Gran Caribe Real Cancun All-Inclusive, Zona Hotelera

Our rooms were very very nice. The pool and beach were amazing. The food was just o.k., bordering on not good, except for the Sunset Grill, which was a little fancy for us. We would have liked to eat at Maria's however we were unable to get a reservation. The wedding was nice, right on the beach. Staff was great. Spa was wonderful. Get the hot stone massage! Drinks were cheap liquor and just o.k. Probably would not return, but did have a great time!

First I want to say this is not the worst hotel in Mexico but there are plenty of others that are nicer. The Bad 1. It took almost an hour for me to check in. 2. The room 2820 had a view of a white wall and the parking garage. Also, the birds made a horrible screaming sound that woke us up early in the morning. 3. The drinks are watered down, big time. The all-inclusive "drinks" are not real alcohol. Normally I get tipsy after a shot of anything or two glasses of wine. I drank everything and could not get a buzz. On day 2, I gave up and drank water to avoid the empty calories. The bar tenders are great and will keep the drinks coming if you tip them well. Even the alcohol in the room is bad (they install dispensers that pour shots). 4. The food is good the first day you get there because after traveling you are tired and hungry. Day two, the sad truth about the poor quality and old food they put back out becomes apparent. 5. They have travel agencies on site and I purchased a tour for Chichen Itza (ruins of Maya Indians). The tour was poorly planned, a lot of time was wasted, and the tour guide went off on totally irrelevant tangents (Raoul with Best Day Travel). It took 45 minutes for them to buy the tickets once we got there. Just time wasted. The Good 1. The beds are very firm and comfortable. 2. The beach is beautiful (except for the rocks). 3. The lobby is nicely decorated. 4. The entire staff works very hard and most are bilingual. 5. The beer in the room was good, "Superior" I think. 6. There are many places to go dancing nearby (20 minute walk or 5 min bus ride for 7 pesos).

BEWARE POTENTIAL BRIDES AND GROOMS. DO NOT GET MARRIED HERE!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooooooooo excited for this trip. My dear friend was geting married at the hotel and luckily most of her guests were staying there too. I do not have enough space to put down all my complaints. Service was poor to say the least, they changed the wedding location more than once, were RUDE to guests of the wedding who were not staying at the hotel, many people in our group got sick at some point due to food in the hotel, not very many activities in the hotel. I can go on and on but PLEASE think twice about this resort. Because of the bad service, food and expeience my first vacation in 2 years was ruined! TO ALL BRIDES AND GROOMS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE VISIT BEFORE YOU BOOK YOUR SPECIAL DAY!!

My wife and I stayed at the Gran Caribe in September of 2010 for our 35 anniversary.Almost everything about the hotel was positive. The staff was excellent, from the maid service to the waiters and waitresses to the bartenders. The rooms were clean neat and well maintained. Location was very good, in the hotel zone and close to the airport. Breakfast and Lunches was very good, the evening meals were a little suspect. The dinner buffet was average at best. and could be a lot better. The exterior restaurants was good but could improve. Evening meals were the only negative part of our stay at the Gran Caribe. Probably would go back hope the food would improve.

This is the first time my family and I have ever been to Cancun. Last year we took a cruise from Galvestion to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman was great and we wanted to go there this year, because one of the bad things about a cruise is that you don't have much time to enjoy a place before you have to get back to the ship. I tried to book with RCI to Grand Cayman, but couldn't get it. A friend of mine suggested Cancun and told me the best way was to stay at an all inclusinve. I searched the reviews and Gran Caribe seemed to have very good reviews and was priced very good as well. I booked the flight and stay through Expedia. I booked a private round trip shuttle from Best Day, and that worked really well from and back to the airport. The trip was great! The staff at Gran Caribe were very helpful and friendly. The resort was very nice, someone was cleaning everywhere all the time. The rooms were cleaned very fast, and the fridge was restocked with soda's, water, or beer every afternoon. The only things I could think of that would have been better was that in our room it had double beds and there was plenty of room for queen size beds, the internet room's air conditioning wasn't working, and in the main lobby it would be nice if they had some ceiling fans circulating the air since it is open air in the lobby. One other suggestion would be that they have an early breakfast bar for those people who have to catch an early flight, we had to catch a 7:00 am flight so we had to leave the resort around 4:00 am. There's several places to eat at the resort and all had very good food, one of the places requires that you dress up a bit to eat there, no shorts or tee shirts or swim suits. We used the public transportation and had no problems, everyone we met was very friendly and helpful. When we were there the dollar was equal to about 12 pesos, so it cost about 65 cents for each one to ride the bus. We plan to go back again, we consider this our best vacation ever. There is always some place better to stay, but for the price we paid I can't imagine a better value for the money.

We just got back last week from a 5 day - 4 night stay with 7 other adult couples (we are early 40's to early 50's). The hotel lobby and public areas were very nice and the service was excellent. Our room was average (a little shabbier than I expected after walking through the lobby). We were right near the elevator on a main hallway and had alot of noise from people coming annd going and there was a school band staying down the hall from us so there were many noisy teenagers. In hind-sight, we should have asked for a new room. The time-share sell was a pain - after figuring out that was what it was, we skipped the "tour". They didn't hassle us about it at all. The food was pretty good and plentiful and the servers were very attentive. I would recommend skipping the Coco bongo excursion if you are over 35. Too crowded and the show was lame. Waitresses and waiters pushing past you and trying to pour shots down your throat (the only drinks NOT included in the $40 pp cover charge). I am too old and cranky for that now. I'd love it if I was in my early 20s. Other frre clubs offered good dancing and reasonably priced drinks. The hotel bar int he lobby was a blast - the live entertainment was pretty good. Just too bad they shut it down around 10:30 or 11 each night. The beach bar was also a great place to hang out after dinner. All in all - it was a good value for the $$. I think I may try a different all-inclusive next time, but I wouldn't advise anyone NOT to go here.

