Final Riviera Maya Hotel Reviews

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Eileen Herncane (Editor at Large)

ibero Final hotel reviews from our Florida sales rep, Everton, from his recent trip to Riviera Maya.

Iberostar Paraiso del Mar – This is the entry-level property of the Iberostar complex. They are standard rooms, which are colorful and well maintained. The grounds are beautiful. Room service is offered from 11am – 11pm. King-bed rooms offer a shower only while double-bed rooms offer a tub with shower. A-la- carte dining does have restrictions at this resort and reservations are required.

Iberostar Paraiso Maya – This resort features all junior suites and it is located in the center of the Iberostar complex. The resort offers 24-hour room service with no restrictions on a-la-carte dining. This resort also features a Lazy River and wave pool! The hotel is perfect for families.

Iberostar Grand Hotel Paraiso – This is an adults-only LUXURY Resort! 310 junior suites with butler service! 4 Specialty Restaurants and 24-hour room service! The resort exudes a feeling of luxury and opulence! * Note – There is a huge shopping area on site at the entire Iberostar complex for all resorts. The complex even offers a Catholic Church.

Riu Playacar – The hotel offers 386 standard rooms and 2 Restaurants. It does have sharing privileges with the Riu Yucatan and the Riu Tequila. Perfect for someone looking for a “smaller” resort.

Riu Palace Mexico – This resort hosted us and we received great service and amazing food. The hotel has 434 junior suites, 6 restaurants, 2 pools, a swim-up bar and golf nearby. I thoroughly enjoyed the food and the service! Beautiful beach and it is close to Playa del Carmen!

More Riviera Maya Hotel Reviews

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Eileen Herncane (Editor at Large)

mexico-nov-11-512 More reviews from our Florida sales rep, Everton, escorting his first FAM trip to Riviera Maya.

Riu Palace Riviera Maya – This resort is located just minutes from Playa del Carmen and is the perfect location for clients looking to shop or hit the town. They have a great beach! They offer 5 a la carte restaurants, multiple bars plus a swim-up bar surrounded by cocktail tables in the pool! They offer liquor dispensers in the suites, which I thought was pretty cool. The buffet selection is great! They also have a perfect suite for honeymooners called a “Jacuzzi Suite” where the Jacuzzi is on the top floor of a two-floor terrace! Very cool!!

Zoëtry Paraiso de la Bonita Riviera Maya – This resort is very upscale and serene! 90 individually named ocean front suites at this intimate, boutique resort! Resort offers complimentary private transfers, in-suite check in, 3 gourmet, a-la-carte restaurants and complimentary WIFI throughout the resort. Unlimited phone calls to the U.S. are also included. Enter the property by passing between two authentic 16th century Balinese Dragons representing “Hope and Prosperity”. The Resort is decorated with unique art and antiques hand picked by the owner during his travels. The resort is only 20 minutes from the airport and located behind the 2nd largest reef in the world. This is a true hidden gem! The resort boasts the largest wine cellar in Riviera Maya. Clients can enjoy a complimentary sunset sail 6 days a week. They also have wild birds and “Makas” on property.

NOW Sapphire Riviera Cancun – WOW! What a tropical paradise! This property has been recently renovated and offers spacious junior suites. This resort has 6 restaurants, a massive pool with an abundance of in-pool lounge chairs, a beautiful beach and spectacular food and service! No wristbands, no dining restrictions, no dining reservations, premium liquors and American beer. Plus, 24-hour room service, beach and pool wait service.

NOW Jade Riviera Cancun – This resort features 7 restaurants, 5 bars and 556 very spacious junior suites. The resort offers stunning pools. In the preferred club there are hammocks right over the pool! This resort is built in a protected Mangrove area with abundant wildlife and lush landscaping. The hotel offers 24-hour room service and is Family of 5 Friendly! Now Jade has very contemporary design and decor! Spice (Asian cuisine) has tables outside under the palapas, which is a really cool feature and is especially good for group dining.

Riviera Maya FAM Review

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Eileen Herncane (Editor at Large)

secrets_silversands Our new brand Florida sales rep, Everton, escorted his first FAM trip to Riviera Maya. Here is the report to see what he thought on his first Apple Vacations’ FAM trip and his first look at some Riviera Maya resorts.

