The Real Resort in Playa del Carmen

[Groliv]

Ok, I've done reviews on Trip Advisor before, but never on here... so this will be my first attempt. Having read threads from others, I know I've always enjoyed them (and the photos!) so I will do my best.

We recently booked an AI package with Westjet and stayed at The Real resort right in PDC. The hotel is right on 5th, but it's up on 34th, so out of the real busy part. It was a perfect location really. Walk out the reception, and 5th is right there. And it really only took minutes to walk down to the beach.

If you are booking at this resort, you should know it's not 5 star. No marble bathrooms, in fact the tubs do not have tubs. But the hotel offers clean, basic accomodation as a great price. The buffet food did become repetitive, but we always found something to eat for breakfast & lunch. With the money we saved, we went out to dinner everynight.

Yes, the pool is rather small, but with only 145 rooms there was never many people in it anyway. There really is only 1 pool, because the second pool you see in the photos is only 18" deep. And the water was cold!

Wish I could attach a photo, but I've got to figure out how to do that!
If anyone is interested, I can continue a detailed review of this resort.
Again, not sure if I'm going about this in the right way.

[redislander]

Well it sounds like you had fun, thats the main thing! We are going there for a week starting the 4th of Feb and are really getting excited now. Looks like you stayed at the Real and didn't upgrade to the Royal?

[patrianne]

I would enjoy hearing about your experience at the Real. We have considered it in the past but ended up booking elsewhere. I really like the location.

[redislander]

The location is the biggest reason why we are staying at the Real. We can have fun no matter where we are but have always had fun cruising 5th ave.

[Peach]

Of course we want to read about your trip! And please, lots & lots of pictures! I've always considered looking into booking The Real, but there's not much for information/pictures of the place on here.

[Groliv]

Ok, I'm going to try to attach a photo. If this works, this is the restaurant area decorated for NYE. It was really nice with all the balloons.

[Groliv]

Great! That worked!! I'm not a total computer idiot! Here are a couple of pics of our room. Bedroom area (no door to it, so semi private), and the flip out sofa. Didn't look like it would be super comfortable, but we didn't need it. We watched TV on our bed, since the TV's are mounted from the ceilings in the bedroom areas. Makes the sofa kind of pointless. And then there is a large "living room" area, with nothing in it.
Would make for a great party area if you were entertaining!!

[Groliv]

As others have said, the staff at The Real make every effort to make your stay a pleasant one. The animation team (all of 4 people) led by Daniel from Croatia, were terrific. Shows were kind of hoakie, but entertaining none the less. Location is GREAT. Walk out the front lobby, and you are right on 5th. It's surprising how quick it is to walk down and get to Ave. Constitunales... then before you know it, you are hitting 14 and 12 where it gets busy with the bars & clubs.

I like the street artists (doing the spray-painting pictures) but they place themselves at a very narrow spot, and with people stopping to watch them, there simply isn't enough room for the people flow.

Back to some points on The Real.... If you want 5*, do not stay here. If you are looking for basic accommodations at a great price, and don't mind not being ON the beach - this is your place. Yes, some repairs need to be done, and some of the A/C units are noisy or don't work... just ask to go up and check your room first. Make sure it's to your liking.

Our first rooms did not have the bed sizes we asked for (we needed 1 room with 2 beds since we have a 16YO teen boy and a 13YO teen girl. They couldn't accommodate us at check in, but they were great, and switched us the next day.

The website did not say if the rooms had hairdryers, so I asked via email. They told me yes, all units had hairdryers, but none of our rooms had them. So bring your own!
Rooms come with small bottles of shampoo & small bars of soap. Pretty basic. Bring your own if you need more than that.
Maid came everyday and replaced towels, etc. Our kids got cool towel creations everyday (without ever tipping), while we got a swan only once and we were tipping everyday.
A buck or two to the bartenders will make them happy, didn't always get us better service. We found the best bar servers were Freddie and Matheos.

[Groliv]

You should know that The Real is not on the beach.
You need to walk down 5th and then take a left to take you down to the beach. The beach club we have access to is at the Grand Porto, which is off 22nd. You can go the beach closer than that, but you wouldn't have beach chairs. But the beach was nicer than the location at the Grand Porto. The surf is a little rough and there is a pier and fishing boats at the beach where the Grand Porto & beach club is.
Not the best part of the beach.
The beach club offers nothing but lounge chairs and you can get drinks from a restricted bar. Nothing to eat. This was our only disappointment.
We thought we'd have access to some lunch while there. All they had was a tray full of old-looking nacho chips. Don't go there hungry!

