My husband, myself, and our 3 boys (ages 12, 8, and 6) stayed at the Royal Sands April 26th thru May 3rd and had a pretty good time.

First time in Mexico and was a little nervous about what to expect. I will say this, the Cancun immigration/customs is a nightmare so be prepared to wait and wait and wait. After a 3 1/2 hour flight and travel to get aboard that 3 1/2 hour flight, my family was anxious to get to the resort and hang out and eat! Well we went down the stairs of the airport and were greeted with a huge line for immigration. I had crabby kids and two parents who trying with all their might to stay positive. Note: there is no place to even grab a snack while waiting in line. We waited for about 1 hour 20 minutes. What they say about the airport moochers is so true. Everyone stops you and tries to get you to take their tour or their shuttle service. I was never more happier to see our man in yellow! We chose Thomas Moore and I feel we made a good choice. We went with others on the shuttle which wasn't a problem and waited no more than 5 minutes.

Arrived at Resort and was greeted with cold bottled water which was nice. We were taken to our room (2 bedroom/2 bath villa on 2nd floor) by our concierge and called for luggage which was brought up later. We ordered a pizza as soon as we got to our room and they brought it up in 15 minutes. Pizza was pretty good.

I am not going to go into everything, I will highlight what we liked and did not like.

Liked: phase II pool definitely....less crowded and always found loungers. Pool restaurant was good and we ate there almost everyday for lunch. Ocean and beach absolutely beautiful despite not having much beach but by far the best sand my boys have played in. We saw one jellyfish swimming by us and that was it. LOVED Xcaret tour. This is a must if you visit Mexico. My boys thought this place was the best although wish we would have gone a 2nd day as we didn't fit everything in that we wanted to. The show at night is fantastic. My boys also liked the pottery painting by the pool and a few of the other kids activities. Hacienda Sisel...great food. Resort area very clean. The staff is always cleaning around the outdoor premises. They work very hard and are always willing to please. Cannot say enough about the staff! We enjoyed playing tennis and sailing which was complimentary.

Disliked: I don't know why but you do have the people who get up at 7:30 am and put their towels down on loungers. Phase I is always packed. I thought the resort in the morning was pretty noisy. We were woken up most mornings at 6-6:30 because of doors slamming. Not much to do for kids in the Cancun area. Did not like the beach vendors. I am on vacation and don't want to be whistled at or hearing "hey" every 15 minutes to get my attention to buy something. To add to this, this is a timeshare and they will pressure you each day to come and listen to their presentation. I felt like I was "hunted down" everyday until finally by midweed I politely said I wasn't interested in buying a timeshare and that I just wanted to enjoy my family and my vacation. He left us alone for the last 2 days which was nice.
Villa could have used some updating. The tv's were small and were broken half the time and didn't offer a lot by way of kids shows when my kids wanted to chill in the a.m. before heading out for our day. Did not like the dampness, sheets were damp feeling every night, floor was sticky, clothes were damp in suitcase. Had to pay $50.00 to use the fitness area. Only other royal resort we visited was club international which was yucky. Small pool and the beach had too much seaweed and the sand wasn't as nice as the Royal Sands.

All in all had a good time.

I understand why this is one of the top ranked places to stay in Cancun. It was just what we were looking for and more. We initially booked our trip at the JW Marriott using points. Since we were using airline vouchers, this was sort of a “free” vacation. About 2 weeks before we left, I found a last minute rental at the Royal Sands for the entire 2 bedroom villa. The unit was beachfront and it was too good to pass up. We are so glad we made the switch€€ It was plenty of room for the 4 of us – and we loved it.

People weren’t kidding when they talked about the airport on a Saturday afternoon. It took about 2 hours to get through Immigration and collect our luggage. Surprisingly, after about 90 minutes in line at Immigration, we still had to wait another half hour for our luggage. Customs was a breeze with the green light and through the doors we went. Thankfully I read here not to make eye contact with the people as we exited the airport – boy, were they aggressive. And they make is sound like it is urgent. We just kept walking and headed outside the building.

Arrival & Transfers

We used USA Transfers (via Entertainment Plus) for private airport transfers. At $65 round trip, this was less than Thomas More (Sands in house travel agency) at $12pp each way. The pick up area outside the building was chaos. I looked for our name on a sign, but didn’t see it. I looked for someone with USA Transfers on their shirt, but didn’t see it. I looked for the phones to call them, but couldn’t find them either. I walked around and finally a nice gentleman with Best Day Tours asked me who I was looking for. He brought me right over to the USA Transfers greeter. He didn’t have a sign with our name on it – and the signs he was holding up for other people were blocking the company name on his shirt, which made it difficult to spot him. We waited about 10 minutes or so and were on our way.
We arrived at The Royal Sands just after 4pm. They greeted us with cold bottled water which was great. A few minutes at the front desk and we were off. I was surprised they didn’t ask for a credit card at check-in. In fact, I went to hand it to her and she told me I just settle the bill at the end of the week. Pretty trusting on their part. Our concierge met us at the elevator and walked us to our room. A quick call for the luggage and it was there in less than 5 minutes. Our refrigerator was stocked with the items I had pre-ordered online. We unpacked, enjoyed our view and made a quick stop at the Royal Market for a few additional items.

