Neen's Paradisus Riveria Cancun Review Part 1

neen · February 24, 2008

We spent three nights and four days at the Paradisus Riviera Cancun this past weekend. I’ll try to break this down…but warn you its going to be long. I felt like I was always craving as much info as possible when searching for a site for our wedding so I’m going to be as detailed as possible…

Travel – Flight was easy and direct, just over 3 hrs from DC to Cancun. Customs took about 30 minutes, then another ten for the bag check, red light/green light game (FI and I both got green lights and were on our way after a little snafoo with security when I tried to take a picture...which turns out is illegal...opps!). The airport is a bit chaotic with timeshare reps all over the place. We just kept our heads down and steered ourselves straight to the exit, avoiding any and all hasslers. Once outside, all the tour companies are lined up with signs and it’s a crazy scene but really an easy process to find your supplier, hand over your voucher and hop on your van/bus/shuttle. 20 short minutes later, we were pulling into the Paradisus!

Let me say here that the quick trip from airport to resort was one of the biggest draws for us. Some of our friends and family will be traveling for 6-10 hours so once they touch down in Mexico, we want them to be able to hit the sand in under an hour. And pulling into the Paradisus is not disappointing – it’s a beautiful portico entrance with flowers and marble and thatched rooflines. Perfect!

Check-in – Checking in was relatively quick and easy. We were originally told we had a ground floor room with 2 double beds, but asked for a 2nd or 3rd floor room with a king bed and were given accommodations in one of the Royal Service buildings (1,2,3 and 4)…just without the benefit of a personal butler/concierge. While there are no elevators, I recommend you suck up the easy flight or two of beautiful outdoor stairs and get an upper level room. Otherwise there will be folks walking and golf carts driving by your balcony all day long and the rooms aren’t all that well insulated so you’ll hear everything.

Note: There are folks dresses in all white that stand in the reception area looking like hotel employees, but are instead timeshare people. Once you get checked in and given your key, they’ll approach you and will tell you they are the concierge, they are part of the welcoming committee, they are part of the groups management group…we got all sorts of lines…. Just avoid them or simply tell them no thank you no thank you no thank you and keep moving toward the bellhops and golf carts until they leave you alone. They’re just a minor two minute hassle in the grand scheme of things.