Shawna

We are going on our honeymoon in July and are trying to choose our hotel. Which would you recommend the RH or the Gala? Is RH worth all the extra money?

joyce

Yes, Royal Hideaway is part of Leading Hotels of the World and an AAA 4 Diamond. It is also 13+ only. Gala is very nice and the food was good, they did not use top shelf liquor.<BR>My 2nd favorite would be Riu Palace.<BR>I adore the Iberostar Hotels but they do have children and are not a luxurious as the RH or Riu Palace.<BR>But Iberostar is where I stay, because of the gorgeous pools, food, drinks.<BR>I have stayed at RH, Iberostar Quetzal an Paraiso and Gala. I have inspected Riu Palace and sent many clients there.

Charlie McDarris

My wife and I just returned two weeks ago from the Gala and had looked into the Royal Hideway. The Gala had very nice facilities but the food was average at best and a couple of meals were bad. Most meals are served in one of two resturants. Even though they advertise 4 resturants on the property, you have to have reservations at the two speciality ones (Italian and Mexican Resturants). Reservations must be made 4 days in advance (although others were told 2 days in advance.) Once we got into each of the speciality resturants, the food was excellent. We were there for 5 days/4 nights so we only got to eat at the nice resturants 2 meals. Some of the staff at the Help Desk were rude and acted as if we were bothering them. Also, it is a family resort so there are a lot of kids. I would suggest an adults only resort (we have kids but did not take them. The adults only resorts are just a little more laid back and not as much "activity" ie screaming, running, etc.) On a positive note, the beaches are nice, the pools and facilities are clean. Maintanence crews were always working on something. We marked on the comment card that we would not recommend the resort to others and that was primarily because of the food. Otherwise it was a nice place to stay. If I were to go again to the area, which we are considering for next year. We will definitely stay at the Royal Hideway. We saw the gates of the RH but did not go in. We have heard it is a great place to stay. If you want to e-mail me with other questions, please do so but be sure to put "Gala Resort Question" in the RE line as this e-mail address usually gets a lot of junk mail and I only skim the RE lines and delete most of what I get. Hope my comments help. Congrats to you and hope you have great time. If you don't SCUBA dive, you and your fiance should take lessons. The diving was GREAT!!! <BR>

barbara

oh, that's not what I wanted to hear today. My family (incl. 2 teenage girls) will be at the Gala in 2 weeks. I would not anticipate having great food at an all inclusive, but have others had similar restaurant/help desk rudeness/screaming running kids experience at Gala? And if we make our restaurant reservations in advance of arriving, will we have trouble getting into specialty restaurants -- can we do that in advance?

Lisa

Royal Hideaway all the way. We just returned from PDC last week and were supposed to have stayed at the Royal Hideaway. They double booked themselves (not sure if this was on purpose to ensure occupancy...) and we were offered the Spa Palace or Riu Palace instead. Took the Riu option because of a better beach and the proximity to PDC. The Royal Hideaway allowed us to use their facilities and restaurants. And RH offered us a free week any time in the next year for the inconvenience.<BR><BR>Royal Hideaway is small, elegant and luxurious. The food is top notch and the beach is the best. The Riu Palace was okay but the evening meals were not good and the resort was simply too large for my taste.