Hard Rock Rivera Maya Resort Review | Why Our Family is NEVER Going Back

[@NS-xx8js]

Just came back. We had older kids and I had the same experience. I’m never going back to his resort. They are deceiving people.

[@theemanfamily]

Thank you for commenting that and being honest! We’re so disappointed by how much we paid and the fact that it’s a well-known resort with a reputable name attached to it. So sorry you had the same experience as us, we hope they get their shit together.

[@506ROCKSTAR]

I've been to Cancun and surrounding areas for over 15 years now. I've stayed at RUI , Palace , Princess and Iberostar resorts and have experienced a lot of the same negative things, here is some tips that we do to prevent it. We only drink bottled water, clean off the top of the cans it would scare you to see where they are stored. Brush your teeth with bottled water. The canned beer has sat in the sun and in very warm storage areas before being put on ice or in your fridge, this can cause stomach problems same with diet drinks because of the aspartame being heated.. If you normally don't eat fruit than don't eat a pound of it on day one or again stomach problems Brazilian restaurants, medium rare meat wont make you sick if you cut into it and eat it. However left at room temperature and paraded around a restaurant bacteria loves under cooked meat. Same goes for chicken, if its pink do not eat it and if fish smells like fish again stay away. Mexico has many critters , put rolled up towels at the front door, and clean up any spilt sugary drinks , don't leave your closed toed shoes on the floor and turn the light on when going to the bathroom , flush and check under the seat before sitting down. Try to not get a room on the ground floor. Power is sketchy in Mexico , bring a small flash light and back up battery for your phone. Never use an elevator if you don't have to. You can buy and bring a spa wash with you, its cheap and will clean and rinse out the spa tub if you want to use it or just for smell. When it rains in Mexico it smells like sewer, Mexico is very high in nitrogen from the lawns and there storm sewers have sitting water and swamps are now agitated. Room Service is normally an hour at least, some sports bars will serve food 24 /7, if the resort has a buffet during the day with chicken nuggets , nacho cheese, and burger patties they may reheat these at night for room service. I've had bad experience fling in the winter from all air lines, air transat, sunwing, westjet but I will Never , ever fly Air Canada again especially from Toronto. Never mix a kids trip with an adult vacation, been there done that. If the kids are coming, make it all about them, make lots of memory's and have a fun time being a kid again. I've gotten better service if I leave a couple of dollars each day for the cleaning lady and a couple of dollars in the fridge with a request for more kids drinks or water or beer depending on the trip. Not necessary but have noticed more effort given. Same at the bars, if you tip and have the same drink each time ,a drink normally will be ready for you when they see you coming. Sea weed in the past 5 years has taken over the eastern shore line in the Rivera , and playa most hotels spend all day cleaning it up to do it all over again the next day. If your looking for the perfect beach with little seaweed, the Cancun strip has a under toe at the Palace hotel so not a good place for kids but the beach is clean and the water is baby blue. Spending more money does normally put you in a better hotel with more variety but over spending does not give you the perfect trip, usually the opposite, because you are expecting perfection ...maybe in Dubai but not in Mexico. lol.

[@theemanfamily]

Thank you so much for all these tips!

[@briannwo1900]

The point of going on vacation is rest and relaxation. You’re not going to get either with a pack of kids ! Self inflicted wounds

[@theemanfamily]

This is very true. Needed a vacation from The vacation. But also doesn’t take away from the fact that that resort was horrible.

[@dougbryson8421]

We stayed there like 2 years ago. We have two boys who were 9 and 11 at the time. We had the adjoining rooms with roof top terrace. It was amazing. The kids were in the roof top jacuzzi daily. And we were there when Woodward was open, they had a blast there. Maybe it was tough for you with two toddlers. Room service was good but we had an issue once. Every other time it came in less than 30 minutes. We loved it! My wife and I are going to the Vallarta location for our anniversary because of the time we had at the Rivera Maya location.

[@theemanfamily]

That’s great to hear that your family enjoyed it!

