Things to know when going to Cancun ?
 

What are some of the things that you need to know when you go to Cancun ? Like the best place to change your money for the best exchange rate and how about the drinking water situation ? Things to do, not to do ?

I'm gonna be taking my wifey down there next week, but neither of us have been there before, so I figured that I'd ask the experts :) I'm sorry that we're gonna miss Webmaster Access, but we had our reservations all made through a travel agent a week before we found out about it, along with the babysitter, kennel, and motels for before and after we get back, so I couldn't really change them.

One more thing, have any of you ever stayed at the Grand Caribe Real ? Unforunately we couldn't get into the Omni through our travel agent at the time we made our reservations. It looks like a decent place.

Don't drink the water, buy bottled water.

Exchange rate sucks anywhere, either use the atm and withdraw pesos or use USD, everyone takes them.

Stay in the hotel zone unless you take a taxi to town, don't rent a car, bad idea.

Contact me at 121760557 if you need more help.

not only don't drink the water but when you shower be carefull and brush your teethe with bottled water

also watch the ice and salads that are washed with the water

Only buy bottled water.. don't drink cocktails with ice, don't brush your teeth with tap water. There are 10 juiced up frat boys for every half decent looking east coast skank. The beach is gorgeous.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

Is there anything worthwhile in town or is most of the excitement in the hotel zone ? We're shoppers, so we'd like to hit up any stores/malls in the area.

I guess that I'll definately stay away from the water :) I never thought about the ice situation, do they serve pop without ice or should I just request no ice ?

My wife likes to drink margaritas, I guess that she should probably pass on them for this trip :)

the "revenge" I get it EVERY time I go to mex..wtf??? I'm sticking to red wine and Cristal..I'll brush my teeth w/ vodka if I have to.

Have fun in Cancun!! what dates are you goin??

I can't wait till the 6th!!! woohooo!! cancun here I come!!:)

No, the water isn't that bad, you can use it to shower and brush your teeth, just don't drink it. You can eat the food washed in it also, we do and we do just fine :) The ice is made from good water. Don't worry ..... I live here BTW.

You can brush your teeth with the water, LOL. I do it every day :)

LOL

Dude bad timing it was on the news a couple days back that Sea lice is spreading down there.

Check sea, lice, cancoon, in google or something.

Everything in town is worthwhile, but it isn't really a "tourist" area. The stores and shops in town will mostly require pesos not USD (except Walmart and some of the restaurants).

Most of the "excitement" is in the hotel zone as far as the party atmosphere. We go out there sometimes with friends to get shit faced but are glad to get home and not be out there.

On the other hand we can walk 3 minutes from our house down the beach to a place with sand floors and thatched roof and no walls and drink beer and tequila for hours. We eat shrimp and squid and octopus listening to the ocean and spend very little money while not being molested by the tourist fluff.

That's my Cancun.

AST

They really aren't sealice, those are a parasite on fish, what he is referring to are jellyfish eggs and they do sting or fire, especially if they get trapped under you suit or somehing. There is a product called Sea Safe that repells them..just in case:)

Not sure if they are here yet or not, usually April-August are the months you need to be careful, but you never know. They post warnings on the beach in the hotel zone if there is a problem and then I guess you just have to get wet in the pool :)

Nice info guys, thanks :) I'll be sure to check on the Sea Lice.

We're spending 5 nights down there from March 2nd through the 7th.

Maybe I'll have to do some digging for shopping to see what exactly is down there and where.

Also, has anyone stayed at the Grand Caribe Real ? It looks like a decent place. The only thing that sucks is I don't think it has internet which will suck :( Then again, it is a vacation :)

If the ice is clear most likely it will be ok. Many places in mexico purify the ice. I spent a few months in mexico and learned to ask: hielo purificado?

FYI: The reason the water is bad is that most places in Mexico have a low pressure water supply from the city municipality. So most places have a huge holding tank on their roof that this low pressure supply fills up and then it is then pumped from their under pressure to the rooms or where ever.

