Cancun Mexico advice?

[angie_nrs]

I am so excited to be going to Cancun in April, but every time I sit down to book a room I get soooooo overwhelmed with choices that I just want to pull my hair out.

So, I was wondering if any of you out there have any experience with Cancun. I went there with a friend over 10 years ago so that does not help me with my hotel choices b/c I know everything has changed. I'm thinking about booking the Golden Parnassus, which is an adult only resort. There are mixed reviews, but it is not too pricy (about $1600 for a week for all inclusive for both of us) and DH and I are pretty simple to please.

We are looking for a relaxing vacation on the beach with no kids, decent food, decent drinks, a fairly quiet atmosphere (minimal college spring-breakers) and would also like to go snorkeling. That's pretty much it. I would like to stay closer to the Cancun area b/c their beaches are nice and there's not many bugs (mosquitoes). Although I am open to suggestions closer to the Myan Riviera too.

If anyone has any suggestions for excursions, hotels, shopping, must bring supplies, or anything at all.....I am all ears....or eyes. lol

TIA for any tips or suggestions you can toss my way........

 

[cab0899]

We just recently stayed at the Riu Palace Mexico in Playacar and loved it!! Playacar is great because it's a gated community with I believe, 13 hotels, a golf course, condos, and a shopping mall. It's very safe to walk, bicycle around the community.

 

[fox2star]

I second the Riu in Playa. There are many good resorts in Playa,

Personally, I think Cancun has become too overrun with young people, partying etc. ( Young to me is under 30!). It is also very commercial, the main drag looks like any US city. I have been there 3 times, and it has gotten worse over the years. ( only went because of a work thing, I would never choose to go there). Sorry...

 

[angie_nrs]

Thanks girls for the replies!

A question on Riu....I have researched Riu Cancun and Riu Caribe. I also looked a Hotel Riu Playacar. Are they all owned by the same company? Is one better than the other? How are the beaches in Playa and is it a problem getting transfers from the airport? How far from the airport is the Playacar hotel? Did you get the all inclusive? What did you think of the food and drink selection? Any tips?
Thanks!

Deb - Cancun isn't our first choice for a spring vacation but we had free plane tickets (got bumped on our last spring break to FL) and since the hotels are fairly inexpensive we thought it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

 

[fox2star]

Hi,

I have been to Playa 3 times, and stayed at the Riu Palace. It is a smaller hotel, which is what I like, you don't have to walk miles to get back to your room, the food was good, and it is about 1/2 mile from town, so you can walk there if you want. they are all "all-inclusive" as far as I know. You do fly into Cancun to go to Playa, so those free tickets would work! All the Riu's are the same format, even decorated the same etc. I have stayed in Riu's in Cabo, Cancun, and Playa. I like them, but I am one that likes to know what to expect, no surprises. I would have a travel agent or AAA arrange for transfers with a reputable company. That is the scary part of Mexico, if you don't know what you are doing. I think Playa is about 45 minutes from the Cancun airport,, not a bad ride at all.

 

[NinjaMom]

I went to Mexico last year and stayed at the Playacar Palace in Playa Del Carmen. It is a smaller resort which I liked and right on the beach where you could walk for miles. You also get reciprocity with the all-inclusive package to other Palace hotels which is great. DH and I took the ferry to Cozumel to snorkel and have dinner at the palace resort there as well as visited two others to use their facilities. It is also close to the shopping area dubbed 5th Avenue. My only disappointment was the fitness facility was off site and it wasn't very big.

Here's a few pics to give you an idea:

 

[mrsmel]

If you're willing to go a little further south, I went here in 2009:

http://www.locogringo.com/akumal/akumalbeachresort.html

and it was fantastic. Not as lavish as other resorts in that area, but very clean with great staff. It's owned by an Italian company, so there were lots of Europeans, South Americans and Canadians. In fact, I don't think there that many Americans there. It's about 1 1/2 hours from Cancun. I had the resort book us a car. We flew into Cancun and then found the driver with one of those signs with my name on it. Very easy and very affordable.

It's also close to Tulum. That was the only time we left the resort was to go there one day. Great snorkeling right from the beach and everything. Good food, good drinks and fantastic pastries. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I ate dessert every day there because they were so appealing and so well made. There's archery, ping pong, all kinds of fun stuff and, of course, just hanging out on the beach and doing nothing. I really enjoyed it there.

anne

 

[cab0899]

Thanks girls for the replies!

A question on Riu....I have researched Riu Cancun and Riu Caribe. I also looked a Hotel Riu Playacar. Are they all owned by the same company? Is one better than the other? How are the beaches in Playa and is it a problem getting transfers from the airport? How far from the airport is the Playacar hotel? Did you get the all inclusive? What did you think of the food and drink selection? Any tips?
Thanks!