Villa

The Villa was very spacious and immaculate. The kitchen was well stocked. My only complaint was the beds! OMG, they were like sleeping on a slab of concrete. I finally fixed this by laying the blanket (stored in the walk in closet) on the mattress and sleeping on top of that. I checked the mattress and it actually had an egg crate on it already – not that it helped. The beds are the one thing they should really consider upgrading. Otherwise, the villa was fantastic. We had a 3rd floor beachfront and the view was amazing. The balcony off the suite is enormous! I enjoyed eating breakfast out there or enjoying a corona before we headed to dinner. Housekeeping was great too. I brought money in pesos and tipped each day. According to the resort, the suggested tip is $5 (US) per day if the villa is fully occupied. For such a large area, we left a little more and our housekeeper even washed a couple of glasses and bowls we had left in the sink. (They generally do not clean the kitchen.)

Orientation

We went to the orientation on Sunday morning as suggested by others on TA. It was okay – but I think we could have skipped it. We (or at least I) had already figured out what we were planning to do, where to go, how to get there, etc., from everyone on TA. If you haven’t been reading posts on TA, this is an informative session – otherwise, I think it could be skipped.

Welcome Party

The welcome party at the Phase I pool was a lot of fun. They had 2 stations set up with free drinks which quickly had long lines. They also set up a grill area where you could order lunch items. This was surprisingly quick and efficient! The staff collected invitations for some raffle prizes – mostly t-shirts, but one family won a tour on a private yacht!

Managers Cocktail Party

The managers cocktail party was okay. They gave out t-shirts and talked about the new Haciendas. Here was where our concierge made his one and only pass at selling to us. We politely declined and that was that. (Even though we are interested in buying a week there, we know better than to buy through the resort!)

Pool , Beach & Activities

We stayed in Phase I all week. The pool is fantastic. The lap pool is really nice although there were lots of kids jumping in and out there. The infinity edge is beautiful, although you can’t get the full feel for it (i.e. the view of the ocean) with all of the lounge chairs there. The Phase I pool has a really cool feature – along all the sides is a ledge that is only about 12 inches deep or so. They have lounge chairs you can put right in the pool so you don’t melt from the heat! Fantastic design! The two swim up bars are quite large – you could always get a seat at either one. The pools were rather chilly all week – we learned mid-week that the heater wasn’t working, but it was fixed on our departure day. I imagine most of the time you wouldn’t miss the heater, but it was pretty cloudy and windy – and sometimes down right chilly, so it was a little cold for me. My kids couldn’t care less! They had a blast. They have plenty of waiters walking around the pool area taking drink orders and food orders. They were never bothersome but always available. The service was A+.

The beach was nice, but as the week went on, the rocks became more apparent. Each day, there were several red flags but always one yellow flag posted. My kids loved walking out to chest deep water and jumping through the waves. Next time we will bring/buy boogie boards – that would have been a blast!
The ceramics area near the Phase I pool were great. I had read about them but honestly didn’t think we would do it. WRONG! All of us painted at least one item and my kids each painted 3. They are all displayed around the house now. The staff does a really nice job of “cleaning up” your pottery if you aren’t a natural Picasso. They made them look professionally done.

Spa/Gym

Both DH and I visited the spa for massage treatments. The spa was among the nicest I have seen and my hot stone massage (80 minutes) was pure bliss. My husband purchased the weekly pass to the gym and thought the equipment was excellent. It was never very crowded even during the AM hours. He also took advantage of the hot tub and sauna on his workout the last day to relieve his sore muscles before our flight home.

Dining

We ate dinner at La Veranda the first night and weren’t thrilled with it. It was a salad and pasta bar – or you could order steak, I think. We got the pasta bar which was mediocre. My son, however, thought his shrimp scampi was fabulous. He must have because he went up for seconds and thirds!
The chips and salsa and guacamole at the pool side (also at The Char Hut) were delicious! I didn’t care for the burgers, but the grouper sandwich was amazing. We also ordered carne asada quesadillas from In Villa dining one night – delicious and quick delivery!

