My wife and I stayed at the Park Royal February 17-24. We had a wonderful time. We were really only looking for a clean place to stay while doing some diving which was the reason for our trip and let me say we were very pleasantly surprised with the Park Royal.

We have stayed at several other all inclusive resorts in the past including several Allegro properties as well as other all inclusives in the caribbean and throughtout Mexico and the Park Royal was definately the best service we've ever experienced.

We read tripadvisor posts prior to booking this resort and I honestly don't understand some of the complaints that I read.

Here are some observations that people may find helpful:

1. Yes there is a $2/day charge to use the safe, a little odd I agree but I honestly can't really care about $2 when some airlines are now charging me $50 to check a second piece of luggage and most hotels now charge a "energy" fee.

2. You can eat at the a la cart restaurants every night if you want which is a nice departure from some other all inclusive properties which limit your frequency. There are three a la cart restaurants including: Italian, Mexican, and Caribbean. The food was excellent at each but we liked the Caribbean the best especially the grouper. The wait staff was a little disorganized in the Mexican restaurant but on the whole it was great.

3. Here's the catch on the a la cart restaurants...you have to make reservations for them each day. You have to make reservations the same day that you want to eat at the restaurant. The reservation period is from noon until 3pm but people start lining up about 11:45am so get in line or you'll be stuck without a reservation. This is one thing that is a pain in the butt, but not a huge problem.

4. If you are a diver and plan to dive there is an onsite dive operator but we did not use them. They cater to the cruise ships and have tons of people on their boats. We used another dive operator who picked us up at the hotel pier. I know that there was some mention of the onsite operator charging for pick up by other shops but we didn't experience this and I was told that your dive operator will pay the fee if it is a problem.

5. The hotel bars DO NOT close at 10pm. I remember reading a complaint about this and it is not the case. The lobby bar is open later and the sports bar is open until 2am.

6. The wireless internet in the lobby works well and the speed is decent.

7. The cab fare from the airport to the hotel is $8/person. The cost for two of us from the hotel to the airport was $9, who knows?? The fares are fixed so you don't have to play let's make a deal with the driver. You do have to get tickets inside the airport for the cab fare which you give to an attendant outside at the curb. Cab fare from the hotel to downtown is $5 for any number of passengers.

8. We had no problem with checkin or checkout. Checkout time is noon.

Hope all this info helps. You will love the Park Royal. It is a beautiful and meticulously maintained resort.

I would definitely not recommend the Park Royal. The resort is lovely and very clean - but the service was not that great and there were hidden costs that we did not know about. Upon arrival we were told we had to pay $2 per day to use the safe in our room and $5 per person per visit to use the exercise room. We have never had to pay for these ammenities at any other facility we have stayed in - either in the USA or Mexico. You could use the masks, snorkels, and fins - but only for an hour. If you wanted to use them to go outside the resort to snorkel - they charged a fee of $8 per person and were quite rude to the customers. They wanted cash and would not let you charge it to your room - who goes to an all-inclusive and walks around with cash in their bathing suits? There are plenty of fish to see right in front of the resort if that’s what you like to do. The only other ammenity was volleyball - no kayaks, sailboats, etc. We had a problem with the safe and it took 11 phone calls and two days to get someone to come up and reset it so that we could use it and also to change 1 light bulb so that we would have light in the bathroom area. Also the toilet seats are too small for the toilets and when you sat down would shift all over. I felt the attitude by the staff was “too bad-so sad” , when ever we asked about something. Also, if your travel agent tries to get you a king size bed, early or late check out - forget it - they won’t do it. There were representatives all over the place trying to get people to listen to their sales pitch to buy into a time share or vacation program - don’t do it - they say it will last 1 hour but you’ll sit for 3 hrs listening to high pressure sales arguments. They’ll give you just about anything you want if you listen to their presentation. The food was okay and nourishing but nothing to rave about - it got kind of boring towards the end of the week. They have 3 restaurants that you can make reservations at but you could only do it on the day that you wanted to eat there and only between the hours of 12:30-3:30, which isn’t always convenient if you want to go sightseeing. The time to check in and check out was horrible. We saw 5 people behind the counter at 10:00 at night but only 2 people during the check out time, which made for very long lines and they didn’t seem to be very organized. Also, they do not have enough seating area for people to just sit and relax in the evening to play cards/games. You weren’t allowed to go into the bar to sit and play cards and only had a grouping of 4 tables and chairs in the lobby. Plenty of chairs around the pool for during the day.

