Royalton Riviera Cancun

Stayed here due to a delay for a day. Boy did we wish we'd booked here instated. The hotel was amazing. Exceptionally clean rooms. The food was out of this world! So much choice! The grounds were clean and plenty going on. Lots of families around and the staff where great with us! Just wish we had longer!!! Highly recommended!!!

I visited the Royalton Riviera Cancun between June 9th and 16th. It was our second visit in 8 months. The hotel itself is amazing! Very luxurious rooms, delicious restaurants, amazing pools and very good and friendly staff. Unfortunately, this will probably be my last visit because of the seaweed problem. I do understand that it is not the hotel’s fault and it saddens me that I will not go back but it is what it is… I will give more detail on that at further on in my review. Check-In Prior to my visit, I used the Room Selector to select two connecting rooms in building 9. Part of the reason why we went back to this hotel is that we can choose our rooms. We had a room for me, my husband and 4 year old boy and the connecting room was for my mother. We had chosen (and paid) for two Luxury Junior Suite Swim-Up. I had the payment receipt with me and I suggest you do the same is you use the room selector. Why? Because upon checking-in, we were told that the system only had one of the rooms in the file and that the other room was not available… Must I say that I was really disappointed… I must say that I was amazed at how they resolved the issue and I have to say a big THANK YOU to Zuri and Paola, who resolved the issue. We got a little upgrade in the same building. (Presidential Suite Swim-Up connecting to a Luxury Junior Suite Swim-up). The whole time, I stayed polite, did not yell and treated them with respect. Did it help, I think so! Thanks again!! Pools and Beach The pools are amazing!!!!! If you have kids, they will love the slides and everything in it. Thank God that the pools are amazing because the beach is AWFULL. There is 2 meters of dead seaweed on the beach and the water is brown and full of seaweed. And I am not exaggerating… Look at the picture included in this review! We thought it would not be a big problem because we don’t really swim in the sea that much with a 4 year old but we were wrong. A 4 year old kid loves to play in the sand… And sitting there with him, it was horrible because of the smell of the dead seaweed. It really saddens me… I hope that we find a way to stop this seaweed problem because I can really see it become a problem for tourism… For us, we are not going back there, solely because of that. Swim-up rooms: Is it worth it? YES!!! We spent all our late afternoons in our swim-up pools! Our kid loved it, and us too! Building 9 gets the sun all afternoon. Restaurants The buffet is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! Really, I have never seen so much delicious food available! We loved it!!! We also tried these “à la carte” restaurants: Gratsie: Italian restaurant. The food is delicious! We celebrated our son’s 4th birthday and every waiter sang happy birthday in English and Spanish! The even had a special cake for him. Zen: Asian restaurant. The food is amazing!!!! But we did not try the Teppenyaki (show). Armadillo: Tex Mex restaurant: The food is good!! Opa: Mediterranean restaurant: The food was OK, but less good that when we went in October… Drinks The drinks are usually really good. I sometimes felt like they were in a hurry so not all the drinks we ordered were good… But most of them. Only one thing bothered me: they are trying to take an environmental turn and they stopped giving straws with the drinks. I agree that it’s the right thing to do for our Mother Earth but have I been made aware before, I would have brought my reusable straw from home. I prefer to drink my mojito with a straw… So what I did is I managed to score a few straws and I reused them all week long! Bring you reusable straw if this bothers you like me ;) Tipping We tipped almost every time (for drinks) with a 20 pesos. We tipped every time at the buffet with a 20 pesos. We tipped every time at the “à la carte” restaurant with a 50 pesos. We tipped every day in our room with a 20 pesos or a 50 pesos in the morning and with a 20 pesos in the evening for the turndown service. We also gave 20 pesos to the “minibar” guy on 3 occasions. I feel like they don’t really expect a tip and they would offer you the same great service without tip. But I still think that a tip here and there is really appreciated. Special Thanks I would like to say a special thanks to these employees who really contributed to making our stay wonderful!! Zuri and Paola from Front Desk: Thank you for your patience and efficiency Armando, José and Anabel (waiters at the bar near building 9): we had fun with you! Valentin, Isidoro and Samuel from the buffet: Valentin is the sweetest guy! And Isidoro and Samuel are excellent! Placido from Gratsie: Thank you for making my son’s 4 year old anniversary amazing! Victor and Jesus from Zen: Excellent service! Erick and Ruben from Hunter: Excellent service! Alma, our excellent room cleaning lady! Thank you so much for you EXCELLENT work!