Margaritaville Island Reserve Riviera Cancun

We just came back from our vacation to this resort. We stayed 4 days, 3 nights, and I'm glad it was just that because this resort is small. It has 4 restaurants, 2 of which offer dinner only and require reservations. Reservations can only be made from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., so basically on our first day we had to do room service for dinner. Their room service doesn't have many options, and the app is glitchy. It could be more user-friendly.

Pros: All the staff, including the waiters, were great and friendly, especially Esther, Alfredo, Jose, Sebastian, and others. The resort is nice and cozy, and it was just right for the number of days we stayed. We also had no issues with our room. It was very nice, clean, and comfortable. My only suggestion would be to add some type of privacy door or divider between the bathroom/changing area and the rest of the room. Since this is a family resort, many parents are sharing rooms with their children, and there really isn't a private space to change clothes. We booked through Expedia, and they kept in communication with us through Expedia messaging from the moment we booked until we arrived. We told them that we were celebrating our son's 16th birthday, and we arranged for them to have a cake and balloons, and they delivered. Thank you, Belkim! We had a 50-minute couples relaxing massage that was great. Ana & Vianey did a great job. We were gifted the massages from a presentation that you'll read about in my cons. Some of the activities were nice, like the painting and bracelet making. The aqua aerobics and pool foam party were nice as well. The food at Rita's Taco House was good and was the best in the whole resort. I give Rita's an 8/10.

Cons: I wasn't aware that this was a Jimmy Buffett resort. Honestly, I didn't even know who he was. I don't listen to country music, so I found it weird when I heard country music throughout the resort, and I've been to many resorts. So the music playing throughout the day wasn't the best.

Now, going back to the moment we got there. We arrived at the resort before 1 p.m., and after check-in our room wasn't ready because check-in is at 3 p.m. We waited for Belkim to take us to one of the restaurants to eat while we waited for our room. While we were waiting for Belkim, one of the other ladies (I don't know if she was concierge or guest services) approached us and asked if we wanted to take a tour of the sister resort (Riviera Maya), which is adults only. She told us it would only be 90 minutes.

We were a bit hesitant at first because we were only going to be there for 3 days, so we didn't want to waste our time on a tour. She said we would get two complimentary 50-minute relaxing massages and reiterated that it would only be 90 minutes and that they were just trying to promote the other resort to see if we wanted to come back. She even said our two sons could go, even though one of them is underage. The other one was 18. So I said, "Let's go," since it was only supposed to be 90 minutes.

She gave us the time for the next day and told us to meet her in the lobby at 8:30 a.m. We met her the next day at 8:30 a.m. Our oldest teen stayed behind because he didn't want to go. The three of us were picked up by one of their drivers in a van. The resort is only about 5 minutes away.

We arrived, got greeted, and met one of their representatives. I loved how the resort looked just from the lobby, and the smell of the resort was very nice, but that's basically all we got to see. I thought he was going to give us a tour, but instead he walked us past the steakhouse restaurant straight to their Prestige members office.

There they greeted us, and the lady at the front desk told us we were there for a 90-minute presentation about their Prestige Travel membership and that there was no commitment and we would receive two 25-minute massages. I corrected her right away because we had been promised 50-minute massages, and she fixed it in her system.

Anyways, we were taken aback because we thought this was a tour. I honestly still thought we were eventually going to be shown the property. The guy sits us down and says this is a 90-minute presentation about their membership, that we were under no obligation to sign up for anything, and that we would still get the complimentary gifts.

He starts by chit-chatting and asking us questions to get to know us better. A lot of small talk. So much talking that an hour passed by and the presentation hadn't even started. One of his colleagues even interrupted to see if we were doing okay because I'm assuming he noticed he had been talking for so long without actually starting the presentation.

After that, he finally started the presentation, which was more talking nonsense. He told us about their portfolio of 5 resorts 😒 and all these discounts and incentives if we signed up that day, including a free week in Europe once a year and $250 hotel stays.

We kept looking at our watches, and 2 hours had already passed. By this time, we were over it, didn't want to hear anymore, and were irritated. Then he started talking about a $169K investment with annual fees, a $30K down payment, and a bunch of other stuff. He said another colleague was coming to finish the presentation and explain the financing. We waited an additional 30 minutes for him while trying to hurry them up because we wanted to leave. We didn't care about anything they had to say. We felt bad for our teen, who was there with us listening to all that crap. We were getting hungry as well because it was lunchtime.

Anyways, we finally left and got our free massages.

There was not much to do at the hotel. They had a couple of activities. The hotel looked like it was only about 30% occupied. Not a lot of guests.

The food at the other 3 restaurants, aside from Rita's, was subpar. The Latino restaurant should be embarrassed because the food needed seasoning. I give it a 6/10. The Italian restaurant should be embarrassed to serve that food. 6/10 as well. The desserts get a 5/10. Most of them tasted old or like they had been refrigerated too long. The breakfast buffet at the Beach House was okay, but there weren't many choices. They also serve lunch, and that was just okay. I give it a 6/10.

