Royal Porto Real Rooms? and more.

[timkin]

Just booked RPR for 11/11-11/15. Was torn between RPR and RPRM. We finally chose RPR for our 15th anniversary. My question: I see the layout of different buildings, Tulum, Coba, and Uxmal. Is Uxmal a new wing? One website has 312 rooms listed the other has 426. This seems to me that it could be new wing that added 114 rooms. We booked a standard Jr. Suite. What would be the worst room possible? A view of a street? Gardens? Partial Sea?
I've read about scooter rentals. Is it fairly easy to navigate on the streets and how far could you go.
I don't speak Spanish. Do the locals appreciate good faith effort in speaking common phrases?
Looking forward to our trip, Thanks for the input.

[Conard10]

The layout of the hotel is difficult to explain and I don't have specific hotel numbers. Basically the hotel is U-shaped...so most rooms face the courtyard or pool....you can see the ocean but have to kind of hang over the balcony. You have to upgrade to get a direct oceanview room. We were in the wing that had rooms facing the couryard and we were very happy....the rooms facing the pool would be ok, but may have more noise.
I'm not aware of any scooter rentals...but they aren't really needed. The RPR is only a 5 minute walk from 5th avenue, which is the main strip in PDC and where most of the restaurants, shopping, and bars are located. I speak very little Spanish, but have picked up common phrases...from my experience the locals get a kick out of tourists trying to speak Spanish and appreciate the attempt. The locals are all so friendly and the service is amazing!!

[Halliewd]

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/258...35014968ecxPTr
I asked the lay-out question of the RPR awhile back and some kind soul attached the above link/photo.......

[taln]

Hey timkin! I too am booked at the RPR for 11/11 - 11/18. SO excited! Funny you were contemplating the RPRM. I stayed there this past May. Loved it, but wanted to be even closer to 5th Ave. I heard only great things of the RPR. Maybe we'll bump into you at the beach!

[debk]

Hi! We were on the ground floor right outside the pool, room 153. We never thought it was too noisy from the pool, in fact we never heard it. The only noise to speak of was the room service trays early in the morning, but after the first morning, we tuned those out. The location was also great to Pelicano's to get another bottle of wine or to use our own restrooms during the day. Enjoy your stay - you'll love it!!

[taln]

Debk - I believe you were at the RPR this past May with "Karenkel". I remember her trip report. I am soooo excited to spend a few days at the RPR. From your trip, do you recall the following:
1) To get one of those beds on the beach, do you have to pay for it? Or reserve it the day before? Or do you have to just 'hope' it will be available?
2) When they say it's less than 5 minutes to 5th Ave, is that for real?
3) To sum it up, do you remember what the room numbers would be in order to be closer to the beach/pool area, probably second floor?
Thanks to anyone who can answer all that!
Oh, one last thing, on this trip I want to check out a few restaurants on fifth, such as Carboncitas, el fogon and Cueva del Chango. Do you know if the concierge can help me find where those are?

[Shammy]

I can answer a few things.......

Originally Posted by taln

1) To get one of those beds on the beach, do you have to pay for it? Or reserve it the day before? Or do you have to just 'hope' it will be available?

There is no charge for the beach beds, you're at an all inclusive resort, remember? What you DO have to do is find one available. If it's there when you get to the beach, it's yours. If not, might want to get there earlier the next day. You can't reserve them the night before either.

Originally Posted by taln

2) When they say it's less than 5 minutes to 5th Ave, is that for real?

Absolutely, 5th Ave. is a mere block or so away. Of course, 5th AVe. runs north to south so you can walk on it more than 5 minutes in either direction. But to simply reach 5th Ave, it's not even 5 minutes away.

Originally Posted by taln

Oh, one last thing, on this trip I want to check out a few restaurants on fifth, such as Carboncitas, el fogon and Cueva del Chango. Do you know if the concierge can help me find where those are?

