Dreams Riviera Cancun - A Great Family Resort - Full Resort Review

I visited Dreams Riviera Cancun for 4 nights with my son Ardan.  We were reviewing the resort for our travel agency as well as visiting other resorts in the area.  A big thank you (muchas gracias) to Juan, General Manager, and Marco, Director of Sales for being gracious hosts.  The review that follows is what my son & I  experienced.

The Resort           

The resort is in the Riviera Maya and is about 30-35 min from the airport on the road towards Tulum. 

They have an open air lobby with plenty of airflow and lush greens.  The grounds are green and well kept.  There is healthy vegetation all around the resort, so it has a clean refreshing feel.  The resort opened in last fall, so it is in very good shape. 

The resort has 486 rooms, nine dining options (one buffet, one coffee shop, and the rest are ala carte), six bars, and 3 pools.

As you know, Mexico is a Spanish speaking country.  Everyone I interacted with at this resort spoke English well and I never had any problems communicating or getting what I wanted. 

The Service

When you arrive, you are greeted with a cool towel and a glass of champagne.

Overall the service at the resort was very good.  Everyone that you saw would say “Hola!”  Everyone was pleasant.  I saw many examples of employees going out of their way to help the guests.  For example, two guests were on the patio of their room (they had a Preferred Club w/ Plunge Pool  & Jacuzzi) and an employee was serving them drinks right on their patio.  The patio itself is not directly accessible (plants & flowers), so she had to hand the drinks over to them--very good example of employees going out of their way. 

The Rooms

The rooms are nice, even the lowest level rooms.  Even the lowest category room is 523 sq ft and has either a balcony or patio.  They all have at least one Jacuzzi tub, a daily refreshed minibar, full marble bathroom, and either a King size bed or 2 double beds.  They all include 24 hour room service.  All rooms have wireless internet, however, it is not free unless you are in the Preferred Club.  In fact, since we were in the Preferred Club and it was free, I got one for my laptop and one for my iPhone.  That way, while I was at a restaurant or pool, I could send emails without the data roaming charge. 

Each room also has a 32" satellite TV, CD/DVD, phone, iron & ironing board, a hair dryer, bathrobe & slippers, laptop safe, coffee maker, and iPod player/charger/clock.  I don't think the iPod player was compatible with the iPhone for charging, however, it did play music.   All the rooms had incense, which I found at many resorts in Mexico--it adds a nice touch.

I have video of all the rooms, so contact me if you would like to see a walkthrough.

Preferred Club

The preferred club service comes with the Preferred Club level rooms.  There are a number of perks (like checking-in at the Preferred Club lounge where they offer you a drink), but the main advantage of the Preferred Club is proximity to the beach and a better view..

• VIP status and amenities
• Upgraded toiletries
• Concierge service
• Pillow menu
• Complimentary newspaper in room every day
• Free internet access in suite - I got one for my laptop and one for my iPhone.
• Upgraded mini-bar service
• Daily, continental breakfast service in the Preferred Club lounge and on the private terrace
• Afternoon snacks - Ours were mini-can of Pringles and M&Ms.
• Evening, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres and exquisite desserts in the Preferred Club

Preferred Club Premium Room with Plunge Pool and oceanview

We stayed in the Preferred Club Premium Room with Plunge Pool and oceanview, room 1110.  The room was very nice and had two double beds, but you can get it with one king size bed.  The bathroom was very nice with two sinks, a separate room for the toilet, and a separate shower.  The indoor Jacuzzi was nice--you could choose to use it as a bath or turn on the Jacuzzi jets.

Until you get to the Honeymoon Suite and above, the rooms are almost identical inside.  The difference between the categories is location, view, and whether you have an external Jacuzzi or plunge pool. 

Ours had both an external plunge pool and Jacuzzi.  There was also a Jacuzzi inside.  These Jacuzzi are ones you fill with water, but both of them had jets.  Note that these plunge pools are in no way private.  They are ground floor suites and are open on all sides, however they are fairly big, running the width of the room.  The patio was large and included a small table and 2 chairs.  They also had two lounge chairs that sit in the shallow (a couple inches deep) end of the plunge pool. 

