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TMy family (husband, 18 year old son, and myself) just returned from a week at the Paradisus Riviera Cancun (July 19-26, 2003). We traveled through Vacation Express from Nashville. We had a wonderful week with beautiful weather. We tried to upgrade to Royal Service through Vacation Express, but because we had 3 in the room, they would not do it. So, we upgraded through the hotel. Our travel agent took care of contacting the hotel and making the arrangements. We paid an extra $100 a night to upgrade to an ocean front/Jacuzzi Royal Service room. It was well worth it to us. With the Royal Service you have a separate check-in, they take care of all your restaurant reservations, and you have the service of a Butler for the week. He takes care of your room, makes reservations for palapas at the beach or adult pool, fills the Jacuzzi, brings special pillows, or whatever you need. Our butler was Al, he was wonderful. The palapa reservations are exceptionally nice. The ones on the beach are in front of the Royal Service buildings, and there is a bar right there for you to use. The pool for Royal Service is an adults only pool with its own bar. It is nice and quiet. There are these wonderful palapas that are built up from the ground with a king size mattress and wonderful large pillows and a thatch roof. They are wonderful for afternoon siestas (which my son took several afternoons). There are also nice lounges with cushions and umbrellas. It is very nice considering that the main pool is swarming with children.
The resort is very nice. I will admit the beach is not as nice as in Cancun or even in Playa Del Carmen. There is a lot of seaweed, but they are constantly cleaning it up. The water is calmer here, no large waves like in Cancun. We preferred the pool.
The food was very good in the specialty restaurants. The buffet was just average. Our favorite was the French restaurant, L' Hermitage. The food was excellent and the service was great. We ate there on three occasions. On the last night, my husband asked if they could do a shrimp appetizer (which was not on the menu) and they fixed it with no problem. The Lobster Thermidor was wonderful, the Beef Fillet cooked just right, and the Chocolate Mousse was to die for. We also ate in the Japanese restaurant, Sumire, and it was very good. The only complaint was the heat in the restaurant.
The shows each night were very good. The dancers were wonderful, and the costumes great. It is a typical resort show, with lip sync to the music, but it was entertaining and worth staying up for. Most of the shows are at 10:00 pm, but 2 of the shows are at 8:30 during the special buffet dinners. We went to the Mexican buffet, it was just average. Our son enjoyed the Fun Pub (disco) each night. They had Karaoke one night, and he found that very funny watching all the people try to sing after a day of drinking. He also took the resort scuba class ($40) and did a shallow dive. The dive guide pulled a huge lobster out from under a rock for them to see.
The rooms are nice and large, with large bathrooms. We never felt crowded with three in the room. The air conditioner was not as cool as we like, but we made do.
I can highly recommend this resort for a wonderful vacation. It is only about 20 minutes from the airport. There are daily shuttles to Cancun and Playa del Carmen. We just enjoyed the rest. If you have any questions, contact me at rljwats@comcast.net and I will try to help you.
Thanks
Thanks to Lisa, Ricky, and John for this trip report...
March 2003
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