Please tell me about Cancun, Mexico About This Page:

[Cats'N'Dogs]

I may have an opportunity to stay at a resort in Cancun Mexico next Feb. It's a special continuing education meeting and I have to decide if it's worth the price.

If anyone has been there please tell me what its like. I will most probably be traveling solo but the package is a group deal. I would appreciate your experience and comments.

[ladyt]

Well, it's been about 7 years, but it was awesome! It's Mexico, so of course you still have little issues like the police with machine guns which kind of freaked me out and the panhandling by the local children. But, mostly on the hotel strip, there isn't too much of that.

We didn't rent a car, they suggest not too. We took the bus everywhere and went on tours to the Mayan ruins and Xel-ha for snorkeling. The beaches were beautiful. We loved it. We stayed at Blue Bay Village which was adults only and all inclusive. Drinks, meals (tons of good food) and neat shows. I also swam with the dolphins on a little island (Isle Mujaras??) it was really cool. All in all, it was a wonderful vacation and I would go back in a second. (Although I would have to be drugged to get back on a plane, so I may have to cruise there!)

Good luck!!

[loobyoxlip]

I've only been to Acapulco, and that was fabulous. I imagine Cancun, being another tourist trap, would be just as great. Of course be aware of your surroundings and you will have a great time.

[Laughaholic]

I just wanted to say have a great time!

[Nicole0128]

I have to be honest here, Cancun didn't really do it for us. It was a little bit too much of a Spring Break atmosphere for us. We did a few daytrips one to Isla Mujeres and one to Escaret (which is truly amazing) but other than that Cancun is kind of like Atlantic City lts of ocean front deluxe resort sitting amongst absolute poverty. There are tons of bars but not much else IMHO. They do run some daytrips to the ruins, Escaret, and Isla Mujueres but they do cost extra, so if you are going to be on a budget you will probably be sitting on the beach drinking, which is fine with a lot of people. I just like to mix that up with some other things while I am away seeing a new place. I don't want to discourage you I just want you to be aware if you will be doing this trip on limited funds.

[Cats'N'Dogs]

Nicole,
Thanks for your advice. Right now the trip is in limbo, the conference will be held at the Moon Palace Resort which is mucho dinero. I will really have to look at my budget before I commit. I just wanted to hear about other experiences so I could see if it would be worth the money.

I will certainly take your experiences into consideration since I don't drink and am not a lay on the beach all day kind of person. Of course I will be spending several hours in lecture so...I've lots to think about

[mac]

I went to Cancun in 1998 and had an absolute blast. Keep in mind that I was 21 years old on spring break, and spent most of my time in bars/clubs . I'm not sure that I would return to Cancun at this point in my life. As someone pointed out earlier there are people (police?) with machine guns everywhere if you accidently travel outside the resort area, and little children out at all hours trying to sell bracelets. I don't know what Cancun is like at other times of the year, but during spring break it is absolutely a party atmosphere. My spring break was the first week of March, so you might be there with the college kids in February. Hope that helps!

[Hanners]

I have been to Cancun twice. Once for Senior Trip and the last time was on our honeymoon. The beach is so incredibly beautiful - you can see your toes through the water it's so clear!!
It is definitely a party atmosphere if you are staying in Cancun.
Do you know if you will be right in Cancun?
When we went on our honeymoon we stayed about 30 minutes outside of Cancun at Moon Palace. It was the most amazing vacation ever because it was so secluded and you didn't have to leave the resort for anything.
But if you will be in a group - it will probably be alot of fun staying in Cancun itself.

[Magical_Escapes_Michelle]

Cancun has really worked hard in the last year to make itself into a destination for every type of traveler, rather than just the "Spring Break" party atmosphere it originally became famous for. The amount of activities and interests it offers now is quite astounding.

Where you are located, and which hotel you stay in, will also do a lot to determine what kind of atmosphere you will have while in Cancun.

You said you were staying at the Moon Palace Resort. This is an amazing resort, and a little more upscale. It's also located on the south shore of the Mayan Riviera, rather than in "prime" Party Beach area of Cancun (it's not on the Hotel Strip). In fact, it's about 40 minutes south of downtown Cancun. They have an amazing beach area as well. I think you would have a great time staying here, and really enjoy the beauty of the area without having to worry about the party atmosphere unless you wanted to. (The Palace resorts all have sharing privileges, so you could take one of the free shuttles to one of the resorts located in the heart of Cancun if you wanted).

If your group rate includes their "Passport to Paradise" promotion, excursions to ruins, sightseeing tours, and other extras are included in their all-inclusive rate.

[Cats'N'Dogs]

Michelle,

Thanks for your information. The brochure from the Moon Palace looks wonderful. Haven't made a firm decision yet but if I go, I'll probably have enough to do right at the resort!

