' around the pool if you want to get your own drinks or a burger and fries (usually).  There is another large pool on the north side, which we thought looked a touch nicer than the south.  There are 'lagoons' on the seaward side of the hotel that you can swim, snorkel and canoe in (equipment provided foc).  Also, there is a PADI center on site where you can get your diving qualifications (more later...)  Elsewhere on site we found a climbing wall, obstacle course, and of course, there's a large gym with a whole range of spa treatments.  Table-tennis tables, pool tables, small shops, tennis courts.

Spa Treatments

My wife had a manicure/pedicure one day which she thoroughly enjoyed, but that was the extent of our visits there.  We requested a 'couple massage' where both of you can get a set of treatments together, but were told that wasn't available yet (even though its in the brochure).  Of course, that may have been rectified by now.

Other Points

**This is an adults-only hotel** Meaning 'No children allowed' rather than other connotations!

We met 1 other couple from the UK while we were there - virtually everyone else was from the States - so the pool bar can get loud.  But you can certainly have a fun time if you want to join in with the volleyball (pool or 'normal') etc. that goes on daily.

Other Things To Do

The island of Cozumel has the 2nd largest reef in the world.  I did a PADI course at the hotel specifically to scuba on the reef.  Al, the instructor at the hotel, was excellent - patient, funny, fluent English etc. 
The First Choice rep met us on our first morning to go through the usual stuff.  She was OK and we bought a trip to the ruins at Chichen-Iza.  We wouldn't do that again - a full 12hr+ day travelling by coach (via other hotels and villages) to get maybe 4hrs at the ruins.  For the same price you can get a hire car for 2 or 3 days and see as much of the ruins as you like yourself.
There are a few other hotels in the 'Palace' group - you can get daily use of their facilities with the pass you get a Spa Palace for free.  (I think a round of golf at the Moon Palace is extra though - and somebody told me it was very expensive)

Summary

An excellent hotel and holiday overall.  We would definitely go again, although we might need to save up for a while!

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Aventura Spa Palace - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice December 2003

Opinion submitted in Mar 2004 by : Andrew and Jane (30,32)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This was an amazing resort if you want to just rest and chill out. There is SO much to do within the complex. We didnt want an active break this year but a bit of pampering. It was fantatsic! No hesitations recommending it to anyone. Most people there had more money than us and spent a lot on spa treatnments, jewellry and excursions but it wasnt snobby or oppressive. But it is an expensive area. If you need or want drinks to take back or other things go to a store called (well sounds like) chad rowey (last bit pronouced like row as in an argumant).
Hope that helps someone- I'd go back tomorrow.

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Aventura Spa Palace - Cancun

Operator and Date: kuoni - aug 2003

Opinion submitted in Feb 2004 by : sarah wardingham (22,29)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

My husband and i spent our hooneymoon here in aug 2003.We could not fault it at all the standard of this hotel is superb.This hotel has something to suit everyone.the resort is so huge it has really peacefull places to relax on the spa side or if you go to the other end of the resort there is lots of activities to get involved in.

The hotel has 6 resturants which are all different there is a mexican,italian,oriental,greek,seafood and californian light.The food in all the restaurants is the best we have ever had and the waiters really make you feel special if you are on your honeymoon.If you do choose to stay here please visit the spa they treat you like royalty its amazing.mexico its self is an amazing place you have to swim with the dolphins and if you feel like a bit of an adventure you will love coba pac chan you get to repel into a 60ft cave and zip line across the jungle.

this holiday gets 10 out of 10 from us.

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Aventura Spa Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: October 2005

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Jacqui Robinson - Durham (56,62)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Wonderful hotel with fabulous staff. We had a fabulous time and the staff couldn't do enough for us. Unfortunately during our stay we were hit by a hurricane, but the staff remained calm and looked after us beautifully. Thank you all so much!

We were greeted on arrival with champagne and a rose and the service stayed at this impeccable standard throughout our stay. The food in all the restaurants was of an extremely high standard. The service in this hotel is exceptional - entertainment staff, poolside waiters, everyone! The rooms were comfortable with the added advantage of all spirits and room service included in the All Inclusive package. The double jacuzzi is a lovely touch - an exceptional experience!

In short this was the best holiday we have had and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to all.

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice - August 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : Rich (27) & Kirsty (29)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just arrived back from two weeks at the Barcelo Costa Real. 

Overall had a great holiday - Cancun is excellent with so much to do. This was our second year on the trot and we would definately visit again. However the Barcelo Costa was good but not as good as last year when it was owned and operated by the Real Resorts group. The new chain have made a few little changes which in our opinion have made a difference. For example last year twice per week they held theme parties on the beach where the buffet restaurnt would set up and cook on the beach but this has stopped. When we asked a waiter why nodoby could really give us an answer. Also next year the changes are going to continue with extra charges for premium spirits and room service been introduced. Overhall the hotel was still good and we enjoyed our stay. Most of the staff have been retained and they really do make you feel welcome and go the extra mile. The food is also excellent with a choice of four restaurants of which three are a la carte. There is no limit on the number of times you visit each one and the Mexican was our favourite. 

Overall we would recommend the hotel to anyone but just beaware of any other extra charges they may introduce in the future. As for Cancum must do's are Coco Bongo's and the Captain Hook pirate ship. If you go with first choice would fully recommend the mayan madness bar crawl - 55 dollars each all drink in - was brilliant !

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: Apollo Travel (July/August 2007)

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : adults 45, 40, 40, 39, kids 14, 15, 17,17

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned home from a 2 week holiday and all i can say is FANTASTIC!

this hotel is perfect.  a little bit away from the main night life but its so easy to get the bus and its a brilliant experience!  mexicans get the bus and sing to you on your journey for a small tip!  we never got a taxi as we just loved the busses. we had a junior suite and it is huge!  you could get a football team in the shower and the bed is about 6ft wide!  the air con is really good and you will need it.  the weater was in the 90's.
the maid changed out towels and bedding every day and our fridge was stocked daily beer, water, soft drinks, chocolate, nuts and fruit. 

unfortunatly you have to get up early if you want a bed by the pool as they go quickly but the beach is right by the hotel with a bar which served snacks, club sandwiches, buffalo wings, burgers and all with chips so i would say dont bother getting up to get a sun bed as there are always loads on the beach.
the entertainment team work really hard and do different activities around the pool every day for example, teaching you how to make cocktails, water vollyball, aerobics and loads more!

if you want to go downtown to the night life you can go on your own or the entertainment team will take you on a coach to a different club every night leaving at 10.30 and they get you in V.I.P,
get you a table and make sure you are served all night.  it costs $40 (£20) which is your entry and all you can drink all night! fantastic value we thought!  i would really recommend doing this as you also get to know the people staying in your hotel and its a really good way to make friends.
there are loads of different ways to swim with the dolphins at different places but the reps in the hotel will tell you all the different packages available.  we went to wet and wild. it cost $135 (£70) each which included a foot push by the dolphin and all day enterance to the water park.  i really recommend you swim with the dolphins as it is a magical experience!

on the beach at the hotel there is a hut where you can take the non-moterised water sport things from.  the man who works there is called Raul.  he arranged a day long catamaran trip for us to another island with full buffet lunch, snorkling off of a coral reef and all you could drink for $40 (£20).  the hotel reps were offering the same thing for $85 (£42)

we also hired speed boats for a jungle safari $40 (£20) for 2hrs 30 mins which was brilliant, the hotel reps wanted double!.  jet skis are $35 for about 30 mins.  i really recommend you book with him.  hes really helpful and works so hard keeping the beach spotless.
the one thing to remember when you book any water sports in mexico is you have to pay a water tax (about $3 per person per activity) 
we went to Sinor Frogs, it was brilliant!  loads to drink, fantastic music, dancing on the stage and just an amazing night!

others in our party went to Coco bongos and said it was the best club they had ever been to.
the 2 17yr olds went out with the reps on quite a few nights and always came back saying they had a fantastic time!
next to our hotel is 2 pirate ships that go out every night and have a battle out at sea.  it costs $67 (£33) and thats for a steak dinner with help yourself salad and all the bits and as much as you can drink(for a change!)  it was a brilliant night for all ages.  little children loved it as much as the adults!  lots of shouting to the other boat and cheering!

we all had an amazing time and cannot wait to go back again!
CANCUN IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: thomas cook - June / July 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : jeff & ann-scotland (47 & 50)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

have just had a 2 week stay and cannot fault the hotel at all, very helpful and friendly staff, always working very hard to  keep pool clean,serve drinks,tidy up, help with any queries etc. there are always competitions to enter during day at poolside to entertain you, or for peace and quiet try down at hotel beach, which is also well kept and clean.

thre are 4 restaurants to use,
ALBATROS- buffet style breakfast,lunch and dinner, different theme every night of the week,i.e oriental,italian,bbq, etc. food quite good depending on your taste but always has burgers,hot dogs and steaks every main meal.
mexican, spanish, and seafood restaurants open each day and offer a very good menu afternoon and night, seafood restaurant also serves chicken and steaks at night as well as breakfast in morning. overall a wide variety of food for all tastes and good service.

the rooms were spotless and quite spacious,roof fan and air conditioning. ironing board and iron, hair dryer, tv and dvd player, fridge/mini bar which is stocked everyday for no extra charge. forgot to mention that no towels need packed as towels supplied at poolside and renewed whenever needed.

BARS/ENTERTAINMENT
beach bar open till 11pm always busy as is the lobby/main bar. mary keeps your drinks coming all night till 12. 24 hour bar upstairs on next level with snacks and drinks all thru the night.
poolside entertainment starts about 8.45 till back of 10. most are what you would expect, singing dancing,fancy costumes etc ,different for 7 nights then repeated whereas the lobby bar dou are on most night or nothing if their night off.  they are ok for first couple of nights but think hotel should have some variety here as 14 nights is a lot to hear same band all the time even though you go out on the town most nights.

RESORT - mostly hotels all along main road and have to go in centre for nightlife. coco bongos is a must for all ages to see, party zone full and noisy but didnt see one bit of trouble, done pub crawl with reps ,4 bars then coco bongos $60, drinks/entrance fees included.
hard rock cafe,senor frogs,margarittville, pat o,briens worth a visit. not much bars to just have a quiet drink in if u wished.most bars work bands for unlimited drinks for $35-$40 or pay as you go after $5 cover fee.

TRIPS- try pirates just round by the beach for a great night out, two boats ,plenty laughs,games ,food and drink and battle between two ships at sea.
also book island trip here $15 return and hire golf buggy while on board to get you round the island, takes about 2hrs to santer round the island on these, remember driving licence.

All in all a great hotel ,great staff, good food. weather poor for 2 days but good the rest, average resort. please tip hotel staff as wages made mostly from tips which they fully deserve.

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook april 2007

Opinion submitted in April 2007 by : Rachel, Thomas, Craig, Ashley- Liverpool (21,24,22,21

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

stayed in the barcelo costa in cancun for 2 weeks in april. the hotel was amazing and the staff were so friendly, checking into the hotel was very easy even with the ammount of people arriving at the hotel. The staff on the reception spoke very good english so this made the check in a lot easier. We were shown to our rooms after check in which was a junior suite, the room was very clean and spacious, there was a balcony over looking the pool are and sea and a hammock on the balcony to. The bathroom was very clean and big, with a shower big enough to fit a football team in. 

the food in the hotel was of a very high qulity but a little repatative after the first week, the food in thet mexican al la carte resturant was especially nice. around the pool of a day they were entertainers to keep you occupied, they were the nicest people you could possibily meet and made sure that you had a good time especially luis, gama,siad. of a night the hotel would have show on in the main stage the show finnishes around 9.30. after that there were a couple who sang every night the same songs to which would drive you mad. at 10.30 the activity and entertainment team would go to a different club each night and you could buy an all inclusive wrist band off them for $40 you are took to the club on a coach and get a vip area were all your drinks get bought over to you all night (remember to tip tho that way you get your drinks faster) i would advise going to club basic the atmosphere in there was brilliant!! for the last few days of the holiday we upgraded our room to a suite. the room was absolutley huge and had a bar in the corner of the rooom and a jacuzzi on the balcony, it only cost $15 per person per night to upgrade and it is well worth it. 

we did the dolphin discovery trip and id advise anyone to swim with the dolphins while you are there, the day we went was the only day we had bad weather so were not able to do any snorkeling or swimming with the sharks. the all inclusive in the hotel means all inclusive, there is a 24hr self service bar and food area and all the spirits are top brands like smirnoff vodka and bacardi, the service in the hotel was first class you never have to get up to get a drink at the pool or the bar, as soon as they see you have nealry finnished your drink they bring you another, but remember to tip as they work very hard for there money and dont get paid very much. 

i would definatly go back to mexico and would stay in this hotel again!!!!!!!

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice March 2007

Opinion submitted in April 2007 by : Katie & Carly - 23 & 24

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

we stayed here the second 2 weeks in March. Our first week was full of young Americans as it was Spring Break. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to families or anyone wanting a quiet holiday during this time. We are defintely going to go back next year but will be going the first 2 weeks in March as it is younger & more of a party atmosphere.
The hotel was lovely, rooms really nice, lovely pool & beach.
The only bad things were the entertainment at night wasn't very good.
It's not really near the town, but that doesn't matter coz there's taxi's & buses right outside the hotel, which don't cost much. The nightlife in cancun is wicked, you must go to Coco Bongos!!
It's not the kind of place you visit & stay in the hotel for the whole time, there's too much to do day & night.
If you want to go out at night, then see the entertainment staff at the hotel, they'll sort you out!
I would defintely recommend this hotel.

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - March 2007

Opinion submitted in April 2007 by : Rob - London 20's

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

As part of a group of three lads from London aged in their 20's, we decided to venture out of europe for a different holiday. Knowing full well that it was spring break and likely to be busy we weren't dissappointed!! We went from 11th-25th March 2007.
The room we had didn't have much of a balcony and we were given two double beds and a campbed to crash on. Apart from that it was clean with a tv, dvd player, iron, safe etc.. etc... The room was cleaned daily which was a credit to the maid.

There were four restuarants, one of which was a buffet. The food in all four was good and we found that we could eat pretty much any time of the day. There was also a 24 bar which had much needed pizza to scoff on when we came in at 5 in the morning.

There were three bars. The lobby bar was pretty much that... a lobby. Stil it was quite busy at night and we were entertained by two dodgy karaoke singers as we made the most of the free bar before heading out into the Cancun nightlife. The beach bar was good during the day and did attract a crowd at night but closed around 11pm, and there was the 24 hours bar which was just incase you weren't drunk enough after your night out. This bar had snacks as well as beer on tap and a selection of spirits and soft drinks. This bar was always busy in the early hours as revellers spoke about the events of the night.
The staff were friendly and always willing to help, sometimes it was a bit of a problem getting served at the bar and so i would advise giving the baman a small tip at the begining of the night to ensure constant service.

The pool was just a pool withh loads of sun loungers and the beach was clean with equally loads of sun loungers.

If there is one thing you take from this review then let it be this.... If you plan on going out to the clubs in Cancun then speak to the entertainment staff at the hotel. For around $40 you will get a coach down to the club, q-jump, taken to a VIP area and given free drinks all night, often we had bottles of Smirnoff Vodka with mixers put on our table. They go to different clubs every night and stay with you in the club to make sure you are being looked after. You can walk around the club and then come back to the VIP area, and trust me it is nice having an a area where you can sit and what the 'show'.

Now of course their were the odd things to moans about but overall, the Barcelo was a fantastic hotel and i would recommend it to anyone whom wishes to stay in Cancun.

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - Feb 2007

Opinion submitted in March 2007 by : Margaret & Donnie - Glasgow (50, 55)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Stayed here from February 7th-21st.  We were celebrating my 50th birthday.  

The staff couldn't have been better.  Made me feel like a princess.  The hotel is excellent.  There are 4 restaurants but we mostly ate in the Mexican restaurant.  You have to book in the morning but we thought you could only book for one day but soon found out you could book for any of the restaurants for a few days in advance which saves you having to book every morning.  The food was very nice - freshly cooked steak and burgers while you wait.  The soups are out of this world, I would recommend the lime soup.  At first we were tipping every waiter but decided we would just tip at the end of the holiday to the waiters who were very attentive to us, but in all honesty they were all very nice.  I would definately recommend this hotel for families, singles, couples.  It would suit everyone.  The buses are a bonus coming every minute and very cheap (about 30P our money into town).  We used the sister hotel Tucancun.  This was also a lovely hotel.  It is quite a bit from our hotel but the bus drops you right off at this hotel so it is not a problem. 

I truly loved this holiday and will not forget my 50th in a hurry.

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Cosmos Direct) Cosmos Dec 2006

Opinion submitted in January 2007 by : David Carter 47, 43, 17, 14, 6

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This was our first all inclusive holiday and overall was very good.

The hotel recently changed hands so a lot of the previous reviews are out of date, as you can longer use the facilities of other Real Group hotels. Instead, you get to use another Barcelo, which is ok, but, judging by previous revious reviews, not quite up to the 5 star standard that Real provided.

The Costa has excellent staff - very attentive and friendly - and always on hand, no matter what the time of day or noght.

We were checked in after just a few minutes., We stayed on the 3rd floor overlooking the pool and had 2 rooms. Although we specified interconnecting, we didn't get that, even though all of the rooms seem to have an inter-connecting door.

This meant that we couldn't keep as close an eye on our teenagers as we'd hoped, but it wasn't a problem as they soon made friends with the many Brits, Canadians and Americans staying at the hotel.

Rooms:

The rooms we had each contained 2 double beds, a smallish wardrobe with safe, ironing board and iron. The bathroom was large enough and contained a shower, sink, WC and a hairdryer.

Our shower wouldn't drain properly. It wasn't a plumbing problem though, simply that the floor wasn't level and it drained in the wrong direction, so whenever you needed a shower, chances were that you had to stand in an inch of cold water, unless the daily maid had been in of course.

The decor is white, but very tired and in need of redecoration. The door furniture looked very insecure and there was evidence on most doors we saw, of forced entry at some time. They all seemeed damaged in some way.

Our 16 year old was locked in his bathroom for 45 minutes after the lock failed. He called the front desk, who in turn called maintenance to get him out, so the 2 teens spent the best part of the last week without a bathroom door lock. (room 311).

Room Service: You get one free room service per day, per room and we did use it - once. An order of 2 club sandwiches with fries arrived after 20 minutes, but the fries were cold and inedible. We didn't try again, after other guests reported the same experience.

Restaurants:

There are 3 a la carte restaurants on site - a Mexican, a Spanish and a general one, together with a buffet restaurant and a 24 hour snack bar.

You have to book the a la carte restaurants 24 hours in advancevia the concierge. (for "concierge, read "Trip Seller").

Our experience with all three a la carte restaurants was poor. The service was excellent, but the food was indedible - and when they questioned why all 5 of us had left our meals in the Don Quijote restaurant, they simply shrugged their shoulders when I explained that the food was cold, tasteless (apart from the rice, which tasted strongly of fish) and horrible.

The Mexican is the best of the three, but we only went once because the menu is extremely limited and not really what you expect from Mexican cuisine.

None of us finished a meal at any of the a la carte's. My wife and eldest son will eat just about anything too!

The best of the bunch was the buffet restaurant. You go there for breakfast, lunch (if you can manage it) and dinner, without a reservation.

It gets busy and you can expect a small wait to be seated - never longer than 15 minutes if there is a large queue.

There is table service by friendly waiters who provide drinks with your meals.

The food in there was pretty good - we always found something to eat and it was generally good quality.

There is a burger bar area where you  can get a freshly cooked burger, if that's what you want.

At breakfast, there is a huge choice of dishes and you can have as mch as you can eat. Be warned, there is always a queue for the omelettes and eggs - so order them first and then pick up the rest of your meal.

24 hour snack bar.

This deserves a special mention. All inclusive guests (are there any other types?) can use a small bar area that has a selection of drinks (branded spirits, beer, soft drinks) and a running buffet containing salad items and warm pizza.

We used this a fair bit of the time, as we were generally too full to have a  full meal.

Beware the melon though - during our stay there, we often saw the melon slices were covered in small flies.

Also, some people didn't use the serving tongs - preferring their fingers, so you have to try to be first to the pizza!

Beach

The beach has been mentioned in previous reviews. Our experience was pretty positive. It's small and cleaned daily by the staff.

It's location means that there are no waves - it is wonderful for small kids.

Since the hurricance, it's changed slightly, due to the currents in the bay, but this has been for the better.

We saw only clear blue sea, NOT the horrible mess that some people have described.

On windy days, you might get deposits of seaweed, but the hotel staff come along and bag it all up.

There are free kayaks, a daily kayak tour and free goggles for the snorkellers.

In additioin, you can rent jet skis too and you're not limited to a defined circuit - you can go anywhere in your 30 minutes allotted time. It costs $45US per half hour.

Pool

There is a large pool area with many sun loungers to use at your leaisure - IF you can beat the inevitable towel-placers who I witnessed rising at 6:30a.m. to reserve their chairs for the day.

There were no Germans - these were greedy, selfish Brits in the main and almost always women.

By 7:30, there wasn't a south-facing chair left. All had towels placed on them, every single day - even when there was early morning rain.

We didn't use them, because we couldn't be bothered with the race. The strange thing was, that even though they had the towels on them, most of the loungers were not used until 10:30.

During the evening, there is usually some kind of entertainment around the pool, when the hotel lets in local traders who set up shop with their various trinkets.

The prices are high and inflated to allow for "negotiation".

Just like the endless stream of beach sellers that pester you each day, they expect about 50% of the asking price - but check prices at the hotel shop - they are cheaper for certain items!

Timeshare

There is no avoiding the timeshare touts in Cancun. They are everywhere - from the airport (NO, they are NOT porters) to the shopping centres to the hotel itself.

We had a card placed under our door on the first night, suggesting that we had missed their welcome meeting, where we could get our special guest benefits pack.

Luckily, our Cosmos rep (the excellent Mario Foster) warned us about the practice, so we ignored the card. The people in the lobby area are there to sell property and timeshare (or at least get the viewings) and are not employed by the hotel.

TRIPS

Several trips are available from the hotel and around Cancun and just about everyone you meet will try and sell you one.

We went independently to Xcaret and had a great day out. It's worth seeing and experincing.

We didn't go to Chichenitza because you can't climb the monuments any more and some guests told our kids that it was boring - so they wouldn't go.

We did an Aquaworld submarine and snorkelling trip - where you go on a glass bottomed boat and see the coral.

Be warned. 50% of the people on this trip were VERY sea sick after going on the sub-see. It rocks from side to side (inevitably) and is extremely claustrophobic. The windows provide a magnifying effect that plays havoc with your senses.

3 of our party were sick. Many others were too, which spoils the day a bit.

The second part of the trip involves being dropped off onto another boat where you're taken snorkelling on the coral - which is great. We saw sea turtles and barracudas among other things.

The guides pay a lot of attention to you if you are a single female and none if you are male!

There is beer and soft drinks in abundance and there doesn't seem to be much of a time limit, though we had to return due to my wife's and son's sickness from the sub-see.

This trip was called "Paradise Island", so we expected an island. There wasn't one. It was all boat borne, but at the end, there was plenty of food - generally burgers and fries, but plenty of it.

Warning - they hold a tips box out at every opportunity - we counted 5 times - once on the outboard trip on the boat, once on the sub-see, again on the snorkelling boat, on the trip back and again at the buffet.

In summary, the experience of the Barcelo Costa was positive. Plus points were the staff, who were very attentive, paticularly the bar staff. The rooms were clean and cleaned daily. There was a good atmosphere around the place.

On the negative side, the a la carte restaurants where the food was just not up to standard.

Would we return? We enjoyed our stay, but there are better looking hotels in better locations to be honest.

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Barcelo Costa (formerly Costa Real) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook-29 NOV-13 DEC

Opinion submitted in January 2007 by : C, M, Z ,Z ,Q. ST.HELENS.40, 39 ,19 ,17 ,2.

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We stayed at the barchelo costa cancun nov- dec 2006.formerly the Gran Costa Real.Check in was very smooth,hotel itself of a very high standard.Hotel grounds are also very nice.

Our room was huge ,massive shower-bathroom and a very large balcony with a hammock.We also had sea and pool view so we were very happy .Mini bar restocked everyday with water,coke ,sprite and beer.Rooms very clean and decor nice.Room cleaned daily ,towels changed daily, gave maid a $1 a day.Food was also very good ,buffet above average, 3 al a cartes ,mexican ,spanish and itailian, all exellent but smallish portions.There is a 24 hour snack bar with self service food ,the usual ,and tea,coffee and beers and spirits.Hotel staff in all areas very friendly and helpful, gave tips couple of times a day , they deserve it.My only complaint is the entertainment in the evening was diabolical,same duo singing the same songs almost every night ,with two teenagers with us there was nothing for teens,no teen discos etc,no nightclub on sight.Beach is small but very clean and well maintained ,plenty of loungers .There is also a bar on the BEACH ,which is exellent.You can also go to the sister hotel THE HOTEL TUCANCUN and use all their facilites. The beach there is fantastic,powder white sand and crystal clear water.The best way to get aroud is the bus ,very cheap 35p no matter where you get no or off.Taxis are expensive but you can haggle , just make sure you set your price before you set off.CANCUN itself fantastic ,very safe ,ive been three times but not with kids so we did some excursions with them.

Please Would not recommend EXCURSIONS OFF REP AT WELCOME MEETING ,TOTAL RIP OFF.THOMAS COOK wanted $88 pp for xel ha , we got exactly the same deal for $65 at a shopping mall.THOMAS COOK wanted $55 pp for the JUNGLE TOUR ,we paid $28 pp with insurance .Both of the above fantastic.There is also WET N WILD water park,great fun.DOLPHINS is a must.Nightlife is very varied ,someting for eveyone and all budgets,from clubs to shows,bars galore.You have to go to COCO BONGO out of this world.PAT OBRIANS is good fun.Plenty of restaraunts for all tastes and budgets.We went to PLANET HOLLYWOOD, HARD ROCK CAFE ,RAINFOREST CAFEP all very good.WE ALSO WE ALSO HAD A REAL MEXICAN downtown. Plenty of shopping malls.

All in all had a fantastic holiday .Once youve been you WILL go back.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays - Aug / Sept 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Paul , Tina, & Declan (12) - Wirral

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Holiday date 31/08/05 - 14/09/05

Firstly, let me just say that this is the first time i have felt the need to write a review on any holiday we have taken. Cancun itself is a brilliant place to holiday for ALL ages. However,avoid the barcelo las perlas at all costs, unless your between 18 & 25 or a complete alcoholic. Quite how Direct holidays can say its suitable for families is unbelievable.

The pool area is a complete NO-GO area for anyone with children or any sense of well being. At daytime the pool is full of gangs of drunken youths, singing, swearing, drinking & doing just about anything they wanted without recrimination from hotel staff or reps. The music played around the pool during the day was so loud it could be heard from the other end of the beach. At night, the pool bar was used until it closed at midnight just as a starting place to get completely paralytic before moving onto a club. The atmosphere around this area often became violent i.e. on 1 occasion a table & chairs were thrown off a 3rd floor balcony onto the area around the bar after 1 argument.