We went to the Mexican show at Hacienda Sisal. The buffet was plentiful and the service was great. We made reservations for 7pm which was perfect. We were able to watch and listen to the mariachi band while we ate, then see the show. This was a great time and we will definitely return.

Our best meal of the week was at Captains Cove. The menu had a great selection, the food quality was superb and the service was perfect. The ease of the shuttle bus was fantastic.

Excursions

We did 2 days of excursions – private tour of Chichen Itza through Entertainment Plus, and Joe’s Jeep Adventure. Both were fantastic! I’ve posted separate reviews for each of those in “Things to Do” if you want to hear more.

Miscellaneous

I’ve saved the best for last – if you’re still reading this!!! On Thursday night I fell off property and badly sprained my foot. When the cab pulled up to the door, security saw me hobbling and immediately got me a wheelchair. The security guard (I wish I got his name) took such great care of me. He took me to a house phone in the lobby and helped me call the doctor on call. The doctor returned my call (to the front desk) in less than 5 minutes. She was on her way to Club International, but said she would be at The Sands in about 45 minutes. A manager came up to ask if I was okay. I immediately assured him it hadn’t happened on The Sands property – but it became immediately apparent, that wasn’t the source of his concern. He was genuinely concerned for my well being. That was a surprise to me – I guess I am used to Americans who are just afraid of being sued or I’m just a little too cynical. The security guard pushed me back to the room and said he would direct the doctor to our villa when she arrived. The doctor was there earlier than promised. After assessing it was not broken and just a bad sprain, she wrapped it in an ace bandage and gave me a couple of prescriptions. Amazingly, DH brought the Rx to the front desk and they were delivered to the hotel within about 20 minutes! The manager called to follow up to make sure we were all set. We were able to keep the wheelchair until we left on Saturday.
I was so impressed by the way we were treated and how the staff went above and beyond to make sure we were all set. I was already impressed with The Sands, but this completely won me over. So much so, we came home, did some research and bought a week so we can go back again and again!

We traded our timeshare to stay at the Royal Sands. The trade was confirmed almost a year out, so we were surprised to be put in a villa that overlooked a large patio open to all guests, with no view of the pool and only a minimal view of the ocean. We returned to the front desk to be told that we would have to wait until Monday when Interval International, the timeshare trading organization, was open to make any room changes. Since we were checking in on Saturday, this was not acceptable and we spoke on the phone with a Royal Resorts manager who got us into a much better villa.
The rooms are spacious and nicely appointed with marble floors and mahogany woodwork. The furniture is not very comfortable, but it is hard to maintain these items.
We got the inevitable timeshare pitch, but it was very low key. There was a party on Sunday afternoon, another Sunday evening and a lunch on Monday.
If you go, plan to visit some of the Mayan ruins that are nearby. You'll get a chance to see a more accurate version of Mexico that what is represented in Cancun.

My wife and I just returned from a weeks stay at the Royal Sands (Apr 5 -Apr12). We had a bonus week from Interval we used to book a lock-off room.

We arrived at the resort at approx 10pm Sat, at which time there was only one person checking people in even though they had 3 others behind the counter working on who knows what. After traveling all day the last thing you want to do is have to wait to check-in. There was some sort of problem with the people's reservation in line ahead of us so we had to wait around 20 minutes for our turn. Once you check in, your room key card can be used in the restaurants, market, etc. By the way, they don't accept American Express, only Mastercard or Visa.

The Royal Sands timeshare check-ins are on Sundays. A nice feature of the Royal Resorts is that they assign a personal concierge to you. Another nice feature is daily maid and towel service. On Sunday morning you'll receive an invitation to attend an orientation meeting at 9am. We left our room to have breakfast really early so we missed the invitation but stumbled up on the meeting and later found out about the personal concierge and met him. It's always a good idea to attend these orientation meetings at timeshares as they're quite helpful.

The Veranda restaurant is the main restaurant of this resort and the food there is good to very good. They have indoor and outdoor dining and we had some breakfasts, lunches and dinners there.


There are four Royal Resorts in Cancun and there are shuttle buses that travel throughout the day between them all on a regular schedule. We took it one night to the Royal Mayan resort and had dinner at the La Palapa restaurant, the food was average to good (large portions like a diner) and the cost was fairly low. They gave us someone else's dinner check which we were able to have them correct pretty fast. They don't seem to be as well organized as The Veranda restaurant.

We took the shuttle to Captains Cove which is a Royal Resorts (RR) off premise restaurant. Next door is Poncho Willey's which is also a RR property. Poncho Willey's is a Nightclub and they have a live band on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights. The other nights their DJ (Chubby) plays music videos on a large screen and people sing Karaoke. The live band, "Flashback" is awesome so you really should make it a point to see them. Speaking of Bands we had dinner one night at the Hard Rock Cafe and the band playing there was purely hard rock and while good, not as good (in my opinion) as Flashback.

