Marriott Cancun, An All-Inclusive Resort — Hotel in Cancún

We just came back from 4 days in mid September and we had a great time. We have been to a dozen or so of these all inclusives on the strip and we go once or twice every year for the last 20 years. We even got married on the beach at one of these hotels!|| - Excellent staff. Everyone was spot on, though we were probably 40% capacity at the time we stayed 2 weeks ago.|| - Drinks were nice and strong. Everyone at every hotel complains about watered down drinks at AI resorts… Here's a hint: just order whatever mixed drink you want and order a double (pronounced "doh blay" in Spanish.) I recommend a spicy margarita on the rocks with double Herradura or Don Julio Blanco with Tajin on the rim! Or if you want something more tropical you can't go wrong with a traditional mint mojito with double Bacardi, or strawberry double Bacardi mojito.|| - The restaurants were pretty good considering this is an all-inclusive. However what really sets this hotel apart is the dining experience, breakfast or dinner, at Casa Madre. Every place we've ever been to down here has your standard breakfast buffet. They are all fantastic because of the variety that's offered. This place gives you a lot of authentic Yucatan style breakfast options served in a traditional way. They even have someone rolling out masa and making fresh quesadillas in the morning with fillings of your choice. There's a trained falconer that brings his bird and casually strolls around Casa Madre looking for those primal looking blackbirds that always steal your hash browns. There is a friendly local kitty that walks around during breakfast as well. For dinner at Casa Madre they have more of the same where it turns into a traditional Mayan restaurant. Even though menu is in mayan! Don't forget to try the hot chocolate welcome drink in the morning. Trust me, this place really sets the hotel apart. We didn't even go to the traditional/international buffet during our stay.|| - We went with a couple vegans so we tried out Hanna the Polynesian restaurant which was good. I ordered the steak. Look, this is Mexico ... Steak is never impressive at any all-inclusive unless you're paying extra for it somewhere else. All in all, the dining experiences were great.|| - When I wake up I love having coffee and some sort of bagel/muffin. I'm always disappointed when these all inclusives don't have a coffee shop and some sort of  grab-and-go station. This place really excelled in these categories. In the lobby you have the gift shop / pizza shop /coffee shop. This was my favorite place to go in the morning (and throughout the day) and grab a double espresso and a muffin and some sort of fruit to go before heading out on the beach. I can't emphasize in enough on how important having a nice coffee shop or grab and go is.|| - The beach bar that's literally on the sand is so awesome. They need to start playing more tropical music, and nailing down their food options, but what a treat to have a place to sit in the shade after having fun in the ocean. It's quite a rarity to have a sitting area with drinks right on the beach.||- The gym is nice clean and spacious. Obviously it was brand new so they're lacking a lot of equipment but I'm sure it'll roll in soon. ||After being at so many all inclusives and being spoiled over the years, we have some criticisms on Marriott Cancun where they can approve.|| - You need to have some sort of welcome drink mandatory. And a cold towel. It's a nice touch and most of the resorts do that.|| - Loungers or hammocks on the balcony would be great as well, though I'm sure they're just getting settled in and will correct this in a year's time.|| - I am so glad somebody in Cancun started carrying green tea! It's a very popular tea flavor in the US and this is the first AI that’s had it.|| - Drinks need to be available in the lobby bar by noon at bare minimum. Not 5:00 p.m. . You shouldn't have to go outside for a drink prior to 5:00.||- While I'm at it they need to put a larger emphasis on the lobby bar. Such a beautiful area and they have a tiny bar with a couple bartenders. Not only extend the hours but maybe double the size of the bar or add another lobby bar on the opposite side of the lobby bar chairs / couches. This is also a perfect place for nighttime entertainment like a live band or a silent party. ||Our favorite thing that we've done in a couple resorts is the silent party. It's where everybody goes to the lobby bar around 9:00 p.m. and you grab a set of over-ear headphones and each headphone has three or four stations to choose from. You can see what everyone else is listening to by the LED lights on the headphones. Green might be a reggae channel, red might be rock and roll, etc. It sounds terrible but it's actually really fun for really any age.|| - Have some sort of printed schedule for activities in the room once you arrive. Or even on the TV menu. Not everyone wants to go on to the Marriott website to find out (if its even up to date there)|| - Mexican theme night on Wednesday was a miss. Only a few vendors and they have that big open space outside before the lobby to have authentic food setup. I think the entertainment crew was probably the biggest area where they need to improve. I'm not talking about the obnoxious entertainment crew that wants you to do a bunch of exercising in the pool... I'm talking about having some sort of beach volleyball, or having the vendors come in with all their jewelry and knick knacks, or having a game night that actually has fun games. You have that big area before the entry doors to the hotel where you could put the vendors.|| - Extend hours of cevicheria and taco stand and outside pizzeria. The taco stand especially. That's a great asset!|| - Use the upstairs of Hanna for a dinner buffet. When families are traveling with small children dinner buffets are 10x easier than a restaurant. This is the first resort I've been to without a dinner buffet.|| - You need more bar food / kid friendly options at the wood fired pizza oven location by the pool. Keep the tipsy adults and kids fed outside while they're playing. Only having pizza and a taco stand doesn't cut it. Burgers, fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders etc. These are all table steaks at every other resort somewhere outside by the pool. You got the kitchen, may as well add more food.|| - The concept of Moe's restaurant doesn't fit in with this resort. Moe's is basically offering burgers and milkshakes; two things that can easily be done outside (burgers) and the coffee shop (milkshakes).|| - You can use the Moe's space for the Press + Start restaurant and put an Italian restaurant where the Press + Start currently is. I was surprised not to see an Italian restaurant here since 90% of the all-inclusives have an Italian option, and oddly enough, it's usually the best restaurant at every resort.||All in all, this is a great all-inclusive with fantastic staff and a solid outdoor layout. All knowing Marriott they'll have it all figured out within a year and I can't wait to come back and see what...

