Hi Fayette,
We had a wonderful time. Sadly I came to the realization it was way too short. Should have stayed an extra day or two. Oh well , know for the next time.
Riviera Maya is just beautiful. The resort was large and very nice. Sandos Playacar Beach Resort and Spa is in a community( Playacar) with other hotels and actual homes. $500,000- 1 million dollar homes. The Iberostar was next to us and RIU had 5 hotels in this community. They are about a 15 minute bike ride to Playa Del Carmen. 5 minute taxi cab.
We actually ended up getting different rooms when we got there. The Hacienda Jr Suites are in buildings that are a bit of a walk from the beach. They do provide, golf cart service, all day and all night but we wanted to be closer to the beach and pool The suites were nice( although ended up being the same room we got by the beach) and would be great if you went to the resort with people you knew. You all then could enjoy the private pool after hours or just hang after a day at the other pool and beach. So we were able to get adjoining rooms, ground floor in steps from the beach. Rooms were spacious, great bathrooms, with showers with seats in them. No tub, but it was not missed. Top of the line fixtures etc. TV was a bit outdated and you can only get 2 channels that were not in Spanish but we didn’t miss it. Ray and I had a King bed and the boys has 2 doubles and they had a couch that doubled as bed too! So we very much liked the accommodations.
The food was very good. Buffets were incredible especially the breakfast and lunch ones. We did try 3 out of the 5 restaurants. The only complaint I had ( and I completed a survey with this there)
Was that all restaurants, men had to wear pants, which I could see one restaurant being ultra fancy but not all of them. Trust me, the restaurants were not that fancy and it did not warrant the need for long pants. Of course you don’t want people to come in sleeveless shirts etc. but a nice pair of docker shorts and nice shirt.. would be fine. Thank god Ray had a pair of long pants with him.
Also on Sunday we went to Guest Services to book times for dinner and by 2:00 pm the only time they had available for a party of 5 was either 8:30 or 9 at night. So we ate very late, which ended up being okay. It just seemed they did not accommodate for a party larger than 4 easily.
They also served top shelf liquor at the bars which for an all inclusive is not normally the case.
The resort itself would be perfect for families with kids from 4-10 years old.. Lots for them to do, activities etc. And that seemed to be the majority of the folks there. My kids had fun but they are in the between years.. 12. 13 and 15.. So while there seemed to be groups of kids running around in the ages stated above.. there was not so many their age. And the drinking age is 18 down there.
They did have a teen disco.. which was empty every time they went. They has shows every night and entertainment. They did have a huge game room with ping pong , pool etc. which the kids that were my kids age hung out the most.
We had a fabulous time. We went parasailing and went to one of the parks Xplor. ( next to XCarat) great time there.. they had zip lines, we swam in the caverns, rode ATV vehicles through the jungle etc. . I would definitely recommend this resort to families with younger kids. We saw so many resorts that we would love to try.
Playa del Carmen is a great little town with tons of shopping and every type of food and drink you could imagine. They had interesting combos too.. Pizza and Tequila.. and then right next to it would be this really nice wine and cigar bar. We went to Playa Del Carmen for only a little over an hour but wished we had more time to go through and have dinner. We were heading back to the resort for our late dinner.
Flights were fine.. no problems. Although coming back into Charlotte from Cancun was very crowded. Got in around 4:30.. had a 6;10 connecting which we almost missed due to very long lines for security. It seemed everyone was getting out of Charlotte at the same time; however we made it with 5 minutes to spare!! BTW.. we only paid for bags one way… J
We will definitely visit Riviera Maya again. It was a fabulous vacation. The weather was perfect.. probably a bit cool for the locals.. 85 during the day but 70-72 degrees at night.. a light jacket, sweatshirt felt good. I have been to Cancun and it was 95 during the day and 85 at night. No rain… yeah!!!
Thanks again!!
Michelle