You can certainly ask the front desk, or you can look up the locations here on the board - all these places have been discussed before. You might also want to get yourself a Mapchick map which will have all of Playa mapped out for you. It will really help you find anything you might be looking for.

[timkin]

taln, that would be 2 more from Michigan. We will be celebrating our 15 anniversary and vacation without the kids. We chose RPR basically because of what we heard about 5th ave. Looks like fun. Can't wait.

[Scotch]

Hi, We went to the RPR in March, so impressed that we'll be back next March. We arrived at 1 PM and were told that the room would be ready only around 3PM. I started speaking Spanish to the receptionist and suddenly he had the 'perfect' room for us. We went to the room and our jaws almost dropped on opening the door. The room was just angled in such a way that we overlooked the pool and had a great view of the sea. The room was beyond our expectations and the staff were very friendly, especially when they hear you making the effort to speak to them in their own language.

[Juanito]

Originally Posted by Scotch

Hi, We went to the RPR in March, so impressed that we'll be back next March. We arrived at 1 PM and were told that the room would be ready only around 3PM. I started speaking Spanish to the receptionist and suddenly he had the 'perfect' room for us. We went to the room and our jaws almost dropped on opening the door. The room was just angled in such a way that we overlooked the pool and had a great view of the sea. The room was beyond our expectations and the staff were very friendly, especially when they hear you making the effort to speak to them in their own language.

Scotch, si vous êtes du Québec, vous parlerez pour le moins un peu du français? Ainsi, vous parlez anglais, français et espagnol? C'est formidable!

My wife is looking into the RPR for our 15th anniversary next April. I don't want to go to an AI but she does. So we are going to stay 4 days at an AI and 4 days at a non-AI.

Like Scotch said, the playenses will appreciate all efforts to speak their language. If you use the "search" button, I think there's a thread on useful Spanish phrases. Or you could go to amazon.com or your local bookstore and buy a phrase book.

[debk]

Hello- Yes, we were there with Karenkel and had a blast! It looks like Shammy answered most of your questions , she's a wealth of information! Room numbers in the pool courtyard start with 1,2 or 3 (first, second or third floor). Rooms starting with 7 or 8 are on the courtyard side (construction was on the other side of this) with 8 being furthest away from the ocean and near the air conditioners!

We were in 153 and it was the closest to the "Ocean Front" rooms which, obviously, face the ocean, ours directly faced the pool. I believe the numbers got smaller as you were further from the ocean, ie 123 was nearest the lobby. Same for the other side of the pool. Did this make any sense?

One other item thing, we had stressed about how to call home etc... We found several great Internet cafe's where phone calls to the States or Canada were just 35 cents/minute and the internet was from $1.50 - $3.00 per HOUR. These are in USD, not pesos. Benitos is the closest to the RPR and he is a really cool Californian who "retired" to Playa.

[taln]

Thanks all for the great information! And, the good news is that I'm pretty well versed in Spanish....so I will roll with it when checking in! When I did this whole song-n-dance at the checkin last time, I also brought a little gift with me from home (detroit) to give to the girl at the counter. It helped our room suddenly be "ready". lol
Maybe I'll bring down a Tiger's baseball cap! :-) Goooo Tigers! (ok, I had to)
Timkin - see you down there. Look for me and my friend Maria. It's the two single girls...both of us are nuts so you'll hear one of us at the pool bar. hahaha

[barbara1]

We are booked for Nov. 17-22...I'm so excited!!

Can someone tell me if there is an internet cafe at the resort? I know I can walk into town but was just wondering.

Also, has anyone been lately since they have started construction on one of the buildings. I think it is to be competed in Dec 06. I was just wondering if there would be alot of construction noise. From what I have been told they are not placing guest in that section of rooms but still concerned.

Lastely, can anyone tell me about the beach?? I am used to staying in the playacar resorts and the beaches in that area are great. I was just wonding if it is different? any rocks??

thanks for your input.

[debk]

There is internet access, but it is VERY pricey and when we were there, unreliable. The closest internet cafe is very close, seriously about a 4 minute walk tops!