There is absolutely nothing for children & they are pretty much ignored by staff as they cannot give tips. You will not get anything done at this hotel unless you are prepared to tip someone to do it. The beach however, was nice & became something of a sanctuary for 'normal' people, Although if you didnt get up to get a sunbed by 5.30am you were on the sand, which we found almost impossible as this was about the time we were eventually getting to sleep, after being kept awake by the returning yobs, who preffered to take drugs & carry out sexual acts in the walkways instead of their rooms. We spent most of our nights during the second week going into the hotel zone, where the entertainment, bars & restaraunts were excellent.
Places to go:_
COCO BONGO - childrens show on a thursday was brilliant.
RAINFOREST CAFE- superb food & service
CARLOS & CHARLIES - great fun for everyone & good food.
XCARET- is a must
Dolphin discovery - worth every penny.

PLACES TO AVOID:_
Barcelo Las Perlas - Don't waste your money. make sure you book a hotel in the hotel zone & not towards downtown Cancun.
Hope this helps anyone who has children or has any sense of decency.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Kate/Mel - Chester (24,23)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Having just come back from the Barcelo Club Las Perlas, I would like to offer my thoughts on the accomodation. After reading the previous entries on this hotel i was quite dubious but then you have to realise that one persons idea of heaven could be another persons idea of hell. So only you can be the judge of what you like and what you dont like.

Having been a travel agent and holiday rep in the past I am always opened minded to all accomodations I visit. And beleive me, ive repped in some right slums in the past and this hotel certainly is not in that league!

To sum things up the hotel was very, very clean! Rooms are cleaned every day, and the fridge with drinks is re-stocked every 3 days. I must admit though the A/C in the room is a bit noisy, but whats a bit of noise when you could be sweating to death with heat exhaustion!

All the hotel staff are very friendly and polite. The reception staff speak immpeccable english and are hand 24 hrs.

Also you can get litre bottles of water from behind reception free of charge at any time.

The food was edible with a variety of different things available, remebering this is a 3* and not a 4* but i found something i liked every night and was never left hungry!

The entertainment staff never stopped during the day and worked very hard!! Special kudos to Josh and the team!!

My biggest issue I had Albeit a very small one is the lack of sunbeds on the beach! If you werent up at 7am then there was no chance of getting a sunbed! which is a big pain as the sand is very fine there and just get everywhere if you just have a towel on the sand!!! People where getting up early putting towels down and then not coming out til much later on which i hardly thought was fair.

So overall apart from the sunbeds! I had a fantastic relaxing holiday! and I certainly felt i got value you for money and would definately recommend this hotel to people looking for a basic 3* hotel without delusions of 4* hotels in Cancun.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Graeme + Nikki  -  Edinburgh ( 25, 20 )

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We're just back and thought we'd better help those thinking about going to mexico - especially those going to Barcelo las Perlas!

On the whole we had a great holiday but could have been better.

The first warning we'd give is to keep $50 USD per person to get out the country!  Everyone has to pay it.  We were never told by the travel agent, only found out on the bus when we arrived.  The second is the wait once your plane has landed.  Try to get off the plane fast as passport control is very strict ( issuing immigration cards ).  We stood in a que for nearly 2 hours!!!  This was so frustrating after a 10 hour flight.

Walking to luggage reclaim, a guy hands us a trolley and rips the bag of my shoulder.  'How kind' i thought.  Then he starts asking for tips.  It took 2 minutes for them to start!  Be prepared if someone even opens a door for you, or directs you to a shop!!  They all expect tips.  Take loads of $1 USD notes, it saves you paying loads or looking tight!

Anyway, away from the airport.  Past a few derelict shops and the odd shanty town and we were at our hotel.  Barcelo is in between downtown cancun ( local town ) and cancun centre ( tourist bit ).  You'll need a bus to get anywhere but these are every 2 minutes.  They drive like its a race all the time and smell of sweat but are generally good.

Cancun is great, great beaches, great shops, great restaurants, bars, clubs etc.  It has everything.  Just beware if it rains.  We got 5 days rain in 2 weeks in late june/july!  Nothing to do apart from drink all day!

The hotel had good sides and bad.  The room was fine, ok for a 3* and was very clean.  We had a fridge, stocked up 3 times in 2 weeks.  The fridge was very loud.  Woke us up during the night when it sounded like a jcb starting.  Air con was fine, again quite noisy though.

Entertainment was absoultely shocking, worst i've ever seen.  Same old boring dance every night. 

Then there is the food.  I cant describe it.  It is an embarrassment to first choice holidays.  I'm not fussy in the slightest and i wouldn't have served most of it to the stray cat we found incase i poisoned the poor thing.  Warm, night before rubbish crawling with flies is the only way to put it.

To be fair though, the wee guy did good omlettes in the mornings.

Watch out for the mosquitoes at night.  The only place i saw them was at the bar.  I never got one but my girlfriend got 30 in one night!  keep your balcony closed at night.

Overall, cancun great, but stay away from this hotel or it'll make a great holiday an ok one.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) MyTravel - June 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : Alan & Lorraine - Cheshire  (48, 47)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We had read the negative reports on this hotel, so we set off not really knowing what to find on arrival. Before we comment on the hotel, a couple of points about the journey. We flew on an Airbus A330, a very large plane with personal TV screens, etc, the food and crew were very good, so the 10 hour flight wasn't too bad. The 'fun' begins at Cancun airport! It took over two hours to claim our cases and get through customs, in sweltering heat, so ensure you take bottled water. Also ignore the staff offering to assist with luggage, they just want your money to hand you a trolley!

On arrival we checked in and were allocated our room, which was on the third floor, overlooking the reception area and the very busy and noisy main dual carraigeway. The room was horrible to say the least. It was so dark that you needed the light on all of the time just to see where everything was! There was a sink by the bed, the shower was accessed by climbing over a low wall, and the balcony was so small, only one person could stand on it at a time!

We didn't unpack and went back to reception, we were offered a ground floor room which we accepted. The room was very clean, but 'tatty', the TV, fridge and toilet were all faulty, but were fixed within 10 minutes of being reported.

The room was cleaned every day, by a maid who was almost obsessed with cleaning, sheets and towels were replaced everyday, and even windows were polished daily. She was an artist at making animal models out of towels and loo rolls!

The minibar/fridge was restocked almost daily with 'pop', water and beer. Yes it's an old fridge, but it does the job! also you get a free paper delivered daily to your room.

AC was very noisy, but you don't hear it after a while, and we slept with it on ok. There was a certain amount of noise from outside caused by visiting delivery trucks and bin wagons, working late into the night, but this also blended into the background after a while.

It soon becomes obvious that this hotel is 'cheap and cheerful' and will never be anything elso in its present state.

Food was simple, but plenty of it, you could have choices each day, or eat chips and burgers if you wanted. Also each evening there was a theme, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, etc. You soon realise that if you slip the waiters(especially Larry) a few dollars they go out of their way to look after you all week, bringing drinks to your meal table, etc. Flys were somewhat of a problem in the dining area, we didn't see them on the food, but they are a problem when you are dining.

Entertainment during the day was dire! but evenings were ok, but there is a serious lack of seating.

Beach is amazing, right on the doorstep, white sand, crystal clear, warm water, little man cleans seaweed off it everyday, free towels everyday, also free hire of snorkels, canoes, etc. Watch the idiot who hires Jetski's, he is a class one idiot who spends half his day showing off riding side saddle and doing turns, etc, we saw him hit a canoe with a father and small child in it!! You can swim with rays, and amazing fish, one swimmer saw an octopus. But beware the sunbeds get reserved really early, we suspect people put towels on them late at night! Not much shade and it can get really unbearable in temperatures into the high nineties.

Also beware of the stories the rep. tells you about 'phone cards, Airtours sell cards for $10 for 15 minutes, telling you the hotel shop cards are a 'rip off', in fact you get a better time from the hotel cards! 'Welcome' meeting is just an excuse to sell you trips, never got info. on doctors, chemists, ATM locations, etc. Local buses are amazing, bus every minute, no lie! go anywhere for a few Peso's, but be prepared to fight to get on and off! Cancun is a wild place at night, with numerous clubs, talking to younger couples they said the nightlife was amazing.

We booked two trips, one to Chinchin Itza, and one to Xcaret. Both good value, especially the Xcaret, with an evening show, again stock up on bottled water.

On a negative side, the hotel had a lot of young Americans who were very loud, and we heard a story about guests being robbed by hotel security staff, but we cannot confirm this.

In conclusion, it is value for money, we had a really good two weeks, don't be put off by negative feedback, if you go there expecting a 5 star hotel then you will be disapointed. Staff go out of their way to be polite and open doors for you, a simple 'hola' gets a really good response from them. If you decide you are going to have a bad time there then you will!

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - May 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Wayne and Michelle - Derby (30,24)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Our first impressions of this Hotel were very good - the beach is fabulous although the beaches further down the resort (about a 10 minute bus ride away)were fantastic, although there is very little shelter from the sun as all the sunbeds and umbrellas are owned by the hotels. The choice of food is ok and the rooms are clean but the fridges are very old and noisy. The evening entertainment was ok although it was a little repetitive. The First Choice Rep caused us quite a few problems for example he forgot to book us on a day trip! We found some of the Reception staff to be very rude and unhelpful although the other staff were fine.

The buses down to the centre of the Hotel Zone are very cheap and reliable, although can be packed with locals! However there is a second slightly more expensive bus that you can catch that is quiter and air-conditioned.

A must-do trip is the Dolphin Trainer for the day - you have your own personal guide and you are one to one with the dolphins for about 7-8 hours. You must go to Coco-Bongo nightclub for a night never to be forgotton! A good tip for you is to tip the waiter when he brings you your first round of drinks and then every so often - he will be your own personal waiter all night including free shots!

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - May 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : Ross and Laura (19,20)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We went on a last minute holiday to this hotel and it really doesn't deserve all the complaints that it gets.  Our room was clean on arrival and cleaned every day with the fridge refilled every 2/3 days.  Food at the hotel was fine, no one got sick but if you do want to eat out sometimes you can go to the big american places ( hard rock, rainforest, planet hollywood, margaritaville, outback etc ) pretty cheaply.  We got a book of coupons at the airport which had free drinks with your meal at all of these places so it worked out about £10 for both of us.

The beach at the hotel is really nice but you won't really want to hang out there too much as Cancun is awesome and theres much more fun stuff to do.  You'll DEFINATELY wanna go swimming with dolphins and the best place is Isla Mujeres.  You take a boat out to the island to swim with dolphins in the ocean, it's so much fun and you can tell the dolphins are well looked after and happy.  There are other things to do on the island such as swim with sharks or stingrays, snorkel or take a golf cart for a drive round the island (seriously).  Another tour to take is the jungle tour.  We went on speedboats with Marina Barracuda who were really professional.  The reef was awesome, we saw loads of tropical fish, barraccuda and a sea turtle!

Another thing that a lot of people like to do is rent waverunners.  You can do this at the hotel but it is a lot cheaper to do it up the beach at the Carrousel Marina.  They do a special offer $20 for 20 mins which was the best deal we could find.  However the marina at the hotel do offer free rental of snorkles, pedal boats and kayaks which was good.
Being quite American there are lots of big shopping malls throughout the hotelzone.  The best one was La Isla which is an outdoor mall.  Plaza Caracol was pretty good too but like a maze to navigate :).  Go to Plaza la Fiesta for all your Mexican souveniers ( you get 10% off with your bus ticket)as it's better than the market.

We would have also liked to visit Xcaret and Xel Ha but were only there for a week so didn't have time, can't wait to go back though!!

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - May 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : Sara Davies - Cumbria (19,21,22)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Looking back on earlier reviews I think the hotel have done loads to improve the quality. It was our first holiday to Cancun and it was perfect.

The hotel was just how it was in the brochure, clean, lively and value for money.

As my friends and I had never been All Inclusive before we didnt really know what to expect. The room was on the the 4th floor and we had help from little Mexican guys to carry the suitcases up, the room itself was huge, 2 double beds, 2 sofa beds, table and chairs inside and 2 chairs outside, the bathroom was quite small but we didnt spend much time in there. The balcony overlooked the main road and the lagoon which was quite noisy 24 hrs a day but we didnt need to leave the door open as the air conditioning was great. The fridge was clean and was stocked up every 3 days with water, beer, pepsi, 7up and orange. The women cleaning the rooms were really friendly and did their job well and were often seen still wandering about at midnight.

The hotel itself was fantastic, the lobby was a lovely cool place to sit if you had been in the sun all day and reception were always friendly and willing to phone up Domino's pizza if you got the munchies after a night out. The little gift shop was reasonably priced and sold all the essentials (sun cream, water, coke and crisps)and was open all day.

We went in the A la carte restaurant twice and both times the food was great, on the Tuesday night it was Mexican night and the staff were dressed up and a Mexican band came to our table and played La Bamba, it was a really good evening, the only downside was having to leave tips as we went out on a night with no money.

The buffet restaurant was really nice, very clean, the food was fresh and either hot or cold (whichever it was meant to be). Every night had a different theme to the buffet although the desserts were the same every day and got a bit repetitive. The breakfasts were a bit unusual with things like mashed potato, salad and meatballs but there was also a wide choice fresh fruit, cereal, toast and pastries.

Lunch and dinner were roughly the same things and if like me you arent bothered about being healthy the nachos and the chips with garlic sauce are a good choice (I had them nearly every day).

The entertainment was ok but got a bit boring as we were staying for two weeks, the clubs were amazing, especially Coco Bongo, definately worth the money.

We went on the speedboats which were amazing especially as you get to drive them yourself and the pirate ship which is a great fun night out.
The pool was great, the beach was great and hiring jet ski's is definately an experience you wont forget.

I would definately stay at this hotel again as it was really good value for money, 10/10

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Sunset Discounts) Sunset - April 2005

Opinion submitted in May 2005 by : Emma Szczambura - Bradford (25)

Resort Rating: Poor

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Me and my partner have just come back from mexico we went for two week and were pleased to leave the hellhole.

The location of the hotel is - You will leave Cancun airport go past the 5star hotels and then the 4stars then after a 30min journey you will end up at the end of the island, the only things after this hotel is another 2 star, then caravans, then tents and then a mexican town.

The flight was fine there as we travelled with Thompson, had own entertainment systems, stewards were excellent and so was the food.

The 2 week nightmare began when we got off the plane.  We stood outside Cancun airport and saw a man holding a Thomson Sign so we checked with him that our names were on the list and he verified it and asked us to wait on the walkway for a taxi.   As we waited we were getting asked every two minutes by different Mexicans if we would like a taxi, we refused as when booking we were informed that out transfers were included.  Eventually after 30 mins in the red hot heat we asked him again and he said get in this taxi.  We got in the taxi and there was another couple sat there who had also been waiting half an hr to set off, 5 minutes later with just the 4 passengers the taxi set off.

When we first got to the hotel we were a bit surprised by the outside entrance as it did not seem like the hotel that was described on the telephone, it looked run down and not very attractive at all.  We went to the front desk and was met by the receptionist who spoke very broken English and had to repeat everything three times before we could understand what he was trying to say.  We got our keys and was asked by the receptionist to wait at desk for help with our suitcases after 10 minutes this became quite annoying so we carried our suitcases to the room ourselves.  When entering the room we realised that we were on the ground floor, so we opened the sliding door to see what our view was.  When doing this we noticed the lock on the door was damaged.  As soon as we noticed this we advised reception and they said there was nothing wrong with it but if we would like to change rooms then we would have to wait until 12pm the next day, which we agreed to.
Disturbed by the broken lock on the door we decided to stay close to the room as all our belongings were in there.  Also which made it worse was that the room was a metre away from the pool bar so people were constantly stood outside our room.
 
After the flight I was quite hungry so I went into the restaurant, the snack bar was open but dinner hadn't, I was advised by reception staff that it would be open in a hour.  As I looked at what food was on offer I noticed black flies flying in and out of the food containers and a dead one in the tomato sauce.  The sauces were not covered just left out in metal tubs.  Not wanting to be poorly all holiday I decided against it and thought that I would wait until dinnertime for the fresh food.  As I was leaving I noticed plates of food at the left hand of the restaurant.  I walked over to have a look at what they were serving and that too was covered in black flies.  At this point I called a member of staff from the restaurant over and asked why the food was not covered.  The gentleman nodded his head and smiled and then walked off.  So instead of having anything that evening we decided it would be safer to buy crisps from the hotel shop instead.  The first night we did not get hardly any sleep due to the people partying loudly at the bar area.  They might as well have been in our room for all the noise  that was made.

The next morning we waited around until 12pm and then went to the reception desk, we was told to go back at 1pm as room still occupied.  Waited around in reception asked at 1.30pm and was told that room still not ready but promised the room to be ready at 2pm.  We finally got our keys at 2pm which was room located on the 4th floor the building has no lifts and we were offered no help with our suitcases. 
 
When opening the balcony doors we noticed that the floor was wet and that there was a leak on the outside air-conditioning unit which was trickling onto the balcony floor.  There was a lamp between our beds that looked like someone had hold a lighter around the edges of it as it was badly burnt, there was a picture on the wall that looked like it had been thrown in the sea and then been dried out again, and the minibar was a fridge that looked over twenty years old and that was stuck in the corner of the room.  The whole room looked like a dumping ground for somebody else's unwanted ornaments. 
 
We went to see the Thompson rep on site.  She seemed quite helpful and advised me that she would talk to the manager and get things sorted out, we advised her that we did not want to stay and she said she would look into us moving to a different hotel.  She gave me a form to fill in and said that she would be back in the morning and asked if I could fill it in and she would see what she could do then.
 
That night we still couldn't unpack as we didn't know whether we would be getting moved or getting a flight back home.  The room was also over the entertainment area so we didn't get any sleep that night either as we could hear everything through the air-conditioning unit, and the ceiling fan broke so we were unable to sleep due to the heat.
 
We visited the rep with the form the next morning and she advised she would speak to the manager and see what she could do in regards to getting the equipment fixed and would get back to me that evening about moving hotel. An hour later the manager turned up to our room looking very annoyed with two members of staff.  He arranged for them to change the air-conditioning unit, fix the ceiling fan change the lampshade, and advised that the restaurant had been cleaned.  I spoke with him and advised that the actual cleanliness of the restaurant was not my main concern it was the food that was covered in flies.  he said that he would sort out the situation and left.
 
That evening we went down to the restaurant and nothing had changed the food still had flies all over it and now where the salad bar and bread and cakes were kept was an army of ants.  So we again had crisps to eat.
 
Finally unpacked our things and decided to spend some time near the pool, there was a man there learning people how to use the scuba diving equipment, my partner was interested so decided to take part which resulted in him cutting his hand on the broken tiles in the pool.  This was reported to management straight away and the tiles were still broken when we left.
Finally got our mini bar replenished with water and soft drinks but no beer.  Spoke to other guests in the hotel who had been poorly and advised that the best thing to do was to phone pizzas from Dominos.  Entertainment was only on from 8.30pm till 10.15pm .
 
Several things happened over the next week, such as the phone not working, and a workman coming out to it twice and still not fixing it, phoned a pizza as phone wasn't working reception said they would bring it up to room, waited two hours and then we went downstairs ourselves and it was flat cold, this was due to the receptionist being busy and by herself she just left it on reception.  The minibar only got filled twice in the fortnight so we had to constantly go to reception for bottles of water.  There was mould all over the shower walls, that we had to get management to sort out, there was no hot water for two days.  

The entertainment was held over an unused swimming pool which was boarded over but you could still see some water in it, so there was really nasty smell coming from it.  We spoke to a guest who said that the room we first occupied had been burgled 3 days previous to us getting there and they had taken everything even out of the safe and just left the guest their passport.  People were constantly moaning about sickness and diaorreah.  We had to eat out all the time, we even had to go to asda as we ran out of money due to the spending on refreshments and food outside the hotel so I had to get a family member to got into Thompson in the U.K and transfer some money to the hotel.  

The staff were very nasty and arrogant to me, if I asked for a drink they would serve everybody else but me, we bought all inclusive bands from the entertainment people at the hotel for a club FAT TUESDAYS and when we got there they refused to let us in the bouncer on the door said that he didn't know the entertainment staff at our hotel and if we went in the club we had to pay!! the whole holiday was a living nightmare.  .  The bars were covered in white tiles that were all cracked and broken if you leant on the bar you ended up clicking your clothes and scratching your arms and hands.  The walkway to the beach were covered in stone type grids that were loose and people were constantly tripping up over them, but we did notice on the Friday before we left that someone were cementing them down.

And just as we were getting excited about the idea of actually leaving this nightmare, in the airport I was handed a letter that another guest had picked up from somewhere stating that our flight would be held up in St Johns Canada for an hour due to the plane having to refuel and that the plane had been downgraded due to the original plane getting sent off somewhere for some mechanical work.  The rep could have informed us of this when we were leaving the hotel but instead she said nothing and handed out forms for us to fill in regarding how satisfied we were with the information we had received from the rep!!  The flight was then delayed for another hour and half.  The plane was really small we all felt like sardines on the plane it was really uncomfortable, there was no entertainment systems apart from the television between the aisles and there was only one film shown.  One of the flight attendants swore at the passenger to the left at me.  The food was served cold and finally when we landed at Manchester the bags took an hour to come off the plane.

I have taken photo evidence of the faulty equipment in the room as well as the light fittings that hung out of the ceilings with masking tape holding the broken wires together the big cracks down the walls, the mould in the shower, the broken door casing, the watermarked scruffy picture on the wall, the burnt lampshade and the leak on the air-conditioning unit coming down onto the balcony.

The holiday was a 2 week nightmare that I was gald to get out of,  the hotel is nothing more than 2 Star and should not be described as anything else.  As for the state of the rooms I would not describe then as anything more than 1 star accomodation.    

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - Nov 04

Opinion submitted in Dec 2004 by : Holland - 39, 40

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel, whilst clean and tidy, is what it is, a 2* hotel. We went all inclusive and had a pleasant stay. The food was excellent, with a good variety at each buffet style sitting, and you never went hungry!

We were slightly disappointed with the bars, as on arrival, and finding the pool bar closed, were informed this was because the hotel was only a third full. So there was no choice of where to drink. The drinks were served in plastic cups, which gave you the impression that it was cheap and cheerful!

The pool is almost permanently in the shade, with no sun loungers, but the beach makes up for this.

The entertainment was dire! Young lads only interested in flirting, and taking you to other clubs, where you had to part with more money! A quiz every night.... & bingo every day!!! zzzzz

Be aware!!! The mexicans earn a very small salary, and rely on tipping, which is paramount outside of the hotel.

The resort centre is a 10 min bus ride away, and very spread out, not walkable! But the bus surface is brilliant! It runs 24 hours a day, and there's a bus nearly every minute or so, plus it's cheap! 13 pesos for 2 of you, which is approx 35p each, so no need for taxis.

The reps meeting, whilst useful in seeing where the town is, is all about selling you excursions. It can some time be cost effective to shop around, some trips can be a lot cheaper!

We booked our own trip, the Captain Hook evening trip, GO! It's great FUN, and really good fun. You go out onto the sea on one of two pirates galleons, steak & lobster barbeque style dinner, plus unlimited alcohol & soft drinks. The cost, about £35 each. Well worth it.

As the bar in the hotel closes at mid night, we ventured into town, the pick of the better bars were; Pat O' Briens, this is a couple of minutes the other side of the centre. Fantastic service with waiters carrying an array of cocktails & beers on their heads! Plus a live band, well worth a look.

In the centre opposite all the clubs, we found 2 bars worth a look; Changos, where every drink is buy one get one free, plus they have swings on the terrace to sit & watch the world go by. "Slices" bar a 100 yards away was cheap, £2 a bottle of Sol, so an ok place to go.

The best place we found by far was a steak house opposite "Slices" called Cambaleche Argentian Steakhouse. It's fantastic, and the steaks & service second to none. We ate 2 14oz steaks, bottle of wine, vodka drinks, water and cost around £60. Well worth a treat!

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays - September 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Rachael James - Newcastle upon Tyne (20,20)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Myself and my boyfriend went to this hotel in September this year, and I can honestly say that this was one of the best holidays that I have ever had. 

The weather was beautiful (apart from the hurricane, but I'll come to that in a minute) and this was just one of the reasons that I would recommend this holiday to anyone.  When we got to the hotel, we were given the usual; safe keys etc and we were also given towel cards which meant that we didn't have to use our own beach towels.  The hotel is set right on the beach and the beach was cleaned daily to get rid of unwanted seaweed. The staff at the hotel really made our holiday, especially the entertainment staff - if Luis and Abraham are still there when you go, tell them Pinky and Jonny say hi! The staff are only too happy to help and were amazing, they make every effort to please you if possible.  

There was a good selection of food and drink aswell. The hotel is the second last hotel on the strip, however, this isn't a problem as the buses run 24 hours a day and it was costing about 60p for the both of us to travel anywhere down the strip. 

The nightlife is also a must - if you've been clubbing in England you havn't seen anything til you go in cancun. When we went, we went with the entertainment staff, and took a trip to The City, LaBoom and Bulldog Cafe. The clubs are great - once you pay to get in, ou don't pay for any drinks all night!Only place I regret not going to was Coco Bongos, people we met said that it was amazing. 

The trips were great aswell.We went on the Jungle Tour, where you take your own speed boat and go to the coral reef to snorkel, it was amazing.  We also went to the Isla Mujures, a really small island visible from the beach next to the hotel and went to the turtle farm and swam with sharks when we were there.The hurricane that came to cancun was Hurricane Ivan, it was heading straight for us but fortunately changed direction - so be warned, if you go to cancun in hurricane season, expect some sort of tropical storm. The staff were really good about everything - sorting out any worries that people had etc. 

Overall we had a brilliant time and are looking forward to going back there next year. Enjoy!

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays-september 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : louise wilson -newcastle (33,30,24&24)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We were really worried going here after reading all the bad reviews on this site but are all glad we went as we had an excellent time.

This hotel probably looks the worse one in all of cancun but once you're there it dosen't matter.

The staff were really friendly, the food was great a different selection every night, the drinks were NOT watered down, you didn't have to tip anyone at all, good service in the al a carte restaurant and the mini bar was stocked every other day.

The shows were diferent nearly every night and afterwards the staff would take you to a nightclub if you wished.

The buses run every two minutes right outside and are very cheap so you can get anywhere.

So if you fancy this hotel don't take notice of bad reviews - its great fun but don't expect anything posh its exactly what the brochure says a 3star!  If you want better quality book a 5star.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours/mytravel - june 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Michele, Kirby - County Durham (22,23)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We had an excellent time in Cancun, it was the holiday of a lifetime. The place is so beautiful. You can relax or have it lively, whatever you fancy.

The hotel was good for the money we paid, but when comparing it to some of the other hotels didn't seem so nice. The room that we had was excellent it had two large balconies, two double beds, a sml shower room and living area. However when talking to some of the other guests it seemed as though we had one of the best. The cleaners do a really good job, they change the beds and towels every day and stock up the mini bar which is always full of pepsi, sprite but only a few btls of beer.

The food was nice although a bit repetitive and we did have to eat out a few times as we got a bit sick of eating the same stuff. The a la carte restaurant wasn,t as nice and the waiters really hound you to give tips. The worst thing about the hotel was the entertainment, it really was rubbish, if your'e planning to stay there of a night don't bother going. All of the reception and bar staff were very friendly and really put themselves out to help you. 

We enjoyed our stay at Barcelo Las Perlas but if we went to cancun again would probably stay in a hotel nearer to the centre.

The beach out the back of the hardrock cafe was like a picture postcard with white sands and turqoise waters.The best excursions that we found were the jungle tour where you drive your own speedboat and get to snorkel at the coral reef and xel-ha (a natural park)it is expensive to go but you can spend the full day there snorkeling, jumping of the cliffs swimming with dolphins and loads more.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - June 2004

Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : D George - Leicestershire (23,29)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

When reading the reports on the hotel before travelling we were not sure if we had made the right decision to go to the Club Las Perlas.

