My husband and I stayed at Akumal Beach Resort on March 16/08 for two weeks. We had no complaints as the beach and water was fantastic. I've never seen so many beautiful fish and turtles in my life!

The only negative thing I have to say is that the beds are terrible! The mattress was so hard that I had to roll a blanket up and put it on top of the mattress so it didn't hurt my back. If they got new mattresses that would make a world of difference.

The standard rooms needed updating badly but they were clean.

I would definitely go again.

Margie
Regina, Sask.

My husband and I went to ABR from Apr 25th to May 2nd. I had done a lot of reading and research prior to going so we knew what to expect before we got there.
This place is a jewel from the past. Yes, it is a 3 star hotel but it's location, gorgeous beach which you can snorkel off of and friendliness of the hotel staff make it a 10 star!
The beach goes on and on and is a wonderful mix of coral and fine powdery sand.
We stayed in building 7 which is at the end of the resort at the far right second last room in fact.. Some people would find the walk to the restaurant a bit of a hike now as we had a fire when we were there and had to use the a la carte restaurant which was situated a bit further away. It wasn't a problem for us. We were on the 3rd floor in a large superior room which would be a standard room in our culture. Clean, clean with firm king size bed, separate toilet area from shower. No problems with hot water - always available. There is a safe in the room and the only
thing that we would have really wished for was a little fridge. You can ask for one as we found out for a fee.They have water coolers outside in the halls so you can always get purified water to drink.The balcony was large and this building almost sat on the beach with huge palms providing a wonderful breeze constantly which believe me you need as it is hot.

The food was good.We had more choices prior to the fire such as their wonderful rolls and breads and their fried taco shells but really that was a small thing in the scheme of our trip. The snack bar had great chicken wings, tacos, guacamole, fresh thin crusted pizzas and very yummy ice cream. The drinks were good and we brought our own insulated mug which the bartenders filled to the brim with whatever you wanted. We had the Mexican restaurant food on our last night and it was better than anything we had had at 5 star a la cartes. Mexican coffee is wonderful -ask for it as well as their cappuccinos.

We had the resort to ourselves more or less after the fire but they are still bringing people in so it will be at half capacity
until they rebuild. Even prior to the fire the resort was very comfortable and you wondered where everyone was.
The swing bar was up at the other end of the beach and you could sit on the swings and just mellow out.
We took snorkels and goggles and although we are not experienced snorkelers what fun it was to snorkel from your beach and see turtles barracudas and multi-coloured fish!
Just past the swing bar you walk a little way in to the village of Akumal where you can get most anything you might want. We loved the shrimp tacos at Lucy's, her smoothies and the best homemade icecream you can imagine. We also ate at a pescadores restaurant near the bakery and my husband had the best calamari in garlic sauce he's ever had. I had the butterfly shrimp and yes they were wonderful.
The town of Akumal is across the mainhighway from the village and one night we took the taxi to town to see bull fight -no killing. They had a town carnival going on and our tour director had said it was safe and so it was. The warmth of Mexican people is to be experienced.
Took in the Tulum ruins and swam in the beach below so bring your bathing suit. Took the collectivo just ouside the hotel on the highway and waited 3 minutes for them to pick us up-cost $2.00 or 20 pescos. Lots of gift shops outside of the ruins and eateries. Go early say 8am, before the heat and crowds and you will have the place to yourself.
Our Sunwings rep offered to move us to a 5 star new place that had just opened but we opted to stay put. One couple who went said it was nothing but wall to wall people and no better food and not friendly staff-just opulence and a beach a third the size of ours.

Just so you know at this point in time what has been destroyed by the fire: the main dining room near the pool, reception area, bar, excursion and gift shop. The manager of the hotel came around and spoke to all of us. The fire was handled very professionally and because they are used to disasters with hurricanes they just handled everything with all of us in mind. What gracious hosts they are so no wonder we didn't want to leave!
We have been to many resorts 5 star included and we would be hard pressed to find one that has all the warmth and charm of Akumal Beach resort.

Imagine - all you can eat and drink, white sand beach, large pool, snorkeling with giant sea turtles, entertainment, and handicrafts (but no beach peddlers) all for under $300/night for a family of four . . . Too good to be true? Not at the Akumal Beach Resort (ABR)!

