Anyone here been to Cancun?

[purbeast0]

So after some debate and discusison, my girl and I decided to try some other place other than Aruba. We then looked at Cancun and we had always wanted to go there, but never ended up going there.

We are thinking about going there though this summer. We wanna go there sooner than later because we are still young (I'm 25, she's 23) and we still like to party a lot. We are looking at the Krystal Cancun hotel which seems to be right near the night life in Cancun.

I also noticed on Expedia that there seem to be a lot of activities to do, such as snorkelling, some tours of ruins, etc. I was wondering if it's easy to get to those places on buses or what not. Also, do most hotels have ways to setup excursions once you get there? I know in Aruba they had a desk in the hotel where you could talk to a trip planner who would help setup stuff.

Also in general, what did you/didn't you like about Cancun? We're going to be going in July so it won't be full of rowdy spring breakers from college, which we would have to teach how to party anyways

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
So after some debate and discusison, my girl and I decided to try some other place other than Aruba. We then looked at Cancun and we had always wanted to go there, but never ended up going there.

We are thinking about going there though this summer. We wanna go there sooner than later because we are still young (I'm 25, she's 23) and we still like to party a lot. We are looking at the Krystal Cancun hotel which seems to be right near the night life in Cancun.

I also noticed on Expedia that there seem to be a lot of activities to do, such as snorkelling, some tours of ruins, etc. I was wondering if it's easy to get to those places on buses or what not. Also, do most hotels have ways to setup excursions once you get there? I know in Aruba they had a desk in the hotel where you could talk to a trip planner who would help setup stuff.

Also in general, what did you/didn't you like about Cancun? We're going to be going in July so it won't be full of rowdy spring breakers from college, which we would have to teach how to party anyways

What's the cutoff age for partying on vacation? I need to know if I'm too old now.

 

[slightlyhuman]

i went but don't remember a lot.

sorry.

 

[BlueWeasel]

My wife and I went to Cancun a few years ago and stayed at the Moon Palace. It's several miles south of the main strip and our reason for staying there was based on good reviews and to avoid the college crowd.

Overall, we enjoyed it but didn't really do much besides hang out at the pool and on the beach. The beach at the Moon Palace was terrible, but the beaches at the other Palace resorts along the strip were great.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Cancun sucks. Way over-priced and too touristy. Go to Playa Del Carmen just south of Cancun. Much cheaper and less touristy. We stayed at Barcelo Maya Tropical and loved it. Fantastic beach as well.

here are a few pics of the resort

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
My wife and I went to Cancun a few years ago and stayed at the Moon Palace. It's several miles south of the main strip and our reason for staying there was based on good reviews and to avoid the college crowd.

Overall, we enjoyed it but didn't really do much besides hang out at the pool and on the beach. The beach at the Moon Palace was terrible, but the beaches at the other Palace resorts along the strip were great.

I stayed at the Moon Palace last Feb. for a friends destination wedding who got suckered into a membership a few years back. According to him the beach was supposedly much better this past year after being rebuilt from the hurricane but it was still really bad. Lots of seaweed, very short. I don't think I saw a single person get in the water the entire week I was there. I hear alot of the beaches in the Cancun area are like that.

If you can talk your girl into it, make sure you check out the bull fight, I think it's on Wednesday night. Coco Bongo is supposed to be the best club in the area but it was still closed from the hurricane when we were there.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
Cancun sucks. Way over-priced and too touristy. Go to Playa Del Carmen just south of Cancun. Much cheaper and less touristy. We stayed at Barcelo Maya Tropical and loved it. Fantastic beach as well.

here are a few pics of the resort

I dunno but $750/person for 7 nights + airfare from MD does not sound overpriced to me at all. And I know it's touristy and is a party town, but that's kind of what we're going for.

Tell me this though since you are recommending Playa Del Carmen ... what is there to do at night around there?

The beach in your pic looks outstanding too.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
My wife and I went to Cancun a few years ago and stayed at the Moon Palace. It's several miles south of the main strip and our reason for staying there was based on good reviews and to avoid the college crowd.

Overall, we enjoyed it but didn't really do much besides hang out at the pool and on the beach. The beach at the Moon Palace was terrible, but the beaches at the other Palace resorts along the strip were great.

I stayed at the Moon Palace last Feb. for a friends destination wedding who got suckered into a membership a few years back. According to him the beach was supposedly much better this past year after being rebuilt from the hurricane but it was still really bad. Lots of seaweed, very short. I don't think I saw a single person get in the water the entire week I was there. I hear alot of the beaches in the Cancun area are like that.