But on arriving at the hotel the staff were very polite, with porters taking your bags to the room.  When we got to the room we were on the 3rd fall overlooking the perfect sea and swimming pool.  We were advised to leave the air condtioning on all the time (if you didn't then there is a lot of condensation).  This was a little nosey but didn't disturb any sleep and a lot better then being uncomfortably hot.

The staff at both bars, maids,reception and buffet were fantastic.

The buffet had a wide choice of food for all 3 meals.  If you wanted to eat burgers and chips for 2 weeks you could. If you wanted to try all sorts of different foods from local, English and American you could too.

The sunbeds were comfortable on the beach with free beach towels every day, if you wanted shade then you had to get there early. There were also free security boxes. There was a lot of entertainment throughout the day if you wanted to join in.  The pool was very clean and there was a man who cleaned the seaweed away from the sea edge everyday.

Beware, there were a lot of mosquitos at night so take your repelants with you.

If I had the chance I would go to this hotel again.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - sept 2003

Opinion submitted in Nov 2003 by : suzy ferguson - glasgow (32,44)

Resort Rating: Below Average

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

on arriving at the barcelo, we were quite impressed. reception was clean, cool, and efficient. we were allocated a room on the 3rd floor, facing the sea, this we were impressed with. room itself was big enough. a queen size bed, plus sofa bed, plenty of storage etc. our fridge was a god send. room was spotless, and maids were great, cleaned the room everyday, fresh towels etc. bathroom was small, but the shower itself was large, and usually the water was hot. balcony was small, but enough room for 2 chairs, and the view was to die for, so we didn't mind.

the food????? unedible at best. we ended up rarely eating there. we were allowed 4 ala carte meals, of this we got one, and that was poor. one of the nights they cancelled the ala carte, didnt advise us, and we were herded down to the buffet restraunt. profuse mexican apologies followed. and a near dose of salmonella, due to the uncooked chicken dish my partner was served. it was cooked about half an inch all round,and raw in the middle. generally, there was something to eat at breakfast. usually the night before's dinner, re-hashed or wrapped. lunch was a joke......and dinner.....sorry,maybe if the food was labelled, a decision might have been easier. we opted to eat out mostly. so if your barcelo bound, make sure you have the constitution of an ox, or have plenty cash.
the god send was the club sandwich, served at the snack bar. we lived on them for lunch.

drinks......very poor beer, obviously watered down, and served in very small plastic cups. once you had had a few, they went down easier. mind you, phillipe did his best with the cocktails, and the cancun punch was good.
when we were there the barcelo had attracted a young ( get pissed, day and night) element. they were foul mouthed and didnt care who you were, they would barge infront of you at the bar etc.

mini bar..........or lack of. turns out, you only get your minute quota every 2nd day. brochure didnt say that. and even at that 2 beers,a bottle of water and 2 cans of pepsi,hardly constitute a mini bar. we even tried leaving a few pesos in the fridge for the boy, he snatched that and left nothing somedays.

the hotel itself was clean, people always mopping,cleaning etc. there is a wee man "seaweed sam", he is the beach every morning from 5am, and some days still there at 3pm. he kept the barcelo beach lovely. you can get your free beach towels every day at the beach hut, and can get snorkels,pedalos,jet ski's etc.
entertainment.........ha ha ha. a joke! same dancers every night,different costume. seen one,seen them all. the bit that you sit at to have a drink, and watch the show, is an old covered up pool. beware of the mossies, they are rife there at night.

the air-con, is too noisy to sleep with, but being on the 3rd floor, we just kept our door open through the night. but you will get your 5 am alarm call, when the constantly drunk return from clubbing for beachside fun & frolics.
i never saw the pool geting cleaned once, we opted for the beach anyway, it right infront of our balcony. the 6 am towel fairy operates at the barcelo, so if you want a spot in the shade, set your alarm, and play them at their own game. the sunbeds are free atleast.

the buses are great, every 2 mins one comes along, heading for the hotel zone. we found some great places to eat and drink. mr papas, across from coco bongo is great, fab food,great staff, with a lively atmosphere, pat obriens is good, drinks are steep tho. the outback steakhouse at flamingo plaza was great for food & drink, quite reasonable, with good service.

the flea markets are great. but if you dont barter, you will get ripped off.
warning!!!!! dont buy trips/excursions from your rep. they are ripping you off. buy them down in the hotel zone, from the outlets there.
trips we recommend........
swimming with dolphins....great experience, but costly, and all over in 30 mins.
the jungle tour is good, you get your own speed boat, and follow the guide to the mangroves for snorkelling. we loved it, even bought the video!!!!

the best trip we went on, was the columbus lobster dinner cruise, it was great, sailing out onto the laggon, fresh lobster and steak, and all you can drink. it only lasts for around 3 hours but well worth the money.
all in all, a great holiday, will certainly return in the future. not ever to the barcelo. the location of the barcelo is good, far enough away from the hotel zone, with great buses. but the place itself, should really be downgraded, 3 * is too generous.

the newly built rui hotel looks amazing,and the sierra cancun had good reports from fellow holiday makers.
we paid just under a thousand each for our 2 wks in the barcelo, and for a wee bit more, we could have got alot better. lesson learned.

enjoy mexico, the people are lovely, the weather fab. the sea is blue blue blue!!!
but steer clear of the barcelo, all those who value their gastric health.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - June 2003

Opinion submitted in July 2003 by : Senga Burt - Dunbartonshire (50,47)

Resort Rating: Poor

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Worst holiday in my life!!! Arrived after long journey including delayed flight.  Reception was OK but not opver friendly.  After climbing 3 flights of stairs the room was clean but shabby. Going out on to the balcony it was big enough only for 1 chair and no table,  although the sea view was nice.  

The bed was very comfortable just as well as we had food poisoning for 6 days and hardly left the room.  Min bar was an old fridge which was stocked regular the first week but they seemed to forget about us the second week.  Had to request a refill 3 times before it was stocked ( 2 bottles water 2 cans juice and 2 bottles of beer)!!!  The room was cleaned to a high standard and the satellite telly was a god send.  The toilet failed miserably as it barely flushed and we had to put buckets of water down, the second week understandably it gave up and it took trhe plumber 2 hrs to fix it. The food was terrible and we did not have a hot meal in the 2 weeks, even in the a la carte restaurant the food was barely warm.  Enjoyed the beach and the water was lovely apart from some yobs who kept coming into the bathing part on jet skis.  I would not recommend this hotel not a 3 * more a 1 *.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice   june 2003

Opinion submitted in July 2003 by : joanne leatherland- 30,37,6

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

having endured our ten hour flight we arrived at the accomodation and checked in where we was given our A/I bracelets, towel cards, remote  control for the telly. our room was 3102 which if you have children like me is a bad position as the pool side bar is directly outside the patio doors(we didnt actually have a patio or balcony)the bar stays open until 12am so its a bit loud of a night especially when your trying to get kids asleep! but its great if you want a drink first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  

the room smelt musty when we first arrived so we put the air conditioning on which soon cleared the smell only problem is that the AC is quite loud but we learnt to ignore it.  the minibar is a old fridge containing 2 bottles of water 2 small bottles of nasty beer and 3 cans of pop (they were right when they said it was a mini bar!) i cant fault the cleaners our room was cleaned and beds changed every day, the staff at the hotel are very friendly especially phillipe on the pool bar! entertainment isnt very good during the day or night, its mainly dancing shows, once youve seen them perform one countries traditional dance youve seen them all, the only thing that changes is the costumes. wouldnt recommend this complex for children as there is no entertainment of anykind for them only the pool which isnt very big but adequate. 

the beach is directly infront of the hotel which is great, the sea is warm and very clean, if your lucky you get to see star fish in it.  the food at the hotel is sufficient but gets a bit repetitious and certainly is typical mexican food, it mainly consists of rice, rice and more rice and i couldnt get my head around strips of beef with peppers and onions for breakfast! the egg chef is a nice lady, she'll cook you eggs however you want them! there isnt any food for children at all which disapointed me as it cost me £700 for my 6yr old son and he ate nothing while we were away, they dont even serve icecream for children which was very disapointing for my son, how many children like icecream in the sunshine?. also incase of unexpected weather take a pack of cards with you as there are no facilities in the hotel other than 1 snooker table to keep you occupied(sometimes there can be a waiting list for this)  

cancun seems to be a very nice resort and very clean, market 28 is excellant (downtown) dont get the bus we ended up where the locals live which was a little scary as we were the only tourist and was way out of our depth this happened twice, get a taxi from the hotel it is only 6 dollars (about£4) if your tour rep is called Bev she's lovely! we recommend you swim with the dolphins at the interactive marina its excellant but check out the prices to do it yourself as it is probably cheaper than arranging it through your rep also you have to make your own way to all of the excursions, i do intend to visit cancun again but not until my son is about 10-11 ps when you get on the local bus service there is sometimes bands playing on them, carry small change as they expect a tip for singing for you.  have a good time.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - May - June 2003

Opinion submitted in June 2003 by : Steve Coventry - London

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Start off by saying that First Choice is the only tour company that have abolished the departure tax (£25) that you have to pay upon leaving. Landed in the evening and got to the hotel, which is basic but extremely clean and one of the few places that has a mini bar in your room, we had a room overlooking the main road, but didn't hear much. The pool was small but cleaned everyday not crowded. It is a small hotel and very personable every tourist is friendly and before you know it everyone is talking to everyone. The entertainment team, are a bunch of good lads that entertain you all day and the nightly show is very good, with professional dancers putting on amazing costume shows. Food was generally excellent although more thought towards the English brekkie would have been nice. Bar staff and waiting on staff brilliant, always about to help you out. The most secure holiday I have ever been to. Hotel security is 24hr but not in-your-face so as to ruin your holiday. Greeted by the hotel manager on the first night of which he poured tequila down are necks (from his personal bottle- the good stuff). Cannot fault this holiday and urge everyone to try it. Just remember to tip your staff every now and then and your holiday will be even better. So much to do in the resort. Sitting in bath-hot sea while fish swim around your legs. Even got to swim next to a barracuda. Amazing. Would go back tomorrow if I could.

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Barcelo Las Perlas - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel

Opinion submitted in Apr 2003 by : Mike - Great Yarmouth

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We asked for a quiet hotel away from Down town Cancun.  We gor a noisy hotel right next to downtown Cancun.

Before travelling we had read mixed reports on the hotel.  Well unless you live in a slum or are out on the streets, I really can not what would appeal to anyone here.  The actually main building was not too bad and the reception staff were fine, but thats where it ended.

Our first room was damp and smelt of mildew.  So we moved.  Our second room was damp and smelt of mildew.  The mini bar was an old rusty fridge, which was so noisy it kept us awake.  Also it was spring break for the American college kids.  They make the worst of the kids in the UK look wonderful - Rude, abusive and loud mouthed low life.

The next day we went to see our rep and demanded an immediate move, which thankfully we got.  Barcelo have a number of hotels and we were lucky enough to be sent to a five star dream and enjoyed the rset of our holiday - so if you booked with Las Perlas cancel befoire its too late - you have been warned!!!!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: Thomas Cook - June 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : Yorkshire - (18,19,19,22, 41, 45)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I've just back from Cancun and i can't begin to tell you how fantastic it was. We stayed in the Blue Bay Club and it was the cleanest, friendliest, nicest and best hotel ever! The rooms are really nice and even though we were AI there was still a kitchen in the room. One of the rooms we had had a hot tub/jacuzzi on the balcony and they were all facing the beach. The hotel was really clean and well kept and the staff were the nicest people i have ever met. They would go out of their way to help you e.g. opening doors, carrying bags, waiting on you, giving advise etc.

The resteraunts were very nice and very posh (well posh for us from Yorkshire) The Oyster resteraunt was particularly nice with very helpful staff and the food was delicious (not just seafood by the way)

The beach was beautiful and the sea was clear, there were workers up and down the beach all day moving seaweed and flattening out the sand. You could relax all day without worrying about people trying to sell you things.

We went on a trip out to one of the reefs in the sea where we were snorkelling. We were provided with snorkles, flippers, life-jackets, drinks, a guide. When had finished snorkelling the boat took us to a lagoon (the island of shells) where there was thousands of shells for you to collect. Then the boat took you back with the chance to drive if you wanted. In total it was only around $30 each.

We also went to Xel-Ha, which was brilliant. It is massive river/lagoon where you snorkle with thousands of fish, some of which are MASSIVE! You can also go through the caves, explore the wildlife, eat at numerous resteraunts and many other activities.

The holiday in whole was unbeleivable (well worth the 10 hour flight). We went to the Dominican last and thought that couldn't be beaten but we were so wrong. Cancun is the place to be!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: first choice-may 2oo7

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : natalie campbell-birmingham,lynda bird-birmingham (27,26)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The staff were very friendly,and willing to do anything you wanted,sometimes for a small tip!
The hotel is located right on the beach, and it was beautiful,not crowded,and the views were lovely.
The room was very spacious,and clean, until we emptied our cases,haha
Food was good,they served food throughout the day. I recomend the chinese resturaunt at the sister hotel,the blue bay getaway,which has to be pre booked at the reception and is a taxi ride away.The taxis are cheap!

The entertainment was not very good of an evening,but that didnt bother us as we went out most nights,either clubbin or to the other hotel.
The club does nightclub excursions,which work out cheaper,get a lift there,pay a fee,get your drinks free,make your own way back to the hotel.A
good club to go is COCO BONGO'S,where randomly superman will swing out of the ceiling they also have tributes to jacko,elvis etc. Get there early though as it does get rammed!!!
Try and go on as many trips as poss,we went on about 4 in a week.Bar crawl,boat trip to the jungle,pirate ship(where we were the only adults dressed in bandanas,eye patches,swords,which u can buy,u got to have a laugh!!)and swm with dolphins(a must)
we had a hol 2 remember,and met some lovely people,hope it's the same for you!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: My Travel - May 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : (52, 52, 21, 21)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Our first time in the Carribean and it was the best holiday we have ever had.  We took our daughter and fiance with us to celebrate her 21st birthday and they absolutely loved it.  

Cancun is brilliant with lots of places to go, bars, restaurants.  Our rooms were right on the beach, 2 tier with massive beds and everything you need for comfort.  They were cleaned every day and fresh towels given. Everything about the hotel was fabulous, the staff always happy and eager to please especially if you tip. Food was excellent with lots of variety.   The entertainment staff were absolutely brilliant, Dario & Charlie especially, something happening all day and the entertainment at night was superb especially the shows which are a must to see.  We went on three excursions including snorkeling and swimming with dolphins, we hired a boat to take us out to the reef snorkelling, it took us to a fabulous beach where you could collect shells.  The beaches are just like paradise.  You can take a free shuttle bus from the hotel to the main hotel strip which includes the sister Hotel Blue Bay Getaway where you can use all the facilities and it takes just a 20 minute ride.  Lots of shopping malls, flea markets etc.  Definately a holiday to remember.  

We would definately go back.

The Mexican people are always smiling and happy to please.  We were lucky because our return flight was delayed so we had a day and a half extra there, my daughter and her fiance did not want to come home!!
The people we met in the hotel were great.  We really did have a wonderful and fun time.   We would strongly recommend this hotel and CANCUN to anyone, believe me you will not be disappointed.

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice - March 2007

Opinion submitted in April 2007 by : John ( 40, 38, 13, 9)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hi, our family have just came back in March from 2 wks at Blue Bay Club and thought we would put in our reviews.

The holiday was absolutely fantastic !!! We had no complaints what so ever about anything, it is the best holiday we have ever had, and that includes Florida a few yrs ago ! The hotel is lovely and clean,as are the apartments, ours was overlooking the beach, it was great. The staff are very friendly and are very grateful if you tip them occassionally and will make sure you are well looked after.

The entertainment staff do a brilliant job, they work hard all day keeping everyone happy and there is lots of games by the pool and kayaks for the kids. The food is great, there is something for everyone. The kids ate at the pizza and pasta every night, but you can take food out the main restaurant and sit outside with them or take the pizza inside.The hotel even made a birthday cake for my 40th and sang happy birthday to me in spanish, it was great, they are very friendly and can't do enough for you. 

The beach is cleaned various times throughout the day so its lovely and clean.We went on 2 excursions, swimming with the dolphins at dolphin discovery, it was great, but be prepared to spend a lot on photos as they were all great and you can buy a DVD too, but its well worth the money. We also went snorkelling and on the submarine which was great too and its not that expensive. The entertainment is great at the hotel, i would recommend the Pirates of the Carribean, it was brilliant and the food is great too. If you go to the markets down town beware ! they really pressurise you into buying something and by the end of the day you feel a bit fed up with it all.The weather was fantastic, never rained once and much to my wife's happiness, mosquito's were not a problem, she was only bitten a few times ! 

We would definatly recommend the Blue Bay and we are definatly going back, So if you are planning on going do not hesitate as it is great. At the end of the day your holiday is only what you make of it!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice March 2007

Opinion submitted in March 2007 by : Co.Durham, 24, 35

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from the blue bay club hotel and I felt that I had to tell everyone about it! Iv been to many places but this hotel is really nice. From the minute we arrived we were made to feel so so welcome, check in was great, the room was really really good, it was probably the biggest room Iv ever had, the bed was massive, very clean and overlooked the beach. The hotel is split up into 2 parts the beach side and over the road is the other site, try if possible to get a room in the beach side as it is far more superior. The balcony was big had excellent views of the beach and the marina.
The staff were all lovely and polite, the rooms were cleaned every day, the food was so good we couldnt eat enough of it!
Every taste seemed to be catered for, we were given 3 tickets for the a la carte restaurant called ostras oysters overlooking the marina and this is probably the best place Iv ever eaten before, excellent service and food brilliant, you have to try this while youre there...it is included in the price!

First choice were great too, from checking in at Manchester right up until going home very friendly and helpful.
We did 3 excursions the first one to a natural water park called Xel Ha- really good fun, and also the Jungle tour was great value for money and alot of fun too.An excellent holiday well recommended!!!!!!!!!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook- dec 2006

Opinion submitted in May 2007 by : emily- ( 17, 19, 19, 23, 59)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

we had a 9 hour delay on the way there in which we only had a 5 pound voucher each to spend on food, but unfortunatley there was only a pub open due to the airport being refurbished. when we got there it was boiling hot, like a greenhouse, it took us about a hour to get to our hotle as it was quite far out from everything else. i found the staff at reception to be very rude as they didnt welcome us and were very quick and short when speaking to us. the rooms were ok, but the bathrooms wernt clean and still had hair in the sink. also when we wanted to straighten out hair the electricity in the whole room would turn off after about 5 minutes, so we had to keep getting staff to fix it.
the beach was lovely, but it did rain nearly every day on and off but it was nice hot rain and u could still be outside and in the pool as it wouldnt last for long. the sofas were also very dusty and needed cleaning.

the food was average, the guacomole and salsa was nice. there was mainly couples and americans.
the entertainment was rubbish, they had staff doing a quix during the day and playing music which was ok, but at night all they seemed to do was for their own entertainment, like beer drinking competitions. at 12pm the bar and music was shut off immediatley as well as the lights so we were left in the dark in silence. the bar staff were rude too. they do take you to the clubs but you have to pay 25 pounds each if you do and you have to amke your way back home afterwards. 

overall it is worth going to cancun, its lovely, but the blue bay getaway hotel is much better as its more livelier and the food is better, there is also a spa!!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours Sept-Oct 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Rebecca - Scotland 23

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This is the 3rd time i've been to Cancun and the 2nd time staying in BBC.  Everything about the hotel is fantastic, the rooms, the waiting/bar staff food etc.  Special mention for the entertainment staff, esp Dario and all his crazy antics making days by the pool fun!  if staying here make sure you take advantage of the shuttle bus to the Getaway and use the facilites there!  Can't wait to head back for the third time!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - Sept 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : M Bradley (41, 27)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just back from Blue bay club WOW! Definitely worth the 9 hour flight with no leg room and the antichrist sitting behind me. Cancun airport bedlam. you get 2 forms to fill in on the plane. 1 for immigration, one for customs. Give the immigration one to the guy checking the passports and the customs one when you have claimed your luggage and are going through the checkpoint. This caused major confusion. On departure there is a desk for paying the departure tax. it is 500 pesos or 50 US dollars each. Someone can wait in the queue for check in while the other person pays the tax. 

First of all, DO NOT be put off by the approach to the hotel. It is in a very run down area which I imagine has been hit hard by last year's hurricane. The hotel itself looks amazing. Lovely foyer. 2 buildings, one on the beach and one across the road (under an underpass) in gardens. We were in room 238, which was a junior suite overlooking the beach. we paid a little extra for this but it was well worth it.Was 2 lengthy power cuts, but you had lights at least! The hotel is just beyond downtown Cancun about half a mile from the port.  The shopping mall Americas is a short taxi ride away, and the huge supermarket Chedraui has snorkels etc for £3 as opposed to £20 in the hotel shop. Loads of shops. Get taxis from the hotel as they are fixed price. Hotel has lovely pool,and deck area, swim up bar great, and the bar men work so hard. Will make you lovely cocktails. The strawberry dacquiri are lovely. Beach lovely, lots of sun shades and white sand swept each day. You can take out kayaks, windsurfers and the catamaran if you like. Across the road rooms were reported to be not as nice, but didnt see for myself. Lots of iguanas beside the underground tunnel. if you go over in the morning they appear, and will eat bananas out of your hand!

The hotel is building a house reef and it is just getting established. from the beach it looks like a bit of stone under the sea. but if you swim over it you will see loads of coloured tropical fish. amazing!
Theatre great for kids, but one bad thing was the main buffet restaurant closed when the theatre was on, so had to go to the shows or use the terrace snack bar. You can get food and drink 24 hours a day. always nachos and chilli, and hot dogs in the foyer all night. Soft drinks after 1am though.
The sister hotel Blue Bay getaway is in the hotel zone. It was ok, lovely beach front location, not as rowdy and hedonistic as we were led to believe. you could transfer to this hotel if you wanted free of charge, but we declined. We think the BB club was overbooked. Were not approached once by timeshare people.
Entertainment ok overall.

Went on a few excursions booked through the mexican lady in the foyer. Chitchen Itza was fabulous, although really hot, Xcaret is an absolute must! Just paradise. You must try sea trek, you will never forget it, and the evening show is just amazing. Can also swim with dolphins. Just remember to carry your room key as deposit for your snorkel gear, or 300 pesos each. Also went to Isla Mujeres. It honestly is soooo chilled. Swam on the reef there, and had lunch on a remote beach like something out of paradise lost. Amazing white sand. You can also swim with a nursing shark for a couple of dollars. Wasn't keen on Isla town. Just like downtown cancun, although we loved the way they zoomed about in golf carts, and like 5 people on a scooter. typical caribbean!
Went out a few times in cancun, senor frogs good to eat in, also rainforest cafe great. The hotel has excursions to all the big clubs each night with free drink, so although you are well away from the hotel zone, you don't miss out.
Until 10.30 pm, the hotel bus is roughly every hour so you can get it to the blue bay getaway and then taxi from there.

Found the mexican people lovely, very friendly, and really appreciate a few pesos tip here and there. The country has a real tipping culture. You can't aviod your suitcases being grabbed off you at the airport and then them expecting a tip for carrying them. Tips expected absolutely everywhere, but we only gave them if someone went out of their way to help. Not for things like toilets.
Agree a price for taxis before you depart. you should not really pay more than 15 dollars for anywhere in Cancun from Blue bay club.

Weather great while we were there. only rained a couple of hours over the 2 weeks, lots of thunder and lightning in the distance. Never below 30 degrees and really humid. 
Cancun hotel zone itself is ok. Personally i preferred to be a bit outside the centre. You really have to take taxis everywhere anyhow as the resort is so vast and spread out. miles and miles of hotels, but most of the action is in and around Dady O' which is at the turn of the "7" shape of the hotel zone. La Isla mall worth visiting. Looks like Venice with canals etc, and great shops.

Would definitely go back again to this hotel and resort.

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Blue Bay Club and Marina - Puerto juarez

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - Sept 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Kelly 34 - Tony 35

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

We have just returned from our two week honeymoon and would like to say how fabulous it was!
The BLUE BAY CLUB & MARINA was very clean and looked after and the staff were very helpful, efficient and friendly.
We thought the bar staff were brilliant, especially Hugo in the Tequila Bar who couldn't do enough for us! The Pool Bar staff worked so hard (in that heat!) looking after us lot 'flip-flopping' around BUT they were always pleasant and smiling! And the entertainment staff were outstanding and so much fun.
    
**Considering the very long hours all the staff work (and probably very little pay)
they were exceptional***

On a personal note.... although it was excellent, we would like to say that we found the BLUE BAY CLUB & MARINA to be very child orientated (BUT we did go during the Summer holidays) so if you do have children it is THE place to go!!

Prior to the wedding we almost booked the BLUE BAY GETAWAY and after hearing bad things we decided against it, but we now feel the BLUE BAY GETAWAY may have been more suited to us. We visited quite a few times and saw nothing 'un-toward' .... maybe we were in the right/wrong bars at the right/wrong times??? which proves though that it's not 'in your face' (whatever it was?) and we found it to be very relaxed without children running about.

However, there is a shuttle bus that runs between the two (frequently til about 10.30pm, or about a fiver in taxi) so either Hotel you have the best of both worlds!!!

We could have gone for a month and still not have crammed it all in.

Mexico is excellent!!!!!!!!!!!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: Sunset-July 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Anna Williams- St helens (47.48.19.14)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

this hotel is amazing!! i loved it 2 bits and did not want to leave.
the entertainment staff r brilliant make sure you do all the stuff, Dario n Marco r the best n i will always remember them and miss them. The entertainment staff did shows like celebrities and disney shows they were all great and i had lots of fun!! i will miss them all!! and i hope to go bak nxt year to  see them!!

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice - Aug 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Emma, Clare, Joanne, Louise, Gemma, Sharon (23-25)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just returned after 2 weeks at the Blue Bay Getaway and had the best holiday EVER.  Didn't know what to expect after the TV programme just before we left.... however thought we'd all give go with an open mind and just enjoy it

The hotel itself was spotlessly clean.  All of the surrounding gardens, walkways etc were tended to all day everyday by hundreds of staff. The rooms were fairly basic but served the purpose. They were quite spacious and kept immaculate by the maids (clean towels and bedding everyday).

There were plenty options when it came to food but couldn't really give an overall opinion as some days it was nice and others it was just okay. Every night there was a different theme for the food and always plenty on offer at the snack bars.  The speciality restaurants were perfect (Italian, Chinese and Seafood) and you could visit each one once per week. The food in these restaurants was second to none compared to the buffet. Especially the chinese restaurant overlooking the ocean... it was beautiful.  The waiters gave 100% and were more than helpful.  They put in extra effort and made our friends birthday that little more special by making a cake.... they even got one of the waiters who was a professional singer to sing her a mexican song, it brought a tear to our eyes (thankyou Alex).  The only problem we had was that for any speciality restaurant you had to book between 8am and 11am for that night, which I'd never came across before at any other all inclusive hotels. the earlier you got there in that given time the better time reservation got.  For 6 twenty something females who had been clubbing til the wee small hours that proved difficult as we had to be setting our alarms to get us up just for that.  We did make it on a few occasions though.