When you fly in to the airport you will see all these tanks on the rooftops. We all know that water gets stagnant and microorganisms start to grow. These are the fuckers that will give you the squirts.

:1orglaugh

Yep, that and the fact the water is 100% untreated coupled with the fact that (our) water table is high and is comprised mostly of jungle and street run off.

Nobody drinks this water here. Not even Mexicans.

Well, we do have tanks on the roof, but in Cancun they fill our water every evening and it is in no way stagnant...maybe in other parts of Mexico. The reason for not drinking the water here is due to all the minerals in it :) Way too much of this and that...not bugs or anything like that :)

Oh yeah, that's another question, how bad is the frat boy situation ? Are there gonna be drunk frat assholes everywhere down there ?

For the most part, no. During Spring Break that will increase somewhat.

That's good to hear, I've never been to Cancun though, most of my travels have been in Mexico City, Tobasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz & Chiapas. Also down in Guatamala as well.

I was just so paranoid i was overly carefull i guess. Only got sick once in Mexico City but I think that was from a chicked enchilada i ate at the hotel.

Not bad for a 2 month excursion on my own, that was over 10 years ago though.

Oh i just remebered i did drink the water in Veracruz. What an awesome city. Was just like south florida where I am from.

Veracruz is awesome...don't much like the traffic there though, driving is crazier than here an thats sayin something :) I guess Cancun is so geared towards tourists that they do what they can to make it easy for guests to be here and not get sick so they'll keep coming back :)

be sure and take enough money for trips to taco bell and mcdonalds...and use your us money...wait, that almost sounds like you are going somewhere in the USA....

you might as well be, it is pretty americanized down there...LOL

i fucking hate cancun....

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask one more question. Is most of the area language English ?

yes, everyone knows english....it is VERY americanized

Thanks :)

i fucking hate cancun....[/QUOTE]
Can you please explain why? I would like to know since I'm planning to go there in April

My wife just thought of one more question that I never thought of :)

When you bring perscriptions and vitamins/supplements, do you need to have the original bottle that they came in ? I take one perscription for my blood pressure and I take a pile of different supplements like a multi-vitamin, garlic, cranberry, fish oil, etc. I store them in a daily pill container, would I be able to just take them in like that OR will I have to take each invdividual container ?

don't piss in public use a bathroom, you will be arrested

I live in mexico. and it is safe to brush your teeth with the water, I do ever day, two or three times a day. Also the ICE is no problem. It is very regulated, especially in Cancun. The bottleled water they they have and the filtered water for ice, is cleaner than what you get in the states.

In the hotel zone, yes, Engish is widely spoken...in Cancun City, no. As far as your prescriptions, I don't know the answer to that. We drove here. But I can tell you that, and it is true, when you go thru customs when you come into Mexico, you push a button, green you just go thru, red they check you out:)I would say just to have your meds in the container they came in to be safe, but you are definatly allowed to bring your meds with you:)

There is no taco bell in Cancun, however, there are alot of Mc D's, Subways, Burger Kings and other fast foods. And the hotel zone is definately Americanized, if you venture out of the hotel zone, well, you'll be in Mexico for sure :)

dont forget, whatever happens in cancun, stays in cancun

Money: If you are coming from the US then you dont need to really change your money if you are intending staying in the hotel zone USD are fine for everywhere there. You may find it better to change a small amount of $USD into pesos though, say for the bus which costs 70 US cents or 65 pesos, you wont get change out of a dollar bill and they wont accpet coins. The best rate of exchange is via the ATM machines (but check with your bank about their charges)

Water: The hotel zone is on a different water system to downtown, all the main hotels have purified water - this is fine for brushing your teeth etc but I wouldnt recommend drinking a pint of it. Ice cubes too in the HZ are fine, downtown more dodgy.

Prescrips : You should be fine bringing them in one container, from the US they only search one in ten or so and even then I dont expect you'd have a problem. I used to bring syringes (for anti blood clotting) from the UK and never had a problem.

Never realised there were so many Qunitana Roo residents here ;)

Viva Mexico!

Cool post guys. :thumbsup