I would like to get to Chichen Itza or Tulum while I'm there. I'm not sure we qualify for the Passport to Paradise as we are getting a group rate.

This trip has been tempting me ever since I heard about it so will have to do some hard thinking and budgeting.

[BabieeMelly]

My Aunt has been to Cancun 5 or 6 times, the last time being about 7 years ago, and she said it's definitely a big hit with the Spring Break crowd. The beach is gorgeous, but there are mostly just bars and nightclubs.

[dizPlanner]

I just got back from a week at the Moon Palace and will try to answer any questions you might have.

Moon Palace is a very large resort, over 2000 rooms. It is not in Cancun proper, but south of the hotel zone. It is near the airport and in fact planes are going over on take-off quite often. It has two lobbies, the Nizuc side (where we stayed) and the Sunrise side. The convention center is on the Sunrise side, so I bet you would be put on that side. We liked the Nizuc side better - smaller (~500 rooms vs 1500 rooms) and quieter. On the Nizuc side, the rooms open to a covered outside walkway. On the Sunrise side, most rooms open to an interior hallway and sounds echo down this hallway.

The rooms are large and have either two double beds (all our rooms had two doubles even though we asked for a king bed in one room) and a two person Jacuzzi tub. If you get an adjoining room (we had two rooms that adjoined), one room does not have the tub because the adjoining door is where the tub would go. It did have a stuffed chair to seat instead. Air conditioning worked fine. For some reason, the hot water was not very hot the last couple of days - it was fine earlier. There was a mini-fridge with drinks and alcohol dispenser on the wall with four type of liquer.

The beach was not great - lots of small seaweed and not the pretty turquoise of Cancun. Not many people used the beach.

The pools were great. The pools on the Nizuc side seemed quieter and we usually did not have problems finding lounge chairs, although didn't always get ones in the shade. Some of the lounge chairs were on ledges in the pool so you can sit and dip your feet in the pool.

The included tours were nothing to write home about although we did not do Chitch Itza as the teens were not interested. The Tulum/Xpu Ha tour was not available because their Xpu Ha resort is still closed. The Isla Muejras was not that great - they take you to a "beach club" but the beach is not much better than the Moon Palace. The snorkeling is extra cost, is in the middle of the ocean with the reef 30' below you and is for a limited time (45 min max). We did the trip they added to Wet n Wild (in substition to not have Xpu Ha), but it is not a good water park. The boat ride over and back was more fun and was better than the boat ride over to Isla. (Same routine, but with a smaller boat, more fun. Plus 20 min is better than 45 min)

Food was good. Go to the ala carte restuarants. We like the Japanese/Chinese one at Sunrise - went there twice. The Mexican ala carte at Nizuc was also good. We did the Palace Kitchen tour and had the special dinner that night - it was very good too. The food at the dinner show outside (we saw the Mexican show) was not very good. Some of the food at the buffets is pretty bland and I was not impressed with the salad selection, but over all the food was good.

Drinks at the ala carte restuarants were good (margaretti at Mexican ala carte and wine (white zinfandel) at Japanese, but drinks at pool were not too good. I'm not a drinker so can't give you details, just know what I like.

Moon Palace was not my choice. We had planned to go last week of July to a resort down by Puertas Aventuras. But Hurricane Emily damaged the resort so we had to reschedule. The only thing available before the kids went back to school was Moon Palace and it cost us alot more. I chose the original resort because of snorkeling off the beach - didn't get this at Moon Palace. Because we were paying so much more, felt constrained to the included trips although we did do a trip to Xel Ha. So not really the trip I had planned, but we did get to go on vacation.

[Cats'N'Dogs]

Karen,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm glad to get some up to date information about the resort.

After crunching the numbers inside and out, I've decided it's just not in the budget for this trip. Especially since we will be doing a 7 day Disney cruise in June. And it sounds like we'd enjoy the cruise more!

I really appreciate everyone's help and that certainly factored into our decision but the budget got the final say!

[mexico-mvt]

Originally Posted by Nicole0128

I have to be honest here, Cancun didn't really do it for us. It was a little bit too much of a Spring Break atmosphere for us. We did a few daytrips one to Isla Mujeres and one to Escaret (which is truly amazing) but other than that Cancun is kind of like Atlantic City lts of ocean front deluxe resort sitting amongst absolute poverty. There are tons of bars but not much else IMHO. They do run some daytrips to the ruins, Escaret, and Isla Mujueres but they do cost extra, so if you are going to be on a budget you will probably be sitting on the beach drinking, which is fine with a lot of people. I just like to mix that up with some other things while I am away seeing a new place. I don't want to discourage you I just want you to be aware if you will be doing this trip on limited funds.

I heard that Isla Mujeres is not that crowded. But you are right, if a person is on a tight budget ,he will not be able to get to the island and just spend the rest of the holiday in Cancun.