I'd been down to Sunset Fishermen on two earlier occasions...for lunch and dinner, but never to stay. Another couple and we booked a 2-bedroom suite through RCI and we gave it thumbs up with just a couple of minor exceptions which I'll share in a minute.

First of all, the weather happened to be absoLUTEly perfect, with no sweaters needed at night, but no one panting for AC either.
For the entire week, we ate every single meal outside. What a treat.

Our 3rd floor suite was perfect for two couples...both bedrooms were upstairs (4th floor!), private and well-appointed with their own balconies. The livingroom, full kitchen and 3rd full bath were downstairs, also with a full balcony. The only noticeably well-worn furnishing was the sleep/sofa there.

The entire staff could not have been friendlier, more welcoming...from the front desk to the maids, they were cheerful and helpful and the waitstaff's #1 goal was to be sure you had everything you needed. "No worry; enjoy your vacation."

The only drawbacks were:
Upon checking in, we had a long wait while we were passed from one rep to another, almost like they didn't know what to do with us...but minimal timeshare pitch that night and NONE at all the rest of the week...not from anyone!! So that's minor, indeed!

The food was great for breakfast and their snackbar lunches were really good. The dinners at the buffet were tasty, but after 3-4 days, were becoming a bit boring. The Italian restaurant (which required reservations) was very limited in its entree offerings and TOTALLY inconsistent. We ate there twice...once was really good; two nights later, not at all good. Hmm...

The $30 USD for use in the spa was good toward a $45+ treatment. The manicure I had was by the cutest, sweetest girl whom I tipped $4 because of her demeanor, but my manicure looked like it'd been done by an 8 year old with a paint-by-numbers set...not even 'inside the lines'!! Luckily I was going home the next day and only had to sit on my hands for one evening!

The beach has some erosion problems, with 2-3 large sand bags (don't step on them; they're slippery!!) but for exercise we were able to walk 400 yds down toward the Fishermen's 'other' beach club...and then walk another 100-200 yds on the street to arrive there where they had a mini-bar, beach chairs & bathrooms. I hear next year they're building an add'l restaurant there. There were always ample chairs around the pool, and down between the pool and the beach, as well as on the beach.

A great location to 1)be lazy 2)walk into town-15 min 3) go for bike rides or 3) take day trips.

Will we go back? Absolutely. We'll probably even do the Meal Plan again and just spring for a couple of meals on 5th Avenue to relieve the boredom.

Hope this has been helpful.

NB

Just returned from Sunset Fisherman and had a pretty good time. Just a few things the resort needs to improve on...
They have a welcome party when you first arrive with drinks and snacks at the lower resturant by the pool. This is where you are introduced to the "sales side" if the resort. They want you to book a tour of the resort for the sale of there timeshare. We had six people in our party and had a 2-br unit and a studio unit. Our first responce was no. My husband and I already own 2 units thru RCI and are very happy and told the young lady no. She was very persistent in her offerings. If you take the tour you can have a list of all these "FREE" things you can take advantage of and the tour is only 90 min. long...the short side of a long story...the sales staff is very relentless. After say NO three times they shuffle you into another room with a sales person who is going to be stright with you stateing they need the sales to improve the property. They need the "American Dollar"...as he put it. After 3 1/2 hrs we were out of there. Stay away from the timeshare sales people.
The other thing that needs improving is the transportation they offer....It's only a 15min. walk to Playa del Carmen but who want to walk when it's 95 degrees out with 100% hummidity. They only offer transportation to Playa del Carmen twice a day @ 9:00am and 11:00am. If we didn't walk we took a cab. Between all 6 of us we spent close to $300.00usd in cabs alone. They did however set our transportation to and from the airport...that was nice.
The resort overall is very nice. The Sea being sooooo blue and the sand so white and clean was amazing. The pool and hot tub was where we spent alot of time. Very relaxing.
The 2-br unit that we had was big enough for all 6 of us to stay in. Each of the bedrooms had there own private bath and there was a full size bath in the hallway leading to the living room. The 2-br also had a full kitchen with all the ammenities you need to make dinner yourself when you get tired of eating the all-enclusive buffett. But you will have to take a cab to Playa del Carmen because the resort dosen't offer shuttle service. This will cost you $5.00usd. HAHA
The all enclusive isn't worth the money you spend. Buy the end of our vacation for 6 people to purchase the all enclusive package we spent over $2300.00. After the 4th night we were going into Playa del Carmen to eat. We had 12 meal tickets left over that isn't refunded to you. I know they have to plan for the week in food and beverage ..but it got real old real quick.
The resort staff is very customer service friendly..if they can't do something for you they will find someone who can.

