Riveria Maya-Please Help!
 

My wife and three preteen girls have decided
that they want the Riveria Maya to be the
family vacation next Summer.

Please help me find nice rooms(not musty), better than average food, and great snorkeling..perferrably close to shore.

Be as detailed as you like.
Thanks in advance!
:-)

Mark

Sounds like a chromosomal majority to me dude :S-. For snorkeling look into Cozumel. It has a well know reef which some say is behind only the reefs in the Red Sea and the Great Barrier in Australia. I really could not say what hotels have the best off beach snorkeling but I do recall of one or two being quite suitable for this. Hopefully others may know. If not a quick look on the net or a trip the book store travel section should do the job quite well. Good luck, Larry

The best areas in the Mexican Caribbean for from-shore snorkeling are Cozumel and Akumal.

The Presidente Intercontinental on Cozumel has a beach area (accessible by boat only)with excellent snorkeling and easy access for all levels of snorkelers, and their off-season (summer) rates are very reasonable.

Another possibility is Akumal, which is much less commercial, and has very good snorkeling in Half Moon Bay and Yalku Lagoon.

The accommodations are quite varied there, and less expensive than Cozumel, but there're not nearly the shopping or dining choices.

Try exploring this site. It has an excellent message board, hotel reviews,etc.

http://www.cancunandrivieramaya.com/

I think your best bet, now that you've picked an area is to find a more focused message board. The one rburgess suggested is a good friendly board and good place to start. A little web searching will turn up many more. There are also web sites that specialize in resort/hotel reviews and trip reports, which can be informative. Once you've narrowed the search to one or two, there are often sites that specialize in one resort, or resort company run by fans of the resort who can give you detailed information of what to expect.

Another good message board run by people local to the area is:

http://playadelcarmeninfo.com/

Good luck in your search.

Ken