Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe All-Inclusive Resort — Hotel in Cancún

Our group of 16 traveled to Hilton Mar Caribe with the expectation of relaxing, jumping in on activities and some entertainment with decent food for 5 days. We were truly impressed with the experience we had together. The rooms were clean (though we missed service one day- we didn’t mind!), comfortable beds and pillows, and generally everything we needed was available. Our group had 3 double queen rooms up high with beautiful ocean views and 1 suite at the pool’s edge. The king size bed felt larger than ours at home, putting that 3rd kiddo with us but still being comfortable. Our adult nieces commented that the queens felt larger, too. The curtains were fantastically dark! Bathroom amenities were clean and great products, though we did run low on soap and conditioner.

The food at the buffet was some of our favorite and impressed us for all-inclusive, especially the Brazilian steak house nights- I wish I had the names of those servers as they were fantastic to our large, tired family on day 1! Our servers were attentive, kind, and busy. Alex always had a mimosa for me when I came in and got to know my whole family and their preferences quickly. We ate at the Asian restaurant and wished that we knew to ask for kid’s options, but are glad they tried new things. The Mexican restaurant was good, but our family isn’t used to authentic- they all loved tasting the birria and wished they had ordered those! The pool grill got very busy at open- we chose to grab food at 12:30 and barely waited the rest of our stay. Lines can be a bit confusing at the grill and the buffet for omelets, and other cooked options- especially with so many travelers from around the world so put on a friendly face and bring patience and grace.

Our group ranged in age 7-70 and everyone found something to eat, drink, and do all day every day. Poolside staff were attentive and everyone had a team attitude. The pool, chairs, towel service, beverage service were all extremely well maintained- we saw people cleaning nearly every hour. The entertainment staff go above and beyond. We weren’t sure what to think being at the north pool- we’d never want to stay anywhere else now! If you’re vacationing for the fun, laughs, and being entertained, grab a spot there! If you seek quiet- pick any other pool :) Christian, Usiel, Bruno, Dagos, and Aldo made every game hilarious with consequences of belly flops, our family chose to dive in and not sit on the sidelines- we’re so glad we did! Cooking classes were great for the teenagers with grandma, the aunties and nieces enjoyed a wine tasting and we generally just had the tools to connect and enjoy our time.

Our kids ages 7, 10, 10 found the kids pool entertaining, which was a good surprise. They enjoyed the kids club in the evening while the rest of us got ready for dinner, so glad we gave it a shot.

The beach was great, we went down every morning and chased the waves, again great drinks and kind staff. There was seaweed but it didn’t hold us back and again, we expect nature to do its thing.

Nightly entertainment was interesting to see, again choosing to dance like you’ll never see these people again makes life a bit more rich so jump in and say YES! Everything quiets down by 11 which was great as we were ready for our pool room to be quiet and fall asleep. The younger kids probably would have enjoyed a later night but we all were grateful to be in bed and awake at reasonable times in the morning.

A small dog was yapping midday next to my sibling’s room, they made a call and felt the staff was respectful to both parties and found a solution for all- with the dog checking out the next day- yippie!

Overall, don’t expect the hotel to control what it cannot. We have friends already looking to book at this hotel because they see such a great time that we had. We didn’t even make it to the adult only areas because we enjoyed the family fun so much. I truly feel this resort has figured out how to make a trip for couples and families. We never once left the resort.

Tips: bring a yeti, pool floats

Love,...

