Club Med Cancún — Hotel in Cancún

There are pros and cons to this resort. The staff is very friendly, hard working, helpful, well trained, and professional. The food is good, there are two restaurants that you have to book in advance and one larger restaurant with many buffet stations. The rooms and resort are very clean. No issues with the staff, food, service, or rooms/resort. I would not stay here again though. It feels like you're cut off from any real activities or adventure. For example, archery is available from 9:15 to 10:15 for 8-10 year olds, as is circus. Parents or children other ages are not allowed to participate at the same time. So, in some respects, it NOT a family resort. The working assumption is that kids get dropped off at kids clubs and parents day drink. There are few activities that families can actually all do together. Our family really wanted to sail and snorkel together. The only "sanctioned" snorkeling areas was closed for most of our week-long stay because of the winds. When it was open, it was only open to people 15 years and older. There are no other areas for families with kids under 15 who are strong swimmers/experienced snorkelers. We snorkeled right in front of our Aguamarina hotel room, but it's not a great spot for snorkeling. We are adventurous and capable, but everyone is treated like the lowest skilled / lowest common denominator tourist. Even the beach on the cove in front of the resort has restricted swimming areas. Lifeguards are constantly blowing whistles at people. The whistles alone are enough to make you go crazy, when you just want to swim in the ocean. For sailing, the sailing area is generally open from 9-12 and 2-5. We learned that sailing classes take place, weather permitting, from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. every morning. They don't allow people not taking the class to go out within those times, or really before then. You have to take a class to use the catamarans on your own. So, you can sail for about 4 hours every day, weather permitting, but the sailing area was frequently closed due to winds -- there were no accommodations for families who knew how to sail. One day, a 15-minute storm came through around 2:30 p.m., and they closed the sailing area for the rest of the day, even though the weather was great for another couple of hours. The area you can sail in is very small, out to a couple buoys a 1/4 mile or so offshore. And, kids under the age of 10 are not allowed to do any watersports. SO, not a great family activity, once again. The resort uses an app to display the day's schedules but the app is never updated if activities are cancelled due to weather or other changes in schedule. You have to walk to each activity to understand if it's going on, and it's hard to schedule your day. Staff are uncompromising. Staff working at activities said that the app was outdated and didn't show the accurate times. We found ourselves walking in circles trying to figure out what was open, what was closed, when it would have been nice to have a functional app that gave us updates. We're instructed to use the app to book restaurant reservations but for our family of 8, there were never any open reservations. We went directly to the restaurant to speak with someone. It seems like most of the energy at this resort is devoted to dances, entertainment, food; not outdoor activities. There is music and alcohol everywhere, there are no quiet places. This is a great resort for people who want to try an activity for 15 minutes then go back to doing nothing. There are no true activities that you can do as a family aside from swimming in a pool or at the beach. Guests are all treated as if they have no experience in any of the activities and looking to sample an activity during a very small window of time on certain days. There are so many age restrictions that everyone has do to their activity at a different time, which is a sad way to spend a...

Best trip! Never did an all-inclusive before, impressed with this team on every level. Happy to share my highlights of why it was awesome.

THE STAFF Everyone was not just friendly, but genuinely made you feel welcomed and included. They are cleverly able to be available for your assistance, and yet also a friend in the process. It was great to experience a place where there did not feel such a division between 'the staff' and 'the guests', but rather an environment that made you feel connection at each interaction. Nothing forced - how amazing! Special shout out to: Romane in Petit Club, Aby for babysitting, Ahmet, Koray and Hakan in the bar, Oswaldo in La Estancia, and that team in the snack hut giving 100% in the heat cooking and serving non stop with a smile!

THE GUESTS Wow - not only did I not see a single kid using a screen ever, the quality of the people who came here were extremely lovely. A great mix of travelers from all over the world to meet. Everyone was casual, relaxed, well-mannered, not holding onto their phone all the time, and not drinking in excess, I'm super impressed with the lovely people we befriended and I'm now Club Med hooked because of the kind of guests + staff they are attracting and cultivating.

THEY CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT It can be hard to find businesses that are really doing what they can to support the environment. This place promotes reuseable cups, plenty of attractive looking garbage bins, and very little use of packaging. The coffee in the room for example, is sourced from mexico, and doesn't require the use of the one-time plastic things from Keurig or Nespresso. There were not loads of plastic water bottles everywhere (the water was well purified), and shampoo and lotion were provided in larger refillable containers in the bathroom. Thank you for these choices! My only other suggestion here would be to consider promoting the use of safe sunscreens for the ocean life for those who were out swimming. I saw a small sign for this, but it was otherwise very invisible. I also love the use of the Club Med bracelet - I never had to look for my room key! Also, less plastic used than in a room key card. Maybe there could be a way to encourage recycling these when you leave.

