When you get off the Plane, you will go through Health Questionnaire for Flu Screen ( 6-7 questions answer yes/no), customs, immigration etc. Just before you exit the Airport Building you will see a bunch of guys wearing Official looking Tourista ID cards around their necks. They will approach you asking you were you want to go. They will ask to see your reservation papers. Then they will guide you to one of the booths on the side. The person at the booth will do the same. Ask you were you are staying etc. They will tell you where you can shop and negotiate a better price. How to get there etc. Then comes the punch line. They will try to sell you a Tour.
I found Crown Paradise to be quite nice. Although it is an older building, they keep it painted and well maintained. The landscape, pools etc are well maintained and you will see staff doing clean up all day at various spots.
The staff was pleasant and friendly. Service was pretty good. We called maintenance for Air Conditioning problem and he showed up in 15 mins. We needed a working Iron and they brought us one in 15 mins. We did not have a refrigerator in the room and did not ask for one.
Food is generally good. We ate a lot. The Buffet is average, but they have a wide variety and good desserts and ice cream.
I would give them a 4 star overall, but the air conditioning is so poor that I would not go back there again. They have central Air. The maintenance guy checked it and it was blowing 24degrees. It does not get any better than that. But in that heat and humidity, one vent blowing 24 degrees air just doesn't cut it. I did not blame the maintenance guy for that. The frontdesk people admitted to me during a friendly chat that the most complains they get are about the air conditioning.
Tipping certainly helps and those people deserve it. I don't think they get paid a lot and depend on tips. I always gave 1 or 2 dollars tip where ever I got service.

My husband and I just returned home yesterday from staying 5 days at the Crown Paradise in Cancun. We got a great deal and were overall pleased with this hotel. The food was good, although you had to make reservations a day in advance to eat at the on-site restaurants. Be sure to take long pants and dress shoes men to eat in the French restaurant...we saw several people turned away due to attire. Our bed was hard and the temperature in the room was never very cool!!! I'd say it was probably 78 degrees...with no way to make it any cooler. The staff was friendly, the pools and beach areas were wonderful...plenty of chairs available most of the time. The hotel was very, very clean!!! Overall, it was a great value and we were pleased!!

Just returned and what a time we had. I took my wife here for our 25 anniversary and what a place just to relax and have a good time. This is the first time we did anything like this and I don't reget it at all. The food was good and the sevice was great. Next time it will be for more than the three days that we stayed. The only complaint is the way they were after you to join their Golden Sands Club that I was not interested in at all.

We were at the Crown Paradise from June 4th until June 11th and could have stayed longer. The hotel was lovely. The rooms were sufficient as we weren't in them much, but the view was BREATH TAKING. We found the beds to be fine, because we were so tired at the end of the day we could have slept anywhere. We had not issues with anything broken in our room.
The grounds and hotel were always being kept up with cleaning or painting. When we first got there the shell spaped pool was closed, but opened our 4th day in. There are 4 pools to choose from. The best part for us was all of the things for our kids to do. They didn't want to leave the resort. We did go one day shopping and they were ready to get back. We would do excursions the next trip, but for our first trip with a 5 and 6 year old, the resort was more than enough. They would go to kids club for an hour or so and enjoy the waterslides there and whatever activity was going on. Then do the big waterslides, rock climbing, zip lining and swimming and of course the ocean. So much fun! The beach was good when we were there, but I am sure that changes with the tide changes.
The food was very good. The buffet was fine for breakfast. We did the snack bar and the Japanese restuarant for lunch. Try the bananna roll and the carribean roll for sushi. My kids loved the deep fried shrimp, chicken sticks, cheese sticks and Japanese Spring roll!
We thought the restaurants at night were fine too. Our favorites were the Italian and the Mexican. The pizza at the Italian was very good. If you are expecting Olive Garden or Pizza hut, then you may be dissappointed. It is much better than chains, but if you do not like different things, you may want to stick to the buffet. I found the calamari at the restuarants to be chewy. We had no trouble with reservations, but made some of them from the states before we ever left. Best $5 phone bill. I didn't have to worry when I got there. If you call in the mornings when you are there it should be fine. Make as many reservations as they let you at a time.
We loved this hotel and the people who worked there and made many friends. The entertainment staff is amazing. They work hard all day at the pool making you laugh or with your children and then put on a show at night! They were lovely! We had not problem with those working on the beach. If we told them no, they moved on. I got my daughters hair partially braided for $10 without having to go downtown. See Olivia on the beach for the braids. She is quick and doesn't hurt them.
We loved Luis the bartender at the pool! If you tip it goes a long way, so does a smile and friendly conversation. Makes their work day much better too.
The down side. I would have to say I have only three negatives: The elevators are much too slow, and very hot. I would agree with others. If you are on the second or third floor then the stairs may be an option. They are to the left of the elevators. The other negative was the front desk. I did most things through the concierge desk and they were lovely. One girl at the front desk was nice, but the others had not much personality! I am glad I had no problems to have to depend on them. The last negative is something to be ware of. There were two older men taking pictures of teenage girls on the beach. Not sure what they are doing with them afterwards, but it made me uncomfortable. I saw a security guard shoe them away once, but they were back the next day!
All in All, I love this place and can't wait to go back!
Feel free to write me with any questions!