[Trippin]

I'm at the Royal Porto Real right now, we arrived on Fri 10/20. I'll try to answer some of your questions:

Originally Posted by barbara1

Can someone tell me if there is an internet cafe at the resort? I know I can walk into town but was just wondering.

They have computers with internet access in the business center that you can pay to use. I'm not sure of the rates. If you have a laptop, they have wireless internet access throughout the resort (including by the pool and the beach close to the hotel). You may have to sit in the lounger close to your patio door, or (like I'm doing right now) you can sit in the hammock on y our balcony, to get a strong signal in your room.
They charge you $10/day for the wireless. You go to the business center and they put your bracelet # into the computer and then you use it as the login ID and password when you connect. The bracelets are *extremely* unreliable as the system will randomly stop recognizing it. I highly suggest telling them you only want a single day of acess when you arrive. Then go talk to the concierge in the lobby and ask for the "login word". They have a special word that works as a login anywhere in the resort. I'm not going to give it out as an unscrupulous person could simply ask for the word and avoid paying the $10/day...

In addition to the hotel, I have seen many places in Playa with wireless internet access and have picked up many unprotected hotspots while here.

Originally Posted by barbara1

Also, has anyone been lately since they have started construction on one of the buildings. I think it is to be competed in Dec 06. I was just wondering if there would be alot of construction noise. From what I have been told they are not placing guest in that section of rooms but still concerned.

We got here on Fri and were placed in a room in the 240 range near Pelicano's. There was construction going on below us on the 1st floor. The banging, hammering, drilling and pounding was in full force when we arrived at our room at 1pm and continued until approx 6pm. At 7am Sat it started up again. We went to the desk to request another room, and were told that there were none as they had moved all the folks from the other wing (with major construction on the top floors) to this wing because of the noise there. We were promised that the noise would stop at 3:30 and that construction was complete. While they did stop at about 5pm on Sat, and there has been none today, I'm waiting to see what happens tomorrow...
[/quote]

Originally Posted by barbara1

Lastely, can anyone tell me about the beach?? I am used to staying in the playacar resorts and the beaches in that area are great. I was just wonding if it is different? any rocks??

The beach is great! They have done a good job keeping the seaweed cleaned out. There are no noticible small/medium rocks, but once you get about 20 yards out there are some very large rocks on the bottom. For the most part they are flat and somewhat smooth ( but they are still rocks...) and can be mostly avoided.

There are plenty of beach chairs and the beds are AWESOME! We have not had any trouble getting one on our first 3 days, and we didn't do anything to "stake a claim" when we first got up. We mostly have gone to the beach after lunch.

I don't know that I'll be checking this forum much (hey, I'm on vacation here!) but if you need more info, I'd PM me so I get an email notification.


One other note to Taln:
We arrived at the hotel at approx 11:30 am. We were told there was no rooms until later in the afternoon. We did use the "tip the clerk" and my wife spoke spanish with the clerk. We did get a room then in about an hour, but it was not upgraded and per my note above, was near construction, so I'm not sure whether it worked out better or worse.

Also, on the Royal Club sales pitch, you should go talk to the guest relations person right after you check in at the front desk as they do give you some great info about the hotel and the town, just DON'T make an appointment for breakfast or luch with a Royal Club rep. That's where the sales pitch comes in. We've witnessed several other victims getting pressured to buy in at breakfast and lunch and were glad we passed. Our guest services rep tried very hard to get us to "just make an appointment" and kept talking about the "free gifts" [Royal Portal Real bag, beach wrap and small bottle of tequila] but when we firmly but politely refused, he dropped it.

Hope the info helps.


Another thing, in answering all these questions it may not have come across clearly that we are extremely pleased overall with our experience here so far. The food has been above expectations, the house wines are very good, the 24hour snack bar has great drinks & food/fruit. Room service at 3am is fast and the food is fantastic. We are able to walk everywhere from the hotel and the staff have all been great.

...Trippin