The "alcoholic" drinks get a 0/10. My gosh, they were bad. Not 1% alcohol in them. They tasted like watered-down juice. I've had mocktails that tasted way better than those. I'm aware that hotels and resorts water down their drinks, but this was on another level.

The people who review this hotel and say the food was good must not have much experience with different cuisines or authentic food.

I would consider this resort a 3-star. Definitely not a 5-star hotel. There is no poolside service, not many choices for food, and the entertainment is lacking, especially at night.

The day we were checking out, they called our room and told my husband they had a free gift for us. When we were ready to check out, I went to the front desk while my husband went to concierge since that's where the "free gift" was. They gave him options, but the gift was only if he provided at least 15 names, email addresses, and phone numbers of people we would refer to the resort.

Thank goodness the front desk was having issues with our card (they used the wrong payment terminal), because after that we just ignored them until our driver arrived.

Overall, I honestly wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone. I'm glad we had a good time as a family because we enjoy each other's company, and we spent most of our time at the pool. I don't see how people can stay more than 3 nights at this hotel when there are only 2 restaurants that serve dinner. If the food and drinks had both been at least 8/10, then I would recommend it for a short stay at a discount. Otherwise, it's not worth paying so much.

WE GOT SCAMMED AND LIED TO!

Yup, you read that correctly.

I honestly wasn’t going to post this, but after being repeatedly lied to and misled during our stay, I decided people deserve to know exactly what happened.

So let’s break this down.

Let me start with the positives because, despite everything, there were some.

This is a small, cozy, clean, and very aesthetically pleasing resort. The property is open, nicely designed, and has a relaxing feel. The restaurant staff were also very nice. They made us feel welcome and treated my boys extremely well, and I genuinely appreciate that. We had requested a cake and some decorations for our son since we were celebrating his birthday and they made everything look nice even thought it wasn’t free. Our room also had a beautiful view. BUT… that’s about where the good stuff starts running out.

We traveled with our teenage boys, who are on the older side of their teen years. Our bathroom had ZERO privacy. Everything was completely open! Basically, the situation was: “Mom, Dad, DON’T WALK IN. I’M CHANGING.” the walls between the toilet and the shower are not fully opaque so you could see the naked person in the shower if you were in the toilet. Seriously though, this is not what I expect from a resort marketed as family friendly. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that could be for families traveling with teenage daughters.

Aside from the taco restaurant and the morning breakfast spot, the food was extremely disappointing. Most of it was bland, poorly seasoned, and honestly tasted like nobody cared. The desserts? Tasted old. I had a cannoli that felt like it had been sitting there since the beginning of time. Lord have mercy. The Italian restaurant’s pizza and pasta were horrendous. The Latin restaurant? Terrible. And I have to say this: That was a straight up disrespect to Dominican Sancocho. The meats basically tasted like they were covered in smoke flavor. Room service wasn’t much better. The mac and cheese tasted like it came straight out of a box. The quesadillas were horrible, and the cheeseburger… let’s not even go there. Room service provided soda on the first night, after that? Nothing.

They give you these “points” that you can supposedly use at the market, but my boys basically used them for a few sodas and chips that disappeared in seconds.And here’s another one...There was a margarita setup in our room BUT NOTHING TO MAKE MARGARITAS! And apparently, the points don’t apply toward Tequila, so what exactly am I supposed to do with a margarita setup that I can’t actually use? I’ve stayed at plenty of resorts where beer and even bottles of liquor are stocked and replenished. Not there!

THE DRINKS? OH. LORD. he drinks were WATERED DOWN. And when I say watered down, I mean WATERED. DOWN. I was looking forward to drinking some good margaritas IN MEXICO. I never had one. Not one! I ordered several different drinks and they were all weak.At one point I literally told a bartender, “Please make it strong.”Guess what? Same watered down nonsense. The only thing I kept drinking was Modelo Black, and even THAT was inconsistent and tasted light. There was also no proper pool drink service. There were stools at the main pool, but there was a huge wall that made it almost impossible to order anything. It felt like a fake swim-up bar.

THE JIMMY BUFFETT OVERLOAD1 The resort absolutely LOVES Jimmy Buffett and I mean LOVES HIM. The amount of Jimmy Buffett music playing constantly was overwhelming, especially during the nighttime activities. Maybe it was because we happened to be there during their Jimmy Buffett celebration week, but after watching other YouTube videos from the resort I noticed the music seems to be everywhere anyway.I personally didn’t know how heavily connected Jimmy Buffett was to the resort until we arrived.

