My wife and I just returned from a week at the Royal Sands, May 17-24. My parents are owners and they go for 2 weeks every year before and after Memorial Day. This is the second time my wife and I have gone with them for one of their weeks.

The Good:
1. The entire resort is always super clean.
2. It wasn't very crowded, I guess times are a little slow, so the pool was a little quieter and beach a little less crowded.
3. My folks unit is on the top floor of "phase 2" which I like much better then phase 1 because it is much quiter and in my opinion the phase 1 side gets more people who don't know how to relax.
4. Also the poolside bar and grill at phase 2 actually has tables and waiters which is nice to eat on a plate and get waited on. On the phase 1 side they serve you everything in styrofoam containers.
5. Our maid came everyday and was very nice, I didn't have any problems with that at all.

The Bad:
1. Yes the beds are still rock hard, but they will put a foam egg crate on your mattress which makes everything fine. My wife who was 24 weeks pregnant when we were there slept fine also.
2. Yes the televisions are small. I agree with one of the other reviewers where I'm not on vacation to watch tv but I do like something bigger then a small 18 inch tv. At least they do have DVD players.
3. Not much has been updated, but I don't necessarily think anything really needs updating, our room always looks fine to me.

On the beach vendors who are walking the beach, they didn't seem to be any more a pain in the rear this year then any other time I've been to Cancun. The only problem is that beach is getting smaller with a lot of sand washing away. So I don't think that they are walking closer to people because they are more aggressive, I just think the beach real estate is getting pinched and we're running out of space. I've stayed at the Marriott Casa Magna also in Cancun but they don't have any more sand there either. But the rocks on the beach were a bummer because it makes walking the beach so much more difficult.

The usual restaurants were great as always: Captain's Cove, Lorizillos, but our great new find was "Thai" at La Isla. It was fantastic.

The Royal Sands was wonderful! I "won" a week there through a charity auction at which an owner donated his week. I've been going to timeshare units around the world (London, Aruba, Bahamas, Florida, NC Outer Banks) since the late 1980s and this was the best run and most professional of them all.

The grounds were immaculate!

The service was outstanding!

The restaurants (all) served good food at reasonable prices with great service! Unlike other reviewers, we found all staff to be friendly and more than accommodating. For example, one day a group in my party closed the sliding glass door too hard and it game off the track slightly. Maintenance was called to fix the door. In the meantime, the cleaning service had arrived and they quickly fixed the door. When the maintenance person arrived, we informed him that the door was back on track and that we were about to call and cancel the maintenance request. We expected him to simply leave and be happy that he didn't have to do the work. Instead, he gave the door a thorough inspection, oiling every possible inch of the tracks, tightening screws, etc. He spent a good 20 minutes doing preventive maintenance on the door so that the problem wouldn't occur again.

Same type of experience with Thomas Moore. I stopped by with a simple question that they could've answered quickly and moved on to the next customer. Instead, they offered to go the extra mile to double check something that Ihand't even considered to check - simply to make sure that our plans would go off without a hitch.

We took a 1/2 day trip to Chichen Itza through Thomas Moore. I strongly recommend the early day trip (6:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.) which allows you to get there before the overwhelming crowds and heat!

I'd also recommend the dance theme nights at Hacienda Sisal. Royal Resorts guests get a 10% discount. The price for a FULL, YUMMY buffet, open bar of domestic drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol), dance show, and great service was about $45 per person. It was a wonderful way to relax at the end of a long, hot day without having to take on the bus crowds to dine away from the resort.

My husband and I exchanged a week at the Royal Sands May 3rd thru May 10th. When we arrived we were greeted with a cold bottle of water but they had problems finding our reservation. We ended up going to the welcome party because we had read that they give you useful information at it which was not correct, it was a big waste of time. We also attended the Taco party which was another waste of time. Our personal concieirge set us up to rent wave runners that were beside Captain's Cove. It was a nice time but the wave runner began to not run correctly so we didn't get to ride our entire hour that we rented it for.

Now back to the resort itself. The beds are horrible!!!! I think it might have been the same as sleeping on the marble floors. I found two blankets in the closet and folded them in half long ways and put them on my side of the bed for extra cushioning but it really didn't help much. My husband loves firm mattresses but he even had a horrible time sleeping too. The room was clean but the tv was very small. I know you don't go on vacation to watch tv but just to pass the time while you are getting ready and it is horrible! We love to just lay by the pool or on the beach all day and have lunch and drinks but we really weren't able to do that because the service is horrible. At the beach you have your flag to put out when you need something but it takes forever for anyone to come and take your order. I wouldn't suggest ordering a mixed drink besides a margarita or anything besides beer because they don't know how to make hardly any drinks. We made that mistake and ended up throwing away our large drinks because they were not what we ordered and they tasted terrible. Needless to say the rest of the week we either ordered margaritas or beer.

