Royal Haciendas

We have nothing bad to say about this resort. It was absolutely a home away from home. We had a wonderful 2 week vacation and spent the 1st week in Cancun at an "all inclusive" resort. You would think that we would have enjoyed that more ... but the RH clearly won us over ... me, my husband and 12 year old son.

We took a shuttle from our 1st resort to RH ... and the minute we approached the lobby area, we were greeted with so much warmth ... it felt like we had been vacationing there for years.

We rented a week in June 2008 and it was one of the best vacations we ever had. The resort grounds ... beautiful and relaxing. The pool with swim up bar ... very nice touch and very large as well. The jacuzzi's are roomy enough for a couple of families and then some! The beach ... can't say enough. Yes, there were rocks ... but still so beautiful. We brought water shoes, so it didn't bother us to walk on the rocks. However, a 5-10 minute stroll down the beach will be a very rock- free area with soft sands.

The market/store on the premises is one of the best I've ever seen at a resort. They had little shopping carts that you could use to roll your groceries to your room ... very convenient!

A couple of inconveniences ... laundry facility that you paid for; rather than having a washer/dryer in your condo. It took a minute for me to take all our items to the laundry area. ...and the other things was that there was very little connection for the wireless internet service. Although these were inconveniences ... I still rate this a 5 star!

Will definitely go back!!!

We love the Royal Resorts! Especially the Royal Haciendas, which is our home resort; and which is 10 minutes from downtown Playa Del Carmen.

What a great place for a vacation. The resort itself is gorgeous, but also having this quaint seaside resort town just a few minutes away is a major bonus.

Great shopping, and really great restaurants. Our favorite is PlayAsia, where we were served the most amazing Asian food in a beautiful and romantic setting.

Rent a car instead of taking the "Thomas Moore Travel" van. You'll appreciate the ability to pop into town easily to shop and eat.

I must say that the review below which says that the beach is unswimable is completely incorrect. I was just there in October, and the beach is divided into two halves. The south half of the beach - on the right side of La Palapa restaurant - is a snorkeling beach with a rocky bottom. The north half of the beach - on the left side of La Palapa - is the swimming beach with a beautiful sandy bottom. We swam there every day.

This resort is beautiful. We stayed 7/9-7/16. Villas are nice and grounds are immaculate. Ongoing construction is nonintrusive. Pools with swim up bars are great. Service is friendly and professional. Food/drink prices inexpensive. One major problem I had and reason I would not return to this resort has not been mentioned...the ocean at this resort is not swimmable! The beach is breathtaking and the sand is not even hot on your feet but there is so much sea life on the bottom(good for beginner snorklers) you can not swim. In fairness I rate caribbean resorts based on the beach and ocean so I was hugely dissapointed. The resort said they just received permission from the local government to remove some of the rock. I'm not sure this will help because the rock is only in certian areas-the sea life is spread out. Speaking to others, there are other resorts along the Riviera Maya without this problem.

We just finished spending weeks 14 and 15 and loved it. I will go into detail why we rated it a five-star as I think we all have different tastes.

Thomas More quickly and rather inexpensively got us from the airport to the resort--in 1.5 hours from when we landed we got through customs, into the van, checked in the lobby and were opening our door to our villa. We had the entire villa to ourselves in the beginning and then friends joined us for the last six days and used the lock-off. The villa was very spacious and so having another couple was easy--we were able to enjoy each other's company without feeling like we were living on top of one another. Because we had a penthouse, there would have been even ample space for a third couple as well to use the Murphy beds since there was extra closet storage that the standard villas do not have. Even the balcony had space for both dining as well as lounging. We also took advantage of the balcony whirlpool many nights--it filled fast with easy temperature adjustments.

Playa del Carmen was a mile and half walk via the white sand beach and walking in the shore water kept us cool. For most activities though in Playa we took the free shuttle--it runs pretty much on the hour during the day. You just reserve your spot on the van ahead of time. One time we chose to stay and miss the last shuttle back (5:30 p.m.). The cab ride was $10 plus tip. We had no problem taking the shuttle and doing our grocery shopping at The Mega and then catching it back the next hour. We liked the Mega better than Wal-mart as it seemed to have a better selection of produce, cheeses and the bakery was fantastic--besides inexpensive.

What we lliked best about the Haciendas was how quiet it was in the evening--sitting on our patio was very peaceful and conversations were easy for us to have. There were plenty of lounges for all during the day and the hammocks added an extra treat and the pools were busy but never crowded. Yet, if we wanted night-life Playa was just a hop away. Playa has many great restaurants--we especially liked Yaxche--attentive service, perfect ambiance (eat in the back courtyard if you can) and wonderful food. Our concierge took care of making all our reservations as well as giving us suggestions for both food and shopping.

We found every single staff person to be warm, friendly and helpful. We began each day with two activities offered--yoga at 8 a.m. and Spanish lessons at 9 with a quick run in between for the free coffee and tea at the lounge. The classes were fun and we laughed alot--they expected us to be novice at both. We met some very friendly people in those classes that we plan to stay in contact with. One day we also took advantage of the free kayak tour and had a blast. From now on we will take them out quite often ourselves but it was nice to have some instruction and a guide at first.