[@YagurlShey]

Thanks for the awesome review. Sorry that you guys had to experience that. We’re actually going here soon and it’s crazy to say, we’ve been to almost all, all inclusive HC and thank God, we never really had to experience any of that. I wonder if it has something to do with the room type that people book.

[@theemanfamily]

Enjoy your vacation!!! 🥰🥰🥰 yes we were so disappointed but I’m sure not all locations are like this.

[@YagurlShey]

@@theemanfamily Thank you!

[@YouToYoub]

Did you guys get a strong smell of sewer behind the blue lobby? I believe that the sickness may have come from the bacteria that spreads from the aerosol spray from fountain sitting in the middle of the sewer pond right next to the outdoor restaurant next to the pools. The sewer also runs under the azul lobby leading out to the black painted deck where you see the blue black sewer waste. Clearly, this resort sends the sewer from the facility to a pond placed right next to their pools. Does anyone know where this can be reported?

[@theemanfamily]

I wouldn’t say the smell was really strong or sewerish completely but it was definitely hints of it plus the aerosol so perhaps it was covered up (badly). I just remember coming home and our clothes and luggage smelled exactly like the resort and it grossed us out so much! All the other resorts we’ve gone to have never smelled like it so it must have been that, since this is the only place we’ve ever gotten sick at

[@HaroldRoseJr]

Always the TAP WATER, gets you sick

[@theemanfamily]

Always!

[@erinwatches432]

Air Canada in general stinks so much. Just before the pandemic we were supposed to take a cruise. We had to fly on Air Canada (which I thought was nonsense that we couldn't take another airline) and they insisted we had to go NORTH to Canada to then go SOUTH to our destination (essentially passed where we were already located). Our first leg of the trip to Canada ended up getting pushed later and later (because of a snow storm so not exactly their fault in that case) but it became to a point where we were going to miss our layover and therefore miss our cruise. We tried to get on any other flight that would miss the snowstorm and still get to our destination and they were less then helpful with that. Ultimately we ended up canceling and told them to get our luggage. After waiting at baggage claim for 2 hours (where they told us to wait for them) they told us they couldn't tell us when our baggage would arrive but if we wanted to leave we could leave our phone number and they would call when the baggage was at baggage claim. Alright, we figure they will probably call us on the way home but since our driver just got there we didn't want to make them wait anymore and we could drive up the following day and pick up the bags. 4 days later they still haven't called so my dad and I drive down ready to knock some heads together to find our bags. The bags are sitting right in the locked office and boss tells dad that they repeatedly tried to call. My dad told him to stop lying. We won't buy tickets with them again. As for other kid-friendly vacations, I am not sure if it is an option for you but cruises are a great option if you can. They give you so many destination options (we personally love Alaska and Iceland) and you can potentially hit multiple countries in the same vacation. There is also a kids club (and teen and toddler club) where kids can go do activities with other kids of around the same age giving parents a break (as a side note I loved these clubs as a kid but by the time I got to 14 it was more like sit around talking rather than doing activities but it was definitely worth it when I was younger). There is a lot of different entertainment options (like NCL has former Broadway shows on some of their ships like Rock of Ages), comedy shows, magic shows, (one ship we've been on has a Cirque du Soleil type dinner show), and many other variety shows. There are also a ton of activities to do throughout the day of many different types. Our favorite cruise lines are Celebrity (they have a really interesting specialty restaurant where a virtual chef cooks the meal in front of you... you can see video of it on youtube if you type Le Petite Chef Celebrity Cruises), Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean. If you do want to try cruising we would not recommend trying Hawaii as your first destination. Agreements with the state means that it isn't a good representation of the service of the cruise line normally (at least that was our experience)

[@theemanfamily]

Oh my gosh I felt your anxiety just reading about your experience. That is absolutely TRAUMATIZING. Also, thank you for your tips regarding going on cruises. I think once the babies are a little bit bigger and can actually appreciate it, we will try it out. I went on a cruise once with my family from New York to Bahamas for new years and it was FREEZING so I’d definitely not do that again but it was super fun (just got a lil bit of cabin fever because I was stuck in the room for a couple days since I had a cold). So for sure we will try it out, have you ever done a Disney cruise? Curious to see if it’s worth it for our kids!

