My husband and I decided to take a 4 night vacation since I am 4 months preggers. We knew we wanted something tropical with a close location (home base is STL) and an American hotel. We chose this hotel based on the previous reviews which all sounded good. I would not consider myself a hotel snob as we stayed at a Red Roof Inn the night before we caught our plane, but on the other hand we have stayed at the Four Seasons so I can pretty much handle anything as long as it's clean and there are no hair on my pillow. I will give you an honest review based on my own preferences. First off, I've seen a couple people who responded that they were not aware this hotel offered an all-inclusive package, but they do. We booked ours through Worry-Free vacations but you had to book a min. of 4 nights. I'm quite a travel hound so I did find it on Marriott's website but there was also the min. stipulation and since it was cheaper to book the package through Worry Free, we did just that. I estimated the cost to be about $600 more doing an all-inclusive for 4 nights as opposed to just booking the hotel by itself. In saying that, I was going to make sure I spent at least $600 to cover that over the course of our trip. The hotel itself is gorgeous and very family-friendly. There are always people walking in the hallway and the staff is more than helpful and always answer you by last name when you call for something. I would say this hotel was about 65-75% capacity and there was never a time you couldn't get something. There was also nightime entertainment in the lobby area that was fun at night. Upon checking in, we were given a sheet of the drinks, food, etc. that was covered. I've stayed at other all-inclusives and decided on this one because of the restaurants. Partly because there were no buffets and the restaurants looked good. The 1st restaurant we tried was Champions at lunch time. It's fun and the food is decent but they gave us a bill at the end. They did this every time we got a drink or ate at a restaurant. There was an area for a tip which we did leave but I wasn't sure how that would play out when we checked out because most all-inclusives you don't get a bill. With this a.i. you got 3 meals a day but no snacks are included so we just made sure we ordered an appetizer and dessert at lunch and that carried us through to dinner. The steakhouse restaurant was our personal favorite. We went to Japanese restaurant the 1st night and liked it but once we went to the steakhouse that was it. I'm not sure why they have a Thai restaurant there, to me it seemed a waste because it was too similar to the Japanese. It would have been better to have had a mexican restaurant. I ended up checking on our account balance 2 different times to see what our bill was because I didn't want any surprises and luckily at checkout the bill was $0. Aside from the alcoholic beverages, the a.i. was worth money. We estimated our bill at breakfast every morning was $35, lunch at Champions ran us $45-55 per meal/day and dinner at the steakhouse was $90 for our lowest bill and $125 for the highest. On average we spent $180 on meals aside from drinks so it was worth our while. Someone had said we should try the Italian place at JW but since our meals were free, it didn't make sense. One thing I noticed about the room which I wasn't too keen on was the rooms, they were quite small (we had a king-size bed) and the showers were kind of old. Since you don't spend a lot of time in there, it's ok but for the price, you would expect a little bigger room. The other thing I noticed after someone else pointed it out was the inconsistency. The 1st two days we receieved a USA today but the last 2, there wasn't one to be found. Some days they cleaned our room at 11:00 and others it was at 3:00. That kind of irritated me. Also, I read in other reviews that you could go over to the JW and swim at their pool but when we tried they would not give us towels because they said we could visit their spa or restaurants but not their pool. How kind of them, you can spend money at their place but not share it. There is a breezeway that connects the 2 hotels so we went to through the lobby one morning and I liked ours better but I did like the pools there because there were so many areas you can swim at and there was an adult pool. It's worth a walk over just to take a look. I also read that the Marriott did not have much beachfront access. We hadn't been back to Cancun since 2004 and since I'm preggers I didn't plan on going in anyways but please, please, please take into consideration that if you are wanting beachfront access you may want to rethink this place. There is a small place with chairs but the rocks are really too much to take a chance, especially with children. We walked both ways, on rocks and small walkways mind you but we wanted to find some decent beachfront access. We walked all the way to the Ritz and found nothing that I would consider "great" beachfront access. We also walked down to past the Omni and it was a little better. It's no big deal because I was going to swim at the pool but you at least like to dip your toes and I was severely disappointed in the access, although they can't help it due to the hurricane. I'm sure there has been lost business due to this. Other than that, this place is really beautiful and I think is worth what they are charging. I hope this answers any questions you may have and feel free to email me if you have additional questions.;