If you can talk your girl into it, make sure you check out the bull fight, I think it's on Wednesday night. Coco Bongo is supposed to be the best club in the area but it was still closed from the hurricane when we were there.

yeah, everything north of Playa Del Carmen got hit much harder by the hurricanes. We were there last June and a lot of places in and around Cancun were still rebuilding. And cozumel is toast for a few years....don't waste your money going there for anything, but especially snorkelling.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
My wife and I went to Cancun a few years ago and stayed at the Moon Palace. It's several miles south of the main strip and our reason for staying there was based on good reviews and to avoid the college crowd.

Overall, we enjoyed it but didn't really do much besides hang out at the pool and on the beach. The beach at the Moon Palace was terrible, but the beaches at the other Palace resorts along the strip were great.

I stayed at the Moon Palace last Feb. for a friends destination wedding who got suckered into a membership a few years back. According to him the beach was supposedly much better this past year after being rebuilt from the hurricane but it was still really bad. Lots of seaweed, very short. I don't think I saw a single person get in the water the entire week I was there. I hear alot of the beaches in the Cancun area are like that.

If you can talk your girl into it, make sure you check out the bull fight, I think it's on Wednesday night. Coco Bongo is supposed to be the best club in the area but it was still closed from the hurricane when we were there.

That's exactly how it was for us in May 2005. The seaweed growth just overtook the beach and the water had the color of "algae green". The beach along the strip was very clean with no seaweed and clear, blue water.

 

[meltdown75]

I liked that the resort my wife & I stayed at was about 2 hours south of Cancun.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
Cancun sucks. Way over-priced and too touristy. Go to Playa Del Carmen just south of Cancun. Much cheaper and less touristy. We stayed at Barcelo Maya Tropical and loved it. Fantastic beach as well.

here are a few pics of the resort

I dunno but $750/person for 7 nights + airfare from MD does not sound overpriced to me at all. And I know it's touristy and is a party town, but that's kind of what we're going for.

Tell me this though since you are recommending Playa Del Carmen ... what is there to do at night around there?

The beach in your pic looks outstanding too.

There are some clubs in PDC proper, but we were on our honeymoon and stayed at the resort most of the time. We did a few day trips.

You could still stay in PDC and go to Cancun if you wanted to party hard. It's about a 40 minute ride by taxi, and will cost you around $15-20.

We visited the Coba ruins, did a jungle tour to a Mayan village, and did a sunset catamarran cruise. All the resorts have tour operators onsite, so finding someone to sell you something will be easy.

I'd highly recommend Alltournative tours. I have some pics of the things we did if you'd like to see them.

We booked our vacation through Traveloni.com, who is a Funjet rep. She gives you a 5% rebate after you return from vacation and you can use Funjet coupons, so we got 10% off Funjet pricing plus some other freebies like a free tour for 2 (around $130 value), airport transfers, etc. Our 7 day all-inclusive was right around $2000 including airfare from KC.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Cancun is great. Things there are always getting more expensive though. There are tons of people ready and willing to rip you off, so be sure to know the exchange rate and what things SHOULD cost.

Having said that, make sure you research your hotel and check ratings. There are tons of dumps in Cancun that charge too much for all inclusive rates that are mandatory.

I have a timeshare at the Blue Bay Getaway. It's pretty nice and they have a topless optional swimming pool. (it's nice because most of the guests have british accents)

Anyhow, the drinks are cold and the weather there is pretty good if you don't hit a hurricane. There are a lot of cool tours and most hotels can get you deals on the swamp tours, ruins tours, or cruises out in the bay. There are also a lot of trips to Cozumel and Isla Mujeres that are fun. Snorkeling is pretty bad around Cancun...all the reefs are dead. I'm not sure about Cozumel....but I would assume it would be a little better.

 

[JulesMaximus]

My wife and I went there on our honeymoon years ago. We spent a lot of time in the water (snorkeling etc.), did some partying and rented a jeep to drive down to Tolum (sp?). We really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Keep in mind that there was a lot of damage to that area during the hurricane season last summer (or was it the summer before?) but I think most of the resorts are pretty much back to business as usual.

Edit-Oh, and summertime is hurricane season.

 

[Gooberlx2]

My wife (then GF) and I went to Cancun last year for 10 days on at the Grand Royal Solaris all-inclusive. It was absolutely awesome. We did go snorkeling and did the ruins + swim in the cenote. Most days were just lazed at the pool or beach drinking booze. Did it through Apple Vacations, and I'd likely use them again, as we did have a problem with the hotel starting out (we requested Ocena View and were bumped to the lagoon...which is really a drainage pond), and they fixed everything for us.

