Cancun Magic

The room was pretty nice with a great view. When we first arrived, there was a bit of a musty smell, but either the a/c sorted it out, or we got used to it! In any case, you'll be spending very little time in your room.

Our room was a good size with 2 double beds and lots of cupboard space. The bathroom was clean, if a wee bit cramped. Fortunately, the sink is in the outer room so that makes things a little easier.

The best part was these little towel origami that the housekeeping staff do .... I think we have a photo of each one that was done for us! The hotel staff are superb - friendly and efficient. We did have one complaint when there was a godawful hammering coming from the elevator outside the room at 2 in the morning ... one call to the front desk and not 5 minutes later we could sleep in peace again. And we got a bottle of champagne and some chocolates by way of apology!

Not the fanciest place, but with a city like Cancun outside, why would you want a 5* hotel room?!

P.S. not sure about the price as we had a package deal incl. flights, etc.

I only really have two words: "Resort Dining."

I was not expecting a lot by way of cuisine but was still disappointed. The buffets were the same thing every day. I guess they cater for a mass American clientele, but why would people come all the way to Mexico to eat lasagne?! That said, they do an awesome bbq by the pool. So if you're ever lying around the hotel at about 5:30pm, go check out the snack bar ... awesome ribs! And the best part? You can just run down to the ocean and get yourself washed off by warm Carribean waters! Hmmm ... wonder if bbq sauce smells yummy to sharks?

We ate out a couple times, and by far the best Mexican food was at OK Maguey's in the hotel zone. I'm sure we would have gotten more authentic Mexican food in town, but did not want to risk any tummy bugs!

It did not look like it was going to be a lot of fun, as the ocean was pretty choppy. But the 1,5m swells and my subsequent lurching stomach were soon appeased by the warm blue ocean. While the dive was not spectacular by "big fish" standards, I found the beds of coral and reefs fascinating. We did manage to see some menacing looking barracuda, puffer fish, scorpion fish and a HUGE eel! The DM was wonderfully competent and friendly.

Of course there was still the boat ride back to the pier....

The resort included two free tours in our package and, of course, we had to go see Chichen Itza.

It's a long drive there and back, so you'll have to pretty much write off the whole day, but boy, is it worth it! I mean, okay, there's about a dozen or more tour groups schlepping around too, and it's HOT, but if you can put all that aside, it's a must-do.

The pyramid is awesome and awe-inspiring. If you can stomach heights, climb up to the top -- the view from there is amazing. Climbing back down is the scary bit, but everyone does it on their behinds, so I didn't feel too bad (see photo).

We were particularly thrilled with the snake associations (my fiancé is MAD about snakes) and we have tons of pictures with him at each snake head, carving, etc. I am also ALWAYS amazed at how advanced all these "primitive" civilisations were . . . they had an observatory all those thousands of years ago and knew exactly when the solstices and equinoxes were. Too cool!

We also had a lunch included with the tour, but it was about as uninspired as you can imagine at a place where hundreds of tour buses stop every week! Oh, also, if you can, arrange some sort of breakfast pack from the hotel or just buy some stuff to eat, as you'll leave early and may miss breakfast (not a good idea when the only stop is a tourist "trap" and they charge a small fortune for a bag of Doritos).