Fiesta Americana Cancun

The bath was awesome, with a sliding glass door and jets! We had to wonder about the water room/bathroom, though. There was, what appeared to be, an area with a ledge that you could sit on in there. Through the whole vacation, we joked about what it could be for. We took a picture of it for laughs.

The bed was very comfortable and nice. Every day the maid came in and cleaned! We have never had this in any of the condos that we stayed at before, without an additional charge.

If you're looking for a resort with a huge beach, this is definitely not it. We had more fun at the pool, which was beautiful and very nice. The beach, if you want to call it that, was just big enough for the chairs and shade huts that were part of the resort. Keep in mind that the "beach" is considered public in Cancun, so you will have folks pandering T-shirts, jewelry, etc., while you are lying there relaxing. We also had a situation where some locals took up residency at the beach area, played loud music, and were generally rude all around. We had to move to the other side to avoid them.

The restaurant was excellent, and we would highly recommend it, especially for dinnertime. At night you can eat and look out over the ocean, and it is very beautiful and peaceful. One night after eating we found some locals fishing right there. They were pulling in amazing numbers of fish with their nets. Everyone was very friendly at the resort, and the service was superb.

We didn't have to pay a dime to watch all of the action. They had conga lines, smoke machines, drinking contests, stage-led contests and games, and much more going on at each different nightclub. This was very fun to watch. We did go inside Senior Frogs and Carlos and Charlies to eat two different nights. Senior Frogs was very fun. They had an '80s night when we were there.

One of the games was for several female volunteers to come out into the audience and gather as many shoes and shirts as possible. The one who got the most won the contest. My husband and I volunteered our shoes. Our lady didn't win, but at the end of the game, they announced that the last person to get their shoes had to do a shot of tequila. They piled all of the shoes up on the stage, and it was a mad mob to get them. I jumped in there with the rest of them and retrieved my shoes.

The conga line was fun. They had "drink stations" set up where the staff would offer you a shot at different points in line. They had a contest where "volunteers" would have to dance "sexy" and the loser had to go down the water slide into a swampy, yucky water area in the bay. I'm glad we didn't volunteer for that one! It was all in good fun ,and we had a ball that night.

Carlos 'n Charlies had very good food. My husband ordered tacos and they gave him a funny bib. They had magicians and clowns walking all around. When it came time for dessert, the waiter got out this huge stamp and "stamped" the menu on our brown paper tablecloth. This place had a very fun atmosphere and was just beginning to rock when we finished our meal at 10:30pm.

The local culture is to eat dinner around 9pm and then go and party after that. The clubs start getting busy around 11pm and run until 4am. Yikes, we are getting too old for this! We are not big drinkers and didn't sample the local drinks too much. One thing that I found is that the margaritas are super strong in Cancun. The nightclub area is very interesting—and an optical treat, as there is smoke, bright lights, and lasers everywhere!

The bus trip was interesting, it was about 1.5 hrs once we got on the right bus. The tour bus picked us up at the resort, then dumped us off at a market, where we were supposed to shop for 45 minutes until they rounded us up and we finally took off. We were a bit annoyed at this part. The bus guide gave us directions in both Spanish and English, and it was fun to hear the long Spanish explanation and then just a few words of English. We wondered if he was telling us all the same things!

Once we got there, we were amazed by the natural beauty of the park. The owners of this park (by the way, it is a privately-owned property) have obviously gone to great means to maintain the grounds. The snorkeling was outstanding, and we saw lots of variety and quantity. There are fun rope swings and other stuff for the little boys in all of us. The nature paths and local flora and fauna were outstanding. We can't say enough about this park. It was well worth the non-inclusive money.

Once there, it was $14 round-trip for the ferry boat ride to the island. It was about a 40-minute boat ride, and then we were there! Beware of all the hagglers when you get off the ferry. We strided right past them and walked onto the other side of the shopping area, about three streets down.

We planned on renting a golf cart to tour the island. You could rent scooters, bikes, etc. to help you get around. Our concierge highly recommended renting the golf cart because of the hot sun and the fact that it offers shade. We soon realized that this was a necessity, as there is no shade on the island and it was hot. We rented the golf cart all day for $40 and off we went!

We did a huge loop around the island and then explored the inner portion afterwards. If you go to Cancun, you have to go here. It was the most beautiful adventure for us, especially since we weren't stuck with a group and forced to do things we didn't want to do. We made note when the ferries left the port and just decided to set our own schedule based on that. I would highly recommend doing it this way. We found a beach, parked the cart, and went for a dip. You want to definitely wear your swimsuits so you can do this. We were swimming out where these huge yachts were anchored in. It was amazing. Then we explored the cliffs and went up in the lighthouse. There were so many things to see and explore, I can't even begin. I can't recommend this enough!

One day, a man with an accordion hopped on and entertained us with authentic Mexican song during our ride. Of course he wanted tips, but it was quite enjoyable. Another time, there was a promotional give-away set up alongside the street at one of the traffic lights. As cars would stop at the light, guys would run out to them and give them sodas for free. We were trying to figure out what was going on at first, and thought that they had to pay for them, but when the bus pulled up they gave everyone on the bus a free soda! It was very interesting. The buses were clean and the ride was nice.