Diana

MK2
(I've stayed at all of the below, and have been very pleased with the accommodations/amenities. I'll leave off the ones I was not impressed with

In the 4 or 5 star range, my choices are:

Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach - 5
Ritz Carlton - 5
JW Marriott - 5
InterContinental Presidente - 4
Camino Real - 4

Just a bit of advice on hotel selection. You will find quite a few hotels in Cancun that have labeled themselves 5 star that really are not. (If all of the places there that called themselves 5 star really were, it would most likely be the biggest concentration of "five star" lodgings in the world!)

Your best bet is to pick 2 or 3 final choices and search places like tripadvisor.com and also do a search on the name of the places you have chosen in the search window here at fodors to get feedback from people who have actually stayed there.

You will see the same names coming up over and over again on the luxury end with positive comments, and it will help you narrow your choice.

Have a great time no matter what you decide on

Dondiega

Mandy, thanks for the tip on the Cancun Palace, I have heard good things about the hotel being AI and everything. For me I am just looking for a place to chill with my family, my 15 year old son will have a ball ordering virgin pina coladas all day and Ill have a ball ordering weak pina coladas all day. Plus swimming in the pools and ocean and eating the grilled steaks on the beach, how bad can a steak be. I am from NY and I can get the best food of any type I want at my finger tips, I am going to Cancun to relax, have fun, get tan. Eating is not my top priority but Im sure it will be good. If I want to go on an eating and drinking vacation then I would go to Italy not Cancun.

1Mandy1

Dondiego - you have picked just the right spot for "chilling." That's exactly what I want to do when I go to Cancun. I like to venture out to scuba dive a couple of times and shop an afternoon or two. Otherwise, I'm completely content by the pool or on the beach! Have a great vacation.

dar

Susan...didn't mean to offend you, but I do find things very expensive in Mexico. I can eat much cheaper at an excellent restaurant in Vancouver, B.C. than PV or Cancun. My last visit to Manzanillo was a shocking surprise...we went AI to a place what had AI as an option (Las Hadas). Our Margaritas would have cost us $12 Canadian each, the pizza (small - lunch size, single serving) or burger with fries $14, the breakfast buffet was approx. $25 - not including tips. I just had a salmon dinner for $14 at home. So I don't go to eat gourmet food, I can do that at home. So, at an AI, I can relax and not worry about cost and can get lots of variety. I am a salad with no dressing/hold the butter, very light eater anyway and don't mind the buffet dinners at all. I'm there for the sun (remember, I live in Vancouver!)

Percy

dar
I agree with you . It is expensive if you stay at a 5 star place and do not go AI.
I also stayed at the Las Hadas, which is a very nice beautiful all white construction built into the hills overlooking Manzanillo Bay.
You are right about the price.
I have done the math more than once.
When I do go AI, I ask what the prices of the breakfast, lunch and dinner
bufftes would be if I did not have the AI. Shocking prices!!!!
Plus remember your drinks are all included, no big deal to me because I only drink beer , get tired of water after a while, but if you are a boozer, the drink bill that one can run up could be more than his airfare.!!!
I stayed Ai in Manzanillo, Las Hadas,thank goodness.
I also am from Canada .
I did go out to eat at other places.
Was the food better. Not to me is wasn't but it was a nice pleasant change of scenery.
I am from Alberta.
When it is minus 25C over here at times during the winter and I go to Mexico for the rest and for the sunshine.. food is at the bottom of my list. Just give me that Mexican sun.
Percy