Our suite had an oceanview, however, it wasn't unobstructed.  If you want an true oceanview, you'll want the Preferred Club Premium with Oceanview (see below) or any oceanfront. 

The plunge pool was nice because you could take a quick plunge in the morning or evening without running out t the pool.  On cooler mornings, you could fill the outside Jacuzzi and have a nice relaxing soak.

Preferred Club Premium with Oceanview

The Preferred Club Premium with Oceanview suite that we saw was on the 5th floor, room 1510.  It came with all the amenities described above and was the exact same room as ours inside.  The difference was the view and balcony.  The oceanview was great and it had an external Jacuzzi, but no plunge pool.  It was a nice size balcony and could fit a small table and two chairs as well as the external Jacuzzi.  It just depends on your preference--do you want an oceanview or a plunge pool?

By the way, the Jacuzzis are some semi-private, meaning, you can see your neighbor's Jacuzzi, but not visible for people walking by.     

Preferred Club Master Suite Oceanfront

If you are looking for a separate room for the kids to sleep, with a great oceanview and a Jacuzzi on the balcony, this is the suite for you.  It is a large suite (1264 sq ft-bigger than my first apartment).  It has a living room, dining area, a kitchette including a full size refrigerator and wet bar with microwave. 

They say the difference between an oceanview and an oceanfront is that with an oceanview, you can see the ocean from your balcony.  With an oceanfront, you can see the ocean from your bed and the view from this room was incredible.

The living room has a sofa bed with 2 chairs, a coffee table, and 32" satellite TV with CD/DVD player. 

The bedroom was large and had a king size bed, a love seat, two night stands, a desk, and a and 32" satellite TV with CD/DVD player. 

It has an internal Jacuzzi with a great pool/oceanview (although you need to stand to see it).  In addition to the incense, I did see a candle by the Jacuzzi.  The bathroom had two sinks, a separate room for the toilet, and a separate shower.

The balcony was large and included an external Jacuzzi, and a table with 4 chairs.s;">  The view from the balcony was amazing.  It had a direct, unobstructed view of the ocean and beach.  To the left, you could see all three pools. 

Tipping

Tipping is allowed at this resort, but not required.  I saw many people who did not tip and they got great service.  Of course, you'll want to tip your driver and housekeeping and if you get great service (most times) leave a tip. 

The Explorer's Club

Dreams kid's club is call the Explorer's Club.  It has an explorer's theme.  It is for kids 3-12 years old and they are fully supervised by Red Cross certified staff.  It is open from 9am to 10pm.  They give you a beeper so that you can be reached if your child wants to leave or there is a problem. 

They had a rock climbing wall, a sand box, water jets, a theatre, a game room with TV and a bunch of beanbag chairs, a playground area, and an arts and crafts area.  They do many fun activities like piñata competitions, arts & crafts, kids bungee, water balloon fights, ice cream eating contest, movies, face painting, sports, magic show, and rock climbing.  Ardan really liked the rock climbing.  The staff is really nice and the activities were fun (my 5 year old's judgment). 

Once a week they have a campout on the beach.  They don't actually stay overnight, but the activities from 6pm - 10pm are like they are camping on the beach.  They did it on Thursday night when we were there, but because it was windy on the beach, they did all the activities in the kids club.    Of course, you can drop them off later and pick them up before 10pm.  It is a great testament of how great the program is...I checked on Ardan twice and he didn't want to leave.

Another nice thing is that if a child is bad, (hitting other kids, etc), they get a time out, if they do it again, they have to leave.  So they are protective of the kids. 

Also, you can get babysitting for $10 per hour.  There is an additional $10 charge for a taxicab for babysitting after 8pm. 

The Food

The food was good at this resort.  They only have 1 buffet restaurant, the World Cafe, the rest are ala carte.  For dinner, the restaurants open at 6pm and close at 10:30 or 11:00 pm.  Reservations are not required at any of the restaurants.  Most of the restaurants required long pants for the men for dinner. 

