Had to stay here for one night since the Catalonia Royal Tulum Hotel, which we had booked, claimed they were over booked. I managed to get a Junior Suite as part of the compensation and the room was very nice and spacious. It was close to the sea and the restaurants as well. The only problem with the room was some kind of constant noise which was quite irritating during the night.

Only tried the lunch buffet at the pool and the Italian restaurant - neither of them a big experience though but OK.

The hotel has about 700 rooms so the place is pretty crowded. I stayed three nights at Catalonia Royal Tulum Hotel and would recommend this instead as it is less crowded and set more beautifully in the djungle with a superb beach.

The hotel is comfortable, clean, cheap and on a beautiful section of the beach!
It is close to Playa Del Carmen, we took the local bus located outside the complex (20 min ride), it is also just down the way from the Puerto Aventuras community with Dolphins, cafes and restaurants.
The money we saved by not staying in a snooty 5 star resort where the people are not as friendly, we spent on tours to Chitzenitcha, Dolphin swimming, trips to Playa Del Carmen, Snorkelling and other trips.

We loved it and enjoyed our time spent in the resort as well! They really go out of their way to make your stay here a pleasant one!

We are use to staying at 5* resorts but this 4* resort had better reviews then most 5*'s. SO we tried it and were not disappointed. We stayed on the Nolitour side of the resort in building 3. The room was clean and plenty of closet space. Most rooms are designed for two people so we had to ask for addition towels, a chair for the balancy and glass to drink out of. But everything was deliveried and everything was good. If people complain about this resort they should stay home because the staff is great, the food is adequate and the drinks never stop coming.
I would reconmend this resort to anyone.

Had a great stay at this resort Feb 17-24, 2013

This was my first visit to Mexico and first time at an all-inclusive. Trip was booked through NoliTours, via AirTransat.

When you arrive at Cancun airport there are vendors trying to sell you cold beers for $6,50 each outside in the waiting area (for your bus to the resort) try and restrain yourself from buying those. Once you are on the bus and the bus leaves the airport property it stops and the guide grabs a cooler and brings it on board and will sell you Corona's for $3.00 each.

The bus to the resort took a while as it stopped at 2 resorts then finally the Catolina Yucatan. We boarded the bus at 10:40am and arrived at the hotel at 12:15pm so be prepared for this.

We had already pre-booked Privileged rooms with our booking agent (having read reviews about standard rooms) however once at the hotel we booked up to a suite having seen the Privileged room. It was very nice, but for an extra $140.00 for the 7 nights it was very nice to have the additional room in the suite. We had unit 8116, which had a huge tiled tub on the balcony which was very private. The outdoor tub and full marbled indoor washroom were the easy selling points to book the suite. With the privileged rooms and suite you get a few extra perks, free use of the in-room safe and a stocked mini-bar, along with robes and slippers. I have attached a number of pictures of the room. Oh and you also get 1 extra (dinner for 2) coupon for the on-resort restaurants. More on those below.. The front desk experience was excellent, check was a breeze and our room was ready early. NoliTours mentions that there is exclusive check-in for those who booked with them, but that person was not at the desk when we arrived.

The hotel grounds are immaculate, try and find garbage or an empty glass on the main hotel grounds, you won't find it. You trip over staff who are either tending to the landscape or housekeeping staff. It's very well maintained. There is a full activities board near the Margarita swim-up bar that lists the entire week of things to do, and there is no lack of activities to take part in on the resort grounds. We did the bike riding tour on Wednesday, it was about an hour event and made several stops in the immediate area, it was well worth it, and free! The activities staff will canvass the guests at pool-side to take part in afternoon events, though we didn't do any, they really want you to participate.

All the on-resort restaurants are excellent, varied menu's and themes, and for those liking crepes, milkshakes and banana-splits there is The Crepiere located above La Brisa's. They close on Sunday but between 5pm and 11pm the rest of the week they are dishing up delicious desserts. Say hi to Marcellino, he is amazing.

The Mikado seems to be the most popular of the a la carte restaurants, they open at 6pm, but you want to be there about 5;20pm and wait inside, the door is open. Since they only take 12 people per section your wait can be 2 hours if you don't arrive early, they do not take reservations. None of the eateries do, btw.

We did not experience a bad meal the entire week, each restaurant was well staffed, the menu's are easy to read, follow and order from, and if you do have to wait, so what.... have a few drinks.

For breakfast I would recommend being ready to eat about 8;30am each day, and I would also recommend El Mercado. It seemed that the majority of the guests went to La Brisa's, which is equally as good, but the line up is huge. Walk around to El Mercado and walk right in, the breakfast items are generally the same, but you won't have to wait. If you do go to breakfast after 9am it seemed they didn't replenish the supply of items that ran low. We found out a couple times that this was the case, items were totally gone and weren't replenished. But you can't beat the selection of items and juices, and vodka too, if you so desire.

About the lounge chairs, chaises around the pool, beach and palapa's, the towel game is in full force. You will want to place the blue towels across the chaise you want early in the morning. I was out each day around 7:45am and was able to have pretty much any chaise I wanted. If you are later than that you may not get the spot you want. We were there for 7 days, each day I chose a different area to experience the full use of the resort.

If you want a quieter area to read or snooze you will not want to place your towel around the pool area by Bambeleo Snack Bar, that is the area that most of the pool events take place. The staff use loud music and microphone/speaker to run the events, so it's noisy. Any other area and the beach are much quieter.

There is a nice cove area where they rent the sea-doo's just down from Bambeleo it gets full sun and the beach area is less rocky. Generally the beach areas are somewhat rocky, you will find sand and the water is crystal clear. The weather can be anything, we had a couple cloudy days, and 5-6 rain showers, otherwise it's sun all the way.

We took in a theatre show on Thursday night, it was entertaining and something different to do on the resort. It's not Vegas, but it was entertaining.

If you want souvenirs you are in luck, 5 of the nights we were there they had street vendors selling wares in the walk-ways. Various items are for sale and they hang out till 10pm on the nights they are there. Barter with them, do not pay asking, on everything we bought we talked them down, mention your price and walk away, they will stop you and barter.

All in all it was a great trip, the housekeeping staff, in fact all the staff have permanent smiles and are extremely friendly. You will enjoy the towel designs each morning after housekeeping cleans your room. Tips in our case were included, but I tipped additionally, they are very appreciative.

Enjoy your trip there, I wish I was back there and I only left yesterday!

Hola!