it appears that we were not the only ones affected by bouts of food poisoning. After three days both of us went down with upset digestions, one with severe abdominal pain and the other with the Cancun canters to the toilet for the next 10 days. Neither had eaten out of the hotel. We reported our situation to the Tour rep who advised us to see how it went for a day and to drink lots of water. If no better we were told to call in a doctor. We were reluctant to do this given my parents' experience where my father spent a week in hospital undergoing needless tests. My mother spent a lonerly week travelling to visit him daily.

We note another reviewer's experiences - they must have been there at the same time and even on the same plane. It appears that many more people suffered stomach upsets at this hotel at the same time than we actually knew about. As we were leaving we knew of 6 including ourselves - there now seems to have been many more - all suffering in isolation. We know that some people opted to eat out of the hotel altogether which is sad on an all-inclusive break. The buffet food was probably in part re-heated- a recipe for disaster - and the food often luke warm. The waiter service restaurants were better tho' we suspect food prep was central to all four restaurants. Having watched the ITV programme on 3rd November re. food poisoning in Dom Rep. we can undertsand the problems. We had concerns re. catering staff's inappropriate use of face masks - these would be worn well past their germ preventative time - in the heat probably only effective for 10 mins. We observed staff pulling these down under their chins when they moved away from the food prep, pulling them over their mouths (not necessarily their nose) as they returned to work. By doing so were touching the mask containing a concentrated variety of germs and then handling food. We did inform the tour rep of this. However, this practice was still in force when we left a week later.

On the up-side the room was great, well-cleaned and spacious with a good beach/pool view. The hotel is well placed to get around in the area by bus . The amenities are good but we never went in the pool, only the sea.

Would we go back? Probably not - it's too long a flight for what little there is on offer to do in Cancun. This was made worse by our 'direct' flight from Glasgow via Gatwick. which added almost 3 hours to the journey each way. Not the hotel's fault but kind of sours you against the place from the outset.

This was my first vacation ever. I went with my boyfriends family, and extended family.
Upon arrival we were greeting at the front desk (no drinks like you see in the movies), after checking in we were welcomed to a party on the main deck around the pool. We had to wait in a line up to get through to find a table. The meal was fantastic. The entertainment was poor, and for the rest of my visit, they never had a party like that – unfortunately- as it was a nice welcome.

The rooms : The families that tipped received double the drinks and chocolates in the refrigerators, as well as those towel animals. I didn’t tip right away, so i didn’t get any of that. We eventually started tipping, and the best they did was a couple extra pops. My b/f made coffee the first day , and they never cleaned it the entire visit- even though he made it obvious that it was used and needed cleaning. The room was clean, the bed was large.
Food: I cant complain about the food, I could eat anything. I only went to the restaurant once – Mexican. It was ok. Nothing special. Good food presentation. Nice wait staff. Nice Christmas dinner with large lobster claws.
Entertainment: Not much... very poor at night. Ok during the day – unfortunately it involved nasty tasting tequila.
Pool: Freezing cold and filled with kids
Beach: hard to find lounge chairs on the beach or around the pool. Nice sand. Beach bar was ok – loud Americans got the best service. I tipped lots there, I don’t think it got me anywhere.
I would recommend the upstairs bar as you can mix your own drinks !
I am sure there are better resorts out there.

