This was our first trip to Cancun and second trip to Mexico. My wife and I are both in our 30's and we brought along my wife's younger sister (24) and her girlfriend. We'll it was spring break and Cancun was hopping with 18 to 21 year olds everywhere. When we got to Coral Mar I had already read online that it was off the beaten path and was on the lagoon. My intial reaction was it seemed very small, possibly too small for my likes. By the end of my trip I changed my mind. We had a friend in Cancun staying at the Great Parnussus (spelling?), which was a all inclusive and right on the main drag (next to the Hilton). We spent one day and paid $100 each to visit him there and I have to tell you.....they can have the generic "buffet style" lunches, the small "light on the alcohol" drinks, and the crowds of people at the pool and beach - it was packed and we had a hard time finding a chair to lay on. At Coral Mar it was quiet with lots of local people staying in the Condos mixed in with the American Tourists. I figure if the locals stay there it can't be all bad. I didn't appreciate how nice that was until I visited the all inclusive resort. Generally, there wasn't a crowd in the pool or poolside. Coral Mar has a fairly good sized artificial beach on the lagoon, year it's a bit corny, but hey it works for just hanging out. Also the bar and bartenders charge reasonable prices and don't try to rip you off. They were very courteous and helpful. The food was pretty authentic at the bar/restraunt and most of the locals staying there also ate there often. There's a outside covered billard table right next to the bar, perfect for hanging out and staying out of the sun if you need a break. The accomodations themselves were decent and worked for us. My wife and I took the King Size bed and her sister/friend sleep on the pull out couch. The pull out was really small, basically just a full size bed. No place to sleep on the floor as it's all tile. Our condo had a TV with cable that had both a mix of Spanish channels and English speaking channels. We didn't come to watch TV anyway, but it's there if you need it. There were 2 air conditioners and they were a little loud and very cold, which was nice on hot days. The loudiness didn't bother me, in fact it was nice because I didn't hear here sister in the other room at all, no matter when she came home. The kitchen/fridge was decent and we went to Walmart when we got there and stocked up on some basics. The bathroom had a oversized shower and had nice hot water. Our friends at stayed at the all inclusive resort, they had no hot water in their showers/tubs for the entire resort - I couldn't believe that. We'll that's the low down on Coral Mar. There were a few negatives to keep in mind. We arrived on the weekend and the timeshare salespeople where waiting for us and were on the "prowl". Like we didn't see enough of "them" trolling at the airport when we arrived in Cancun. I did the time share presentation on our last trip to Cabo San Lucus, Mexico. For me personally, I don't care what they give me free, I can't stand high pressure salespeople and those time share presentations are high pressure. It will waste about 3 or 4 hours of your day from my past experience. They really like income producing couples. Hey if you got the time and can say "no" as they get more and more agressive, then go for it. I think the biggest negative is Coral Mar has only taxi cab access to Cancun. If you want to walk out to the main road, it's about 1 1/2 mile walk, from my best guess, which isn't bad but late at night or if you have a handful of stuff to bring back, forget it. Plan on about $8 to $10 to the main shopping or bar area, each way. If you want to walk out to the main street, it's 65 pesos to ride the bus. We actually walked out and took the bus to WalMart and then took a cab home. My final complaint, it would have been nice to have internet access in our rooms. They have a community computer in the bar for $2 per hour, but it's anceint and I couldn't log into my work's Citrix system. Also it was in Spanish/English mixed - very strange for me. Keyboard was a little strange as well, but if you want to surf Google, it would probably be sufficient for that. I just gave up and enjoyed my week without any worry of work. I guess that's how it should be anyway. I don't think I'd go back to Cancun, too touristy, but it was fun. The locals are pretty good at over charging you and trying to squeeze the extra dollars our of you, but it was similar on our last trip to Cabo. Lots of crowds of youngsters running around getting wasted at the bars, which I don't mind as I enjoy reliving my college years. I'm not sure if it was just because of spring break but watch out for the "all you can drink specials" at the bars. We paid $45 US at Pat O'Briens on St. Patty's day for all you can drink. It seems that was the only way to get in and they make it look like that with security. What they don't tell you is once you are in, there is a packed house of people with only 1 open bar. There are other bars, but they are all "cash" bars. So to get a drink, you have to wait it out for the 1 open bar to get a drink or pay for your drink. That really ticked me off. You know what they say, fool me once, shame on you.....fool me twice, shame on me. Also pay with credit cards whenever you can. If you pay with cash, they really try to get you to give them bigger tips. I was at Margarittaville for dinner and the waiter kind of scamed me out of 10 bucks by keeping my change on a couple of beers. I felt a little taken advantage of, but I'm a little nieve sometimes. Overall we enjoyed Coral Mar for it's seclusion and lack of massive crowds.