We were very impressed with the cleaning--we happened to be in our villa on more than one occasion and couldn't believe how much they cleaned, scrubbed and dusted. Every day the tile floors throughout got washed. (There is no maid service on Sunday.) In fact the entire resort is always being cleaned it seemed--although not obtrusively. We didn't need it but checked on the laundry facilities--$1.75 per load and the staff does it for you, you just bring it and pick it up. This could be very helpful next year when the airlines limit our luggage even further.

We used the deli in the restaurant at the resort quite a bit as it was easy to order and pick up chicken, soup, salads, etc. to go with the groceries that we bought in town. Saved money and let us eat lighter than eating at a restaurant everyday, although we found the breakfast buffet to be wonderful (went both the first and last day). Also, helped to keep our cooking to a minimum--still fun that is. The main restaurant has a theme night most evenings and we ate at the Italian one--very good variety as well as a make-to-order pasta bar. Everything tasted fresh--not the steamed table stuff where you can't tell one thing from another. Happy hour with drinks half price and free chips and salsa became our daily 4 p.m. tradition on the beach or pool side.

The only issue we had during the entire two weeks was with our keys the first day--they didn't work and needed to be reprogrammed but the bell hop did the running. We also weren't real fans of the massage on the beach. They gave us a good rate for the four of us but we found the massages to be quite vigorous--no slower movements and so we really didn't feel we relaxed much even though it was on the beach. Massages i have had elsewhere have almost put me to sleep even though i ask for deep massage--these used alot of rapid hand movements and so i felt more on edge and never got to really relax. But that style might be appreciated by others.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our stay--and are already making plans to come back next year. I think we got very spoiled.

Very luxurious, great staff, a bit far from the shops and restaurants in Playa del Carmen. When the spa, new road to town, and golf course are in this may be the top time share in the world.

Husband and I rented week 48 on redweek for this hotel.....LOVED IT!!! You will not be disappointed. Staff was great, food excellent, rooms are to die for. Construction not noisy, but dusty, they try to clean very well, I did have some allergies to dust so bring benedryl especially if you are on side D.

The resort is clean and beautiful, so peaceful. Cozumel lights you can see at night from your balcony and HOT TUB :)

5th Ave. is about 15-18 minutes away by cab, $10.00 each way plus a small tip. The shuttles are not many yet.

The market is great for the first 2 days and milk etc, but Walmart had it all--again a 15 minute ride, cabby will wait for additional $$ if you ask him too.

Buffets and main restaurant we loved plus we went to dinner in Playa a few times.

Timeshares, yes they are there, people walking, talking and selling. Just say no thanks and they will leave you alone.

All the hotel staff is so friendly every day-- towel people, activites guys, waitstaff, front desk---only sales people not smiling all the time---hmmmm guess it depends on revenue they made for the day :)

Beach, well sand and space and drink service is perfect, only on non rough ocean days can you see the bottom and make your way through the rocks. Go to the left towards new area and more swimmable water. We went to Kool Beach club for one day to get our perfect ocean fill--it was a blast.

Pool was excellent, warm but cooled you off, great pool bar--NO bracelets YEAH!! And huge--so much room for all.

Let me know if you have any questions--we loved it so much going back for week 14 in April.

Jc and Wc.

Outstanding resort! The newest and the finest of the Royal Resorts!

Truely special.

Suites are just awesome and the beach area is very nice - calm almost all the time.

Beach front resturant is excellent and the prices are very reasonable for the food and the servcie provided.

A must visit.

We was staying at the Royal Mayan at this moment (renting). Came to the Haciendas just to check out the place. It is still under construction on the other half of the building. Just being there for the day, walking the beach, eating at the restaurants, swimming the pool with the bar area, walking the whole ground (which by the way is still not finish). Inside the villa's is the best I've ever seen... The other bedroom (lockoff unit) with the twin beds has its own kitchen. Must see pictures or be there to appreciate what I'm saying. It's a unbelieveable site and the place is so warm that we had to buy and so WE DID!!!!! We are now proud owners of the Haciendas...... If you love all the other Royal Resorts, your going to love this one.....Trust me!!!!!!!

This resort is still under construction. However, we had a bird's eye view over the solid fence to watch the artisans build "by hand" and it was amazing. On the finished side of the fence, the place is so beautiful, with Lilly filled fountains (and little fish) and beautiful Mexican architecture, art, and design everywhere you look. This is definately not just another building in a beautiful location. The look and feel is truly a different culture, time and place.

It's great, it's close to everything you want to do in the Riviera Maya, the service is superb, but services don't quite measure up to what we've come to expect from the Royals. I'm sure this is because it's still being built. A $9.00 cab ride took us to Playa Del Carmen for anything we could want to eat drink or do anyway.

I'll bet the Royal Haciendas knocks the #1 rated Royal Mayan to the #2 position within 5 years tops. (It also comes wired with Wi Fi, bring your laptops, if you must)

Enjoyed this Resort. Fantastic Villas - the Villas on the Beach were the best I've ever stayed in!!

Absolutely Beautiful! Expect nothing less from a Royal Resort!