1. The World Cafe - local and international food, buffet.  They also have breakfast (7am-11am) and lunch (12:30pm - 3pm) as well as dinner.
2. Portofino - Italian, ala carte.
3. El Patio - Mexican, ala carte.
4. Himitsu - Pan-Asian food, ala carte.  They have a hibachi grill.  If you want to sit at the hibachi, you need to make reservations.  To make reservations, you need to go to the restaurant at 5pm. 
5. Oceana - grill & seafood, ala carte.  They also serve ala carte breakfast (10am-12pm) and ala carte lunch (12pm to 6pm) as well as dinner.
6. Seaside Grill - steak ala carte. .
7. Bordeaux - French food, ala carte.  This is the only adults only (12 yr and older) restaurant.
8. CoCo Cafe - coffee, espresso drinks, and deli snacks & deserts.  Open 7am-10pm.
9. Barefoot Grill - hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza.  10am-6pm.

The World Cafe

The World Cafe is where we had breakfast each morning (except the last day when we got room service).    I'm not really a breakfast person, but the breakfast was good.  They had everything you could think of.  They had a bread/bagel station where you could toast your bread, bagel, English muffin, and a bunch of Danishes.  They had a fruit station, including cheese and other items.  They had 3 omelet making stations, bacon, sausage, waffles, pancakes, French toast, etc.  They also had a crapes making station.  They had any fruit juice you could think of (and some I've never thought of): orange, apple, melon, strawberry, and some exotic ones I can't remember, like kiwi.

We ate lunch at the World Cafe one afternoon.  I'm not normally a buffet person, but it was actually very good.  They had a make your own pasta station, a oriental food station, and you they would even fry a steak for you, which is what Ardan and I started with.  It wasn't bad, and I finished with a pasta dish and the meat sauce wasn't bad. 

Oceana

We had lunch at Oceana the first afternoon.  The tortilla chips were good and Ardan liked the guacamole.  The salsa was a bit oniony for me, but I don't like raw onions anyway.  We ordered chicken wings and they were actually very good.  The said they were Buffalo wings, but the sauce was more of a marinara, but was very good.  The wings were crispy, as we like them.  Ardan had a hamburger and said it was very good.  He even had cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and onions on it.  He usually just has it with ketchup.  I had the flank steak and it was actually very good--tender and juicy. 

Portofino

The first night, we ate at Portofino, their Italian Restaurant.  After we got our drinks and ordered, they started us off with a small bruschetta.  It was pretty tasty. Then they brought longest bread sticks I've ever seen.  They poured olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The bread sticks were good.  They brought my Cabernet cold.  I've found that before in Mexico--they like to serve red wine cold.  I asked for room temp and they gladly brought it.  It was house wine and was good. 

I ordered Antipasti Grissoni e Prosciutto, Serrano Ham with melon - it wasn't bad.  Insalata Rucola Con Miele e Formaggio di Capra, Arugula salad with reggiano and gorgonzola cheese and lime vinaigrette.  The dressing was interesting.  I also had the Minestrone, and for the main course, I had the Filetto di Manzo, Beef filet petals of provolone cheese garnished with mushroom fricassee.  It was pretty good. 

For dessert, I got the Panacott and Ardan got the Tiramisu.  I also had an after dinner Espresso.  It was pretty good.

El Patio

The 2nd night, Ardan went to the Camp Out at the Explorer's Club, so I decided to try El Patio, their Mexican restaurant.  It was very nice.  I had Las Gorditas Antojitos Mexicanos a elegir - Las Gorditos the Fatie tortilla to select - very interesting almost like corn cakes 3 filled with different fillings. The chicken with peppers was my favorite.  The other had corn and something and the 3rd with spinach and something.  Then I had Ensalada de pollo a la mexicana - Mexican chicken salad. Pretty good.  The chicken was tender and it had a flavorful mix of vegetables.  Gran Sopa de Tortilla Azteca - traditional Azteca Tortilla Soup - excellent. There isn't a whole lot to it (veggies, etc) but very tasty.  This is on the room service menu and I got it almost every night.  The main course was Traditional Molcajete - very good. It was like a fajita (which they also had on the menu) but without all those vegetables messing up the dish :-). It was chicken, beef, and sausage served in a stone bowl. This bowl was oven fired. You wrap the meat in a tortilla shell and eat it like a fajita.  It did come with a whole onion and it might have been a grape leaf.

