We were at Playacar Palace from June 28-July 5 for our honeymoon and it was an absolutely wonderful trip! It was a first time to Playa and we loved it and we loved Playacar Palace! We can't wait to go back to Playa again.

Location: The location was excellent. We rode the ADO bus from the Cancun airport (only $8 per person!) and walked to the hotel. The hotel was only about 3-4 blocks from the bus station. It is located on the South end of Quinta. It is really convenient to be able to walk into town whenever you want.

Hotel & common areas: The lobby and most of the hallways are open air, which we thought was lovely. There is a lobby bar and the aqua bar. All the decorating was very modern and classy. Everything was always impeccably clean. The hotel is not huge, which was nice. It wasn’t a far walk to get anywhere.

Overall Service: When we arrived we were immediately greeted and checked in and everything was explained to us. A bellhop took us to our room and gave us a tour and explained everything. For the most part everyone working at the hotel was very friendly. The next day we went to sign up for some of the free tours and honeymoon dinner. The woman asked if we wanted to go to Aventura Spa Palace for a tour (& a timeshare presentation) and we would get $100 spa credit. We said no thanks and we were never asked about any timeshare stuff again. The service in the restaurants varied some. The servers were all friendly and most were very good. On a few occasions, the service was very slow.

Room: We had a Honeymoon Suite (143) and it was awesome! At first I was worried because it was the first floor, but when we got to our room we loved it! Even though it was the first floor we still had a balcony, and it was directly over the ocean, and the pool and all the restaurants were right around the corner. The jacuzzi in the room was wonderful. The bed and pillows were very comfortable. The AC worked great. Basically, everything about the room was fantastic. The only small thing we thought was a little weird was that there is no door on the shower and no matter how we tried to direct the spray of the showerhead it ended up getting water all over the bathroom floor. No big deal-we had plenty of towels and we just threw a few on the floor, but it was a little funny.

Pool/Beach: We LOVED the pool and beach! There was a beach-the first few days it was pretty small, but towards the end of the week they brought chairs down to the sand. I really could care less if there was a beach though because I don’t like getting all sandy. I just loved the ocean! We live in Southern CA, but I have not gotten in the ocean here in 5 years-it is cold and dirty. In Playa we pretty much started off every day getting in the ocean and playing in the waves. Then we would rinse off and lay out, get in the pool, have a few drinks, etc. The pool water was perfect. I am a baby about jumping into cold pools. It was a perfect temperature, warm, but refreshing. The Miami Vice was a great drink (pina colada and strawberry daiquiri mixed)!

Housekeeping: The maid did a great job. She went so far as straightening our shoes and putting any toiletries left out in a neat row. Everything was cleaned very well. They also came twice a day which we didn’t realize until we were there for a few days and we came back from dinner and found our towels neatly hung and comforter folded. We didn’t get any “towel art” like I hear some people get, but we didn’t care about that-only thought about it because I had heard about it. The first two days no one came to restock our minibar, which was kind of weird. There are two fridges in the Honeymoon Suite, so we still had drinks, but by the end of the second day we were out of the drinks that we liked. We called and asked that they send someone to restock it. We left a tip and a note asking for the soda and beer we liked, and the next time we came back to our room our fridges were fully stocked with exactly what we asked for. Later that day someone called and asked us if our minifridge had been being stocked and we told them it hadn’t been for two days, but it was after we called. It seemed like there was some sort of mixup. We didn’t have any problem after that. Not sure what the problem was with that, but no big deal. Also, we left our laptop computer out in our room for our whole trip and had no problem and the wireless internet worked great.

Restaurants/Food: The hostesses at the restaurant were all very sweet. We thought the food in the Asian and Italian restaurant was really good. We had the lasagna and some fettucine alfredo type dish at the italina place. At the Asian place we loved the chow mein and I liked the sushi rolls. The tempura ice cream was also super yummy! The service was excellent all but one night. On the last night there seemed to be some issue at the Asian restaurant and our service was not very good. We also had the Honeymoon dinner and it was excellent. We had the filet and fish and both were very good. The breakfast buffet was great, especially the french toast and made to order omelets. We actually never ate at the lunch buffet. We always either got something at the pool or we were out on an excursion. The cheeseburgers by the pool were great. We tried one other thing from the pool menu (some crab salad sandwich thing) and it wasn’t too great. The dinner buffet was fine. We ate there a couple times because the first night we were really hungry and the other time we were in a hurry. Obviously it is quick since the food is all ready. The food was fine. We always found plenty to eat. Nothing was great, but nothing was bad either. The room service menu was a little more limited than we expected. We tried a cheeseburger a couple times. For some reason the ones at the pool were better. We had a club sandwich and it was good. The chicken broth was good. One time when we called and ordered and they called us back a few minutes later and asked us if we wanted cheesecake too. We said sure, why not, and it was really good.