The souvenirs! We participated in a bracelet-making activity.I thought, okay, this could be cool. Maybe there would be a little sandal charm representing the resort’s entrance, a margarita charm because of the resort’s name, or something with the actual resort branding. Nope. Just some random beads you could probably buy at any store. We wanted to take home something that actually represented the resort. There was basically nothing. Even the resort store was mostly overpriced generic Mexican souvenirs.

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT THE LIES. This is where my experience went from disappointing to absolutely unacceptable. On our first day, a woman approached us and told us about their adult sister resort. She told us we could go visit, take a 90 minutes, and receive a 50-minute massage. She even told us we could bring our boys. I thought: “Cool! A tour. Maybe I can check out their brewery and have a couple of beers.” My wife was excited about the massage. It was supposedly only 90 minutes. So we agreed. BIG MISTAKE. The next morning, we met them in the lobby at around 8:30 AM. It was just us, which already felt a little strange. My oldest stayed behind, but our youngest came with us. Once we arrived at the other resort, we were suddenly told: “This is a sales presentation.” I was like…WHAT?! They sat us down and started talking about memberships, sales, commitments, and how we should “keep an open heart.” Open heart? What is this, a church retreat?! Then they took my Amex card. My heart stopped. I immediately asked my wife if she knew this was going to be a sales presentation. I’m almost certain that if she had known, she NEVER would have agreed to this. But we were already there, far from our resort, so walking out wasn’t exactly straightforward. So we stayed, thinking: “Fine. 90 minutes. Then we get our massage and leave.” Except… NOPE, THREE HOURS OF SALES PITCH! One person came. Then another. Then another.One guy spent what felt like FOREVER talking about his personal life and completely unrelated topics. At one point, the original salesperson came over, looked at us, and jokingly said: “It seems like he’s talking a lot, huh?” We gave the obligatory political style laugh. After about two hours, the guy finally said: “Okay, we’re running out of time. Let me skip some parts and get to the point.” He then showed us the room we could supposedly have if we became members. We came back downstairs. More talking. And then he said: “Now someone else is going to come to seal the deal.” I heard that sentence in slow motion. My blood pressure went through the roof. Meanwhile, my son was bored out of his mind. And let’s remember: THE LADY AT OUR RESORT TOLD US THIS WAS A TOUR AND THAT WE COULD BRING OUR FAMILY. This was an adult resort. A SALES PRESENTATION. NOT A TOUR. NOT WHAT WE WERE TOLD.WE ARE LEAVING!!!! The next salesperson took forever to arrive. At this point, I was already extremely frustrated with the young salesperson, who appeared very inexperienced. Finally, another person came over and said: “Okay, tell me about you guys.” I was like: Excuse me? Respectfully…HELL NO. I told them I didn’t care about the 50-minute massage anymore. I wanted to leave and I WANT TO LEAVE NOW. Apparently, they didn’t know that the original woman had lied to us about the purpose of the visit. Then ANOTHER person came over. Apparently, he was the supervisor and needed to determine whether the previous two salespeople had done their jobs. At this point I apologized in advance for my attitude, but I made it very clear I WANTED TO LEAVE. How do you continue trying to sell something to someone who has repeatedly told you they don’t want to be there? That’s Sales 101. Once we finally stood up and left, we had been there approximately 4.5 HOURS. For something we were told would be 90 minutes and a massage.

On our final day before checkout, concierge called us and said I had a FREE GIFT waiting for me. Okay. I went downstairs. My options? A straw hat. Sunglasses. Or a keychain. Sounds nice, right? WRONG. In exchange, I had to recommend 15 PEOPLE. Not 3. Not 5. FIFTEEN. I had to provide their names, emails, AND phone numbers. I looked at them like… Peace. Have a great day. I’m not handing over 15 people’s personal information so I can get a cheap souvenir.

In conclusion, this resort was NOT what we expected. The property itself is beautiful. Some of the staff were wonderful. Our boys were treated very well. But the food was disappointing. The drinks were bad! The room had practically no bathroom privacy. The resort’s “points” system was underwhelming. The entertainment was overwhelmingly Jimmy Buffett. And most importantly…WE WERE NOT TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SALES PRESENTATION. We were told it was a tour. We were told it would take 90 minutes. We were told we could bring our family. Instead, we ended up spending approximately 4.5 HOURS in a high-pressure sales presentation with my son. That experience alone completely changed my opinion of the place and the experience for the rest of our stay. For us, this is NOT a family resort, and personally, I wouldn’t recommend staying longer than three nights.

Before you book, DO YOUR DEEP RESEARCH. Watch videos. Read the reviews. Ask questions. Because what you’re told when you arrive might not be what you actually get.

Would I return? Absolutely not. Would I recommend it? After this experience, no. Save your money and do your research.

We had an amazing experience staying in the beautiful village. The staff could not have been better. They accommodated everyone’s wishes. Catered to adults and children. The food was always fresh and healthy with lots of variety. I would do it again!