Ok, ok I know if you girls have to hear one more time that I am in the travel biz and have been here, there and everywhere ever again you might jump through your PC screen and choke slam me. Well here it really applies. I promise!
I work for a European tour operator and also am a freelance travel writer to that explains why I travel so much and have been to lots of different places (believe me it has nothing to do with income bc I don't pay for it, I am actually paid to do this
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The wedding decisions were easy compared to the pains I went through trying to decide on an HM destination. DH could care less. His only request was that it be somewhere warm and did not want to do a lot of sightseeing (Europe was out) AND perfered an all inclusive resort. We are big drinkers (I'm not going to lie) and didn't want to pay $15 every time we wanted a cocktail.
DH also travels about 40% on biz and it's always ridiculously long flights (spends a lot of time in Hong Kong and India). We didn't want to sit on a plane too long so Hawaii/Australia/Tailand was out too. I've been to Tahiti before and realy didn't want to go back.
Having said all of that I have been to some of the most incredible resorts/hotels in the world. The Royal Hideaway is THE BEST resort I have EVER been too, especially for an all inclusive.
The resort offers 200 rooms and they are all two and three story villas. Each villa has a conceirge that services about 8 -10 couples. There is nothing these people won't do for you.
The rooms are gorgeous and very comfortable. All have an ocean view or are ocean front. I am convinced we got the best room (in the catergory we booked bc of it's location). Villa 24, corner ground floor room which is the room closest to the infinity pool, beach and tahitian beds. Yes getting chairs can be a total pain in the @zz. We woke up every morning at 7AM hopped over our railing and reserved 4 chairs. Bc of our room location we never had a problem.
The food is to die for. There are five restaurants. All are outstanding BUT we loved Azia the best. Who thought you could get amazing sushi in Mexico??? Our least favorite was the Italian restaurant but I think as New Yorkers we are a bit spoiled bc aside of Italy we do have the best Italian food on the planet here! Las Ventansas is there signature restaurant. VERY GOOD! Very similar to an upscale NYC restaurant (new American/ecletic fare).
Ther service is second to none in every area. We had pool waiters fighting over who could take our drink orders ($5 goes a long way). A few times a day they walk around with a cart with cool water spray, fruit kabobs and mint sented wet hand towels.
DO THE SPA! Just gorgeous and so worth the money. DH and I did a couples massage (50 minutes) and then did seperate 80 minute massages a few days later. I nearly cried when the massuese told me it was over. This spa is nicer than any LI/NYC spa I have ever been to.
The gym was kind of lame. Small and outdated equipment. We went three times just to attempt to burn off all of the empty calories.
Whatever you do....PLEASE book the beach dinner. It is more than worth the money. They only host about five or six couples each night on the beach. It might be the most romantic experience of my life AND the lobster was amazing!!!
We also had the pleasure of spending time with another LIW bride and her DH (Bari 'D'sgirl) on the HM. We got married on the same day and happened to choose the same HM resort. I'm not going to lie at first I was a little nervous thinking how do you handle HM'ing with another couple you know. Well I can say that this made our HM even BETTER. DH and I have been 'living in sin' as have Bari and her DH so there was no 'getting to know your partner better' on the HM. It actually broke up the time and it was great having cool people to share the experience with. Don't get me wrong we didnt' spend every minute together but it was great to have another couple to interact with. Both our DH's are hyper guys and can't sit by the pool all day so while Bari and I soaked up the sun they would go into town, ect.
The beach is not nearly as bad as some reviews on Trip Advisor say. Yes there are sand bags but they really weren't such a big deal. We swam in the water and rented waver runners and had no problems. Oh, and there is never a problem getting a beach chair.
Again I can't express how much we loved it here. We originally were supposed to spend the last 4 days at the Ritz Carlton in Cancun and canceled so we could spend the entire HM at RH. If that doesn't tell you how much we loved it I don't know what does!
I think this sums it up. Here are some pics and there are more in my album:
Riviera Maya If any Riviera Maya brides have ANY questions feel free to FM
