THIS REPORT WAS PRE-HURRICANE WILMA: We stayed at the JW Marriott Cancun in early September, 2005 (right after Labor Day) for 5 nights. Let me preface this review by saying we have been few other areas in the Caribbean and Mexico prior to this trip to Cancun. We had been to Cancun twice before in the early 1990’s, Playa Del Carmen in 1996, Cabo San Lucas in 2002 and also have been to St Thomas, St Kitts, Nevis and Virgin Gorda. We thought we would try Cancun again since it had been 14 years since we had been there and we had a free flight on USAirways that we wanted to use. The glowing reviews posted on this website basically drove our decision to book the JW Marriott for our 5 night stay at a rate of $179.00 US for an Oceanview King room. We have also stayed at the JW Marriott in Las Vegas twice, which we absolutely loved, and thought we would try the JW Marriott Cancun, again mostly because of the glowing reviews posted on this website. However, what we found was that this hotel does not truly do justice to the JW Marriott name nor does it even come remotely close to getting a 5-star rating.

After arriving at the Cancun Airport, we quickly proceeded through customs and picked up our bags. Total time, about 20 minutes, which we thought was very quick. We then proceeded to run the gauntlet of time share sharks that infest the airport exit ramp. Literally, there had to be at least 100 sharks hawking timeshares just in the airport! One shark was actually trying to grab my luggage from me as I walked by! Ignore them and they will basically get the hint that you are not interested. I would highly recommend Brandt’s transportation service, which is very reliable. Brandt was great for transportation to and from the airport. Our flight was 40 minutes late coming into Cancun but the fellow with the sign with our name on it was waiting. However, the van had already left on another run since our flight was late so we waited another 20 minutes for him to return to take us to the JW Marriott, no fault of Brandt of course. I would definitely recommend his transportation service. It was $69.00 total for the 2 x 1 E-card and the airports transfers. We asked our driver to stop at a grocery store on the way and he had no problem with it. He was a very friendly driver and took us to a 7-11 convenience store near town, however the store did not take credit cards so we only bought a few items.

We got the hotel and proceeded to check in. As a Marriott Rewards Silver member, we asked if any room upgrades were available. They said there was a direct oceanfront room available for $150.00 more per nite but it would be $120.00 for us! What a deal, NOT! That would have made the nightly rate $299.00! We said no thanks and proceeded to have the bellman take us to our ocean view room. It was on the 11th floor facing south, overlooking the diving training pool and the small swim up bar pool. The diving pool on the south side of the building takes up two thirds of the area, the rest is taken up by the small swim up bar pool, which is round with a large planter in the middle. Frankly, I have seen bigger pools at Holiday Inns! The diving pool is a complete waste of space, since we did not see one person use it the whole time we were there. I don’t know what Marriott was thinking here with the pool layouts.

The Rooms: The rooms at the JW Marriott are nothing particularly great, at least the one we stayed in. Truly, they are not very inviting, old green carpeting and dirty bathroom to go with it. Also black mold was growing around the base of the shower. The maids here do not do any heavy cleaning, which shows. The bathroom was very small too with a small, old school tub. The shower area is small and the door leaks water all over the floor when showering. It does have dual sinks, one of which was clogged for the first day and one-half of our stay. Had to call maintenance to fix it. The tub was also clogged. Again, had to call maintenance for that too. Went to take a bath one day and the tub handle actually came off in my hand! Our balcony was dirty the whole time we were there and the glass on the sliding door was cracked. We did notice the maids across the way at the Marriott Casa Magna essentially scrubbing the balconies at that resort. Why they don’t that the JW is beyond me. Furniture in room is also showing wear too. The balcony was small and not “private”, since there was a 2-3 foot overhang on each balcony where your neighbor could easily look around and stare at you if they wished. If you are a voyeur I suppose it will work for you.

The Lobby Bar: Very tired. One female Spanish singer and a piano. The staff working in the lobby bar are less than thrilled to be there too, by the looks on there faces and the poor service that we received. Also, the resort does not have any tropical flair to it. Rather cold, drab interior feels out of place in the Caribbean. The clientele at the hotel during our stay were about 80 percent Spanish vacationers and 20 percent US. There was also a convention of Spanish Ford employees there during our stay which made what is a fairly large hotel appear somewhat crowded. Overall, I would say this hotel seems more geared to business travelers than leisure vacationers looking for a tropical vacation.