Upon glancing at my previous review, I realize that this was our 9th anniversary, although we were telling everyone it was the 8th at the resort. My husband and I have visited this hotel before, but it was prior to it being renovated and switching to the all inclusive platform. Everything was really wonderful during our stay. ||I know I am not going to have everyone's name that provided great service, but I am going to try. From the arrival assistance of the doormen/bellmen, Juan and Francisco to the service at Champions from Jullisa, I would rate this a five star trip. The bartenders were really good, as it was busy at times at both the lobby bar and the adult pool bar. Enrique was fast, and precise. He would often have our preferred drinks ready when my husband went to return our glasses. I can't say enough about the pool bartenders, Giovanni and Lisandro and their level of superb service. We also had some enjoyable conversations. I saw this pool slammed with tipsy people at times, and they always kept up with orders. The waiters in the pool area were also always available to bring food, drinks, or help with an umbrella. We interacted most with Reynaldo, David, and Carlos there. I know I don't have everyone's name, my husband said Allen at breakfast was outstanding, I only had breakfast once, I like coffee and lunch. The dinner waiters were also all attentive, and we never had to wait long for anything. ||The only minus points I can give would be that the beach area is small, and there are not a lot of chairs or covers there. You might be able to get a seat, but unless it is early in the morning, it will be in full sun. We stayed at the pool area mostly for that reason, as covered areas were much more available there. ||My husband wanted to try Kasai, the sushi restaurant, but it did not show any availability during our entire stay, so I'm not quite sure if it was open. It shares a space with Mikado Teppanyaki, which we did visit. That went a bit different than expected, as I viewed the menu and was under the impression that you could choose from the different appetizers, entrees, and desserts, but that is not actually the case. You choose your protein, beef, chicken, or seafood, and it is served with fried rice and vegetables. Our appetizer was miso soup, or a salad option, and there were crepes for dessert. I'm not the biggest Japanese cuisine fan, but I really wanted to try the mochi baked alaska that was on the menu. You can probably check with the restaurant to find out what is on the daily menu before making the reservation. ||My favorite restaurants there were Hana, and Toscanni. We had our anniversary dinner at Hana, and they were out of short ribs that night, so we had steaks. They were not the best steaks I have ever had, but they were cooked properly and seasoned. The shrimp appetizer was very good, I ordered that twice. My husband really enjoyed the mussel and calamari app, but not the ahi poke. At the end of dinner my husband had the crème brûlée, and we were served a chocolate cake decorated for our anniversary. Both were delicious and it was a thoughtful touch. We did eat on our last night there again and had the short ribs. They were so tender and flavorful, I would recommend that to anyone. I am glad we went back to try them. ||Toscanni was also very enjoyable. We both enjoyed our apps, tomato soup and beef tartare. I had chicken parmesan. It was breaded nicely and crispy. They honored my substitution request, as I do not eat mushrooms. My husband liked the sea bass. The tiramisu was one of the best I have every had, and I really thought about trying to get another before we left. ||I also have to mention the taco carts that are in the pool area. They have seafood and traditional carts at opposite ends of the pool area. My husband has always said he doesn't like any Mexican food. He doesn't like the cumin heavy spice blend that almost everyone puts on tacos here. He tried the tacos there, all kinds, fish, shrimp, al pastor, chicken, chorizo, and loved them all. He ate ocho tacos in one pool afternoon. He didn't try them until the second day and then was sad he didn't have any the first. There were tamales being served in the lobby on certain days, but we didn't try them because we usually already had too much to eat. Cevicheria was very accommodating as they made a fresh ceviche for us with no cilantro, the devil's weed for us. ||Overall, I would still rate the food as 5 stars, especially for an all inclusive resort, where sometimes the standards are not up to par with a la carte restaurants. There are definitely many options, and I don't think anyone would have a problem finding something they enjoy to eat. There is a bakery in the lobby strip area that you can get specialty coffee until midnight and pastries in the morning. At lunch it switches to pizza. ||My tips if you plan a visit, it is advantageous to have the Marriott Experience app downloaded to make restaurant reservations, or if you are like me, you want to know the menu before you go. Water shoes can be useful, there are some rocky areas in the ocean. The ATM was down when we arrived, so it might be useful to have some cash or pesos already. The front desk was helpful in breaking pesos for us for tip money when they were able to. Bring tip money because although this is "all inclusive", it is important to reward people for exceptional service. We will certainly return, and have already thought about checking in late April or early May for...

