We stayed @ The Royal Sands from June 7th through the 14th 2008--We had a wonderful time. There is nothing I can say that is bad about the resort. Upon arriving at the resort we were greeted with-"Welcome Home!!! - cool washclothes to cool us and a bottle of water. The greeter was very nice! The front desk was helpful and gave us a wonderful room. I think we had the best location--Rm#5814. We were greeted w/our own personal conciere(sp?) Chio. She took us up to our room and explained the in's and out's of the resort. We received a welcome gift as well!! The room is spectacular-the view WOW amazing!!! The room was VERY clean and spacious. This was our 2nd trip to Cancun. We stayed at the Fiesta American Coral on our last trip-but we loved The Royal Sands even more!!! There is a Market in the resort that has everything you need-groceries-beer-wine coolers-cigars-medicine-ice-cream!! everything! There is a car rental on site as well as Thomas Moore travel-Everyday there are activities-like arts and crafts-water arobics-parties-face-painting--and beautiful birds and Iguanas that you can have your picture taken with!! But if you just want to veg out at the pool(massive)very clean pool!!-or the beach-you can. That's what we did-they have 2 pool bars,and great food. The food is very affordable-nothing too expensive. They cook the hamburgers.hot-dogs right there on the grill. Yum!! I wish I was there right now.!!! They have wonderful shuttle buses(FREE!!) that will take you to the sister properties, as well as our fav restarant Captain's Cove! Try the meal for 2-- $74 and you get 2 lobster tails several scallops and shrimp and calamari, and 2 pieces of fish and muscles and veggies-on a sizzeling platter. You may also get to see Panch o and Willie--the 2 croc's in the lagoon--yes they are REAL and they are BIG!!! Go to the Kareoke @ Pancho and Willies--it's so much fun. They also have bands there-it's not too rowdy-just fun! As you can tell we had a blast! We will definatly go back to the Royal Sands!

4th time staying at the Royal Sands. Excellent very time- just seems to improve stay after stay! Captain Cove's Resturant is GREAT seafood as well as other food items. CoCo Bongo show is a must see-great for any age adults! Hacienda Sisal -food is great-show is a little cheesy. Seems to be for 65+ crowd. Tour recommendations-Sea Passion Catamaran snorkel trip & Altournative Tours. I LOVE CANCUN and the ROYAL SANDS!

We just returned from the Royal Sands, this was our 4th time staying at the resort. I think it gets better and better each time that we go there. You can't ask for an easier vacation, especially with kids. The villa's provide so much space when traveling with a family. This comes in handy when the kids get knocked out after a full day of activities so that you aren't stuck in just a hotel room.

The resort is spotless from the villas to the pool areas. There is always someone cleaning. We also stayed two additional nights at the Club International (sister resort). It was nice to try another resort, however we love the Royal Sands the best.

The children activities are wonderful. They have face painting, pool games, pinata making, treasure hunts and much more.

The market place located in the lobby area is great for making breakfast in your villa. We also found the food & drinks to be very resonable - especially during happy hour (3-6 daily).

If you get the opportunity to stay at the Royal Sands you will be very happy!

My wife and I just returned from a week at the Royal Sands, May 17-24. My parents are owners and they go for 2 weeks every year before and after Memorial Day. This is the second time my wife and I have gone with them for one of their weeks.

The Good:
1. The entire resort is always super clean.
2. It wasn't very crowded, I guess times are a little slow, so the pool was a little quieter and beach a little less crowded.
3. My folks unit is on the top floor of "phase 2" which I like much better then phase 1 because it is much quiter and in my opinion the phase 1 side gets more people who don't know how to relax.
4. Also the poolside bar and grill at phase 2 actually has tables and waiters which is nice to eat on a plate and get waited on. On the phase 1 side they serve you everything in styrofoam containers.
5. Our maid came everyday and was very nice, I didn't have any problems with that at all.

The Bad:
1. Yes the beds are still rock hard, but they will put a foam egg crate on your mattress which makes everything fine. My wife who was 24 weeks pregnant when we were there slept fine also.
2. Yes the televisions are small. I agree with one of the other reviewers where I'm not on vacation to watch tv but I do like something bigger then a small 18 inch tv. At least they do have DVD players.
3. Not much has been updated, but I don't necessarily think anything really needs updating, our room always looks fine to me.

On the beach vendors who are walking the beach, they didn't seem to be any more a pain in the rear this year then any other time I've been to Cancun. The only problem is that beach is getting smaller with a lot of sand washing away. So I don't think that they are walking closer to people because they are more aggressive, I just think the beach real estate is getting pinched and we're running out of space. I've stayed at the Marriott Casa Magna also in Cancun but they don't have any more sand there either. But the rocks on the beach were a bummer because it makes walking the beach so much more difficult.

The usual restaurants were great as always: Captain's Cove, Lorizillos, but our great new find was "Thai" at La Isla. It was fantastic.