Now onto the entertainment (I've saved the best til last).  We knew it was an adult only resort before we went and that it was fairly 'adult' so we expecting a bit nakedness here and there.  During the day there were two pools which you could go to... the quite pool for relaxing or the 'sxy pool' where all the action happened (needless to say we spent everyday at the sxy pool).  The entertainment staff were crazy and it was them who made the holiday for us.  Chinos, Lalo, Omar, Jose and Lynn gave it their all every single day.  The poolside games were hilarious, lp dance competitions, miss blue bay, position competitions,tequila body shots, dirty spanish lessons, talent shows,and so on and so on.It wasn't at all offensive as portrayed on the televsion, it was all a bit tongue in cheek and if you didn't want to join in you didn't have to.  There was always the quiet pool for those who weren't interested.  it was obvious that there were plenty swingers around, but that didn't offend us either, it was all about everyone having a laugh and making the most of it.  the Blue Bay motto is "no-one knows you and no-one gives a sht" and that was absolutely true. we laughed solidly for two weeks and anything goes.  It was without a doubt the best holiday ever and we'd go back tomorrow given half the chance... The Blue Bay getaway is for anyone who is up for a good laugh and wants to have fun.  Its for people of all ages, singles, groups, couples ..... however if you're after a quiet relaxing holiday this proably isn't for you. 

Thanks Bluebay for a fantastic two weeks.... already looking into coming back next year.   PLEASE GET US BACK THERE CHINOS xxxxxxxxxxx

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - May 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : The Ding Dong Brigade

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from a 2 week holiday to the BBG and waht can i say......Amazing!!!!

We went as a four and returned as a group of about 12. Everyone who goes to this hotel will get to know at least half of hotel before they leave.

The accom was very good, the aircon was very cold which was a relief after the hot mexican sun, the american tv was good to watch especially channel 12!!

The entertainment in the hotel was hilarious and sometimes jawdropping. We never got involved but just laughed at our american cousins making fools of themselves.

From the day we arrived to the day we left we laughed and had a fantastice time. We would recommend this hotel to anyone who likes a bit of fun, we certainly wouldnt recommend it if you are a little prudish.

We are all converterd to the BBG and will deffo be going back.

DING DONG!!!!!!!

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours febuary 2006

Opinion submitted in Mar 2006 by : Sue Brown 57 Derrick Brown 50

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from a brilliant holiday in The Bluebay Getaway and Spa in Cancun,we booked this holiday in July 2005 along with some friends,sometime in October I was reading a daily paper and came across a lot of bad press,also the same day it was on the watchdog program about it being a hotel of filth(porno.Let me tell you we went with trepidation but it just goes to show how wrong the press can be,we had a wonderful holiday with no problems at all both the staff and everyone who works ther were great,the food in the restaurants and buffet is first class and the place is spotless.Our bed linen and towels were changed everyday.

We enjoyed the place so much we are planning on going back again next year,at this point i would like to say a special thanks to our tour rep Jan of airtours we found her to be very helpful and friendly.Keep up the good work and hope to see you next year.

ps You must try the Captain Hook trip its great

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - Jan 2006

Opinion submitted in Feb 2006 by : Linda James - Derby (49, 69)

Resort Rating: Below Average

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Accommodation excellent, rooms very spacious and clean.  Food was also excellent, lots of choices: buffet breakfast, omeletts made in front of you to order, lots of fresh fruit and juices, buffet lunches plus the outside pool cafe to eat at as an alternative.  Evening buffet meals excellent too.  Three evenings they serve meals over in the theatre where various shows are put on for guests, which we found really good, especially the comedy night in which the animation staff took part in.

All the staff were friendly and always smiling and happy.  In general the mexican people are lovely, most speak english but it is good to practice your spanish with them!  Lots of things to do in the daytime around the pool area, kayaking, yoga, water aerobics, stretching, games, shooting, volleyball etc.  Overall the hotel amenities were great.
As for the area around the hotel, well not that nice, the beaches are rubbish, there is still alot of damage and waste from the hurricane coming ashore, you cannot go in the sea without water shoes on!  We visited the sister hotel and the beaches down the hotel zone, and they are just the same, rubbish, not at all how I expected Mexico to be. Quite a lot of the hotels are not open yet, the same for some shopping malls and restaurants, I would think it will be another year before the area is up and running as normal. Use the little mini-buses which stop outside the hotel to get to town, only 4.5 pesos each.

Cancun town is worth going to once!  Very run down and be warned, you do get hasselled a lot, so be prepared to barter for everything.

Our best part about the holiday was the visits to Isle Muereas, it cost 70 peso, or $7 for a return trip, its about 30 minute walk to the port from Blue Bay, or catch a mini bus, ferries run every 15-20 minutes.  The beaches are lovely across there, and you can hire a golf cart for around $40 or 400 pesos to get around.
We didnt do any trips, only a free catamaran trip to the island (through the time-share people in the hotel).  Lots of time-share stuff around so be warned!

I dont like bus trips and Chichen Itza was a 3.5 hour drive away.
If you want to use the iternet, you'll pay 50 pesos through the hotel, I called in at a mexican internet shop and got it for 5 peso for half hour! excellent, so shop around.
If you want a relaxing holiday spent around a pool and beach then this is fine, if you are looking for culture, long walks, blue blue seas, then I would go down the riviera coast.

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice - 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Nicola, Bolton, UK

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

What A Great Holiday!!!!!!!!!!
after reading the reviews my boyfriend and I were a little unsure of what to expect!

After arriving at the hotel our first impressions were awww this is fantastic!!! were were given a room overlooking the main road, but really wanted a pool/sea view. so went to reception and asked, they were happy to move us to a pool and sea view room-GREAT!

Everywhere was spotless, cleaners constantly keeping ontop of the hotel throughout the day and night. Plenty of security guards about-peace of mind, not that they were ever need during our stay anyhow.

Pools were brilliant. Lively pool was exactly that- 'Liveley', but fun, and if u didnt want to get involved or watch then that was your decission!

Food and drink were great 24hrs. Swim up bars were a godsend! Plenty or entertainment throughout the day and night.

We explored the night clubs in cancun (15mins away from hotel) 50p on bus. They were excellent. We found it cheaper to book them through first choice £30 each to get in all bars with drinks and transfer included!

Age range at hotel was 21-55. Mostly americans that joined in the lively pools enetertainement, we just sat back and laughed. Other days were spent either on the beach or around the quiet pool just chilling out!

All the people there were friendly and the staff couldnt do enought to help-with or without tips!!

All in All an amazing holiday and are planning to go back there soon!

Oh Swimming with the dolphins and the jungle tour is a must, but book it with your rep- little more dearer but peace of mind that you have insurance!

Thanks to BBG!

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Lynsey & Linsey 24 & 25

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hi Guys, If you are going here then LUCKY YOU. ITS GREAT!!!!!!!
The hotel was amazing & so were the staff, the entertainment staff & everything about the place was brilliant.
The place is the best iv ever been to & i im a travel agent & have been all over the camp.

I was unfortunate enough to brake my foot two days before I went & iv never came accross such a lovely bunch of people in my whole life. I was looked after the moment i arrived till the moment i left.

Dont get me wrong the place is very lively & if you are not open minded then you are in for a shoke, big time!!!!

The rooms were lovely, so was the food & Cancun itself is out of this world. The accomodation is amazing, the food was great, if you are going you will have the beat time. We were lucky that when we went we had a great bunch all the way from Liverpool to Texas. What a buzz your gonni have. All I can say to you now is just let yourself go & lap it up. Mon the Cancun. see you next June. Lots of Love Fae GlASGOW.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
CoCo Bongo's is a MUST MUST MUST.xx

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Blue Bay Resort - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - Sept / Oct 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : diane 35 daniel 11

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

First of all let me just say if u r goin to mexico no matter were your stoppin u r gonna ave a fantastic time.the blue bay resort is a lovely hotel it's nice and clean.Room r clean and beds r made up everyday the rooms r basic but thats not a problem cus who goes away to spend all there time in the room.The cleaners r good at there job i wud say to good and i think sum of the people wud agree who stayed on the dates of 21/9/05-5/10/05.

the food was lovely lots to choose from.But i wud like to say that it wud ave bin nice to ave bacon in the morning but wen i asked for it i got told that there was'nt any but then the next person came up they got it.swimming pool was kept very clean every morning the men was out at 6.30 cleaning the pool but the swim up pool bar was'nt open.don't no y.entertainment was'nt up to scratch yes u ad the theater and lovely it was to but after that u wud ave to go bac to the lobby and then that wud finish at 11 o clock then the entertainment staff wud go in town with who ever wanted to go with them.so u wud ave to entertain yourself then.i wud like to say that fabio,marco, jesus,dario. and the 2 djs,was nice and friendly people.wud just like to say we enjoyed the games of beach volley ball.

wud like to say that the staff was'nt that helpful as i found out on the night i got my appartment broken into.so if u do stay at this hotel please do not take anything valuble.Then one night me and the people who i met there was aving a good time in the lobby and we got told that the bar staff was'nt gonna serve us no more with drinks please do not get me wrong if we was drunk and making trouble i wud understand but we paid for this before we even step into the country.

do not be put off by wat i ave written if they change sum of the staff i wud not think twice of staying at the hotel again u do get the use of the blue bay get away hotel which is a very nice hotel so please don't b put off by the games they play if u don't want to join in then u don't ave to.but please go and spend the day at there.but appart from wat i said me and my son ad a fantastic holiday we r goin bac next year but not at the blue bay resort.

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - Sep 2005

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Chantel + Jon - Grimsby (24 , 25)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hi there regarding the Blue Bay My partner and I were so worried after we found out that it was "Apparently" a swingers hotel, and so for months we checked reviews and even tried to change hotels, but when it came to going we both assumed nothing ventured nothing gained.

When we arrived at the Blue Bay we were very supprised everyone was very helfull and freindly especially the bar staff.

We had a fab time and would def go back, we did see the "entertainment" which yes it does leave a little to be desired but like we said you are not forced to sit there and watch the Blue bay has three large pool area's and we often stayed around the quite pool with the jacuzzi's which were free and fab even in the rain

you will find everyone here from old to young and there is something for everyone

I must compliment the italian and chinese restaurants as these were my favourite

watersports is free and good fun also

we would def reccomend this hotel and would def go back I have seen it on the tv but you only see there side of it like we say you dont have to take part

have a good one its great fun

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Blue Bay Club Puerto Juarez

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours Sept 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Mr & mrs Mellen - honeymon!

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I'm not sure why people can say any bad reveiws about this place coz its absolutely amazing! 

The staff here cant do enough for you and the food and drink is always fantastic. There are cleaners working hard day and night top keep it sparkling and as for the entertainment staff they really are amazing people! we have made some great friends here and cant wait to go back next year if not sooner! 

The resort itself has plenty of shops and activites and the buses are soooo cheap. this hotel keeps you busy all day tho doing things such as aqua aerobics, dance or spanish lessons, bingo, quizzes kayaking, absailing, football and puts on shows every night. the excursions we did were xcaret, horseriding, and golden cruise with dolphin swim and I can throughly recommend all of these!

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours My Travel  -  Sept 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : James & Pauline (39, 39 )

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

RESORT
There is a variety of things to do in resort for both young and old, from lively and loud too relaxing and enjoying
the quiet life.
HOTEL.
There is only one word to describe this hotel and it is SUPERBE. The staff were all brill,they met all your needs with a smile.
ENTERTAINMENT
This was described in the broucher as ADULT ONLY and it was if you wanted to be around this type of behaviour then that was up to the individual.It was NOT shoved in your face and there were plenty of places to go if you wanted a quiet time.
TRIPS
Too many to choose from but you must try the speed boats and swim with the Dolphins.
We had a lovely holiday and would go back again in a minute,the only downfall was the flight it was a bit uncomfortable.

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Antony Cottam 30,26

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

As this was our honeymoon i wasd looking forward to this holiday for some time.  On arriving at the Blue bay getaway i was a bit disappointed. The lobby smelt a bit of the stale stagnent water that was in the water feature next to reception.
The hotel was situated right on the beach which was stunning.
The pool bar at the quiet pool was exellent along with the guys serving on there Herbert and Johnny.  Realy funny guys.
There were several downsides to the hotel tho. The rooms needed updating and painting, the air conditioning was always braking and the only word the people in reception could say was "manyana" which means tomorrow.

Not a 4 star hotel by any means probably a 2 at best. The 3 themed restaurants the Italian, Chinese and Sea food were good but the Food hall was very poor.  Many people falling ill with stomach complaints whilst we were there including ourselves.

My view of Mexico was brillaint and you must go to Cancun and the Coco Bongo night club "QUALITY". But try a hotel on the main strip near down down.

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Cosmos Discounts) Cosmos - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Clare - Rotherham 32,35,38

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I have been to the Bluebay numerous times.
So after a 2year break couldnt wait to go back.  The hotel is in a good location. the rooms are a great size, ideal for 3 ladies with loads of lotions and potions.  Our maid was exceptional, and bedding changed regularly.
Was dissapointed with the theatre.  They used to put on fab shows 5 times a week, but have now knocked these down to 2.
The food was good and of good variation, with something for the fussiest of eaters. and the seafood rest. was excellent.
Entertainment wise, the content was not explicit it was all tongue in cheek and not offefensive, and if its not your cup of tea there is always the quiet pool to chill in. and the people who join in the games have volenteered there is no pressure put on anyone.

As a travel agent i strongly recommend the Bluebay and it wont be long before im going again.      

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Antony Cottam Warrington (30-24) Honeymoon

Resort Rating: Average

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Once getting to the Blue Bay Geataway resort after a long 10 hour flight we were graet by the most unprofessional reception ever.  

The gave us the bands never told us any information what so ever about the restaurants services of the resort.  We never got ungraded to an ocean view as honeymooners. When i challenge the manager about the room he said ocean view room was a top privaliged room and had to be paid for to which the first choice brochure promised an upgrade for Honeymooners which was incorrect.  

Eventually we moved to 3 rooms until we got the ocean view room we were promised. Whilst in our ocean view room the Safty deposit box never worked for the full 2 weeks, the air conditioning kept braking at least once a day to which they just kept fixing it daily. The bed got covered iwith ants on a daily basis. The main food hall was very dirty and various people including us got a tummy bug for the last week due to bad hygeine in the restaraunt.  Overall not a 4 star hotel not even 2 star. very disapointed with the whole sorry affair.  

Would,nt recomend the resort to any honeymooners. 

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook June 2005

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Shell  22  &  Lee 22

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

What a excellent time we had, both of us choose this hotel because it was ADULT ONLY!

The rooms were very big and the maids come in every day cleaning. It was amazing what they could make out the towels!

The pools were brill with swim up bars which was ALL FREE! Thats what all inclusive is,so drink and eat as much as you want! The noisey pool was eye opening but you didnt need join in you could just sit back and watch, The saying was NO ONE KNOWS YOU, AND NO 1 GIVES A S**T!
If it got to much you could go and relax around the quite pool!

The nights was good and the entertainment was good but could have done with abit more some nights! The nice shoes bar was the place to be especially "The Kissing concest". I couldnt have joined in but was a laugh 2 see.

Take plenty cash and do as many excusions as possible! Best one are swimming with Dolphins, the day cruise and def experience COCO BONGO it amazing!

Would def come to Mexico again and would def recommened Blue Bay Getaway! ITS THE PLACE 2 BE BECAUSE NO1 GIVES A S**T

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BlueBayClub / PuertoJuarez

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours-March2005

Opinion submitted in Jan 2006 by : Cath Brown-West Yorks (43,40,12,8)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

VISIT CANCUN you will not be disappointed!
We travelled with friends in a party of eight to the wonderful resort of Puerto Juarez.
My one and only grievance is the flight!
I WISH CANCUN WAS CLOSER TO HOME!
We were looked after well on the flight, but suffered through bad turbulance,and had to refuel in Halifax,Canada which adds extra time to your flight.
But Hey! I would do it all again tomorrow!!

Security is paramount in the airport so be prepared to queue, but in this day & age isn't it worth it!.The transfer to the hotel was swift and we were greeted at the hotel by the friendly doorman.
We were soon checked in and shown to our rooms,which were basic but kept very clean throughout our stay with fresh towels every day shaped into animals & fans.The maids work hard so please tip them at the end of your stay, they deserve it.The whole complex is immaculate.
As it says in the brochure you are a few km' away from the main hotel zone but if you want peace & quite with the chance to explore then this is the place for you.

The facilities here are great and the excellent animation staff work so hard and keep you occupied all day long with quizzes,volleyball,football,aerobics,shooting,yoga,spanish lessons,cooking,cocktail making,kayak trips, etc,etc.
(Special mention to Victor,Chris,Dario,Franco,Marco,Raul and not forgetting Chiquis! you were great & we miss you all.
The theatre shows were fantastic, when did the staff find time to rehearse!!
You will never go hungry or thirsty here the food is plentiful well-cooked and well presented.And don't forget to try the cocktails, we recommend an Orgasmo!
After dinner we had fun in the lobby bar with the staff - which you could join in if you wished - no pressure.
(another special mention to Patty the best waitress EVER, miss you too)
If you can drag yourself away from the pool, sun-deck or beach take a trip to the beautiful Isla Mujeres.We made our own way there from the ferry port down the road and sailed across on the Caribbean Miss(fantastic).Hire a golf buggy and explore the island, we visited the Garrafon on our first visit and swam with dolpins on our second trip(expensive but worth it).
A trip to Chichen Itza was amazing(hot & tiring)but not to be missed, especially the swim in the Sacred Well(what an experience).
We only visited the hotel zone once during our stay taking the courtesy bus to the Blue Bay getaway and then the local bus down to the La Isla village where we did a little shopping and enjoyed a meal overlooking the lagoon(what a life!).

We enjoyed the shopping more in Downtown Cancun, more authentic and a better atmosphere shopping with the locals.
If you are thinking of visiting Cancun go with an open mind -treat everyone as you would like to be treated -practice a little Spanish and SMILE.
The people here are generally warm,friendly and can't do enough for you.

I would recommend The Blue Bay Club to anyone who isn't expecting 5* as you do get what you pay for and what is advertised in the brochure but this holiday for us exceeded all our expectations &  more.
WELL DONE to everyone at the Blue Bay Club we hope to see you again one day.

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - 2005

Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : Mike Ruston- East Yorkshire (44,45,18,16)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We arrived there one day before Hurricane Wilma! Within 12 hours of arriving we were given an evacuation request. Slightly worried and confused, we arrived San Jose School.

We have nothing but praise for the way the management and staff of the Blue Bay Club Hotel looked after us. From the moment we arrived we were made comfortable and as relaxed as possible. The entertainment staff amused and entertained everyone within the school.

Obvisouly you can't please everybody, and some people found the whole event quite stressfull but as we have said the staff could not do any more. Most of these guys did not know what situation their families and homes were in.

If ever put in this situation ever again I certainly know where I would like to be.

The tour company however we feel as many others do could of handled the evacuation from Cancun better. All the reps were programmed to say the obvious, nothing of what they said turned out to be true. All they caused was confusion, worry and many angry ill feelings. I tried on numerous occasions to ring the company in the UK but was cut off. People ringing on my behalf from the UK would be answered but everything they were told turned out to be false.

This part of the story could go on forever. Our future plans are to return to the Blue Bay Club once restored via another tour operator.

At the end of the day we are all alive and well thanks to the Blue Bay Club, MANY THANKS!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : nicola berry- se london (18) rocky samrai (27)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

absolutely amazing. any families or couples lookin for a relaxing 2 weeks away from the world, this is the place to go. all the staff are so friendly, everything u need is within a 20 second walk. good food served for roughly 22 hours a day, all inclusive drinks not a scam, and did i mention relaxing. look out for barman Hugo... he's the best! (ask for a 'lil blue one!') he will make u surprise cocktails if ur too exhausted from doing nothing all day to make up one of ur own! fabulous!!!
The beach for the hotel is pretty much restricted to people using the hotel only, which means never havin to wait 4 a sunbed. quiet and relaxing for 2 weeks.
and again,the food... something 4 everyone.. from fish, salad, nacho's to whateva u want the chef to make u, its all there... totally worth the money spent.
p.s when booking, specify the main building as the hotel opposite is not quite up to scratch!.. so we heard!!! happy holidays!!

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : P.D. Lancashire(37,39,47,47)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This Hotel is a very clean and very well laid out place. It is in our opinion around a 4 star rating with good service and reasonable facilities. The food varied from good to average throughout a 2 week stay. That is the nice part over with. 

If you are into meeting people who are to say the least broad minded then this is the place for you. The entertainment set out at night time for the guests was set out for the open minded and the more reserved guests,in what were supposed to be segregated areas. However,daily and frequently,the two overlapped to the point where guests were performing s*xual acts on each other in complete view of other guests who just wanted a quiet drink with their family and friends.This went on permananly throughout our 2 week stay. 

It appears that from meeting people from various countries, certain individuals were at the hotel with the intention of swapping partners. This hotel is over-run by what is best described as swingers. Do not take this comment lightly.My holiday was by no means ruined,but be warned.!!!!    

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: Varhalla - November 2004

Opinion submitted in Nov 2004 by : Greg Varhalla (51, 46, 15, 12)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

During the week of November 17 - 24, 2004, our family of four, consisting of a son, age 15 and daughter, age 12 stayed at the Blue Bay Club.  Being seasoned travelers, we experienced one of the most enjoyable and memorable vacations we have ever taken.  The following is our opinion on what and what not to expect at the Blue Bay Club.

It is not a five star hotel.  It is however, a well-kept, clean older structure with Mexican flavor.  We do not feel the beach is well suited for swimming, but the water, sand and view are excellent.   At times there was a slight sewage smell outside but never in our room.  There was seaweed on the shoreline, but the staff was there every morning raking it up.  The view at night looking across the water to Isla Merjeres and Downtown Cancun was beautiful.  The location of the hotel is isolated so if you are looking for non-stop action, check out the sister hotel, Blue Bay Getaway for adults only. 

From the moment we arrived, the staff was friendly and efficient.  The Activity Staff of Dario, Christopher, Alfredo, Carolina, Marco and others were great.  We will always remember them and all the fun times we had.

Our rating for breakfast, lunch and snack bar is excellent.  The Ostras & Oysters restaurant and dinner buffet is good to excellent.  The drinks and beverage service was excellent.  The shows in the theatre were excellent.

Our advice to you is to go with an open mind, not expect perfection and to have fun.  We did.

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - September 2004

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : 25

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

WHAT AN AMAZING HOLIDAY!!!! This place is something else, so friendly, such excellent service and staff!!

We arrived just after hurricane ivan and that didnt detract from the place whatsoever. The weather was fabulous, very warm but a wonderful refreshing sea breeze so you were never uncomfortable.
The rooms were spacious, air conditioned and so very clean, with with american television and radio for when you were chilling out getting ready.
We went as a group of mixed girls and boys, not looking for anything too wild, and the resort and hotel was the perfect option.
A bit cheeky during the day but no pressure whatsover to participate, you could just chill out and watch the yanks make idiots of themselves,bless em, or go to a quieter pool with a swim up bar and intimate surroundings.
Saying that, the americans were so friendly and lovely to chat to, so down to earth and a good mix of american and british.

The evening entertainment was something again that you could choose to do or not as there is always a quieter area, however if ya wanted to watch a bit of harmless fun there was the 'nice shoes' bar where i won the karaoke competition!!! which also offered kissing competitons (as there was a lot of couples) and other cheeky fun shows.
The hotel quietened down at a reasonable 12/1 ish and then after party entertainment was offered by hotel staff to great nights such as coco bong0 and senor frogs!! where there are crocodiles swimming underneath the marina side veranda location.

The food was amazing and there was the option to go to the (all in ) a la carte italian, chinese and steak house.
I have never wanted to go to a place more than once, but after this holiday i would never go to anywhere else in mexico apart from here. Were planning to go again in the next couple of years.

YOU HAVE TO GO TO THIS PLACE ITS MIND BLOWING and dont miss out on the cruise the hotel staff offer to the fabulous coral reef and isle de mujeres where you will get all your pressies in the great local market.
And dont worry about bringing back loads of ciggies as the checking staff at mexican airports overlook the ciggies.
xxxx
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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel September 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Gary & Michelle - Glasgow  (24, 28)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

After visiting this site I was not sure about going to this hotel, but with past experiences on visiting these sites I realised that everybody that visits the caribbean thinks that they are going to get 5 star luxury treatment, YOU ONLY GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.......

This hotel was very nice the reception staff were not very friendly but everything else in the hotel was great the food was fantastic as soon as one restraunt closed another opened so you could never starve. daytime entertainment was very good (if you get involved) and entertainment staff are very nice.
rooms were clean and spacious and cleaned every day, pool area nice with pool side bar and snack bar and public areas were clean and there was a cleaner going about the hotel all day every day. 

There is a lovely decking area looking over the beach unfortunaly when we got ther it has been destroid by hurrican ivan (wich was an act of god) in wich everybody was complaining and quite frankley the hotel cannot click there fingers and another one would just appear out of thin air, so hopefully if you go it will be rebuilt and be nice.

Please do not go with what you read go and explore cancun and I bet it will be the best holiday you have ever had as I was certainley mine and I would certainley go back to this hotel in a minute......

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - September 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Lisa + Chris (23, 25)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Cancun is excellent!

This was our first time to an all inclusive resort and although there was plenty to eat the food became repetative.

I was a little worried after reading some of the reviews, but it was hilarious just watching some of the activities that went on.

The entertainment staff were excellent, even more so when we experienced tropical storms from Ivan the terrible!  This didn't spoil our holiday at all and it's all down to the entertainment staff.

I would recommend Coco Bongo's for a night out, we thought this was excellent.

The pirate ship (Hook) is also a definate must!  The meal on this was the best I'd had during the whole 2 weeks we were there.

We were a little disapointed with Xcaret, although the place is lovely and they have plenty to do as long as you have plenty of money to spend there.

We swam with the dolphins at Dolphin Discovery over at the island of Isla Majeures, although if we could do it again we would do it at Wet & Wild as your time with the dolphins is more intimate and you seem to get more for your money.

I would recommend coverting any travellers cheque's and American dollars into Mexican Peso when you're out there, you get a bit more for your money.

We would definately go back we had a fab time.

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Blue Bay Getway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - August/September 2004

Opinion submitted in Nov 2004 by : Stuart, Laura 24,21

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Bluebay Getaway is Situated Outside cancun but this was not a problem as the local Buses Stopped outside hotel and took you any where in Cancun for 6 Pesos.
The Blue Bay Getway hotel had excellent facilities 3 Swimming pools ranging from Quiet to Sexy and catered for everyones needs. If you did not want to participate in any adults games all you had to say was no and they would not bother you again.

There were also Water Sports for you to try Like Jet Ski, Canoe, Etc which was very good.
The Accommodation was Basic but had everything you needed from Hair Dryer, Tv & Sky. The Rooms were always Very Clean and tidy as Maids were in every day Cleaing them always leaving you Fresh Towels and making them In to Lovely Animals from Lions, Swans etc. The Only thing i would say is that the Bathroom could be doing with getting Upgraded a bit. But it was always clean.

The Food in the Hotel was ok. In the Morning the breakfast was amazing had a massive choice and this was the best meal of the day. Lunch Never eat in the Main Restaurant always went to Snack Bar as they had a better Choice for the Fussier eaters like Chips, Pizza, Burgers, Hot Dogs Etc.
Nighttime was always a Theme Night and this could be a Hit or a Miss.
Waiter Staff were Fantastic ESPECIALLY ALEX NO 1 WAITER.

