Cancun---A Beach Paradise-Write Off
Written: Oct 29 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: beautiful, lots to do and see
Cons: can get expensive
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| sheann26's Full Review: Cancun |
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions
I love to travel, so when the chance to take a week long vacation to Cancun, Mexico came up; I jumped at it. This trip took place in July of 1998. I can still remember everything about the trip like it was yesterday. I went with my parents, one of my sisters, two of my cousins and some family friends. There were 12 of us and we had a blast!
We flew out of San Antonio on a Monday and flew directly into Cancun. I was a little nervous flying, because it was an airline out of Mexico that I had never heard of. However, we bought our tickets thru a family friend, who is a travel agent and he had flown them several times. I just had to trust him(in case you haven't realized-I do not care to fly). Like I said, I love to travel, but I could leave the flying part out. I would love to go to Europe one day, but I need to get over my fear!
So, Cancun is about as far out of the United States that I have been. We ended up actually having a really good flight and made it there with no problems. I really did not know what to expect from their airport either. I had been to other parts of Mexico several times, but had never flown there.
The only difference in the airport in Cancun and any other airport that I have been in was that instead of having a ramp that goes directly into the airport we had walk off the plane and enter the airport. Other than that not much was different. It was clean and nice. I had that feeling from then on that I was going to have a wonderful trip.
We stayed in what they call the Hotel Zone. This is basically a strip of hotels and most of the clubs are down at one end. This is the "tourist area". They have many well-know hotels there such as, The Westin Regina, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Marriott, Omni, Sheraton, and many more.
We stayed at the Sheraton Cancun Resort & Towers, which is a 5 star hotel. It was beautiful and was right on the beach with the bay across the street. We could not have asked for a better view. The hotel was decorated very nice. It surpassed any other Sheraton that I have ever stayed in. The rooms were very spacious and clean. They were decorated like I expected a tropical place to be.
Our room had two queen size beds, a very large bathroom, a wicker couch, a small dressing area, dresser with large mirror, a television and sliding glass doors that overlooked the pool area. We were given all of the basic amenities plus a few extras. The maid service was great-our rooms were always clean. The beds were made up and turned down each evening. I could not have expected more.
Now for the fun stuff! We tried a different restaurant and club each evening. Actually, the first evening we were all so tired that we went out to dinner and went back to the room. Then the second night we went to Pat O'Brien's. This was the same famous place in New Orleans. They had a dance floor with a DJ playing all of the popular songs. I felt like I was in a club in the US.
Actually, Cancun is a lot like a city in the United States. You can find all of the famous stores and fashions. Such, as Guess, Gucci, Armani, Givenchy, and many others. They also have all of the popular restaurants. You can find just about any kind of food or restaurant. Among them are: Outback Steakhouse, Ruth's Chris, TGIFriday's, Hooters, Hard Rock, Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe and even some of the fast food places. I was not expecting any of this.
My favorite place that we went to was Senor Frogs. This is a popular spot in Cancun. They have them in several places in Mexico. It is a restaurant/club. We ate dinner there first and after that we took place in all of the action. It can get pretty wild, but I saw no trouble. Everybody is just having a good time! They have a DJ and several hosts, who walk around and get people to dance on the tables, make trains and go dance around the restaurant, and just flat out embarrass themselves, but it is all in good fun!
They have a great drink selection there as well. They make all kinds of specialty drinks, but they are pretty pricey! The food is fairly reasonable, but one drink(but they are big)can cost almost as much as the food.
One great thing in Cancun is that they have a bus system that goes up and down the hotel zone. We got on right outside of our hotel and were taken right to where we needed to go. Since, most of the clubs are all on the strip it worked out perfect. One time we did stray away and went to a restaurant out of the tourist area. We caught a cab(Explorer, so we could all ride) and the driver took us straight there. We all rode for around $20. The buses charged around 50 cents. So, the transportation system was very reasonable.
My favorite part of the trip was when we went over to Isla Mujeres. This is a wonderful island right off of Cancun. This is a place where time stands still. It is almost too laid-back, but I enjoyed it tremendously! There are no fancy restaurants are clubs here. There are a bunch of family owned places here. We went over twice. The first time we went was an all day adventure. We rented a boat with 2 guides for the day. They took us over to a restaurant that was right on the beach and I mean that literally. We were told to take our shoes off and leave them in the boat.
