Ok I will try and get everything into this review to help those of you like me who was worried about the negative reviews!

When my 2 friends and I arrived (3 girls between ages 25-35) we thought oh No it’s like a hotel in Benidorm, not because of how it looked but because of the people!! This thought went as quickly as it arrived, I'll explain.

The hotel was full of groups of young people mostly lads (not a bad thing for us) but we were surprised at how many groups of young English lads were there, turns out they were well behaved and didn't live up to the 'drunken yobs' title that us English have got, they lived up to the drunken but fun title. We met so many good friends that made our holiday fantastic.

SERVICE: - The service in the hotel was great and we can't complain. The towel guys (you get provided with beach towels although if lost its a $25 charge) were always happy to see us and asked us to book trips but never pressured us when we said No. Bar service is a little like home, you have to wait! Mary the waitress in the lobby bar was fab and kept us topped up every evening, likewise Sandra did whilst we laid around the pool, we tipped them every few days which kept them sweet (anything from 20 peso to 50 peso, which is about a quid or 2)

ROOMS: - The 3 of us shared a room comfortably no problem. We had an amazing walk in shower which was lovely in comparison to the tiny over bath thing you get in Europe. The room was cleaned daily and mini fridge containing beer/coke/sprite etc stocked up daily and we never had to ask. We had a TV with many English channels so had something to gaze at whilst getting ready to go party on a night. Beds changed every few day and we tipped the cleaner twice, once each week about 100 peso. We had a little balcony but not one you could fit a chair on but then again we were hardly in the room. Lovely job.

BEACH/POOL: - Beach is lush, it is small but was plenty big enough for us, water and sand lovely and clean and we always got to watch the lovely boys play volleyball very entertaining!! Whilst there is only 1 pool, it was big enough for everyone and clean which is most important. never struggled to get a sun bed and I think we stayed there at the busiest time. Bare in mind you can go topless on the beach but we were asked to put tops back on round the pool, fair enough.

FOOD: - This was my only problem, the girls just ate the food whatever was on offer but I'm a little fussy. Breakfast was cool pancakes and toast and stuff. Lunch and dinner were pretty much the same, beef and rice, chicken and rice, beef and rice... you get the picture, by the 2nd week I just stopped eating lunch and choose to drink my way through it. There are 3 restaurants you have to book into on an evening but you can go as often as you like, not once a week like some hotels I've been to. The Mexican restaurant was horrible and the girls agreed when they usually like everything. The seafood one was ok and you can use it on a lunch time without booking where you can get great burgers and fries. The Spanish restaurant was not my cup of tea either. When it says mash potato expect Smash and you won't be disappointed. There is a 24hrs snack bar which is stocked with salad, pizza and hotdogs, it is stocked regular but can sit there for sometime if no-one tucks in but at 5am when you stroll in from coco bongo's your not gonna care so just eat it, I did and I'm still alive.

LOCATION: - we had no problem with the location at all as we didn't venture out during the day much, you have a beach and a pool (both of which were clean) no need to move. On a night we hopped on a bus into town which is about a 5 min journey and bus worked out at about 30p.

TRANSPORT: - as above the bus is dead cheap and runs every few minutes 24hrs so getting back from town was no problem at all. Taxis are not much if you compare them to prices here, we were told not to pay more than 120 peso from town but we managed to get away with paying 50 peso!! The boys were not happy. lol.

NIGHTLIFE: - What can I say, it’s amazing. We did all the big clubs and pubs, Coco Bongo's (you have to see it to believe it) Daddy O's, Daddy Rocks, The City (we missed seeing Snoop Dog and Akon by a few days, Gutted) Bulldogs, Basic, Carlos and Charlie’s, Dos Equis and Senior Frogs, we had wicked nights in all of them, they did get very busy due it being Spring Break but made it all the better. I guess on average you pay about $50 to get into each place, once your in all your drinks are included however they heavily rely on being tipped, we tipped and get looked after but did experience seeing people not being served if they did not tip!