Night Time Entertainment was Poor only lasted a Hour and then had to go outside hotel for entertainment. we would advise if you visit Cancun to go to Coco Bongo's where they filmed the mask.
we would go back to Cancun but to a different hotel situated on the main drag just to try some where different.
But overall we had a Brilliant Time in Cancun at the Blue Bay Gateaway & Spa and would recommend this to other people.

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Blue Bay Getaway - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook.  August 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Stuart and Liz 40 ish

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Found this Hotel complex to be excellent value. Do not expect the Ritz here, but the the food is good and the A La Carte restaurants are very nice even though the menus are a bit limited. A couple of tips per bar will ensure that you are never without a drink for long. The water sports are well looked after by the guys who give you an initial lesson if required. 

The entertainment team will keep you busy all day if you can up with them. Limited evening entertainment only though was a bit of a disappointment. We found everyone to be extremely courteous at all times, even though they must get fed up with some of the treatment from guests. Lots of trips and things to do all round the complex and there is a choice of booking agents for all the different activities.
We did not visit the other Blue Bay centre as we did not hear any good reports from people who were staying there. They came to our hotel to get away from it!

Yes the 10 hour flight is not nice and the seats are close together and the customs officials are slow, but Cancun is worth the effort!

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Blue Bay Getaway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours july 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : michelle,mark,wayne,sarah(24,25,27,24)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

well what can i say, excellent!!!
rooms clean and spaciuos, maids were very good,especially at making animals out of towels.
hotel was excellent,food was very good ,especially the italian, could have eaten there every night.
night entertainment was interesting in the nice shoes bar,defenatly worth a watch!
trips were worth there money, we did dolphins,speed boats,boat trip for the day.
coco bongos is a good night out , also senor frogs, but be warned all the ice in the drinks makes ur tummy ache the next day!!
opposite the hotel is a steak house resturant, be warned u can try crocadile, and other interesting things.

would like to go back again as there was loads we didnt do

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - July 2004

Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : C Mason + 5

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

On arriving at the airport and having our bags checked (this happens to everyone on arrival and departure) I looked forward to a relaxing evening in our 4 star hotel after a very long flight.  Unfortunately this was not to be the case, while driving through the hotel zone I have to say we were all quite excited at the prospect of staying at one of the wonderful hotels in a modernised resort, it was then that we were told that our hotel was 25 mins away.

During the journey there i became more and more worried as the surrounding area became very rundown certainly not like the pictures I had seen in the brochure, and when we finally arrived I was less than impressed.

The hotel is split into 4 or 5 buildings as well as the main block.  We were unlucky enough to be put in the blocks across from the foyer.  To say they fell below my expectations would be an undersatement, i have been lucky enough through business and pleasure to stay in many different hotels around the world and i have to say the conditions of these were more like a 1 star hotel.  Our rooms could not have been refurbished for decades and were not particularly clean either.  In my room the toilet and air conditioning were broken aswell.

I immmediatly contacted reception to be told that there wer no other rooms available, I then contacted Airtours who offered no explanation and said that they had no spare rooms in the whole resort for two weeks.

It was at this point that we all decided to take matters into our own hands and got our luggage and a taxi to find a new hotel in the tourist district

We were lucky enough to find an absolutely stunnning hotel called the Gran Melia right in the heart of the hotel zone.  The staff were amazing and the hotel could easily classify as 5 + Stars

As for Cancun i would recommend staying in the hotelzone as it offers absolutely everthing, it is amazing and caters for all ages

In the end we all had an excellent holiday but i would warn you to look into where your hotel is located before booking. There is a considerable difference between downtown cancun and the hotelzone

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours/Mytravel- April 2004

Opinion submitted in Nov 2004 by : Alistair Cairns (21,21,21)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

First off, Cancun is an amazing place to go for 20-somethings. The clubs are the best I've been to, and anything goes in Cancun.

The blue bay club is slightly distant from the main hotel zone, but is otherwise absolutely excellent. Eat and drink as much as you want- the breakfast especially is fantastic. Maids make your room sparkle every day, and our room had a fantastic view.

Did I mention the clubs?? 'The city' is unbelievably huge and all-inclusive and coco bongos is a classic choice.

During the day, go on the jungle speedboat, pretty cheap and brilliant. The catamaran trip is also great as it includes snorkelling and free lunch and drinks too. Xel-Ha isn't worth it (after all you get all inclusive food at your hotel and the snorkelling wasnt as good as the catamaran trip). Dolphins are great, but damn expensive.

Don't forget massive cuban cigars are cheap too at cancun. especially with the current exchange rate (over 20 pesos to £1)..btw bring mostly pesos and a few dollars (its a dual currency place).

As everyone says, the worst parts of your hol will be the beginning and end. the airport procedure is ridiculous and the departure tax of £25 is not impressive. Also leg room on mytravel is painful (especially for the 6 foot plus amongst us!).

But it is worth it. especially if you pick up a stupidly cheap teletext holidays deal like we did..(£450 for a 4* hotel for a week!). going to try and go next year again if i can find a similar deal..see you there

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Blue Bay Getway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook

Opinion submitted in Nov 2004 by : Reps x5

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We decided to go to Cancun as none of us have ever been and with us working in europe, we fancied something long haul. We flew to Cancun with First Choice Airways, not our preferred choice and if travelling long haul again we would not choose this airline.
Once we arrived at Cancun, customs was very quick for us, we were one of the first groups of the flight so it was ok for us. Queues started to build so its advisable to mvoe fast!

Once through passport control you collect your luggege. There are bell boys there offering you luggage trolleys at a small cost. They tell you its a long walk to the coaches but please dont believe them. Its literally round the corner.
Being in a group of 5 we were all lucky not to have our bags checked on arrival, other people did so it did slow the process of getting to the hotel.

Once at the hotel, we got checked in and taken to our rooms. As soon as we opened the doors we were suprised at how much room there was. We had 2 double beds in the room and plenty more floor space.
Each day the cleaners came in, fresh towels, which were usually left on our beds in the shape of an animal, either a swam or elephant. Never had a problem with the cleaners, they were always there cleaning.
On the first full day we had to go to the quiet pool which was ok, but the next day and for the rest of the holiday we went to the main entertainment pool. We found this much better.

The entertainment was excellent, whether you joined in or not, it was always a good laugh. The entertainers, Chino, Hector, Omar, Jose, and the girls put loads of effort on and the only shame is that the audience didnt put as much participation into it...even if it was only clapping.
Found the food got abit repetative but we had saved our A La Carte meals for the 2nd week so we had some variety. The Italian was very good.

The excursions we did were: TC:UK (Bar Crawls x2), Dolphin Trainer, Jungle tour and Catamaran Cruise.
The 1st bar crawl was ok, but the 2nd was much better, starting in Fat Tuesdays and ending in Coco Bongo's which is well worth the visit.We had fun with the dolphins, was a good day out and 4 of us got our monies worth, one member of our party had done it before so decided to stay in the water park. The waterpark isnt really worth visiting as once you have paid youre entrance fee you have to hire our the rings to go on most of the rides.
The Jungle Tour was good but due to windy conditions we couldnt go into the sea to snorkel. We were quite disappointed by this but it didnt put us off as we were snokelling with the catamaran cruise. We were told that we would have the chance to change drivers, but this wasnt the case, you get 2hrs and its advisable to keep an eye on the time and change after the 1st hour if both people want to drive.

The catamaran was a good end to the perfect holiday. We sailed over to the Isle of Mujuries for the day. On the way we stopped to snokel over the 2nd largest coral reef in the world which was amazing. After that, we got back on the boat and continued to the island. The island looks like something from Paradise. Its amazing with its clear shallow waters and white sandy beach. Well worth the visit.

Overall we had a fantastic holiday and cant wait to return next year. We love Cancun but we cant visit unless we stay in the same hotel as there was always something to do and their moto is: Nobody knows you, Nobody gives a sh*t.
Anything goes and be prepared to see everything!
Excellent hotel, Excellent cleaners and Excellent entertainers! What more could you want!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours October 2003

Opinion submitted in Oct 2003 by : Rhonda and John   Glasgow

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We went allocated on arrival 4* but were shocked when we got to this one. eight people arrived at 4pm and eight people left at 9.30 just after the reps meeting next morning
This hotel is shocking, Beds were damp. Toilet was leaking shower wasn't working sink was chocked , no hot water, air conditioning leaking ,,,Shall I go on?

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Blue Bay Getaway Resort - Cancun

Operator and Date: Eclipse - September 2003

Opinion submitted in Jan 2004 by : Michael, Jonno, Carl M, Karl F, Luke, Damon - Brentford (23,23, 26, 28, 30, 32)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Wow what a holiday of a lifetime. We went for my mates thirtith birthday and what a great time we all had.

Plenty of booze, loadsa women (with not alot on), cheap cigs and again loadsa toplesss totty.

This place is heaven!

We had such a good time that we all have withdrawal symptoms when we got home.

At this place no one gives a s**t so its do what you want, when you want, with who you want, no rules apply.

Me and all me mates had our luggage searched when we arrived at the airport but apparently this happens all the time, something to do with foot and mouth or so they say but it didn't take too long and it wasn't too long before our two weeks of partying started.

We shared two rooms but the rooms were plenty big enough for more of us!

The hotel and the complex is amazing and so are the bronzed beautys which lay  all around the pool.

The american girls loved our accents so no need for the corny chat up lines. Who would have thought that just been english is just enough to pull a girl for the night but it was that easy.

The drinks were in as part of the hotel deal so endless beer and gorgeous babes, what more can a group of mates want.

We will definatley be going back there next year, and I can't wait neither can me Mr Jingles or me mates.

This was the best holiday I have ever had so go and have the time of your life like we did.

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Blue Bay Getway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - Sept 2003

Opinion submitted in Jan 2004 by : Linda Jenkinson (44, 46)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This was our second visit to Cancun and we stayed at the all inclusive adult only Blue Bay Getway and Spa Club. The flight from Manchester was ok, although a little over crowded but fairly comfortable all the same.

The security at the Mexican airport is very strict so please be aware that they will more than likely search your case and that they will not accept any case that is over weight but been Cancun you only need bikinis and very skimpy ones at that! No heavy clothes needed.

The transfer to the hotel was on time and on a very luxury air conditioned coach so definately no complaints concerning the transfers.

The hotel is lovely as are the staff. The hotel is kept very clean at all times, so please note that is your duty to keep tipping the room maids, they really do appreciate it.

The hotel is all inclusive but the bar does shut around 10.30ish at night but give a wink or two to the barmen and they are usually more than happy to pour you an extra night cap!!!

The music can seem a little loud for some people but we enjoyed every minute of it including the games around the pool. My husband really enjoyed the bikini swapping contest! Be warned you might be encouraged to play this game without your consent! My favourite was the kissing game! This can go a little too far but it's all in the name of fun!

Cancun has a whole is definately worth the visit so if you go be prepared to let down your hair and have fun after all that's what this place is all about!
The excursions can be a little costly but definately worth doing.

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Blue Bay Getway and Spa Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: Aitours - July 2003

Opinion submitted in Jan 2004 by : Keeley, Gemma, Sara, Roz- Shipley (22, 22, 25,26)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Mexico is greeeeaaattttt. We all enjoyed ourselves to the maximum.

We went in July and although this is not meant to be the rainy season we did have a couple of days of non-stop rain but we didn't let this spoil our fun. The weather is something that no one can totally predict!
We were all inclusive but please don't let this stop you going to the nightclubs.
The enterance fees can be a little hard on the old purse strings but what the hell it is a holiday of a lifetime and the entertainment is worth it. Go out on a tuesday night it's ladies night, the dreamboys night and if you're the lucky one you could end up on stage giving them a helping hand!!!
The Hotel is very nice and very clean.

The staff are very helpful and will do anything you ask of them. We all recommend a massage! Well worth the money!
His hands are made of satin!

The pool games are fun, and very adult only! but this hotel is an adult only place, although some of the lads especially the ones from the uk did not act like adults, when they had drunk too much!
The food can be very spicy compared with the British cuisine so if you aren't used to spicy foods please take along "Diacalm"! We have no complaints about the food or the hotel.
The bar staff were also very friendly, some times a little over friendly but that is just the Mexican way... or so we're told!

We went on the booze cruise trip, a very good chance to top up our tans but be very careful to wear high factor sun cream as the sun is very very hot and we saw lots of people with very bad burns. We recommend that you use a very high factor but thats up to the individual. The massage man likes to rub your sun cream in for you, very friendly!
We all are planning to return to this hotel again next year, but until then we will be saving hard, as alot of spending money is required!

If anyone is planning to visit this hotel before next July please say hello to Manuelle the pool bar tender! Give him a wink wink from us Shipley girls!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: Direct May 2003

Opinion submitted in Nov 2003 by : Lynne Howes - Norwich 48 50

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We were very pleased to find that the Blue Bay Club was a excellent hotel after reading reviews on this web site!  It was clean the rooms are spacious and the staff were very polite and could not help us enough!  The resort is not near the heart of Cancun but it was ideal if you want a relaxing holiday.  They provide free transport to the sister hotel if you want more but we used to take us nearer to the main resort and travelled from there.

Pay a visit to the Isle of Mujueres do not book with the hotel or rep just walk a short distance to the left of the hotel and the ferry will take you across its much cheaper and a really enjoyable day out, we hired a golf cart but do not get a offer of free for time share walk to the nearest dealer $45.00 was about right to pay for the day.

Cancun is expensive to eat out but the Blue Bay provides you with plenty of good food why go out! 

We would definately recommend this hotel to others but not to the wild and carefree that would be the sister hotel!

Direct holidays are cheaper than the other Companies and as it is part of Air Tours anyway you get the same service for less money!

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Blue Bay Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: May 2003

Opinion submitted in June 2003 by : Young couple (23 & 24) - Glasgow

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Having read some of the other Blue Bay Club reviews between booking and actually going on holiday, I began to get a bit worried that I wasn't about to get the luxury holiday I had previously thought.  Either the people who visited in 2002 had unrealistically high expectations or the hotel has improved dramatically since then!

We had a fantastic holiday and thought the hotel was great.

Arriving at the hotel was a bit daunting as you drive right past the lovely hotel zone, and into slightly scary looking downtown Cancun.  A couple of miles down the road, stands the gorgeous Blue Bay Club complex.  Inside is lovely, with a nice smiley bloke waiting to take your case to your room.

The rooms themselves are of a good standard.  Maybe not the four star quality you might expect in the UK, but with plenty of space, comfy beds, pleasant decor and everything you'll need.  The rooms vary quite a bit.  Some have two double beds and other have a kingsize.  We had a fridge, but most of the people we met didn't (but why would you need one?!).  Some had ocean views, some had jaccuzis, some had hairdryers. All had sky tv with plenty english film channels.

The maids were fantastic and very friendly.  Rooms were cleaned every day, with plenty of fresh towels.  Our maid even left fresh flowers every morning, although I know this didn't happen in every room.

There are two restaurants in the Blue Bay Club (as well as the buffet), and three in the Getaway (sister hotel across the bay that you have the use of).  You need to book into the restaurants using vouchers you will be given at the start of your holiday.  We were only given two.  It was only when we questioned this that we discovered we were entitled to five for a two week stay.  We visited every restaurant once and they were all great.  The best are the Italian and the Oyster Bar.  Although the beef in the Chinese was the best I've ever tasted.
At around midnight, the chef makes burgers and hotdogs to order.  Just the thing when you've had a few beers!
The buffet is usually good, with a different theme every night of the week.  It does tend to get a bit repetitive after a while, and turning up late isn't always a good idea.

There are loads of activities at the hotel, although not always clearly advertised.  Archery/wind surfing/kayaking/horse shoes and yoga are all great fun.  The entertainment team (The Crazy Bunch) are brilliant and really help to make your holiday.  Be wary of volunteering for the night time games unless you're up for a laugh.  Casino night is the best.

Beware of the "Welcome breakfast" you mught get invited to.  It's a time share thing.  However, go along for your chat with the concierge as he'll tell you things you need to know about the hotel itself.

Don't be afraid of the local buses.  Get info from your rep about which buses go where and use them to get downtown and into the hotel zone.  Taxis are reasonable, but the buses are mega cheap and very frequent.  You can be even cleverer and use the free bus/boat to the Getaway and then travel onwards from there.

There are a couple of bad points that we were greatful to have been pre-warned about.  Cancun airport WILL charge you for excess luggage (£6 per kg).  Check and double check with your airline what your allowance is.  We saw people get caught out when they thought they had 15kg each and they actually only had 20kg.  Ended up costing them over £100.  Beach towels are provided at the hotel, so don't bother packing them.
There is also a £43 departure tax (pp) to be paid at the airport on the way home.

Don't go on this all-inclusive holiday thinking that you won't spend much money.  You WILL!  Drinks outside the hotel can be very expensive.  Tips are expected absolutely everywhere (except the hotel - but you might feel obliged on your last day) and there are hidden extras on almost every excursion.

I highly recommend that you go on the jungle speedboat tour.  You get to drive the speedboat and spend about an hour snorkelling in the lagoon.
Chichen Itza is well worth seeing, but is a long, hot day.

Overall it's brilliant.  I'd go back tomorrow!

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Blue Bay Getaway Resort - Cancun

Operator and Date: Eclipse - June 2003

Opinion submitted in Mar 2004 by : Tammy Mackey - Caithness (30,32)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The security at the Mexican airport is very strict so please be aware that they will more than likely search your case and that they will not accept any case that is over weight but been Cancun you only need bikinis and very skimpy ones at that! No heavy clothes needed.

The hotel is lovely as are the staff. The hotel is kept very clean at all times, so please note that is your duty to keep tipping the room maids, they really do appreciate it.

Wow what a holiday of a lifetime. We went for my mates thirtith birthday and what a great time we all had.

Plenty of booze, loadsa women (with not alot on), cheap cigs and again loadsa toplesss totty.

This place is heaven!

We had such a good time that we all have withdrawal symptoms when we got home.

At this place no one gives a s**t so its do what you want, when you want, with who you want, no rules apply.

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Blue Bay Getaway Resort - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - March 2003

Opinion submitted in Apr 2003 by : Clare Lowe - Lowton,Cheshire

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

It was my first time to Cancun and me and my boyfriend booked it as a late deal.

First Choice as a company were great,the plane was a bit cramped but the service was good on board.When we arrived the view was amazing from out of the window.

It was about a 40 minute journey to the hotel,upon arrival we were given wrist bands and told if we lost them it would cost us $50. Safes are available at an extra cost in your room.

Very impressed with the hotel theres something for everyone,the italian and chinese restaraunts are good make sure you make your reservations when you arrive, you get three a week.transportation wise cheapest option is the bus 40 pence per journey no matter where you are going. Coco Bongos is worth a visit as well for a nightclub it has a big show on make sure you get a wristband for about $28 all-inclusive drinks until about 330am.Very impressed with Cancun would defo go back again!

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Blue Bay Getaway Resort - Cancun

Operator and Date: Eclipse - Feb 2003

Opinion submitted in Feb 2003 by : Dave + Kirsty - (35 + 31)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This is the best holiday we've ever had.

The staff were really friendly and couldn't do enough for you.  There is always somebody cleaning somewhere - the hotel and the grounds are spotless.

Food is really good and you can get something to eat 24 hours per day from the various restaurants and snack bars.  As one closes, another opens.  There are 3 a la carte restaurants to choose from - the steak house (not that great and we heard it's closing in the next couple of months to be replaced by an International restaurant), the Italian restaurant (excellent) and the chinese restaurant (good but the lighting is poor and you can't really see what you're eating).  Book these as soon as you arrive as spaces are limited, and you can book all 6 meals at the same time to avoid disappointment.  The buffet restaurant always has a great selection. 

The entertainment is poor unless you like to see people running about in the nude.  One example is a game called fantasy casino where you bet with your clothes, not money!!!  The sports pool seems to be more focused on nude water polo than anything else.   However there is a theatre which is open on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday nights and the shows here are dancing, mexican night and a magician.  The staff do make it clear what the entertainment involves and give you numerous options to leave if that's not what you want.

The bus is only 6 pesos (40p) and will take you anywhere.  There is a bus near enough every minute and they run 24 hours.

We used the buses to check out the shopping malls.  There is nothing to buy unless you want a t-shirt with Cancun written on it.  Walmart is worth a visit though.

For a nice meal out of the hotel we would recommend Pat o'Briens which is next to the Flamingo Plaza Shopping Mall.  Prices were very reasonable (£30 for nachos, fajitas, burrito and 4 drinks) and the helpings were huge. 

You've got to go to Coco Bongos night club. Friday and Saturday nights are VERY busy.  You can pay $15 dollars and then you buy your own drinks, $20 dollars and you receive 2 free drinks or $28 dollars with an open bar.  The open bar isn't a great option as you don't get served very fast.  The club opens at 10.30pm and the show starts around 11pm.  The show is well worth seeing.

We would recommend going on the trip to Isla Contoy.  This is an island where you see all the animals in their natural habitat.  You also get the chance to feed the sting rays which is amazing.  We left from the harbour at Carlos and Charlie's pub and the crew on the boat were excellent.  There is an open bar there and back and lunch is included.  On the way back it turns into a booze cruise which is a great laugh!

We bought a phone card for $15 dollars from our travel rep but you can get them in the shop across the road from the BBG for $12 and more minutes.

Don't bother packing a beach towel as the hotel supplies you with a fresh one each day.  You can also get a hairdryer, iron and ironing board from reception if you need them.

You can cash your travellers cheques at reception, commission free but you do get a better rate at the shop across the road.  It's also commission free.

It does take you a couple of days to find your feet as the hotel is so large and bars and restaurants open and close at different times.  Pay attention to channel 15 on your TV as this tells you everything you need to know about the BBG.

There is a gym but most of the equipment didn't work.

We would definately go back but we've noticed it's not in the new First Choice brochure?

One other thing - the Americans are loud!!!

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Blue Bay Getaway Resort - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - Date Not Specified

Opinion submitted in Jan 2004 by : Mr and Mrs Haxley, Glasgow (49, 55)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This hotel should definately appear on Hedonism!!!!!! Before our arrival we knew that it was an adult only hotel, which we thought would be nice, peaceful and relaxing but NO that definatley was not the case! We certainly did not expect to see what we saw. I have to say neither myself or my husband are prudish but this place is nothing but totally nudity and is over run with s*x crazed youngsters.

The place of Cancun is beautiful and I would recommend it to anyone looking for the true Mexican culture but if you are not looking for a sex camp do not stay at this hotel.

The staff were helpful at times but most of them are young unexperienced men who seemed more interested in feeding alcohol to young topless women.

The entertainment just added to the insult, with more nudity and s*x oriantated games. We tried to keep a very low profile but on a number of times the staff tried to get us to join in. In the end when the entertainment started we left and went back to the security of our room.

We tried to make the most of the situation but after three nights of no sleep due to the loud music and people knocking our room door at all hours we felt we had no choice but to complain to the representative for My Travel. She was very understanding and she arranged for us to be transfered free of charge to the sister hotel, The Blue Bay and Marina Club which we add was more to our taste and standards.

Like I have previously said we are not prudes but even this was an eye opener for the two of us.

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Cancun Clipper Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Portland Direct) Portland - April 2007

Opinion submitted in May 2007 by : Jean Williams - 50, 50

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Having spent a week at the Cancun Clipper over the Easter period, I found that we had not missed the Spring Break as thought.  Thinking that the spring break was in March we found that it was still running.  This made the place overun with American teenagers.  The disco at night played until 7 am in the morning.  After waking the first night around 4 am with the music still playing till 7 am we asked to be moved.  The rep said that this was the first time she had received any complaints of the noise, which I can't believe.  After moving rooms to the farthest block from the disco, we found that we could not hear the music unless you visited the bathroom in the night.

The hotel which we knew when booking was basic.  We booked this hotel as we do not like the all inclusive facility and thought it would be a good base to explore the area.  Even though the party zone is not designed for my age group, I thought the whole area needed knocking down and revamping.  It looks very seedy and run down, with unattractive alleyway and fast food outlets.

However the buses arrive every 40 seconds and the fare is 30p, so it was easy to travel away from this area.  We visited a few restaurants in the hotel zone where we found both the food and drink to be quite expensive.  However if you caught the bus in the other direction you ended up in downtown Cancun where the restaurants were much cheaper and nicer.  There were lots of pavement restaurants all offering good value food and drink.  The wine and beer was also much cheaper and it was very safe to walk around at night.

After reading this site I also found the Philledelphia Cheese Steak bar where the beer is still $1 or 10 pesos for a bottle of beer.  The same proprietor still runs the bar and we found her to be very friendly and returned several times during our weeks stay.  She served a very nice bagette at lunch time, which I would advise you not to miss.

On our last day we went for a walk in the Plaza Caricol, where we stumbled on a restaurant named La Fisheria.  Even though it was in the shopping centre, it had a nice view of the lagoon.  It looked quite fancy, but the prices were no more expensive than any of the chains or restaurants in the party zone.  The food was excellent and freshly cooked.  It was only £20 for a two course lunch with a bottle of beer.  If I had found this restaurant sooner I would have definately visited during the evening.

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Cancun Clipper Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Portland Direct) Portland Direct - Feb 2007

Opinion submitted in February 2007 by : Pauline Young - Essex (54, 59, 64, 69)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I have to agree with most of the other reviewers about the Clipper Club - it was a wonderful place to stay, much better than the very large hotels offering only all-inclusive deals.  Set in a fairly quiet area on the lagoon, it offered a complete contrast to the otherwise busy surrounding area.

The accommodation, although 'tired' looking in some areas, was extremely spacious - kitchenette (with toaster, coffee maker, blender and microwave), dining area and large bedroom with queen-sized bed (and spare single, doubling as a sofa), Satellite TV, air-conditioning, ceiling fan and alcove area looking out over the lagoon (and yes, we did see a very large crocodile whilst there - at least 10ft long!!!).  You also got all your shampoo, conditioner, etc., plus 2 bottles of water and a packet of coffee free each day.  Linen and towels changed every day, unless you tell them not to (they operate a 'green' policy).  Also on site is a laundry room (you just provide soap powder)and an internet room (where you get 20 minutes a day FREE per person, and also the option of using a laptop in your apartment - brilliant!).  Make sure you take the right adaptor with you for using your hairdryer, charging your mobile, etc., as they are not easy to come by (we were told Wall-Mart sold them, but they didn't have any when we went) - luckily, Stephen (our Rep) lent us one for the duration of our holiday, so we were OK. If you don't have an adaptor and need your mobile charged, the reception staff will do it for you.

Not many people from the UK stay at this hotel (only 8 of us during our stay) as it's mostly occupied by Americans who have their own apartments and stay for months on end; however, they were all nice people and most of them stopped to pass the time of day with you - they do get up early though and we saw them out 'power walking' around the resort from around 7.00 a.m. each morning!!

I can honestly say that the staff in the hotel were some of the friendliest we have ever had on a holiday, especially those at reception, who couldn't do enough to help you.  They even recommended we use the City Beach Club (which our rep hadn't mentioned) where we got a 50% discount on the entrance fee and 15% discount on all food and drink purchased.  It was well worth using their facilities and, for a club of this sort, the prices were reasonable and the food excellent, as were the staff (if you go, see if you can get Marianna to look after you - she's was great).

