Royalton Riviera Cancun Review
The Royalton Riviera Cancun is one of many all-inclusives on the Caribbean coast south of Cancun, Mexico. I was initially intrigued by the property due to its new participation in the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program, which at the time of my stay, I was a Titanium elite member. Let’s check out how this all-inclusive property stacks up in our full review of the Royalton Riviera Cancun.
Location
The Royalton Riviera Cancun is located just south of the main stretch of resorts in Cancun’s hotel zone, about a 15 minute drive south from Cancun’s international airport. Cancun’s Highway 307 runs north/south all the way down the coast, and many hotels have a long road that connects them directly to this thoroughfare. The Royalton is no exception, with a barren road cutting through the mangroves to reach the beachside resort. Next door to the north, the brand-new Waldorf Astoria Cancun and Hilton Cancun (another all-inclusive) sit, and to the south, the Dreams Natura Resort and Spa (now a part of the World of Hyatt program).
Check In
The Royalton Riviera Cancun offers a number of different experiences, depending on your level of luxury required, as well as your elite status. Since I was a Marriott Titanium, I was able to skip the busy “normal” check in for the resort and use the more private experience normally reserved for Diamond Club guests. There, I was seated and was welcomed with a margarita while the formalities were dealt with. I paid a flat $249 after tax for my room, which was a great deal at the time (rates hover much higher than that now post-COVID). In addition, I was upgraded to a lovely one-bedroom suite that came with butler access.
Suite Review
The one-bedroom suite I was upgraded to was lovely- check out the video embedded above for a full tour. I thought that the room felt fresh and modern. As you walk in, a full guest bathroom was to my left with a shower, sink and toilet. As I entered the main living room area, a full wet bar stocked with full-sized bottles of several international liquors awaited me. While I was just there for a one-night stay, the massive amount of booze included in this room was impressive. There was also a wine fridge and Nespresso coffee machine. Moving through the rest of the living room, a gigantic television sat across a pull-out couch, with a balcony overlooking the Diamond Club’s pool just beyond that.
In the bedroom, an oversized king bed had its own television across from it, as well as a plush lounge chair and yet another door to the balcony. The bathroom was equally impressive, with a very custom-looking bathtub in the center of the room. Overall, I couldn’t speak more highly about the quality of the hard product of the suite, nor to the high end service provided by my butler, who was reachable via Whatsapp.
In addition to the upgraded room, I also received Diamond Club perks. I got access to the Diamond Club pool, nightly turndown service, reservations at the restaurants (this became very important later), my own beach area with waiter service (which I didn’t use due to the seaweed), my lounge check in detailed above, lounge access with premium drinks, daily breakfast and hors d’oeuvres, upgraded bath amenities in the room, and spa access. Those are a lot of inclusions for a one-night stay!
The Property
The resort itself is well laid out, with several areas dedicated to all types of vacationers coming to the Royalton Riviera Cancun. As you can see in the video above, there’s a dedicated kids section with a massive waterpark (without the massive waterslides) for younger children. This keeps the kids to one side of the resort. The resort’s main pool has a swim-up bar as well as a massive mainstage where the evening’s entertainment plays out, in addition to daily games and live music. Moving south, the Diamond Club pool is a more bespoke experience, though still busy during my visit. And finally, the Hideaway is the resort’s most exclusive (and expensive) experience, with its own dedicated pool complex and restaurant.
The beach was lacking during my visit, through no fault of the hotel. Throughout Mexico and the rest of the Caribbean, there’s a huge Sargassum seaweed problem, and the Royalton was suffering during my February visit. While the resort should put a greater emphasis on cleaning up the stinky seaweed as soon as possible, it’s admittedly hard to keep up with. As a result, I just didn’t spend much time at the beach at the Royalton Riviera Cancun.
For restaurants, there are all-inclusive staples, such as a pizza joint Grazie (with decent food, in my experience), food trucks near the pool serving burritos and other Mexican staples, a Hibachi restaurant Zen, the Hunter steakhouse (where I dined), Armadillo for Tex-Mex, the Caribbean Grille near the beach, the Gourmet Marché for the buffet, and of course Scores sports bar. I found the steakhouse on my one night visit to be just “ok,” with the room super loud and overcrowded. My service just wasn’t that great, but it could’ve just been the night I visited.
For bars, there are dozens scattered throughout the property. As a general rule, if you have access to a higher level bar due to status or the room type you booked, as I did with my Marriott Titanium status, take advantage of that perk if you’re a drinker at all-inclusives. The quality of the drinks increases greatly. I felt that the Diamond Club bar and lobby bar had great drinks, and everywhere else had absolutely horrible drinks. Nothing depresses me more than a bad margarita in Mexico, but I managed to find several at the Royalton Riviera. Just know that drink quality varies greatly bar to bar and experience to experience at most all-inclusives, not just the Royalton.
Overall Impressions
The Royalton Riviera was a nice place to check out- the property’s size really impressed me, as well as my room. Overall, service was good in some areas, and just so-so in others, namely dinner. Sadly, the food and drink quality throughout much of the resort, as well as the party party clientele, would give me hesitation coming back to the property with my family, especially for a longer stay. There are just so many resorts in the Cancun area that are similarly priced with a better quality vacation experience.
