We are staying at this resort in early Dec of '09. We do not want to use a credit card while in Mexico. Is it best to bring American money or exchange for Mexican once we are at the resort? We will be eating both at the resort and also outside of it.
If we have a cheat list of what pesos to american dollars are , does that work for most restaurants?
Thx much for any response

We stayed at Casa Maya, as this is our home-base in a time share we purchased about 6 yrs ago. We simply LOVE Cancun. Casa Maya is a wonderful place to stay if you have kids because the ocean there is not rough; it is protected by Isla Mujeres, so the waves are practically non-existent. Many other areas on the strip have un-swimable ocean front because it is 'red-flag' water most every day. Casa Maya offers apartments only, and compared to other properties we have seen in the area, they are very spacious. We love stocking the fridge and pantry with groceries, enjoying breakfast on our balcony facing the Caribbean, and packing lunches to go to the beach or take on sight-seeing trips. And now that the kids are a bit older, they can go back to our apt to fetch snacks, all of which saves lots of money on the 'pretty good at best' hotel fare. For dinner, we always opt to visit some of our favorite restaurants, and try some new ones to see if we can discover any special jewels. We have a short list of MUSTS where we eat every time we visit Cancun. El Pescador, in downtown Cancun has incredibly delicious fish and the BEST MARGARITAS in Cancun (and cheap!!) I have not met one person that disagrees with this Margarita review!! Don't miss it.
This year we visited Tulum ruins, and it was fun and interesting - a bit hot - but if you were prepared and brought a towel, you could take a dip in the ocean and it is gorgeous beneath the cliffs. Lots of great photo ops. We also visited Isla Contoy. This is an incredible place to snorkel; our whole family enjoyed the trip there, with breakfast and lunch and drinks included, and some of the most interesting sea-life we have seen in Cancun. We all snorkeled: mom, dad, kids, grand parents! Sharks and skates and sting rays, enormous fish and tiny fish, coral, urchins, incredible colors. The island is uninhabited, and a sanctuary for frigits and other birds. Stunning views. Watch for good weather reports, then book your trip; the boat ride is about 1.5 hrs each way. Isla Mujeres was our last venture. We go there every year. Take the ferry, rent a golf cart (be there early or they run out of vehicles!) snorkel in a tiny park next to Garafon (too expensive there) and drive to the South tip for great views and a really nice lunch! Drive back to North beach for terrific sunset views while sipping drinks in beach-side bars. We consider Cancun our Winter home away from home. It welcomes us every February, and warms our pale, chilled NY bodies, enabling us to endure the rest of the winter with a smile.

While the rooms have not been updated in many years, the service and features of Casa Maya made this a great place for my family. We had a 2 bedroom suite which gave our teens an attached unit all to themselves for TV and their own bathroom. The units were cleaned daily and even though one night I could hear out noisy neighbor slam doors at 1 am, we slept very well. Other reviewers mention the hard beds but our beds were fine for us.
This was a slow time for Cancun, so we were spoiled with space at the pool, beach and restaurant. We loved the outdoor restaurant at the property, La Brisa. The staff was terrific, get a flaming coffee! The food was very good and the prices were reasonable. After a day of touring or shopping our teens would go to the pool for a while, then they could dry off and join us for dinner when we were ready. We were able to have drinks on the beach and watch the sunset and pirate boat. The staff made us feel spoiled and looked out for our kids.
There is a nicely stocked convenience store, a gift shop and a place to exchange money. Taxis are right there as is the bus top, we used both. The location is perfect if you want to be away from the party zone, which we did.
As others have mentioned, this place asks you to do a timeshare presentation. I was prepared for this after having read the reviews. Because this was a slow time we did not have to wait to be shown our room when we checked in and the rep set up a breakfast presentation for the next day. This would be for Sunday and we didn't have a tour planned so I agreed. It took 90 minutes and consisted of breakfast, a tour of a renovated room and then a sales pitch by the sales manager. After listening to him for about 20 minutes by husband finally said he had heard enough, our answer was no and we wanted to leave. We were polite but firm and so it was no problem to leave the room. I had to find someone to get me our $100 in food coupons but it only took a few minutes and this paid for a complete meal with drinks and dessert for our family of 4 - a good deal. If you decide to do the presentation just be firm, keep track of the time so you don't spend longer than the 90 minutes you promised and make sure you get you coupons. Do it early in your stay and enjoy the free dinner!

My husband & I stayed at the Casa Maya for 1 night even though we were booked for 7. There was huge pressure for a timeshare presentation. The room was in the tower which is 28 years old and I'm pretty sure it hasn't been renovated. No one told us that there had been a fire at the hotel so the new building was closed. Did they think we wouldn't notice there were no lights on at night? At a restaurant a few doors away, the waiter was surprised to find out that they were open again so soon after the fire, which was our first indication that something was wrong. It looks really nice on the website, and indeed, the lobby is really nice, in the new building, but in our room, our 'kitchenette' was a bar fridge with a microwave on top of it, we had twin beds, the room smelled of mildew, I didn't want to take my shoes off or sleep there, and we didn't just not have any hot water, we had NO water the next morning. We couldn't get out of there fast enough. A far cry from the room we were expecting. There was no attempt at an apology or explanation so we moved to another hotel. It was such a huge disappointment as this was our first time in Cancun. The other hotel was heaven so we will be back, but not to the Casa Maya.