Essence at the Fives Beach

We are a family of three (two adults and a six-year-old) who recently spent three weeks traveling from Brisbane, Australia, and enjoyed our time between Puerto Morelos, Cozumel, and Playa del Carmen. Our final week was spent at The Fives Beach Hotel & Residences, where we made our reservation through Expedia and received outstanding service. Our experience at The Fives Beach Hotel & Residences was largely enhanced by the incredible dining options available, with a wide variety of restaurants to choose from. We also appreciated the diverse wildlife at the resort, including coatis, monkeys, lizards, raccoons, turtles, and even a deer. However, we were disappointed with the beach and pool situation. The beach was unfortunately rendered unusable due to a significant amount of sargassum. While we were aware that this issue typically arises at this time of year, we did not anticipate the extent of the problem. My husband did manage to find a small sargassum-free channel one morning for a brief swim, but the seaweed quickly returned. The temperature of the pools was another concern. The two front pools near the beach were uncomfortably hot, and the other main pools between buildings 1 and 14 were similarly warm in the afternoons. Just as my husband was considering returning to Cozumel, we discovered a quieter pool between buildings 15 and 16, which was much more refreshing and enjoyable. Additionally, the bar at this pool, Manglar, offered superior drinks, and the service provided by William and Noe was exceptional. The food at most of the restaurants was excellent, with our favorites being the French restaurant for dinner and the buffet breakfast. We also relished the sushi at Oka & Italian Arrezzo. However, we were less impressed with the Thai restaurant, which was the only one where we had to wait over 30 minutes. Our experience at Sea Olive was particularly disappointing; although we were seated promptly, the service was exceedingly slow, resulting in a lengthy dinner that extended over three hours. Overall, while the service was generally satisfactory, only a few staff members stood out as exceptional compared to other all-inclusive resorts. Noteworthy mentions include Surgy and Narciso at Oka Sushi, Julissa at Arrezzo, and Magdalina at La Brasserie during breakfast. Our daughter attended the kids' club nearly every day, which was a highlight for her, thanks to the wide array of activities and the friendly, attentive staff. We arranged for our own taxi driver, Karen, for a day trip to visit three cenotes: Cenote Cristalino, Cenote Azul, and Cenote Minotauro. This excursion was a highlight of our three-week vacation, as each cenote offered a unique and enjoyable experience. In summary, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at The Fives Beach Hotel & Residences, though we did wish for the opportunity to swim at the beach, which was beyond the resort's control. Read less

The location is perfect. The interior is lovely, open and very nice. Welcoming service and attentive. I was really pleased with the roast beef. The vegetables were cooked beautifully, and there was a big range such as parsnips, cabbage swede, Cauliflower cheese, peas, carrots and green. Garlic was a lovely touch for the beef. The only downfall I would say would be the roast potatoes were a little too hard to cut and therefore eat. The options were really good. My partner had the mixed roast dinner and I tried the belly pork which was delicious. I look forward to coming back here. Read less

As many reading this will be, we were nervous travelling after recent reviews. The resort itself is spacious and well laid out, looks a bit tired in some areas but we witnessed daily maintenance at least attempting to stay on top of it. Check in was swift, we were allocated room 1111. Block 1, floor 1. This is close to the Plaza and noisy until entertainment stops at 10.30. The apartment was huge, much bigger than we expected. It worked perfectly for the three of us with sliding doors off the lounge / kitchen and a big sofa bed, separate toilet. The bedroom was spacious, watch out for the step on the first night in the dark!! Staff were excellent all round, the tipping mentality is driven by North American visitors largely, we tipped at the end of our stay as that’s the way we do it, didn’t have any issues. Breakfast was good, main buffet open every evening with other restaurants also serving, we only visited the Brasserie which is a bit more personal. Lunch there are multiple options, the pop up paella stall is excellent! The burgers and pizzas were perfect for a lunchtime snack. Icecream parlour also very nice, high turnover of flavours though so don’t expect to get the same everyday. All Inclusive drinks were again excellent with premium brands. We found the lack of any kind of menu quite strange when it’s so easy to do with a QR code these days. Bar tenders were more than happy to be creative and make new stuff up, they are very heavy on the ice though!! Pool areas were vast! Due to the surrounding vegetation they did not always appear the cleanest but this is a difficult job. Guests leaving their rubbish around and abandoning cups everywhere was a real shame. The main beach pool became quite a party scene in the afternoon so we avoided that after lunch. Coffee - if you like a caffeine hit, the Marley coffee shops are excluded and getting a coffee is not easy, seems a strange idea and goes against the all inclusive idea. Seaweed - it’s a nightmare, the sea is out of bounds, salt water crocodile seen on one of our days coming out of the water onto the beach. They are trying to stay in top of it but it’s a thankless task. Hope it improves soon otherwise the tourist industry will be decimated here. Lastly, dinner time! What an absolute shambles. The main buffet only opens 3 or 4 nights a week even when the resort is allegedly full. That leaves the speciality restaurants which were very nice but couldn’t cope with demand. We believed no reservations were allowed but on some nights got asked if we had one, think there must be a tiered system dependant on wrist and colour but it was very confusing. To eat around 7pm you probably had to be out collecting a pager around 6pm. To eat at 8pm you needed to be out about 6.30, to make a reservation and collect a pager. Once you got used to the system it was okay but they simply couldn’t cope at peak times. Nightly entertainment is hit and miss, some genuinely excellent acts but others were just a cheap copy and pretty awful. Pop up Silent disco and bucking bronco activities were great, they really tried compared to European resorts in this area and it was a lovely surprise. Lots to like but the dinner situation spoiled it for us and the other parts didn’t make up for it. Read less