royalton riviera cancun

What a trip! I mean, this vacation was reeeeeaaaaallly wonderful. My husband is usually anxious to get home by Day 5 when we travel. Not this time! He commented that he needed another week! Yay, maybe that means a return trip is in our future?!

So our entire gang recently returned home from a 7 night stay at the Royalton Riviera Cancun, a new resort a quick 15 minute ride from the Cancun airport. Before I share our experience, there are a few things to explain about the property....

First off it's important to mention the Royalton is divided into three sections: The main resort, Diamond Club & The Hideaway. The Hideaway is the adults-only section reserved exclusively for those guest who book through The Hideaway. Diamond Club is an upgraded section of the resort. We were lucky enough to upgrade, and I highly recommend it. However, if it doesn't fit your budget, no worries! The Royalton has plenty to offer for everyone!

Not interested in reading a lengthy review? Let's kick it off with some pros and cons. As you can see one definitely outweighs the other.....

P R O S :

Brand new
Only 15 minutes from the airport
Beautifully decorated
Everything is close to the beach
Several pools (clean and spacious)
Plenty of beach chairs, cabanas, hammocks
Kids club (ages 4-12)
Teens club (ages 13-17)
Huge, private beach
Excellent quality and variety of food
24 hour room service included
Polite and attentive staff
Great daily/nightly entertainment
Coffee/gelato shop
Secluded
Tours available onsite
Splash pad, water slides
Comfortable beds
Free wi-fi throughout the property
Great for families, couples, singles

C O N S :

Reserving of cabanas is out of control
Occasional seaweed on beach (however the beach was swimmable our entire stay)
A few times we noticed long waits for certain restaurants if not upgraded to Diamond Club
Secluded (also listed as a pro....)

Now let's get to the good stuff--- pictures!!! Because really that's all you care about....

T H E R O O M :

We stayed in a Luxury Family Suite Oceanview (although we only had a small glimpse of the ocean.) in the Diamond Club section. We were able to comfortably sleep all five of us. The boys slept on the pull out couch, which also had it's own tv and sliding doors to close it off--- they loved that! The bathroom was great-- double sinks, HUGE soaker tub, and double rain shower.

Here are the views from our balcony. We overlooked the main hotel pool, the lobby/restaurant area and the odd-shaped structure is the wedding chapel.

T H E S P L A S H P A D :

I mean, c'mon how cool is this area?! The kids had a blast! The water is nice and shallow for the little ones, so there was no worrying.

T H E H O T E L :

The Royalton is a large property, but definitely not so big that you can't easily walk from one end to the other. Each section is carefully designed. The kid's water park area is on one end of the property, so if you are not traveling with kids, you wouldn't even know it was there. I really feel like the Royalton caters to any traveler. The beach is huge and private. The water was a pretty blue, and the sand was super soft. A few days there was some seaweed along the beach but nothing that kept us out of the water. The food was superb and unlike any other all-inclusive! The a la carte restaurants were all amazing.

the lobby area and main pool as seen from the beach

main pool


main pool again

lobby

Diamond Club beach bar

Looking out on the beach from the bar


One of the Diamond Club pools

T H E H I D E A W A Y :

This section is just for adults who book their stay through the Hideaway. It is on the opposite end of all the kids activities, splash pad, pools, etc. It is much more laid back and quiet. They also have their own restaurant exclusively for Hideaway guests.