I was wondering which AI out of these 3 anyone has any info on. A great beach is very important to me. Not rocky or full of seaweed. I know food in AI are generally just average. I know RH is the best but it just isn't in the budget. I would also like to be close to the town for shopping. Thanks for your thoughts.
The Palladium Grand Resorts
Iberostar Tucan
Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar

I checked into these three resorts, plus the Barcelo for a March '04 vacation. Just today I booked at the Grand Palladium. It was such a good value and a huge selling point for me was that they do not charge your kids an adult rate until age 18. Some resorts start charging adult rates at 12 or 14, which is crazy because they are not even drinking at that age and thats where these resorts lose their money. Anyway, it's the Grand Palladium for us in March!

Diann, check out Gala Resort Playacar! It is 5 star AI with best beach down there! No kidding! RH is ultra way to expensive and this place is much cheaper and sits at the south end of the resort "zone". This is a good thing because it allows it to have biggest, total white sand, blue caribbean water beach out of all the places you mentioned. We go to PDC alot and have stayed at Gala and liked it cuz you wont get lost at it like most of the other resorts there that are just so damn big! It is close to shopping and bout a 5 min cab ride to town of PDC-bout 5 bucks or so. Ii probably has 300 rooms or so, some of which are oceanfront, which alot of places also dont have, such as iberostars. Give it a look. We go for week in sept every year from a sat to sat and come from midwest(st louis) and it usually runs bout 2000 or so for 2 adults. Nuthin rocky bout Gala beach as it is pure white powder! Let me know if you need more info. John.

I stayed at RH and loved it. But if it's out of the question, check into Riu Palace. We walked through it and it looks beautiful.

diann, check out the following websites. They have reviews of Playa hotels:

www.ramproductions.com/survey/topres.asp (awesome website where people rate resorts)

mytravelboard4.com/playa/ (people post questions and trip reports)

www.tripadvisor.com

go to trip advisor.com type in Cancun and check out the reports from people who have stayed at various hotels.

We stayed at the RIU Playacar and it was wonderful. It's a smaller resort so you get to meet lots of people who are staying there. It is right next door to the RH and the beach is very deep, clean and beautiful at that part of the strip. The water was wonderful but there can be quite a current that pulls you down the beach. There are 4 RIU hotels. If you stay at the Palace you have access to all 4 hotels, if you stay at the other 3 you only have access to 3. I highly recommend this hotel. The buffet food was the best I've had at an AI and the swim up bar was amazing. The staff are super friendly too!
Megg

I stayed at Iberostar Tucan a few years ago. The beach was nice, I thought, although the resort focus was really more on the pool area. The beach did have lounge chairs, a towel cabana, palapas, etc. Also, there was a bar very close to the beach, almost on the beach for beverages. We did walk to the town one day but I found it to be a rather long, hot walk. The taxi ride was short and cheap!