To get to the Hard Rock Cafe simply take the bus which costs 70 peso which is 70 cents. The buses run every 5 to 10 minutes so there's never a long wait. The Hard Rock cafe is located in the Spring Break Party Central area, you can't miss it, even during the day. At night the area is all lite up and packed with kids.

We also ate a Bubba Gumps which is closer up the strip and there's a small mall and other nightclubs and restaurants (Outback). I think this area is called "Flamingo shopping center".

Even closer by bus (2 minutes) is La Isla outdoor (shaded) shopping mall with lots of stores and restaurants. We ate a Mr Papas (good-very good), Chili's (Good - very good) and Come"N Eat (Good - very good). There's also an small Aquarium at this mall that has a daily 6pm Dolphin show. The entrance fee is approx $11-12 and the show is around 15 minutes. They have a large Shark Tank with a huge glass wall and they feed the sharks after the Dolphin show to entertain the crowd.

Back to the Resort - There's a HUGE main pool in Phase one and that's where all the action is. There are also nice pools in Phase two but that area is more quiet. Phase one has two pool bars and phase two has one.

There's not much beach left because of the Hurricane they had in 2005 and the water was rough for the entire week we were there. Every time I went into the water the waves pounded me. The natives told me the ocean is calmer in the summer months.

We did a Thomas Moore day drip to the Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza where the pig pyramid is. It cost $99 each and it goes on Weds. morning at 7pm. It took a couple of hours to get there and the tour guide spent about an hour showing us around. (No one is allowed to climb the Pyramid or other ruins any more). Afterwards they gave us around 45 minutes on our own to explore the ruins which wasn't much time as it's a large site.
When we got back to the bus it was past the usual launch hour and everyone was hungry and hot. Before feeding us they took us to a sink hole where you could swim if you felt like going down 100 steps and then you had to jump in as there was no shallow part. We and some others only watched but it looked refreshing. We were finally taken for lunch at a Mexican type cafeteria that included traditional Mexican dance show at 3pm. We ate there and left around 4pm and were back at the Royal Sands by 6pm.

I complained later to the Thomas Moore desk in the resort that we didn't have enough time at the ruins to explore on our own and that it was ridiculous to be given lunch so late in the afternoon. In addition we were told we'd be back at the resort between 7 and 7:30pm so it's obvious we were rushed out of the ruins site. If you book this tour at the resort you may encounter the same issues so be warned. By the way I wouldn't recommend you drive on your own to the ruins because at one of the tolls on the way back we had to go through a military checkpoint with armed soldiers and one manning a machine gun on top of an Humvee! The cars ahead of us were stopped where as we were waved through on the bus.

The best restaurant we at at was the Laguna where the food was excellent. The prices were somewhat higher than the other restaurants I mentioned but not too bad. You can take the city bus heading towards the direction of Poncho Willey's and it's half way on the way (5 minute ride).

There's a Wal-mart in the downtown area and you can take the bus there too. It's two blocks from the bus stop. People buying food because they had units with kitchens typically take the bus there and take a taxi back for approx $10. There's also on permanent flea market type market near Walmart called Mercardo 28 where they sell tourist items. Only thing is the vendors are annoying as they are constantly trying to get you to buy something. This area, downtown Cancun, where Walmart and the Mercardo are located looks like an economically depressed area and walking though it made me a little nervous. So be sure your concierge gives you a street map an explains to you where you should go. It's easy to get lost there.

At the resort they have wireless internet access next to the market near the lobby area. There also a very nice laundry-mat with a full time attendant on the other side of the lobby area. They even have an on-site doctor just in case. I think the biggest complaint we had was that the beds were hard. It took some getting used to but you do get used to them.

A 5 minute walk (north) will take you to very nice indoor shopping mall. In addition to stores there's also a place for bowling,shooting pool and playing slot machines. We spent time in this mall on our last day because we got sunburned and had to stay out of this sun.

Lastly, the Royal Sands concierge will try to get you to attend a sales pitch for surplus units in the Royal Sands (not that many) and units in their new resort, the Royal Haciendas which located south of Cancun in an area called the Mayan Riviera. We did have lunch with one of their sales reps., Jennifer, who is a lovely young lady and it was a pleasure to meet her and have lunch together. We weren't looking to buy another timeshare at this time. Lunch was about 60-70 minutes and then we spent another 50 minutes or so looking at the model units. So if you don't mind spending a couple of hours in the afternoon the resort will probably buy you a nice lunch even if you're not ready to buy. They also had other group sales events (parties) which we didn't attend.

BTW, every day was sunny, hot and humid.