Going to Cancun in August
 

August 18-25..

I haven't been to Mexico before but i'm heading there with my gf for that week.

Is it gonna be hot? lol

Anyone recommend a 4* or greater all inclusive?

Anyone know any hotels to stay away from? bad experiences?

I wanna be right on the beach
and I wanna be near the city but I want a quieter hotel since it's just us two.

I also want to shop around there if it's even good in Cancun.. I have no clue haha..

any info would be cool. thanks

edit: has anyone stayed at the Royal?

I stayed at Riu Caribe.. it's rated 4.5 but I'd give it 4 and still recommend it to anyone. All Inclusive.. has one of the best beaches out of all the all inclusives because it's protected by an island and wasn't badly hurt by the storms a few years ago. It's not in the 'downtown' of Cancun, but it's about 5-10 min bus ride (which costs .60cents to take). And it also does a shuttle w/ all you can drink + bottle service to a different hot spot each night for just under $40 us.

The staff were great, their 'party' team is awesome and the girls were smoking hot, food was pretty decent (3 restaurants + buffet, but you need reservations at the restaurants), pool with a swim up bar. It isn't considered a crazy party hotel like Oasis is, but there were at least 1-2 full buses going to the clubs each night.

Shopping wasn't that great in Cancun from what I saw. Some of the sports wear was a bit cheaper, but designer items weren't any cheaper. Spend your time doing tours and stuff instead, and then go buy cheap liquor from the Walmart before you leave.

Thanks for the feedback. I actually have about 9 hotels on my list and Riu was one of them. But from what expedia said it was a 3.5 star. Still though it looks nice and will keep it on my watch list.

Thanks!

not to burst your bubble, but you do realize august is considered hurricane season and august is one of the peak months. Hope when you go that everything goes good for you

Yea i'm aware of this. Thanks

Personally id stay away from Riu. They are not good at all. I was extremely not impressed with their staff, food, or hotel when I went to Los Cabos last year.

When I went to Cancun 2 years ago I stayed at Gran Melia Cancun. All I can say is WOW! Best vacation i've ever had and best experience ever. It would be hard to top it for me at this point. Quite hotel as this is one of the more expensive hotels. Around $2000 for August which is when I went. Because it's baller it was more of a quiet hotel vs a party hotel. It was not littered with young kids since they probably wouldn't drop 2 g's for a hotel. So it was really nice and chillin. The staff in our hotel treated us like kings. Did not run into 1 rude employee at all. The restaraunts in the hotel were also quite amazing. They had this sushi lounge in the middle and at first me and my gf were like ugh sushi yea no thanks. BUt 1 night tried it anyways since it's free and holy fuck it was actually pretty sick and even better then Vancouver. Yea I know shocking. The rolls they had were also a little innovative, not your typical ones in Van.

Here is a link, check our the virtual tour for a look. Even their standard rooms are super nice and come with samsung lcd's. Take the virtual tour.

http://www.solmelia.com/solNew/hotel...digoHotel=5836

The location was also nice too cause it was not one of the closer ones to downtown so the area itself is just more quit in general. It is directly across the street from Aqua World which i'm sure you will be spending some time there doing water sports and such.

There really is nothing to shop for if your talking about normal stuff. They have malls but their bunk and it isn't like their prices were cheaper. The only things to buy are like stuff from the local market like Market 23 which is the most popular one. You know your typical hand made mexican stuff etc..

If you plan to club I highly suggest the first night you go to do the bar hopper. I think it was $40 per person. You go to 4 clubs, 1 hour each at the first 3 clubs and then they finish off with their most popular one Coco Bongo which you can stay till the end if you wish. You get VIP treatment at all 4 venues. NO lineups and your guide will even bring you drinks. HIghly worth it cause Coco Bongo alone is i think $20-$30 I forget alone. Atleast for the bar hopper you get to try out 4 clubs all in one night so you can decide to go back or never to go back after. Most if not all the clubs in Cancun are all you can drink style. So you pay a flat feee usually around $25-$30ish american for entry and all you can drink.

If you were going with buddies I would not suggest Gran Melia since it is a more chillaxin hotel. But since your with your gf and it appears you are looking for a relaxing chillaxin time anyways look into this. Trust me you do not want to be at a party hotel like Riu if your looking for down time. I was at Riu last year and it was just screaming and noise left and right. Of course with Gran Melia comes the price factor cause it is almost always $2000 if not a couple hundred more.

the royal and gran caribe real are pretty much the same..... both pretty nice, 10 minute walk away from all the clubs

a benefit from staying at either of those hotels is that you can go down to playa del carmen (1 hour away) and you'll have a place to eat and hang out

if you end up staying at gran caribe real don't forget to tip the front desk host when you arrive, you'll get a black band which allows you to drink all the premium liquor (don julio, azul etc..etc...).

im going next week! can anyone answer these quick questions?

