I recently went to Cancun with friends. We were placed at the Coral Mar by RCI, a timeshare company. At first, we were having a great time--we liked the food and the staff. The unit wasn't the nicest we'd stayed in (we go away every year) but we didn't plan on being there very much. It was a little annoying that Coral Mar was so far away, but we'd rented a car, so it wasn't too big a deal.

My sister had decided to bring her laptop, seeing as the website wrote that they had available WiFi--little did we know, we'd have to pay for it. So we didn't. No one saw her laptop, seeing as there was so reason to have out. Since there was no safe in the room, we decided to put it in the master bedroom's closet, in her carry-on bag. We also put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.

Well, we were at the pool one day, and came back to get showered to go to dinner, and my friend noticed that her cell phone charger was not plugged in the wall, and that her bag was open. We had unlocked both the door lock and the dead bolt to get into the room, and were all very vigilant about locking them when we left. That's when we started looking around, and realized that not only had her phone charger been stolen, but so had my sister's laptop and her IPod!

The staff was unhelpful. They refused to call the police for us, and when we told them that, they suggested we bring a man that worked at the hotel along with us to the police station. Three scared girls, alone in Mexico for the first time, with a strange man in the car! They also made outlandish accusations, like that "someone" had seen one of us going up to the room with a man, which was totally untrue! The manager refused to see us until the next day in the afternoon. They knew it had to be someone on our staff--locked doors are only opened by keys--and so they clammed up and refused to help.

You know, these things can happen, we're well aware of that...but the fact that it was OBVIOUS that it was a staff member, and how unfairly we were treated because of that, is inexcusable.

The next day RCI moved us to an amazing place called the Gran Melia. If you're going to Cancun, stay there instead! Keep your valuables safe at the Coral Mar!

My family just returned from a stay at Coral Mar. It is a nice, quiet resort - that is no joke! We only saw a handful of people during our entire weeks stay. We stayed in unit #54 which had a great view of the pool and bay. The unit was a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom with a small kitchen - no stove! It was nice enough and clean. It is a no frills place, which is fine for my family and the way we generally like to travel. We read in the guest book in our room to avoid the "free" breakfast because it is a time share sales pitch. I planned nearly all of our activities online prior to our arrival so did not even stop into the travel office - but it's there if you don't like to plan things in advance and all the reviews in the guest book raved about Linda.

We followed the advice posted online and went to WalMart to purchase a few items. If you like coffee - bring it or purchase it in town once you arrive. (Unless you like Folgers instant) We do not like Folgers. Also, there is no washer or dryer on the premise. All reviews were correct about the air conditioners. They work well, however are quite loud.

The restaurant and staff are great. We ate a few meals there- breakfast was not so great. Dinner was fine and we really enjoyed the beef tacos. Most items on the menu are not mexican food. The cheese they use is different? My daughter did not like the quesadillas - they had an odd flavor. We were a bit surprised because we live in Arizona and eat Mexican food all the time.

I suggest a rental car if you plan to get out and see the sights. We did note there was always at least 1 taxi out front at all times. Most of our activities were not in Cancun. We did an all day tour with Edventures. Awesome and highly recommend. They are based out of Tulum which is about a 2 hour drive. (80 kms or so) You may contact them by sending an email. You will get a response within the day. Prices are reasonable for a very memorable day. Email address is: edventure68@hotmail.com. The tour included 2 ziplines, a cliff jump into a lagoon about 100 feet from the ziplines for a quick refreshing cool down; snorkeling in the Cenote Dos Ojos (snorkeling in a cave that is open on one side to the jungle); lunch at La Buena Vida which was the perfect spot on the beach that has 2 treehouses for the kids to climb up; snorkeling in the coral reef and then swimming with sea turtles; and then off to a lagoon where the salt and fresh water mix - the fish were unbelievable as was the experience! All this with a personal guide - George whom rode in our car with us for the day.

We also enjoyed swimming with the dolphins at Delphinius - Dreams Cancun. If you book online you can swim with the dolphins for $126.00 for an hour that includes the foot push. It was very well done and I would recommend this place. They also do this at Xcaret. We also went to Xcaret and if you purchase tickets online or through a travel agent you will save a lot of money. It is a beautiful park with things to do for all ages. The underground river was a once in a lifetime experience and great fun. Also a great way to cool off as it was rather hot the day we were there. My daughter enjoyed the show; my husband and I not so much. It was very long with a 15 minute intermission in a covered outdoor stadium. It was the heat and humidity that bothered us more than anything.

All in all it was a great trip and Coral Mar is a nice place to stay for those that don't mind not being catered too and like the quiet type of vacation.

Coral Mar is a fabulous place to go for vacation! Ok, so iit is off the beaten path, but everyone, as we are timeshare owners, get together and share taxi's into town.

The staff is excellent, Barbara & Oceal are the Best..., the same wait staff at the little restaurant have been there year after year,,Sergio and Manuel, they are super and the food is delicious!

The units are well maintained, and clean,,Love the quiet pool and the outdoor pool table, very intimate, yet fun place for vacation.

Enjoy :)

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.