Sorry folks – my usual long review – but to summarise we loved it had a great time, very relaxing no major issues at all and would defiantly recommend it and would return,

The journey–
We booked with First Choice but was a Thomas Cook holiday – they subcontracted via Monarch - really small rubbishy plane with 3.5hrs sitting on runway in Dominican Republic – horrific journey!
Airport was chaotic luggage comes off at random carousels so be prepared to spend ages running between them to try and track it all down. As soon as you are out the porters are on you – taking your bags whether you want it or not – if you don’t mind this leave them to carry it all – but make sure you have some small bills we got stung for 100peso as we didn’t have smaller – however just outside there is a wee stall selling beer etc but we never noticed this till it was too late.

Bus journey about 1.5 hour to hotel. We left our bags for the staff to take to the room and checked in – we had no issued here – got cocktail at reception desk given map and instructions etc – then got buggy to room and bags were brought up for us.

The room –
We were in block 56 top floor – we had a sea view over the top of the activity pool. It was a Jnr Suite and I felt this was plenty big enough for us – huge super king bed and sofa bed in alcove for our daughter. Still had table and chairs, dressing table, mini bar, tv wardrobe etc.

The safe is about $4 a day – I object to paying for a safe in a 5* resort but we did this as felt it safer. You have to do this at reception.

The bed was firm but I didn’t feel this was too hard at all and was very comfortable. Only get 1 pillow each as a rule but we just left a wee note and got another batch next day.

Bathroom – fine – there is a wee vent in the wall, the Jacuzzi tub was nice but getting the jets right takes a fair bit of practice and we ended up with a very wet bathroom and much hilarity as the water squirted everywhere.

Noise – there is not a huge amount of soundproofing in the rooms so if your neighbour is noisy you can here the muffled tv etc. Also this block is noisy during the very loud activities at the pool – we struggled a bit in the afternoon if we wanted our daughter to have a rest – it was loud at times. Also if there are loud people in the snack bar at night you can also here this.

There are only a few rooms with sea views but I’d reckon block 47 would be the best block there – I think the higher blocks on the beach were golden club.

The hotel complex is huge and is spread over the 3 areas Akumal where we stayed, Tulum and Coba. All seemed similar in style and we were not aware of massive differences between these – I’d have been happy in any area and think they all had plenty to do and full access all over the place. Coba is further from a beach but that’s about it – not sure what traffic noise is like near the road but it’s a big road!

The pool –
We spent most of our time around Akumal pool which was lovely and clean – they have staff employed who just swim around the pool with masks on cleaning it!
Sunbeds – a different story – people seem to go out at the crack of dawn and do the towels thing – I hate this! There were never beds under shade if you arrived after 9.30am. Tons on the beach etc but not around the pool under the umbrellas. There are signs saying not to reserve beds but this is done and nothing is done to stop this. I have stayed other places which state that if you have not used the bed for 45 minutes other people can use it – much better idea as stops the towel brigade. If you want a bed you have no option but to join in the towel claiming.
The swim up bar is lovely and Edgar works very hard!
The other wet bar at the edge had self serve juice slush beer etc, also bottles of spirits sitting out for self serve should you want this. The staff will also mix up drinks. Take an insulated cup it makes a difference to keep it cold and covered and you don’t have to just settle for the wee plastic cups around the pool.

Didn’t use the activity pool but it was a good size and clean – but noisy!

The beach – again fantastic and clean – with little huts around it doing braids, massage etc and some other stalls where you can paint pottery or make bracelets all very good prices and the kids love it.

Massage – sheer bliss – lying face down listening to the waves its fantastic.

The Food –
Buffet was typical – Akumal had no aircon – Coba was definitely cooler but we felt the evening meals in Tulum were the best for variety and choice. The good thing is that you can go to any of them. I felt there was plenty of choice and with 4 buffets and other options for breakfast and lunch don’t think there need be an issue with choice.

Breakfast – bucks fizz sitting on tables to help yourself, Bloody Mary on another. Evening cocktails and tequilas sit for you.

The staff work hard and most we met were cheery and helpful if you were polite to them – some people are so rude its shocking and I felt quite rightly the staff were not as helpful to these people – there is no excuse for lack of manners or treating staff like dirt just because you have paid to be there !

