polyphemus

Hi --

Going to Royal Hideaway with my wife in one week. Can't wait!

Couple of questions:

1) What is the best way to get there from Cancun airport? The resort suggested a shuttle that costs $80...is there a better way?

2) Are reservations for the restaurants necessary in advance or can we book the day we arrive?

3) Is the dress code mentioned on the site at the restaurants enforced (i.e. no jeans for men etc).

4) Is tipping an every meal type thing or an end of stay type thing?

5) Anything else we should know?

Thanks!

eileen

I would book your reservations for at least the first few nights before you go. The resort is usually at capacity and we got stuck with 6:30 or 9:30 dinner times, if you want a better time like 7:30 or 8:00 book ahead. We didn't tip at any meals, mostly because they don't present you with a bill and no one else seemed to be leaving any money. However, we brought lots of dollar bills and tipped the beach servers. Many people were not doing this either but the servers were busy and we wanted them to keep coming back to us, it seemed appreciated. We also tipped housekeeping. We had transfers included in our package with Liberty Travel but there are a lot of shuttles available at the airport, $80 for two roundtrip seems about right (it's quite a distance), $80 for one-way seems very high.

Diana

$80 one way is too high. If that price is rt, it's OK.

Otherwise, you can do much better...

Ryberg

Actually I would say that 80 is not so far off the mark if you're talking private, pre-arranged transportation with a properly licensed and reliable service. Probably it's inflated a bit due to being arranged through the hotel, with payment made to the hotel, etc. But is it just for you or is it for a number of guests arriving at the same time and also going to RH?

Of course there are private (taxi) or non-private (van) options available without a reservation when you hit the ground in Cancun. Some of these are legitimate (Chac Mool and Transterra being the two officially allowed to operate cars and taxis in the airport, currently, without a prior booking) and are fully bonded and insured and all of that. Others are "pirates" (quickly recognizable as not being either of those companies and because they'll demand cash payment rather than any option to pay by card and get a proper receipt at stands in the airport) and will be stopped upon exiting the airport grounds with passengers (unless they know someone on the inside), resulting in delays and other problems, and may not be fully bonded and insured, etc. (Occasionally I've heard horror stories about people who went with these!) In either case, there's no real guarantee that you'll get someone who knows where he's going or is appropriately helpful, or at least no recourse (namely a hotel backing it up) if that is the case. And with a non-private van, you may get a great deal or you may be the last one to be dropped off at your hotel a couple of hours later.

So I think it's a question of the precise nature of the service being offered and of your personal preferences in terms of service, reliability, payment, etc.

Steve

polyphemus

It is just my wife and I. The shuttle was the one recommended by the hotel and appears to be $80 one way but private.

Ryberg

Well then again I'd say that's not very far off. Many legitimate and reliable services of that nature running between Cancun and Playa would charge in the neighborhood of US 70 one way. Most of them will give you a bit better deal on a round trip (one I know of that's 70 one way is 115 round trip, for example).

Steve