My daughter and I booked the Marriott Cancun for five nights and loved it so much that we added three more nights. I have been staying at all-inclusive resorts in Cancun for 35 years and this was hands down the best experience I've had. From the minute the shuttle dropped us off to the minute we left, we were treated like valued guests and enjoyed every minute. Here are the things that really stood out to us:|- Check in: Fast, friendly, efficient. |-Staff: Every single person we interacted with was so kind, attentive, helpful and seemed genuinely happy to be there.|- Food: breakfast at either the main buffet or the Mexican restaurant - both are superb. The coffee was especially good. Lunch options are located throughout the resort and include the ceviche restaurant, street tacos, fish and shrimp tacos, pizza, American fare like burgers and such, as well as lunch options brought directly to your lounge chair. Dinner - WOW the dinner options. We never even tried the dinner buffet because the resort app makes it so easy to make reservations at the specialty restaurants, and everywhere we ate was terrific. We particularly enjoyed Delphina, the Mediterranean restaurant located beachside, but we didn't feel like there was a bad choice among the restaurants we tried. Every meal we had was beyond anything I've ever experienced at an all-inclusive resort. So many options and so much variety that we couldn't even try everything. |-Room: Spacious, well-appointed, clean, comfortable.|- Entertainment: So many options throughout the entire day. We took a bracelet making class, played games, and took exercise classes. The evening entertainment options are more limited - no big shows like at other resorts - but this didn't bother us.|- Cleanliness: The entire resort is just plain clean - you can tell they make a concerted effort in this regard.|-Lazy river and slides: So fun! And they make sure that intoxicated people can't use them, so there isn't any poor/unsafe behavior on them.|- Pools: One large pool and one adults only infinity pool. Both were great.|- Beach: The hotel is located on a stretch of sandy beach so you can take long walks. The ocean was very wavy and choppy while we were there, so ocean swimming was sadly not in the cards on this trip, but it looks like it would be great if the ocean would have cooperated.|- No towel cards: This sounds like a small thing, but I've come to avoid any resort that makes me redeem a towel card for a towel. I recognize that this is supposed to be for theft prevention, but I do not want the resort's towels after I've left the resort, and I expect this is probably true of most guests.|- The one drawback to this resort is the limited number of lounge chairs. When we were there, the hotel was not at full capacity, and yet every single chair at the resort had a towel on it by 9am. It was clear that some people would set up in two different locations (at a pool and the beach, for instance), thus limiting availability for other guests. This is just plain inconsiderate, and puts staff in a difficult position: do they risk angering a guest by removing towels from the unused chairs, thus opening them up for guests who want to use them and would also order food and drink and therefore also likely tip, or do they let it go and avoid a potential confrontation? This is obviously a universal resort issue and my pointing it out here is not going to change people's behavior, but it sure would be awesome if just one perpetrator reading this reconsiders their behavior.|- I make a list of the stand out members of a resort's staff during each vacation, and this is the longest list I've ever made. It is also not an exhaustive list - just the people who I remembered to note, but I'm going to put their names here:|Samuel: breakfast - one of the happiest, friendliest waiters ever - told me this is the best job he's ever had|Marco: Delphina|Mauricio - pool|Abel - pool/beach|Lizandro - adult pool|Luis Leon - Toscani|Karina Amaya - Toscani|Jesus - beach bar|Marco - entertainment - super fun bracelet making class!|Phillippe (student intern) - beach bar|Heriberto - breakfast|Estephani - beach/pool - she was so fun!|Victor - beach bar|Marco - entertainment|Santiago - reception|Liliana - breakfast|Patricia - beach|Truly the entire staff deserves to be recognized for the amazing work they do to make every guest's visit special. And Marriott Cancun deserves to be recognized for finding and retaining this...