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!

We stayed at the Islander for 10 days. Several items from other reviews deserve emphasis. Things are compartmentalized in that everyone has their own job and they try hard and do their jobs well. It was really helpful to be with some people who are experienced in the way of things there to guide us through the less obvious foibles of the system.

The water was rough and opportunities for ocean swimming were limited. The beach is narrow but that is mother nature.

We thought the food could have been better for the money except for the breakfast buffet which was a real treat. We found ourselves having about a 10:30 breakfast and skipping lunch. The Captain's Cove, as stated elsewhere, was really terrific. No one mentioned the open bar on Sundays - we managed to hit those twice.

We tried the Shrimp Bucket down the street and not affiliated with the Islander. It was about the price of Captain's Cove and not nearly as good.

We took Tulum and Chichen Itza tours and really enjoyed them. Very well run and well guided. We liked the variety of tours where you could do a half or a whole day.

The key card that is also a universal charge card within the Royal Resort family was a great convenience and there were no problems with the bill. You are given the check in both pesos and US dollars but the final bill is in pesos. It took me nine days to figure out that I should do each check and tip in pesos and not worry about the currency conversion each and every time.