TRIPS:- Not much to say here as we only did one to Isla Mujures, which was fab, we swam with Dolphins and Manatee’s which was great (we did it in Cuba but was better here) I also did a zip wire out across the ocean which was mental. Well worth the money but seeing as though we spent all ours on nights out this was it. Oh hang on we did do the Pirate ships which was on a night but I think that counts as a trip?! Well worth it, very entertaining and fun evening out on the sea, you get fed and watered and the food is yum. (Pirate ships are right by the hotel so no excuse not to do it)

MONEY: - We didn't take enough money and quickly run out not realising how much we'd wanna go out every night, however the hotels had cash points so we were saved.

We spoke to a lot of people out there who were jealous that we had such a cool hotel and that made us appreciate it more. We would definitely go back; in fact we are in the process of booking to go back for next spring break only this time we will take double the money. You will love this holiday, people moan about the rooms we only slept in ours for a few hours every morning, people moan about the food eat elsewhere is my answer, people moan about only having one pool, how many do you wanna swim in at once? All in all I loved it and think don't knock it till you try it.

we stayed in october and had 10 out of 14 days of rain, the shows were either cancelled or cut short because theres nowhere inside to do the performances and the shows started too early for us (we eat quite late), the staff were all very nice but seemed a little tired and jaded this late in the season-if the weather had been better we'd have enjoyed it more-the busses are a joy to use and cheap around 30p for the journey no matter where you go just ask at the front desk and they tell you which bus No. you need the in house craft market is a buzz if you enjoy haggling do it in a friendly manner and its well recieved-we got a lot of bargains

My boyfriend and I traveled to Cancun for the first time on April 9th. Upon arrival to the Barcelo Costa Cancun, we were impressed by the hotel staff and our quick and easy check in.

Our room didn't have a balcony, but instead a sliding door which lead out onto some sort of roof top overlooking the beach bar. We didn't mind as we didn't anticipate spending much time inside. The room size was fine, with 1 large bed, tv, mini-bar (re-stocked daily), a table & 2 chairs, a room safe and a bathroom with a fairly large shower.

The pool area was nice, with random activities throughout the day (pool-volleyball, bracelet making, mini-golf etc). Although the games should have been more organized and less sporatic! The service at the pool was great, the bartenders circling the pool were great as well. Our drinks weren't finished and they'd be back asking if we;d like another! We also brought our own travel mugs (supplied by our travel agent) which came in handy !!!

The beach was lovely as well, except for the Pirate ships (which were a hit at nightm, apparently) they just took the look away from the beach a great deal. We appreciate the Beach Bar, which again was full of hard-working staff! Not until our last day did we realize you could order lunch from the Beach Bar! (we wished we had found out sooner, the Clubhouse and Fries were a great change from the buffet food)
We had the oppurtunity to rent sea-doo's and left not far from our own beach, just about 3 minutes up toward another resorts beach. This was fun, and we paid only $15 each for a half and hour, and were able to go far out towards other boats in the water, and coulc circle around parasailers etc.. The resort allows you to use the kayaks and peddle boats free of charge, I wouldn't suggest the peddle-boats, you have little to no control!

The buffet always had a large variety, and seemed to have a different theme each night.
We mostly booked at the restaurants for dinner, and ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch. ( I should note, the bacon is kept inside by the grills, you need to ask for it & and they will prepare your own omlet with your choice of peppers, cheese, ham etc, again you need to ask) The reataurant we enjoyed most was the "Mexico Lindo", the Mexican food was great the 1st time, and decent the 2nd. We tried the fajitas, quesadillas, mashed potatoes, everything was good. We tried both other Restaurants, and although we had not compaints, we liked the Mexican Lindo the best.

The nightly shows were good, they gave you something to plan your night around, if your were going out to the clubs you could see the show first, have some drinks and wait for your bus to pick you up. We enjoyed some shows more than others, but each one was different!! Although, the first show was a group of engligh high-school students from the US, a choir I beleive?? We thought it was strange, but the Spanish shows began the following night and up until we left.

