Sal,

Check Trip Advisor:  http://www.tripadvisor.com/

My wife, daughter (then 3) and I did a week at the Gala Playacar last Jan.
Here's a partial trip report:

Just returned from 7 days in Playacar, Quintana Roo, Mexico. We booked a
7-day AI trip with Apple at the Gala Resort Playacar:
http://www.applevacations.com/servlet/SiteController/hotels/hotels.jsp?HotelCode
=200333

Our flight was a very early 5:00a from DEN via Allegiant. We checked in at
3:15a. We arrived at Cancun about 9:30a, through Customs, then a van 40
miles south to the resort. Check-in was quick, they took our luggage to the
room, then into swimsuits and on the beach before noon. Days were 85?F/29?C,
nights 70?F/21?C, partly sunny most of the week. Nice tradewinds from the
east, no bugs.

The Gala is the furthest south in Playacar (460 rooms), with an empty beach
to the south. The Iberostar next door to the north (composed of 2 resorts)
was more crowded on the beach, the Riu (composed of 3 resorts with 1500+
rooms) just north of it was packed (sea of lounge chairs & bodies).
Elisabeth spent some time at the Galaxy Kids Club, a fenced/gated area with
toys, sandboxes, slides, forts, 2 kids pools, movie and crafts room and
lunch facilities. For 3 or 4 days, we dropped her off at the Kids Club late
morning, then pick her up 3 or 4 hours later.

The hotel offers sailboats, ocean kayaks, wind surfers, jet skis,
paragliding, etc. There's a couple of dive shops a short walk up the beach,
diving both the local reef and trips to Coz. Boats will pick you up at the
resorts. There were also day trips to Tulum, Coba, Xcarat, Chizen Itza, etc.

The hotel has 2 a la carte [adults only, slacks req'd] and 3 buffet
restaurants - we ate at the buffet's. The food was good and nice variety. We
caught a taxi 3 nights (about $4) to Playa del Carmen Calle 5, a pedestrian
street with souvenir shops, jewelry stores and restaurants.

We were up Saturday at 5:30a to catch a bus back to Cancun, through a long
check in (they hand-searched all checked luggage), then back to DEN. We
would go back to the Gala again.

Don

There are a lot of places in Akumal. We stayed at Hotel Club Akumal
Caribe in a bungalow on the beach, and were happy. It is clean and all
of the furniture is concrete with matresses or cushions, but we were
there to dive and it served our purposes well. They also have a regular
hotel there. I have also stayed at Casa Luna Azur and was happy. I also
rented a little apartment with a grass roof for $140/week. There are
also a lot of houses and condos for rent - Google will find them, or try
Travel Services of Akumal.

The beach at Akumal is small and quiet and is perfect for kids - there
are no waves and it would be hard for kids to get lost. you can go
snorkeling there, and there are 2 dive shops right on the beach. I've
always used The Akumal Dive Shop. The Akumal Dive Center is a minute or
2 walk down the beach.

The diving is laid back and easy. There is mostly patch reef, which is
in good shape. There are times when you don't see many fish there
though. I saw fish there in the fall, but not in June. Others have
complained about the lack of fish. For something different, try a cenote
tour with one of the shops. The cenotes are spectacular. A more advanced
dive is the wall off of Akumal - the top is at 200 ft. I have never ever
seen snapper and grouper as big as what I saw there.

If you have any questions about specifics, fire away. I love that place.