We went to Cancun the week of Dec 1st for my husbands 50th birthday. My son who is 13 went as well. We had a spectacular time, the Riu Caribe(formerly Gran Caribe Real) is a wonderful place! I booked the flight through America West Vacations on line and we were set up with a ride to and from the airport. Go straight outside the airport because all of the people inside will try to sell you something. Our driver went straight to the hotel, in an air-conditioned nice suburban, only stopping twice to drop off passengers. We pulled up to the Riu Caribe and were delighted that our hotel was one of the best we'd seen so far.
The entrance is open into the lobby which is huge and very impressive.
I had $20 ready when we checked in because I had read reviews about people getting a terrible room and having to move. I told Theresa that it was a special occasion, my husband was turning 50, blah, blah. She said keep your money and we got a beautiful room on the 9th floor! What a view! We could see everything! Marble floors, sunken bathtub, hairdryer, iron, t.v., balcony, room safe, very nice! Everyone talks about the hard beds, I even warned my husband, but we didn't notice anything. We did the all-inclusive which was definately the way to go.
Just not having to worry about carrying money is a big thing. They have a room called club all-inclusive that our 13 year old just loved.
Anytime he could go in and get a soft served chocolate ice cream!
Between those and the virgin daquairis he was in heaven! The food was very good. We moved to the different restaurants for variety and we were never dissapointed. The desserts especially are wonderful! About 10 choices everyday. Yum. The servers were friendly and never expected a tip although we always left a few dollars. You know they don't make much. I brought a huge wad of $1 dollar bills for this reason. With our package we were assigned a tour guide to help us book tours if we wanted. No pressure. After a day of getting to know the place I went to see him and booked the Jungle Tour ($50 ea) and the Tulum/Xel-ha tour ($110 ea). It's very pricey but what the heck! The Jungle Tour leaves right across the street from the hotel which is nice. You catch a jet boat and follow a group with a guide out through the jungle and then you snorkel for about 30 minutes and come back. It was a nice short trip. Tulum/Xel-ha was 11 hours but well worth it. My husband wanted to see some ruins and my son justs wants to be in the water all the time so it was a great compromise. I understand Chichen Itza is great but it's all ruins. So the tour bus (very nice, air conditioned, suburban) picked us up at the hotel at 8:00 and we drove to Xel-ha. It's a gorgeous in let (right next to the wild ocean) with freshwater for snorkeling, etc. We spent 5 hours there, lunch, snorkel, mask, life-vest, fins, lockers, are included. It went by very fast, we had a great time. I WISH I BROUGHT AN UNDERWATER CAMERA!!!! With all the water activities you do you can't keep running back to the locker to get the camera! After Xel-ha we got back into the van and drove about an hour to Tulum. The ruins are great. Tara, our guide, gave a great detailed explanation of everything we were looking at. I talked to a friend of mine that went there and she said it was kind of boring because they just went alone and had no idea what anything was! I would recommend this tour. We also went to Isla Mujeres which you can see directly across the water. We took the ferry across from Playa Linda and rented a golf cart. $40 for the day. We had a blast tooling around this 4 mile Island all day. We saw the turtle farm and swam with the dolphins $50 and had a great lunch next to the turtle farm. We enjoyed being lazy by the pool and swimming in the ocean. The pool water was pretty cold but the ocean was wonderful! Don't expect any waves, you have to go on the other side for that, but it's usually red flag all the time. The fun thing is they have kyacks you can use. The entertainment crew they have work so hard. They are at the pool all day offering volleyball, water aerobics, basketball, stretching on the beach, massages, hairbraiding, ping-pong, fashion shows, etc., then every night they put on a show at 9:00 pm. We enjoyed every one especially casino night. They give you a bunch of chips and then offer black jack, craps, horse racing and bingo. The kids were able to play because it was pretend and at the end you can use the chips to buy gift shop items (T-shirts, mugs,) in an auction. I worked out the first few days and decided what was I thinking, but the gym was great. We played tennis, they supply the rackets, you buy the balls $4. They have pool tables, video games, a turtle pond, hammock swings, a jungle gym for little ones, lots of stuff. You don't have to leave the hotel! We did take the bus a few times. It's so easy to go across the street and wait for the bus. 6 pesos which is .60 cents gets you as far as you want to go. You just stand up when it's time to get off. We definately want to stay at the Riu Caribe again although we want to visit another place.
They have quite a few hotels around the world. You'll find a magazine with all of them in the room. Have fun.