Also agree with other reviews about the food in Cancun, it's not really that brilliant and very American.  Not really into fast food, so didn't try the KFC, Pizzahut, McDonalds, etc. The Argentian Steakhouse - next to the Hard Rock Cafe (which was highly recommended to us) we found to be very overpriced for not so good food! Try the Argentian steakhouse on the corner next to the Cancun Centre for a better and cheaper meal. The Italian restaurant (sorry, can't remember the name) at the end of the shopping centre (near Starbucks) was very good, as was Come & Eat at the Isla shopping mall further along the hotel zone (where the wine was very reasonably priced too).  Another good restaurant was the Thai (also in Isla shopping mall) - food very good and setting absolutely brilliant (wine expensive).  Another good place to try (again, can't remember the name) is the yellow-painted restaurant on the main road opposite TGI Friday (which we wouldn't recommend by the way) - the staff were lovely and the food very good.

Getting around on the buses was superb - they start at 6.00 a.m. and finish at midnight and cost only 6 pesos each per journey.  Unlike in London, you don't have to rush to get one as you never have long to wait - there's one along every 40 seconds (Kevin Livingstone take note)!

We were told to go to Isla Mujeres for a visit and took the ferry over (US$15 - as opposed to the organised trip at US$55).  Didn't think that much of it and, frankly, wouldn't recommend it, although for a day out it was quite good.

Beware of everyone trying to get you to go and try out various hotels - offering you free breakfast, free gifts, etc. if you go - as this is a ruse for timeshare!

Only one terminal open still (since the hurricane last year) and it all looks very chaotic, but it's an organised disorganised place and we were checked in and through to departures (where there are plenty of shops and restaurants to kill the time)in around 20 minutes, so pretty good!

All in all, we had a good time (albeit that they were having the worse February weather for 17 years - so we were told by Americans staying at the hotel who go every year), but unless you like staying in very commercialised places (which we don't), enjoy non-stop partying (which we don't), don't mind having loud techno music playing from 2.00 a.m. until 6.30 a.m. every morning (which we don't) - then don't go to Cancun!

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Cancun Clipper Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Portland Direct) Portland - Dec 2006

Opinion submitted in December 2006 by : HELEN AND STEVE HARRIS CRAYFORD KENT

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Cancun is a spanish version of benidorm, the beach front is full of massive hotels which you cannot see the beach from the road side.  The beach is not what it looks like in the brochure, clean though.

When eating out they want big tips and will not settle for anything less than 10%, Please check your bill when you receive it as they try to add in a tip without your consent.  Be extra careful in Tequillas!! they might act friendly but they just want your money.  The portions in the restaurant are very filling, I have yet to try a pudding, as to full!

The Isla shopping centre is well worth a vist, clothes are cheaper than back home, Nike trainers for example.

They have a Wallmart which is good value for money, the only place where you can buy a bread roll, which is located in downtown, 20 minutes on the bus.

Ignore the comment as the best time to come to Mexico is December unless you enjoy the cloud and rain.

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Cancun Clipper Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson -August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Angela Chambers, 51, Philip Chambers,47

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Accomodation basic, but good. Linen and towels changed regularly. Food in restaurant good. Friendly people and always plenty of room around the pool. No rushing for sunbeds. We loved it here. We didn't want to be restricted by an all-inclusive package, we wanted to get out and about and try the local bars and restaurants. This place was ideally situated for that and we found some great places at reasonable prices. We also loved how the hotel was next to the lagoon, which was an amazing contrast from the beaches and was lovely to return to at the end of each day for some peace and quiet and wildlife watching.

Star attraction was a small bar called Philledelphia Cheese Steak bar, run by a wonderful couple, Carol and Ralph from Philly. They serve, excellent food, very cheap and beer at $1 a bottle, all day. They also helped us out with lots of ideas where to go and what to do. (including other bars) It's a must to visit, a great little bar. You'll find it round the back of Plaza Caracol, in the middle of a square but it's only a small place.

Mexico ia a magical place with plenty to do for people of any age.

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Cancun Clipper Club - Cancun

Operator and Date: lunn polly june 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : p.j.rodgers (39)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

alls i can say about cancun is what a fantastic place!! 

the weather was out of this world!! the beaches truly awsome and the mexican people wer so friendly and helpfull..

the cancun clipper club is self catering..our room was to a good standard. the kitchen area was very well equipped, pots pans knives,forks,etc..the staff very friendly and helpfull..an excellent all round place to stay!! only a stones throw away are all the bars and nightlife..recomended::hoodwinks..slicer..cocobongos..senor froggs..carlos and charlies..pat o"brians..to name but a few!! all mentioned wer all very good nights out! cocobongos a must!!!!! the food i admit was a bit ropey so i lived off mc donnalds..kfc and pizzas..it was a supurb expirience, 

a fantastic holiday destination i would highly recomend!! i personaly went with "the lads" but i recon its perfect for any age group..young or old!! GO FOR IT..YOU"LL BE GLAD YOU DID!!!

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Cancun Palace - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - September 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Stacey Edwards - London (24,25,28,50)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We stayed at Cancun Palace for 2 weeks on a all inclusive basis. We were originally supposed to be staying at Sierra Cancun but they are having renovations, so we were re-allocated here.

This hotel is very clean and the maids come in everday & they always make a little animal figure out of the towels. There are 3 restaurants, 1 of which you have to dress up and make reservations. We mainly ate out in the outside restaurant, which was a buffet and did all sorts of food e.g hamburgers, hot dogs, taco's, fruit, nachos etc. I thought the breakfast was the best as they make omelettes as you order them, pancakes with syrup. I thought the food was great. They are very generous with their alcohol, i always tried a different cocktail everyday, but sometimes they put to much alcohol in as they don't do measures and it's to strong. The beach is glorious - pure white sand and blue sea.

The hotel offers a mini golf course which i played on everyday, it also has tennis courts and a basketball hoop, table tennis & pool tables. The one thing that i thought was brilliant about this hotel and that is the security, they have gates at the front and you can't get in unless you have a hotel wrist band.
They have an in-house doctor, which we had to use and found him very good.

If you come to cancun wanting the clubbing scene, i think this hotel is a bit out of the way as it takes about 2 hours to walk into town, but having said that you could jump on the bus which costs next to nothing.

Overall, i personally wouldn't stay in this hotel again. But that is only because everything is aimed for the americans, as we were allocated here there were few english people and at times we felf left out. But the hotel itself is very nice.

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Carisa Y Palma Apartments - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - Feb 2007

Opinion submitted in February 2007 by : Rebecca and David (24,24)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Well we have just returned from Cancun, and since there isn't any reviews on our apartments we stayed in we thought it would be helpful to add some comments.

These self-catering, budget apartments definately ticked all our boxes to enjoy a superb holiday in cancun, firstly the location is fantastic, literally next to Coco Bongos ( the main clubbing strip in cancun), so if its peaceful, early nights your wanting perhaps this isn't the place.  Although ask to stay in Palma apartments which are a bit quieter. The apartments were well equipped but kitchen small, although we didnt care as had no intention cooking in them anyway. Our apartment was over looking the carribean sea the views were amazing,  definatly ask for a sea view.

The apratments were the cleaniest i have ever stayed in the maid cleaned every day with fresh towels every day. The pool is nice too, decent size and well maintained.

The only down side to these apartemtns is getting ready to go out at night I found a bit of a pain as the only mirror is in the bathroom and the electricty did not have the same output as in Britain, my industrial sized hairdryer was blowing a very slight breeze, so if you have long hair you will be there all night, and forget the GHD's, just far too much for the electricity to cope with!

Cancun itself is fantastic, the clubs are in a totally different league than Britain, they certainly put on a show, Coco Bongo is a must do, for all ages too, not neccessarily just for the young.

These are places worth a visit: (organise trips with local agents on the main strip, not the rep, they are much cheaper and  the mexicans would be very grateful for your business)

Chitchen itza - fantastic mayan ruins, jungle tour - great fun driving your own speed boat, Playa del Carmen - excellent resort very bohemian, chilled out, loads of bars and resturants, cozumel - lovely little island, great for shopping.

We also hired a car, which is worth doing, driving down the penisula is very straight forward.

The other thing I should mention is please do tip the mexicans they are very friendly and extremley hard working I know its a bit of a culture shock for us Brits. This is beucase it is not as neccessary in Britian because wages are higher but for these mexicans its how they live.  Use 15% as standard.  Eating out and trips...etc genrally are cheap, much cheaper than in britian and there is a reason for that because the wages are a pittance.

I would go back to these apartments and Cancun is a fantstic holiday choice.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice- April 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : Andrea, Liam, Jodie, Stephen (20-24)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Caribbean Princess

The best thing about this hotel were the very friendly staff, especially the entertainment staff who put 100% effort into their work. There were always plenty of things happening around the pool during the day and evening entertainment was 'ok'. At 10 o'clock every night you had the chance to join the team and head out into cancun, visiting a different nightclub every night. For a bus there and entrance into the some of the best nightclubs i've ever been in was just 20$

The food in this hotel wasnt very good. The breakfast was about the best meal of the day, pancakes were really nice!. Lunch and evening meal was repetative and cold, the pasta was always hard. The poolbar meals, which consists of burgers, hotdogs and fries were just something to break your teeth on. The poolbar drinks were average but if you didnt tip at least 5$ a time you never got served. I also noticed that, no matter how long you were waiting if you were female then you were served last.

The rooms were very clean and spacious, we had two double beds and the air conditioning was great. The maid changed the towels and bed linen every morning. There was also some good films on T.V.. We had a great view over looking the lagoon and pool area which was always kept very clean and tidy. There was free canoeing available on the lagoon which was good, but watch out for the speedboats whos waves could easily tip the canoe.

The location of the caribbean princess is quite far from the main town of Cancun, even though it is still situated in a nice area. TIP- dont ever pay for a Taxi! Jump on a bus! There is a bus stop every 100 yards and a bus arrives every 45 seconds. Yes SECONDS! The buses run 24/7 and its just 30p to wherever you want to go.

Cancun

If you ever have the chance to visit Cancun you must spend a night at COCO BONGOS. This was, by far the best nightclub in Cancun and is tailored for all ages over 21. I would also recommend Senor Frogs, which is more for the 21-30 age range and very American but also a good night out.

If you cant bare the food anymore at the hotel give the Australian Steak House a try. We had a great meal here for a really good price. Afterwards, we finished the night off at Pat O'briens bar where they delivered your drinks balanced on their heads, it was great. TIP- Always take plenty of change out with you for tips. We found that if your drinks came to 16$ and you handed over a 20$ note the change was no where to be seen. They used to keep this has a tip.

La Isla shopping centre is a really good day out. There were plenty of shops and restaurants and there was also a chance to pay into a aquarium centre which was well worth it. You could go to watch a Dolphin show, stroke a stingray and even feed a shark.

We visited Cancun beach a few times which was beautiful. Typical caribbean, White sands and Blue sea but not much else.

We would definately go back to Cancun but we would stay closer to the resort centre. We would also take Pesos instead of Dollars has they always give change back in Pesos (to confuse you). It was 500pesos/ 50$ to pay yourself out of the counry and if you dont have correct money there is no change given.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: First Choice - 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Hayley Thomas - Berkshire ( 24, 22)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We read the reviews on here before going and went expecting the worst... but when we arrived, we were amazed at how wrong people were!
The hotel was set in gorgeous surroundings, it was clean, the staff were very friendly and the bel boy happily took our cases without expecting a tip (rare in Mexico!)

Our room was cleaned every day, I didn't see any cockroaches/creepy crawlies - but there are iguana's which chill by the lagoon - They're cute!!

The entertainment staff really do make the holiday though - Big thanks to Memo, Augustine, Solei and Clare who entertained us during the day at the pool and took us to the best bars/clubs in the evenings.

Anyway.. the food's not that great but it's so cheap to eat out... that's the only bad thing I have to say about the place.

GO THERE, IT'S BRILLIANT! :0) x

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - Aug 2006

Opinion submitted in February 2007 by : Alex - ( 16 14 49 45)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hello,
We went to this hotel in august 2006 and were very dissapointed. 

To start with Thompson flights have the worst leg room ever! Not great for a 6ft3 lad like me. Apon arriving at the actual Hotel we were greeted by the bellboy - who was obviously after tips but meh i guess thats how it works out there. The hotel is very depressing. There is lack of social areas, and the pool is prety small.The place however is very clean.The biggest downside of the whole place is the food. I cannot stress how bad the food is. We are talking prison food here people! Aswell as some rather rude waiters (but then again some really nice ones) I managed to survive the 2 weeks by ordering dominos pizzas - not exactly my idea of Mexican Food. 

There is "entertainment" every night- if you can call it this, the staff try there hardest but to no avail. However if your idea of a nights fun is Bingo - youll be in heaven. I hear the clubs are amazing but being 16 years old unfortunately im not old enough to go :/ Also DOO NOT buy trips thru the rep, as mentioned in another review wlak down the street and buy em off an american guy whos half the price and friendly. Isla Mejuras is a must if you want to chill away from the copious amounts of people bothering you in Cancun. Also Xelha is great ( a completely natural water park) your ticket give u free food for the whole day whic is great. Chichtinitza or however its spelt was shite. Standing in the blazing sun in such a humid place with a guide tlakin about Menstrual cycles constantly can get bery annoying, trust me. Also another lifeline is the WALMART in Downtown which you can buy everything cheap. Also please bear in mind that in Bullfight the bull is killed... because no one told me and i got the shock of my life. Anyway i hope this helps you cancun will be great for 21 year olds who just wnat somewhere to sleep after a night of partying. For the rest of us its terrible

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours Aug/Sept 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Nikki 21, Rachel 21 and Katie 24 - Wiltshire

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We arrived on a beautiful day at the end of August to a very friendly Airtours Transfer Rep who took us to our hotel.  Along the journey, he pointed out places of interest etc and gave us some helpful information.

On arrival at the hotel, the reception staff were very helpful and friendly.  The cheery Bellboy took our bags up to our room and we gladly tipped him.  Our room was huge!  We had 2 big double beds, a sofa bed, a large television and we were happy to  see that everything was very clean.

Almost every night we went out into Cancun to the bars and clubs with the entertainment staff Augustine, Gabriel and Soliel.  They make sure you get entrance to the club, free drinks all night and a waiter to the table all evening... all at a reasonable price.  During the day they provide the guests with fun activites such as water volleyball, kayaking, darts, water balloon fights and loads more.  They really couldn't do enough for you!
BEST PLACES TO GO OUT AT NIGHT: Coco Bongos is a MUST, but go on a Sunday or Tuesday as these are apparently the best days.  The City is FAB!  Afraid to say that Senor Frogs was a let down; a bit "samey" and really quite boring!

The Resturant was... ok... Most of the waiters were excellent and very helpful and then some of them were... down right rude!  A couple of them, who I won't name, gave us nothing but nasty looks and comments from day one.  The food was a bit repetative - but thats what All Inclusive is!  They really try hard to cater to everyone and in my eyes they did a really good job!  If you find that there's nothing to suit your fancy, resturants are cheap and provide a good selection for all.

Jump on a bus for 7pesos (about 30p) and it'll take you anywhere... just hold on tight!  Agree a price BEFORE you enter a taxi and don't pay any more than $10 or 100pesos to go anywhere.

BE CAREFUL if you go Downtown... a couple of elderly ladies were held at knife-point in Walmart and were mugged.  Downtown is a scary place, just have your wits about you.  You can buy cheap cigarettes/alcohol and soveneirs there.

Make sure you do the Jungle Tour - drive a speedboat across the ocean and stop off for an hour of snorkelling followed by a drive down the Lagoon.  10/10

Xel-Ha is a great day out, a beautiful place.  Lazy River, snorkelling, diving swim with dolphins... the list is endless!  A cracking day out.

All in all, we had an amazing time.  Cancun is a beautiful place with so much to see and do.  The Mexcians are very proud of their Community.  Following the damage that hurricane Wilma caused last year, they have done a tremendous job of all pulling together and restoring buildings and homes.

Holidays are about making the most of what you've got and experiencing the local atmosphere... youpay for 3*, you get 3*... but our holiday was a 5* by miles!

Nikki (21), Rachel(21) and Katie(24)

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson -  Aug 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : 27, 31

Resort Rating: Poor

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We arrived at the Caribbean Princess and was a bit dissapointed in the size of the complex, the bar was a tiny little lobby hardly somewhere where u want to sit and have a drink every night!! the pool was also again quiet small but these we could put up with for our two week stay the main problem was the food it was absolutly terrible read the reviews b4 we left but decided to give it a go maybe the food would be fine but from day two we knew that wouldnt be the case, same thing day in day out, buffet meal choices are very very limited, if you like beef and onions or mexican beans that looks like something you wouldnt even feed your dog for breakfast your ok but my guess is you dont! 

staff are very friendly and do work hard although the entertainment is not very good at all of an evening all 1 hr of it!! If your looking for a 18-30 holiday just for the night life and somewhere 4 u to put your head down then this hotel is fine but for families it is a def no for me. Holiday not all bad tho we had a good holiday in Cancun spent more than we thought due to having to buy food out, Xel Ha was 100% Captain Hook was a must and the isle majeures was lovely, swam with dolphins in Wet n Wild expected wet n wild to have more flumes and stuff but only had about 4 or 5 the dolphins was great tho!!!

A holiday is what you make it but i can assure you i wont be returning to the Caribbean princess.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice aug 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : kate Johnson  

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We booked our holiday to cancun just over a year ago. A few days b4 we were due to travel we were notifed that our hotel was unavailable due to the hurricane. We were told we would be staying in the carribean princess.
Flight to cancun was excellent but what a dissapointment upon arrival at hotel.

The reception area was grubby with stained chairs and sofas, and in 10 minutes we saw as many cockroaches.
When shown our room i just could not believe that this was rated a 3 star hotel.
The sheets were stained, damp and smelly, as were the towels. There was a hole in the bathroom door where it had been punched, and the door was also covered in muck and dried on stains.
Next i pulled back the shower curtain only to reveal a bath full of mud (not just a speck but completly covered)
We were unable to turn on the light in the bathroom, as when we did the extractor fan was so noisey that u couldnt even shout over it.

We ate dinner and breakfast there but i have to say it was the worst food i have ever eaten. The pool area looked as though it was tidy although not clean, and the pool was murky and looked as if that also needed a good clean.
We didnt stay any longer than we had to and immediatley paid $1000 to get transferred.
I have worked myself in the travel industry for some time and i would not rate this hotel a 3 star. It would be pushing it i feel to even rate it as 1 star, to me it was more like a youth hostel.
And talking of youth the hotel is advertised by other companies as a young and lively (18-30) so u can imagine the antics that go on.

I wont say any more but please take notice and if you want a decent hotel n cancun I would not recommend ths one.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - July 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : gemma parkin bristol

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

this was without a doubt one of my best holidays yet,

wewent to cancun for a girlie holiday in july had a brilliant time the hotel is very claen and staff cannot do enough for you.cancun is a beautiful place with plenty to do and see,the only downful was the fact that there wasnt many food choices,we had a briiliant time made loads of friends some of which we are still in contact with now.beware of the crocodiel in the lagoon nearlt took a friends leg off.to any one who is lucky enough to be going here u will never wana go any where else again,  a holiday is what u make it if your looking 4 perfection go stay in the hilton

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel- December 2004

Opinion submitted in Jan 2005 by : Jimmy 40 Doris 38 Daniel 16 James 10- Stoke on trent

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel was fine. its very clean and the staff are very good. the only downside I thougt of with the Hotel was sitting in the recption at night? I think it whould be better if they had a proper looling bar.

the food was ok/ bit much as the same as every other hotel we have stayed in. the kids had a great time at the hotel they said the entertainment staff where great. one off the lads even got off with a girl at the hotel so I think he will rememb er the plac e for ever. if you want to go to a club the place to go is co co bongo! we went 3 times. its a must do.

I know people come on this site to look how the hotel is and not to know what other people did ? so I will say you will have  no worries with the hotel. its a great place so enjoy your stay like we did.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: November 2004

Opinion submitted in Dec 2004 by : Shelagh Bullock

Resort Rating: No rating

Accommodation Rating: No rating

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I was one of the people who complained about this hotel.  I have finally, after 9 months, sorted the problems out.  After complaining on several occasions to First Choice, I have finally managed to get the Hotel to admit their failings and produce a voucher for two weeks, fully inclusive for 4 people. This took a lot of patience. At one point First Choice said they had "washed their hands of me" but I was having none of it. The hotel was clearly in the wrong and we were treated terribly, although I will not go into it again.  If it hadn't been for the problems with the hotel we would have had a great holiday. 

Obviously we shall have to pay for flights and spending. I, personally, will not be returning, but my daughters and boyfriends are quite happy to. Let's hope they don't get food poisoning this time. "Youngsters" enjoy this place because they don't care where they are and it is a "place to put their head down". We were all like that when we were young! Hopefully it will all now be straightfoward.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - august 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Jen + Kym Glasgow ( 21 + 26)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This hotel is absolutly fantastic!!!
when we arrived and saw the amount of space we had we were very pleasently surprised. The staff are all gr8 so nice and friendly. The entertainment staff are very funny although do look out for Sergio the womaniser haha .

The food at the hotel is ok although it is as others have said a bit repetitive. You can however order a Dominos Pizza which is very very cheap and huge which suited us as there ended up being about 10 of us who had met up .

Cancun itself is pretty amazing, the beaches are just stunning so good for lying on chillin and for us quite often nursing a very big hangover!! ouch .

The nightlife is the best iv ever experienced Coco Bongos is defo the best which the hotel visits on a sunday night and is worth seving yourself for.

The two trips i would highly recommend everyone to do are the sppedboat jungle tour and the swimming with dolphins ( best to do on the Isla Majures as u get up close to sharks and stingrays too )

All in all the hotel and the resort are both the best in the world. I came here to celebrate my 21st birthday and it was defo the best eva. met a fantastic group of people who a will neva loose touch with and had a ball even if we ended up totally blitzed every night haha wat can a say free pour drinx (gr8 idea)

So my recommendation is;
EVERYONE MUST GO TO CANCUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - June 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Sadie & Kelly (20,22)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We visited Cancun in June 2004 and must say we had the best holiday ever ( i will say its more of a youngsters resort)

The location was excellent. Its right next to the best nightclub in cancun 'La Boom'
And  only a five minute bus journey from the main part of cancun.
Buses were only 30 Pesos a time which works out less than fifty pence.
I would advise everyone to get on the bus (even thou they are always loaded with people)as taxis are very expensive.

The staff were absolutley amazing and i personally think that they made our holiday as they make you feel very welcome (look out for oddjob, hes well funny).

The hotel is spotless and the staff are constantly cleaning around you. Our room was amazing, we had plenty of space and it was very homely.

Breakfast was great and lunchtime snacks were great and there is a good selection of drinks, however, we did avoid the night time meals and tended to get a pizza as there wasnt much of a selection and i would say that this was they only down point.

There is a shopping plaza called La Isla and thats definatley worth a visit.

We did go on a couple of trips, we swam with the dolphins, even thou this is a one off experience it is a waste of money as you dont get very long.

We also visited an island called Isla Contoy and it was beautiful, you sail for about 2 hours on a small ship and then end up in this beautiful deserted island where no one lives. I would highly recommend this.

Overall i would give this hotel 9/10.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Going Places) Going Places - June 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Neil, Wirral, UK - 34.

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I feel the English (of which I am one) have a terrible propensity to book resorts without understanding the true nature of the place they are visiting.

Well let me forewarn you, if you want a quiet holiday surrounded by like minded fourty something's - don't book Cancun.

However, if you want a lively, brash, fun and loud resort then you wont go far wrong. Also, don't mistake Cancun as being an American equivalent of a tacky British resort in Europe such as Benidorm. It isn't. Canun is still tacky, but whereas the Dog and Duck in Spain will have had £20,000 pounds invested in the facilities by a retired postman from Barnsley, some of Cancuns Bars have obviously had millions spent on their air conditioned luxury and are sponsored by major american institutions.

The hotel itself was okay, the staff were friendly. I got this holiday last minute and only paid £600 for two weeks so I was propably looking through rose tinted glasses.

Pro's: Excellent air conditioning, good mix of people and ages, no gluttons and abusers on the beer and food front (if you have ever been All-Inclusive to Europe you will know exactly what I mean), nice setting, large room, not too many Love and Hate tattoes.

Cons: Very poor bar arrangement (sitting in the reception or being an all inclusive buffet for mossies, by the pool), food uninteresting at best, entertainment appalling, though funny watching them try, hotel not as modern as others.

Don't get upset by the angling for tips - Americans (who are their original and most frequent visitors) have a tipping culture which has not escaped the Mexicans. They are a friendly people who, once outside Cancun, are very poor. Even so, you can go anywhere wihtout fear as long as you apply the usual common sense. I liked them - especially their ability to keep smiling after being verbally abused by US Teenagers.

P.S. Don't go when the American and Canadian Kids are on Spring Break - they are not as badly behaved as our own beloved youth, but it's chaos getting in anywhere and they make you feel even more past it. And beware Mexicans spotting the fact that you have over imbibed - they are excellent at making fools of drunken English tourists - I have the photo's to prove it!

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - June 2004

Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : Cathy Mason - Doncaster (24,22)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

Cancun is a fantastic place, and we were also very impressed with the hotel. The rooms are extremely spacious and very clean. The food is ok, we got a bit bored after a week so went out for a few meals, but the food was fine. There was a good choice of drinks at the hotel, and I did not think that they were watered down as some people mentioned. We agree that the lobby bar is a bit small and the atmosphere is not great in the lobby bar, but there are plenty of bars to visit if you fancy a change for a couple of nights.

If we went back, would probably stay at a hotel on the beach side rather than the lagoon side, as the restaurant at this hotel was down near the lagoon and the mosquitos were terrible due to the still water, but this is really the only complaint. Dolphin beach is definately a must to visit, although there are no sunbeds, the beach is beatiful and virtually empty!!

Xel-ha is also a must, you need biodegradable suncream as the normal suncream can damage the fish, you can buy this there.

Overall a fantastic holiday, will definately visit Cancun again. Not just a place for people wanting a mad and lively atmosphere, we are a young couple who wanted a holiday with plenty to do, without being surrounded by 18-30s clubbers - the ideal place.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - Apr 2004

Opinion submitted in Apr 2004 by : Steve - Bedfordshire (30,31)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

After reading some of the reviews on here I thought I had better add one as I was almost dettered from going to the hotel.

Before leaving for Cancun I looked on this website and was very concerned - so much so I rang MyTravel and asked them to change my hotel. They recommended I tried it first and if I did not like I could change - I am glad I took this advice.

The hotel is on a lagoon which is very relaxing. Some people complained it did not have a sea view or beach but then why did they book this hotel? The hotel is not in the heart of the busy nightlife however as Cancun is some 15 miles long and the bus costs only 6 pesos this makes no difference.

If you want a decent beach I would recommend Playa Delfines - extremely quiet considering we went there over Spring Break.

I was not overly impressed with the breakfasts served but could manage with Coco-Pops! My girlfriend was very impressed with the omelettes though. Lunch was good and the evening meal was normally extremely good - every evening there is a choice of about 5 different dishes and there was always a roasted meat - chicken, pork etc. The beef was fantastic.

We had a room that they call a Junior Suite which had a large bed, sofa, TV etc.. If you want to watch football put Fox Sports on and they show almost every Premiership game a few hours after the real kick-off time.

The room we had was immaculate with vases of flowers (fake) that looked very welcoming. We had a problem with the bathroom light and this was changed within 5 minutes - as the hotel only has 84 rooms they can offer a much better service.

We did hear some people complain about water taking time to heat up however ours was fine.

I would not book with the Reps - speak to Pepe Tours just outside and they will save you ~25%. I agree with the last reviewer regarding taking Pesos - it worked out ~10% cheaper to pay for things in Pesos whilst we were there.