Himitsu

We went to Himitsu at 5pm so that we could sign up for the hibachi grill.  We asked for 6pm, so Ardan and I went back to the room to get ready.  We had a good show.  He flipped eggs around and chopped and cooked everything in front of you.  Then he did a flaming volcano from a chopped onion as a finale.  We got steak and chicken and it always comes with a shrimp appetizer.  Ardan liked the food, he even tried the shrimp. 

CoCo Cafe

After breakfast, we usually went for an espresso at the Coco cafe.  They serve espresso, cappuccino, coffee, and many other concoctions as well as fresh pastries and muffins.  You can get hot drinks as well as frozen drinks.  Ardan got a frozen hot chocolate and he really liked it. 

Room Service

The first night, I ordered room service.  They told me it would take 40 min, it took 25 min.  I got chicken consommé and Steak Arrachera-flank steak, but very good--tender and juicy.  I didn't order dessert, but I did later on in the week.

The 2nd night we decided to order room service.  Ardan was wide awake, so he ordered a hot dog & fries & chocolate cake.  I ordered the flank steak and Tortilla Soup.  Everything was really good and showed up within 30 min. 

By the way, they don't put wine in the room, but you can order a glass of wine from room service.  I did it one night and they bring it in a wine glass with cellophane over the glass so it doesn't spill.

I ordered room service almost every night.  Each time it took less than 30 minutes.  At this resort, this is probably one of the best service I've gotten from room service at any of the resorts I've visited.  They were polite, the orders were accurate, and the food was hot.   

The Beach

The beach was wide and nice white sand.  There was some seaweed on the beach, but they tried to keep it raked up.  The ocean was beautiful.  It did have some seaweed at the water's break, but looked clear when you got out 10-15 ft.  It had a smooth drop and the water was fairly calm.  They also have an ocean trampoline that you could jump on or just sun bath.

There were plenty of beach palapas (thatched roof that provides shade) and lounge chairs.  They had beach service.  They also had a bar right on the beach, Sugar Reef.  They had cool swings as chairs and looked like a fun place to hang out--always heard people laughing when we went by. 

The Pools

They have 3 pools in one area.  The main pool is an infinity pool that overlooks the ocean.  It is a really awesome pool.  On the ocean side, there is no side to the pool (the water spills over the edge), so you have the illusion that the pool doesn't end and spills into the ocean.  The only complaint Ardan had was that the pool wasn't the exact same color of the ocean.  I'm not sure how you do that, but if he figures it out, I'm sure he can make a lot of money. 

This is the pool with a swim-up pool bar, Manatees Bar.  The service at the bar is great.  It rarely took long to get a drink and they were very friendly.  Carlos was great.  I travel quite a bit, and every drink I asked about, he knew how to make.  They even have a drink call the iceberg.  it is Pina Colada on top of a beer.  I wasn't brave enough to try it, but many people were drinking it and they said it was refreshing. 

The 2nd pool is much like the main pool, 3ft deep and about the same size.  The 3rd pool is a large kids wading pool that is split in the middle by a walkway.  There are plenty of lounge chairs around the pool to so you can sun while keeping an eye on the kids.  On the other side of a walkway was a ping pong table.  Every time  I walked by, someone was playing ping pong. 

Evening entertainment

Most nights, we just went back to the room because we were tired, but below are a list of some of the things they had going on at night.

• Casino night - They had Texas Hold 'em and Black Jack.  The winner got a spa gift certificate.
• Karaoke
• Sports games on TV - If there is a big game on while you are there, chances are they will have it at the Desires Lounge.
• Mexican Show - This included a Mexican buffet by the pool.
• Live Music (Rock, Caribbean, and other music) including a soloist in the main lobby one night.
• DJ music
• Pool side movie - Weather permitting.