Had I read these reviews I might not have gone. True, the check in a nightmare. Wanted 2 double beds and they said they did not have them. Finally when they told us a room was ready, it was up a flight of steps and I heard drilling, So did not look at it. They showed us a few rooms and either air did not work or there was a fllight of steps, or looking at fence and building. Finally got a king room and they promised to change the next day to 2 double beds, which they did. But after that everything was great. The place was immaculate, and a lot of help. Drinks free and waiters were always coming to you at the beach or pool and lobby and offering to serve you. Even in the buffet, many times the waiter would come over and take my plate and carry it to the table for me. One morning in the restaurant that was basically outside, I left the table to get something, and when I came back the hostess said do not eat that. A bird came on the table and nibbled. She went to the buffet and had them make me new eggs and put on my plate exactly what I had chosen to eat. Also they had the equifivalent of a bottle of purell in the room and hand sanitizers all over the place and decorative pump ceramics. Maria's restaurant needed a reservation, but the food very good and service excellant. There are a lot of steps, and the ramps are steep. The entertainment was downstairs and I do not think there was an elevator. Plenty of beach chairs, but no umbrellas or trees. I stuck close to the building where they had some covered spots.

My hubby and I went once by ourselves and returned with our kids. It's very kid friendly, for kids ages 8 & 14.Wonderful water park for the kids/adults! The food wasn't all that great but we didn't go for the food. The all-inclusive was just that. Everything & everybody was fantastic. Okay, except for the time share sharks at the front entrance-just say no and keep walking! They tell you it's not a time share but it is! You can get massages by the beach!!! Tequila volleyball!! Our family went on our last night there to a really nice 4 course dinner. All of if was something I never experienced as a child and I 'm glad my young kids we able to.

My husband and I stayed at this hotel for 5 nights (from June 29 - July 4 2009). We had several problems with the hotel. When we arrived, they gave us room 2132, which smelled of mold. We asked to switch rooms, but they said we couldn't because there were no rooms available. After complaining several times, they switched us to room 2432, which was freshly painted. We decided to stay in room 2432, because we thought the smell of paint was better than the smell of mold. We did not want to complain again because we did not want to be difficult customers. We did not get one night of good sleep throughout our stay. The walls are very thin and you can hear anyone walking or talking in the hallways. We discovered that placing a towel under the door helped with the noise level. Early in the morning, we were woken every day by very loud construction. On Thursday night, our hotel room ceiling collapsed at 2 in the morning. There was debris everywhere and our luggage/belongings were damaged. We called the front desk but nobody answered. When we went to the front desk and showed the staff member (Angel) our pictures of the collapsed ceiling, he did not seem shocked. He asked if we wanted a new room. We said we needed a new room right away, and we told him to give us an upgrade. He said the only upgrade he could give us was a room with an ocean view. He told us to sign the upgrade form, but the form he gave us was not about a room upgrade. It was a disclaimer form saying we would agree not to make any claims against the hotel. We explained we could not sign the form because our belongings were damaged. He said he gave us the wrong form, and showed us another form listing the room upgrade. In small print, this form also had the disclaimer wording. Again, we explained that our belongings were damaged so we could not sign this form. He got frustrated and switched our room. The next morning, we spoke to the manager. We explained that we had bought $85 of souvenirs the previous day at Market 28. The manager said he could not do anything about the damaged belongings because we did not have any receipts for our souvenirs. We asked for a refund, but the manager said he could not give us a refund because we had booked through Expedia and not the hotel directly. The manager offered us a free massage at the spa (good for one person only) and a room upgrade, but only if we signed the disclaimer form. We plan to sue the hotel so we did not sign the form. We had several other problems with the hotel besides the poor service from the front desk staff and the issues with our rooms. We bought an all inclusive package, which included all food and drinks for the week. The drinks are very poorly made. They have no alcohol in them and are watered down. The waitresses were also very slow in bringing us our drinks. The food was also very bad. The last 3 days of our trip I had a stomach ache. The pool is very dirty and is not cleaned. There is a thick layer of oil on the surface of the pool. The plastic chairs that they place in the pool for people to lie down on have turned yellow because of some residue. There is a foot bath where you can wash sand off your feet. We saw the hotel staff scooping out the sand instead of changing out the water. Everyday, we got harassed by people trying to make us attend a timeshare presentation. They offered to give us 500 pesos, but we discovered that they would not give us cash. They would give us a gift certificate that we could use at the hotel. We found this not useful, because we had already paid for an all inclusive package.

We did the online check in with a upgrade and our rooms we great. We had our rooms within 1/2 hour. The staff was all great and very helpful. The food is ok and is limited in verity. It's hard not to have a great time if you look at things in a positive way. I was worried at all the reviews that I read and I must be different from some people because we had a great time! You must go see Chichen Itza when you are there. It is really amazing! We booked through Entertainment Plus and we did a private tour with Fernado. He took us to other places you don't get through public tours! He was awesome! If you are looking for sun, fun , and plenty of drinking I recommend going to this hotel.