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Traveler Resort Review:
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Reviewed by:
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A.M.
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From: Paramus, New Jersey
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Resort: Royal Solaris Cancun
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Trip Date:
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April, 2008 |
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| Here is A.M.'s Royal Solaris Cancun Review |
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Remarks:
"We just got back from 6 nights and 7 days at the Royal Solaris Cancun. After reading many reviews, we decided to try it. We booked directly through the Solaris and received a great deal but we needed to go to a 90 minute vacation club presentation (more about that later). Overall we probably won't go back. There are much nicer places in Cancun with great deals. Everything at the Royal Solaris is "just ok."
Hotel Room: - Rooms were average. You pay extra for an Ocean View. It is pretty not necessarily worth the money. The opposite side of the hotel overlooks the large lagoon which is nice also (you get the sunset on this side). All the rooms have sliding opening windows. Nice feature. Some of the rooms on the corners and the front have balconies. Nice but not worth the money. - Beds are either double or king. Very comfortable. - Bathroom is ok with a shower stall, single sink, and toilet. Nothing thrilling. The shower curtain kept coming out of the shower resulting in water getting on the floor. - The toilet overflowed once. Not the best flushing in these toilets. - The rooms have no carpeting and are completely tiled. Not bad but you really need something on your feet to walk around since the floor gets cold. Plus if youre wet, you will slip. - There are three drawers and two night stand drawers to put clothes in. - Closet has two sides, one with shelves and one with hangers. If you have a lot of clothes to hang up, bring hangers. - There is a safe but it is $1 per day charge. You need to the lock at the front desk. Do this at check in to save you time. Room Problems: - Toilet overflowed - Rooms are not quiet. You hear everything. - Only 10 English speaking TV channels
Hotel Surroundings and Pool - Now here is the biggest complaint: Chairs at the pool are near impossible to get. Chairs under umbrellas (which are really needed with the hot sun) are gone by 7am. Mostly all chairs are gone by 7:30am. People starting saving spots at 6am (not joking). Even though the hotel has a policy against this, it is not enforced. So everyone is forced to do it. - Pool itself - There are two large pools, the quiet pool and main pool. The main pool has a couple of sections, one with a volleyball net. The part with the pool bar is shallow. The pool is really not meant for swimming but for hanging out in. Kids have fun in the pool. No part of the main pool is above 3ft. THERE is one set of stairs to get into the pool and these are concrete and on the farthest end of the pool. Otherwise you are climbing in and out. There are no stairs into the section with the volleyball net. We did a lot of climbing in and out. Pool is very clean and well maintained. Pool bar was never crowded.
Activities - The staff does activities from 10am to about 2pm almost non-stop. Most are for adults but some are for kids (not many). The activities can be loud but that is to be expected. Didn't bother us. Everyday at 11am is Tequila volleyball.
Tables at the pool - There a couple of tables and chairs you can eat at during the day. It is under the bar area in the shade. This is nice. BUT, often taken by people for hours although the policy is these are for eating only and you no more than an hour. The snack bar is right by the tables which is nice but when there arent tables available, you need to find somewhere else to eat. This stinks but what can you do. The snack bar is open at 11:30am daily and is located outside right by the pool bar. There is always appetizer stuff and hamburgers and hot dogs. Nachos and Cheese, Fruit, Pizza, a hero type sandwich. Not bad food but not great. Avg quality.
Staff - Most if not all of the staff were excellent. Some were not as responsive as others but I think that was because they didn't understand enough English. Surprisingly, the front desk people were the least friendly of the staff. There are waiters at the pool who will bring you drinks, included in your stay, and this is nice. They were excellent. The guys at the pool bar were great as well. Overall, the staff was great. -
Tipping - Everyone likes to be tipped. We found that the more often you tipped the same people, the better your service (like the waiters at the pool bar). A couple of dollars go long way. And honestly, we didn't mind because they appreciated it and took care of you. Not that you wouldn't get good service if you didn't tip, but it helps. And the staff does work hard. Singles up to Fives are fine.
Beach - Water Excellent. Clear, clean, and warm. No sea growth. A couple of rocks to look for getting in and out of the water but no big deal. Sand is typical island sand, nice.
Beach Chairs - Again, the chairs under the huts and under the wooden structures are gone early. The huts go first than the others. You will have no problem getting a chair on the beach in sun. But the sun is really hot and the shade is nice.
Waiters - There are waiters who will bring you drinks on the beach. This is excellent. Food and Drink Overall the food was ok. Not the best, but not the worst. We've had much better but then again, this isn't a top shelf place. Breakfast was the best, lunch and dinner was just ok. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed. Now I must be fair and tell you that 3 of part members where sick for most of the week from the food. We don't know why but it happened.
Breakfast Large buffet. omelet station, waffle, pancake, and French toast station, and a smoothie station. Plus fresh fruit, muffins, a variety of meats and potatoes, cereals and danishes. There was never a wait for a table. But the lines for the omelets and waffles were long.
Lunch This was ok. We ate mostly by the pool so our lunches were burgers and hotdogs and other munchies. We tried the buffet lunch in the outside restaurant near the pool. It was ok, nothing special. But nice to eat out of the sun.
Dinners were ok. Nothing special even in the nice restaurants. We ate twice in the buffet. The first night we left hungry. The second was Italian night so the food was good. Best way to compare, the Olive Garden has better food than this. We also ate twice at there Italian restaurant which was good. We found the food to be the best here. We can recommend this place. Marco Polo, the other restaurant, we didnt get too because the menu had nothing our kids would eat.
Drinks on the other hand are excellent. No problems here. Top shelf brand name liquor, frozen drinks galore, and all the Mexican water you want (tequila). If you drink, you will get your monies worth.
Vacation Club Sales Presentation - Depending on how you book or if you want a some perks when you get there, you can attend their 90 minute sales presentation. This is for their vacation club. Presentation is about 90 minutes. They kept pretty close to schedule. Typical sales process. First you meet with the sales person who takes you to the Grand Solaris and shows you a room. The back to the Royal Solaris for the sales meeting. Once the sales person gives you the deal and you say no, then the manager comes over. She/he, with your sales person there, negotiates with you. The initial prices for a regular room 60 weeks over 30 years is $36k. For a suite is $56k. But when the manager comes over, things get reduced about $10k to $20k. And the double the weeks to 120. The manager really tries to get things going by adding other incentives. After you say no again, the closer comes over. The closer tries to get you one last time by asking what they can do to buy today. As a final effort, they will offer a 2 week trip to their resort in Cabos for an excellent price. This leaves the door open for them to deal with you and try to sell again when you get to Cabos. The trip is good for 2 years and ours was for four people. I believe this was $3,600.00. Now if you are ready to buy, you can get an excellent deal. - Pressure Not really a pressure sale. You just need to keep saying no. But they will keep going until you get up and leave.
Vacation Participant Clubs - They are part of the RCI and ICE (Cruises) clubs. You need to pay membership fees to be part of ICE but the Solaris will through in a couple of years for you to try.
Nighttime Activities - There really isnt much to do on property at night. Small "sports" bar with two pool tables, a ping pong table, darts, and air hockey. Good for kids. Lobby bar has two singers every night. - We went into town a couple of nights. Lots of chain restaurants so you have plenty of choices. Hope this helped!"- A.M. from Paramus, New Jersey
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