We stayed at The Fives from 24th October to 31st October and had a one bedroom suite in Villa 19. We booked with Kuoni and private transfers were included with the price. It's about a 45 minute drive from Cancun airport and on arrival we were met with a glass of champagne and check in was very smooth. You're given your wrist band which opens the door to your room which was great. Kids are given a different colour wrist band and you are provided with a key card for them. A shuttle then takes you and your luggage to your room. We got there pretty late so unpacked and went straight to bed however there is 24 hour room service which is included should you feel a bit peckish or dont fancy going out for dinner.
We had never been to mexico before and on reading some of the negative reviews on here were unsure of what to expect but this hotel is absolutely wonderful. The place is SPOTLESS, it's so well looked after and maintained by the staff. The landscaping is beautiful and there are 7 pools which are so clean. There is always staff wandering round with a net in case some leaves have fallen in etc. Our apartment was on the 1st floor and overlooked a pool which was adults only unfortunately (we had our 13 year old son with us) but we did use it one afternoon as there was no one else there and he is well behaved and could probably pass for 16 anyway! Our room was spacious with a kitchenette area and a large fridge which was topped up with soft drinks and water everyday. It had a dining table and a large sofa bed where my son slept and said it was very comfortable. There are two sliding door panels which separate the bedroom and bathroom/shower and dressing area. The bed is probably a queen size and was huge and so comfortable I slept so well. Lots of towels were provided which are were quite big which is nice, I hate not being able to wrap them comfortably around myself. The suite had two large glass paneled balconies with chairs and tables and a juliet balcony off the main bedroom which were lovely to sit out on to read or have your morning coffee. Our safe stopped working the second day we were there and someone came within 20 minutes to fix it (the batteries had run out). The rainfall shower was nice but not powerful enough if you are washing your hair so I just used the handheld shower hose to do that bit which was more than powerful and water temp was great.
The walk through the cenote in the middle of the complex is beautiful and we saw spider monkeys the first day we were there. Youll also see Coatis wandering round which we fondly referred to as Trash Pandas and they are super cute.
There are several restaurants on the complex although not all of them were open due to the time of year we went as it wasnt peak season. We ate breakfast every morning at Flavours. There is always a massive selection with freshly made omelette, eggs, pancakes, waffles, French toast, eggs, sausages, fresh fruit, cereals, pastries, donuts, meats, cheeses etc. I found the food very nice and had something different most days. At lunchtime we would head down to the beach where we would grab a freshly made pizza, burger or hot dog which were delicious.
They had a mexican day with different food stands one lunchtime so we had tacos, tamales and nachos and fresh fruit which were again delicious. We also ate at Sea Olive which was lovely and Koh Thai.
Due to the fact we went in October the resort was not mega busy which we loved, always sunloungers available at one of the pools and sometimes we would wander along one of the longer pools as they would have sunloungers tucked away a little further down which were lovely and quiet.
There was entertainment every night which was so fun, I was sad that we had to leave just before the Halloween and Day of The Dead celebrations.
I went to the spa the second day I was there because that 10 and a half hour flight hadn't done my back any favours so I booked a deep tissue massage with Ava Rosa, she is tiny but my god is she strong!!! It was an amazing massage but if you dont like a hard massage dont book that one! Also make sure you get vouchers from your "trip ambassador" as there are Spa vouchers included. i didn't get those but they gave me the 60 minute massage for 80 mins instead. I did feel the massages were a little expensive compared to other spas I've been to (London, United States, Thailand, Spain) but it was very good.
The beach was lovely although the sea was too rough for swimming during the week we were there due to the hurricane in Jamaica.
There is a little shop on site that sells clothes, sunglasses, souveniers and essentials. I had some mosquito bites which were driving me crazy so went in to get some insect bite cream which they had but it cost me $36 USD which is outrageous! A bag of crisps/chips in there will cost you $10 USD! It's a bit of a p*ss take but they have you over a barrel as the only other way you can get this stuff is in a cab to another store. Next door there is a coffee shop but that is not in the all inclusive package. There is a well equipped gym and a teenagers club as well but my son didnt go as he's a bit shy. There is also a smoothie shop which does various lovely smoothies (protein smoothies are $2) and in the afternoon it swaps into an ice cream shop. We had a few scoops from there, the cream cheese and blackberry one was a favourite flavour.
There was building work going on at the front of the hotel where they are building a new complex but it didnt effect our stay at all.
I would highly recommend this hotel, the staff, the pools, the grounds, the food and the rooms are all wonderful. And im not easily pleased I can tell you!
The only recommendations (and I had to really rack my brain for these) I would make are:-
Long hanging space in the wardrobes. There is lots and lots of space for your clothes but no hanging space for long items which meant ironing which i do not like especially on holiday lol.
English speaking channels on the televisions, we could only get CNN and Fox News in English. I read a review on here that someone managed to chromecast their phone onto the TV but we couldn't make that work.
Beware the shark tank at Cancun airport if you haven't been before, as you come out of customs there are lots of people standing there and they will try and pretend they are there to help you and know where your transfer is etc etc just to get you talking. They are trying to sell you timeshares! Ignore them and walk outside the airport, as soon as you get outside you will see lots of drivers with name cards and your transfer will be out there.
Talking of timeshare the one thing that annoyed me whilst staying at The Fives was that we were duped into a "Timeshare Breakfast" by a few guys who had booked our tickets to Xcaret. I thought they were Fives staff but i think they actually work for Epic Travellers. It started as "have you heard about our new adult only hotel we are building next door" blah blah. We agreed to meet them for a 60 minute chat the next morning over breakfast. I only agreed because they were lovely and had helped us out with booking our trip. The next morning we met them, we were put on a buggy and taken to the Epic Travellers building which is on site down by the beach, introduced to a woman who i had never met before and left with her. We were then shipped back to the original meeting place via buggy to sit through a very awkward breakfast with this woman. I basically told her we weren't interested but she gave some sob story about us having to go back to the office so they could complete the check out paperwork???? I know I know, I should have just said no! Anyway once we got there she proceeded to try and sell us a timeshare, we made it clear straight away we weren't interested and went to leave, she brought out her boss who said well 4 out of 5 people sign up!! Well im not the 4 buddy! They basically want you to sign a 25 year contract for 30k there and then which is hilarious!! It's madness. Anyway we finally left and it really p*ssed me off because it was our last full day there and im being shipped around the complex even though I made it very clear I wasnt interested from the beginning. I should have just walked instead of letting these people try and pressure me. Anyway beware of Epic Travellers, I did some research afterwards and if you are considering signing with them I suggest you do the same! It's not good reading!
As mentioned above we went to Xcaret Park for the day, if you do one trip do this one. The place is amazing!! It's like a natural water park, so much to do and see. Lots of animals. My son and husband did the sea walk and we swam with the dolphins. The aviary is breathtakingly beautiful and make sure you stay for the night show, its incredible!
Timeshare scams aside, The Fives is a wonderful hotel and I would go back tomorrow.