We stayed in a ''superior'' room in building 6 at the ABR for five nights at the beginning of April. I did not see the standard rooms, but the superior room was - well - rather standard. It suited us fine though as we didn't choose the ABR expecting luxury. The beds were hard (as expected), the mirror had some type of black stuff on it, and the lock on the screen door was broken. It took four requests at the front desk to finally get the lock fixed. Some of the front desk staff were pleasant and helpful, others less so. Still, the room was impeccably clean, there was a large shower, and we heard no noise at night (once we learned to turn the a/c unit down). The grounds and common areas are also very well maintained.

We are vegetarian and the food at the buffet suited us fine. There was enough of an assortment that we never went wanting. The fresh fruit and made-to-order omelets for breakfast were a bonus. The coffee from the machine was rather pitiful but (real) espresso was available once the bar opened at 8 a.m. The variety at the buffet was OK for five days, but I could see it getting repetitious after that. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant, which was very good, and at the Mexican restaurant, which was superbe. You need to make reservations for the restaurants at 10 a.m. Service throughout the resort was outstanding. As an example, when we dropped a fork in the restaurant, a server was there with a clean one before we could even pick it up.

I took the advice of some previous reviewers and brought a large insulated cup with me as the cups from the bar are rather small. The drinks were great, though the beer on tap was rather bland. The bartenders work hard and were always pleasant. The kids enjoyed several types of mocktails and the self-serve ice cream machine. Give the cocktail workshop a pass though, as it is run by a couple of young animacion staff and not a bartender - their drinks were terrible!

My children enjoyed spending time at the pool and listening to the loud techno music there. There are activities by the pool such as yoga and aquasize. For some quiet time, grab a lounger at the beach or wander down to the swing bar. By all means, do get some snorkel equipment and head down the beach to where the boats are. Not only will you encounter all types of fish, you will get the rare encounter of seeing giant sea turtles in their natural habitat. It is much better than dropping $100 or more to spend a few minutes with captive dolphins. We also rented a golf cart from the lobby of the Hotel Akumal Caribe and drove down to the Yal-Kul lagoon - a definite must visit.

We took in two of the evening shows put on by the animacion staff. These guys work all day and then still put on a show at night. The first show was terrible. I asked the front desk staff if the show was appropriate for children, to which he replied 'yes, of course'. It wasn't. We left after about 15 minutes. We took a chance on the music show on another night and it turned out to be very good. While it was all lip-synced, the dancing was great. It helped that this was later in our stay and by that time we knew most of the staff.

The Italian guys that run the tour shop are very helpful. We took the collectivo to Xcaret for only $2 each. I recommend just getting the afternoon pass as, for the most part, Xcaret is really just another zoo. The real attraction is the night show, which is outstanding, but that is another review.

While the ABR is no luxury resort, I have not seen a better bang for my buck out there. For a great family vacation, there’s no place like it, that's why I'm giving the ABR a 5 of 5.

My husband and I and another couple just returned home from our second stay at ABR. The worst part of the trip was we had to leave.

I'll be the first to admit the ABR is not for everyone but for us it was perfect. The beach is one of the nicest I've been to and the snorkelling was great. Yes, the beds are hard but we got used to them within a couple of days and we all managed to sleep well. The food at the buffet is basic but we never went hungry.

The best part of the resort is the staff. They were all very friendly and helpful. Alma and her team of animators are the best. I have stayed in some 3 and 4 star resorts in places like Cuba and I found the animation team at ABR to be better. Some of the activities are silly but there were always tourists willing to be silly along with them. The shows at night were good, especially the dancing programs. Ochee does a good job of choreographing. We found we got good service even when we didn't tip - for some of the staff we didn't tip until the end of our stay. We don't mind tipping as these people work very hard for very little pay.

We tend to be outgoing people and we made friends with folks from Canada, USA, France and even Italy. We ran into people staying at some of the big 4 and 5 star resorts and they were complaining that they found it difficult to meet other guests in their hotels and had to walk long distances to get anywhere within the resort. The small size of ABR is a definite plus, in our opinion.

If you want intimate, casual, relaxing, and friendly, you may want to consider ABR.