[@erinwatches432]

@@theemanfamily The first cruise I took was when I was about 6 and I actually remember quite a bit from it since it was just so different (I don't know if they still do that but it is also a benefit to start that young because under 10 year olds for family who have been on that line multiple times has a chance to go up and see the bridge which was a really awesome experience) At least that was on Celebrity... and over 20 years ago so I don't know for sure if they still do that) We have done NY to Bermuda quite a few times (and the lines relevant private island) in May-Sep and the weather is either ok or warm). We've never had the opportunity to travel on Disney yet (though I really want to) because its only somewhat recent that they have added places to their caribbean, bermuda, bahama and my mom and I have medical issues where we don't tolerate the heat well so we prefer going to colder locations. Now that they go to Alaska though I am really hoping I can get on there at some point because while I have heard that it is amazing for kids it is also amazing for adults. I met a few people on one of our last cruises who had previously done a disney cuise and they commented how they felt like they barely saw the kids cause they would have such a great time with kids activities and would spend all their time there (to my understanding this line also has kids clubs and since it is disney oriented already they are even bigger with more to do)

[@wb2605]

I enjoyed my vacation there. Most of the people I went with also got sick and didn’t care for it. I think they was drinking too much liquor. All they did was complain but me and my girlfriend don’t drink and loved it. We are going to hard rock Punta Cana next month. Have you guys ever been there

[@theemanfamily]

We have never! Please check back in after and let us know how it went! I’ve always wanted to go to the DR location!

[@tapas_y_vinos]

Dominican resorts were down after Covid. We just spend 1 week in Majestic Elegance Punta Cana and was the most disgusting experience. Rooms were super nasty, elevators stop working several times x day. And the food 🤮. I feel like I paid $6000 just to eat food from a Golden Corral buffet( they are pretty bad in my area). What a waste of time and $. Hard Rock Riviera Maya looks like something from Dubai compared with the one I chose 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@theemanfamily]

Yeah that is so unfortunate! I know all inclusives aren’t suppose to be the best for food, but it sucks when you spend all that money just to get sick

[@helenacohen11]

We just came back from Punta Cana. We never went to riviera maya but 7 years went to Cancun. Punta Cana is HUGE which is good and bad. Good - a lot of to do for all ages, bad - lines are huge. Reserve everything in advance! If you want enjoy the beach, take Bali beds in advance! We had presidential room and it was Huge! We are 2 adults and 3 kids. Food - 🫠 again lines lines and lines… toro was good and zen….. that’s it. And the most important, we had a good weather!

[@theemanfamily]

We’ve always wanted to go to the Punta Cana location! But that sucks in regards to the lines! Our brother in Law is from the DR so I’m sure we will end up there eventually! Happy new year!

[@SanDiegoBuckeye]

Gotta get the deluxe sky terrace rooms or better. Having the Access to the private 2nd floor sky terrace with lounge chairs and hydro spa tub is the MINIMUM you should get.

[@theemanfamily]

We saw those but we broke broke hahaha

[@mancunianinlondon]

shit, this has put me off. I've always holidayed in Secrets in either Jamaica or Mexico....maybe I should stick with them

[@theemanfamily]

We hear Secrets is amazing!!! 😩

[@janinecervantes9366]

Your room was the lowest cheapest room offered. Your room in the DR was a suite. We always stay in the Presidential or Rock Royalty suite to get similar room to Falcon’s room. Hard Rock PC is 2 times larger, so don’t go. We love it, but you will hate it. HRPC Beach is amazing!! Casino too!! Safe travels from the Cervantes!

[@theemanfamily]

Hahah we are just so broke! Those other rooms looks great though

[@KassieP-sf6nz]

The hard rock in Punta Cana is nice by one of the largest resorts in the Caribbean you have to rent a golf cart way too much walking

[@theemanfamily]

Ya that would be insane with kids haha