My family of 6 and I decided to book a one-week getaway at this place for the holidays. Everything seemed perfect… the photos, the rooms, the overall cleanliness, the food, and the place was even described as “brand new” as it “opened” on November 1 2023. This is the first thing that I’d like to point out by the way… this place was not new WHATSOEVER. They literally just bought out an old resort, so don’t get fooled. Anyways, we booked two rooms for my family and I, and as I mentioned previously, everything seemed very well. That was, until we actually arrived at the resort. We could tell before we even entered the lobby that this place was very different than advertised. While my husband was checking us in, the bar in the lobby offered my kids and I drinks. We all ordered juices, and let’s just say that the juices were not fresh at all. On top of that, they didn’t even offer to give us straws. So, I asked my son to go up to one of the bartenders and ask for a few straws. I watched him as he walked up and asked very politely for a straw, only for him to get m*ddle fingered by one of the bartenders while walking back to where we were sitting. Furious, I stormed up to the bartender who did this immoral act, and when I started yelling at him, he pretended that he didn’t understand simple English. So, I had no other choice but to call over the manager; but when he came over, he sided with the bartender instead of me. The story only gets worse. When we went up to the check-in desk to receive our wristbands, the man checking us in started secretly whispering to us about how “this resort does not live up to Hilton’s standards at all.” What?! Talk about a great first impression. The elevator was poorly designed as well. I felt like I was in a construction site rather than a Hilton all-inclusive resort. The Enclave suite appeared decent, that is, until we opened the bathroom door. The bathroom reeked of the smell of throw-up and acid. And when I went to check the toilet, I saw stains on the toilet seat. This made me throw up myself right away. Already I just wanted to go back home. The cleanliness was just not there. Fast forward that night, when we were eating at the steakhouse in the lobby… my Caesar Salad and Onion Soup tasted almost a week old. Little did I know, that’s how every food at the “resort” tasted like. When we finally got our New York Steaks, after THREE HOURS, I noticed hair (it wasn’t mine because my hair is blonde and this hair was dark brown). Disgusted, I threw my food away and slept hungry that night. The next day was even worse, as I realized that the only activites to do at this resort were sleeping, eating, and swimming. I’ve traveled to at least 100 resorts that were not all-inclusive, and they had so many more activities than this “resort”. Not to mention, this resort was extremely small and only had one pool. Now, if you’re someone who’s looking to lose weight, then this resort will be absolutely perfect for you, as I swear all of the food in this place is about to expire. The Vela buffet serves the exact same food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day, and every single thing tastes old, old, OLD. On the fifth day of my “vacation”, I got really bad food poisoning from the Maxal, and unfortunately it led me to go to the hospital. When I asked the manager of the place to cover my expenses, he said “no” as “there’s no way to know if I got sick from the Maxal food or something else.” I repeatedly replied that I hadn’t left the resort once since I arrived in Cancun, and he still angrily kept saying no and kept cursing in Spanish. Before I move on to the service, I’d like to add that the Maxal charged me 120 USD for tacos that not only did my daughter not eat, but was also free according to the menu!! Again, went up to our server from the previous night and demanded a refund, and he kept replying with “I’m sorry but we already charged up to your room.” The service here also SUCKS. One night I ordered a Caesar salad and it took 5 hours to come!! What are your damn...

As a longtime diamond member, I've always had excellent regard for Hilton properties around the world. This property seemed to capable of only delivering disdain for its guests. I made sure to pay extra for the enclave premium service, but there was nothing premium or luxurious about the enclave experience. To start off, I had a very charmless check-in experience at the enclave lounge. R. did not bother to explain what enclave benefits we could enjoy - and when we were trying to head to the room, not only were directions vague, but after R. handed us over to one of his colleagues, the colleague simply left us by the poolside only for us to get lost in trying to find our rooms. This wasted our time. I also had a request for R to reach out to the restaurant to move some timings around, but I was simply met with disdain: "You could do it yourself." If I had thought able to and wanted to do so myself, I would have done so. But we did pay for the upgraded enclave service, and we only simply requested for the enclave desk to assist in a small request. R should not be handling guests at the enclave section if requests were too onerous - any other proper hospitality establishment would have taken care of our requests with no questions asked. I also swung by the lounge in the morning for some coffee, and the attendants let children in wet swim suits run around the enclave lounge and the parents had their feet on their couches. I understand that we cannot control the behavior of others, but to request that we be attired appropriately (and thus behaving so), it is hypocritical to not enforce some respectful conduct in private and premium spaces for which this Hilton charges a pretty extra penny. The enclave experience was astoundingly unthoughtful, charmless, and not worth the premium for which this property tries to extort. We were also beginning to wonder if we were being racially profiled: Yes, we are not white, we are not trashy, and therefore undeserving of proper service? The little things and details matter, especially if enclave were designed to provide an elevated offering, but it’s either staff who were not properly motivated or just mercenary service people waiting for us to show our wallets before being provided any appropriate attention.

We also had a late check-out arranged, but we were still locked out of our rooms by 1pm. I tried calling the property while outside our room, nobody answered. I made the trek to the front desk, and I was met with a disdainful front desk agent, who exclaimed, "who gave you late check-out?" as if we were never accorded the prior arrangement or benefit. It was insulting and embarrassing to be put in such a situation.

Food was simply atrocious. A lot of the servers treated guests with disdain at the restaurants that we visited, especially the steakhouse. The plating was also haphazard, the taste even less appealing. There could not be less effort. The bad experience from the terrible food and inconsistent service really detracted from 1-2 staff members who really tried to deliver on good hospitality practices. Skip breakfast if you value your time and your sanity, it was a mess with missing utensils and plates. Food hygiene was poor, with kids shoving their hands into the buffet service. Coffee was exceptionally poor. The enclave lounge did not offer a full breakfast service.

This was not our first visit to Cancun, and we've always enjoyed the area - but I never thought I could leave such a beautiful location with something not quite right in my heart and feeling that we have wasted our precious one night vacation here. If you ever had the misfortune to visit this place, my advice is don't bother to pay for enclave, don't bother to eat at the evening restaurants, and pray that you are not sober enough to appreciate the heavily poured sourness and disdain from staff of which this property has no dearth. And definitely don’t bother to come if you are not white- or American- presenting and capable of shamelessly throwing your inebriated...