After thoroughly researching the "perfect" vacation for our
family of 4 ( 2 girls- a 13 year old & 16 month old) I thought that
the newly renovated Club Med would be great for our family according to our travel agent.
Unfortunately my 13 year old got very ill after her 1st meal the evening we arrived, throwing up, coughing, & not recovering the entire week. We didn't find out there was a doctor on the premises until our 5th day there. She ended up spending the entire week in the room with us taking turns bringing her food & drinks on plastic plates & cups. (no take out containers available)

When I saw the Chief of the village "Eyal" walking one day & told him about our daughter being sick & this vacation not being a vacation for me, he laughed at me in a belittling way & said, "You'll have to come back again & take another vacation. I had said that I wish that I could but it took us 11 years to get this one. He laughed at me again & said something as in disbelief that we couldn't afford another vacation. It left me feeling terrible & he rushed off without any suggestions, remedies or genuine concern for me as a guest.
Club Med really needs to have a guide book in the rooms to let you know what services they offer, how, when & where activities take place, fitness center schedules, shows, reservations etc. happen. I had read all these great things about
the GO's being your vacation planners & "private guides to a fun vacation" so I was wondering why we didn't have any helping us??
It seems to me like they all are there partying with each other, living the good life there.
Since we hadn't had a real vacation in 11 years I had taken steps to plan this one so everything worked out well, such as requesting a quiet room so we could have naps & I could have some mornings to sleep in & catch up on 16 months of sleep deprivation (as promised by my husband). Instead we got a very noisy, tiny damp room with stairs that my baby would fall down and the attached room had an awful odor of sewage. When I went to the reception to ask to be moved to a quiet area of the resort they said they didn't have anything available except if I wanted to upgrade to a Jade Suite for $200 a night more ($1400) Since we couldn't afford it we had to stay put & endure the very loud music blaring from the pool all day, people talking loudly at all hours of the day & night as they walked by our room & a cramped, damp room.
In the morning we would be dying for a real cup of cappucino as we are in need of with a baby that doesn't sleep through the night & could not get one until 9am, which is not early enough when the baby wakes at 6am & napping was not possible due to the noise near our room.
If you book a vacation there make sure you get a room away from the kids club & the trapeze areas & close to the jade villas & the water sports.
The food was really incredible & they had a fabulous spread every night. I wish I could have relaxed & enjoyed it more. You can't bring a stroller up the long stairway to the main restaurant. My husband & I had to take turns with the baby each running around to get food & eating separately.
The reservation Mexican restaurant was a huge disappointment & we ended up walking out in the middle of our meal & running over to the main restaurant to eat that night. There they change the themes each night & have a huge selection of everything.

Unfortunately, I didn't even get to swim in the beautiful aqua ocean or try any activities. I did see some of the acrobatic show by myself one night, because by that time everyone didn't feel well & the baby was sleeping & it was really enjoyable & impressive.
They have the shows very late for kids & I noticed many of the 3-6 year olds falling asleep in their parents arms during the show.

I met some very nice people there, lots of families with kids 4 & up whose kids were enjoying the kids club & said the GO's were great with their kids there.

The teen club seemed like it needed more ???
I had stopped in there to check it out several times & report back to my sick 13 year old, but didn't see much going on there.


After contacting guest relations about the problems I had they did not answer until I threatened them with writing magazine articles about family vacations & my Club Med experience (which I am currently working on for a parenting magazine) they finally wrote an e-mail offering me a $300 credit towards my next vacation there.

I was very disappointed in the customer service & the resolution especially after finding out on our way home from our fellow travelers (who were Israeli/same as Eyal) were given a free week for their daughter who got a minor finger injury when they shut the door on her by accident.

I'm hoping one day to have a great all inclusive vacation as the concept is a great one.

Lisa Ross

We had a truly pleasant stay at Club Med Cancun. We had a previous Club Med experience that was very good too, but this one topped it easily.

The sports and activities are all well organized and even though the hotel was full, there was no problem of having to wait almost at all. We never had to wait for a catamaran or a kayak and the wait for the water ski was reasonable, about 8 people at a time.

Rather than pile up on praises I will tell you what I would do different next time.

I would take my own snorkeling gear. While the equipment provided is good, I would have wanted to snorkel also at times when the equipment shed was closed.

I would sign up for the "armada" early in the week to assure a space (we had a space).

I would not have done the Horseback riding excursion. It was not fun to have the horse walk on a row of 40 horses on the way to a non-descript beach.

I would not have eaten dinner at the tapas restaurant. It does not make a lot of sense to have a tapas place where you can do the same thing with more variety at the main buffet. The mexican restaurant was good.

We also visited the "La Casa del Arte Popular Mexicano" which was very interesting. We did it by asking the bus to leave us there on the way back from the El Meco excursion.

If you are going there with kids it is good to encourage them to participate in the club activities. Independently of their age, as the club has activities up to age 17. Kids that participated in the activities were clearly having a better time thn those that stayed with their families. It is sometimes necessary to push the kids a bit at the beginning when they do not know other kids, but the GOs do a good job in incorporating the kids into the group. Encourage your kids, they will thank you by the end of the week.

This was our fourth trip to Club Med and first to Cancun. It was everything you could want and more. We had our 12 yr old son and 14 yr old daughter with us and they had friends the first day. They were free to come and go as they please and loved every minute of it. As most parents with teenagers probably know, if your kids are not entertained they can make any trip difficult. My kids had the best time ever. We didn't think Cancun could beat our prior trips to Club Med, but it did. The GO;s are the best. Sentha, Marc, Roxanne, Kate, Julia and Bianca could not have made the teens any happier! Thanks for letting us parents have a wonderful and relaxing vacation.
As for us adults, it was also great. Plenty to do or not do. Great food, drinks, service. We enjoyed the sailing, kayaking, gym, beach and volleyball the most. They're were crocs in the lagoon so I skipped the waterskiing but plenty of people were doing it.
Overall and compared to Ixtapa,equally as fun but Cancun was prettier. I felt the nightly entertainment was a little better at Ixtapa but the beaches in Cancun cant be beat. The only negative is there are no waves in Cancun.
We would go back in a heartbeat but might try Ixtapa again first since it has been remodeled.
We are sold on Club Med and have talked many people into trying it and all who have loved it just as much.

Overall a very good experience. The facilities are very nice and the beaches are very pretty. The sailing and snorkeling are great very well set up.
The food is okay. Nothing bad but nothing great either.

I would return with family it is a great place to vacation with family.