Speaking of hungry... The Real has 2 restaurants, that are really only 1 combined. Maria's is an ala carte restaurant (open only for dinner), but pretty much offers the same food that is offered in the buffet part.
I might have already mentioned that since we felt we saved money by staying here, we ate out for every dinner, except NYE when we stayed at the hotel for the big dinner & party.
NYE dinner was great. Roast pig (complete with head and apple in it's mouth) might have not been something everyone wanted to see, but it was delicious. They also had roast turkey.
The breakfasts & lunches were pretty much always the same, and it got repetitive. Same salads & minimal fruit offerings (watermelon, canteloup, bananas, and papaya). Breakfast included the usual fare: dry cereals, pancakes, french toast, and toast (all already made, and sometimes cold).
Toast was not buttered, so was like small pieces of cardboard.
There would be bacon, but it would disappear pretty quick and they didn't always make more right away. The omelet station was nice. She'd make you an omelet or fried eggs to order.
Lunches were okay. My hubby & I always found something to eat, but my finicky kids were often not impressed. Everything was labeled, but let's just say it's not what you'd get at home. One day they had chicken pieces, and that was AMAZING. So tender.

There are many Canadians that were at this resort, at least while we were there. Not many Americans, and the rest of the people are from Mexico, and few from all over the world. But Canadians out-numbered all the others combined. We are from Canada, so we were just part of that number.

The patio area just outside the restaurant eating area (all open, just a covered room) is where people smoke. If you are a non-smoker like me, try to sit as far into the restaurant as you can, because the smoke from the smokers on the patio floats into the restaurant. It's too bad that the show stage is facing the part of the restaurant tables that are immediately next to the patio. Couldn't watch a show without enjoying other people's second-hand smoke all night. Sorry, I'm a non-smoker for a reason.
I can't really think of anything else... please feel free to ask me any questions you like.

[redislander]

Great review, Thanks! Did you guys get a chance to see the 24 hour (snack) area, and if so what was there and did it look OK? When you say (restricted) bar at the Porto beach club do you mean no premium liquor?

[Shammy]

Here are the two photos from above you were trying to show.....

[Shammy]

Originally Posted by redislander

Great review, Thanks! Did you guys get a chance to see the 24 hour (snack) area, and if so what was there and did it look OK? When you say (restricted) bar at the Porto beach club do you mean no premium liquor?

No, it means there is a specific area on the beach at the Gran Porto where people from the Real PDC sit. There is a bar there that you can use, but you can't use any of the other facilities of the Gran Porto. I don't know what kind of liquors they have at that bar but at the other beach bar for Gran Porto guests, there were plenty of premium liquors. Not sure if they stock all the same brands at the bar used by the Real PDC folks though.

[redislander]

Thanks Shammy, that cleared it up

[Groliv]

Concerning the snack bar at the resort - Yes, we checked it out. My kids ate snacks there a few times. They had nachos & cheese, little rolled taco-type things, fries... not much really. They had a "help yourself" fridge which had beer & wine and soft drinks. I was a bit surprised since it was unsupervised. My teens could have been having beers, if they wanted. Wasn't much there. Don't count on it as an option in between meals! And dinner service starts a bit late - 7pm. With the time difference, that's 8pm for us, and we were always hungry before that.

The restricted bar at the beach club is exactly that - limited liquor options. We had no trouble getting a rum punch or local beer, but there was not much in the way of liquor options (same thing actually at the resort itself). The bar at the beach club has 2 sides, and we were told only 1 side was for guests from The Real. There were more liquor options on the "other side", which I guess would be for Grand Porto guests.
But we weren't at the beach to get hammered.
My hubby drinks only rye and he couldn't seem to get rye at any bar we went to. Although we had no trouble buying some at many shops along 5th. We just bought a bottle and kept it in our room and made him drinks from that. Same thing with gingerale. None at the resort or many restaurants/bars. But we found it at many stores along 5th. Go figure!
I am attaching a beach shot from the beach club.

[hollywood65]

Originally Posted by Shammy

No, it means there is a specific area on the beach at the Gran Porto where people from the Real PDC sit. There is a bar there that you can use, but you can't use any of the other facilities of the Gran Porto. I don't know what kind of liquors they have at that bar but at the other beach bar for Gran Porto guests, there were plenty of premium liquors. Not sure if they stock all the same brands at the bar used by the Real PDC folks though.

They have the same liquor at that bar, not sure if there are restrictions for the Real people though.