The entertainment is OK and the staff try hard to keep everyone happy. The hotel had a good mix of people - pensioners, couples, families and clubbers. It worked very well.

I would agree with the negative comments about the lobby bar. In the evening it is far too small and this makes service slow. However, on some evenings we stayed in the room and got room service (pay a tip if you like) and this was perfect.

The main pool is an OK size for the size of hotel however I could not believe that by 9am every sunbed had a towel on it!

I read a comment regarding the drinks being watered down - I did not find this. You do not get main brands however (except for Corona). The bar people will serve you exactly what you want and as much as you want!

Overall I would say that we got extremely good value for money at this hotel. It is not a 4* or 5* hotel but then again we did not pay those prices. I would recommend it to anyone.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice Mar/Apr 2004

Opinion submitted in Apr 2004 by : Matt Hegg- Derby 25,52,51

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Well I'd like to start by saying like many others, after reading alot of the reviews before starting this holiday, I was somewhat worried about what to expect, I am a very picky person so I hope that the information I give is some help to you!

Firstly It can take a while from leaving the plane to get to the coach, you have to queue for immigaration and then have your cases searched it took us about an hour. Also dont bother with the case trolleys if you dont need them, its only 200 metres walk to the coach and they charge you £1 or 1$ bit of a scam I think!

The Hotel is not located on the main hotel zone but at the corner of the 'number 7' as they call the cancun resort, but it is by a very pretty lagoon with lots of fish and wildlife. There is a good size pool, a kids pool with slide and a quiet adults only pool. It can be difficult to get sunbeds at time which you expect. The pool bar opens at 10 am -6 serving all drinks and snacks. Then the lobby bar opens 6pm - 1am which is quite small with little or no music and you can struggle for a seat, but generally ok.

Guest are really friendly in the hotel and so are the staff esp miguel on reception and rosie and manuel from the restaurant very friendly and helpful!

Food is ok we thought a good selection really for saying how it must be to cater for so many different tastes, although by the end of the 2 weeks u can get a bit bored, but it is nice to eat out also as you hardly spend any money! The restaurant is kept very clean I thought and tidy. Once or twice a week the food is served outside by the lagoon when there is a show on which is nice.

Rooms are tidy sheets,pillowcases and towels changed everday, we needed some maintenance on a flashing light, the staff were very good and someone fixed it at 11'oclock at night!

Overall we thought the service was excellent, the guys all work very hard, you can tip them 20 0r 30 pesos if u like they do look after you...

I took mexican pesos, dont take dollars waste of time because you just have to change them into pesos again so you lose out! the best thing to take at the time was stirling because you got 20 pesos to the pound! so check rates first!
All in all a good holiday was had chichen itza was great and swimming with the dolphins we booked our trips thru the rep, although alot booked outside but you have to be careful you may not be insured.
Have a good time there!

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - Mar 2004

Opinion submitted in Apr 2004 by : Rob Harris - London (26, 26)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have recently returned from the Caribbean Princess and were very satisfied with our holiday, particularly the resort.

The evenings are mainly for the clubbers in the various joints along the main main strip.  There is, however, a bowling alley at Plaza Kukulkan, a cinema at La Isla, plus plenty of nice restaurants for those looking for something a bit more low key.  The hotel strives to put on regular entertainment, which is good for those wanting to stay and make the most of their free bar!  During the day it's worth exploring the strip for its shopping malls, beaches, flea markets, etc. 

We went on the usual tours (Chichen Itza, Tulum, Xel-Ha, Isla Mujeres, Isla Contoy, Swimming with Dolphins, etc.) and we thought that they were all excellent, especially our morning with the dolphins at the La Isla Aquarium - well worth the money, as is the video of the day that you can buy afterwards.  There's plenty to do in Cancun if you're not a pool fly and the budget can stretch.

The pools at the hotel were always clean and one pool to the back of the restaurants was a lot quieter and for adults only, which was nice.  Unfortunately, there were not enough sunbeds to go around, so, sad as it is, be prepared to get up early to get down there to reserve them if the hotel is busy!  If not, then you can always head to the Beach Club round the back of The City nightclub on the free courtesy bus which the hotel provides at 10am, returning at 3pm.  Remember to get the hotel to give you a voucher to get your free drink!  The sunbeds are free, the view is great and the sand is soft and golden.  The makeshift 'beach' at the hotel is a nice gesture, but concrete covered by a thin layer of sand is never going to beat the real thing!

Don't expect to be spoilt rotten with top notch food at the hotel as part of your all inclusive package.  That's not to say that it wasn't edible or bad enough to make you ill (as others have suggested) but, basically, you get what you pay for (3*).  If you get fed up with the food, we suggest that you get out and about instead (book in advance at reception to ensure you get what you want).  We ate some smashing lobster at Lorenzillos and also recommend La Habichuela for a romantic evening Downtown, whilst you'll need to be hungry if you're thinking of heading to the Rio Steakhouse (directly in front of the hotel) - £15 all you can eat of freshly cooked meat brought round to you every 5 minutes on a skewer!  Lovely.

Pool snacks at the hotel were generally OK (burgers, hot dogs, chips, etc.) except when they were dished up cold, which we thought was a bit bad.

Similarly, breakfast was OK and nice to take overlooking the lagoon, but we did get a bit sick of the fried saveloys after the first week!  And the scrambled eggs with peas were, erm, interesting.  Try getting a fried egg or omelette freshly cooked at the hot stove by the nice lady instead.

The staff were generally very friendly, fun and helpful and we found them to be just as pleased to receive a well-deserved tip at the end of the holiday as on a regular basis.  They were all very polite in our experience apart from the guy who usually ran the hotel lobby bar.   Things started off OK, but pretty soon it became clear that he was actually a legalised beggar, given the number of times he asked me to give him larger tips for pouring two small drinks!  The bottom line is that you shouldn't have to feel awkward on holiday for having a drink which you have, in theory, already paid for as part of your all inclusive package.  Don't be bullied!!

Along with other guests, we had to put up with the usual idiots who you can trust to come back at 5am and wake you up for no other reason than to satisfy their own sense of self worth.  Why can't people just enjoy themselves, then come back and go to bed?  If you want to avoid the stereotypical teenage 'Brits Abroad' posse, then you may want to stay somewhere where you'd expect the price to hopefully be out of their range, like the Hyatt Rgeency or The Hilton.

The rooms were spacious, clean and made-up on time in our experience and the maids are well worth their tip.  The balcony was a nice place to chill out after a day in the sun and I was pleased to be able to pick up the Premiership football results at the weekends on the box!

Hope you enjoy your own holiday.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - March 2004

Opinion submitted in Mar 2004 by : Ann and Ian Gresty - Merseyside (59, 52)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Food in the Hotel is excellent and the choice of menu is varied. Absolutely no need to go out to eat. Chichen Itza is a must see, but is a long day out and can be tiring. Plenty to see and do in resort for all age groups. Staff really friendly and obliging.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - Feb 2004

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: No rating

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

All I can say is that after looking at the more recent reviews about this hotel that I am gob-smacked! Hopefully it has improved since I was there. I visited this hotel in February and found it to be pretty awful. 

All the bad things that have been said about it are true. Breakfast was cold and "interesting", other meals were also "interesting".  They stated what they were but I couldn't see how!! Even dishes on the so-called a-la-carte menu changed from one day to the next. I had the steak one night which came with all the trimmings (and was fairly reasonable) When my Mum had it the next evening she got a chewed up bit of meat and a few chips. Go figure! 

The hotel obviously was in need of a drastic overhaul, taking into account the number of people who were complaining about "problems" with their rooms. No investment for a while I think. 

The pool was OK but no sunbeds were to be had anywhere and our balcony had no sun, hence I returned home without a tan (boo hoo). We went to the beach at Fat Tuesday's bar but were continually hassled by bar staff looking for business.  My daughter (22) could not relax for a minute.  "You have beautiful eyes" etc. It's all about the "tips", which puts a bit of a downer on things.

Entertainment at this hotel didn't amount to much.  They tried and "were trying".  The only good thing was that about 10.30 p.m. they gathered a group of the younger ones together in the bar and they all "as a group" went to the clubs.  It made parents (like myself) sleep a bit easier knowing they would all be together, because Cancun is a "wild" place.

The bar in the hotel is the reception area and is very small, with very little seating. We frequently had to go out to the pool area and get plastic chairs to sit on. The barman there is "all about tips". (Most of them are) It makes you wonder if the Mexican people REALLY have a friendly bone in their bodies. The problem is you just don't know what to believe. Maybe it is the "American" influence, or lack of a decent wage.

When you arrive you are given a wrist band.  Whatever you do don't remove it (like I did, because I can't stand things on my wrist).  They refused to serve me.  I then had to "safety pin" in together to get fed. (Maybe not such a good idea after all.)

Tip - If you want a telephone card to phone home go to the supermarket/pharmacy around the corner. The girl sells them there (under the counter)  that last 30 minutes.  The cards at reception last 10 minutes. Also, when booking trips don't go through the Rep.  There is an American chap round the corner to the right who does them half the price.  Very friendly and helpful.

The hotel location is not ideal and the vicinity is a bit scruffy. You can get a bus for 6 pesos which takes you anywhere though. These are also "interesting". You would be lucky not to be injured after coming off one of these. They are jam-packed most of the time and have "entertainment" - singers, guitarists etc.  One day there was a boy who must have been about 8 trying to sing "probably for his supper".  I found it extremely difficult to tip him as I thought he should have been in school and I would only encourage him to become a beggar. (My upbringing I suppose). 

Another day when we were on a bus there was on elderly lady with a zimmer frame.  The bus was full with men but not one of them got up.  I gave her my seat (as I would have done at home) and she was very surprised.  Is this the family orientated society we are lead to believe exists in Mexico?

There are lots of trips you can go on if you are inclined.  My daughters swam with the Dolphins and thought it was fantastic. They went to Wet and Wild and managed to get a cheaper deal (from the American Bloke round the corner). It was 1/2 an hour but ended being a lot longer. Entrance to the park was included and you could stay all day.  It was much cheaper than the other dolphin trips.

My Mum and I decided to visit Chitziniza (I spelled that wrong). If you are into ruins and culture then OK.  It was very interesting but we realised that in the 3 1/2 hours each way it took to get there we could have gone to the Canaries and back again. It was a very long, hot and tiring day.  My Mum spent the next day in bed recovering.

When Mum was in bed recovering myself and the girls visited the Island Mejeures.  This was a good day, apart from the fact that I had food poisoning from eating the hotel food. We hired a golf buggie for a few hours and got completely lost.  It amazes me that they allow you to drive them on the open road (with cars whizzing around you) - very dangerous. The trip had the usual Mexican guitar entertainment and standard "excursion" food but the beach you got to relax on before going home was ideal. Hammocks and sunbeds and pina coladas - bliss. The return boat trip was an attempt at a party with the usual games but wasn't overboard!!!

On my daughter's 22nd birthday we visited the Outback Steakhouse.  Go there.  The food and service was brilliant. Such a difference from the hotel.

In concluding, I believe that the Caribbean Princess hotel doesn't have any American guests because they would not put up with the poor standard.  Maybe we (Brits) should take a second look?????

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice February 2004

Opinion submitted in Mar 2004 by : Ages 73, 44, 22 and 20

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Having previously had only 2 hours' sleep the night before and been travelling for 16 hours we were not expecting the nightmare at the airport.  Be warned.  It took us 3 and a half hours from when we landed until our coach left for the hotel. First it was a queue for immigration, then another queue where they searched every single case.

Then, when we arrived at the hotel our party was singled out by the Manager who informed us that he had made a mistake and only had one room for the four of us.  We had booked and paid for two rooms with two double beds in each.  We were put into a "suite???" (someone's timeshare)and had little choice as nothing else was available. This was totally unsuitable because we specifically booked two rooms because my daughters would be doing completely different things from my Mother and myself (e.g. clubbing and coming in at all hours).

Then started a nightmare of a holiday, as if it couldn't get any worse.  We had problems with the shower, then we had water coming up through the tiles and flooding the bathroom and bedroom floor. The Management were arrogant and obnoxious at the best of times and the maintenance crew (who must have come up about 15 times) were a joke.  After about 8 days of complaining and them trying to fix it we complained to First Choice. We finally got it fixed on the 9th day of our holiday.

I believe that the majority of contributors on this site are young and enjoy the club scene and are not interested in much else other than enjoying the "party" every night with Charlie and his gang, which is great if that's what you want.  When you are young you will sleep anywhere and the realities go out the window. Perhaps they don't know any different.

This hotel is definitely not a 4 star, not even a 3 star. The "adult" pool is the size of a large jacuzzi with about 6 sunbeds around it.  There were never any sunbeds to be had anywhere. We had to go to the beach. The food was repetitive and cold most of the time, especially the breakfast. Your best bet is to have an omelette which is freshly cooked.  The drinks were practically non-alcoholic or "severely watered down". The bar is the reception area and very small. They don't even have background music. The entertainment was like something from a children's party most nights, with the exception of one night when they had professional Mexican dancers. 

The area surrounding the hotel is like a rubbish tip and very run down. We had cockroaches in our room and they were seen frequently in the restaurant.  The water in our room took 10 minutes to just get just warm. I was really glad to get home, but to top it all I'm still reliving this disaster of a holiday every day because I (and my Mum) are still suffering from severe food poisoning from eating the food there.

The resort itself is very busy and be very careful on the buses as they don't let you get a chance to sit down. There are lots of clubs for the young and lively but little for the more mature party goer. It is a very large place so be prepared to deal with it. I would go back to Cancun for the beaches but would NEVER NEVER EVER AGAIN stay at this hotel.  Be warned!!

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice  - January 2004

Opinion submitted in Mar 2004 by : Peter & Michelle Johnson (34 ,32) Les & Pat Eardley (53,41)  Staffordshire.

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Before my husband & I arrived at the Caribbean Princess we looked on holidays uncovered to view the reports of former guests staying at our hotel & were really relieved to read such good reports. My main concern however was the food issue as every person commented on how nice the staff were & the hotel was really clean & friendly but the food left a bit to be desired.  

When we got there after a 10 hour flight we were really tired & left dizzy by the immagration nightmere at mexico airport as it is such a crazy system once your there, ( wear comfy shoes & prepare to wait a while). We were given a room key (card) & discovered that our room was miles away from our friends to whom we booked & travelled with so the hotel moved us to a free upgrade the next day which was the honeymoon suite. We couldn't have wished for a better room it was fantastic with a view to die for.

The next day we had a proper look around the complex & were really happy with everything. It was just like we read on the web site & was perfect. The staff were amazing the fortnight we were there especially The entertainment team Ivan Alex Tracy & Charlie. The food was really nice when we arrived which left all of us puzzled to why there had been so many complaints but as the holiday went by the standard began to slip & we found the food to be the same every day. Some days it was really nice & others dreadfull!which was a great shame because it is such a great little hotel with friendly staff & guests that the only thing which lets the Caribbean Princess down is the sheer standard of food.

I would hand on heart recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a friendly hotel with a great pool plus a strictly adults only pool ( which was small but loverly) fantastic gardens & scenery, very comfy rooms which are out of this world and an overall good time in  fantastic Mexico.

We would go back to the Caribbean Princess for another holiday but they would have to drastically change the menu first.

Mexico is such a fantastic place (a piece of paradise) and can't wait to return!!!!!

so to everyone reading this review have a wonderful time in Mexico & bon voyuge.

P.s The waiters & bar staff will treat you like royalty (they're fab)

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice Jan 2004

Opinion submitted in Feb 2004 by : Martyn and Mo

Resort Rating: Average

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel is small, and very friendly. The staff made a real effort to do all they could to make the stay enjoyable. The rooms were kept very clean, but be warned the mattresses are very hard. The hotel could also benefit from entrance lobby not doubling as the evening bar.

My major concern about the holiday, was the food hygene standards, these being positively dangerous and extremely unhealthy. The rice was reheated and served either at the next meal sitting and even the next day. Toast at breakfast was recycled between different tables. Glasses only saw a glass washer infrequently. This resulted in a multitude of afflictions with many of the guests.

I personally sucumbed to a throat infection which lasted most of the second week, it was extremely painful, and involved a course of anti-biotics, (fortunately these are available without perscription in Mexico). Many of the other guests also complained that the food was almost inedible, it did make for some creativity at meal times, cold chip butties, and yoguart were a common staple in the diet. The food did improve maginally whilst we were there, but not to the extent where it could be considered passable for the U.K. despite constant complaints to the holiday reps. I lost count of the number of people who moved to other hotels, either at no charge or by paying a substantial extra fee.

We found it more refreshing to travel to Downtown, rather than get entwined in the hustle and bustle of the main resort. Cancun does seem to have been set up to cater for the throngs of Americans that visit in there droves, this does tend to overpower the Mexican culture.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - Oct 2003

Opinion submitted in Nov 2003 by : Vicky & Ken - Birmingham (29, 29)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

What a great place.  The Caribbean Princess is clean and friendly and the Entertainment staff are great, the main pool is busy with music playing and pool games organised and around the other side is a small quiet pool if you want to get away from the fun.  Of an evening at around 10:30 in the hotel foyer the entertainment staff organise a different evening out each day for all you young people that want to go clubbing, you buy a wrist band for about £16 and that gets you free drinks all night.

If you go on an excursion I don't advise buying them with the rep as they don't pick you up or drop you off so it's not worth it, you have to make your own way there but the buses are great really cheap and come every minute, e.g. Jungle Tour; Rep = $45, Main Cancun strip $35 and Downtown Cancun $28.

There is so much to do we need to go back again and we will be.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - July 2003

Opinion submitted in Aug 2003 by : Carol & Ian - Wigan (24, 25)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from the Caribbean Princess in Cancun and we have had a fantastic time.  All of the staff are really friendly and there are guests of all ages.  The hotel is small and is positioned on a lovely lagoon and although we would have preferred to be near the gorgeous Dolphin beach, it was really easy and cheap to catch a bus. 
Whist we were there, we visited the Chictzen Itza (extremely hot), we hired speed boats and we swam with dolphins (what an experience).

The All-Inclusive service at the hotel is good and includes a wide variety of cocktails and spirits and nice food (although not a massive variety).  The rooms are gorgeous, with air-conditioning and they are kept really clean (every day).

You should visit Rio steak house whilst you are there to sample the frogs legs, crocodile and Ostrich meat.  It's fab!! 

Small Tip - You need to get down to the pool early if you'd like a sun lounger.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - April 2003

Opinion submitted in July 2003 by : Andy Brockway - Bouremouth (42, 41)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Carribean Princess is a lovely small hotel occupied by mainly British holiday makers.  Out of season it had a varieety of ages but virtually no children.

The staff are without exception brilliant.  Because it is small the staff soon get to know you and are always friendly, From the concierge who will get you a taxi, carry your bags get the phone working   all with a wonderful smile, to the waiters and bar staff, Alberto the restaurant manager who got to call me MR RANDY every day.  The entertainment staff work extremly hard and put on several shows a week.  They are not professionally trained but I defy anybody to see a better show than the the International Music show with 'Charlie" as support for 'MADONNA'.  Total commitment and hilarious.

Dont be put off that the hotel is on the lagoon.  In April the Mozzies were not really a problem and the view out onto the water was very quiet.

The food in the restaurant is very good with a reasonable choice  when you consider there are only 80 rooms.  Could have been  a bit more exciting but the outdoor meals done twice a week were very good.  No queues unlike some people who stayed at the large hotels.

As far as excursions are concerned We booked mainly through the rep.  However others booked either from the jet ski boy or the man around the corner.  They had no problems and got their trips cheaper.
Chichen Itza was great albeit very very hot.  Not a lot of shade but a superb meal on the way and a video on the way back.  Also did the catamaran trip a Touch of Luxery.  Excellent.  Service good, food excellent, Island great, Pity no Snorkling due to the wind.

Went to Pat OBrians which was a great meal and show.  The nightclubs are very American and full of kids.
We did the Dolphins at Isla Majeres.  I dived with them as I took my PADI course out there,  My wife swam with them .  Excellent Great quality video if a little pricey.  But its not something you do every day.
On a housekeeping front found a Launderette which did a service wash/dry and Iron for £1 a Kilo.  Just up from the hotel near the didco with the London Buses.  Great for taking clean dry clothes home after the holiday.
MyTravel or Airtours charge for over weight baggage.  this is nothing to do with MEXICO its purely Airtours.  First Choice had more baggage allowance and no excess baggage costs.
All in all this was an excellent holiday at a good value hotel.  No complaints and we will be going back one day soon.  Deby and Andy Brockway

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel (airtours) Jan 03

Opinion submitted in Jan 2003 by : Helen and Steve (34, 41)

Resort Rating: Below Average

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We came home with the view that we loved Mexico but not Cancun. Cancun is a very built up and heavily Americanised resort. If you are hoping to enjoy the real Mexico, do not go to Cancun. Its all immaculately presented but it could be anywhere in the World. Our negative view was that it was like Blackpool for Americans.

The hotel was ok. There are apparently four grades of room and we were pleased with ours whatever grade it was. Huge bed and lots of space. Very clean and a friendly maid. The hotel was small and it lacked a decent bar. The bar is actually the hotel lobby! Nice. The food was very disappointing. A buffet style restaraunt which has a variety of dishes but all were a bit bland and not the merest hint of any spices! You could eat outside (with mosquitos)and have Mexican food - enchiladas, fajitas etc, but still no feel for what local Mexicans might eat. Loads of restaraunts around the resort including unfortunately TGI Fridays, Planet Hollywood and endless repetitive theme eateries that you can get anywhere in the World. If you pay more you can eat in some lovely places overlooking the Lagoon (Lorenzillos for lobster and seafood, Laguna Grill for a smart night out. The best food we had was when we went out of Cancun. We hired a car for a week (no problems at all even though reps will try to put you off - dont be afraid to bargain)and drove to quite a few other places including Merida (4 hrs away and GREAT), Tulum and Playa Del Carmen. These were much more like the Mexico we had anticipated and hoped for.

The other surprise was just how many larger louty types there were in our hotel. You know, the ones that shout loudly in English to the Mexican staff in order to be understood better!!! And spend all day taking advantage of the all inclusive bar. I thought Torremolinas was more their scene. Be warned. The hotel staff were great though, very friendly and helpful.

On the whole we had a great time but that was largely down to our own initiative to get out of the hotel and Cancun. If you truly want to go all inclusive and dont want to make any effort, think very carefully about Cancun. You might as well save money and go to Spain.

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - Jan 2003

Opinion submitted in Jan 2003 by : Nicola Carty

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We went to The Carribean Princess in January 2003 and had a fantastic time. We booked a late deal and for the price we paid we couldn't have asked for more. The food was nice - nothing extravagant but always fresh. The Al A Carte resteraunt definatly has to be tried! Rooms were pretty basic but had all you need to be comfortable. The pool area and ammenites were very good - always clean. Be careful at dusk however - as being on a Lagoon the mosquitos were rife. The bus service in Cancun is amazing - buses run every 4 minutes and you can get any where on the island in 15 minutes. The Mexican people are fantasicly welcoming and made our stay. One word of advice - DONT book your trips with your rep, several people did at the hotel did, but later cancelled. As the tour oparators cahrge at least £25.00 on top of all of them. We booked all our trips with a tour man called 'seven' out the front of the hotel and couln't have had a better service on all of them. Anyway all there is left to say is DONT delay book today! :)

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - Date Not Specified

Opinion submitted in Apr 2004 by : Amy   ,   33

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This resort has definitly been one of the best holidays I have ever had. Thouroughly enjoyable. The staff are ablsotely amazing, the resturant is small but lovely and the food does need improving but it's only picky, miserable people that seem to complain and those that just want their money back.

The rooms are lovely and the view of the piecful lagoon ( especially over breakfast ) is beautiful.
The management staff are terrible.

The best thing about the hotel was the entertainment staff!! They were brilliant, really entertaining, so friendly and worked the hardest out of everybody providing us with games by the pool, crazy activities and nightly shows or games. The show I loved the most was the one with Charlie and Tracy as Madonna and Micheal Jackson, not forgetting Stevie and his Dog!!! A fantastic show! A personal comment to this couple....Tracie and Charlie, thankyou for making my stay so enjoyable, and you truely are too good for that hotel. I wish you happiness for your future together and wish you all the success, God Bless You!!!
Book this holiday today, very enjoyable!!!

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Caribbean Princess - Cancun

Opinion submitted in Oct 2003 by : Shona & Katie (20 & 19) - Date Not Specified

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel Caribean Princess is without a doubt the best hotel I have ever stayed at.
I have been to Falaraki, New york, Spain & Jamaica but Cancun without out a doubt beat them all.
I went to Mexico mainly to swim with the Dolphins not excpecting it to be the Party land that it was.
Myself and katie was out every single night!!! The brilliant entertainment staff do special deals every night where you pay $20 and get entry into a club and then drink all you like all night(needless to say there where a few hang overs to be had).

There are loads of brilliant clubs to go to where the fantastic entertainment crew(charlie, Iven & Tracey) escort you to. The best clubs I would say to visit (for all you youngsters) would be 'La Boom, Daddy Rock, Daddy O, Bull Dog Cafe & last but not least Coco Bongo'. There is also a club called 'Fat Tuesdays' but its best to go there in hardly know clothes because it does get really hot & sweaty!!!

Let me just say that I give the Caribean Princess a rating of 10/10. The staff where fantastic, especially the little Bell boy. Everyone always seems to be smiling. I think that from where the Hotel is such a small one compared to all the other hotels around it has a better atmosphere.

Im planning on going back again next year and am hoping to have the holiday of a lifetime all over again!
Ow and....dont book tours with the reps, outside the front of the hotel to the left side of the little shops there is a little man in a little booth who will book them for you alot cheaper & they wont get cancelled.

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - Sept 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : fleming party - 33,33,28,28,14,13

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

just back yesterday from CANCUN and this hotel. it is in need of decoration, but its very clean and the beds and towels are changed every day! look out for the different towel animals from your maid! we used half a camera for just these!!

the entertainment staff were FANTASTIC - julian, manuel, carolina, jessica, jocelyn,marcella, david, eloy, alex and cha-cha charlie - U GUYS ROCK!!

we had two kids with us, so we didnt get out to the clubs, but we met plenty of people who went out with the FUN CLUB and had a ball. this was our 1st time to mexico, and apart from the flight, and the slowness of cancun airport staff, it was fantastic! we felt the slight effects of hurricane katrina and saw some fab lighting and rain, one storm we got was absolutely amazing! 

word of warning though! DONT LISTEN TO THE THOMSON REPS!  ours sold us our dolphin trip and told us we would get food and drink included, and we did not! we spoke to 3 other couples who came with THOMSON but were at a different hotel and had a different rep, and they were told the same! also - if you want photos of you swimming with the dolphins, take lots of money!! (you arent allowed to use your own camera). 

food in the hotel gets a bit boring after 2 weeks, but the place is clean and the staff are very nice! watch out 4 the lifts though - they broke down quite a lot during our stay. and go on the CAPTAIN HOOK ADVENTURE (try for the red boat) cuz we had the BEST night EVER! ENJOY!!

