This was our first trip in Cancun, Mexico. We are a family of four from Michigan. We have traveled in Asia - Phuket, Bali, and Borneo for our vacations in the past and we knew that staying at Ambiance Inn wouldn't be as luxurious as those resorts that we stayed in Asia given that the hotel class was rated as 3 stars. You get what you pay for. I agree that it is a 3 star hotel from the perspectives of the quality of the rooms, amenities, and services. Since this was our first stay in Cancun, we didn't know how the beach was around where we stayed. We were very pleased that we stayed at the Ambiance as we believe the hotel beach is probably one of the best beach in the area. It had calm and shallow water and the beach had a very good size compared to among the others. Javier, the travel agent/concierge told us that the beach is indeed the best one in Cancun hotel zone. Our daughters (10 years old and 7 years old), enjoyed the beach as well as the swimming pool. It was too cold for me to go into the swimming pool as it was not heated, but the children didn't seem to be minded at all. After checking other hotels' beaches in the hotel zone, we were convinced that our beach was one of the best or possibly the best one.

It would have been a very nice stay if our belongings were not stolen from our room. My eye-glasses were stolen while we were gone to a one day excursion. While we traveled many places, I never had to put my eye-glasses in the safety box. I usually leave them at a night stand as I never thought no one would take them as they have my prescriptions. On the very next day, our comcorder was stolen while we were at the breakfast at the hotel. The housekeeper was there while we were at the breakfast. We addressed both of the incidents to one of the hotel manager and requested them to take some actions for the incidents, but he didn't offer any resolution or no effort to even investigate them. We still had 7 days to stay after the incidents and we were not comfortable staying at the villa as we had to put everything in the safe place everytime we go out of the room even for a short amount of time. We even checked our lap-top in the front desk to just go out for dinner as the safety box is too small to hold everything. Our stay at the ambiance villa turned to be the most uncomfortable and frustrating experience in the 3rd day of our stay until the end. It seems that we just had a bad luck. After reading others' reviews, I didn't see anyone wrote about missing belongings. It was our first experience of having a hotel thief in our entire vacations in both overseas and the US. I recommend if you are staying at Ambiance villas, be extra cautious about your belongings that stay in the room.

The Ambiance was every bit as great as the reviews we heard. My recommendation is NOT to book with a travel agent. We got screwed with Apple Vacations. Book directly with Ambiance and buy the all inclusive as you go.

The beach WAS the best in Cancun. My husband and I walked the strip. I would've liked the ropes to have been set out further, but other than that, it was great.

The service was BY FAR the best I've ever experienced. Miguel (and his son) and Eddie fully comprehend the concept of customer service. We have been to the nicest hotels in Miami, New York, and L.A. and have never been treated like kings as we were there. You never wanted for anything and your stomach was always full. I have to disagree with those who said not to get the all-inclusive. The price was 43.00 per day per person. If you are staying there all day, you easily spend that in drinks alone, let alone 3 meals, sodas, waters, etc. We didn't take it every day, but we did 4 out of 7. The days that we did not eat at the hotel, I wasn't impressed with the meals or drinks outside the hotel. The ala carte selection was awesome and they have theme nights (Italian, etc). Everything was really good except for the steaks. The shrimp was unbelievable. The pina coladas are the best I've tasted. Get them to add an extra shot and chocolate syrup. One day they gave them to us in huge coconuts with umbrellas. No extra charge on the all-inclusive.

The room we stayed in was standard and minimal. It was fine for our needs. We've stayed in 5 star hotels before and were not planning on wasting our time in the room. The beds were kind of hard, though... We had no problems with the cleaning staff. Fresh sheets, plenty of washclothes and towels. I don't know if people aren't aware that you're supposed to TIP every day, but I suggest you leave at least 5.00 per night and tip your wait staff during the day. You tip at home..tip on vacation. I suspect you get better service that way.

We really appreciated the laundry facilities and the free towel rentals. I suggest you go out in the early morning as soon as you wake up to get one of the umbrellas. My husband went and put a towel and book down every morning at 8:00am. Otherwise, they get filled up soon.