Hola, como estas? From beautiful Cancun, Mexico. I had the pleasure to escort a FAM from Baltimore this week. Upon arrival at the Cancun airport, I found my luggage quickly then walked outside to find the flowered shirts! Once the rest of my group arrived, we were immediately shown to our bus, where there was cold bottled water and cool towels waiting. It was awesome!

Here are my impressions of the first few hotels we visited:

Secrets Silversands Riviera Cancun – This property was amazing. It was my first time here but I could tell this would be one of my favorites! They have an air-conditioned lobby and lobby bar. This is an adults-only (18+) resort, which has 8 restaurants and 8 bars. No wristbands, no restrictions on dining and no reservations are required! The resort has beautiful pools! The wonderful ocean view Jacuzzi had a definite “wow-effect” on me! Top shelf liquor and American beer are included and are standard which is great for American clients. Non-stop transfers are included when booking this resort with Apple Vacations!

Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa – This was a gorgeous property and just turned a year old! They have an open-air lobby with a beautiful lobby bar overlooking the Mangroves! This resort has 486 octagonal-shaped rooms. They also have ground-floor swim-out suites, 6 bars and 9 restaurants. The main buffet has Mexican, Asian and Italian stations. The Bordeaux is an amazing adults-only restaurant. 24- hour room service is also available. The Explorers Club is a great place for kids and they offer pagers for the parents when they leave their children. The beach at this hotel is awesome and it includes great diving and snorkeling! There is an outside bar called Barracuda, which features swings at the bar! How fun!

Tune in tomorrow for more reviews!

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Eileen Herncane (Editor at Large)

One of Apple Vacations Senior Marketing Executives just got back from a family vacation to the the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana. We got a review from her son yesterday, but here is what she had to say about the vacation:

We just returned from a great trip to Hard Rock Punta Cana. The resort was very impressive—grounds were beautiful, beach was awesome, and food and service was excellent. Our room was very spacious with a jacuzzi and great decor. They are updating the rooms from the Moon Palace decor (which was already modern and tasteful) with a Hard Rock touch—Rock ‘n Roll art, etc. The spa was huge and amazing and so was the casino, and there is all kinds of Rock memorabilia throughout the hotel.

There are something like 11 pools which are all big too and many with swim-up bars.

Being relatively new, the resort was not even close to capacity, but even when it is I can’t imagine having to get up early to reserve chairs because there are so many pools, all set along the beach. My teenage sons participated in the activities at the main activities pool and really enjoyed the entertainment staff.

Unfortunately one of our bags got misdirected by the airline, and the hotel’s Customer Service staff was very helpful in terms of making phone calls to the airline to follow up and arrange a ride to the shopping center. They also sent extra amenities to the room and made several follow-up calls to ensure we didn’t need anything. Complimentary long distance phone calls was another great perk!

If you like big hotels and don’t mind walking a bit , you’ll love Hard Rock! If you are traveling with teenagers this is a great place to go as well because the staff really engages them—we have been on many Apple Vacations and this ranks at the top of the list!

Don’t forget—If you book by 12/31 Hard Rock Punta Cana is currently offering an air credit of up to $700.00 and resort credit of up to $1500.00. Click here for more details on how to redeem the credits and what they are good for.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Eileen Herncane (Editor at Large)

One of Apple Vacations Senior Marketing Executives just got back from a family vacation to the the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana. Before we had her write a review, we asked her teenage son to do it so we can have his opinion. Here is what he had to say:

This was an all-around great resort. The food was fantastic and the beach was incredible, but the best part about the trip was the service and the workers. The people who worked at the resort we’re extremely friendly and genuinely cared about how you were doing. Some people in particular include Jose “The Pink Panther” Torres, Maximo Nunez, Marcos, and Deivy the bartender. These people did everything that they possibly could to make this trip extremely enjoyable and fun for the people staying at the resort. Jose and Maximo took the effort to make sure that we were having a blast every time they saw us. The only negative thing that I can say about the resort is that there were not enough people there! (compared to the enormity of the hotel). But other than that, the trip was a blast and I would recommend the hotel to anyone who asked.

If you book by 12/31 Hard Rock Punta Cana is currently offering an air credit of up to $700.00 and resort credit of up to $1500.00. Click here for more details.