Cancún Hotel Tips by kimod74

The week of June 14th , 2004my mom (55), myself (30) and my sister (18) went to Cancun and stayed at the Oasis Cancun, this was as a present for my sisters high school graduation from myself.
Upon arriving at the hotel the place was already crawling with teenagers.
The room really wasn't that bad, we booked a "super saver" room so I wasn't expecting the world. We had a balcony facing the lagoon, the room seemed clean upon first site. Upon sleeping in the beds they were gross, the sheets were clean but the odor from the mattresses was disgusting, it smelled musty and like dirty socks.
There are 3 parts to this hotel, Phase I, The Grand Oasis and Phase II.
There are several different restaurants to the Oasis Cancun, the ones included in Phase II are ala carte Sarape Mexican Restaurant and the Italian Restaurant Trattorino's (I think that's the name of it). We never made reservations for the sit down restaurants, our longest wait was about 3-5 minutes to get in.
There are two buffet restaurants, Ibiza & (can't remember the other ones name). Ibiza has a better selection of food than the lobby area buffet restaurant. But, in both buffets the food is bland tasting.
In summary, if you aren't totally on the same partying level as 16-19 year olds (screaming, beligerantly and rudely drunk, puking in the lobby (yes, one morning we woke up and the lobby just reaked, I mean stunk to high heaven of vomit), crawling up and down the balconies on the outside of the hotel, listening or screaming off your balcony to people "Show me your ----!" then Phase II might not be the part of the hotel you want to stay in. I never got a full nights sleep at this hotel.
I'm 30, I like to party, but I guess at a different, little bit more mature level, does that make sense?
Bottom line, if you like to party with teenagers or are a teen yourself Phase II of the Oasis Cancun is THE PLACE FOR YOU TO BE!! But if you are 30-55 you might want to stay in the Grand Oasis or a different hotel all together.

Unique Qualities: So, what is good about this resort you say? THE POOL!, The BEACH! and the BEACH BAR!!
The beach is one of the larger hotel beaches on the hotel zone, water at this end is quite wavy, heavy waves. The pool area (if you go to the area in front of the Grand Oasis or down towards Phase I) is really nice and I found it pleasantly quiet!
There is a beach bar at the beach at Phase II, it is only open until 5 p.m. sadly, I'm not sure why they close it at 5, it would be great if it were open until at least 8 p.m. The bar tenders at the beach bar were nice enough and they also grill some food there, tacos, etc and you can sit and watch the ocean and overlook the beach area if you'd like. They do take tips but don't expect it. The lines can be quite long for the beach bar at times, but have patience. I had no problem ordering 2 or 3 drinks at a time at the beach bar. We laid on the beach and each of us would take turns getting drinks and bringing them down to the beach.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$80-120  » Currency Converter
Address: Blvd Kukulcan Km 17, Cancun, Q. Roo
Directions: About 15 miles from the airport, more towards the southern end of the hotel zone. About 5-10 miles from the main area, shopping, etc. in the Cancun hotel zone.

My husband and I stayed at the Club Maeva Tulum for 7 nights the week of November 22nd, 2004.
Once we got to the hotel check in was fast. There was no wait! The lobby was quiet, unlike the bigger hotels where there is many more people the Maeva is much smaller and more quaint. The hotel had cancelled our room due to the fact we missed our first night (layover in Dallas), they were able to reinstate our room quickly, but this concerened me. I mean we were booked for 7 nights, of course travelers come in late but you don’t cancel the room right away, what if this were Xmas time when the hotels are near 100% capacity and because we were late by one night they cancelled our room and gave it to someone else? What if this were the case and we didn’t have a room? Luckily they were able to get us into a room but I was disappointed they cancelled us so quickly!
The hotel grounds are very nice. The hotel sits way back from the road and is more “jungly” I guess you would say than some of the other hotels that are right by the main highway. Club Maeva has several meandering paths through the jungle and above the beach that are nice to walk through. The beach is nice, but you can’t always find a chair! Especially during the busy holiday weekends. For the most part if it is a calm day the water is calm, the first day we were there it was very windy and the water was very wavy.

