Description: We stayed at the Royal Solaris Resort from 10/28/10 to 11/05/10.
We arrived Thursday afternoon for check-in and were immediately confronted by the folks in the black shirts that wanted to sell you a membership. We told them we were not interested, however they persisted trying to say they were celebrating a "special deal only for you" because of their 20th year. They tried to offer us a free coupon for two free massages for just listening to them for "a few minutes". We spent about 15 minutes trying to be polite to them and finally had to be firm and say we weren’t interested and walked away. We had several friends that sat through the presentation which lasted on the average of 3 ½ hrs. Several couples complained they weren’t able to get their free massage because the person that did the service was always not available.

Also, the folks in the black shirts will tell you that if you have any questions to come to them. They wanted to act as your concierge and best friend hoping you would change your mind and sign up for the member’s package.

They have four elevators; one was out of order and was not fixed for three days which required you to spend much time waiting. The elevators are rated to carry 10 people however five was the max they could comfortably carry. Also, the floor in the elevator was very slippery from folks not drying off from the pool and management should have cleaned more frequently.

Upon arrival to our room it was very cold, we spoke to the front desk and it was a very frustrating process as it took three days before the maintenance folks fixed the AC. To warm the room we opened the window and the room was immediately drenched by condensed water. We finally insisted that they fix the problem or move us. However, if they moved us we would lose the ocean view. When they finally came the temperature reading on the maintenance man’s sensor read 13ºC (55.4ºF).
The room was very nice with a king size bed and a wonderful view of the ocean. The folks across the hall got to look at the highway. The bottom drawer of the only dresser was stuck and maintenance couldn’t fix it leaving us with three drawers. The walls do not dampen sound well so adjacent room noise is a problem if you have noisy neighbors.
As we were at a facility that liquor flows like water some folks complained that their neighbors kept them up the majority of the night and the hotel management did little to help. We did not have that problem.

Breakfast was held in the large open cafeteria buffet style area one level down from the main floor. The selections were very good. My favorite was trying all the various types of melon and fruits. My husband enjoyed the sausage & bacon and made to order omelet. This large area also served as a buffet style dinning area in the evening.

One of the restaurants used for evening dining was closed for repairs (not indicated on the web site) so the hotel transferred some of the menu options to the Marco Polo of which we ate all our evening meals.
We considered this restaurant (their only one, so get there early) a five star experience. The service and food was excellent! Tables are set at a nice distance from each other which made a cozy atmosphere and a great dining experience.

The third pool area was closed and that section was under construction so we stayed at the main pool area. This would have been a problem if more people were there however, it was off-peak season and we had no problem finding a chaise lounge with an umbrella. The Rosmarinus restaurant located adjacent to the pool was a lovely palapa setting and provided wonderful views of the ocean and pool. However, it was only open the 1st day we got there then was closed for construction the entire time we were there. This was very disappointing.

One day we wanted to visit the Mayan Ruins of El Rey which were about a mile and a quarter walk from the resort. We asked the folks in the black shirts if there was an entrance fee and we were told it was not required. When we got to the ruins it was four dollars per adult. Fortunately my husband had $10 and we went it. We found the WEB more accurate in providing answers to our questions than the hotel staff.
Do not go expecting to see the ruins of Chichen Itza. These ruins are under constant excavation and were much smaller in scale but very interesting. You have to use your mind and imagine how the structures functioned. Some sites have English explanations of what you are looking at. There are many Iguanas and kids will enjoy seeing their body mechanics as you approach their territory (ex: head bobbing, etc.).

I needed to stay in touch with my business clients and called the resort before we arrived to decide if I needed to bring my computer with me. I was told there was an internet room that was available only for resort guests. I asked if there was a charge for this and I was told "At the Royal Solaris Cancun everything is included". To our great disappointment after we arrived we found out there was a $5 charge for each 15 minutes to use this service. However, they do have a local WI-FI so make sure you bring a laptop if you need to stay in touch.

When you look at the brochure the beach appears to gently slope up to the resort. This is not the case as the wave action eroded the beach making a five foot drop off in some places. This did not leave much room to place a chaise on the beach and allow people to walk between the resort’s wall and the ocean. When you walk the beach other facilities have the same problem however, they have workers and machines leveling the beach early each morning.

They offer nightly entertainment which was very good. The sets, sound, costumes and lighting are excellent. The dancers did an amazing job as they lip-synced to the music.
One night there was a dinner hosted at the theater and my husband and I left the Marco Polo and hurried to the show. We found two chairs and after a half hour were told that I had to give up my chair as others were arriving for dinner. I hadn’t noticed there was a place setting at my seat so it was considered available by the staff. Since the place was packed we were forced to move and stand in the back to watch the show. We were very disappointed that they did not have enough seating. Since this was the off-peak season I can’t imagine what it would be like when more guests were at the resort.

The night before our departure (6AM the following morning) we planned to have dinner at the Marco Polo (our favorite and only restaurant as the other area to eat was the large open area cafeteria style restaurant) at 6PM in time to catch the evening entertainment which started at 8PM. We arrived at the Marco Polo at 5:45PM only to find that the entire restaurant was reserved for "Members Only" and would not open until 8PM for non-members. Under no circumstances would the staff at the restaurant allow us in. We went to the front desk and spoke to the management and explained it was our last night and wanted to eat at their "only" restaurant and see the show as we were leaving early the following morning.
The manager at the desk said there were no exceptions, "members come first and you have to wait until 8PM".
I again explained that there was no information provided to us telling us their only restaurant would not be available and if we waited we would miss the show on our last night. The manager smiled at us and said that there was nothing he could do and that we should become members to enjoy that privilege.

Well, as they say you get what you pay for. We had an excellent package deal for $995 that included the resort, a direct flight (Jet Blue), transportation to and from the airport and departure tax.
We loved the sun, sand and water but I think we will pay a little more next year and hopefully stay at a resort that would not always be under construction and would provide the services we would expect.
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