First I need to thank my wife's sister Marilyn and her husband Doug (aka, senior Douglas). They took us on a trip we will never forget. They have been to this resort several times and are travel club members. We stayed in the Royal Yucatan Maya Suites and they were amazing. Fully stocked mini bar, including , beer, rum, tequila, scotch, vodka, pop and peanuts. The room itself was huge with big screen t.v. , king sizebed, sofa, chairs, desk and more. It had a set of patio doors off the main bedroom running about 30 feet in length to a door that lead to a outdoor shower. This shower could also be enter off the bathroom. The bathroom had a Jacuzzi tub and toilet and bidet set, double sinks with large safe in the closet.

The benefits of staying in this suite are to numerous to mention. The Royal section has its own private pool area and bar. There is a private beach area at the north end of the beach that is exclusive to the Royal guests. Fernanda served up the best fruit bowls and made my wife feel like a princess. Thank again Fernanda.

Even if your not a guess staying in the Royal suits your made to feel special every where you go in the resort. It is a large resort but once you figure it out and get a routine going it makes easier to get ariund . The food was great. We ate are fill every where we went and had no complaints.

There are several giant pools with swim up bars and a unique salt water pool at the south end of the beach.

The are lots of things to do from mini golf to kayaking. We did some jet skiing and snorkled every day. The weather was great but a couple of days were windy.

We made two trips to Playa del Carmen and did our share on shopping. Haggling with the vendors was fun for the most part. We took a segway tour with Pedro around the resort, that was great. Everyone should do this on day one or two to see the entire resort. Makes life easier.

We went fishing on a charted boat. Snorkling in Akumals turtel bay. Never did it all but that gives us something to look forward to next time. Riviera Maya won us over. We will be back.... trying to see and do it all. This time finding more time to just relax on the beach with wonderful family, some cold beers and banana mamas.

First off--don't buy a drink at the airport while waiting for your transport to the hotel. We did and it was a ripoff $10.00 (USD) for one drink. Other than that ....once you arrive at the Royal you are in for a treat!
Private pool, Private restaurant, private bellman. Supreme service!
First off let me tell you about our two favorite people. Alberto our Bellman who we became attached to was phenomenal, he really went out of his way. We gave him the nickname of "Big Sexy" We even started getting other people to call him that! He was BEYOND wonderful!

The Royal pool has William who makes some great drinks and even has a pub mix for those times when you need a little snack. He is so great...we could just yell from the pool or hold up a glass and he would be right out with drinks for us.

Room service was good. Came back to clean room and a towel creature....loved that :)

I recommend having the Lobster at the Italian restaurant. The menu will tell you it is a $35.00 charge but if you are staying the Royal it is free. (Keep that in mind & you can also have top shelf liquor if you are a Royal guest) We ate at almost every restaurant. The food was good and they have alot to choose from. I would like to share that the eggs benedict at El Jardin was AWESOME!
The Grand Palladium is a HUGE resort and has five parts. The Royal is the adults only. Although we did stay at the Royal we spent time at the other four spots as well. Although it is a large resort nothing is far away.

We did a couple excurtions. First off let me tell you one day 1 or 2 of your trip do the SEGWAYS!!! So much fun and they show you parts of the resort you would never find on your own. It is only $35 (USD) and so so so very worth it! We also went to Tullum ruins---beyond amazing. We just took a cab which was $25 to get there for three of us and then $6.00 go get in. The beach is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and my pictures do not to it justice. We also did the Catamaya catamaran trip 1/2 day FUN FUN FUN! The food was amazing...the staff was amazing and the drinks were amazing.....the whole thing was AMAZING. Do you get where I am going with this?!? The snorkling was so great---we even had a huge sea turtle come right up to the boat what a sight to see. OH and they caught a barracuda while we were out at sea! Couldn't have asked for a better day! Last but not least we took a shopping trip into Playa on 5th ave. We did some shopping but the vendors are VERY pushy. We walked our way down to Senior Frogs and that was a good time!
It was an AMAZING vacation. I don't think it matters if it is family, friends or couples you won't regret visiting this resort!

Check in with Rafael, yes he has the same name easy and flawless. Then Alberto our Bellman who we became attached to was phenomenal, he really went out of his way. William at the pool bar made some great drinks and accomadated to mix drinks for wife. Let me tell you about El Jardin, Breakfast and Dinner here is the best not only the food, the service as well. We met Peter the Chef and he can really do it right. My compliments to him. Teo who is Mitre at the Restaurants can really make sure you are were you need to be in your meal and make sure you make it on time to all your events with the assistance of Javier who is charge of el Jardin. Also every morning through out the afternoon we spend time at la Jarra. Francisco who is the Bartender he can really make it special, and I'm not talking about the drinks, he makes you laugh and makes sure that his team delivers service. Fernanda who assists him she as well made sure you have what you need. Everyone was great and can wait to see them again in June.