This report is based on my opinion as a British Tourist going to a Mexican Tourist resort. I have just returned from a 2 week holiday over Christmas and New Year, 22nd Dec - 5th Jan, the hotel was full to the brim and if there was going to be problems then they would happen during the period. First of all ignore ALL of the bad reports that you may have previously read, if you are a professional complainer then you will find fault, if you are not a professional complainer and you want to enjoy your holiday then you will have the most fantastic time! I have worked in UK Travel Agencies for more than 15yrs, I have visited hundreds of hotels and resorts throughout the world. My opinion of the Riu Caribe (formerly Gran Caribe Real) is that it is as good as, and in most cases much better than, all Spanish 4 or 5 Star Tourist Class Hotels, for British Holidaymakers that are familiar with Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands or Majorca in the Balearic Islands I can tell you that the Riu Caribe is far superior to many of the popular hotels in these areass, like The Mediterranean Palace, The Conquistador, The Tenerife Princess, The Vulcano, The Bitacora, The Sol Palas Atenea, The Melia Victoria, The Sol Bellver, The Sol Antillas/Barbados, The Sol Cala Blanca, as you will know, these hotels are of an excellent standard and therefore you can just imagine how good the Riu Caribe must be to excel the standards of these hotels! The food at the Riu Caribe was good, The Margarita Al A Carte Restraunt was also good but the menu choice was limited. The Bar Staff were exceptionally efficient, especially Manuel and Roseumburg in the Main Lobby Bar were great fun! The entertainment Staff were superb, I do not know where they find their energy from! Evening entertainment was adequate, but not International Cabaret standard. The room we were allocated was wonderful, Junior Suite 987 on the top floor on the corner overlooking the Sea and the Swimming Pool, the balcony was HUGE with 2 Sunbeds, 2 Chairs and a Table. Standard Deluxe Rooms were simaler but had smaller balconies with just 2 Chairs and a Table.
Always ask for a room with a pool view above floor 5 and you will not be disappointed! (Pool View Rooms will avoid you being allocated a room on the side of the hotel overlooking the Parking Lots etc, even though, these rooms do still have a Sea View!). Tipping is not essential, but we found that by just giving the Bar Staff and Pool Waiters 20 pesos (£1 approx) they really appreciated it and this ensured that when the Bar was busy we were always served quickly in the Lobby Bar, and got regular and prompt service around the pool area and on the beach! The flight from the UK is around 10 hours, we flew with Air 2000 in the Premier Class Seats (approx £200 extra), in my opinion it is essential to have these seats, you get 35inches of leg room, 6 inches more than the standard seats, they are leather seats and are wider than the standard seats and you get free drinks for the 10 hours, you also get a 30kgs per person baggage allowance instead of the normal 20kgs! Book your trip now to the Riu Caribe and just sit back, relax and enjoy!!

My family and I made reservations to spend Christmas week at this hotel in the summer. The day before we were leaving our travel agent called to say that the hotel had made an error and that we were now going to and UPGRADE at the Riu Cancun. Believe me, this was no upgrade. This hotel has no sun or beach. We were told that we could use the services of both hotels since they were right next to each other. Another lie--50 minutes walk, or 15 minutes by taxi or public bus. Met a lot of other families under the same circumstances at the Riu Cancun. We were all unhappy for having been deceived in such manner. I will never book or stay at any Riu hotels again, especially at this one or the Riu Cancun.

I loved the Riu caribe. Travelling from cold sweden it was great to come to sunny cancun. The staff was great and the room ok. We were om the 2nd floor so the view was not spectacular but ok, try to swich to a higher floor if you want a nice view over the pool and beach area. It was very clean and the food in the buffe was great, it had everything.
especially the breakfast was amazing. The outdoor grill reataurant ¨had a lower quality. The pool and beach area is great and it was always something happening, wollyball, wateraerobics, dancing classes etc. You didn`t nedd to go anywhere else, the hotel was a relaxing and entertaining place. The entertainers were a lot of fun and the guys were so cute. Cancun is not the best place if you really want to discover Mexico, there were mostly americans and the malls and attractions were made for them, so not really mexican. But I had a great time relaxing, listening to good music and eating.