ITS WHEELCHAIR (and stroller) ACCESSIBLE I have a few friends and family members who are wheelchair bound, and traveling can be tough when a destination isn't set up for this. It was great to see wheelchair access was relatively feasible throughout the property. I think the only place that didn't have it was maybe the playground.

MOM-FRIENDLY Oh my. Incredible - not only did I spend a week not constantly cleaning, putting away toys, cooking, cleaning again, running errands, I also didn't have to 'entertain' my child all the time. He's only 1.5 and wasn't old enough for the kids club yet, but we had so much fun!!! There was just so much space to roam, other kids, new people to meet, I could truly relax and not worry he was going to hurt himself somewhere or need to be entertained every moment. I can't wait to come back here with him again, and again, and again. Loved the kids club activities and performances. So creative, fun, and simple.

MEXICAN WINE IS REALLY GOOD Never had this before. Highly recommend the Casa Madero Malbec.

SO MUCH TO DO While I didn't get to partake in the adult activities like water aerobics, archery, beach volleyball, snorkeling (was with a babe), I still got to enjoy just seeing them happen. Look forward to partaking on a future visit.

MEXICAN VENDORS Also appreciate that some local vendors came to sell their products and services at the hotel. We weren't going to venture into town on this trip, but I still got to pick up a sweet handmade lizard toy for my son, and a handmade purse for myself. Made the atmosphere just a little brighter on the days they came through to set up...

This is our second Club Med stay after an enjoyable time at Punta Cana last year. We like the Club Med concept - all inclusive, family friendly, a range of activities and fun.

However, Cancun was not as good as Punta Cana and I would say our experience overall was “mixed”. We would probably choose a different Club Med or resort next time. Note we are a family with 3 kids, 4-8 yo.

First, the positives: FOOD: was very good, similar to Punta Cana, and a very wide selection STAFF: were generally very friendly, particularly at Mini Club FAMILY POOL: The family pool area near Aguamarina is nice BODEGA: for those interested, I recommend the Mezcal and Tequila tasings. Whilst you pay extra, it was well worth it. Both Heriberto and Pepe were very knowledgeable and it was a highlight

Now the negatives: OLD: This was the first resort in Cancun (built in the 70s) and it’s age shows. We were in one of the older buildings though - I think reserving Aguamarina might be better. Still, the resort sits at the end of a long line of high rise resorts so doesn’t have anything close to the isolated and spacious feeling of Punta Cana DISTANCES: Getting between one end of the resort to the other (eg the circus/minigolf/archery area to the family pool) takes a LONG time. There is a shuttle bus that only covers half of the trip and the rest is walking. Our room was close to the archery, but Mini Club was near the family pool. If you leave the kids’ shoes in Mini Club it’s like a 30 minute round trip. So we spent FOREVER plodding back and forward between the two areas. They really need a shuttle bus that travels the full length of the resort. NO ADULT POOL: There is no adult pool unlike Punta Cana - they have the exclusive “Jade” area but that’s only accessible to people staying in that section. Perhaps they will be putting an adult pool in for the next round of renovations? But it should be accessible to all regardless of room type, because after dropping kids at Mini Club (if you can get them to stay there) we love to go to a peaceful pool environment! FOOD HALL: the main buffet restaurant is dated, overcrowded and had a definite food hall vibe. Both the food choices and the staff were excellent, but they need to upgrade the restaurant and also work out how to reduce the crowding. WATERSPORTS: - a bit of a personal gripe here: my eldest son & I are both into sailing and one of the reasons I book Club Med over other resorts is I know they provide opportunities to sail small catamarans or dinghies. However, they have this annoying rule that kids must be at least 10 to use any watercraft (sailing, kayaks, SUP) WITH an adult, and AT LEAST 16 TO USE BY THEMSELVES! And it’s strictly enforced. How does that age range make sense. My 8 y.o. knows how to sail a dinghy by himself let alone be my passenger. Anyway, our dreams of father and son sailing time were shattered on day 1 which sucked. Also, the staff at Watersports are probably the least friendly and helpful of the entire resort. Final whinge, I hate the fact that they close the watersports from 12-2pm. Why is that? Usually our mornings are taken up getting the kids into mini club, and the afternoon picking them up, so it’s super annoying to have this time restriction. TIME SCHEDULES: It’s not a huge issue, but I find the time restrictions for all the different activities quite stressful. Eg archery for 6-7yos is like 10:15-11:15am. Why can’t they just keep archery open for whoever shows up through the day? Or split it into a kids section and adults section if needed? We always seemed to be late for activities, watersports, theater etc and having to constantly power walk between one end of the resort and the other

Overall, it was enjoyable, but I would probably choose either a different Club Med or another resort for our next...