-would it be safe to bring my laptop? (ill be staying in one of those all inclusive style resorts)
-does anybody remember the website that lists what you can / cannot bring with you on your trip?

thanks! (sorry for the hijack :P)

most all inclusive are pretty safe as the staff probably wouldn't risk their job for a laptop or anything like that, and most of them have a small safe so if your laptop is 15.4" or smaller it should be fine... but still be very careful with it.. i took my ipod and speakers and stuff with me and they were fine, even left the ipod (in a bag) at the side of the pool multiple times and never had a problem with it.

Best thing to do is use Trip Advisor:
http://cancun-hotels.tripadvisor.com...la-Hotels.html

And then just search for the 9 hotels and read like at least 20-30 reviews on each of them, especially the latest ones.

how long is the flight there?
how is the crime and security in the city??

If I remember correctly flight is give or take in the 6hour range. It's been 2 years so forgive me if I'm wrong

Despite mexico being on one of the top 10 most dangerous places to vacation in the world Cancun is not bad from what i've seen. The dangerous aspect applies more to Mexico City. Just follow these 2 rules and you should be fine.

1 - don't flash your shit, flashing your stack of cash does not make you cool so don't do it

2 - yes they are way poorer then us. Yes they make next to nothing. But they are still people so don't go disrespecting them like they are some useless slaves just because of that fact. Tip them and treat them with respect too. This should just be a general rule regardless if your in Mexico or Vancouver. Just treat people the way you want to be treated.

oh one more thing, how do purchases at the duty free work? how much can i purchase? should i buy as i depart, or as i return?

I'm bringing my laptop.. most hotels have a safe in each room.

After the initial check in when you come back at the Cancun airport you then pass through duty free. Go in buy whatever you want, they will put that shit in the duty free back with receipt and staple that shit shut. You can only buy as you return at the Cancun airport.

I could be wrong here but 48 hours $200, 7 days $750. Just google it. Won't be hard to find.

i was hoping to get some smokes for the trip.. damn :cry:

thanks for the info!

if you're talking about getting cigarettes before you leave canada, unless things have changed, you can get them in the duty free shop before you leave YVR. When I checked in back in August 2006 you had to walk right past or right through (can't remember) the duty free store as soon as you finished checking in. Last year I flew directly from Kamloops and couldn't find the duty free shop.

grand bahia principe have stayed there twice and it's one of the best hotels around!!!

Stay away from the oasis playa........worst hotel ever. I got robbed by there security in my room.

Other then that, coco bongo's is a must. That is by far the most entertaining bar out there. Senor frogs is pretty good too.

Shopping is the usuall crappy overpriced tshirt,hats,sandels etc but still fun to barter never the less.

Cancun was actaully built strictly with tourism in mind so its very modern and i felt safe everywhere i went(except my hotel) and the local bus is super cheap and will take you to the same spots a cab will.

ahh yes forgot about that. Taxi only if you have to. Busing is WAAAAAY cheaper in comparison to taxis and they drive pretty fast down there so the ride will be quick. If you do Taxi make sure you ask them how much before you get in. Always get the price first or else they might jack u after and charge you more.

stay away from oasis cancun too, very unclean + too many broken things. bus driver ripped me off for fare once.

just wondering but if u go clubbing do they id? i heard that they never id the girls but always the guys... i also heard that they'll give u a different color wristband so that the bartenders dont serve u :(

maybe i should invest in a fake id? :D

Every place I went clubbing in Cancun had the same colored wrist bands for the guys and girls coming from the same hotel, and us guys ended up getting served 10x more than the girls because we would always make sure to tip the bartenders and waiters.

If you're at somewhere hella busy like Coco Bongo, tip the waiter or bartender well on your first round, and let him know that if he keeps the drinks coming there'll be even more of a tip at the end of the night (and this doesn't even have to be a big amount, 5-10$ kind of thing, or average like a buck or two per order).

Never once got ID'ed in Cancun, but if you look really young you might. I still doubt it though.

That's what I do in Vancouver anyway haha.. Tip him $10 or $15 the first round then you are first priority when you walk up the next 10 times lol

btw, my gf and I have decided to stay at the Royal. It's gonna be sweeeet. I can't wait :D