Tours: We went on the Paradise Snorkeling Tour and the Tulum/Xpu-Ha tour. The snorkeling tour was great. We went to Maroma Beach (which was lovely) and then went out on a boat to the reef. We saw lots of fish. It was great. After snorkeling, you could pay extra to do activities like horseback riding, wave runners, etc. or just hang out. We just laid out, played in the ocean, etc. They also had free buffet lunch and drinks. The food was ok. Tulum was absolutely amazing-One of our favorite things. The tour guide was great-extremely knowledgeable and helpful. We did end up breaking off from the tour a little early. It was boiling hot and we couldn’t resist going down to the ocean. It was the best-Absolutely beautiful water and great waves to play in. The only annoying thing was that after Tulum and on our way to Xpu-Ha we stopped at this Mayan marketplace and that took too long. It was cool to see Xpu-Ha. It is a huge Palace resort. They have monkeys, flamingos, crocodiles, and other animals. We hung out at the pool there for a bit and also had a free buffet lunch-it was pretty good.

Other Excursions: After Tulum/Xpu-ha we actually did not go back to the hotel with the tour. We took a taxi to Akumal and snorkeled at Yal-Ku. It was fantastic. It is like a lake with very clear salt water and tropical fish. We only had about 45 minutes there because it closes at 5:30 and we definitely wish we had more time. We also took the ferry over to Cozumel Palace and hung out there for the day. Overall we didn’t like Cozumel that much. We only walked through town to the hotel, but it seemed much more touristy than Cozumel-I swear a hundred people asked us if we wanted to rent a scooter or go snorkeling. Cozumel Palace seemed more lively overall than Playacar Palace. We liked it, but overall we still liked Playacar Palace better. A cool thing about Cozumel Palace was that you can climb down a ladder right into the ocean and snorkel. We saw a good amount of good fish. It was cool.

We also got massages at Veronica’s and they were great!

Nightlife: We are in our late 20s and we like to party. Playacar Palace is pretty quiet at night. We were pretty surprised that the Lobby bar was often basically empty. We only saw two of the evening performances. The fire dancers were amazing and the capoeira performance was also great. We usually had a few drinks at the hotel and then walked into town. We went to Senor Frogs once (right by the hotel). It was the regular Spring Break atmosphere, but fun. We also went to Bali Club, Santanera, Blue Parrot, and Coco Maya. They were all cool. Bali Club was a total dance club, Santanera had a great upstairs outdoor patio, Blue Parrot was fun-dancing and the awesome fire show, Coco Maya is right next to Blue Parrot and has dancing and hanging out areas. We had fun at all of them, but I think Coco Maya was our favorite.

