Traveling with 6 kids...

[lydia]

ages 5 - 18 next spring. Their wish lists include snorkeling, wind surfing, kayaking, kids' club and a swim up bar. We are looking at Barcela Maya Beach and Grand Sirenis Mayan Beach. Your thoughts and any other suggestions are welcomed. This will be our first trip to Mexico.

[Playabart]

A couple of years ago, we took our five kids to Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal and we loved it. We have had several friends also have taken their large families to Iberostar Paraiso several times while others have gone to the Tucan several times. All of them loved it for families. While at the Tucan, I toured all the other Playacar properties (either with a guide OR incognito) and came to the conclusion that the Tucan was probably the best Playacar resort to host a large family. Security is excellent. The setting is excellent. The beach is excellent. The food is good and nothing to complain about. Fortunately, most of the toplessness is done on the beach by middle aged women or older, so the teenage boys are more grossed out or educated by the spectacle than turned on.

In two weeks, I am taking my wife back, but we are splitting the week (at her request) between the Riu Palace Riviera Maya and the Excellence Riviera because she wanted a more pampered and different experience. (I made the mistake of taking her to the Bora Bora Nui in French Polynesia so its getting really hard to impress her.)

We will be bringing our entire family back in a year and will definitely consider the Tucan and the Paraiso, along with the Barcelo, and a few others. We plan to hike the Tulum resort area and to stop by the Barcelo so that I can form my own opinions.

It is hard to trust the advice you receive on the Internet because the reviews seem to be heavily influenced by four groups: (a) trashers--persons that are engaged by competing resorts to pull another resorts ratings down; (b) sore losers--persons that blame and take revenge on a resort because they had a crappy vacation, or because they didn't get their way, something went wrong; (c) inflators--persons engaged by a resort to elevate the ratings and appeal of a resort; and (d) groupies--persons so loyal to a given resort that they want everyone else to see it their way. It takes time to really acquaint yourself with all of the AIs because that is not the top vacation priority and the AIs all have pretty tight security.

Good luck.

[Babaloo]

Originally Posted by Playabart

It is hard to trust the advice you receive on the Internet because the reviews seem to be heavily influenced by four groups: (a) trashers--persons that are engaged by competing resorts to pull another resorts ratings down; (b) sore losers--persons that blame and take revenge on a resort because they had a crappy vacation, or because they didn't get their way, something went wrong; (c) inflators--persons engaged by a resort to elevate the ratings and appeal of a resort; and (d) groupies--persons so loyal to a given resort that they want everyone else to see it their way. It takes time to really acquaint yourself with all of the AIs because that is not the top vacation priority and the AIs all have pretty tight security.

Good luck.

Five groups
the folks here that have no ulterior motive other than wanting to give the best advise (positive or negative) possible.

[gopherlips]

Originally Posted by Babaloo

Five groups
the folks here that have no ulterior motive other than wanting to give the best advise (positive or negative) possible.

Read the trip reports - It takes a lot of time to write them, so much that I haven't finished mine. If you review them, you will generally see pictures of the resort and the surrounding nightlife/food. Babaloo lives there - he has no bias.