Grand Riviera Princess

This was our third time staying here, but our first visit since the renovations had been completed.

The Renovations

The modernisation of the rooms has been very well done. We did have a couple of small concerns about the transparent glazing between the main room and the bathroom, particularly as there is no bathroom door. This was slightly awkward for us as a father and his “adult” daughter! As long as you’re mindful of the lighting and aren’t a perv, it’s manageable! 😂

The revamped restaurants, plaza, theatre and main building areas have all been done really well. The main buffet and breakfast areas are also a huge improvement, with elegant styling and better segregation of the seating areas.

The Pools & Water Park

Next up, I’d say the pools could do with a little TLC. While the teams are clearly out there cleaning and replacing tiles, I think the pools themselves could benefit from some proper downtime and renovation.

The new on-site water park seemed very popular with the younger guests (although, OK… we had a few goes ourselves too! Weeeee! 😂).

The Staff – What Really Makes This Place!

For us, the staff are what really make this place special. To be fair, we tend to spend more time chatting and engaging with them than we do with other guests!

A few quick shout-outs to those who made our stay extra special:

Restaurant Bars: Otoneil Christo Abraham

Great conversation and highly skilled at what they do!

Waiters: Raziel Reuben Roberto Francesco (Chiquito!) Marcicella

Front of House:

Magda Maria

Head Chef:

Enrique

Enrique treated us to a number of impromptu, off-menu specials, which we really appreciated. We thoroughly enjoyed the restaurants this year, and there seemed to be far more choices on the menus.

A number of the staff remembered us from last year, which was lovely. We also took the opportunity to bring over a couple of UK-specific treats for them, which were very well received.

Food & Drink

The quality of the food and drink was excellent throughout our stay.

Once again, we’d recommend taking a thermos-style drinking cup for use around the pool. It keeps your drinks cold for longer and offers a little protection from any inquisitive wildlife!

The Wildlife

It was great to see the monkeys back this year. Perhaps the renovation noise last year had put them off!

There has been a reduction in the number of coatis, which was probably needed. Hopefully, the introduction of the new snack food area won’t cause too many issues with guests taking food away and leaving rubbish around the pools. Time will tell!

Entertainment

Sadly, the main evening theatre entertainment is exactly the same as it has been for the past few years. It also runs on a seven-day cycle, meaning that if you’re staying for two weeks (as many long-haul travellers do), you’ll see the same shows repeated.

The entertainment is good, and some of the shows are definitely worth watching again. However, introducing a few new acts wouldn’t go amiss!

There’s live music on most days around the activity pools, and generally, there’s always something going on somewhere.

The Overall Atmosphere

Essentially, this is one of those places where you can do as much or as little as you like. There are busier, louder and more activity-focused areas, as well as quieter spots where you can simply relax.

We tend to visit towards the end of August, when the US holiday period is coming to an end, so the resort is generally much quieter. This time, occupancy seemed to be around 30%.

Awesome!! 😎

The Beach & Sargassum

Sadly, the beach has eroded a little, so there’s less depth to the beach area than before. On the plus side, though, it’s not such a long walk to the water!

It was a bad year for sargassum, but the staff were working VERY hard to keep on top of it. Watching the ladies walking back and forth with wheelbarrows full of seaweed honestly made us feel quite guilty sitting there sipping cocktails while they worked so hard. Huge credit to them!

Final Thoughts

Overall, another really enjoyable stay, with excellent food and drink, fantastic staff and plenty of options for whatever sort of holiday you want.

There are a few areas that could still be improved, particularly the pools and evening entertainment, but these certainly didn’t spoil our experience.

The staff remain the biggest asset of this resort, and it was lovely to see familiar faces again and be remembered from our previous visit.

Would we return? Absolutely! 😊

¡Muchísimas gracias y hasta la próxima!

Alicia and Mark

This is literally the first review I have ever written in my life, which says a lot about just how horrible the service has been.

Today alone, I spent over 3.5 HOURS on the phone with Royal Holiday, being transferred from one department to another, and after all that time, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING was resolved. I ended the day in exactly the same situation I was in before making the first call.

During one call, after more than 1.5 hours, the representative actually told me she had spent too much time on the phone with me and needed to hang up. We have also been promised multiple callbacks on specific dates — nobody calls back.

We purchased six all-inclusive weeks to use over three years and were told we had a USD $1,710 credit that we discussed using toward a hotel in Hawaii. When we tried to book Hawaii, nobody followed up, so we ended up paying for the hotel ourselves. Later, when I tried to use that credit for a hotel in Europe, I was told it could only be used for flights or all-inclusive packages — completely different from what had been explained to us when we signed.

Most recently, we tried to use one of our all-inclusive weeks for Punta Cana approximately six weeks in advance. We were told there was NO availability until the end of December — neither at the hotels we requested in Punta Cana nor in Cozumel.

The customer service experience has been unacceptable: endless transfers, disconnected calls, conflicting information, promised callbacks that never happen, and nobody taking responsibility for our file. At one point, I was even told I needed to call a local Mexican number despite living in Canada.

How are customers supposed to use benefits they paid for when there is constantly “no availability” and, after spending 3.5 hours on the phone in a single day, NOTHING gets resolved?

The service while selling us the membership was excellent. Unfortunately, the service after they received our signature and money has been a completely different experience.

Be very careful. They initially invite you to what seems like a simple breakfast, but then you are pressured to sign the contract on the spot. You are not given the opportunity to take the time to do your own research, properly inform yourself, or think the decision through. We were told that the offer was only available at that moment and that we had to sign immediately in order to get it.

Based on our experience, I absolutely DO NOT recommend Royal Holiday.