We sat under bamboo huts to eat and for chairs they had swings hanging from the roof. It was so neat! We had some wonderful seafood, which was very reasonable. We ate and had a couple of Pina Coladas for under $15. Much cheaper than anything in Cancun!
After we finished eating we were taken to an area for snorkeling. I had never done this before. I had a lot of fun until an eel swam by me. I decided to wrap it up after that and got back on the boat. No, actually, I had already had enough. We were then taken to the other side of the island to an area where you can swim with the sharks. Several in our group did this. They were Nurse sharks, but still looked pretty intimidating!
To finish the day off, the two guides made us dinner. It was fresh fish that they grilled, rice, beans and salsa. It was fantastic and the perfect end to a perfect day. We did all of this for $18 a person.
The second time that we went over, we took a tourist boat. We rode for around $5. This went directly over to the island and you did what you wanted and caught one back when ready to leave. We just walked around the island and bought some souvenirs. My dad and cousin rented little motorbikes for around $15 an hour. They had fun touring the island this way.
We also went over to Cozumel, which is about 1 1/2 boat ride. I did not care for it as much as I did Cancun and Isla Mujeres. It was not as commercialized as Cancun, but not as laid-back as the other. I guess it would be good to go if you wanted a little excitement without all of the craziness of Cancun. They did have a Hard Rock Cafe there and many other big(family owned)restaurants. It is supposed to be a good place for snorkeling.
I almost forgot to mention the beaches in Cancun. They are wonderful. The sand is great to walk in. I am used to sand being so hot that you can barely stand it. The sand here is snowy white and cool under your feet. I had so much fun just walking up and down the beach.
Cancun is on the Caribbean Ocean, so the water is beautiful. It is the most gorgeous color of blue that I have ever seen. In places, you can see down to the bottom. When we were out on the boat we saw all kinds of fish and colorful plants. I was amazed, because most of the beaches here in Texas are ugly! They are full of trash, are dirty and there is tar everywhere. I would not set foot in the water. However, not in Cancun. I went out as far as I could go and loved every minute of it.
I guess I am finally finished here. There is one downfall to Cancun and that is how expensive everything is. This is not a place that you could get off cheap. I spent around $400 for the airfare and hotel(and our friend got us a good deal). I spent another $350 while I was there. I did not buy much besides food and a few drinks. I could have had a little less commercialization as well. I can get that here.
Let me make a few last minute suggestions. First of all, I highly recommend that you take a trip to Cancun, but make sure that you take plenty of money with you. Also, stay in a hotel that you know. I would not get off of the Hotel Zone. I know some people who went trying to be on a budget. They ended up with a hotel in front of one of the clubs. The clubs there close down around 4 or 5 in the morning. They ended up having to pay double for a last minute reservation at another hotel.
You also need to make sure that you drink all bottled water. A couple people on the trip did get sick. We stuck to bottled water, however, we figured that it might have been one of the mixed drinks(I am sure that they don't use bottled water for their ice). It also could have just been a change in environment, so make sure and take plenty of Pepto-Bismol or something of the sort with you. I bought those little Pepto-Bismol tablets. I took a few throughout the day and never got sick. It is a good idea to do this just to prevent anything from coming on.
Finally, make sure and take plenty of money with you, because there is so much to do. You want to be able to do it all, so take a little extra money with you to be on the safe side. You can also rent wave runners and go parasailing and these can get quite expensive, but are fun.
This is my part of the write-off hosted by elorraineI had a lot of fun doing this and there are several others too that have joined in. Please take a look at their hard work as well. Thanks!
elorraine, jo.com, ptiemann, coldsteel7, ifif1938, VeeZee, bluehawq, nollequeen, pianomam, doglover, ed_grover, jpmcgurk, augustwind, ritalee76, bigtrouble54, Teardrop..., shan1, murasaki, sheann26, diverpam, Jouberti, _Cassandra_, Chinook, Howard_Creech, Samadust, Stephen_Murray, nightridrr2000, and Jiahong.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sheann26
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Location: San Antonio, TX
Reviews written: 255
Trusted by: 70 members
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