Own a timeshare in Florida, exchanged through II for a week in Cancun at The Royal Islander. I e-mailed the Islander 2 weeks before my arrival and advised them I was celebrating my 15 year wedding annivesary, and inquired about a room upgrade. Was given a room on the 8th floor overlooking the pool area. Beautiful views of the ocean. Arrived at the Cancun airport on Sat. 5-24-08 was immediately hammered by the time share people in the airport, I booked a timeshare tour at the Grand Mayan (90 minutes for $200.00 usd). I arrived at the Grand Mayan at 1030 am Monday morning, advised the (tour) guide that I was not interested in buying anything, I was only there for the $200.00. He insisted that he was going to sell me a week at the Grand Mayan. I told him he had 90 minutes to do it and after 90 minutes I was gone. I explained that I was like a taxi cab, if the ride went over 90 minutes I expected to be further compensted. After 90 minutes he was still blabbing, I walked into the lobby announced that my 90 minutes was up and wished to speak to a manager so as to collect my money. After yelling this twice, a manager approached directed me to a counter where i was given my money, and a ride back to the Royal Islander. Now about my stay at The Islander, awesome resort, would recommend to anyone planning a trip to Cancun, stay here you will be completely satisfied. From check-in, to The Captain's Cove, poolside bar, Tradewinds restaurant, the on-site store for groceries, to check-out not a single complaint. Staff was everywhere answering questions, providing information and directions. "Liz" was assigned to us, she was great. Visit to Xcaret was awesome (long day), must do the dinner, and show. Would highly recomend utilizing the Thomas Moore transport to/from the airport.

I am the type of person i needed to know every detail possible about the hotel before staying there. I literally read every review before i finally settled on ok ill try it. I went there and absolutely loved it. Though royal islander is the smallest of the couple it is ABSOLUTELY beautifullllll... we stayed in a normal room and a 2 bedroom suite the suite was gorgeous everything you could ever need every room with a balcony the suites with tables on the them overlooking the pretty pool and the ocean. I was very skeptical the first night because noone was around the pool closed at 10 and noone was to be seen, the next night i found out that noone stays at their hotel at night and you go to town and go to clubs. GREAT DEAL you go to the royal caribbean and met a man named Fernando ( greatest guy you will ever come in contact with there.. if you see him tell him alyssa says hi!!) and many many other people from all the royals will meet you there.. 40$ for transportation to the bar of the night.. changes every night.. and open bar the ennntireee night. can't get better than that.. i went with my sister 24 my father and my younger sister who is 17 and 4 of her 17 year old friends who all had a blast and went to the bars and clubs.. but what i didn't know was you have to pay on a credit like card from the hotel and pay afterward you cannot pay with cash on the resort.. which wasn't really a big deal.. beach is beautiful not many people to be bothering you and clear nice water.. though water is rough hard to swim in.. we still did.. you can go to the royal sands on free shuttles to all the royals running every 30 minutes and stay at any of the hotels every day.. the royal sands beach is very very nice.. overall i had an amazing time and i am a VERY picky person.. you will LOVE IT!!! trust me this is the way to go.. i was looking at oasis and gran melia and many others but this is the one! im telling you!!
any questions about anything.. feel free to contact me alyssarose2@gmail.com !!

My husband and I exchanged our timeshare into the Royal Islander last week. What a wonderful vacation! The reviews are right on about this place. The service from everyone at the hotel is exceptional! Normally we shy away from the welcome parties as they are way to pushy on timeshare sales! Not this place. We went to three parties hosted by the resort (free food, drinks, games) and they were great! We did take the free bus ride to see their new resort, Hacienda in Playa de Carmen, and did a 1 hour timeshare tour. No pressure at all, we did not buy, and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beach and pool there. Ate at Captains Cove which was excellent, did a WalMart run (they advised not to go to WalMart on Sunday's as they are way too crowded), and just mainly relaxed at the resort. I do recommend the Spa at Royal Sands and did enjoy their infinity pool. We used USA transfers for our airport transportation and they were exactly where they said they would be. Lines at the airline to return home were long and painful so allow yourself plenty of time. We would return to the Royal Resorts and Cancun any time!

This was our first time to Cancun although several of our friends have been there many times. The Royal Islander was one of the resorts that was recommended. We were not disappointed! We were there seven days, the service and the people were fantastic. From the moment that we checked in until we left everything was great. We also visited the other two resorts next door, the Caribbean and the Mayan. The food was excellent on all of them and plenty of swimming pools to swim around in and relax. We took a shuttle bus to the Royal Sands and Hacienda Sasil “what a fantastic Caribbean Show” and great buffet. We also manage to do site seeing to X-caret, Chichen Itza, Tulum, Xel-Ha and shopping. I would highly recommend any of the Royal resorts to any one that likes to be treated Royalty. The only regret is that our vacation ended too soon. We are planning on going back next year!