<p>Tyler - to expand a little on the food. The family and I are not gourmet eaters - if you are looking for the finest haute cuisine, you will probably not be impressed. However, we normally eat out several nights a week, and we found all the meals to be pretty good. They had a great Mexican restaurant, very good Brazilian-style steak house (continuous sampling of various meats), a good Chinese/Asian restaurant, a nice Italian place and a huge buffet to name a few. So, if you decide not to travel offsite to eat, which you should since you are paying for an all-inclusive, you have plenty of variety. </p>
<p>I would highly recommend a side trip to Chichen Itza to see the ruins. The great pyramid is magnificent. It is an all-day excursion - some of the trips have a side visit to a Cenote for a brief underground swim. (That might keep the kids excited after visiting the ruins.)</p>
<p>The only thing about the Moon Palace is the beach. It does not get huge waves - which is good. However, it gets seaweed. They have machines clean it up several times a day, but it is not a good swimming beach. We didn’t find this a problem since we prefer swimming in a pool and walking the beach.</p>
<p>The staff at the Moon Palace worked very hard, so we tipped. It doesn’t need to be a lot, but a dollar or two (or 20 pesos) goes a long way and is definitely appreciated.</p>
<p>RobD- That is a very good point. We will probably do the same. Now that I think about it, I don’t really trust the resorts to give them the included tips that they truly deserve.</p>
<p>Oh, we are not gourmet eaters by any means. The trip to Chichen Itza sounds very interesting. Thanks, I will look it up. And I did see reviews about the seaweed; I doubt it would greatly affect our enjoyment on the trip as we are big pool-swimmers, too.</p>
<p>We’ve only stayed at one Riviera Maya all-inclusive resort once - this last March. The food was similar to what we’ve gotten on cruise ships, but there are more specialty restaurants and the drinks are included (as opposed to cruise ships where you pay through the nose for even a soft drink). Agree with the above posters that it is good to give small tips - even a couple of dollar bills for a server or housekeeper goes a long way. We brought a good number of singles, which we gave as tips. Didn’t add much to the cost of our vacation and I’m sure it goes a long way for the workers.</p>
<p>Most beaches in Mexico will be OK. Some are more spectacular than others. Some people prefer the calm turquoise waters; others prefer a wilder type. </p>
<p>However, there is quite a bit of non-sense spewed by people with poor understanding of the risks. On the one hand, the warnings issued by the US are overly alarming, but otoh the recommendations based on a few years ago are dated. </p>
<p>Mexico has gone from ultra safe to reasonably safe. The areas that target high end tourists in the South are safe. This means the Riviera Maya, Cancun, Cozumel, and the more rugged Huatulco. The area north of Huatulco --think Manzanillo/Acapulco to the US border-- is a lot more problematic. Acapulco, for instance, is a very violent town where service is iffy at best. You’d have to have exhausted all options before deciding to venture to this area. It it remains somewhat popular with people in Mexico is because they have fewer choices from driving from central Mexico. Acapulco is an extremely poor choice for a US tourist. Just think that two of the main drug cartels are from Sinaloa and Jalisco and that control of the Pacific coast is paramount to their business! Thinking that the violence is confined to the border towns between Tijuana and Tamaulipas is simply … insane. </p>
<p>For Baja California, La Paz and the Cabo area have remained sheltered from most problems, but their main attraction remains sport fishing over the beautiful beaches.</p>
<p>Club Med Ixtapa is a great family, all inclusive with some really good deals, if you are flexible on dates.
The Club Med in Cancun is also really nice, although it is on the end of a very developed beach, so the hideous skyscraper type of hotels are visible in one direction.</p>
<p>Because of the French ownership food is fantastic.</p>
<p>Well, the OP is from Bloomington, IL, so travel logistics take up an entire day, going to and coming from. It’s the one reason we are not looking at Hawaii again this year and are looking to Mexico or the Caribbean. If we had all the time to spare, we would choose Hawaii.</p>
<p>I love Iberostar. Rooms are crap, but much queiter than other places, since they are in tiny houses, no huge buildings, gorgeous grounds. We have stayed there many times and will stay next time. I loved the fact that snorkeling was right there and they had little stairs from pier to go down, did not need to step thru all these stones, ouch that hurt so much. Very good and safe food, drinks. We have stayed for many years at El Presidente (used to be 6 star), but we prefer Iberostar. One thing is lacking - entertainment. But local vendors were coming few times / weeks, so you do not need to spend $$ to go to town to shop. They also had very popular ceramic painting right there on the beach. Many kids, can hire baby sitter. Also, if family is big, can have adjacent rooms with door in between. </p>
<p>I would never advise against going to Mexico. We checked out many places like Jamaica, Caymans, going on cruise, others. We always went back to Mexico and sometime took 2 Mexican vacations in one year. However, we always stayed on Cozumel, we have not been anywhere else in Mexico.</p>
<p>The food might be better than average for a low-price all-inclusive, but aren’t the spartan accomodations showing their age? My parents said the Club Med in Cancun was already looking quite old twenty years ago. There are “hideous” buildings in most popular tourist destinations. It just goes with the territory, unless wants to spend time in the boonies and gaze at his navel or the stars. </p>