As far as the Grand Royal Solaris goes: it's at the end of the strip so not close to the nightlife, but it's a quick bus ride. The food, drink and service were stellar.

There was a fair amount of hurricane damage to neighboring resorts, but the Solaris was fully restored and functional. The sand dredges were resotring a beach a few hotels down, and apparently they had just finished up at the Solaris when we arrived. I imagine everything would be back to normal by now. We went in April '06, and all costs totaled around $2200.

 

[SoulAssassin]

If/when you do go, make sure you look out of the side of the plane as you're approaching the airport. All of the trees are bent back about 30 degrees from the wind of the hurricane, it's crazy.

 

[yuppiejr]

I've been to Cancun and the Moon Palace on a friend's time share a few times, as I've gotten older it appeals less and less. The beach sucks, it's far away from the real action, noise carries between rooms easily and the food is cafeteria grade - but the pool is nice. If you stay on the main strip (Krystal is on it) the bus access to shopping and the party scene is great. As for parties, Coco Bongo is cool as are Daddy Rocks and Senor Frogs... pretty much the college drunkfest I expected.

With all of the hurricane damage I'd consider trying something on the other side of Mexico; Puerto Vallarta is beautiful with similar opportunities for sun & fun activities without the hi-rise condos or hotels and GREAT food. The beachfront bars tend to be smaller in PV but overall I thought it was a better scene. Consider renting someone's timeshare condo for the week instead of staying at a hotel and use the local resturaunts for food instead of going all inclusive, you won't be disappointed.

 

[The Green Bean]

Man, I had a really bad experience there. Apparently, a jellyfish bit me on one of my snorkelling tours and I formed itchy warts all over my stomach. Not a lot of fun ...The rest was awesome though

 

[purbeast0]

few more questions ...

1. Do you need a car there? We're staying w/in walking distance of the main night life area so we don't need to drive there or anything. But in general, would a car be helpful?

2. Would you recommend a shuttle from the airport to the hotel? I see em on expedia for $20/person for round trip, and the place is like 12 miles from the airport.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
few more questions ...

1. Do you need a car there? We're staying w/in walking distance of the main night life area so we don't need to drive there or anything. But in general, would a car be helpful?

2. Would you recommend a shuttle from the airport to the hotel? I see em on expedia for $20/person for round trip, and the place is like 12 miles from the airport.

1. no, and in general it is better to NOT drive in Mexico, as they sometimes target foreigners. All rental cars are marked very prominently, and the less ethical cops sometimes ee them as easy targets for bribes.

2. Yes, but again, if you use Apple or Funjet you usually get free transfers.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: purbeast0
few more questions ...

1. Do you need a car there? We're staying w/in walking distance of the main night life area so we don't need to drive there or anything. But in general, would a car be helpful?

2. Would you recommend a shuttle from the airport to the hotel? I see em on expedia for $20/person for round trip, and the place is like 12 miles from the airport.

1. no, and in general it is better to NOT drive in Mexico, as they sometimes target foreigners. All rental cars are marked very prominently, and the less ethical cops sometimes ee them as easy targets for bribes.

2. Yes, but again, if you use Apple or Funjet you usually get free transfers.

Thanks for the info, I heard from a few people not to get a car as well. I also just booked it through expedia and they had some special sale that is 10% off for early bookings, so I just got the shuttle through there. It is Best Day Tours shuttle, and it was like $19/person for round trip which is fine.

We had a good deal - $847/person for 7 nights and it includes airfare as well, and that was with the upgraded room as well.

Now I can't wait for July

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: purbeast0
few more questions ...

1. Do you need a car there? We're staying w/in walking distance of the main night life area so we don't need to drive there or anything. But in general, would a car be helpful?

2. Would you recommend a shuttle from the airport to the hotel? I see em on expedia for $20/person for round trip, and the place is like 12 miles from the airport.

1. no, and in general it is better to NOT drive in Mexico, as they sometimes target foreigners. All rental cars are marked very prominently, and the less ethical cops sometimes ee them as easy targets for bribes.

2. Yes, but again, if you use Apple or Funjet you usually get free transfers.

Thanks for the info, I heard from a few people not to get a car as well. I also just booked it through expedia and they had some special sale that is 10% off for early bookings, so I just got the shuttle through there. It is Best Day Tours shuttle, and it was like $19/person for round trip which is fine.

We had a good deal - $847/person for 7 nights and it includes airfare as well, and that was with the upgraded room as well.

Now I can't wait for July

if you didn't buy travel insurance, call RIGHT NOW. July is the beginning of hurricane season, and there's always a chance...