It was our 5th stay at the Grand Palladium complex which is a big resort consisting of 5 parts (4 are the big family friendly parts and 1 is adult only smaller about 100 rooms) and the 2 time at the Royal Yucatan adult only part of it. We visited many other resorts in the area and other destination but feel that so far Grand Palladium represent better value and consistent quality out of all we visited (Barcelos, Catalonias, Sandals, Rius). It is a big resort with lots of walking possible along its lush greenery and huge pools, with the beautiful lobbies, variety of restaurants and bars, awesome long beach and free to use spa.
The time of visit was Sept. 2012. The goal was to relax on the beach and to swim a lot in the sea. We knew that the sea water is going to be very warm and there might be more rain as this is a hurricane season, but we got lucky with only 1 rain in all our stay. The occupancy at the resort was about 60%.
Our trip was booked with AirTransat from Vancouver.
I will rate the aspects of our stay on the scale 1-5.
Accommodation:
We had the Junior suite room on the second floor. They are in the process of updating the rooms at the Royal Yucatan, we got not renovated room that is starting to show its age but it was just fine, spacious and clean, with the huge jacuzzi on the balcony were we spent many late evenings under the stars, very private and romantic. There is free wifi, room service with the very decent menue, selected bottles of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in the room. The room rating is 4.5* and will be 5 when updated.

The beach.
Royal Yucatan has its own roped out area on the far North end of the common beach with the soft Bali beds and a drink service and the golf cart would take you there on order, but you can also walk along the beach there in 10 minutes. There were always some beds still available regardless what time of the day we would go and it was really appreciated by us because there is nothing worse than to have to play the towel game that is played in fool force at many resorts in the area with people having to get up at the sunrise to reserve the lounger under palapa. Grand Palladium overall and its adult only part Royal Yucatan is the only resort in the area that have enough loungers under the shade palapas so people can sleep in on the vacation and be relaxed. The quality of shade provided is outstanding there. There are some parts of the beach that have more rocks in the water but the area by the Royal Yucatan is very good for the swimming and snorkeling. The quantities of the different types of fish we could see without any snorkeling just standing in the water was unbelievable. My rating for the beach set up is 5*.

The food. Royal Yucatan has its own restaurant El Jardin that is off limits for the guests that stay at the other parts of the resort. We could also use any other restaurants on the common territory, but we were very satisfied with the quality of food and service at their own restaurant so we stayed there for all dinners and most breakfasts, appreciating the free lobster we can have there every night of the stay. They present different themes every night, our favorite was French. There is also food service during the lunch hours on the beach (mostly salads and sandwiches) that we used to be able to spend more time on the beach. I would prefer to have more variety in fruits and the bread is somehow lacking so my rating of the food is 4.5*.
The entertainment.
There is something going on in all 4 big lobbies of the common part of the Grand Palladium - shows, live music, disco, with the smaller Royal Yucatan lobby being very quiet with the small bar open until midnight. We would usually go around the big lobbies to see what is going on there and finish the evening at the Hemingway bar. There is a piano in that bar but we did not like the quality of the performance and the attitude of the pianist there, very indifferent. We have seen much better quality in Cuba at Sandals. We felt that the live entertainment lack the local flavor as the bands are very kin on the North theme, would be good to see more local music and instruments. My rating for entertainment is 4* - good variety but not quality.
The facilities.
Huge variety of the things to do and places to visit. Unlimited alacarte restaurants, adult pools and bars that open late, overnight working beach restaurant where they cook fresh on order any time of the day/night, free to use spa, huge pools inland and 1 salt water pool right on the beach, water and land sports. Some people complain that the resort is to big, but for us it is an advantage as we like to walk around the lush grounds, we feel trapped if the resort is small and there is nowhere to walk. We also use some of the facilities like sailing and spa very often. I would rate the facilities as 5* for the variety and the biggest all inclusive program I have seen at the AI resorts, their awesome huge free to use spa is an unique feature.
To finish this review, our stay was awesome, we got lucky with the weather, swam a lot and enjoyed the resort tremendously. It is very nice to stay in a quieter adult only part inside of the huge and active resort, be able to use all the facilities that come with the size but be able to hide in your own oasis when you want, receiving the most attentive service there.