We just got back from our 2 week stay at Barcelo costa and we absolutely loved it!
It is definitely value for money, if you want 5 star.....pay for 5 star!!!
Cancun on a whole was amazing. The weather was fantastic, there is so much to do and see.

Location: Not in the centre of cancun like it says in the brochure. It is in the hotel zone, and a 5 minute bus ride (which costs around £0.30p) will take you from 1 end of the hotel zone to the other. There is a bus stop right outside the hotel and coco bongos is 5 minutes away. The bus itself is a great experience.

Hotel:Couldnt fault it! When we arrived, a bell boy took our luggage straight up to our room for us. The standard rooms are very spacious, with a huge bed, big telly, and fridge with beer, drinks and snacks that are stocked daily. There is a small french balcony and the lucky ones get a bigger balcony with a hammock. Bathroom was lovely with a huge shower, hairdryer was brill, and the air con was great.

Pool area:Huge pool and own private beach. Only bad thing, you had to get up at 7am to get a sunbed round the pool or you were limited to the beach (which is lovely anyway and there are always loads of sunbeds). There are always waitresses walking round the pool filling up your drinks, there is a bar on the beach with shade where you can sit under and have a drink. THE PIRATE SHIP WAS NOT A PROBLEM. Round the pool every day there was always games such as Tequila volleyball, pool basketball and beach volleyball.

Restaurants: There is the albatross restaurant which we mostly ate at, they had lovely food everyday with lots of different varieties and lovely deserts. There is also a mexican and spanish restaurant and a 24 hour snack bar on the 2nd floor.

Night entertainment: There is always a show on at night and then singers in the lobby. We didnt really stay in the hotel, as the hotel staff arrange a trip everynight to 1 of the nightclubs. i recommend going with the hotel as you get a VIP area in coco bongo's ect.

Trips: we did Pirate ship which was fab and i wouldnt say it is directed towards children as they get adults involved for games. Jungle tour (not a tour of the jungle) - you hire a speed boat which you can drive, and then park up for a bit of snorkelling. Xel Ha - if we did isla mujures before this trip we wouldnt of booked xel ha as they are very similar except isla mujures is 10 times better. Isla mujures - the best trip EVER! its fantastic. we went to this ater park where we went down a zip line, snorkelled and kyaked, then we went swimming with sting rays, sharks and the dolphins is a must do its amazing. then they dropped us off on another island for shopping and then we headed back.

Nightclubs: Coco bongos is brill, the city is the best nightclub we went to over there. Hardrock cafe was great as well.

On a whole we had a brilliant holiday, if youre 18-30 then i would advise going to this hotel.

Just returned from this hotel a week ago, what a waste of holiday time and money! The music was too loud all day long and it was either the dirty pool or the discharged deisel from the pirate ships that caused two of our parties ear infections. From flooded toilets, leaking ceilings . The hotels moto should be waste not want not as the previous evenings meals are reheated and dished up for breakfast, (curried chicken, pork in a peppered sauce). If you don't like a hen and stag party holiday and don't like music blasting through speakers with bad language that should have a parental advisory warning , dont go there. We booked as a party of 8 with children in our group we did not expect this type of holiday. It was not what we booked for!
Be warned other family group travellers.

Where do I start? Having just completed my 4 page letter of complaint to the tour operator who misold us this "family holiday" please do not make the same expensive mistake as us.
The Hotel is hard pressed to live up to the standards of a poor 18-30 holiday you may recall from your youth.
You will experience total sleep depravation. If you are not kept awake by the bounding music you will be by the returning night revellers who will be being ill or crying over a lost love or failed conquest. Food is great if you like beef in green sauce for breakfast but try to communicate to the staff a poached egg and you could need 3 weeks rather than a fortnights holiday. Unlike me do not be confused with the idea of visiting the country that you think may have perfected the fajita or the enchillada we have definately captured this dish and improved it!
The beach is flagged by three supposed entertainment pirate ships that drift diesel into the sea and the smell is at times unbearable. Don't waste 10 hours on a plane when Veronicas is only four.

Where do i start, firstly this Hotel should be advertised as an 18-30 hotel.
we were sold this honeymoon by first choice, i was a bit nervous about coming because there were so many bad reviews about this hotel but we thought we would give it the benefit of the doubt. Well as far as i'm concerened it's every honeymooners worst nightmare!!!!

when we booked this this "trip of a lifetime" we were told by first choice we would get a free room upgrade to the honeymoon suite and you would recieve a bottle of sparkling wine and love heart cakes on arrival, when we asked the staff at the desk they said we had the suite, well we didin't after going down to reception we asked why haven't we got this honeymoon suite and botttle of sparkling wine? they turned round and said to us if you want it you pay me $315 more and you can have it on the fri which was 5 days away,so stupidly we paid the extra $315 and moved that fri,once we got to our new room it was very spacious and very pleasant with an ocean view, but then things started to go wrong.

we had no light bulb and it took them 4 days to come and change it, the tv wasn't working and no dvd player as stated in the brochure either and loads of ants in our room, the noise from pool area was unbearable constant garage and r&b music, wet t shirt competions round the pool area, tequilla competions,staff being noisy when they start work which is about 04:30 am, the list is endless.........

we complained numerous times to the manager about the high volume of noise especially round the pool area and that this hotel is not designed for families or couples, he just shruged his shoulders and said 2 well what do you expect at peak season" i don't expect that not when we paid a fortune for our honeymoon.

The Bar staff are rude and ignorant if they dont see you flashing dollar notes for tips they won't serve you and wiil keep you waiting especially the beach bar.

The staff in the buffet restaurant are very friendly,and very helpful, we only ate at this one as the others were mainly seafood, the food was nice however it did get really repetative and there is only so much beef in gravy and chicken stew we could take.

The beach area is ok small but ok staff regulary sweep up the seaweed and this beach area gets loads of it!!!
you need to go down very early in the mornings to reserve your sunbed same as the pool else you don't get a look in!!

as for 24hrs all inclusive that were false aswell they turn the pumps off at midnight in the lobby and upstairs in the 24 hr
section. after 10pm they take your glasses of you and replace it with little plastic ones, i'm guessing they do that because all the 18-30 clubbers start to pile round the bar and have a few before going on there nightly bar crawl with the entertainment staff, they take your ashtrays and cocktail menus away as if to say thats your lot, the entertainment for the evenings was ok you had a 40 minute international shows every night but then after that it was two people in the lobby area singing and doing karaoke which was awful!!

I do recomend the day trips especially the sea passion great day out and definately worth every penny.

overall we were totally dissapointed with this hotel especially as it were our honeymoon and would not recomend this for families or a romantic getaway more like a girlfriend getaway!!!!