Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa

We were a family of 4 (kids ages 4 and 2) bringing our kids to an AI for the first time and our stay was great. I was nervous reading negative reviews beforehand but I'm glad we booked here. Things to note: -we booked a room with a plunge pool, thinking we'd use it while the 2 year old napped (which of course he refused to do). Our room was 1134 and the pool did get sun, so it was nice to have the option right there. Even with sun the pool was still colder than the other pools on the property, but it was skimmed each morning and we used it enough that we were glad to have it -the property is definitely showing some wear and tear (think tiles missing from the pool, pool deck doesn't look great in spots, rooms not super modern etc); however this did not bother us. If you're looking for shiny and new and ultramodern maybe you'll be disappointed, but if you can look at a missing tile and say 'oh, a missing tile' and move on with your life you'll be fine. Everything was super clean and the landscaping was beautiful. Overall a non issue for us. -food was standard AI food, imo. The buffet was fine and could always find something for everyone to eat for breakfast and lunch, even if that was fruit loops and jello some days. The chicken nuggets throughout the resort were kinda gross and our 4 year old refused them (which never happens); HOWEVER we learned later in our stay that if you ask for chicken tenders at the a la restaurants (not sure about buffet) you'll get actual breaded chicken breast which was very good. We did a la carte dinners every night and never had to wait more than 30 mins for a table. We ate at the seaside grill, Asian restaurant, and Mexican (2x) and all were really good-better than buffet food. -i was worried about the noise level after reading so many reviews that complained about it. I did wake up a few times from carts being wheeled outside and from pouring down rain a few nights but overall slept better than I expected to. My kids had no sleep issues. We brought a sound machine & let them fall asleep watching TV to drown out any outside noise (it's vacation after all!) and btwn those two things they slept fine. (We only had 1 wedding while we were there so not sure whether additional weddings would have caused other problems) -For anyone worried about seaweed like I was. Yes, there is seaweed in the ocean, but it varies by day/time/current/etc. some days we were fine to swim and some days not so much. The beach can smell a bit fishy/algae-y but they have the tractor out in the morning to rake it up (big hit w the kids!) and it's luck of the draw from there. Even on clear days the water wasn't the turquoise blue I was hoping for (more like jersey shore ocean) but the hotel can't help that. We ended up doing an excursion to Isla mujeres to get our pretty water fix. -the staff cannot do enough for you and everyone we encountered was pleasant and helpful. We never felt pressured to tip, although we always did TL:DR-great resort with standard AI food, property is showing its age a bit and ocean is hot or miss but if you're not concerned about glamour and can get your swimming fix from a pool on seaweed days, go!! You won't be disappointed.

Some staff were really rude; the food was great, though. Partyers were partying early into the morning (3 a.m.). Rooms didn't get cleaned every day.

Great location about 40 mins from main part of Cancun. Within walking distance 30-50 mins along the beach of the local pretty fishing town of Puerto Morelos. Lovely large beach area and plenty of swimming pools with lots of sun beds on both. Great choice of restaurants which you don’t have to book which is great. Room service is included. Rooms large and well equipped we paid for a seaview room but could not really see the sea as the palm trees were in the way but that was not an issue. Great waiting staff all very happy and friendly. Pool entertainment fun. Singers in the main bar area every night. Themed lunches most days the hotel really makes the effort to provide something different each day. Loved the Mexican dancers as shown in the photo. Only disappointment was no room to get washed up in before our evening flight home. Other than that a great hotel and would highly recommend.

So I booked this hotel several months in advance over official Hyatt mobile App, which made me to book one adult (me) and one child (my 15-year) as the drop-off menu for Children listed age <1 through 17. I received the confirmation and was never reminded by the hotel that there is additional cost. I flied thousands of miles to get there and then stopped by the front desk saying that I need to pay $140/day extra ($560 in total) as my daughter is not considered as Child per local hotel policy. I was put on phone for 2 hours at the check-in. Eventually a senior manager answered and was surprised to learn that I was stopped by the check-in and offered to talk to the local hotel manager, but then suggested me making the payment but said that they will follow up. In order not to disappoint my family and friends who were waiting patiently outside, I made the payment. After return home, an Executive Assistant of this hotel reached out and acknowledged that the Hyatt booking system has inconsistency but still I need to take the financial responsibility for this error. After exchanging a couple of emails, she questioned if this was my first time to this hotel and threw me a webpage in Spanish claiming that I did not read the hotel policy and then unilaterally considered this case closed. Excuse me?! This is honestly the worst customer service that I've ever had. It's so bad that I wonder if the golden standard of Hyatt does not apply to this special resort?! I have to admit that except for the check-in and follow up experience, other staff were very nice.

Arrival: (we booked a preferred room) so was taken straight to the preferred check in lounge, felt we were told everything we needed to know. Room: wow! We had an ocean view room. This was a great room. Restaurant: Seaside Grill: the guys there were superb! (We wanted our eggs soft, they changed 3 times the first day, then knew exactly how we wanted them after that) Abraham manager, Estela & Sabrina, found a table suitable for us and gave us this table all week, greeted us well each time, remembering our room and name -nice touch Eduardo, Ignacio, Enriquez, Mario & Arsenio, we fab waiters, they knew what we wanted for breakfast and looked after us well, lunch time they knew our drinks and kept us topped up well. Thank you to all for looking after us this week. Market cafe- we never went, didn’t think not had the best choice of food for us, the speciality restaurants looked better. Portofino, waiter Teofino (I’m hoping I’ve spelt his name right) was great both night we went there, great service, great food Himitsu: wow! I don’t expect the food to be so tasty but it was, small portions so make sure you order enough. (No waiter name that I can remember) Bordeaux: the food was delicious Kevin, was our waiter, he was great always made sure everything was good. He also looked after us at a wine and Mexican night by the pool.