The rooms/suites are comprised of a living room with dining area, kitchen, bedroom, walk-in closet (with safe) and a bathroom. There is a second bedroom with 2 beds, which is used as a lock-off unit, or could be combined into a 2 bedroom suite.
The rooms were fairly good sized and the furniture adequate. There were six dining chairs and dishes for 8. The master bedroom had a king sized bed and there are 2 single murhpy wall beds in the living room. 2 TV's.
Our only glitch came at check-in. This was a trade with Interval International who had assigned us an ocean front room, and even gave us the name of the owner. The resort would not give us this room, claiming that II could not assign rooms. We were put in building C, which had a pool and partial ocean view from the balcony. The location was fine; but our expectations were not met with the ocean front. Granted I know nothing about the hotel business, but I would think that a simple exchange could be handled as just that - we exchange for a certain room and they should assign us that room.
Moon Palace resort -
At the airport we got roped into a tour/presentation at the Moon Palace resort. They said it was not a timeshare; it's an all inclusive club. Could have fooled me ! It was the same type of set-up as a timeshare. Not only was the price very high to 'buy in', but you paid a fee of about $1500 to use it for 1 week (off-season for a hotel room). They only have 2 kinds of units: a large 'Presidential' which is 2 bedrooms or a hotel room. There are no kitchens since all meals and alcohol are included.
We did get 2 free rounds of golf, plus $100 to spend in their stores, plus a day to use the facilities, have meals there and get 2 back massages.There prices for golf and messages were very high. The golf course was very nice; but I didn't care for the layout of the spa.
This is a huge resort out of the hotel zone. You have to take a shuttle to get to the various buildings for golf, spa, etc. And there are always lines for meals, as most are buffets. This was not for us.
The Royal Sands Resort is located in the 'hotel zone' about 20+ minutes (and $9. by shuttle) from the airport. Taxi is $40. which is over twice what it should be.
The resort is comprised of 2 U shaped buildings open to the ocean, with most rooms have both a pool and ocean view. All rooms have balconies. The buildings are 9 stories high with elevators in several locations. There is a large pool for each section, plus a lap pool. Wheelchair ramps are available from the lobby to pool area - but use caution - they are tile and slippery when wet (I fell on one). The water here is safe to drink, but tastes terrible.
They do have a nice and good sized mini-market on site. You can purchase water, snacks, breakfast items, some fruit and frozen items. Overall the decor of the resort is upscale with marble, tile, etc. It could be located anyplace as there is no special sense of being in Mexico. A very nice resort, however.
Almost everyone checks in and out on Sat., so they ask you to check out in advance on Fri. Photos below....
This is their main restaurant and it's quite large. We found the food excellent and varied. They always have a buffet, but they don't give you a hard time if you want to order off the menu. It's more economical if you aren't a big eater. Prices are about average - lower than we were used to in Cabo. French Toast, waffles and pancakes were all good; these are items which are not usually to my liking in Mexico. Overall this restaurant was fairly American-ized.... Certainly not totally Mexican; although the buffet had more Mexican items.
The Royal Sands also has a pool restaurant at the 2nd building which has sandwiches and salads for lunch. There is also a Mexican restaurant in front by the street.
On Wednesday they have a combination package of buffet and show. The buffet had a good choice of items.(Well, OK, not up to Las Vegas standards) There were Mariachi players and several different kinds of Caribbean dancers. A pleasant evening. They are not open for lunch. I think you can go for dinner without the show as there was a separate room without the show view.
The steaks here were very good. They were served only with grilled vegetables which were overdone. A little pricey as the salad bar was an extra $9.
Whole lobster or lobster tail was 430 pecos or almost $40. It came with pasta and creamed spinach. Other items were also priced a little high. Good lobster bisque and salad.
The plaza is attached to the Luxury Mall which is a couple of buildings down from the Royal Sands. A good Mexican place - that's not just tacos - thay had a steak & lobster special for $23.00 US. and the bacon wrapped shrimp was $22. The best part was their large selection of fruit flavored margaritas at $10.
Royal Sands Resort - Cancun
Click small picture to enlarge
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