We had a great time at the Royal Islander! All the rooms have excellent ocean views. We never had a problem getting chairs at the pool or beach. The beach has a steep drop off, not great for young children and my teenage son could not skim board here. We used the shuttle service and went to the sister resort, Royal Sands, where the beach was better for skim boarding. I preferred the pool area at the Islander over the Sands. It had a smaller, quieter atmosphere. Service was great by the pool and ocean for ordering drinks. Our 2 bedrm. unit was clean and had plenty of room for 6. We used the shuttle to eat at Captain's Cove-it was great with a wide range of foods. My teenagers enjoyed the ribs, I had the fish sampler which had more food than I could eat! We also ate at Casa Maguay in the Luxury Mall. The Mexican sampler plate was excellent! I highly recommend the restaurant El Conquistador at the Royal Mayan Hotel. The food was fabulous and there was a guitarist that played beautiful backgound music (I bought his CD-it was that enjoyable). We also ate at Bubba Gumps. The food was good and we enjoyed eating outside and watching the crocodiles swim by.

We visited Tulum and saw the Ma;yan ruins. Tulum was just over an hour bus ride from the Islander. It is beautiful and a must see. We also took an excursion to Isla Mujeres. The crew that entertained us on the boat over was hilarious!! Their "show" was as much fun as the snorkeling we did. I would recommend the snorkeling, however, it can't compare to the Cayman Island's. The downtown area has tons of shopping but it is higher priced than the markets in Cancun.

The city buses are clean and I felt safe using them. This is much cheaper than taxi. One night a man and his son jumped on the bus with a guitar and started singing mexican songs. They were great and we all tipped them.

If you like a family,quieter atmosphere, The Royal Islander is a great place to go! I would definitely return to this resort.

The entire staff did such a wonderful job keeping us safe and comfortable during hurricane wilma! We returned 05/2007 and plan to return again 10/2007 on wilma's 2 year anniversary. We hope to meet with old friends we met the first time during the storm. happy memories, always... even in the worst of times.

Just back from the Royal Islander…. Had a great trip. Six of us went (47, 45, 43, 20, 18, 12). We were first timers and so some of these things many of you already know. Some comments below:

Resort: The Royal Islander sits next to the Royal Caribbean and the Royal Mayan. We had full use of all three resorts. The condo slept six easily; it had a master bed room with king bed, two pull down Murphy beds in the middle living area and a second bedroom with two full size beds. There was a deck with furniture off the master bed room and the living room. We were on the sixth floor with a great ocean view. The condo was nice, modern and clean. The daily maid service was great and the kitchen was fully equipped.

The workers at the resort were the most friendly that I have experienced anywhere. Everyone, and I mean everyone, made eye contact and smiled when ever they passed you in the halls or on the grounds. The pools were very comfortable, never crowded and we had no problem finding lounge chairs. Great happy hour from 3 – 7 with half priced drinks (or doubles). Regular size drink – 16 ounces – was about $3.00 US. The same people ran service and knew your name by the end of the first day. Great free salsa and chips too. We drank Tropicanas, Banana Monkeys, Banana Banshees, Caipiranhas, Micheladas, Mojitos, Pina Coladas….you get the point. Used a resort card for everything. Charges were very reasonable.

The beach out front was not our favorite thing about the Resorts… Too rough for swimming most days. Beautiful to look at with great beach service too. We went in one time and had a heck of a time getting out of the water because of the waves. The beach at the Royal Sands was much better.

The on site grocery stores had everything we needed and were reasonably priced, even for the Cuban cigars (shh… don’t tell any one in Washington). We loved the banana bread and had that for breakfast most days.

The Resorts were immaculately maintained. Staff cleaned the outside on a continual basis.

The restaurants were good but there were so many options off the property that we usually left for dinner.

The resort is easily worth its Trip Advisor ratings. No surprises at all; just a great time.

Airport: We had little trouble at the airport but were warned well in advance about the time share shills. Even so, when you clear customs, they aggressively rush up and try to take your luggage from your hands. One tried to grab my itinerary from my hand. We booked transportation from Thomas Moore and once we ran the gauntlet, made it to the resort with only a $10 tip (smallest bill I had) to a guy who grabbed our luggage, put it on a cart and took it all of about 50 yards. Return was uneventful. We were there plenty early, no crowds at customs and no flight problems.

Food: We went to Captain’s Cove the first night. The meal was okay and reasonably priced. I had my first of several Mayan Coffees on the trip there. They waiters make a big show of melting sugar on a glass rim and lighting the various alcohols and pouring from ladle to ladle to glass. Very tasty. Service was excellent; the waiters made roses out of the napkins for the girls…

Second night we went Puerto Madero; I thought we had peaked too early. The meal was excellent in every way. Sat outside and saw a great sunset; Ceasar salads made at the table; another diner had the goat cheese and raspberry salad which was excellent. Most had steaks which were fantastic with a good bottle of Argentinian wine. Desserts were very good; crème brule, some molten chocolate thing and a vanilla, white chocolate one too. Service again excellent and the price below what I thought it would run.

We went to Le Distelleria which was okay. A little warm inside (or it might have been the habenero sauce) and a little noisy (the six piece mariachi band could be heard everywhere. Margaritas were excellent. Anejos and Reposados…. Yum.

Hacienda Sisal was very good; surprisingly close to the Puerto Madero in quality. Good all the way around.

