We arrived from england on 21st June for 2 weeks and had a great time. As a family of 4 with boys aged 17 and 14 there was plenty of entertainment. The beach is fantastic and the sand banks made for good fun and keep the jet skis and catamarans away from the bathers. Food is good enough and varied but didnt rate the italian restaurant with a very limited menu.
We would go back and definitely preferred it to the commercial Cancun.

Our group of 11 stayed at the Reef Playacar from 6/24 through 7/1. My wife and I, our 14 year old daughter, 18 year old son and 7 other 17 and 18 year olds. It was a high school graduation trip for our son and his friends.

Our trip started in Los Angeles via Charlotte,NC then down to Cancun via US Airways. A long trip but one that was truly appreciated by all when we finally got to the Reef. I used a shuttle van company called Cancun Express which met us at the Airport and transported us down to the Reef. For a group of 11 we had our own van which only cost us $140 for round tirp transportation. I called ahead of time to get 4 rooms together in the same bldg. for the 8 teenagers, and that worked out great as they had the 1st floor to themselves in Bldg. #7. My wife and I along with our daughter were in a 1st floor bldg. #8 next door. Bldg. #9 is right next to the pool and the restaurants, so being in Bldg. #8 and #7 were great since we were close enough to the pool and restaurants, but not close that any noise would bother us.

We ate at the buffet restaurant for morning, lunch and dinner most of the time, and found that the quality of the food and the choices were very good. Everyone in our group really enjoyed the food served at the buffets. The teenage kids also ate a lot at the snack bars, where they enjoyed the cheeseburgers, fries, ribs, and pizzas. They commented on how good the fries were. You could also get them covered with melted cheese. My wife and I really enjoyed the rotisserie chicken that they served there. Just as good a El Pollo Loco here in the states. We also made reservations on 3 separate evening for the Italian and Mexican restaurants that are located upstairs of the buffet restaurant. Once at the Mexican and twice at the Italian restaurants. At the Mexican restaurant I had the beef and shrimp skewers that were okay but not anything special. A few in the group ordered the fajitas, and they said they were excellent. Now the Italian restaurant was were I enjoyed my best meal. On both occasions I ordered the filet of beef covered in some type of delicious sauce, that was absolutely delicious. Others ordered the health conscious salmon fillet, and they really enjoyed it. To make reservations to either of these restaurants, you have to be at the front desk at 9:00am sharp to make reservations. The trick to this is to get there at 8:30am, get a number that they pass out, then sit around or come back at 8:55am and wait until they call your number. Seating is limited and it seems that they only make available only a portion of the restaurant seating for the guests that buy the all inclusive package. I'm thinking that the remaining seats are possibly for timeshare owners. Even with a group of 11 we were able to get reservations at a prime time 7:30 pm on 2 of the 3 nights that we ate in these restaurants. The 1st night that we ate, we could only get a 9:00 reservation, since I didn't get to the reservation desk until 8:50am of that morning, and by that time, the number I was given was 14.

Outside of all of the eating that we did, most of our time was spent at the activities pool which is the pool closest to the beach. The activities desk is right next to this pool, and is the spot where you get your pool/beach towels. You sign out for the towels against your room number, and are suppose to return the towels by 5:00pm each day, when the activities desk closes. After 5:00pm you can return the towels to the front desk. We chose to keep our towels in our room each evening with us, then we traded them in for new towels each day thereafter. At the end of our time, we then returned them to the front desk. I've read that there is a $35 US fee if towels are returned. One of the great things about the pools at the Reef is that they are opened until 11:00pm each evening, so you can relax in the pool even after dinner. The snack bar which is close by stays open until 1:30am. A great place to go late in the evenings if your still hungry after the buffet restaurants closes at 9:00pm.

Each evening except for Friday evenings the Reef has some type of entertainment show in the upstairs theatre above the front lobby. One night we took our daughter to see the Disney show to see the activities staff dressed up like various Disney characters and perform Disney Movie skits to music. Great to go to if you have little kits. One night they had a 60s and 70s music show where the activities staff did skits based on 60s and 70s music.

We went into the town of Playa Del Carmen a couple of times to do some shopping as well as to see the sights. Lots of souvenir shops to choose from,

We also rented a van from Hertz, and drove down to Tulum one afternoon to visit the ruins. Make sure that you take bug repellant there, as there are some areas of the ruins where you will get attacked by mosquitos.

Also, 1 day we drove down to Yal-Ku lagoon next to Akumal beach to do some snorkeling. Probably not as good as snorkeling in Xel-Ha, but definitely cheaper as the cost to get in is only $9 US dollars per person. You can rent snorkeling eqpt for $10 US.

All in all this was a fabulous trip for all of us, nobody wanted to go back home, and were dissapointed when we had to.

By the way the whole staff, from the people in the lobby, the people in the restaurant, and the activities staff were excellent. Never experienced a single problem with any of them.

The rooms were pleasant and we encountered no problems. Though I had read previously that the beds were hard, I felt that they were quite comfortable.

