Jeneric

First, let me apologize for being late in trip report. We had a tragedy that prevented me from having any free time to relate our experience.

So many trip reports helped me plan to go to the Royal Hideaway, that I wanted return the favor. We spent 8 nights in May for our 10th. I will try to include info that might not have been duplicated in an effort to be informative!

The beach at the RH was unbelievable. You could walk out at least a football field in length and it was still to my waist. (I?m 5?2?) Some days were a little rougher, some calm. Which was nice to see the ?different? each day. The water was crystal clear, small waves, and the beach is quite wide and very clean. We walked up and down the coastline, no one had a nicer beach. The beach attendants we right there to set up a shade canopy if you wished. Towels were plentiful, and no limit like some resorts that treat towels like they were gold.

All food and drinks are included in the room rate. The food was TOP NOTCH and all drinks were also top shelf. One guest requested a special cognac that they didn?t have, and the next day is magically appeared!

There is a box of flags as you enter the beach. Grab one! They don?t tell you, and we didn?t learn this until our 3rd day. Stick it in the sand, and voila, they will serve you an extensive lunch or drinks. You are not expected to tip. But we did tip a dollar each visit, they quickly learned our names and just started automatically bringing our drinks when they saw the flag. A nice perk, when you want to lounge all day on the beach without moving. Yeah, I know, it made us very lazy.

Room service was extremely fast, but by Mexican law, they can only bring glasses to your room, no bottles or cans. Therefore, you can?t ?stock up? your mini bar to prevent a bunch of calls to room service. But, that was ok. We learned the hard way ? we ordered 6 Coronas from room service, and they brought us 6 glasses of beer! They laughed and we laughed, nothing like learning the hard way!

Geeze, it sounds like all we care about are drinks ? not the case! It?s just that we enjoy having some cocktails on vaca, and they can quickly add up in cost. I won a cruise from work, and had to pay for my husband plus spend money. We spent more on the darn 3 star cruise than we did on this 5 star resort. So, yes, I?m a believer that this particular resort gave me my bang for my buck.

We got lucky and got the villa closest to the beach. After our 5th night, our concierge asked us if we would like to move to the honeymoon suite beachfront, free of charge. They moved everything for us, put 5 dozen roses in the room, flower petals in the Jacuzzi and bougenvilla plus champagne on our terrace. Wow, we felt special! Many people have said not to pay extra for an ocean view, I agree, but for us, it was important to be steps away from our room. Although the resort is pretty small, so any villa is close to the beach.

Actually, the suite wasn?t that much bigger than our first room. Both had a separate shower and Jacuzzi, nice bed, clean, clean room. And the air conditioner worked almost too well. Bring Cds! They provide none, and nothing on TV, if that?s important to you. They also provide iron/board and hairdryer that worked great.

We splurged and paid $300 for the beach private lobster dinner. 5 courses of lobster. That was our 15 minutes of fame. They combed the beach, set up a stereo, mood lighting, and 4 head waiters waiting in the background. Plus, a special cake at the end with a sugar cage over it. Honestly, the best desert I?ve ever consumed. Guest kept taking our pictures, we felt like movie stars. I can?t describe how wonderful these few hours were.

We loved all the food in the restaurants, if I had to pick my least favorite, it would be Ventanas. Not bad, just not as special as the others.

Nightlife is non-existent. But it?s just a $4 cab to Playa if you need it. We saw couples of all ages. We?re in our 30?s, and didn?t feel ?young or old?. Everyone was friendly, no stuffiness at all.

Activities are low key, and no pressure. There was a 2 day Mexican market set up at the pool. Pottery painting was available, and was locally made. The lady that made them was more than willing to explain how she creates these beautiful pieces.

If you want to soak in the numerous outdoor Jacuzzis around the property at night, just ask one of the attendants and they will be happy to turn the lights on for you. Obviously, you need to keep quiet for the other guests. They won?t wait on you, but that was ok, we just ordered room service before we went down.

The spa was excellent. I had a moisturizing treatment and my husband had something similar. They will be happy to fax you the complete spa menu if you wish.

We rented a car and went to Tulum. It was so incredibly hot, and the beach was very crowded. So we asked if there were a local beach close by. We found a local beach just 3 miles south. It was beautiful, and we had a locally made lunch that was fantastic. I have to admit that I was nervous I would get sick, but I didn?t. Tulum was about 40 minutes away. Next time we?ll do Chitzen Itza, but it?s an hour away. We also did the 2 hour quad ride in the jungle and swam in a cenote. The dust almost killed me, bring goggles if you are going to do this! You can?t buy or rent them. But, the cenote swim in the middle of the ride was wonderful. Wear those nylon beach shoes and you?ll be set to climb the rocks to the cenote. Also, they only take cash, not credit cards.