The rooms don't have any menu's for room service. The first night we were there after traveling all day we just wanted to get something to eat and chill out and relax a little but we had no way of doing that so we had to take a walk for some food.

The vendors on the beach are horrible!!! Security did nothing to them they would come all the way up and want you to look at something they were selling. I'm on vacation trying to relax and I have these guys everday the same ones yelling all day long. I wish security would have made them keep more distance.

The Sisal resturant was excellent!!!! The food was great. I would have been happy to eat there everynight.

This resort did not live up to everything that I had heard about it. I guess I was expecting something much better than what it turned out being. It is nicely located in the hotel zone compared to the other Royal Resorts in the hotel zone.

I hope that others have better experiences with this resort than I did.

My family and I have returned to the Royal Sands 5 times in 7 years. And sadly, the "honeymoon" is over.

We pre-paid for a "lock-out" room last year. When we made our reservation the operator insisted it was for the Hacienda resort not the Sands. After faxing her our contract that stated the Sands she then made the reservation with much hesitation that bordered on rudeness.

Upon our arrival we were instructed to check-in at the Phase 2 desk. No cold bottle of water was offered. Check-in was prompt. We were not given a map, nor instructions on how to get to our room. Which turned out to be in the opposite end of the resort from where we checked-in.

Later on that evening we stopped off at the Sideline Bar at the resort for a drink. We waited about 15-20 minutes and no waiter approached us but, they did take orders for two couples who entered long after us. Finally my Husband went up to the bar to place our order and the bartenders did not believe that we had been sitting in the Bar with no one taking our order.

A few more "Palapas" have been placed on the beach since last year. They have put a small trash can/astray holder on the pole of the umbrellas. But the beach is still small when compared to previous years. There are large rocks and big slabs of concrete still sticking out of the water in certain sections. The rip current was swift in the morning but calmer in the afternoon. There is a small dip near the shore then it rises to an ankle deep sandbar. The water is abut 79 degrees.

The vendors on the beach are disruptive and are a nuisance. I can't count how many times I was woken up by them calling out amiga, bracelet or whistled at to get my attention. I was surprised how close they are allowed to get to the sitting areas. If you ask them once how much something is, they will always approach you when they see you.
Previous years the security personnel kept them nearer the shoreline, now they all just stand around together with the lifeguards.

The housekeeper did not clean our room on monday. When we inquired we were told that we had our "do not disturb" sign up. We did'nt.
FYI******The housekeepers start loading their carts at 10 am and finish the day promptly at 5 pm******

We dined at Captain's Cove, can't go wrong there, wonderful as always.
Sisal's menu was much improved. Their meals are more of Northern Mexico cuisine instead of Southern Mexico style. The decor, music and dance show all blend much better now.
The Sands Express takes about 20-30 minutes to fill an order.
The pool and beach bar are pretty quick IF you can find someone to take your order.
The Veranda just average. The service is so, so.
The buffet breakfast at the Veranda is inconsistant. Some mornings the eggs were watery, other days drier then toast. The potatoes were either burnt or unrecognisible. Out of desperation we chose instead to have coffee and sweet bread at the coffee shop for the rest of the week.

We chose not to attend the welcoming party, taco party or the wine tasting party, early on we learned they are really just an opportunity to conduct a sales pitch that we would really don't want to deal with while on vacation.

Although rafts and floaters are not allowed in the pool, except of course, in the kiddie pools and beach, there were lots and lots of them in the pool. Nothing like getting whacked by one. And many folks stake out their spots on the beach and poolside, even though the rules say you are not suppose to, if you don't , good luck finding a place to lounge at for the day.

We noticed that not much has changed at the resort. No real improvements or updates. The rooms and the decor are exactly the same as last year and the year before, except of course for some fading and wear and tear. The resort is showing it's age and being worn down by the large crowds that it accommadates week after week.

Most dissappointing of all is that we were put off by the unfriendly attitude of much of the staff. They were rude, insincere, bored, impatient and sarcastic. Most of the staff try real hard to be invisible or try real hard to appear to be occupied with something else.

The Spa is still top notch but they might shorten your length of treatment time by 5-10 mins. (there's no clock in the treatment rooms). Gabriella is fantastic.