Nightlife - If you don't leave the resort you will have to depend on the show and the 2-man band playing in the lobby to entertain you. The resort really pushes you too leave and go to the clubs. We chose Coco Bongo, which we booked through our travel company. We payed $65 USD and this provided transportation to the club, VIP passes which consisted of being met at the door, with Tequila shots, our own VIP table which was strategically placed in the center of the club, our own bartender which brought us 2 drinks each at a time (which was impressive since we went with a group of 6). The only downside was we had to get our own transportation back to the hotel at 2 in the morning. We chose the city bus, and arrived safe and sound. The club itself was remarkable!! Acrobats hanging from the ceilings, star impersonators, huge video screens, and interactive crowd, what seemed to be thousands of people, and so much more!!! We recommend to go to Cogo Bongo, it was an experience like none other.
We didn't get to go to Senor Frogs, but we heard so many good reviews that'd we travel back to Cancun just to go! The downtown nightlife was amazing, you'd swear you were in Vegas, it was great!!!

We took a tour, again through our travel company, on a Catamaran! The tour was great, our guide was a riot ! Although we didnt get to snorkel because of high winds, we were brought to Woman Island and were able to visit the marketplace, etc. We were provided with drinks on the boat, and lunch at a nearby Beach Cafe. We also had the oppurtunity to swim with some sort of small Shark and get our pictures taken. We Catamaran staff also took a video of the tour and we were able to purchase it for $15 each.
The only real problem we had was when we were approached while waiting for the bus, by a rather intoxicated spanish man, who insisted we had some sort of problem with him and challenged my boyfriend to a fight. This was ridiculous and made us a little wary of going back into town. The situation could have easily escalated but we continued to walk to the bus, and although followed by this man, we managed to out-walk him.

We travelled both downtown and to the Plaza's, and enjoyed both. We really enjoyed the marketplaces, but didn't enjoy being hassled by shop-owners, who seemed to be a little more pushy than need be. Some, however, we're very polite and this is where we spent most of our money/time. The Plaza's seemed to be more pricey than the markets, which was expected. We would recommend vistiting "Luxury Avenue", as well as the Mexican outlet stores etc..

If we were able to change anything about our holiday or if given the oppurtunity to do it all over again, we would :
- Book more nightclub outtings, or go along with the hotel when they'd visit a new nighclub each night
- We were able to scuba-dive in the pool, but next time we'd like to take the staff up on there offer to go scuba-diving in the ocean
- We would do the Pirate Ship tour, we heard only good reviews!!
- Do not accept any uppourtunities to "Visit another hotel". We gave it, and in return were given 500 peso's, a beach bag, and a t-shirt. BUT we had to view another resort (which was absolutely beautiful) and listen to a sales associate try to sell us some sort of time-share, which we knew we would never buy, but they were so persistant, more than necessary!! And not only that, once we declined we had to meet with a manager, and then another manager. It was a waste of 2.5 hrs, don't go!

All in all, we had a wonderful time! We definitely plan on returning to Mexico soon!
The weather was amazing, the food was great and the people were pleasant.

Having read many reviews on this hotel, we stil decieded on going. The hotel it self was very clean, the food was not too bad, pretty much the same food over and over we tried all the resturants and found the Mexican to be the best by far, the food and the service in the Mexican resturant were great!! We traveled in a group of eight,(age ranging form 26-56) we requested for our rooms to all be in the same area, but that didn't happen and at we ALL ended up being sick at some point thought our stay. You are waken up every night by spring breakers who don't seem to ever go to bed. The shows in the hotel are very loud and just ok. There is only one pool on this resort, so if you don't want to listen to screaming kids all day long go somewhere else!! There is no swim up bar wich I found to be very disapointing. We did the pirate ships, that was fun but not a place for small children, we also did the catamaran to the island of woman that was the highlight of our trip it was very beautiful and lots of fun. We also went to Coco Bongos, the show was great but again alot of very young half dressed teenagers. The bartenders on our resort said that they didn't serve our types of liquor, but when he opened the cupboard we saw Spiced Rum, Baliey's, and Crown Royal, he then said that if we wanted that we had to pay for it, which was not fair as we paid for an all incluvise vacation. With a little talk to the manager we were offered all of that booze free of charge.The rooms are nice, not great but nice, our firdge was restocked daily. All in all, I really liked Cancun, but would rather next time stay further up the hotel strip where the beach is much nicer. Last year we stayed at the Sandles Royal Hiacos in Cuba, the Barcelo Costa Cancun didn'e even compare!!!!!!