Originally Posted by OEBB

The beach was awesome. Beautiful sand and no seaweed at all. We also stayed at the Banyan Tree Mayakoba and both times we've been down there they seem to have a bit of a seaweed problem (which they manage ok).

Beach and pool service was good, but not excellent. Food and drink were fine, but you have to make somewhat of an effort to get attention which shouldn't be necessary at 47% occupancy.

There were a few families there, but it was mostly couples and the families that were there were mostly teenage kids and up.

ETA: I can't comment on beach chair comfort as we spent most of our time in chairs by the pool (the sand gets extremely hot), but there was never an issue getting a beach chair when we went even in the middle of the day. That may not be the case during busier times.

Originally Posted by rbw5t

I've stayed at both, but it's been a long time, so my impressions might be out of date. We stayed at the JW first and enjoyed it -- stayed at the Ritz the next time and enjoyed it even more. This was in my pre-loyalty days, so nothing special at either in terms of upgrades, Club, etc. If you're looking for quieter, fewer families (kids), etc, then Ritz seems like the clear choice. There is some food walking distance, or you can cab north to where there are more options. Locations are pretty close to each other, so no real difference there. I don't have anything bad to say about the JW based on my one stay, but for equal money Ritz seems like the way to go.