I stayed at Aqua from 5/3 - 5/11. I booked my trip through Expedia and paid for a king oceanfront room with terrace. This was supposed to be the nicest room option before the suites. Well, I was very disappointed when I arrived to find that my room looked out onto a construction site, and the terrace was littered with cigarette butts. This capped off what was already an awful check-in experience.

I arrived before my room was ready and was asked to be seated in the lobby and to wait for my orientation visit from one of the hotel staff. This "orientation" turned out to be a sales pitch for the "vacation club," which I was repeatedly told was "not a timeshare"--probably in response to my look of utter annoyance. When I finally pried myself loose from this irritating pitch from albeit a very nice young man, I went for lunch at the beachside restaurant, Azur. Beautiful setting, but make sure to ask for the beach menu if you want a sandwich or appetizer, or otherwise risk making the same mistake I did (paying about $25 for 3 shrimp). My waiter never told me about the other menu.

When I went to the front desk to switch rooms on my second day, I was told that all king oceanfront with terrace rooms looked at the construction site on one side of the resort or an abandoned building on the other (Expedia needs to make this known to its customers). The desk clerk offered to move me to a cheaper room without a terrace but with a better view. She told me that I could not be reimbursed or credited because I booked through Expedia, not the hotel. She added that, since the hotel had the room I ordered, they owed me nothing. This was all communicated very pleasantly in the quiet, zen-like (slightly creepy) manner that all the staff at Aqua use. I should also mention that on May 4, the hotel was at 18% capacity. So, I think that they could have done a bit more to make my situation better.

My last complaint relates to the Aqua tour booking desk staff, who misled my friends and me to book a snorkling adventure that was completely different from the one we were told we were going on. We asked to go to Isla Mujeres and were told that we would be sailing there with a small group (no more than 12 people) on a catamaran and taken to a beautiful private beach. Imagine our surprise when we got in a van that took us about 30 minutes south of the resort (Isla Mujeres is north) to Puerto Murelos, where we joined about 100 people on a very ugly , not at all private beach (sandwiched between two construction sites). It was an awful group snorkling experience designed for the spring break crowd, not us. The hotel tour desk denied misleading us but did reimburse us for half of the fee.

Unfortunately, these experiences marred what could have been one of the most relaxing vacations I've ever had. The property is lovely, and the views from the rooms in the center of the hotel are gorgeous. Most of the staff were extremely pleasant, and the food at the resort was wonderful. The facilities--gym, pools--were fantastic. However, because of the initial "welcome" that I received, I would not recommend Aqua to a friend.

My hubby and I stayed at the AQUA CANCUN Hotel for 8 days. May 15-22 - Upon arrival to the Aqua "Lawrence" the front desk attendant tried to convince us to pay $100 more a night to get an ocean view - when we already booked an Ocean Front View - he tried and tried to get more money from us to up-grade - indicating the Hotel Aqua was completly full - with a Fashion Show going on. We were very unhappy with this treatment after flying for 4 hours from California. We asked to speak to the Manager - he sent no-one..... A bellboy came over after 1/2 hour complaining with Lawrence and told us he would put us in an Ocean Front room (which of course we already reserved) - we finally got the ROOM we reserved in the FIRST PLACE with no add'l monies. STAY AWAY FROM LAWRENCE - front desk attendant - he was VERY RUDE and TRIED TO CON US into paying more for our money. We ended up on the 6th floor middle of the Hotel with an awesome view of the OCEAN. Once we settled in - we were very happy with the room they provided us - the beds are the most comfortablest in CANCUN (NOT hard at all) with goose down pillows (spa like) the room was filled with aromatherapy candles each night - try the Tranquillity scent puts you right to sleep. We ate at the AZUL Resturant - excellent SUSHI, and well prepared gourmet food buffet well worth the lunch buffet at $72 US dollars for two.
The Hotel was about 40% full Friday-Sunday - then Monday - Thursday - 10% full - we had the entire place to ourselves.The service at the pool was awesome. However a small bottle of reg water was $9US dollars. We went across the street and bought a BIGGER bottled water for $1.40 USD. All in all the Hotel was AWESOME - Massages were great too. The only downfall was arrival at the front desk and departure at the front desk.
PS the Pool CABANAS should be FREE - especially when hotel was say 10% full

Stayed here May 1 - May 7.

