I feel compelled to put down my review for the Hilton in light of all the hubbbub about violence in Mexico and now, unfortunately, swine flu. We stayed here 4-18-2009 until 4-25-2009. We arrived late due to the fact that there were terrible storms in Houston. We got in about 11:00pm. Wihtout double checking first, we were placed in a room with two queens instead of a deluxe king ocean view. My husband called the desk and we were able to move on Monday to a deluxe king oceanview. Boy was it deluxe. 9th floor, nearly uninterupted view of the ocean, terrace bigger than the room itself, and a blacony to boot. It was a FANTASTIC room.
FOOD and drinks: the first night we ordered room service. Maybe it was the fact we were starving nad it was so late at night but the burger and quesadillas were delicious. Breakfast was an incredible spread in Spice, including the best french toast I've had. We at at the poolside grill at least once and the seafood tacos were blissfully delicious. Our only disappointing dinner was a later night last minute at the pizza/pasta restaurant. The pizza choices are just weird. All of our other meals were in Cancun restaurants. I'd like to add to the other reviewers that if you don't like the american restaurant and chain choices found on the hotel zone strip, consider riding the bus to downtown cancun and find a real mexican restaurant. Not only are they a great value, the food was outstanding. We loved La Parilla. The drinks at the HIlton were good, but we took it upon ourselves to go to a downtown Cancun grocery store (not Wal-Mart) and stocked up on cuban rum and Herradura. We made in-the-room pina coloadas, rum and cokes, and margaritas. The sol beer you can buy at the grocery store runs about $.15 a can so you can't beat that.
The service was great, the housekeeping was efficient. There were a few nit-picky cosmetic things about the bathroom fixtures, but nothing that I couldn't live with. I thought the hotel was lovely, a good value.
The beach: I don't get what everyone has said about the rocks and surf. There is PLENTY of sand, PLENTY of beach. There are large rocks but they are nothing like the rocks in front of the hotels directly to the north of the Hilton (one of the Parnassus hotels, can't remember which, and so on). There is plenty of room to swim in the ocean without rocks interferring. Those hotels to the north have virtually no beach at all and the rocks butt up to the edge of the hotel terrace. I would have been pissed had we stayed at one of those places. The Hilton has the best beach and best beachfront. The waves were too rough the first sunday we were there but they really calmed down to the point where everyone was swimming and having a blast for 3-4 days of the week we were there. Seriously, don't fret about the beach.
I'd also like to add that we rode the bus all the way to Puerto Juarez and took the Ultramar ferry to Isla Mujeres. It cost us $7.50 pesos for the bus and something like 27 pesos for the ferry (maybe 30, but I can't remember). This is definitely the way to do Isla. Quick, and cheap. We weren't hassled by anyone and really, downtown cancun is filled with a lot of nice people. We also took a tour company to Chichen Itza and rode a deluxe bus with beer, tequilla, water, air conditioning, and stops in a mayan village and cenote in addition to the ruins. I highly recommend going this route if you can. Our guide was named Rex and he was outstanding in his knowledge of the area.
All in all, great visit to cancun and I can't wait to get back to the Hilton
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