Cancun Pictures week 5 & 6

I've just posted my pictures from Cancun weeks 5 & 6.

See the link at: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2108840380

The beach reconstruction photos were taken from the south side of the Royal Islander. Overall Cancun is in great shape and a lot of progress has been made in the restoration. The beach at the Royal Sands was marginal. We were able to sit on it everyday and swim some days. We walked down the beach to the Islander and took pictures of the resorts along the way. The beach at the tri-royals was great prior to the reconstruction.

We also visited downs syndrome school/work program. You can see these pictures at: http://webpages.charter.net/apafhdem/

Thanks for sharing your Cancun photos. Fantastic ! Looks like Cancun beaches will be as good as in the past, perhaps better. We visited Cozumel briefly with a Carnival cruise two weeks ago but there is no comparable beach restoration work going on, at least not in the areas I have seen. A huge amount of restoration work remains to be done there.

Kola

Incredible pics. Thanks for sharing.

Boy am I glad I'm not going this year. Should be much better by next year. Thanks for the pics and updates. shaggy

Your pictures are great. These beaches are beautiful once all the work is finished. I enjoyed looking at the resorts and hotels too. Thank you so much for sharing.

Emmy

Thank you so much for the photos! These are the BEST photos of Cancun yet (and I've been looking everywhere!). We go to the Sands for 2 weeks (11,12) and now I'm much more relieved! The schedule for the sand recoverey project for the Royal Sands is right around the time we get there. It will be interesting to see that happen. The pic of a person at the Sands beach 6 feet below normal level will be HISTORY!!!
THANK YOU!

Thanks for posting the great pictures. The beach is going to be beautiful when it is completed.

Thanks...

Thank you for the great pictures! The beach looks great! I can't help but notice, however, how many hotels still have lots of damage. And how few people are on those beaches. Were the pictures a true showing of how far down the numbers of people visiting Cancun are? Or was it just a timinig issue and there are more people than what were caught in the pics?

Monica, Most of the pictures I took were early in the morning which is a time when there are a lot less people on the beach but they are a true showing of what I saw. Our resort seemed very full and so did the other Royals. The only resorts between the Sands and the Mayan that were open were: Meridien, GCP, and part of the Oasis. We were located in the part of the hotel zone (east side) that suffered the worst damage. The beaches were empty in front of the closed hotels but were busy in front of the Royals (the picture I took of the Royal Mayan beach was from very early in the morning). It was strange to see the beaches so empty in places. A lot of resorts on the north side were open and that area seemed very normal. Tourism is down due to the lack of available rooms but you could not tell this by the scene at the airport. Our plane was full and the airport was very busy. There were less people at restaurants and shops. I also talked with people that had a hard time finding a hotel room because the open hotels were booked. The entire length of Kukulkan Blvd. has been lined with new palms and street lights. Many of the resorts under reconstruction look or will look better than before.

Thanks

We're going in the first week of September for a long Labor Day weekend. The beaches look beautiful. We'll be staying at the Gran Melia. I haven't been to Cancun in lots of years and really looking forward to it.

Thanks for the pics!! We are going for the first time at the end of March and it looks like a lot of work is being done, so we will get a decent glimpse of what Cancun was really like before the hurricane. I was also thinking of visiting the Royal Sands for a tour, and must say that your photos make the resort look nicer than other photos I have seen elsewhere. Thanks again for posting.

Fantastic Pictures

Thanks for the great photo's. These are by far the best pic's I have seen of post Wilma Cancun. We are going to the Royals in April and I can't wait to get there.
There is another aspect of these pictures that really intrigues me. What I find so striking is the overall condition of the Royal Resorts as compared to the many major Hotels. Were the Royals built that much better than these Hotels??? It is quite a testimony to the origional planners of the Royal Resorts. They apparently prepared for the worst rather than hoping for the best. It just amazes me.

Mike

Yes, I think Wilma has proven that quality of construction and design can make a major difference during a strong hurricane. When we took the tour of the Sands the salesman explained to us how the building was built to withstand a hurricane. I guess he was right. We were very impressed with how well the Royals looked in comparison to the other resorts. Other than the lack of foliage and the beach erosion there were no signs of visible damage to the Royal Sands at all. The hurricane did break some of the steps to the beach but those have been repaired. All the Royals opened for business on November 5.

I was there for a week in December to do some volunteer work and am impressed at how far the hotel zone restoration has come in the last two months. The resilience of the Mexican people is amazing. I saw nothing but positive attitudes from all the locals I met.