My wife and I have been married for 25 years and this was our first trip without our children. Wanting this to be as special as possible, I think I read every review of every resort. We wanted adults only, so we decided on the Golden Crown. Our stay was from 02/10 - 02/17. We arrived early so we had some time to look around and have a few drinks. As we looked out at the water, we decided that we wanted an ocean front room. We immediately upgraded to a spectacular room, equiped with a jaccuzi and an unbelievable view. From that point, it only got better. To summarize, all of the food was excellent, from the breakfast buffet, to the lunches, dinners, and late night snacks. We enjoyed the shows and late evenings at the Tiki Bar with Carlos and Jose. The bartenders are awesome!
We met two absolutely amazing couples from Canada that we spent our time with and they made our vacation even more spectacular. (Thanks guys, we love you) Our only regret is that we had to return to reality...

Trip Feb 10-14, 2005, late 30's. You need to read the reviews before arriving at this resort. it is very helpful to know in advance what to expect. rule #1, tip upon checking into this hotel. it helps. we did not get an oceanview, but we were upgraded to a suite with a lagoon view. the room was very clean and the jacuzzi was great. the king sized bed was hard, but much better than being soft. my husband and i did not think the beds were as horrible as the reviews suggested.we tipped the maid dailyand were given daily surprises by the maid. all were good. shower pressure wasn't great, but hell this is mexico. not everthing is like at home.t.v. was fine, there were many english channels-how much t.v. are you watching on a vacation? we found it wise to grab our pool chairs/beach chairs before heading to breakfast, the prime spots go fast. The pool temp was a little cold, go in the ocean instead. The Tiki-bar was 30 feet from our chairs, it didn't kill me having to get up every so often to get drinks, tip, it's a dollar (weekend never left my beach chair plenty of servers). The drinks were not the strongest, drink more if you want, it's included or just ask for a stronger drink. The weather was great, use sun tan lotion the sun is hot, a little chilly at night. The food in the Paradise buffett was fine, a nice variety. Pier 12 we found good, a nice mix of spaghetti and fish. Shangri-La was fancy with small portions, check menu each day (we found a dinner we enjoyed), the service was good and the staff had fun, while working. The Barn we waited to go to until our last, not thinking it would be good, we were wrong, it was a nice dinner, country western style (music included), service was also good. The entertainment staff tried to get everyone to join in. This was a rest and relaxation trip, we watched everyone else, it was fun. We never left the Resort, 4 night stay was perfect for this Resort, we never tired of anything. The entertainment at night was cheesey (dancers worked hard) as some of the reviews mentioned, but fun to watch while your drinking, the staff will take you out to clubs after the shows, if you want to go, they don't force you. The gift shops in the resort were nice to get gifts for everyone back home. Phone calls home, buy a calling card in the gift shop, dial the small 800 number and press one for english, it was easy. The elevators had a couple of problems, nothing serious. You have to play miniture golf at least once, you walk past every time go to your room. Keep tipping, even a dollar or two at the buffett doesn't hurt. Even mix of american, canadian and some british. Mixed age goups 30's thru 70's, seemed like groups of people had there own fun. Would go back.

We just got back yesterday and as we're now getting 7 inches of snow, I wish we were back...I planned this trip for my wife's 40th birthday and we were looking for a fun place, AI, with a good location and no kids. This fit the bill in everyway. It was recommended by our travel agent.

Yes, the bed are very hard and with stone and marbel everywhere, early morning noise travels and can be slippery so be carefull, but that's about it. The restaurants are all good with plenty of variety for every taste. The breakfast and lunch buffets are fantastic. The Breeze, which is the little grill by the pool is good for the quick burger late at night or at the pool. The k-bobs are especially good at 4:30am after Coco Bongo. We did eat off site on Thursday because you do need a break, but they're all fine. The staff is very friendly and helpful..The gift shops there are very competively priced...bought my wife a bikini for $33USD..it'd be $60+ here. T shirts and other stuff were as competively priced as other places..Good enough for souviners for the kids. The pool area is very nice and there were no problems with towels or 6am sprints for chairs. No waiting at the bars and no reservations required for dinner. We had a lagoon room at first and asked for an oceanview, which we received 3 days later..in the end, I preferred the lagoon side as it was quieter...those darn crashing ocean waves made it hard for me to sleep..my wife loved it.. It does get quiet at night, but that's fine...after all day in the sun and drinks who can take much more...our late party nights were only after a nice nap from 4 to 7pm...the sun really takes it out of you..and we're only 40 and 42. I think the real key is to go down with no expectations and just deal with what comes along..The people down there were very friendly and work hard to be sure you have a nice time. We had no issues with anything here and had a fantastic stay...we would definitly go back.

