Kids and Cancun?

My girlfriend , her hubs and their two kids 6 & 8 yr olds are there right now in a time share at a resort. They have been sending the most amazing pics all week, having the best time, lots of kids to play with, plus kid stuff to do. This resort I don't know te name has an infiniti pool the kind that youo can walk in like you are on the beach starts ankle deep and gets deeper as you are going in. They went out of the resort to an aquarium and had a blast. Her hubs loves to grill, so since they are in a "villa" they've been grilling every night. Go have a great time, they are LOVING it and I am jealous daily(lol)

I would be weary of Mexico.... lots of kidnapping and killings going on esp towards American travelers.... I am not sure to where everything is but google Mexico kidnappings... US Department of State issued has issued many Warnings to Americans. Here is one link

http://www.bajainsider.com/baja-california-travel/mexico-...

fyi

We've been to Cancun 3 times. Needless to say we like it. We live in Oregon so it isn't a quick flight. First time with out kids, second with just one she was 5, third with two kids 8 and 2 years old. It is a great place for kids. It is safe, clean, friendly. The hotels are right on the beach, you can go from pool to beach and back to the pool. You don't need to go far from your hotel. It was nice to be so close for nap time. There are buses that go straight up and down the hotel strip to the restaurants. Buses are cheap, restaurants are not. You wouldn't have to go from your hotel if you didn't want to. As long as you aren't going Spring Break you aren't going to find big the party crowds. We ever took our kids to Senior Frogs, Carlos and Charlies, and Margaritaville for dinner early in the evening before the partying started. We don't ever drink. The kids had a blast watching the singing and dancing.

The first two times we went the beaches were wonderful. The third the sand had washed way from a hurricane. They were rebuilding the beaches, some were beautiful again. Our hotel's beach was fine, some weren't. They might be done with all of them now. Check it out, old pictures were posted on the net.

Have a Great Time!!!

I am going to respond both as a parent and as a travel agent who frequents the Cancun/Riviera Maya area.

I have a 6 year old daughter and would not hesitate to take her to that area if the opportunity arose. The food at the resorts and restaurants are safe as they do have fairly strict health code that they must maintain.

As for the water, everyone drinks and uses bottled water for everything even the native Mexican's drink bottled water. Most of the resorts have filtering systems on their water so that things like brushing your teeth, etc. should not make you sick.

I have been several times the most recently in June and have never gotten ill from food or water or any other reason.

As far as it being safe, it is like anywhere else you go even here in the US. You have to be aware of your surroundings/environment. I live in Fort Worth and there are areas here that I would never go to because they pose a higher criminal risk than traveling to a popular tourist destination.

I say go for it and enjoy!

You will do fine and kids will love it...took my 2 year old there for two weeks and she did great! It is so americanized down there...you can almost always find people who speak english. The food is pretty safe and EVERYONE drinks bottled water even the mexicans so it is not hard to come by. You most likely won't get sick if you eat hotel/restaurant food but could get sick if you eat street vendor food. The hotels and restaurants livelihood depends on tourists and the last thing they want is a bunch of unhappy tourists that get sick and never come back. There is plenty of family things to do. Don't worry about kidnappings etc. that is in the north and mexico city...but be wise and don't leave kids alone. Your kids will have a blast...but i do recommend personal dvd players for flight down and back and pay for the upgrade to first class 50$ extra but soooooooooo worth it b/c little 2 year old won't spend flight kicking someone in back and SEATS are so much BIGGER

also if you are worried about kids getting sick you can prefill a prescription to bring down with you of antibiotics for kids and yourself. I had Kaiser insurance and we got extra shots (measels is big in Mexico) and prefilled some antibiotic and antidiarreal medication for kids and myself and brought it down with me just in case)

We went to Cozumel in May, friends took their kids to Playa del Carmen in June (near Cancun), other friends took kids to Cancun in July, and we have more friends going in a couple days with their kiddos - totally safe. The violence is in the border towns, Cancun is not affected. Use normal precautions; don't walk around remote areas after dark, drink bottled water, always be aware of your surroundings, etc etc. Oh, and we drank frozen concoctions for an entire week (doubt the ice was from bottled water) - never got sick once, no one we talked to at our resort got sick either.

Go, have fun!

Cancun is great!! It is really family friendly and it is a tourist destination. A lot of things can be done, with and without children, you will all love it. I hope you all have fun and enjoy the beaches, and archeological places, they are super pretty and you can buy "artesanias" crafts super cheap and sell them for a great profit (ebay) good luck!
UPDATE On the topic of violence, it is mostly northern border cities, that are really violent, but be careful though!!

Hi Jaime,
I am from Cancun, I didn't born there but live many years on there and with my now 12 year old girl.
If it is true that Mexico can be dangerous (all countries have dangerous areas) Cancun is one of the most turist friendly places.
We had 2 very busy times with American and European tourist : Spring Brake and Blue's fest.
National tourist go there around Jun-Jul and April, some December but not as much.
So I think you would do ok if you are going now.
There is lots of things to do in there for kids, and most people speak English (with very heavy accents of course, lol).
I know you have to be careful with the water (drink only bottle water because our water is not the same then here), stay in the Hotel Zone, and use the bus instead of taxi, taxi are actually very cheap in there "for us" but they would charge you more if you are tourist (sad but true), and the bus are very clean and not expensive.
If you need more info feel free on PM.
Have fun
EDIT:
The places where you wouldn't want to go and i wouldn't go either are Mexico City (DF) and any of the states that are in the border with USA, but Cancun is relatively safe, Mexican goverment actually put effort to keep it save because is an important income of money and works for many Mexicans, many American and European are retiring in Cancun, in fact, hopefully we will retire there :0)
EDIT AGAIN: I am not sure where JL husband stay, but my now husband went to Cancun A LOT, when were dating (he is an American and we were dating for more than a year), he did got VERY sick ones, when I took him to my favorite restaurant, lol.
But he never got sick from brushing his teeth.
But I agree, every time you travel you have to be careful. I have been here for so long that even when I go there I am careful, lol.