First, we got a great deal, and had a great time. Honestly, if you cannot have fun in Cancun, there is something wrong with you. That being said, the hotel was not the best part of it by a long shot.

We got to the hotel around 3, when all the people that had arrived earlier and been told to come back at 3 showed up. It was controlled mayhem in the lobby, and I have to give credit to both the desk and bell staff for doing a good job. Bags arrived in minutes.

The lobby is hot and humid, with no air conditioning or fans. I have been to hotels in Mexico that have huge airy open air atriums, but this was not one of them, and the general feel was sweaty and stale. In fact, it felt this way in most of the common areas. There was not a nice place to relax and have a cool drink to meet people in an air conditioned, fanned or cooled setting.

The “Concierge” is really a time-share sales person, that is pushy and rude. The hotel allows her access to guest names and information, she is in a hotel uniform, and her desk is across from the front desk. She yelled for me every time I walked through the lobby, so I finally gave her 2 minutes to hear her pitch and told her no. She calls rooms too, to set up appointments for your ‘free gift’. I was not too happy that the hotel allows this, but it was a minor inconvenience. Note also that the hotel ‘staffs’ the towel desk with people whose job it is to sell excursions, so any time you ask for a towel, you get a sales pitch. Not a big deal.

The pool water is hot by mid-afternoon. It is clean, just not refreshing, at all. The opposite really.

The Beach is sandy, and there were plenty of chairs. The water is very calm, so by afternoon it is warm, and it is next to the lagoon inlet so it is not a crystal clear as you will find more to the south, and the swimming area is not more than 3 feet deep. So the plus is that there are no rocks, no waves, and very warm water. The minus is that it feels like a dirty greenish lake, and not at all like the ocean. I didn’t like it. If I had small children I might have felt differently.

The food was ok. Better than I paid for, not great. The usual complaints apply, hot food not hot, cold food not cold. All in all, it was decent however, with loads of choices. We did eat at the Oasis Cancun for lunch and dinner one day (See below) It was fantastic!

The service from the hostesses and servers, as well as cooks was superb. They really smiled a lot, were downright nice folks. Hard working, and really cared it seemed if we had a nice meal.

The bar service was horrible. All bars. It didn’t matter if the bar was busy or dead, if I ordered a mixed drink, frozen drink, soda or beer. The bartenders were simply not friendly. The people in the snack shack were pretty horrible too, maybe they were trained by the bar staff. Liquor was watered down as well, and served in 6 oz Dixie cups. Most places the bartenders are great, here I was really, really shocked at how miserable they were. I have to admit I only met about 4, I am sure there are some great ones as mentioned in the other reviews, but they must have been hiding when I came around ;

The hotel was clean. My room was clean. It was also a bit run down and in tough shape. About a Days Inn quality. Except the mattress! That was a pillow top sealy, and very comfortable. The rest of the room was really old, and it showed in the bathroom a lot. Grout and calking seemed to be holding the vanity together, barely. Water was hot. My toilet ran for my entire stay, but I never reported it, so I only have myself to blame. (Truth be told, I liked the sound). My remote did not work upon check in, and neither did 1 of the lamps. Both fixed within 48 hours, so that was good. We spent so little time in the room, the lack of a balcony was not a big deal. A good mattress, clean sheets, hot water and a flushing toilet was what I paid for and was exactly what I got.

It is too bad the management of the hotel is all about selling you additional stuff instead of letting you know about the stuff in the area you might enjoy. Example: T here was no posting of nightly activities, so I found the show by accident. The show was really great, better than I would have thought, but they did a lousy job of advertising it. Also, the ferry to Isla Mujeres is right next door, but no one knew the schedule-they were willing to sell me the excursions there however. Finally, the Oasis Cancun allows day passes, something I had to ask for, not something they went out of the way to tell me.

If you have booked, don’t sweat it, you will have a good time. I DEFINITELY would do the day pass to the Oasis Cancun. We went in the morning, the beach is rocky but the water is gorgeous, and we had ala carte Asian for lunch and Brazilian for dinner, the best dinner I have had in YEARS. No reservation needed, and they sat me in shorts and a tshirt. We left the hotel at 9, spent the day, then stopped and shopped at the flea market on the way home. One day we took the ferry to Islas Mujers ($17/person round trip, leaves at 9:30), rented a golf cart ($40), saw the turtle farm ($3), swam on the north beach, found a beach next to the state park and snorkeled there ($5), toured the island by cart twice, and took the 5:30 home. Great day.

The gift shop does not post prices, I was told because they have a lot of locals on day passes, so they have two sets of prices, one for tourists, one for locals. All I know is that Suntan Lotion was $30, and a regular bag of M&M's was $1.70. We got a good laugh out of that.

We got a great deal, so I have no complaints, but I would not stay again. Between the beach, the pool, the time share woman in the lobby, and the condition of the hotel, I think there are better places for me if I return to Cancun. All in all, it was still a great vacation.