Together with my husband and 3 kids (5,7,9) and 9 other family members, we spent a wonderful week at the Playacar Palace. We arrived 7/5 and returned 7/12/08. The location cannot be beat, close to Xel-Ha, Xcaret, Tulum and others. When we booked the Playacar Palace we were concerned about the lack of a sandy beach. According to resort personnel, 3-4 months ago this palace had water up to it's breakwater wall. However, we were greeted by a wonderful large white sand beach and clean swimmable water. Each morning the staff place several lounge chairs and umbrellas on the beach and bar service is provided by the wonderful staff. The pool is immediately adjacent to the pool and provides the best of both sea and fresh water swimming.
We loved the beautiful room and balcony overlooking the water. The best rooms are on 2nd floor (with direct connection to lobby), although other rooms on floors above have nice balconies as well. One of our group was upset to find themselves in a 1st floor room with no balcony (some rooms have only windows) and no view. They were moved the next day to the 5th (top floor). We loved the buffet, especially the wide array of fresh hot items and wonderful pastries. The kids ate as much of the homemade ice cream as they could hold. Also we had a great experience in the Italian and Asian restaurants. The Italian restaurant menu changes every few days so go more than once. The Asian restaurant sushi and tempura are fantastic.
We were travelling on the all inclusive package which included tours. The Paradise Island Snorkeling trip was a waste, apparently many areas of Cancun are overrun with seagrass and there was virtually nothing to see, the food was poor, and the boat trip was about 10 minutes long. The Tulum tour was very boring, the guide (Santiago) insisted on teaching history of mexico instead of providing information relevant to Tulum. However this tour was saved by the lunch and swimming at Xpu-Ha (Esh-pu-ha) Palace which has a great kids pool area and huge pool with great service and few guests.
We took the lobby to lobby shuttle to the Moon Palace for a day and thought we had accidentally gone to Las Vegas. The Moon Palace is enormous the kids loved the kids pool area, but the beach is unswimmable due to sea grass and the wait staff and service were horrible.
Members of our group enjoyed Chichen Itza (Chicken Pizza) but it was a very long slow day, and they insist on taking you to a company run shopping area with hugely inflated prices.
Do not miss the palace gift shop, and jewelry shop. After shopping the 5th avenue area extensively, we found the prices and quality to be better at the resort.
Do not miss Activity Director (Romaine) or the nightly shows, fire show, mexican show or circus show they are very high quality and quite entertaining. Our favorite wait staff, Wilbert (swim up bar), and Damian (buffet).
If you are travelling to Cancun on a Saturday afternoon, be advised that there is usually a huge wait (2 plus hours) to clear customs/immigration into Mexico.

My family along with my parents stayed at the Playacar Palace Resort the week of June 21st. We had oceanview rooms on the 1st floor and they were INCREDIBLE ! The service and accomodations were terrific! I had read in previous reviews comments about the noise at the pool and the small beach. Yes there is noise at the pool, but nothing any different than you would have at any other pool. Yes the beach is small, but the view from the pool gives you the feeling that you're on the beach. We took MANY walks on the beach and swam many times in the ocean and I heard no complaints from my family about it. We tried all three restaurants. The food at all three was great! The buffet was by far the fastest when it came to service (mainly because you got it yourself and I believe they were having a small staffing issue in the other two restaurants). Other than that...no real complaints there. We took a few of the tours they offered.....Coba & Tulum/Xpu Ha - I have to say that these were not as good as I had hoped them to be. Mainly because there was too much time with the buses stopping at the souvenier shops and that didn't give you much time at the main things you rode a bus 45+ minutes to see. We had hoped to swim at Tulum (it was BEAUTIFUL) but time just didn't allow it. Xpu Ha (the sister resort of Playacar) was the next stop after Tulum which we planned to swim there as well. This stop included lunch at the resort (which would have worked out well had they been prepared for the buses full of people to show up along with their current resort guests). By the time we ate, we barely had an hour to swim and enjoy the surroundings. It just seemed really rushed (unless you were stopped at the souvenier shops of course). The location of Playacar Palace was excellent. On several occasions we walked over to the shopping on 5th Avenue and walked one day over to the ferry and took it to Cozumel to visit the Cozumel Palace. I highly recommend it if you like to snorkel. But be warned there is NO beach there at all. One other tip I would like to offer....take the shuttle they offer over to the spa/golf course. There is a restaurant over there too where you can eat & it overlooks the golf course. The food was great and since not too many people know about it, there wasn't a crowd. Our week just went by too quickly and my family wasn't ready to leave, but we ARE ready to go back there!

We just returned from the Playacar Palace in Playa Del Carmen. We were there from 21 - 28 June and it is absolutely the friendliest of anywhere we have ever stayed. The staff and all personnel are genuine in their desire to please you. The hostesses at the restaurant are incredible. Although there are 200 + rooms, they remembered our name after the first visit.

As others have stated, the beach as minimal, but the pool makes up for it. The pool is great and the six people on the entertainment staff are really good. The food is good - of course not 5 star dining, but well worth the money. The Italian cuisine was really good.

The ONLY problem was getting there! Royal Tours personnel were to pick us up at the airport and take us immediately to the hotel. Our driver was an idiot. He could not find the hotel and we spent 3 hours driving around Playa and him asking everyone on the streets how to get there. A 45 minute trip was 3 hours long. After we finally demanded that he let us out of the van and we would get a taxi - he magically found the place in 5 minutes.

The hotel is great - we will go back - will make sure whomever we use as an agent does not use Royal.