My November 2020 Cancun trip resulted in two resort stays–Dreams Natura and Dreams Riviera Cancun.  I already posted my Dreams Natura resort review, so this blog post will focus on my stay at DRC.

DRC has a lengthy history of being both a quality family-friendly all-inclusive resort as well as a great place to have a destination wedding; this resort has been a AAA Four Diamond award winner since 2014.  I can see why–multiple pools close to the beach and to one another, “to die for” street tacos at the Barefoot Grill which is only steps from the beach, 70% of resort accommodations have ocean views, beachfront wedding gazebo with a stellar ocean view, the new Chef’s Garden with cooking classes and wine tastings (this new area is close to the lobby but was temporarily closed due to COVID, however), and a beautiful beach with aquamarine ocean waters which was surprising given its Puerto Morelos location.

My travel companions and I took a regular cab from Dreams Natura to DRC (a 15-20 min. drive at best); we had our luggage taken away to be disinfected, our temperatures taken, a disinfecting shoe mat and a hand sanitizing stand to deal with when we first arrived.  Non-upgraded guests are checked-in at the open-air main lobby area, a beautiful space with carved Asian-inspired artwork.  Don’t miss visiting the lobby in the evenings, not only does it have a bar with both indoor and outdoor seating, it offers a piano corner with evening performances as well as lighting which highlights its architecture and ambiance.  Prior to COVID, some evening shows were typically held on the steps of the lobby, but during my stay there wasn’t much in the way of evening entertainment–this resort has a renovated ballroom which is used for meetings, but no official theater space.  Outdoor entertainment during COVID is now typically held on the very small outdoor stage with limited seating located by the Explorer’s Club for kids.  I believe the stage area is identified as “Himitsu” (Himitsu restaurant is located on the second story of the adjacent building).

Since my stay at Dreams Natura was complimentary, I felt more financially able to book a room upgrade at DRC without unnecessary travel-related guilt.  The Governor Suite that I reserved was a Preferred Club room, so I and my travel companions were escorted to the Preferred Club Lounge to check-in. (FYI:  you can only access this area by using your digital “key”/plastic key card).  While the Lounge was fairly close to the lobby building, it was a world away in decor and ambiance.  The Lounge was functional but clearly needed an updated or preferably much larger area.  There were only two sofas, the rest of the space consisted of either individual chairs or multiple tables and chairs in the back by the bar area for seating options.  There was outdoor seating, but the view primarily consisted of the main walkway.  I did like the digital touchscreen showing the resort’s features and amenities, but the list of activities was not accurate as we later found out.  There were snacks put out several times a day in the Lounge, but there were lengthy periods of time in between set-ups.  Top-shelf alcohol can be found at the private bar in this Lounge.

There were a few distinct differences in the check-in experience here in comparison to Dreams Natura:  no timeshare push/initial presentation at this resort, heavy reliance at DRC on digital room “keys” using one’s smart phone (I did wind up with a traditional plastic key card but felt that this was highly atypical from the staff’s response), confusing resort introduction from three separate staff, and misinformation about when our suite would be ready which had us waiting in the Lounge for an extended period of time instead of familiarizing ourselves with the resort.  Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the Lounge space much and only returned twice–once to get a new key card (it took 12 hours to get another one), and to check-out.  One big plus from the Lounge check-in, however, was that we met Ernesto who was one of the friendliest and most personable resort staff I have ever run across in all the resorts I’ve been to over the years.  Ernesto works in the Preferred Club beach area and he makes guests feel like they are the most important people he is or will be waiting on during his entire day.  Ernesto was responsible for taking care of our beach Bali bed, chasing unwanted Bali bed “stealers” away, taking and delivering our drink orders, and generally chatting us up to see how our vacation was going.  Ernesto also took the time to say goodbye to us in the Lounge when we were checking out, he was quite the valuable employee and contributed to an overall enjoyable stay.  Definitely look him up if you are Preferred Club.