I?m not very well-travelled, but I?ve been to some nice places in my life. In my opinion, I don?t think I could find a classier resort, all inclusive or not. And, don?t let the rack rates scare you ? we called a golden apple agent listed on the apple website and they were able to give us a better rate than a regular local apple agent. I think the 8 nights cost us around $2600 not including airfare.

Sorry for the length, but my goal was to touch on some things that maybe were not in past reports. Thanks for reading, and I?ll be happy to answer any questions.

Jeneric

I apologize, I pasted this report and for some reason question marks are all thru my report. I did spell check, honest! Sorry for the no so easy reading.

powamom

Jeneric - you couldn't have said it any better - we have been to rh twice and hoping to go back again in july - after reading your trip report it makes me want to go even more thanks for bringing back all those wonderful memories of the royal hideaway

Mestizo

Great Info!! I'm planning my honeymoon (May '04), and am really leaning towards the RH. I hear a lot of discussion about Villa location, and I was wondering which one you stayed in. We'd love to be close to the beach, but would like as much privacy as possible.

Jeneric

We were in Villa 24, the absolute closest to the beach as you can get. Funny, that the presidential suite is not in this villa, it's on the other side behind the mexican restaurant. We emailed our request 2 weeks in advance, then gently asked again 4 days before along with our dinner reservations. I think we just got lucky. If you arrive at the resort early in the day, you may have a better chance, we got in on a Saturday, and by days end, the resort was overbooked. I even had them fax me a property map, so you can see in advance the locations of the villas. They really are all the same, just some are closer. But there's nothing like forgetting something while you're on the beach and taking just one minute to run to your room for it! Yes, we're very lazy on vaca. We went in the off season, and our concierge told us that the resort overbooks at least twice a month regardless of season. Our friends were offered 4 nights free on a future stay just to move to Cancun for their last night. We were offered too, but declined, since it was our last night. They even shuttled them back to the resort that night so they could still eat at the resort instead of the hotel. Hindsight is 20-20, but we should have taken the 4 nights free future stay! They'll start with offering one night free, but you can barter up to 4, at least that's the highest we heard. But, they certainly don't pressure you to leave, but they start with existing guests, so they can make room for new guests. They actually had to turn some people away, but I know they got a really good future deal because of it. Apparently, it's a risk when booking with an agent, the resort doesn't always receive all of the reservations until it's too late. To make a very long story short, ask for villa 24!

Mestizo

So did you book directly through the resort? I'm dealing with Tramex, and a smaller local shop, and all their pricing is identical. I'm lookig at May 12-19, roundtrip from Austin (TX), and am getting $4316.26 plus insurance. It's a Funjet package, but its using Continental, because of the more flexible return flights.
Does that price sound good/average?

Jeneric

Actually, that does sound high to me. We paid $2600 not including airfaire for 8 nights. We flew direct both ways from Pittsburgh, a lot further than Texas! If you are a price shopper, go on to the apple vacations website, find a golden apple agent in california, and give them a call. This is what I did, and they were far cheaper than any other place we found. Especially for May, the off season. Just a suggestion, I know you are booking with higher rates because of the new year, but that still really does sound high, especially if it's not a direct flight, you live so close! Hope this helps somewhat. Maybe I just got lucky when I booked last year.

almesq

I recently booked a trip to RH for this April through travel-center.com, it's the site for the Cancun hotel association. Their rates were lower than anything I saw elsewhere, and their service was great.

CarolineW

Hi Jeneric, thanks so much for posting your trip report. My hub and I are going to the RH for a week in Apr for the 1st time and the info about the villa, etc. is very helpful. I have a ? about Tulum; is that a trip you would recommend? Do you get to actually tour the ruins there? Also, what is a "cenote"? I have seen that in several posts...

Thanks!

Markt

Hello CarolineW,
A cenote is basically a hole in the ground with water in it. They are like a very large well and there are many across the Yucatan. It's like going for a swim in a giant cave. I've stayed at RH and I think you'll really enjoy it. Tulum is ok but Chichen Itza is alot more interesting. The only problem with Chichen Itza is that it's a long drive from PDC. I recommend the luxury bus tour. It costs more then some of the others but it's comfortable with big seats, A/C and all inclusive beverages. If you take this tour you will stop for a swim in a cenote.

CarolineW

Hi Markt, thanks for your info! We will most definitely check out the bus tours.

I have another general question; we've never been to Mexico and I'm unsure whether we should bring lots of US dollar bills for tipping or if we should change the $$ into Mexican pesos when we get there. Which do waiters, bellhops, concierges, etc. prefer? If anyone can give me some advice on that I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Markt

Buisiness takes me around the world so I have gotten into the habit of always carrying US$ where ever I go. But your question is being widely debated a little further up the list. See "Need advice from fellow Canadian"