We booked the cheapest room through Expedia with the 25% off Food & Bevarage promo. Upon check-in, the front desk offered us a $50 / night upgraded room. I opted to first view our room and then decide. The first room offered had a view of the construction next door (thank you Expedia; just like all others, this hotel offers their worst room possible when you book through them.) Our bellman saw our diispleasure & offered to see what he could do, and within minutes he returned to us with keys to a King room with beautiful views of the hotel grounds and the ocean. He received a well-deserved tip for this unexpected service.

PROS:

Rooms are well appointed and essentially brand new as other reviewers have mentioned. The room was very clean and well maintained. The mini fridge can hold a couple six-packs of beer from across the street ($50 pesos / 6 pack as opposed to $55 pesos per beer at the pool.)

The food quality at their restaurants is WELL above anything else I've experienced in Mexico. We dined at all three restaurants (Azur, Siete, and MB) and all were excellent. We ordered a large variety from each menu, and I was impressed at the presentation and the food quality. At MB, you must try the tuna carpaccio and the short ribs. Unbelievable!

All service workers at this hotel (dining, bar, maid) are top-notch and go out of their way to ensure your satisfaction.

The pool areas were absolutely beautiful!

The property location is awesome -- it lies directly across the street from La Isla Shopping Mall, and there is a bus stop right outside the hotel for trips to the touristy area up north. ($6 pesos per ride, which is under 60 cents.)

CONS:

Maybe I'm a bit too picky, but I have a certain level of expectation when staying at a 4.5 star property. That being said, here are my negatives.

1) The lobby music would suddenly become blaringly loud at odd hours of the night. Two nights it woke us up at 4am, and our room was a long distance from the lobby. It was very tacky. The mood music is nice when it is left at a moderate and consistent volume. This needs to be promptly addressed.

2) Our room was extremely noisy, in part because it was directly across from the slamming door leading to the staircase, and because all the hotel room doors literally SLAM when they shut. I think that all of the doors at the hotel should have soft shutting hinges to quietly shut the doors. For a hotel of this caliber to have doors that slam and echo down the halls upon closing is unacceptable.

3) Cabanas by the pool should be free to use, especially when the entire cabana area is a ghost town. We were chased away by a pool attendant because we refused to pay $1200 pesos when we layed on one at 5pm. Very tacky if you ask me.

4) The Shore Club was never open as advertised online.

5) There were no stated dining hours for the restaurants on site. We intended on dining at MB on Monday, only to find out that they were randomly closed.

6) The 25% Food & Beverage promotion was only documented on certain restaurant checks, and it left some confusion as to if it was going to be added or not. I assume this is to ensure that you tip on the full check amount & not on the discounted amount. This is misleading and also in bad taste. Management said that the discount is added when the waiter closes out the check, but still it left some confusion. Note that the restaurants refuse to give you a copy of your signed check. You have to either write it down on something or commit your balance to memory. This is a very strange system and it's hard to keep track of your expenses, especially if you plan on charging multiple bills to your room over a 6 or 7 night stay.

7) The Internet did not consistently work. We had several issues with it. It was also extremely overpriced at over $200 pesos per day for a connection that was not high-speed as advertised. We would connect at around 20 or 25 kb/second.

8) The electricity went in and out of service in certain areas of the hotel on our final day. I worried that we may get stuck in the elevator due to the random power outages.

Also note that their front desk computers update themselves from noon to 1pm daily, so don't plan on checking out during this hour as you will not be able to review your bill.

All that being said, we would probably stay here again if they would at least fix the slamming doors. If you decide to stay here, definitely request a room on a higher floor and maybe just pay the $50 / night upgrade offered by the desk & be done with it.

I hope this helps!

My husband and I were hosted at a bus conference at the Aqua Hotel in Cancun. Newly re-opened after the last hurricane, the ammenities are fabulous. The room had a full view of the ocean from the balconey. Staff were helpful and courteous, everyone spoke English or Spanish depending on your preference. The breakfast buffet was very good as was the restaurant downstairs MJ's. I had the tuna tartar and the snapper with chocolate cake for dessert.
My only hesitation for beach people is it is pretty narrow. You also need to take great precaution with the rip tides. A member of our conference nearly lost his life and his daughter and son. They were caught up in the current and there was no life guard on duty, all of the lifesaving equipment was locked up. A disaster was averted finally, but just barely and not how anyone wants to spend a vacation.
All in all I am not much of a fan of resort areas featuring tons of concrete and asphalt, but if you're going to Cancun and cannot stay further down near Tulum, this hotel is great.