If you are going outside the hotel you should visit the Argentinian Steak House in the mall in downtown Cancun. The Ribeye was so good we went back again 2 nights later. We are steak afficionados.

Tour-wise, we only went on one...the Chichen-Itza. I don't think it was worth it. You sit on a bus for 3 hours there and 3 hours back, sweat, eat subpar food, and get charged for all drinks. We wanted to go to Isla Mujeres and rent the golf cart...but we were too tired!

Getting around town: When you walk to the road in front of the Ambiance, there is the bus stop. Take the bus rather than taxis. I am Miss Fancy Pants, but it was easy to do and MUCH cheaper. It's 1.00 to go anywhere and its fun. If you go right, there's not much there. There's a good sandwich shop and market in a strip mall, but you can walk there. Ty-Coz has an EXCELLENT baguette sandwich thats HUGE for 5.50. If you go left, you get to downtown Cancun. The bars and restaurants are there. We ate and drank all over Cancun and never had the first digestive problem. Beware the horrible cost of drinks, particularly water and mixed drinks. I think we paid 15.00 for a frozen drink that was disgusting at Bubba Gump's.

This hotel is great for families with children. I do NOT recommend it for party animals. Biggest suggestion: BRING A NOISE MAKER MACHINE. We did this and it muffled the loud noises of banging doors, but only so far.

This is one of the best trips I've ever taken.

My wife and i returned from Cancun and a stay at the Ambiance Villas March 4th 2008 thru March 10th 2008 and could not have been happier with the accomadations.
This was our first trip to Cancun but won't be our last or our last stay at the Ambiance Villas. The staff was very helpful,the breakfeast was great with a very good variety.
The beach was immaculate and the sand was so unbelievibly white, and the water so clear.
I did much research choosing a place to stay on our trip and read many many reviews. We had a standard room with two large twin beds. The room was very clean and the maid service brought new towels every day and cleaned very well. From some of the reviews and the cost compared to many other hotels I was a bit apprehensive,but very very pleased with the room and entire staff and accomadations.
Don't get fooled this Has to be one of the best places in Cancun for the money.

Just returning from a week stay at the Ambiance. Everything was wonderful. We had no problems with the cleaning staff or front desk, everyone was always willing to help and always had a smile on their face.
The room was very big and the air conditioning was wonderful (after a long day in the hot sun). The only small compliant I would have with the room is they don't leave any coffee or filters even though their is a coffee maker in the room. I would recommend bringing some from home or buying in Mexico if you like Mexican coffee, it takes cone filters. Also for the room I would recommend getting a 20L jug of water. You can order from the front desk for $3
The beach was awesome, no waves and great for swimming. We went to the other side of the hotel zone one day and the waves were so big they knocked you over in 1 foot of water. You could rent seadoos at the beach for $40 US. There are not many vendors on the beach to bother you which was nice, however, the mango man was always a welcome site. Nice fresh mango's for $3 for a package.
The food was pretty expensive at the beach bar, chicken sandwich and fries was $7. I had my two teenage boys with me who like to eat so this wasn't the most economical way to feed them. The boys found a little restraunt/bar about a 5 minute walk towards the hotel zone. It was called the Hog's Breath and they had an all you can eat for $7 each, and the beer is always 2 for 1, so $1.50 each. The owner Alex and the waiter Caismara were awesome, since we were regulars, by the end of the week whenever we came they would sit at the table with us and answer all the boys questions about Mexico and their culture, they learned alot and was a great experience for them.
The hotel internet was down all week which the boys were going through computer withdrawl but we found an internet cafe in the charocol plaza which was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. On the second floor in the hallway you could go on the computer for $1.50 for 20 minutes. This became a regular daily stop.
Pizza hut is a rip off, $21 for a "large" pizza which was 10 slices, the boys could eat one of these themselves they were so small. If you want pizza Domino's is the way to go, $23 for a party size, which was probably double the size of the pizza hut one
Overall it was a great hotel, nice beach, close to the action (we never took a taxi the entire time in Cancun) and nice accomodations, I would defintely recommend staying here if this is your type of vacation.