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson June/July 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Jack Austin 23 Kelly Davies 22

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just returned from a totally amazing holiday in Cancun.  From the weather to the hotel, beach, pool, food, shops - everything was perfect!  The hotel was absolutely brilliant - excellent entertainment staff beside the pool doing activities such as water polo, basketball, volleyball, football, spanish lessons, origamy lessons, cooking lessons, aerobics and loads more! The night entertainment was good with a different show every night.  Lovely food - choice from the buffet which was a good selection was worried cos i'm veggie but the food was fine.  There was an italian which was our favourite, a mexican and a brazilian.  Coco Bongos definately a place to go- the show was fantastic absolutely brill night!

Highlights of the holiday was swimming with the dolphins in the sea life adventure park in Rivera Maya.  We swam with manatees, stingrays and dolphins all in one day and had a great time. 

A fantastic place that we wouldn't hesitate going back to .  We love Cancun!!

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Emma Williams South Wales

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We flew from Gatwick on the 23/06 and were staying at the O.C.V for 14 nights. There was a party of 4 traveling all between the ages of 21 and 27.
When we arrived in Mexico the weather was o.k, slihgtly overcast but that was fine as we expected some rain during their hurricane season (We had about 4 days of rain). 

When we arrived at airport it was an absolute nightmare having to queue for aprox an hour and a half to get our passports checked and then wait for our bags and then join another queue  for each bag to be checked individualy. When we arrived at the hotel the reception was bright and the staff were all very nice. We arranged for the room safe and collect our towel cards ( you get free pool towels- which you can take back at the end of everyday, so you can keep the wait of your case down by leaving yours at home).

The rooms  as we entered were very dated and in dier need of a total re-furbishment, the smell of damp and 'old' was overwhelming but after a week you got used to it. The view was great from the window though looking over the pool and the spectacular beach. None of the rooms have a balcony except the ones that are reserved for VIP members. The room was very clean though and the maid came everyday, which was great. We ended up tipping her a £10.

The food at the hotel is excellent but does get a bit boring if you eat in the buffet restaurant everynight. I would definatley reconmend the Italian. All the staff members are great!Swim with the dolphins it's an expericence of a life time but look around for a good deal. Have a good 1! Em      

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Diane Napier - Fife (38,36,39,41,18,21,9)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Having just returned from Cancun, I cannot recommend this hotel highly enough.  Yes, ok, the rooms could do with a revamp, but they were spotlessly clean, with clean towels and sheets everyday.

The hotel staff cannot do enough for you, how they remember everyone's name is beyond me! 

The location is second to none, I have never been on a beach as beautiful as the one on the doorstep.  The sea is gorgeous, a bit rough sometimes, but great fun.

Entertainment is high on the hotels list of priorities.  The fun club have a list of daily activities and try to encourage guest participation.  They put on a show every night in the on site theatre.  Some of the shows really blew us away, they were fantastic.

The food in the hotel was really good, and had plenty of variety.  Usually there was a theme associated with dinner, ie oriental, gala, mexican.  We ate in the on site mexican restaurant on my birthday and Angel, the waiter, made the night very special and treated me like a queen.  The food was to die for!!

The hotel is only a 10 minute bus ride away from the nightlife.  The buses run every 5 seconds! and are really cheap.

Shops are not really any cheaper than back home, but you can haggle and pick up a bargain at the flea markets.

We were a large(ish) party, of varying ages and none of us had anything to complain about.

GO......YOU'LL LOVE IT!

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - June 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : Serena Shah - London (23, 20)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

My boyfriend and I have just returned from the most amazing holiday ever. We had such a fantastic time and would recommend this place to anyone.

When you arrive at the airport, look out for a woman handing out blue plastic bags. Take one. They are free and there's loads of information about Cancun in them as well as lots of fantastic discount vouchers. Ignore everyone else that WILL approach you. They're just trying to sell stuff.

The hotel was fantastic! Most, if not all rooms have an ocean view. We were very lucky as we stayed in room 508 on the fifth floor which also overlooked the pool and bar. The view was breathtaking.

The rooms are very spacious. It is equipped with a sink, large fridge and coffee making machine. The bathroom is nice. Nothing special, just an ordinary shower, toilet etc. The good thing is there is ALWAYS hot water!

The maid cleans the rooms everyday  and towels are changed everyday. She always made lovely animal shapes out of our towels and left the room spotless and very clean.

All members of staff at this hotel are lovely and friendly and go out of their way to make you feel very welcome.

The pool is huge. There is a pool bar with a swim up bit which is great. There is also a jucuzzi.

The hotel has a little disco at night which is okay. We went there on a couple of nights. First night wasn't so good, second night was great! There were more people and they were playing better music!

The location of the hotel is fantastic! There are shops and a pizza place just across the road, and a little further down is a great shopping centre...called Isla Mujeres.

Buses come along every 30 seconds literally! Its about 20p and they take you right down the hotel zone. Cancun's 'party zone' was about a 10 minute bus ride away. Taxi's are also quite cheap...make sure you agree a price before you get in and be prepared to haggle. Never settle with the first price..You'll be surprised at how much they come down and this goes for pretty much everywhere...shops, tours etc.

The only disappointment in this hotel was the food. Although there is a wide selection to choose from, I wasn't very keen on it nor was my boyfriend, but saying that we wern't too keen on the food when we ate out either!

BEACH - The beach is beautiful...crystal clear blue water and pure white sand. From the hotel, you just walk down the steps and the beach is right there! The hotel supplies loungers, and this area of the beach is lovely and quiet. As you walk up more, it gets quite crowded.

TOURS - JUNGLE TOUR is great. Speed boat is fantastic. DON'T buy from your holiday rep, shop around because you'll find some great deals. We haggled and got jungle tour for 35 dollars pp..holiday rep was selling it for 55!

SKY RIDER - Fantasic. You get some great views from up there.

DOLPHIN SWIM - What an experience! something I'll never forget

COCO BONGO - Vey crowded. (Try and get there for when it opens at 10.30) But we had a great time

THE CITY - Loved it. Much bigger than Coco Bongo and less crowded.

We were told that La Boom is a great club too, but never got to go.

We went during summer break, and were a bit worried about all the young Americans being too 'in your face'. Well I take that right back.. I admit they are loud, but great fun and just out to have a good time like the rest of us! Most of them are really friendly anyway. (I don't think I would go during spring break though.)

I wouldn't say that this place isn't romantic, as we met many newly engaged couples travelling alone together, and we were asked a thousand times if we were honeymooners!

It's a great place and it's got something for everyone. We had the time of our lives and will definitley be going back.

Happy Holidays!

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson april 2005

Opinion submitted in Apr 2005 by : Jenny Jones 20 20 22 22

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Got back on friday and possibly had the best time of my life- havent had all the photos back yet but cant wait to go back there!!

My highlight would definately be 'coc bongos' we went on the bus arranged by the hotel which definatley had best atmosphere.

honestly could not have asked for a better holiday.Made loads of great friends ( including the blackpool boys kenny, bez, gaz and adam- if any of you read this please get in touch, i lost my mobile the other night and have lost your number kenny- sorry )

Definatley recomend the hotel to anyone who likes the sun, sea snd .... shots!!!

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson-april 2005

Opinion submitted in Apr 2005 by : jenny jones -north wales 20,20,22,22

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Came back on friday morning- very jet lagged and horrible flight but worth it!!

loved every minute of being there, didnt wan tot come home!!everyone very friendly-staff and guests!

Didnt take too much money cause in all inclusive so only went on 3 of the nigths with the hotel team- worth it though- you get vip tables, free bar and entrance and amazing atmosphere!! coco bongos is a must- almost forgot about drinkin cause so much going on around!... managed to get v,. drunk tho!!

Definately go back!

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: air tours - 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : sarah and sanny (30-28)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

10 hour flight in a cramped aircraft(brittania)food wasnt that nice either. Airport very old. Very long process to getting out of the airport. Everyones suitcase and hand luggage is searched and the trolleys to carry your luggage on are'nt free. They want $2 or £1 from you, and you only need it for about 1 minute cos the airport is so small.
A rep was waiting outside for us and he led us to a small people carrier where we had to wait about half an hour to find the driver!
Everyone expects a tip, the driver, the bell boy, restaurants, bars even on the trips they want a tip at the end for taking you on the trip!!!

The hotel was ok, abit old fashioned but clean.
Beware of the lifts. They kept breaking down, quite a few times they broke down down with us in them. Especially the one on the left.
The room was clean but again 1960s style. The room is air condtioned but again its old so at night when everywhere is quiet it does hum quite loudly. The room was very basic with no fridge but it did have cable tv, the room is carpetted which did feel abit sticky. The bathroom wasnt very nice, smelt damp and the shower was an antique which saturated the floor everytime we took a shower.
Fresh towels were put in the room everyday
Every room has a beach view but only the delux rooms have a balcony and at $55 a night we opted for a just a window.

The hotel has lots of pool side entertainment during the day which can get very noisy but the pool on the far side is alot quieter for those who want to just chill out, like i did. There is also a show on everynight laid on by the staff and after they take you to a different night club vip style.
The hotel looks like the queens med hospital in nottingham but dont let that put you off, all the staff are nice and friendly and speak good english.

The food is alright. Alot of variety but its more or less the same everyday so by the end of the fortnight is was getting abit boring. The restaurant was clean though. The hotel also has 3 a la carte restaurants. Brasil, mexican and italian. You are allowed to eat in each one once a week. The italian was outstanding.mmmm
There is also 2 bars which one is by the pool side and half of it is lowered so you can sit in the pool and have a drink at the bar at the same time.
It is very close by to downtown and to 2 large malls and the buses are cheap and frequent too.

Overall the hotel wasnt bad, but i would probably opt for a better star hotel if i was ever to go back to cancun.

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - Nov 2004

Opinion submitted in Feb 2005 by : Angie & Liam (23 + 21)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

First long haul hols away and would rate as best holiday so far and is going to be very hard to beat! Hotel was clean, rooms cleaned thoroughly every day. Warm welcome on arrival and pleasant staff that are always willing to help.

Entertainment group are brilliant and put on the most amazing shows before taking you out clubbing every night! Good location for all the main shopping malls and nightlife (5 mins bus ride to centre of Cancun, buses run every couple of minutes!). Would recommend visiting "The City, CocoBongos, and Pat O'Briens" (be warned the Hurricane cocktails are deadly!!)

Would recommend swimming with Dolphins at Dolphin Discovery (although more expensive than some similar excursions, its well worth it). Would also recommend the Jungle Tour and trip to Island of Women. Hotels beach is A1, probably one of the best stretches of beach there. 

Will definitely be going back to Cancun and this hotel very soon.

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - september 2004

Opinion submitted in Nov 2004 by : beki ann terry (16, 38, 42)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

what can i say this holiday was the very best we have ever had.
we were greeted on arrival by our rep. we got to the hotel all staff greeted us.
our rooms were always clean and tidy.but could have done with a fridge.
in the rest aurant food was always well food and had a good selection, you were always made welcome.
during the day staff always made sure you were happy at night the entertainment was out of this world.after you had the choice to go to a top night club v i p style.(very good!!!)
we will be returning for my 18 th im counting the days away!!!!!
special thanks to davi and jesus out of the dinning area and sorry i dont no the name of the manager in the italian restaurant.
all entertainment staff you deserve gold medals...thanks julian and georgio

thank you !!!!!!*****

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Hayes & Jarvis Direct) Hayes and Jarvis - September 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Miss Cambridge - Morecambe (34,31,03)

Resort Rating: Average

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel rooms are awful and smelly and in desperate need of refurbishment.
The hotel food is OK but not much variety for children.
Hotel staff are friendly especially with children.
Avoid timeshare staff who are in hotel.
Beaches are beautiful.
If taking young children to swim with dolphins, either go to wet and wild or the aquarium in La Isla shopping centre.
Would not recommend the hotel rooms as 3*+ as in brochures, I would say 2 star.

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson june 2004

Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : shaun and pauline liverpool, 24,40

Resort Rating: Below Average

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

ive been to cancun lots of times and also playa del carmen we booked this after reading the comments on this page as i to write truthfully about the places were i stay as we arrived it looked lovely we went to check in and because we were returning guests as we stayed in there twin resort in playadel carmen we were given red bands instead of green ones and got lots of complimentry bits they also upgraded are room or so the said we had a beach view 

all excited we went off with the bell boy to our room as we walked out of the lift a smell hit us it was filthy
we waled along the corridor to our room 401 the door was opened to another smell of damp i have been all over the world and sometimes stayed in some awful places but this one was the worst 

it had carpets on the floor that were dirty and wet a large window that opened about 2 inches the toilet was brokenthe wardrobe had no door on it so when you got changed everything was always damp the food was a disgrace and always the same the shows at night were awful and to the person who wrote from 2003 the work still hasnt been done its getting done in september this year what ever, i work in a hospital as a nurse in the pool during the day looking up at the hotel it was like looking at my hospital i always believe that a holiday is what you make it unfortunatly i would put anyone going to the carribean village cancun

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Carribean Village (Occidental) - Cancun

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - may2004

Opinion submitted in June 2004 by : Lauren Collins 17,18

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

The staff in the hotel were excellent always willing..!
Food was horrible maybe im just fussy but it always seemed cold.. BUT you have to go to the italian a la carte restaurant its lovely.... and no fridges in the room which you really do need..

dont do any dolphin trips throw the first choice reps its a rip of.! do it locally...

the entertainment in the hotel was EXCELLENT all throw the day water polo vollyball ect n the evening shows are great. they even take you to the clubs n its cheaper to go throw them then just going on your own....

shopping was excellent n cheap..!

one bit of advice dnt tip everybody just the bell boy and then everyone else at the end of the holiday if u want..

the beach is LOVELY it was like haven on earth ...

over all a good holiday just shame about the food...!

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Carribean Village - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Skyservice - Apr 2003

Opinion submitted in Sept 2003 by : Stacey and Kevin (25, 26)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

From the day we arrived we had such a good time.  The welcoming staff were pleasant and helped you with everything.  They were very organized and prompt. 

The hotel rooms are standard.  They keep them very clean and you are welcomed every morning with a different towel arrangement.

The hotel is situated on the beach with just a short walk away from the waves.  The water is absolutely gorgeous. 

Nightlife in Cancun is one-of-a-kind.  You will meet lots of people who are friendly, upbeat and who will definitely have a good time. 

The entertainment staff were fantastic.  They really catered to the audience.  All ages were welcome and the show was definitely geared for all types of people.  The staff were creative and really got the guests involved as well.

Only a 10-minute bus ride from the hotel and a 5-minute walk from the malls, you really can't run out of anything to do.  They have plenty of activities at your leisure and I would recommend parasailing and jetskiing for sure! 

I would definitely recommend Cancun to anyone.  You have the ability to relax and party all in one place.  I would also strongly recommend this 4 star hotel as well.

We had a vacation that will never be forgotten!

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Carribean Village - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson April 2003

Opinion submitted in June 2003 by : Debbie & Colin 33 & 26

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Absolutely fantastic hotel and resort.  No complaints at all.  We got married at the hotel and we left everything in the hands of our Wedding Co-ordinator who made our special day one to remember for the rest of our lives.

Hotel situated right on the white sandy beach overlooking the turquoise sea.  Sea is very rough so be very careful with undercurrent.

Hotel staff very friendly, will do anything for you.  Daytime entertainment is excellent and you do not have to take part if you do not wish to.  Night entertainment is also amazing in the Ampitheatre.  The staff do a live show every night from 9.30 - 10.30pm.  Michael Jackson is excellent (those who have been will agree im sure).  After the show the staff arrange to take you to a different Nightclub each night with free transport included by the hotel.

The hotel is located close to two of the main Shopping Malls which have excellent designer shops so take plenty of money!!

The food is excellent with a lot of variety.  Every day is different!  The 3 A la carte' restaurants are really nice and you can dine in each of them once a week.  Italian, Brazilian and Mexican - Angel from the Mexican restaurant is good fun and very friendly.

We would highly recommend this holiday to anyone going on holiday, honeymoon or planning a future wedding!!

The only down side to the holiday was the airport as they search your lugguage and charge a lot for excess baggage.  Also watch out for timeshare - they try to get you to do excursions and say they are FREE, however, you have to go to timeshare meeting first!!!  Dont go!

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - May 2007

Opinion submitted in May 2007 by : 17 18 28 30

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

On arrival at the Carrousel we were disapponted with the accomadation but made the most of it.  we went jet ski-ing which was great and the beach was lovely.

The hotel did not live up to our expectations, it was quite shabby.  All in all we had a good holiday  and visited the local disco each night.  weather was very hot, just as we expected. 

Upon leaving the carrousel we had a great shock when we tried to depart the hotel. the hotel staff accused us of putting a dent in the door of our room.  we never saw the dent and did not check on arrival to see if there was any previous damage.  If this appeared during our holiday they should have told us but we were told as we were getting on the coach.  they refused to let us on the coach until we paid $400 - £200.  We had no money left, ther was no rep available to come to our defense.  Someone we met on holiday paid this fee for us otherwise we would not have been able to get to the airport.  they are trying to get the money off the holiday makers a t the last minute when they have no time to complain or sort out the problem with a rep. We will NEVER go to CARROUSEL ever again and I have now put forward a complaint to the holiday again.  we will go to Mexico again

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Going Places Direct) Going Places/Airtours March 2007

Opinion submitted in April 2007 by : Lee - Wakefield (26,25,23)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We stayed in the Carousel hotel in March 2007 for the American spring break. We got there and were a bit disappointed with the look of it compared to some other places we had dropped people off at. We checked in to room, thought it was a bit grubby but in reality realised all 3 lads needed were a bed and a shower.

We arrived at about 4pm local time and went down to the beach bar. Met some Americans straight away who got us on the tequila, which was on tap!! The all inclusive beer was Corona, albeit they gave you it in a plastic cup. Which to be fair was ok as it was right by the beach so probably safer. The bar service was a little poor and slow.

As time went on we got familiar with the place. Learnt that to get service we had to tip. Didn't cost much, we would normally give 50 pesos in the morning (£2.50) between the 3 of us then would alternate going to the bar. The staff would change at about teatime so would do the same again. The service was then excellent so was well worth it.

The hotel was ok, I thought food was ok, the A La Carte restaurant you could book into for free was very nice although limited menu choice.

There was a large selection of food available most of the day. The only times nothing available was from 11am - 12 (to clear up after breakfast, 16:00 - 17:00 (to prepare for tea) then after 21:00.

The hotel entertainment team were a good bunch of people, organising games and things through the day - Beach volleyball, Yoga, Football, Horseshoes (at which we were champions for 6 days running), and then they took you out in the evening if you wished. You would pay the same as the open bar entry fee, but they would get you a table and a waiter who would sort you out all night (for a tip of course).

We didn't do much other than drink while we were in Mexico. Coco Bongo is a must, we went 6 times out of 14 I think! Definitely the best nightclub on the planet. It is like 'Vegas showtime meets the party'!

We went to a bullfight, I didn't like it and shouldn't have gone really. One of the lads ended up in the ring playing football being chased by a baby bull which was fun. I walked out of the main event, a number of people in the arena fainted at what was going on!

All in all a good holiday, hotel ok, got what we paid for.

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: March 2007

Opinion submitted in March 2007 by : Katie and Katie- Bradford (19 and 22)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We went to Cancun in march and after reading the good reviews we werent disapointed when we got there.

The flight wasnt too great though, no leg room at all especially if your tall (like me!) it was too much after 11 hours! The crew were friendly and food was pretty good. Watch out for the staff at the airport who want to take your bags to your coach, they only do it for tips!

We arrived at our hotel and had to carry our cases up 4 floors as there is no lift! The bell boys want tips to do it for you so we took our own! Our room was great, double bed each, TV, pool view and the best shower it was huge!
The food was ok to start with but seemed to go downhill everyday! it was eadable enough but not great! The bar was the best bit, great service from the staff who were very friendly and helpful. The hotel is right on the beach so id advise to get a sunbed there not round the pool, you'd have to be up before 7am! There are games going on all day around the pool too so can get noisy!

The hotel is about 7mins away from the nightlife by bus, but it was only 6pesco's. The clubs are AMAZING! Cocoa Bongo's by far the best club ive ever been to! The City is quality aswell, we managed to see Akon perform while we were there! Congo and Daddy Cool are cool for bars to go to.

We went dolphin swimming which i would def recommend! We did it for 1 and a half hours on the island across from Cancun and it was the best experience, something we will always remember.

The shopping centre's were really good, can get a good bargain if you look! You have to get the bus everywhere though as it is too far out to walk but you shouldnt be paying more than 6pesco's each way which is about 40p!

Other things are very expensive though, you pay in most clubs around 40/50 dollars but that is for an open bar but the catch is it is that busy you cant get to the bar!! Trips are a rip off if you dont book through your rep but they will try sell you more after you've forked out for the ones you wanted! Also every memeber of staff everywhere you go will want tips!!

Unfortuanely we only had 3days of sun!! But was hot all the time which was good!

Everyone in our hotel were American nearly but they were so friendly and polite, especially the boys from minesotta, they made our holiday :)

I would def go for 2 weeks though, 1 week just isnt enough, there is too much to do!I would go back to this hotel if the food got better! We are defo going back next year at Springbreak though, it is the best time of year to go without a doubt!

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel October 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Laura n Dave

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This holiday was ace! accomadation was great clean tidy rooms, large bathroom n balcony. Staff were great and very helpful. Food good, Bar even better!!! Had a great time n this hotel is great value for money! only thing its a bit far away from the clubs but good for a chilling holiday!! Recommend it!

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My travel  september 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : peter arris 47

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

well after reading some of the reviews wee were dubious on going but after two weeks ther it was fantastic  great staff friendly and clean our room was cleaned every day best holiday of my life would go back tomorrow given half a chance  ps  the food is fantastic to  a  snack through the  day  ha ha  try a sunday dinner not a snack  ther  was everything to pick from
well done to every 1 at the hotell

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Carrousel / Crown Beach Paradise - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours

Opinion submitted in February 2007 by : Paul Slapp-50,49,48,40,40,32,31,20

Resort Rating: Poor

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We were switched at the last minute from our original choice (The Hotuetor)to the Carrousel.This hotel must be the worst in Cancun.This was our 5th trip & this place is really rock bottom.The food was awful ,entertainment (for want of a better word) consisted of beach volley ball & extremely loud 'Club music'all day long.Toilets in rooms kept breaking down & overall the hotel looks ready to fall down.The only saving grace was the room cleaners did a very good job.We complained so much that we were eventually transferred to the Crown Beach Paradise.It cost us another £130.00 each for the 5 days but was well worth it .I will book for there for next year.  

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Emma Phillips- winchester

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

hey. when we got on the plane to our destination we first got upgraded to first class seats for free!! dont know why we were just placed there, which was really good! the airline staff were so rude and didnt really care about looking after there customers. they all seemed tierd and not happy in what they were doing. 

When we arrived at Cancun, one of our fiends had not booked into the hotel as sunmaster who we originally took our booking mislead us, and there for one of my fiends just booked a flight in the hope that she would be able to pay to come into our room. Carrousel we very helpful and this was no problem at all, they asked if she would like to be upgraded to a room with more beds, but we were fine with 2 doubles. All the staff are ever so friendly, we love TEMO the entertainer, the night clubs that are arranged with the hotel at night are wicked!! and well worth the money!! 

the food at the hotel there was plently to choose from but i didnt really enjoy mexican food and didnt really eat much as hot weather. Also at the bar im sure they try and water you alchol drinks down, but you have to say something and then they will not do it!!! it was such good money, the amount of alchol we drunk paid the price!! Edgar was really good at serving us!! the music was great whilst sitting by the pool during the day. our rooms were cleaned really well everyday the maid did a fantastic job. The hotel is situated in a really nice spot as the bus stop is straight outside to get into town which takes about 7 mins. theres 24 hour shops right outside. reception was very helpful .

had a wicked time well worth the moeny

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My Travel - may 2005

Opinion submitted in May 2005 by : owen & joan ruddick  ( 54, 56, )

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - January 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Jones - London (39, 41)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Where do I start??? - AWFUL.
The hotel is very dated and certainly should not be rated 3*, more in liking to 1*. The reception staff were rude and made no attempt to assist when issues were raised. 

Our room was on the ground floor, with the main door facing out to the staff carpark, who when finishing their shifts at 3am would linger chatting to one another with their car engines running and stereos playing. Our door also faced the air conditioning units for the neighbouring hotel so the noise was unbearable when trying to sleep. 

During our 2 weeks holiday 8 rooms were burgled, which is not suprising as most rooms had broken locks on their patio doors. 

The food was diabolical - always cold and often the leftovers from the previous evening. The main restaurant was a snack bar on the beach with plastic glasses and patio chairs, tables. The main bar resembled a youth centre with a pool table stuck in the middle and a view onto the dual carriageway that runs past the front of the hotel.

Entertainment didn't exist - we bought a pack of cards and guests joined us playing card games as there was nothing else to do. The rep listened to complaints but nothing was ever done.On return to the UK I had a list of 15 families who had logged complaints with the rep were going to make official complaints to the tour company - I know we did and received 50% of our money back. Not Recomended

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Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours may 04

Opinion submitted in May 2005 by : sonia,uk

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

wot can i say on this hotel but it was fab we went may 04 it was v hot over 100 and lovely people and friendly staff the food was good but the al a carte was even better beer not to good but cocktails were ace ask for a miami vice yummy!!!! u got to do the wave runners to and go and c emillio and roberto on there cattermrang sorry spelling fantastic day out wiv the dolphins and the island of the woman it is expensive out there so dont waste ur hard eared money on silly cr*p to take home 

nite clubs are good coco bongos is a must u pay around $30 for a AI open bar wich is excellent go to la isla shopping mall for really good t shirts we got 3 for $10 and u must eat a t johnny rockets for the best burger i have eva tried keep away from down town cancun we were there for 5 mins to much hassel we came back dissapointed so stayed at the yankie end made some really great friends there so much that we all intent to meet up may 05 for more laughs and possibly a wedding staff very friendly cant do enough for you

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Hotel Ciu Cancun

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson-jan 2006

Opinion submitted in Feb 2006 by : pat&kiki power-worksop (55,53)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

First the flight with thomson not much room headphones extra,no individual monitors,more like a flight to spain than long haul,but on time on the way out,2hrs late coming back.
Cancun airport 45 minute wait to proccess imigration,then the carousel lottery, sign says no 8 but this took up by a American flight after 10 mins changed to no 2 but no sign of life there eventually rumour says no 4 and luggage eventually appears notice never said gatwick
Now outside rep other side of a throng of timeshare sales reps/holday clubs etc.
Arrive at hotel and lobby massive clean and efficient cases transported up to room and holiday really begins in earnest,room spacious sea view (as all rooms are in the riu)fridge fully stocked and restocked most days beer pepsi sprite orange water etc.Beds are 2 small doubles together to make 1 king size quite hard but very comfortable.

The beach is beautiful white powder sand and plenty of sun beds stay up by the rocks if you want to keep in the sun till after 3 at this time of the year.
Pools there are four one a swim up bar usually full of noisey americans next to that a games pool where the annimation team work hard entertaining most of the day and next to thats a heated infinity pool where towels appear on the beds from 6 am starting nearest the beach(longest in sun),and finally a pool round the side not heated that is very quite
Food is of the highest standards if you cant find something that you like here you will have a problem wherever you go!
the staff are excellant and may i suggest tipping them occasianaly not that you need to they will attend to you anyway,but i suspect they are not overpaid but they never stop.
Evening entertainment is good but repetative if your there 2 weeks,cannot really comment on clubs outside as they are being rebuilt after last years hurricane should be up and running for april.

All in all a excellant hotel in a prime position run by staff that care about your enjoyment will go back in not too distant future

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Club Carrousel Hotel - Cancun

Oper