7 of us went to the Park Royal resort from Feb 15-22 2008. With 7 people everyone wanted to do different things. This was the perfect resort for that! People who wanted to run around the island and hike, jeep rides, horseback riding, shopping, bar hopping could all be accomodated. AND those of us that wanted to relax, relax, relax could do so. I spent the first 4 days lounging on the beach and then the infinity pool (i would call it the quiet pool). You could read all morning and the bar opened at 11 (seemed late - but also tempered us from drinking too much and going to bed too early). My favorite drink is the Riveria Maya, and my friends loved the bloody ceasar and the iguana was a big hit. We asked why they call it the iguana - it's because they make you crawl back to your room like an iguana. Find Okey Dokey Luis he is a great bartender and is very funny. The beach is small so there are no long walks down the beach....but it was still nice. The variety of 3 large pools, 2 spas (that aren't warm but overlook the ocean) and 3 restaurants gave many choices. The breakfast buffet was decent and did the trick, all 3 the restaurants were really nice (men need to dress appropriate or they will be sent to change) and we got into them with no trouble. Some of the food I didn't like but I blame order envy. The buffet at night wasn't what I really liked so I stuck to the a la carte restaurants or went into town for a bite. Taxi into DT is only $4-6 well worth it. There is a bar called the sunset bar about 1/2 mile from the hotel toward DT- it had the most beautiful sunsets and plenty of cold beer. I am a little scared to leave the resort too much but we went on a jeep ride around the whole island. It was fantastic! I am from MN and I met tons of people from MN, WI and MI - not to mention 1 fantastic Canadian who adopted all of us. Many people we met exchanged emails with and are already keeping in touch. All the hotel personel were super friendly. We did see a lot of timeshare meetingd going on. We never had a problem - we were just very firm in saying no thank you. If you want a "deal" you get discounts for listening to the speal but not worth my pecious vacation time. All in all - I loved this resort!! I would recommend it whole heartedly

If the buffets here were better, I would seriously have considered the time share. I am getting the negative out of the way first because it is only one thing. The breakfast buffet was great. The lunch was ok. The dinner, most nights, was marginal at best. And no, I am not picky. And yes, I do know what to expect at AI buffets.

There, that was relatively painless. The rest of the hotel was fantastic! The grounds were clean and very pretty. The sidewalks were clean and I don't think that we saw any trash on them the whole 8 days we were there. The maintenence/ clean up crews would even take empty drink cups and trays from palapas and loungers if you were finished with them.

Free Internet access at an AI resort? Great idea.

Jorge and the bell staff were great. Marta took great care of us at the front desk (ask for room 1705, can't hurt) Great view. Looking out of one balcony chair, you would never know cruise ships stopped there. Looking from the other, you could look right at them. Your choice. Great view of grounds and beach area.

The Caribbean restaurant was unbelievably good and I highly recommend the Grouper or Pork Trinidad and Tobago style. The Italian was just OK, but I am not a big Italian fan to be fair.

Deserts at a la carte and buffets were not the best but oh well.

The rooms were great. Well decorated and clean. The maid service is awesome. Probably one of the nicest rooms we've stayed in anywhere.

The pool area by the sales office was very nice and shady but you had to get there early or stare at towels on loungers. Luis at the bar was friendly and made great drinks. All of the alcohol is what most resorts term "top shelf" (i.e. Jack, Bacardi, Jose Cuervo, etc)

Julio at the Marlin Azul makes a mean burger. Try a double.

All in all, if the buffets were better, we'd be here every year.

OFF RESORT STUFF

Do the Cozumel Sailing Tucan trimaran tour. Don't even think twice about it. Kim, Capt. Juan, and Jamie made this quite possibly the best excursion ever. Our trip was 9:30 until 4:30 and included unlimited drinks, the best homemade guacomole you'll ever have, and homemade steak fajitas grilled on the back of the boat as you sail. If you get lucky, like we did, the return time is not very firm as long as you don't have "boat people" on board. I cannot really express how much we liked this trip in words.

We also rented a jeep from Rentadora ISIS for $60 and toured the island's south and east side. OMG the east side of the island is awe inspiring. The sight of turquoise waves 4-6 feet is indescribable. Stopped at Chen Rio for lobster ceviche and beers, both were great. Also ate at Coconuts and the view is every bit as good as every review says it is.

Lastly, we ate at Prima Too one night which is also called the Wynston. It is on top of one of the condos near Punta Langosta pier. It was very romantic and probably one of the best restaurants I have eaten at in a long, long time.

If possible, buy one of the Cozumel Human Society Shirts from Rock N Java. Help support the animals of Coz.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or for more info.

I am going to try to attach pictures.