See Nate and Bobbie's (from Iowa) review....they said it all. The resort is a dream come true. We were also there on our honeymoon and it was amazing. The service, the staff, the atmosphere, the location, the rooms are superb. We stayed in a studio sized room and it still had the full kitchen and a jacuzzi on the balconi. Sitting in bed we could see the beach and ocean! It was very comfy. The italian restaurant was very good, romantic and the service was excellent. Tipping does help, we are always good tippers but we did tip a bit more than usual and they deserved it. I don't know what else to say...Nate and Bobbie pretty much wrote a perfect review. We will be going back!

If the bartender is asking you what you'd like to drink while you're in line to check in, and you've only been in line for 30 seconds, chances are you're in the right place.
My wife and I had our honeymoon at the Sunset Fisherman, and for two people who had spent the better part of the previous year planning and organizing and generally doing stuff, this was a great place to not do anything for a week. We did the all-inclusive thing, which included breakfast and lunch OR dinner. 2 meals a day is what we're used to anyway, so that was fine, but we did get some lunch a couple days at the lower restaurant, the food was above average each time, especially the guacamole. prices for food not included in the meal package were very fair, we put two lunches for the two of us and 20 minutes of internet on our room charge, and the total at checkout was less than $40 usd. There is an Italian restaurant for dinner that requires reservations, which can be your freebie if you have the meal plan, and the food and atmosphere was rediculously good. I would recommend the Italian dinner at least a couple times a week for a perfectly cooked steak, wonderful seafood, and flawless service.
Besides the ala carte restaurant that was Italian for dinner (it was burgers, quesedillas, chips & salsa etc. for lunch), the terrace restaurant was pretty good. A buffet-style setup, this is where breakfast was served, also lunch and dinner. Breakfast was really good, an omlette bar, great breads, and lots of fruit even for the off-season. We heard from a lot of people staying there that the sunset fisherman had some of the best resort food around. This was our first resort, so we can't judge on that, but both my wife and I have spent enough time in the service industry to know good food and great service when we see it, and we saw it everyday. Tipping helps.
Our room was superb. We had a 2-bedroom suite courtesy of her folks giving us their RCI points for a wedding gift, and it was sweet. It had a full kitchen, fully set dining area for 4 people, nice comfortable furniture, good lighting, and a tv if you want to waste your time that way. a balcony on the first and second floor, the bedroom being on the second. an excellent bed, huge and comfortable, with a jacuzzi out on the second-floor patio. a full, nice bathroom on both floors, stocked with shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and tons of towels. I have tons of pictures of the room and grounds, just email if you'd like me to send you some. We tipped our housekeeper the first night($15usd) and got nice turndown service after that. Please be generous with tipping, the employees really appreciate it and it makes your time there so much better when the staff likes you. we spent around $200usd in the week just on tips, and it was well worth it. Miguel, the bartender, remembered what we drank, and our service at the restaurants was consistent with what we'd expect anywhere else.
If you want a big resort with tons of people around and lots to do, go somewhere else. If relaxing in the ocean/pool/30 foot hot tub sounds nice, stay here. You won't be disappointed, but if you are, it will be your own fault. When you go to the Sunset Fisherman, tell Miguel behind the bar that Nate and Bobbie from Iowa say "que tal".