Cancun lovely what i got to see of it never again would i stop at this hotel.
Upon arriving at the hotel we were shown to our room that was supposed to have a deluxe French balcony it was more like a muddy front door step. After returning back to the reception we were greeted by unhelpful reception staff, followed by a que of 2 other couples complaining about the same problem, we were shown another 2 rooms that were not up to the standard we were expecting. After an hour we were offered a room upgrade at $15 per day to get a room that was more appropriate. They must do this all the time as there were posters everywhere asking if you would like to upgrade and there was a few more couples had to upgrade at the same cost. 3 days into the holiday my partner came down with a very painful ear infection he was not to be able to leave the hotel room because of the pain. I was advised by another couple staying in the same hotel to call the local doctor as her partner had exactly the same problem. A few days into the holiday we called the doctor who came to the hotel and advised my partner that the infection was caused by the dirty hotel pool water, the doctor syringed his ears and give him anibiotic ear drops to put in his ears 5 times a day this cost another $165 and was told not to go into the pool for another 4-5 days. By the end of our 2 week stay at the Barcelo Costa Cancun Hotel their was at least 10 people who had the same ear problems this was reported to the rep.Then on the Thursday into the 1st week of our holiday I came down with a really bad fever, vomiting, pain in my lower back and stomach this carried on for a further 3 days. I was not able to eat or move from the hotel room, my partner had to look after me during this time until pain got so severe we called the doctor on the Saturday night who came out and gave me a pain killer injection and called for an ambulance I was admitted to hospital and this is where I spent the next 3 nights and days been treated with i.v. Antibiotics. I was diagnosed with pyelonephritis a very painful kidney infection which the hospital advised was caused by food poisoning. After leaving the hospital I spent a further 3days unable to do any excursions or carry on with the rest of my holiday as I was still very ill and spent most of my time in the hotel room. On returning to the UK I have visited the doctor twice had 2 week sick note and been on further medication which is still on going. During the last week of our holiday my partner began experiencing abdominal pains and an upset stomach, these symptoms have continued and he is still undergoing tests from his GP.
During our 2 week stay at the Barcelo Costa Cancun I must state that we didn't see the hotel pool ever been closed to be cleaned and the buffet restaurant was constantly infested with birds coming through the open windows bearing in mind the food was left uncovered as this is a buffet restaurant. The food was also taken from a different part of the hotel sometimes uncovered to the buffet restaurant there was concerns that this food had been reheated. Lots of wasps were also round the pool restaurant and bar areas throughout the day.
Apart from this the beach was nice and room was cleaned everyday.

We are currently seeking legal advise in regards to the aforementioned issues of our holiday by irwin and mitchell solicitors if you had any similar problems from this hotel they would like to here from you.

I am writing this to let everyone know what we went through as i would hate for anyone else to go through the same.

My husband and I came here for 2 weeks on honeymoon in August 2008 (Thomas Cook). Great holiday overall.

Cancun:
Lively resort centre seems to be geared up for Brits. LOADS of stag & hen parties, which surprised me. If you wanted to go out at night you had to go full on - downing Tequila in bars and clubs. No tasteful bars for a quiet/romantic drinks. Shopping centres to visit in the day and lots of sightseeing excursions to go on. I've only added photos of the hotel though.

Hotel:
Not near the resort centre and not much to do near the hotel. About 10 mins to the centre on bus but too far to walk really. Right on the beach with free beach bar if you go all inclusive (AI). Beach nice but on the small side. Staff lovely. Nice touches on special occasions.

Rooms:
Nice and clean. Huge walk-in shower but no bathtub. Mini bar (free on AI) re-stocked every day. A bit noisy at night when people return from clubs. Maid everyday. Bottle of fizz and cake on arrival as honeymoon ‘gift’ from hotel.

Food:
Ok but repetitive (as are all AI holidays). We did get ill on holiday even though we were drinking bottled water. Staying that we got 'holiday belly’ in Cuba too so it might have had nothing to do with the hotel food. Plenty of choice I suppose. Other non-buffet restaurants to eat in were pre-book able but worth it for a change.

Drinks:
Lots to choose from on AI and staff will make you cocktails. It's customary to tip bar staff and waiting staff now and again.

Pool area:
Good points: Music on and activities during the day so good atmosphere. Nice sized pool. Bad points: One day I saw what looked like sick floating on the water. Not enough sun beds at all and very crowded. You had to put your towels down at 6.30am to get a sun bed. Most people did this on their way back from a night out.

Evening:
Entertainment shows ok. But only lasted an hour and that was it. So only other option was to head to town to full-on bars. Not much to do in the evening, which was a let down.

Overall:
Great for sightseeing. If going to Mexico again not sure I would choose Cancun. It seemed better for younger/single parties in the town anyway. Would probably pay a bit extra for a hotel. Good overall but the pool area was too crowed so was a bit of a let down. Probably is a 4* but too busy when we went.