A la carte – 16 of these you can book 4 a week standard or 6 for gold class guests.
Dolce Vita – dreadful – cant say more!
The Mikado – quite brilliant one of the best meals ever we loved this even my 7 year old – its not all sushi.
The Grill at Tulum – again brilliant food – lovely staff and a beautiful sea setting.
Didn’t make it to the others but others said the other Italian was very good as was the Mexican – not sure about others.
Snack bar at Akumal – pretty standard with burgers, hot dogs, pizza etc open 24hrs and will pack for take away –the buffet will also give you take away plates to make up yourself.

House wine is included – all others have to be paid for.

Entertainment –
Minidisco not up to much but the kids liked it – Chico was by far the best host for this!
Michael Jackson night brilliant – well worth a visit. Circus night fairly good as was Cats – rest were pretty poor but passed the time. There are 3 theatres so you can go to any you want. Marlene in Akumal is lovely and cheery and always knows who is drinking what!

Kids Club – is open from 9.30-4.30 – kids can go all day if you want. I felt it was too long and depending on who was on duty they sometimes spent a long time in the sun – but my daughter loved it and would have gone every day had we let her – Jazzmini was brilliant with them and Chico as mentioned above – rest not so good!

Trips didn’t do much –
Xel Ha – is $10 is a taxi and much cheaper to do on your own than as a package. The lazy river is so not lazy is ridiculous it was so long and such hard work I hated everything about it people abandoning rings trying to swim its not worth the effort. The snorkelling is great and the Cliff of Courage was loved by my husband and 7year old – I didn’t jump it. Mosquito heaven though and you need environmental sun cream.
The Captain Hook Night – long trip to get there but is a brilliant night well worth a trip.
Mexican Night – mmm I thought it was rubbish but some folks enjoyed it!

Daughter got an ear infection as did several others! – doctor $75 a visit plus medicines – hes very nice and says ear infections caused as result of the heat melting ear wax resistance, and much more water than we are used to – not sure if this is true or not and also apparently chewing loads helps fight against it.

Summary – we loved it, met brilliant folk had a great laugh and totally relaxed. Its huge, clean easy to get around. We’d definitely go back – in fact some folk we met were talking of booking for next year before we’d even left this years. Go enjoy it and relax.

We stayed at the GBP Akumal for our second time this spring. We had a fantastic experience in 2007, and decided to stay at the same resort for a second time. See our last year's review for more specific details, especially if taking your children.

Overall the same as the previous year, but there were some improvements such as a new beach area closer to the snack bar and more palapas both on the beach and in the pool areas.

Food was excellent again, and we enjoyed the Dolce Vita and the Japanese restaurant in Coba for our a la cartes.

We took the 1/2 day ATV/Cenote tour and it was fun. Beware it is very dusty, so bring along sunglasses and a bandana to cover your face!

Our flight arrived late at night, so we arranged for a private transfer (with US Transfers) from the airport, rather than take the 2+ hour bus ride. We arrived hours ahead of the bus, and had no wait at the resort to get to our room. We also had an extra few hours at the end of our trip to enjoy on the beach. We will definately do that again!

Me and my boyfriend have a competition to see who can book the best holiday, he was unbeaten with his pick in Jamaica until we stayed in this hotel. We cannot think of anything to say against it as we really enjoyed our holiday. The only downfall to our holiday was the airport as it takes a long time to get through as they x-ray everyones suitcases again and they take a long time delivering luggage but this did not ruin our holiday and it was not the tour operators fault.

There are 3 hotels to stay in in this resort, we booked through Thomas Cook and didn't get to choose the hotel but we were very happy with Akumal. The only fault we have is that we requested not to be on the bottom floor and we ended up in a ground floor room but it was not too much of a problem as we just put a towel down by the door so as to try and prevent bugs getting in at night. We were very lucky though as we saw very few bugs except ants and moths. When staying in one of the hotels at this resort, you can use all of the bars, buffet restaurants, A La Carte's, swimming pools and beaches except the ones strictly for premium guests.

Our room was very clean and you can also choose a time you would prefer your room to be cleaned at and they will try their best to fit your room in at that time. The mini bar was filled up every day with soft drinks, beer and a couple of chocolate bars. Their is satellite TV showing some channels in English and an ironing board and iron were also included, something that has not always been included at hotels we have stayed at.

