Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa

To preface this, we are a 40 year old couple from Ottawa and have a 5 year old. Before having a kid we travelled extensively and have been to a number of all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean including in Mexico, the DR, the Bahamas, St. Lucia, St. Martin, Panama, Curaçao, Aruba, Antigua, Honduras and Cuba. Everything from a 2* to 5*. We paid a hefty price for this resort and had high expectations as we were excited to visit Mexico again and have never spent this much to travel. The plunge pool option was what ultimately led us to pick this resort and pay a bit more for some extra luxury as we thought it was a great option for traveling our little one. We stayed in room 2139 for one night and then 2144 down the hall for the rest of the trip - the last room was 2 double beds, plunge pool room in building #2 - and I can say we’ve never been to a noisier hotel. For groups and events we only saw an event for a dance competition group and a white party for a group of teens graduating, they were from Texas. We did not experience any weddings that week. The shows and music at the pool is nothing like we’ve experienced and that is the noise problem. The music from the pool area is so loud you just can’t get away from it and it shockingly starts so early. The shows they have at the lobby each evening echo into the rooms, we could hear the entire thing, word for word as if we were right there. We think it’s the way the halls and buildings were made, it echos and just brings the sound into your room. We did bring a sound machine and had it cranked the entire time. Check in was easy, they did upsell us to the premium club. I don’t think it really got us anything special and wasn’t really worth it. They charged us $350USD but it seemed that that price changes and wasn’t like a set amount as we kept negotiating until she wouldn’t lower it anymore. We didn’t get any special treatment or anything having paid that extra. They did ask us twice during the week for our room number when we were seated in the premium beach section. But just those 2 mornings and they didn’t regularly check as people came and went. So we aren’t sure that is worth it. The beach chair situation is just the most frustrating thing about this resort. You do have to get up early to grab a spot on the beach but we also saw people paying the staff to save their chairs. For example, a very large group arrived from Texas on Sunday and paid Enrique $120USD to save them 3 hutts and some beach chairs on the beach in the premium section. I saw Enrique running to the beach with items such as books and children’s toys and putting them on the beach chairs to save them while I myself was down at the beach saving my own chairs at 6am. Later that day, there was a huge fight because some other hotel guests had in fact saved those chairs with their belongings in the morning but didn’t get down to the beach until 12:30. When they arrived, everyone started arguing and what the group from Texas didn’t realize is that this paid service they were arguing for wasn’t like a real thing and was simply the staff doing it on their own, and those staff took those chairs from the other guests to fulfill that already paid for non-service. We witnessed Enrique and Freddyin the premium section of the beach, place items on a bunch of chairs and when people come down later in the morning or afternoon and ask for a spot, they are given one of these spots. This was hard as we have a 5 year old and need shade for him so I had to make the 6am trek to get a chair each day. I also didn’t budget into my trip that I’d need so much extra money to pay each day for a staff member to do this for us. We tip well but didn’t consider this extra expense which is quite frankly ridiculous. One day we left for lunch and came back and our stuff was in a pile at the bar and our spot was taken. We assume it’s the same situation that happened as I noted above but the difference is we were there all morning 7-12 and left for lunch so definitely not a reasonable situation. We felt really icky that they moved our stuff and gave our spot to another person. Management should decide if this is a tourist game to play or not. This sort of half game depending on how much money you can pay is just crazy and nothing we’ve ever experienced. Plus, you can’t take people’s belongings and move them away and give the spot to someone else but yet still have people save their chairs in the early morning, it should be all or nothing. One morning there weren’t any tiki hutts left so we chose a spot with an umbrella. We sat there from 7:30am until noon. The staff came by at noon and closed our umbrella and said we weren’t allowed to have the umbrella open due to the wind. We had it open for 4.5 hours before this and it wasn’t an issue but out of nowhere it became an issue. So we had to leave the beach as there wasn’t shade for our little guy. It just seems like we were maybe the only non-paying guests so they didn’t treat us as kindly. The tipping culture here was also nothing we’ve experienced. The staff were kind but some of them were down right rude unless you tipped. One day my husband asked for 4 drinks from the lobby bar as we planned to stay in our room at our plunge pool all afternoon since our beach umbrella couldn’t be opened, the lobby bar bartender refused and said it was a 2 drink maximum. When challenged, he told my husband to speak with his manager and then all of a sudden couldn’t understand English when asked where said manager was. All week we couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was off with this resort but we finally did: this resort caters to families and kids but they don’t quite hit the mark. The buffet is closed 3 nights a week so unless you want the limited room service options you have to go to a sit down dinner. This is hard with young kids, you never know their mood and wouldn’t want to ruin someone else’s dinner. The noise is what will deter us from booking again. We specifically asked for building #2 based on a review we read but we definitely think this was a mistake as it was brutally loud all the time, day and night. The resort is very clean, well taken care of. However, we did see a limping raccoon and the birds will dive and eat any leftover food that’s around. The food was average as everyone else noted. It was odd that the breakfast buffet didn’t offer bacon or sausage every day, but I saw someone order some from the back kitchen on the days it wasn’t out so maybe it is available that way. The beach was full of seaweed, nothing the resort can fix but a factor if you love the ocean! It sticks to you while you are swimming and isn’t just on the beach in large piles, it’s very much all over in the water and on the ocean floor too. The mosquitos are super bad at night and if you leave your patio door open, you’ll be sure to have a ton in there waiting to pounce come nightfall! I woke up with my arms covered in bites so we learned our lesson to keep the door closed all the time. This isn’t a relaxing, easy going resort. We loved how small it is and that the restaurants didn’t need to be booked ahead of time but that’s about it, nothing special. There are so many resorts in Cancun that we think we’d have a better experience. Tip: be sure to download the Hyatt app. The buffet is closed 3 nights a week so you have to know what restaurants are open. It also lists the activities and you can see the room service menu there.

