Mayan Riviera, help

[ChilliSpoons]

Looking for recommendations.

We’re wanting to do a10 day trip to the Mayan Riviera for this coming February. We typically travel to Huatulco and love it but this year the wife wants to experience the blue waters of the Caribbean.
We prefer smaller remotes and aren’t interested in swim up bars or pool side drinking games led by a guy with a megaphone. We do enjoy our beach side cocktails but don’t need to be entertained. We also find less kids running around to be somewhat appealing.
We would like to find a resort within an hour of the airport with decent food and not crazy expensive.
Also, with the amount of resorts and flights in and out of YVR is it worth waiting for a last minute deal?

 

[Aquaholic]

Go to Playa Del Carmen. Cancun is Vegas on the beach, high rises and nightclubs. PDC is mostly low rise buildings in a fishing village. From out in the water, the town looks great with the open skyline. Cobblestone streets in some areas, the town is a short walk from many resorts, the vendors know you are a resort guest (wrist band) and don’t hard sell, but when the guests arrive on a cruise ship for a few hours, it’s interesting to watch them work them. The biggest difference I noticed from a holiday on the westcoast of Mexico is that the staff and the tourists are from other parts of the world, lots of Europeans, a lot of Scandinavian kids working in the resorts, locals too of course. It’s just a different feel, and the color of the water due to the shell beach is amazing. No offense to anyone, but on the westcoast, you are going to meet Joe from Abbotsford, and Fred and Mary from Calgary or Edmonton. On the Caribbean side it really is an international feel, all these accents and styles in the smaller villages, folks from the eastern seaboard too. The ferry to Cozumel gives day travel options. The muddy water on the east coast beach is hard to take once you've seen the blue water.