<p>It’s hard to find unspoiled destinations, pristine beaches, and an airport that is twenty minutes away! :)</p>
<p>We are going to Mexico because it is just something new. We’ve been all around the United States vacation areas and it’s time to change things up. It’s our first trip, as a family, out of the US!</p>
<p>And I must add that I, myself, am a high school student. We are planning this as a “senior trip” before I make my way off to college. As part of the trip, I get to decide where we go. I don’t know if this is a blessing or a punishment!</p>
<p>We had been to both coasts in Mexico- 3 times before kid decades ago. Went to Puerto Vallerta last Feb. Both of us got violently ill at a hotel restaurant, not the buffet, at the Barcelo. Worst 3-4 days of any vacation, only mildly ill one other trip. Chose to get the after Chicago blizzard delay in our US city stop rather than stay an extra day in PV when offered. The resort had a lot of Canadians (interesting) and smokers (bad) in almost all public areas.</p>
<p>You do need to pay attention to government warnings.</p>
<p>Wis75 brings up a good point. Anyone else get sick from the food in Mexico? Is this due to poor health standards or just the adjustment from “traditional” American food to Mexican food? Any tips for a newbie family traveling to a foreign country regarding health, safety, etc?</p>
<p>I stayed at the Melia Cancun many years ago and was treated very well and was quite impressed, for my first visit to Mexico. My only complaint was that the hotel zone on Cancun Island was too commercialized and too Americanized. I mean really, Burger King???</p>
<p>We have been to Mexico about 14 times or so, I do not remember, impossible to count, since we went 2 times /year sometime. We would not go to Cancun. From what I heard it is too commercial and attracts too many students. We went 2 times to Caymans, and it is such a huge difference second time, we will never go back. Way too commercial, used to be very nice about 25 years ago.</p>
<p>We think one worker didn’t wash his hands as the daily buffet was fine. The rest of the resort had good food management practices. We saw on websites where hotel management was not sympathetic to those others who reported a problem like ours. Inlaws didn’t have a problem at there PV resort a month earlier. Bottled water was abundant- do drink it instead of tap water. An all inclusive resort is a good idea to avoid needing to find food and not know sanitation. The other 99+% of the people did fine. Many came regularily to this resort with young children and babies. Canadians get cheap airline/hotel ticket package deals more than we do.</p>
<p>We enjoyed Cancun and seeing the Mayan ruins. Liked the Pacific sunsets in Ixtapa- although that trip was after a major earthquake that was close enough to crack some hotels and close them over 20 years ago. We’re not big into Mexican culture so we’re done with there now. In Cancun there are two areas with different beaches along the tourist area. One area is sheltered and the other more exposed to the ocean winds. Do pay attention to the stretch of beach a resort is located on. In PV there are also different areas- and beaches. Do plan a day in town to see how the locals live- go into local shops downtown.</p>
<p>Stick to tourist areas- Mexico has designated areas for development. Stick to higher rated resorts- you can get good places for moderate prices, don’t try to get the cheapest. Large chains and not small for your first trip, although brands not found in the US are probably better than Holiday Inn. Cross reference online sites like Orbitz and Expedia with info found from AAA brochures (free at their offices). Consider the time of year- heat, hurricane season. The all inclusive resorts have food for their clientel- in our case the Canadian tastes seemed dominant. There are many ways to book side trips. Do book with hotel transfers/airport fees et al prepaid- Expedia does this. It is good to have a package deal with a tour representative on site and to have a prepaid vacation. It was safe, fast and very cheap to use the local bus service to get into town. Don’t think you need to use taxis instead of what the locals do. Make copies of phrases lists found in guide books you get from your local library, or buy the guide you like best.</p>
<p>Bring suntan lotion, insect protection and cortisone cream, your usual bandaids and other home remedies to save money on hotel gift shop purchases. Have a hat, flipflops. We never use the dress up clothes we bring. Bring books. We had a TV with most channels in Spanish and NY major networks- Egypt and Chicago weather dominated the news that week. Interesting to see old American shows/movies in Spanish. Also a Japanese and a German station. We lived without cell phone access. Brought our laptop but didn’t pay for internet access. Took it to a cheap internet cafe one day- power outage so they had to reboot everything during our session. Expect power outages at even the best resorts due to local conditions. Bring books to read. Research the area you choose in advance and make a list of things to see and do- then prepare to change it. You may want to make daily plans based on weather- don’t book a trip days in advance if rain will spoil it. Don’t worry about needing to do things- enjoy just being there. Remember a light jacket- there could be a cold spell (it was 10 degrees below normal during our week). Do not rent a car- driving is chaotic and you don’t want to venture away from the tourist ares into unsafe countryside.</p>
<p>We have Taco Bell, why can’t they have McDonalds? Foods and brands have spread- especially with NAFTA. Mexicans are not stuck in the past and can change their traditions. The local Chinese buffet here gets a lot of Mexican immigrant business.</p>