Cancun Vacation Review

My husband and I just returned from a week in Cancun and since so many people have posted so many helpful tips I thought I would share some reviews of our trip to return the favor. We stayed at Casa Maya at km 5.5 - right across from the beautiful - and huge - Mexican flag. We own a timeshare and found Casa Maya (also called Fiest Club at Casa Maya) through our exchange partner Interval International. We didn't know a thing about Cancun before we booked - just wanted a beach-side location to celebrate my birthday! Outside of this forum neither of us did much research about Cancun. Our goal was to sunbathe and relax which is why we didn't really look to deeply into things to do. Casa Maya had a great beach and that was enough for us! We figured we wing it form there...

Cancun In General:
The Good – the weather and scenery were absolutely wonderful. I know the weather is just a lucky thing but you can’t beat the beautiful views – of ocean, jungle and beach, the sky at dusk, etc. The food was great and the cost of things was generally good. Ease of transportation cannot be beat. The flea markets were generally fun – we went to the #28 in downtown Cancun and also the one in the Hotel Zone. Both were very touristy and not geared at all towards locals (which is to be expected in the Hotel Zone, but we were a little disappointed w/ the Mercado #28, although had we done some more research ahead of time we wouldn’t have been surprised…). Worth a special mention are the restaurants Thai and Elefanta (Indian) at La Isla shopping center. I know, I know – we went to Cancun and ate Thai and Indian, but we love both cuisines… If you enjoy either cuisine you will LOVE these restaurants! If you go to Elefanta ask to be seated at one of Regan’s tables. He was our waiter the two nights we went and was just lovely; excellent service and very friendly. The seating at both restaurants is similar – individual tiki-type huts overlooking the water; also some “tree-house” tables. Great trance music too.

The Bad – the sales people. My god the sales people! They hound and harass you at every step! Particularly in the flea markets. Again, had we done more research this wouldn't have been a surprise. But since we plunged in with no warning we were rather shocked. One man at #28 followed us for about 10 minutes trying to persuade me to buy this, that or the other sun/moon combination. At one point I thought we were done with him until I heard “Lady – what about this one?” I made the mistake of saying that I was looking for a ceramic sun/moon wall hanging and that man was NOT going to give up until I bought one! He even resorted to saying, “Oh, I like this one! I’d hang it in my home! You should get this one.” Anyway, put on your thickest skin (and your bargaining hat) before venturing into any of the flea markets; the sales people can be VERY trying… I will say that some were very helpful and kind. But most of them were as annoying as mosquitoes. Brightest note in the day there was our lunch at La Espiga. Carlos helped us out earlier in the day, guiding us to a cigar shop (I think our brains were sun-baked as we simply could not get a grip on the mercado map, where we were standing while looking at the map and where we wanted to go). So we decided to lunch at his restaurant and we were very glad that we did. I got the shrimp dish pictured on the front of the menu – shrimp grilled/broiled w/ garlic, onions and mushrooms served w/ rice and half of an avocado – yummy!

The Ugly – arriving at the airport. We got off the plane and had to navigate a horde of time share sales people. I read the advice on this board and had contracted w/ USA Transfers to take us to our hotel so my intention was to plow through the airport until we found our USA Transfer guy. I held up my hands to the “greeters” and said, “No, we have a car service to take us to our hotel. We’re not going to be pirated. We’re fine.” We were told, “Oh we just want to make sure you’re all set and would you like a map of Cancun and some information while we find the USA Transfer guy?” That sounded reasonable so we fell into their trap. A guy showed us a map and told us about the #28 market and the buses routes. Then I made the mistake of saying we were thinking of going to Isla Mujeres and he had his “In”. First we had to pay $80 to take a booze-laden cruise over to Isla Mujeres plus a snorkel trip – so long as we dropped by their timeshare/hotel. We said no thanks. So then it was only $60. We said no thanks. So then it was free AND we’d get a certificate to a jewelry store for diamonds. We said no thanks. THEN it was free, a certificate AND $100 for massages. We said no thanks and started to walk away. Then it was free, a certificate and $200 IN CASH! We said no thanks. Then the smarmy smile fell off the guy’s face, he looked away from us and towards one of the greeters and that was that. Sheesh! However, if you're looking for a deal - play hard to get at the airport!