The Food: We ate dinner one night at Café Salsa which was OK, nothing great for sure. We have had better Mexican food at many places here in Pittsburgh, including the now defunct Chi Chi’s chain. Also ate at Champions in the Marriott Casa Magna which was OK. They have one large projection type screen, which on the day we went was televising the US Opens Men’s tennis final. Halfway through the match, the manager turned on the Dallas Cowboys game, much to the consternation of those watching the historic tennis match. No explanation was given as to the switch, which we thought was quite rude for paying customers, most of whom were interested in the outcome of the Men’s Final, not some early season NFL game. The Beachwalk café at the JW Marriott was good except for the Hellmann’s mayonnaise left out on each table in 90 degree heat. I don’t think they know the proper way of handling foods in Mexico. It’s no wonder so many people get sick there! To be completely honest, the food in Cancun was really not good anywhere we ate except possibly Beefeaters, which was OK but the steaks were kind of fatty. We used the Brandt card here for the 2 x 1 special. One interesting thing about Beefeaters was the crocodile that comes up to the edge of the deck and they feed him raw steaks, which is quite entertaining to say the least! The staff was very nice too at Beefeaters. Right next door was La Dolce Vita, where the food was absolutely terrible! They do not know how to do Italian food at all! Avoid this place at all costs!

As for the JW’s pool area, the workers are extremely lazy! I concur with the previous poster that the deck area surrounding the infinity pool was absolutely filthy every morning. Truly, it looks like it had not been cleaned in years! Staff do absolutely no cleaning or sweeping of the deck that surrounds the pool. All sorts of litter is strewn about the pool deck area and it is not cleaned up. Straws, cups, salt packets, used napkins etc. Somehow, the pool water appears to stay clean but does get somewhat warm in the afternoon. On our last day, we decided to go out for any early dip in the pool before our flight. My wife actually stepped on a sheet metal screw and bolt which were laying about on the filthy deck around the pool! We did note that the workers were sure to sweep up their little towel hut and lifeguard stations but were put out to sweep around pool area. One morning I asked someone to sweep up the mess on the pool deck and he reluctantly did and then said “IS THAT IT” with a major tude! I wanted to then strategically place the broom he was holding, if you know what I mean!

Other asides:
What my wife and I referred to as the Mexican “Spongebobs” where at it daily around the pool perimeter. The were doing a faux marble look on all of the concrete walls that surround the JW’s pool area. This went on for 2 full days while we were there. Trying to relax while a worker flinging black slop is just a few feet from you is annoying to say the least. This also seemed to be in a constant state of construction, hammering, drilling, mowing the Zoysia grass, large holes in the ground where palms once stood etc.

The fumes from watercraft are not really are as strong as others stated in previous posts.

The vendor who blows the conch shell horn is not nearly as annoying as previous posted stated. My wife actually thought it sounded kind of nice. Unfortunately Marriott can do nothing about vendors on the beach since the beaches are all public in Mexico.

Blue water of the Caribbean Sea as always is spectacular. Weather was unusually dry for Cancun, low humidity which is rare. Sunny each day we were there until around 2:00pm, when the clouds rolled in.

The gym on site was the best I have seen at any hotel, hands down. And it is free if staying at the Marriott!

Take heed! Prime seats around the pool are gone by 8:00am. Get out early to reserve the ones you want! We got out around 6:30am to reserve the ones we wanted.

The beach not as clean as previous posters state. It does have debris on it as do most beaches nowadays. No grooming of the beach was noted by us, contrary to what previous posts indicate.

Stay away from the jewelry store at the JW Marriott. Really rude workers and sells a bunch of high priced junk silver!

Also, stay away from the taxis! Minimum price is $7.00 each way. The buses are 65 cents each way and are fast and fun! If you are lucky/unlucky depending on your perspective, you will get the R1 disco bus driver, who blares Michael Jackson from a boom box duct taped to his dash board! One strange thing we did notice about the buses is that they always seems to stop a few hundred yards from where you want to actually get off. All of the bus drivers we had spoke little or no English which probably factored into this problem.

We will probably never return to Cancun, but if we did, we would definitely not stay at the JW Marriott Cancun. Also, Cancun is so built up now it just feels like south Florida with bad food. If you are looking for a true Caribbean feel resort I would look anywhere else but the JW Marriott Cancun.

Feel free to email me at big7ben@gmail.com with any questions about the JW Marriott or Cancun in general and I will be happy to try and answer them.