My husband and I took a week vacation and stayed at the Gran Caribe after it was recommended to us by a close friend. I have to say it was absolutely perfect....from the wonderful staff to the delicious food and buffets this was by far the best travel experience yet. With activities and great location we had very few reasons to leave the hotel. Two thumbs up all the way!!

Stayed here just last week for a wedding so this was not picked by me. The place is average at best. Best thing to do is pre-arrange transportation to and from the airport so the taxis do not rip you off. Whichever transportation company you use, it will take about 40 minutes to get to and from your hotel (due to multiple hotel stops). Arrived at check in and the servers are very quick to grab your luggage for tips. I did not let them touch it and rolled my bags to the front desk. CHECK IN Let's start with check in. There is no organized line so you have to force your way to the front to get someone to see you. Arrived approximately 4pm and my room was not ready. Now I understood why there were 500 pieces of luggage lined up on the lobby floor. Luckily, I met up with one of my friends and used his room until mine was ready a few hours later. Was told to see the "travel representative" to book shuttle back to the airport right away. I skipped that meeting. ROOM During my stay I have seen about 3 different rooms and mine was the worst. I walked in my room and there was a narrow hallway with the bathroom on the left. Then, there were about 10 steps with no railing which brought me to the beds, TV and glass doors. I felt like I was in the dungeon. TV had terrible reception and every channel was fuzzy. Table and chairs were thrown in a corner as if they were in storage. There as no iron in my closet and the beds were solid as concrete. In addition, many of the rooms had dispensers with 4 bottles of liquor so you can put your glass there and fill it up. My room did not. Now, next door one of my other friends who paid the same price for the same style room, not only had liquor bottles, but had a full living room with 2 couches and a flat screen TV, a huge dining room table with 4 chairs in a spacious area, a separate hallway with fridge and drinks, a closet with multiple shelves for clothes and a beautiful big bedroom with another flat screen. He had to walk 3 feet for his bathroom and I had to walk up and down 10 stairs with no railing. Not very safe. The only good thing about my room is that is was cold and the A/C pumped well. My bathroom was a bit old and cruddy and the toilet was in a corner where if you moved 1 inch your elbow would knock the phone off the wall. There was only 1 light in the entire room. FOOD The food was ok. I stayed away from many things such as fruit, vegetables, fish, salad and most meat. Ate mostly french fries and cardboard pizza for lunch. Breakfast was good with waffles, french toast and eggs. Dinner was ok with chicken and some of the beef being really good but small in portions (since it is all inclusive). I stayed away from the water and only had a few mixed drinks that contained ice. Even though the hotel says they used only filtered and bottled water I was not taking a chance. Brushed my teeth in bottled water too and took numerous vitamins daily. I did not get sick except for the 14 double shots of tequila thinking I was still in college again. The 24 hour snack bar is hurting for good food but there was liquor and beer there to drink 24/7. Hotdogs were the main snack which I did not eat. Yes all the mixed drinks are weak, but if you drink all day it is a good thing. You can get it stronger if you ask. SERVICE Front desk service was average but the event coordinators were very good. They organized beach volleyball, soccer, pool volleyball, bingo, drink lessons, food lessons and a fan favorite "tequila pool volleyball". They were energetic and kept everyone involved. The club coordinators were ok but they are not 100% true in what they sell. $50 USD to transportation to "3" clubs with VIP treatment and all you can drink. Transportation, VIP and all you can drink were right but "3" clubs was just one club with a rooftop. We did cut all lines and have our own section in the club so it was worth paying the money just for that itself. Room service was average. Turndown service was good but they never replaced towels. They would take and not replace. Waitresses poolside were slow but there. Service in any of the restaurants were really slow. Remember that meeting I blew off at check in? Well, hours after getting my room I found one of the guys and booked my shuttle back to the airport. The next morning I get a call at 10am saying I never had my meeting and need to set it up. I told the lady I was set and she was insisting that I had the wrong time and had to come down. I ignored her. Then I got a message on my door saying I missed the "gold club" meeting. Ignored that. Got a call 7:30am the next morning again. Ignored it. The timeshare people are persistent and annoying. OTHER ITEMS I was told the beach for this hotel is constructed which is very nice. The water was nice but there are two things to watch out for. First, there is a long tube at the bottom about 1/4 the way in. I think this is to regulate the water so it does not wash away the beach that was put in. Then after you travel another 1/4 of the way, you come up against a slimy 3 foot wall that many people stand on and jump from. Very out of place but probably also necessary to keep the beach from disappearing. Water was a nice blue color. They do have chairs and hammocks in the shade to relax. Keep an eye on your beach towel because you do need it to get your towel card back to check out. CHECK OUT Same nonsense as checking in. Front desk not fast and not too concerned about getting to checked out to catch your ride. By the way, I avoided all timeshare presentations and still got my ride back to the airport. Once again the bag guy tried to rip my bags from my hand to bring to the van but I stopped him. Lobby and Lobby bar is outdoors so it is not a place to sit, relax in cool and have a drink. Hot tub was by the gym away from the pool. It was nice but nothing special. Pool water was too hot to be refreshing and too packed. The ocean is cooler although very salty and full of seaweed depending on what time of day. This place was ok, had some problems but was not terrible. If I was going back to Cancun I would not stay here again and would try some of the more upscale places on the hotel strip. Safe Travel!!!