The resort is everything it promises in it's photos. We went for six days and, based on available activities, it was just enough. The park is a must see, as well as a day trip into Playa De Carmen for a walk on the beach & touristy shopping. Your experience will differ greatly on which building you stay in. Rather loud music plays all day long from the center party pool. If you are looking to relax & read a book, this pool is not the place. Some key areas to use are: The bubbling pool next to bldg. 23 for reading / sunning ; The semi-nude pool next to the ocean for peace & quiet (& waiter service); Paco's Tacos for a quick dinner; the paddle tennis court for low stress fun; beach volleyball game for a workout in the sun; "karoake" theme night for entertainment; Drinks at the Lobby Bar before dinner. The disappointments were few but worth mentioning. The spa services / workout facility seemed like an afterthought and not well maintained. Only hot tub available to the masses was broken as well as one of the two treadmills. Beware- if you buy into a transfer service to the airport, they insist you get dropped off 3 hrs earlier than you need to be there. I would have gladly payed the difference for a cab for the extra 3hrs. in the sun. This is a very good value I would recommend it without reservation.

My husband and I had a wonderful get away. Our first time in Cancun.
Everything went smoothly right from the beginning. Our room was fine with a wonderful view of the pool and beach area. The air conditioning was good. The buffets were very good with a lot of variety and a different theme every evening for dinner. The service at the a la carte and the buffet was excellent. Highly suggest making reservations for 3 restaurants. You must dress up little for Italian. (no shorts or sandals for men). The pool area was always fun with activities all day from 10-5. The staff at the pool worked hard to get people involved.
The drinks were good. We tried all different kinds. Ask the bartender for his speciality. The beach was beautiful. It was a very relaxing week by the pool and on the beach. Definately would go back!!!

We stayed at the resort after being transferred from the Caribbean Village Playacar (pretty boring). We found this resort to be quite lively and decent entertainment. I went with my husband and a guy friend (all in our late 20's). There was a lot of young americans because of the start of spring break, but we found them very well behaved for the most part and quite entertaining at times. The beach at our resort was beautiful compared to others in Cancun. Food was alright (a la carte worth it to book). Drinks were not great- there is no Canadian rye -so bring your own and the bartender will put it behind the counter for you. Timeshare salespeople very pushy and offer you cash to hear them. Hot tub is actually a cold jacuzzi. Rooms were alright except for the bathrooms. Ours had a standup shower only and was falling apart. (Not unbearable though). Hotel is one block away from the Kulkulkin Plaza and a 15 min. walk to La Isla mall. All nightlife is a bus ride away. Staff was friendly, but not real worthy of tipping. Entertainment was o.k.-better than some I've seen. They do have a pool bar which is nice and the pool is quite busy with ater polo, basketball, and volleyball. Overall a good resort for the price and a nice mixture of people (young-old-american-canadian) Very few Europeans.

I stayed at the Grand Flamenco Xcaret (pronounced Eshcaret) from Feb.
27th to March 5th, 2004. Overall, it was a good trip...starting at the top: upon our arrival, we were able to check in immediately without any problems. We requested and got a room in the Flamenco building #20 because we wanted to be where the action (bars, pools) is. We got some very poor directions to our room and ended up getting lost for quite some time before we found our way there. The lobby area is beautiful and classy although very poorly designed with a river running through the middle. It's a bit of a maze to find one's way through it. At first we were thinking that we should have gone to a smaller resort, but after a day or two we had figured out our way around it. There are shuttles that pick people up at designated stops and bring them to wherever they're going...we didn't use them at all because it's really not that far to walk, and we thought we could use the exercise. The grounds were very clean, beautiful, and well-kept. The rooms were fine, very clean, with lots of shelves and storage space, a little dimly lit, with a coffeemaker, iron and board, and a mini-fridge that was refilled everyday with sodapop, beer, and water. On our first night there we returned to the room to find that our electronic key card no longer worked in the door...and once we managed to get new keys and get inside, our electronic safe no longer worked either. We were told by some other guests that the power had flickered out at some point so we assume that this was the reason. Both of these issues were addressed promptly by the hotel staff and we didn't encounter any more problems of this nature for the rest of our stay. The food in the buffets was top notch, and the buffets were never over-crowded. The beach club is definitely the place to dine for breakfast and lunch as the view is spectacular. The only thing that I can say that was a little bit frustrating about the buffets is that you spend a lot of time looking for things...the spoons are located across the room from the cereal, it's always a guess as to where the ketchup is hiding, etc. We went to two a la carte restaurants during the week. The Italian restaurant was very mediocre. The service was poor, the food was a bit bland, and we probably could have had something tastier in the buffet. The Mexican restaurant was a little bit better--the food was good, the service was better, but we had to wait 25 minutes for our appetizers to arrive once we ordered...and everything just seemed to take forever and a day. I wasn't impressed with the house wine...the white wine was extremely sweet and just overall not very good. The rest of the drinks we had were good and the bartenders were all very nice. The nightly entertainment ranged from good to a little bit boring. On a few nights there was barely anyone watching it, but on other nights the theatre was packed. The entertainment around the main pool during the day was OK...water aerobics, bingo, etc. It was always easy to get a lounge chair at any point during the day. The beach was alright...we knew before we went that it was going to be more of a manmade lagoon and were OK with this. It was a good place for little kids to enjoy the calm water and play in the sand, but not great for anyone who wanted to play in the waves. We solved this problem by spending an afternoon at the beach in Playa del Carmen, which was incredible. We went to the disco a few times, and it was usually pretty quiet in there although it picked up towards the end of the week when some new people came to the resort. We found that the other guests at the resort were couples and familes...this resort is not the place for spring-breakers. We went to Xcaret park one day, which was great. It was very hot out and we got tired quickly, but we did go up the scenic tower, swim through the underground river, and went snorkeling at the beach...it was awesome!
The show in the park was pretty cool...it was a traditional Mayan dance/drama. My suggestion to anyone who wants to do some snorkeling during the trip...bring your own so that you don't have to rent equipment. As far as the tours/excursions, we went on the Maroma snorkeling trip, which was great. We intended to go to on the Tulum trip, but we heard from other guests that it's a bit painful because you spend so much time picking up and dropping off guests at other resorts. So, we opted to take a taxi which cost $65 US roundtrip. This was great except we had to check out the ruins without a guide. If you go to Tulum, you may want to bring a bathing suit so that you can do some swimming at the beach. So, overall, it was a great trip and despite some of the negative things I've said about the Xcaret, there is nothing seriously wrong with the place...just a few minor inconvieniences. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to go there to relax and check out the area. Just don't go there if you want to party hard...but it's a great place for families and couples!
If you have any more questions, please email me at ladonnah at HMDC.