I should mention that though tipping is not required. I made it a habit to tip $1 to $2 dollars fairly frequently to the buffet restaurant, snack bar, and bar staff. At the reservation restaurants since we were a large group I tipped $20 each time. I know from their expressions that they truly appreciated the tips.

My daughter and I stayed at The Reef June 30th thru July 4th. This was for her graduation present. At first I was a little hesitant after reading some of the reviews, but after arriving at The Reef, I was relieved. The place is beautiful. It is not a five star resort, however it is very clean and the staff are very friendly. Our room was very nice, we did have a slight problem with tiny ants in the bathroom, however, I was prepared for this after reading a review. I brought ant traps with me. I put a couple in the bathroom and we had an ant free stay!!! My daugther and I had a great stay. Playa Del Carmen is a short walk away and very fun. We went to Xcaret and my daughter swam with the dolphins. It is a little pricey, I would recommend getting the plus package. A meal is included as well as locker, towel and snorkel rentals. You also get a couple of beverages. I cant wait to return!!

I have to laugh at the reviewers that seemingly have every bad thing go wrong that could possibly go wrong. Seems like they just want to complain.

I just got back from a destination wedding here. First off, it's not a 5-star place, and it shows. But, it's neat, very clean, with friendly staff and they're obviously spending money to renovate what I assume is one of the older resorts in the area.

In general - The lobby is basic, but nice. The bar in the lobby is the best bar in the place. Check-in was easy, but note they charge your CC up front, and in pesos (not a big deal, just something to be aware of). There are timeshare people in the lobby, but they're easy to get past. All the rooms are in smaller 9-10 room units set in a jungle-like atmosphere. Quite nice atmosphere. You'll notice a couple cats and agoutis running around, but they're harmless and not annoying. There's a wide range of guests there, young to old, skinny to, well not too skinny, and American, Mexican, and European. If you get heebie geebies from older men in speedos, well, you'll see some of those. All the employees you'd have to interact with spoke, at worst, passable English, so don't worry about that if a language barrier is a concern. The front desk, managers and bartenders spoke English pretty fluently.

Rooms - They are basic rooms with tiled floors. The AC units varied in the rooms as they're upgrading them with newer units (ours was an older unit, but worked fine). Beds and pillows were a little stiff, but, not a big deal (but if you have a favorite soft pillow, I'd bring it). My only issue with the room was that while the walls were thick, the doors weren't. You could hear all people traffic and activity. I'm a light sleeper, so these things bothered me, but my wife didn't really notice.

Dining - You have the option of making reservations for one of the sit-down restaurants each night, but we found out the food was no different than what was served at the buffets, plus you have to wear pants and shoes (too hot for that), so we ate at the buffet most of the time. There's a good selection of foods and sauces, and a lot of stuff is cooked to order. Seafood (fish mostly), steaks, chicken, pastas, etc. For breakfasts, the buffet has your typical omelet bar, plus stations with mexican fare. Quite good. Also, your typical cereal and fruits.

I really only had two issues with the buffets. First, you couldn't get drinks (coffee/soda/etc) yourself, you had to wait for staff (except for coffee, you could get this yourself, though it was intended more for to go coffee). They were plentiful, but not always on the ball.

Second, items on the buffet or its stations weren't always refilled promptly.

The snack bar area served up burgers, chicken, chicken sandwiches, pizza, nachos and a few other items. For being "bar food", it was pretty good. Just note that the red drink you see in the containers (here and elsewhere in the resort) isn't fruit punch, it's a fruity iced tea flavor.

We were there for a wedding, and the ceremony was very nicely done on the beach, as well as a cocktail hour there. The food for the reception was quite good for buffet style. This time, though, drink service wouldn't let our glasses be empty.

One comment, if you have a sweet tooth, don't expect to have it fulfilled by the desserts here. They looked wonderful (mostly petit fours type desserts) but all were very bland. The wedding cake too.

The pools and beaches were very nice. Note you have to sign out towels to use on the beach/pool, but it's hot enough that you really don't need a towel.

Bars - As I said, the lobby bar provided the best and most consistent drinks. The pool bar focused on quantity, not quality (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Not saying the drinks were bad, but you got a different flavor each time. The upstairs bar was more of your "college" bar feel. It had some pool tables and a foosball table. It seemed to be the most popular bar in our group (we had a wide range of ages) but it didn't do it for me.

You're about a mile from the shopping area of Playa Del Carmen. It's an easy and safe walk, but, it being tropical Mexico, an easy mile walk can leave you sweaty real fast. Fortunately, cab rides are plentiful and cost $5USD/$50 MXN.

Unlike other bitter reviewers, I saw no bugs in the rooms (or really anywhere) and had no overcooked food. We even returned from a fishing trip with fillets in hand, and with a little "prompting", had the chef prepare it for us, and he did it wonderfully.

This is the perfect place for a first experience with all-inclusive as well as those with a tighter budget. We had a blast with a group of good friends, and I'm very happy with it all. I'd give it 4.5 stars if possible, but there were a few annoyances.