Casa Maya Hotel:
The Good – the staff, the food and the beach. The restaurant staff in particular were incredibly attentive, friendly and kind. Several of them, especially Wilbur, went out of their way to answer our questions, teach us proper Spanish and be exceptionally friendly. I think the staff at Casa Maya is one of their greatest assets. The beach was lovely as well with plenty of lounge chairs and huts/shades. We didn’t make it out to the beach until noon or 1 most days but always managed to find a shady spot to while away the afternoon. The breakfast buffet was delicious and we ate dinner there twice; one dinner was adequate (not good but not bad either) and the other night (Taco night) was pretty darn tasty! And that night we were introduced to Café de Olla – YUM! The hotel is well kept and was very clean. A little dated - the silver backing on our bathroom mirror was worn is some spots, the furniture looked rather '80s... But our room was tidy and the daily maid service did a great job. The kitchenette would suffice for basic cooking and the fridge was a decent size. We had a room on the top floor in the center of the original building, overlooking the beach and ocean. The masseuses at the hotel were great – especially the red-headed lady (cannot for the life of me remember her name!) – and the prices were good too; we each got two massages during the week.

The Bad – after running the gauntlet at the airport we then had to sit w/ a timeshare sales rep for Casa Maya – BEFORE we could even get our room keys! We were invited to an 8am breakfast the next morning. We said, “No way! We’re on vacation!” “There’s another b-fast at 9.30?!” Again we said no thanks. He changed tactics and tried to sell us a bracelet for $154 US that would save us 10-30% on purchases on the property (restaurant, bar, spa, etc.). We again said no thanks. Then we were told how happy we would make this sales guy if we went at least went to the breakfast. We firmly said “Highly doubtful, but you’ll be the first person we call if we change our mind.” He gave up then and got us our keys and we were finally able to start vacationing! One other not-so-great thing w/ the hotel was the shower. The pressure was pretty good but the water temperature fluctuated quite often. I like my showers HOT so several times during a shower I would get mildly scaled - and then get a little chilly because the water was suddenly tepid. These temp changes only lasted a couple of seconds, but 2 seconds of scalding is 1.75 seconds too much! Also, if you're taller than say 5'5" you'll probably have to stoop to wash your hair under the shower head. I'm 5'1" so didn't have a problem but my hubby is 5'9" and he said he had to squat a bit...

The Ugly – the beds in our room. Worst beds we have ever experienced. These were Super 8-quality mattresses - hard as plywood on top of rocks. We left a note for housekeeping after the first night asking if they could add something to the mattresses to soften them. Housekeeping was wonderful and laid down eggshell foam, but all that did was make it bearbly awful. I could feel every bone that touched the mattress – my shoulder, hip, knee and every rib. My back screamed in agony every time I rolled over and then got up out of that torture chamber. Also, I emailed the hotel – using their handy “live chat” feature on their website – stating that we were visiting them to celebrate my birthday and asking for a room with a king bed far away from families w/ small children. We got a room w/ 2 doubles next door to a periodically crying infant. L I wear ear plugs at night because my hubby snores and he sleeps like a rock so the noise didn't keep us up. But it wasn’t too fun to hear the occasional crying when we were awake. The walls were pretty thin and we did actually get woken up a couple of times by hearing our neighbors banging every drawer and door in their room and closet...

Overall:
We enjoyed our visit to Cancun. Not sure that we’ll book a return trip anytime soon, though. There are a lot of other places in the world we have yet to visit. Our goal with this vacation was to relax and in that we succeeded. We didn’t sight-see and we never did make it over to Isla Mujeres. We went on a pirate boat dinner adventure one night (we saw the boats from the balcony off our room) and that was mostly fun, but the last half hour consisted of very good but very loud club music. I like to dance, but it was hot, I was still hot from a day in the sun and I wasn’t really in the mood to thrash myself into a sweaty mess… My overall impression of the Hotel Zone in Cancun is that it’s geared towards young people who want to drink a lot for a low price, see and be seen, party and shop. We live in New Orleans so don’t need to travel for good drinks or a great party. J But if you don’t live in New Orleans and you like to do the above then Cancun is the place for you!