My wife, 37 and I, 38 just returned from Cancun on Feb. 17, 2005, we were at the resort for five days and four nights. (that's much longer than our children wanted us away from home..ha ha)
Prior to our trip we read several reviews some were positve but far too many lodged complaints that we really did not encounter, I guess no resort can please every customer.
We met many terrific people Bruce and Brenda from Calgary were alot of fun so i must mention them and say HELLO! Most people we talked to were very pleased with all aspects of the resort. Many were repeat guests, some for several years running...one even admitted traveling from Texas to the resort about every eight weeks. (a bit much for us but great for him)
I'll try to touch on everything good and/or bad, one thing at a time.
THE AIRPORT: Arrival in Cancun went very smooth, the longest wait was for your bags. Immigration was simple to pass through and only random people were stopped at customs. After clearing customs we were greeted by severel people in booths along the way to the exit, these people are uniformed and look very official, they offer free and/or reduced prices for excursions for a bit of your time the next day (several hours of your time politely thank them and move on) We booked our trip through Apple vacations and were greeted by a representative of Apple and taken to our resort after about a twenty minute wait for the van to fill with other Apple customers.
THE RESORT STAFF: NEVER a negative encounter, at our every whim these are very hardworking people, we tipped them our fair share and they we very grateful...check out the bartender at the tiki bar in the evening Carlos and Jose are an awful lot of fun and they remember you drink of choice.
THE BUSES: Public buses run very effectively every 2-3 minutes for six pesos and 50 cents, buses are safe you won't be robbed, the drivers are a little wild though so hang on tightly. You need to hang on to your tickets because the inspectors will board the bus and check for them to make sure the drivers are not skimming loot.
THE RESTAURANTS: No need for reservations at this resort we found the food very good overall, not perfect but what is? Breakfast is served at the resort buffet near the lobby eggs to order, waffles, pahcakes, french toast, ETC...Shangrila is the most formal, men need to wear slacks and covered shoes as well as a collared shirt. Nice piano music is played during dinner and diners are welcome to become dancers when the music plays. The Old Barn is not formal and has good filet mignon and good ribs, dine to the Country music. We did not eat at The Pier but we heard it was "decent" The Breeze is poolside and serves burgers and nachos, this is the 24-hour eatery so stop in after the TikiBar closes.
YOUR ROOM: Floors 1-5 are either ocean view (sunrise) or lagoon view (sunset) and have thier own balcony, the 6th floor are bigger rooms with a jacuzzi and no balcony. whether ocean or lagoon view I heard no complaints. True enough the bed are firm (we love that) the pillows are small though, really my only complaint. Hey most of us don't spend much time in the room anyhow.
POOLS: Phooey, no swim up bar but two close by. The swing bar on the sand and the Tiki bar. drinks good at both bars...i really enjoyed the vollyball and the water polo, once 4:00 p.m. hits the pool area becomes more shadows than sunshine and the pool and beach clear out quickly.
OCEAN SWIMMING: Be smarft and don't venture out too far, the riptide and/or undertow is powerful at times and the waves are hard hitting and fun to play in. Pay heed to the color of the flags...yellow is the best we had although we did swim when the red flags were flying, so did many others. We never saw anyone get pulled out to sea but it is tough to fight the current sometimes.
EXCURSIONS: The sister resort Crown Paradise offers 3 excursions for $135.00 USD choose those you would like to do.
If you have any other questions feel free to e-mail me at duece4theroad@comcast.net