Deb - Cancun isn't our first choice for a spring vacation but we had free plane tickets (got bumped on our last spring break to FL) and since the hotels are fairly inexpensive we thought it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

Playacar is about 1 hour south of Cancun, people usually fly into the Cancun airport. Playacar is just outside of Playa del Carmen.

Inside the gated community of Playacar, there are 6 Riu hotel. Riu is the name of the chain. The 6 hotels are something like:
Riu Palace Mexico
Riu Palace Riviera Maya
Riu Tequila
Riu Yucatan
Riu Playacar
Riu Lupita

The 2 with "Palace" in the name are considered a step up then the other 4. If you stay at the any of the 4 without "Palace" in the name, you can use all the amenities at the other resorts except the 2 "Palaces". If you stay at a "palace" then you can use all 6 resort's amenities. Except for supper, you are supposed to stay at your home resort for supper.
They are all in walking distance to each other.
We walked to all of them except the Lupita one.

Riu Palace Mexico: Beautiful landscaping, beach, very classy, not alot of kids

Riu Palace Riviera Maya: beach wasn't as nice as mexico maybe more families

Riu Tequila Across the street from the beach. In the rainforest, you can see monkeys here. More of a party hotel

Riu Yucatan This would be my choice if I didn't want to spend the money for a palace. Lots of activities going on, it was next door to the mexico where we stayed and we over there for the activites as it was much more "lively" and less stately

Riu Playacar We went and spent an afternoon at the pool at this one. Very busy activity wise, great beach but somehow didn't seem as "classy"

Riu Lupital Not on the beach, farther from the others. It's built around a golf course. You take a little shuttle to the beach or walk. The other Riu hotel guests come here to golf.

I thought the food and drink selections were amazing! No tips are expected and we rarely tipped (we tipped housekeeping, carry suitcases, but not in the restaurants/bars).

We bought a package which included flights/hotels/round trip transportation to the airport but I would think getting a taxi wouldn't be a problem. It's a set rate.

 

[fox2star]

Hi,

CAB0899: Nice job on the desriptions of the hotels in Playa. I have stayed at the Riu Palace Riveria Maya all 3 times we have gone there, I like that one a lot. There was no requirement to stay at the hotel for any meal. They have 4 or 5 restaurants besides the large buffet that you can get reservations for ( all included of course), but you need to sign up for a seating early because they are limited. There was a steak house, a Japanese, an Italian, and a Mexican restaurant, all in the resort. As for tipping, although not expected, or required, we tipped at all meals/bars, as well as left something each day for the room maid. When we went the last time, I booked through AAA and they arranged for the transfer transportation. I would never drive in Mexico.

 

[cab0899]

Just bumping in case it's helpful

 

[MadnNatsmom]

We went 4 years ago and LOVED it. The color of the water in Tulum is unbelievable. Like an aquamarine.

Sounds like a lot of changes in 4 years so can't advise on the hotels, but BE AWARE OF TIMESHARE PRESENTERS!!!!

They will swarm you at the airport and pretend to be reps of hotels, but they are NOT. We were fortunate and didn't get too hard of a sell because he was the boss, but my friends were held in a timeshare presentation for over 3 hours until the hubby had to get really ugly to be set "free."

So, put blinders on and you really have to be rude to not get sucked in.

Enjoy!!!

 

[fox2star]

Oh, I 'm so glad you brought that up! I totally forgot about the time share hucksters. Be careful!! That is why I wanted AAA to set up a company to pick us up and also to take us to the airport. The last time we were there, we were looking for the car with the name of the transfer company on it that AAA arranged, and when we were approached by a person, he asked who we were looking for and of course, I said the name of the company, and he immediately said, "oh, that's my company"...and tried to lead us over to a table with brochures etc. it was obvious that he was not from the transfer company, it was a time share thing.

When we did find our guy, I made him show me ID and everything because now I was so suspicious of everyone!

 

[angie_nrs]

Thanks girls so much for all the wonderful advice. I have been checking out trip advisor and have been warned about the timeshare people. I guess the best thing to do is to tell them we already have one or just plain 'NO' and walk away.

I have planned on bringing lots of one$ for tips. I guess they like USD more so than pesos. Speaking of pesos, did you all exchange to Mexican money or did you just use dollars while you were there. I'm not much of a shopper, and since we will be in an all inclusive I'm not sure I will need much cash.

Any advise about excursions? I finally did book a hotel at Blue Bay b/c I think it will work fine for our needs and it's not very expensive, but I've read not to book excursions thru them. So I thought we would take the shuttle to Playa and book an excursion there. Any suggestions? DH and I are really looking forward to snorkeling. Other than that, I'm not sure what/if anything to book. I don't want to be on the road a lot. Honestly, I'm just looking forward to sitting on the beach with a cool drink and a good book. The only thing I can see that would mess that up would be the weather......which I think is generally pretty dry in April. I hope!

OMG girls - thanks so much for the pictures!! Absolutely beautiful Now I'm just itchin with spring fever!!!