Unique Qualities: The Rooms: I was quite impressed with the rooms. They were very nice, and clean. We got a room on the main floor. They all have balconies. We had a great view of the lagoon behind the room. The A/C worked fine the entire time we were there. We had some problems with our toilet being clogged a couple of times, but we called down to the front desk and it was fixed before we got back to our room. Maid service was ok. I left tips every day ranging from $2-3 a day. One day I left $3 and didn’t get any towels, washrags left for us! I was like, OK! We just used our beach towels, I guess I could have called down and had some towels delivered but I just didn’t feel like it, needless to say I did not leave a tip the next day. Now, I have stayed in many hotels in Mexico and I know the beds are firm and it doesn’t bother me, but the beds at Maeva ARE EXTRA EXRA FIRM, actually the firmest and hardest I have ever slept on! So beware.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$80-120  » Currency Converter
Phone: 9848713000
Address: Km 90 Carretera Cancun-Tulum Cancun Mx Xpu Ha Q R0
Directions: About 40 miles south of Cancun in the Mayan Riviera. About 15 miles south of the town of Playa Del Carmen. About 10 miles north of the Tulum Ruins. About 5 to 8 miles north of Xel-Ha Eco Park and about 8 -10 miles south of Xcaret Eco Park.
Website: http://www.debbiescaribbeanresortreviews.com/mexico/robin.html

We booked our package at the Solymar through Apple Vacations. My husband and I DID NOT do the all inclusive for this hotel. We arrived at the Solymar on Tuesday February 17th, 2004. The lobby is bright and airy with a magnificent view of the ocean. The front desk staff greeted us cheerfully and checked us in promptly although we were not allowed into our room until 3 p.m. Which was fine.
They hold your luggage for you if you want, we let them and we headed down to the beach bar. My husband and I were wary at first about this hotel because it got such mixed reviews from people. I found this hotel to be very clean, open and airy. Our room was on the 3rd floor up facing the parking lot, but with an ok view of the lagoon. Our room was clean and neat. We had a balcony we could sit on also.
I don't suggest doing the all inclusive at this hotel (too expensive, food sucks) nor do I suggest eating there and paying for it!
The staff is nice, the rooms are clean, and I would suggest hopping on the bus and trying the many different restaurants in Cancun, there are many to choose from and they are wonderful! Solymar is great, just don't do the ALL INCLUSIVE!!

Unique Qualities: The beach bar is great, but the downside to it is that it closes at 5 p.m.!! UGH!! If you do not do the all inclusive you cannot pay cash at the beach bar (except to tip) you will have to run a tab and then you can pay your tab with your credit card. We found the bartenders to be very friendly. We ordered can beer (Sol) it was about $3 U.S. per beer (Mexico ain't cheap anymore, at least not Cancun)
There are safes in the rooms, they are $1 U.S. per day to use them though. We tipped an average of $2 per day for our maid, $1 per luggage for the transfer/taxi drivers and bellboys, etc.
The beach was great, beautiful white sand, nice and clean. A few vendors but they didn't bother you too much, just close your eyes and sunbathe, they will only come up to you if you look at them in any sort of way. On a

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Address: Blvd. Kukulcan Km 18.7, Hotel Zone, Hotelera 2A Se
Directions: It is very close to the airport, only about a 10-15 minute ride away.
Website: http://www.solymarcancun.com/

AWESOME!


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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Address: Riviera Maya-40 miles south of Cancun

We stayed at the Costa Real Hotel for our Honeymoon in November of 2001. This was my first introduction to Cancun and I was very happy with this hotel. The rooms were clean, it is a 3 star so I didn't expect the world. The hotel is located at the northern most part of the Cancun main strip and does not have the greatest beach. The beach is very small, don't let the pictures fool you. The pool water was very cold! Staff was very friendly.

Unique Qualities: Beach Bar!! Was opened until late (10 p.m. or so) when we were there. Most other hotel beach bars close by 5 p.m. which I hate! Great atmosphere at the beach bar at night just drinking and listening to the waves roll in.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$80-120  » Currency Converter
Address: Paseo Kukulkan, Km. 4.5, Zona Hotelera, Cancůn, Es
Directions: Northern part of the Cancun hotel strip. About 20-25 minutes drive from the airport.