Recommend your Favorite Resort in Cancun

[crystalheart1]

We are planning our belated Honeymoon on our First Anniversay coming up in November.

How would Cancun Mexico be this time of year ? Some of the places that seem nice are

Royal Playa Del Carmen

Excellence Playa Mujeres
and

Sun Palace

Neither of us have been to Mexico before..

your thoughts.. THANK you in advance.

 

[crystalheart1]

Any other suggestions for a warm tropical all inclusive couples only resort ???

 

[Rock_of_Love]

I would definitely stay in Playa del Carmen. I''m not really a big fan of *main* Cancun...too many HUGE hotels. Playa del Carmen still has some quaint character.

Also, I wouldn''t do Isla Mujeres...while beautiful, you are on a small island. I would save Isla Mujeres for a day trip. Rent a scooter and cruise around the island. Lots of fun!!

 

[AsscherGirl]

I have only been to Cancun in April & July, but I''m betting November would be nice. It is kinda the tail end of Hurricane season, but I''m not really sure!


I stayed at the Sun Palace last April. It was freaking awesome! The hotel was sooooooooo nice and they offered many of the services that the Four Seasons in Maui did (2x daily maid service, awesome pool/beach service, welcome drinks,etc). 98% of the rooms at The Sun Palace are Oceanfront, it''s adults only and we paid like $300 a night including airfaire (from NJ). I would highly recommend it!

Their website is kinda lacking, but you can look at the traveler photos on Trip Advisor!

Seven or so years ago I also stayed at the Oasis. These 2 hotels are Night & day experiences. The Oasis is party central. The sun Palace is really far away from all crazy huge hotels and the insane nightlife in Cancun. It''s a small hotel,and since it''s couples only it''s usually older people (I am 26 and didn''t feel out of place, but it definitely didn''t have a spring break feel). It was so relaxing and it was beautiful. Sun Palace also has one of the best beaches left in Cancun - they have had a lot of erosion over the past couple of years due to Hurricanes. I don''t have any really good pics of our room, but it was so beautiful.

Have fun!!

 

[ficklefaye]

i stayed at one of the rius, i can''t remember at this point, but i enjoyed it

 

[indypitty]

Crystal ~ Here is a recent post from BWW where some of these resorts were discussed. We honeymooned at Excellence Playa Mujeres, and I just can''t say enough wonderful things about it!

 

[sap483]

Royal Hideaway

It's in Playa del Carmen, not Cancun, but when I went back in 2003, it was amazing! It's 18+, mostly couples, with gourmet a la carte restaurants, beautiful villas, and really great service.

ETA: Apparently, it's still just as good. It's been rated a AAA 5 diamond resort.

 

[Mara]

We absolutely love visiting Mexico but make sure you are aware of the drug cartel wars that are permeating the country. My husband won''t allow us to travel there now, and maybe not for another 6-9 months because of the instability. Yes it''s mostly kept out of the fancy resort areas, but it''s just too risky, esp at airports and other areas that are not at ''resorts''.

If you do go to Mexico, stay at the resort and/or only go out with authorized vehicles (and keep your taxi, have them wait for you), and/or resort approved tours etc. At first I thought he was overreacting, but about a month ago there was some drug shootout in an older hotel zone area of Acapulco. So unfortunately we won''t take chances this year...boo cuz I love Mexico and would love to visit some of the lesser-known areas but not for a while.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 7/23/2009 10:57:59 AM
Author: sap483
Royal Hideaway

It''s in Playa del Carmen, not Cancun, but when I went back in 2003, it was amazing! It''s 18+, mostly couples, with gourmet a la carte restaurants, beautiful villas, and really great service.

ETA: Apparently, it''s still just as good. It''s been rated a AAA 5 diamond resort.

I went in 2004. It was a nice resort. I got a deal on it through skyauction.

 

[crystalheart1]

Thank you all for your great feedback, and Mara, for your information

We are planning this for November and will be very careful if we decide to go. I am not planning on leaving the resort.. We just
want to reaaaxxx..

It has been a crazy year....I will let you know what we decide.

Right now Excellence Playa Mujeres is the front runner..

Thanks again

 

[isaku5]

Date: 7/23/2009 2:46:32 PM
Author: Mara
We absolutely love visiting Mexico but make sure you are aware of the drug cartel wars that are permeating the country. My husband won''t allow us to travel there now, and maybe not for another 6-9 months because of the instability. Yes it''s mostly kept out of the fancy resort areas, but it''s just too risky, esp at airports and other areas that are not at ''resorts''.

If you do go to Mexico, stay at the resort and/or only go out with authorized vehicles (and keep your taxi, have them wait for you), and/or resort approved tours etc. At first I thought he was overreacting, but about a month ago there was some drug shootout in an older hotel zone area of Acapulco. So unfortunately we won''t take chances this year...boo cuz I love Mexico and would love to visit some of the lesser-known areas but not for a while.