We did one night on the town but limited it too Senor Frogs. My wife and I took our 20 and 18 daughters. They had mom doing a couple of shots. The service was very good there too, surprisingly… I thought it was a dive (and it was, a bit) but the waiters would come by every so often and wipe the glasses down so the condensation wouldn’t drench you when you tipped them to drink. I really thought that was thoughtful… On the other hand, they did get my 18 year old to be hung by her ankles, given a shot of tequila and spun in circles while they shot her with compressed air… so maybe it is a bit of a dive.

Excursions. We did the Jungle Tour which consisted of two person motor boats through a bit of jungle and out to scuba dive. The boat ride was the best part. We let the kids drive back (not the 12) and the 18 managed to get me soaked jumping the wakes.

We did a zip line tour that was fun. There were 11 separate lines. First one was just to get the hang of it and I needed it. I got up some speed and nearly did a George of the Jungle landing. We then biked to a cenote and swam and went back to the start for a lunch.

The girls went for a spa day at the Royal Sands. I was going to try golf but it was way too hot.

Summary: Great trip, really friendly people; we’d do it again!

The Royal Islander was amazing!! Our room and balcony was much bigger than I could have ever dreamed!! We had a 2 bedroom Villa. This gave my 2 teenage sons a place to themselves, then my husband and I our own area as well!!!! Perfect ---really.

The Islander, Mayan, and Caribbean are all within walking distance and are linked by nice walkways. You almost can't tell when you have gone from one resort to the next. We went from the 3 resorts freely. However, The Sands (Our Teens Favorite) is a shuttle away.

The shuttle----It runs every 15-30 minutes. Once you're on the shuttle it takes about another 10 minutes to actually get to the Sands because from the Islander it stops at the Caribbean, then the Mayan, then at a Royal owned restaurant across the street then on to the Sands. It does run very smooth, and the drivers are great, but just depending on how many people load and unload at each stop, it can get long. For some people this may not matter, but since our family wanted to spend every day at the Sands Beach then the shuttle got a little old. I would not have taken the shuttle back to the Islander for a nap, or to fix some lunch.

What we ended up doing most days was hang out at our resort in the morning, then play pool volleyball at the Caribbean at noon(A fun organized Activity), then grab lunch in our room, then head over to the Sands for the rest of the day*. At the Sands we would stay well through Happy Hour**. This is a big savings with the 1/2 price drinks served right up to your beach chair and free salsa and chips!!! Yum!!

The Beach - Boggie Boarding - The beaches at the Islander, Mayan and Caribbean are mainly just for Wading, Walking, Shell Hunting and Sand Castle Building. We spent 30 minutes tops at our beach all week. Every time I checked, it was marked Red Flag meaning Do Not Enter. Shuttle to The Sands Resort for the best beach. Here you can do all the above as well as actually swim, float and ***boggie board. You can rent boogie boards at the sports desk for $6 for 2 hours, but if you plan on using them non-stop like we did, I have added below where you can buy them. ****

Exercise - In the past, my husband and I have jogged on the beach for exercise. For us, the sand here was not packed firm enough to run distance on. And we didn't see anyone jogging on the resort grounds either. We also didn't want to shuttle to the Sands to use the treadmill, so our only other option was to jog the city sidewalk. My husband did. I opted not to.

Eating In- If you plan on eating in mainly, then either pack a suitcase full of shelf stuff from home and supplement what you brought with purchases from the Royal Market OR Head to Walmart/Sams. The Walmart/Sams run will cost around $18-$20 round trip. This is figured on a bus ride for 2 people there =$1.30ish Taxi back=$12-$14 Plus tips for the
Bellmen=$4ish once you are back with a trunkload of groceries. Walmart/Sams is about 20-25 minutes by city bus. We first shopped at Walmart, then went to Sams for the frozen goods like Pizza's, Taquitoes and Chicken Nuggets. The prices were around $9 each for these Sams size portions. Sams will allow you to bring your Walmart purchases and buggy into their store. They will just mark and secure your bags.

Eating Out-We did not eat out much, but we did find the prices very reasonable and the portions big. There are so many nice restaurants to go to without leaving the Royal Family. We liked eating outside at sunset at the Cayo Largo.

Excursions - We were so happy with all the Resorts activities that we did not do any excursions. We enjoyed the pool in the morning, the beach in the afternoon and a tennis match after sunset. My husband and I took out the bikes one morning, which was fun and easy. However, I did regret not checking into the offer to go to the Royal Haciendas Riviera Maya. It may have been nice to see the resort, and snorkel there in the still waters????

Will we go back - YES!!! We are already planning it. But, next time we will stay at the Sands. It just fits our family better.

Tips

* Have each family member bring a beach bag or one of the drawstring backpacks. This way you can easily pack up for the day and head to the other resorts.
**Bring some kind of water proof watch. Clocks are nowhere to be found. Yes, you're on vacation, but you still want to know How long you've tanned on one side, or How long until happy hour or Is it time to meet up with my family.....?
***The best place to buy Boogie Boards is Cancun Walmart for the inexpensive kind (styrofoam underneath and canvas like cover for around $10) or Cancun Sams Club for the nice kind for around $27 If you don't make the trip to the Walmart area, then you can get the inexpensive kind in the drugstore at the nice mall that is about a 1/2 block from the Sands for $19 or they are sold in the Mayan and Sands Boutiques for around $29.
****Bring tape or better yet industrial saran wrap to package your boggie boards if you plan on bring them back to the states. We checked ours at no extra cost and they made them back just fine!!!!