I have noticed that quite a few people have complained about the food, but me and my boyfriend thought that there was a good variety, they had an oriental corner, italian corner, meat and fish, burgers, fries etc aswell as Mexican food and they also had a childrens area. Breakfast was also very good and there was a good variety for lunch. The A La Carte's we went to were International, Italian, Grill, Mediterranean and Mexican. We would definately recommend The Arlequin (International) and the La Gran Tortuga (Grill) we were dissappointed with the Italian the most, the Mexican is fun but the food was not the best we had eaten.

We stayed in Villa 60 which is quite a walk away from the lobby and main pool but a couple of meters away, we had the jacuzzi bar. It is a small pool with 3 jacuzzi's and it is a very quiet area. We stayed here most of the time as it was impossible to get a sun lounger at the main pool, even when hardly anyone was by the pool. The entertainment is the usual cheese but the circus show is very good as is the Michael Jackson show.

We did 3 trips through Thomas Cook: Chichen Itza, Xel-Ha and Sea Life Plus dolphins at Porta Adventura. We enjoyed each of these trips, however beware at Xel-Ha - we were told by our tour operator to take bio degradable sun lotion and they told us ours still wasn't good enough, seeing as you only get one free sachet pp, this seemed to be a way of conning people into buying their own sunblock. We still used ours as we didn't have the money to buy anymore. You can also go all inclusive at Xel-Ha and so you only need $20 each to hire snorkelling gear. Sea Life Plus is a brilliant trip, not only do you swim with dolphins, but you can also swim with Manatees and Sealions. This cost us $199 each and we paid $140 for the 2 DVDs and 8 photos which we thought was a good offer compared to Florida and Jamaica.

Tips:
1. If shopping for gifts for family, we would recommend spending $2 each way on a mini bus that you can reach at the entrance to the resort; they will take you to Playa Del Carmen where the shops are cheaper than the Hacienda and it is also easier to haggle, it is a half hour journey there and back.

2. Make sure to use plenty of mosquito repellent as we got bitten a lot, also we would recommend taking Antihistamine's to take away the discomfort of bites.

I hope this helps everyone planning to stay at this resort we had a great time and I hope you all do too.

I really liked staying at this resort, and everything that's good has been already said I can only agree with those reviews.

One thing which is absolutely terrible at this resort - is the beach, to be more exact - the shoreline condition. While the beach itself is in prefect condition, beatuful sand, abundance of recliners, beach bar, being cleaned every morning at about 7 am and so on, the normal swimming in the sea is impossible there because the shorelilne is extremely rocky - there are basically only
two places to "swim". One is a tiny literally knee-deep lagoon in the middle of the Akumal's beach. The second spot is in a little bit better condition - a waist( max) deep spacier lagoon beetwen two wharfs - but still not deep enough, still there are lots of rocks on the bottom and you are blocked from the sea by a very shallow reef, which you can not even explore, first becuase it is very shallow - knee-to waist max deep, some parts even stand out above the water and second even approcahing the reef is not a good idea - you will hear a whistle from the beach - protect the reef( which is of course is the right decision after all! )
Needless to say that this lagoon is overcrowded and you always fill yourself sort of confined every time you "swim" there. The remaining of the beach makes the sea totally unaccesseble.

The beach at Tulum's is in no comparision better - it is just night and day. Couple steps into the water - soft and sandy bottom and you can normally swim, to the enjoj the sea element to full extent, and don't have to be constantly cautious, afraid to puncture your feet like at Akumal's beach.

Yes, you can say, you can walk to Tulum;s beach. But do you want to walk and carry all your stuff couple times a day? I don't!
I normally would like to enjoy it right there where I stay.

Think of this for a second. Originally the resort started with Tulum, and obviously the best part of the beach and shoreline was picked as a construction site for the future huge resort. As they deciced to expand later on and build the Akumal section the only way to do that was to build the section on an unfriendly shoreline which would have not been ever picked up otherwise.

Of course if you don't much care about the sea and the shoreline
condition or if you are simply a pool addict, this resort is a nice place in terms of amenites, territory, food and so on.