Geez, I hate to add to the doom and gloom, but is H1N1 not going to be an issue at all by November? I realize that the WHO has not lifted its pandemic warning yet, but while Mexico is supposed to be wonderful and relatively inexpensive. I wouldn''t put my bucks on the line just yet UNLESS I had some AWESOME cancellation insurance policy in place.

 

[April20]

DH and I went to Excellence last August and LOVED it. So much so we're going back for a week the end of August and taking friends. I cannot say enough good things about that resort.

ETA: Excellence is not really what I'd call "in" Cancun. It's a good 10-15 min drive outside the main "hotel zone". You go thru three secured gates before you get to the entrance of the hotel. The shopping in Cancun was not very good (too expensive for things I could buy at home for less) and I would skip it. We plan to only leave one day to go to Chichen Itza for a tour. Given the concerns over security in Mexico these days, I would only go on guided outings.

I am not as concerned with H1N1 as I feel it is everywhere these days. Take appropriate precautions.

 

[crystalheart1]

Thanks again,,, at this point you can get sick, attacked, injured just about anywhere you go ... I am really excited now..

Is it best to book on line or through a travel agent...?? I have been checking on line and get pretty much the same rates on all sites like orbitz, hotels.com, travelocity..etc.

It sounds like the Excellence - Playa Mujeres is the mostly highly rated...

 

[VRBeauty]

Date: 7/23/2009 2:46:32 PM
Author: Mara
We absolutely love visiting Mexico but make sure you are aware of the drug cartel wars that are permeating the country. My husband won't allow us to travel there now, and maybe not for another 6-9 months because of the instability. Yes it's mostly kept out of the fancy resort areas, but it's just too risky, esp at airports and other areas that are not at 'resorts'.


If you do go to Mexico, stay at the resort and/or only go out with authorized vehicles (and keep your taxi, have them wait for you), and/or resort approved tours etc. At first I thought he was overreacting, but about a month ago there was some drug shootout in an older hotel zone area of Acapulco. So unfortunately we won't take chances this year...boo cuz I love Mexico and would love to visit some of the lesser-known areas but not for a while.

I stayed at the Rui Tequila in Playa del Carmen in October 2001 and loved it! I'm not recommending the Tequila per se -- it isn't beachfront, and it's probably less luxe than you're looking for -- but I am definately recommending the Playa del Carmen area. It's not party central; as a whole the area is more about the beach, natural surroundings, and enjoying the resort experience. The town of Playa del Carmen is just that is small and comfortable. It's geared towards tourists so there are plenty of shopping and dining experiences, but you'll have to go somewhere else if you want to go to a wax museum or bar-hopping.

Mara's absolutely right that an awareness of what's going should be part of your planning. Personally I wouldn't be concerned about drug wars in that area. Even in the Tijuana case, the gunfights were instigated by the police; it was not quite the same as the thug-instigated violence that's plaguing the Mexico/US border area. However, opportunistic police seems to be a growing and widespread problem throughout Mexico. A co-workers parents, Central American natives, drove through Mexico last month as part of their move from the U.S. back to their home country. They were stopped by local police and basically forced to pay bribes on three separate occasions. A co-worker who is from Mexico, and who is always on alert when he travels there for work, had something similar happen to him in Tijuana, just outside of the government offices he had been visiting.

I'm pretty comfortable traveling in Mexico and I wouldn't hesitate to stay at a resort and explore the area as part of an organized tour. But at this point, I wouldn't consider renting a car to explore Mexico on my own or with just a few friends as we did as part of our Playa del Carmen trip, or during a more recent trip to Oaxaca.

 

[John P]

There are many nice properties in and around Cancun. The Royal Hideaway in Playa is terrific and luxurious. It's also reasonably private if you want alone-time.

Just down the road the Riu Palace resorts in Playa have become an annual destination for me and my lady. The "Riu Palace Mexico" is situated between two other Riu properties; the Riu Yucatan and Riu Tequila. It is a bit smaller than the newer and larger "Riu Palace Riviera Maya" which is about a half-mile down the beach. Both Riu Palaces are 5-star all-inclusives. Both have wonderful staff, fully-stocked mini bars in the rooms, 24 hour food & drink available, nightly shows and lots of things to do. A nice feature of either place is that your Palace bracelet gets you into the other 2 Riu properties (they don't use the Palaces), giving you a huge variety of discos, bars, restaurants and beach area. We're people people so we like the mix.

Riu Palace Mexico
Riu Palace Riviera Maya

We'll be going to the Riu Palace Riviera Maya again at the end of August. For our age and tastes we find Playa the perfect getaway spot.