Can highly recommend the Royal Playa Del Carmen and it's sister hotel the Royal Cancun. Website http://www.realresorts.com

Thank you, that looks amazing, but its about 50% over my budget

Kim,
We are beach lovers and so I always research reviews and other travelers' tales before we commit.
We have been to both the Caribbean and Egypt, which satisfy your requirements in different ways - snorkelling is better at some of the beach hotels in Egypt for example.

Sticking to the Caribbean, we found the sand at Bajahibe on the South of the Dom Rep to be softer than that on the East Coast, although my only personal comparison was with a day trip to Macao Beach when the sand dried on my feet on the way back to the hotel and by the time I reached the room, my feet were severely damaged by the rubbing. We stayed at the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus, which has its own thread somewhere. It had a nice beach with an artificial reef created out of things like large strawberry pots to attract the fish in, but there are other excellent hotels in the area with different facilities etc.
However the sea is calmer on the South coast, which is why we had to go to Macao for body boarding waves.

We have also been to the Mexican Riviera Maya staying at the Coba. The beach was still in recovery mode from the previous years Hurricane, so it was OK, not brilliant, but we chose the location so we could enjoy swimming at Xel Ha and Xcarat.

I have mentioned in a different post that one year I got pie eyed and fed up looking for a good holiday I could afford, so in the end I contacted the Caribbean Warehouse with lots of preferences and questions.
As there are only 2 of you you will not have the same problems I had, but very quickly the CW cleared up why I was having problems getting dates etc, offered me better alternatives from their personal experience and did not get upset when I started throwing different destinations and requirements into the mix. To cap it all they saved me a lot of money on the main TOs as well.

I tried them again for my 2009 holiday and for my 2009 trip, I gave them a target budget for 2 weeks luxury A/I in Mexico or DR of approximately £1700 per couple! They came back with an offer which was reasonably close (£2k) along with valid reasons why they could not do better for those dates: thank you Swine Flu! I did not really want to go to the extra expense, hence our then change of destination to Cuba which wasn't even on their books. Even so, although they did not personally endorse my destination of choice (the Playa Pesquero area of Cuba), they still went out and got me a Thomas Cook package, including all the extras, at a much better price than TC were offering anywhere. They fully explained that they were not actively recommending due to customer reviews and feedback but I had done my own research and was happy to continue and take a chance.
Both my Caribbean Warehouse holidays were excellent: the first was better than the main TOs as it was arranged through local companies, we had the same rooms and facilities etc, but our reps were locals and had better rapport with the area; and the second was a main TOs and we were treated the same as every other customer.

If you can get a list of your requirements along with best dates for travel and a couple of researched suggestions, it may be worth your while contacting the CW to see if they can assist in your choice. If you have already prepriced some packages for reference so much the better!

Whatever you decide, make sure you then research the hotel first before you book as there is even a current tale on here of a beach hotel where the beach was closed for refit etc.

Good Luck