Let me first say.. there is really no beach!...We are not sandy beach people, but we do like to take occasional strolls..unless you want to walk across rocks. You may want to pick another hotel! We have stayed at many of the RIU's in mexico and because I was taking my 6 yr old and my VERY PICKY mother... I chose to stay at the Marriot...I thought it would be more americanized and a safe choice. IT WAS AMAZING... we did the upgrade to oceanfront- go for poolside or oceanview, you will feel like you are sitting in the ocean... since there is no beach. CLEAN, Friendly, GREAT FOOD (the breakfast buffet is a must)..good drinks... they are pricey, but they do everything top notch. Pizza across the street at Papa Johns was great... we went to McDonalds a few times... tasted just like home... I would pass on the Italian at Dolce Vita -- very expensive and it was not very good. We swam with dolphins at the Isla Mujures day trip....that little island is a rip off.. .Cozumel is much more beautiful... and cleaner... but my son liked the golf cart and picking coconuts and making drinks.....GO........you will love it.. Just let me know if you have any specific questions... Oh - btw -- the pool is all one depth about 4 ft. So if you have little ones...come prepared.

The CasaMagna Resort in Cancun was wonderful. When we arrived, we were met by a rep from Prestige Transportation which was great since there are many transportation options, but it wasn't clear which would be safest. Prestige was reliable, but pricey as the trip to the hotel through them was $60 and the regular cab ride when we returned to the airport was only $22.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we were treated very well. We were so impressed by the service, cleanliness and hospitality of the hotel staff. This was a spring break trip...2 HS seniors and 2 moms for a relaxing week. The weather at this time of year was beautiful. The beach is "OK", since there's not much to speak of, but it wasn't crowded so it was easy to find a lounge chair and relax for as long as we wanted. The pool was also great; a bit more difficult to find a seat directly at the pool's edge if you didn't get there super early. The hotel staff were just delightful. Everyone was so helpful. The concierge staff made all of our dinner reservations, and offered ideas on attractions.

There are 4 restaurants in the hotel and 3 or 4 more next door at the JW Marriott. The food was good, and prices were reasonable. If you can get a rate with breakfast included, do it...the buffet had many options.

All we were looking for was relaxation, so we can't comment on the night life. The Spa was terrific as well; not very big but a massage that was fantastic. There's also a mid-sized workout room but if you're up for it, taking a long walk up and down the hotel zone in the morning was very safe.

The rooms we had were oceanfront, 2 doubles each. Plenty of room with a great balcony to relax. Overall, the trip was great. It's a wonderful resort for families.

My husband, my 7 year old daughter and I just returned from 5 nights at the Casa Magna. We had a fantastic time. The hotel and grounds are gorgeous and impeccably maintained. The staff are warm and friendly, especially if you take the time to be pleasant to them. If you're reading this before your trip, good for you! the beach (or lack of one) won't be a surprise. We were prepared for it and found it didn't negatively affect our vacation. Had we been expecting a gorgeous white beach, it would have been a let down. however, take heart! pack up your towels and water shoes and take the bus down to the Westin. Walk across the parking lot to the beach and down about 300 years to find a lovely white sandy beach. All beaches in Mexico are public, so you are allowed to be there but the hotels will not let you come in to use the restroom or even buy anything at the bar/shops - just come prepared. You can climb over the rocks all the way at the end of the cove and come to the exact same reef for snorkeling that Aqua World will take you by speedboat for $150 or more per person. Bring your mask and snorkel from home and snorkel for free.

We used Marriott points to book the hotel and all inclusive option and were well satisfied. The food was great. There's an outstanding breakfast buffet every day at La Capilla (sp) that had everything - made to order omelets, pancakes, fruit, cereal, yogurt, Mexican choices, Asian choices, meats and cheeses...very very good. We ate dinner there at La Capilla twice and loved it. We had dinner one night at the Japanese steakhouse, also good and one night at the Thai place. The only bad meal was at Champions, yuck. Lousy food and loud obnoxious atmosphere.

We took the ferry over to Isla Mujuras one day and I highly recommend it. We rented a golf cart and swam with dolphins. If we were to do it again, I would leave earlier - we didn't get over there until about noon and the last ferry leaves at 5:30, so we felt rather rushed all day. Lots to see and do over there and the golf cart was a big hit with our seven year old. Another day we took the bus downtown and walked over to the market. That was also very fun, although a long and hot walk from the bus stop and rather disconcerting after being on the resort grounds for a few days.

If you go, say Hi! to Jose the doorman and Francisco at La Capilla. Francisco was wonderful to our daughter and even gave us his email address on the last day so she can write to him. All in all, the staff could not have been nicer or more professional. We can't wait to go back.