Ezequiel from the Italian restaurant Portofino, was extremely kind, our experience was completely amazing, everything that we order, food was 100% delicious, drinks and the best dessert…. thank you so much for every detail and for make our visitation super special!!

Our family are experienced travelers in the Cancun and Cabo regions and have had many great resort experiences. Unfortunately Dreams fell short of that mark and will not be getting repeat business from my family. First of all I do want to recognize all the great staff by the poolside and in the restaurants especially Vicente at the pools and Paulina at the el Patio restaurant. That being said issues starting directly from check in. I had booked a preferred family suite through Hyatt for 4 adults and 2 kids at a fixed rate. Upon check in at the Preferred lounge at Dreams I was informed that my booking was only for 3 adults and if I wanted to add family it would be an additional $1,800 in charges. I’ve booked many vacations and travel internationally for work so booking trips is second nature. After 30-40 minutes of the check in staff calling managers and Hyatt their answer was that Hyatt doesn’t allow 4 adults in the room and their system defaulted the room to 3 adults but it removed the children even though the pricing was based on that occupancy. They refused to honor the price, I could have booked 2 rooms for my original rate on the spot but they then said they would have to charge me the cancellation rate of my stay at $2200 in addition to a new booking. What were you suppose to do but pay the up charge, fortunately my family was in a position to pay this but had we been on a tighter budget like most families I could only imagine the position it would put a family in. Additionally, while they don’t claim to be a “timeshare” they are a membership club and treat it as so as they charge for additional services most resorts offer standard. We were her for July 4th celebration and they were selling tables at $250 per table, which come with “bottle service” at a family friendly resort to the show and dinner instead of treating it like a regular entertainment night. Also, one of our AC’s went out in one of our rooms and the room quickly became uncomfortable very quickly (89 degrees) so our family was forced to squeeze into one room. We called down twice and were told that someone would be up but no one showed. At check I inquired about a color since the room was not usable and the response given was that there was nothing that could be done since we are already at check out otherwise they would have offered a credit or something. All and all decent restaurants, good people, and decent pools but there are definitely better resorts in Cancun. My family and I won’t be traveling back or to any Dreams hotels in general due to the non-personal approach directed by ownership and management.

Excellent service . The customer service is amazing . Did not have a great experience with the Himitsu food but besides that everything was great

We stayed at Dreams Rivera Cancun hotel for 10 days and it wasn't enough. Amazing and friendly staff. Great view and very clean hotel. The best part is that they have 5 restaurants at the hotel and the best one is Bordeaux. Amazing food and i want personally thank Roberto Joel. He advised on the food and service was top notch