After our somewhat rough start at the Lounge, we were escorted to our Governor Suite. I’d have to say it was the best room I’ve stayed in at a resort and that includes my Loft Suite at TRS Coral.  Here’s a summary of why you should book this room category:

• beachfront suite with easy beach access
• complimentary use of a Bali bed during your stay, it can be by the pool or the beach area
• private terrace plunge pool and separate Jacuzzi
• two full loungers on the terrace
• table and four chairs on the terrace
• sliding doors for privacy between the bedroom and living room areas
• living room has a sleeper sofa
• large bathroom with separate entry doors–one for the bedroom and one for the hallway if you have additional guests staying with you
• microwave included
• regular size refrigerator with several ice trays
• lots of room to move around, no cramped quarters
• ocean view from the king bed AND sleeper sofa
• complimentary bowl of fruit and bottle of sparkling wine

Convinced yet??  If not, I have a short video of the suite on my Instagram account (allinclusivegal) as well as a more detailed video summary on YouTube (again, under allinclusivegal) if you need more convincing about why you have to book the Governor Suite at DRC.

Preferred Club guests also have a few other perks, some of which we took advantage of and some of which we did not.  Some PC privileges were not available due to COVID (no daily newspaper, no pillow menu, limited room service hours, etc.).  If you want another breakfast option as a PC guest, visit Seaside Grill (SG) for an a la carte breakfast experience.  The restaurant was beachfront on the other side of Oceana (very close to our room) and had an awesome ocean view to start our day.  While we could have had a complimentary hydrotherapy circuit as an upgraded PC guest, no one in my party wanted to try the spa since we had our treatments at Dreams Natura.

In terms of other on-site restaurants and food options, overall the food here was of a better quality than Dreams Natura.  What stood out most was the BBQ lunch option, Barefoot Grill, which offered awesome street tacos which you have to try, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken or other BBQ meat, and fries–I avoided the pizza since I don’t like to repeat past mistakes (if you read my Dreams Natura resort review you’d know what I’m talking about, lol)…We also tried Oceana and SG for dinner, both acceptable but your dining experience will depend on your specific food choices.  We found that Portofino was the best in terms of a la carte dining.  I hate to be a resort snob/name dropper while on vacation, but it really does help if you mention you are staying in an upgraded room category (name the category) and are tired of waiting to be seated for dinner–restaurants typically have a master list of who is staying in what room so you cannot get by with lying about it, however.  We were seated within 10 minutes after an hour wait; staff placed us in a “private dining area” which turned out to be a curtained-off section typically reserved for those having a special dinner (engagements, etc.).  The food was very good, but I hate waiting to be seated for dinner for an extended period of time.  One either winds up drinking too much to actually enjoy the meal, or complains too much about having to wait to eat (or both) which detracts from an enjoyable vacation.

In terms of the bars at this resort, I have to admit I didn’t drink much during my stay.  The drinks at the swim-up bar were OK, but I never ordered from another bar so I can’t speak much about the quality of drinks or the alcohol served at DRC.  I did note that one of the resort’s beach bars had been destroyed by the two hurricanes Cancun had recently experienced; this made for periodic lines at the one remaining beach bar from time-to-time.  Also, for families enjoying the beachfront infinity pool, there was a separate section for children to order their non-alcoholic drinks.  Look for the sign with the turtle–it is on the left end of the swim-up bar.

In addition to the infinity pool, there was a shallow children’s pool and an activities pool.  All pools were very close to one another which, I assume, made for easy family communication.  The resort also had two large Jacuzzis, but these were partially hidden among foliage closer to guest room buildings and had no ocean views.  According to the resort’s PDF fact sheet, the infinity pool, children’s pool, and the Jacuzzis are supposed to be heated.  I found the infinity pool to be a bit chilly for a winter swim, but maybe that’s just me.  If you enjoy afternoon pool fun, there were a few activity staff members who ran the pool games while the rest entertained the younger set in a separate building at the back of the general pool area.  Pool bathrooms are a little hard to find–look for the stairs going down a level on the south side of the pool area.

The beach area is stellar here.  Soft cool sand, walkable beach in both directions, lots of loungers set up along with Bali beds (typically an additional cost, even for Preferred Club guests).  There was a separate Preferred Club beach section on the north side, but it was not as distinguishable at this resort as at others (no roped off areas, etc.).  Ocean entry is generally smooth with some scattered ocean floor rocks; you don’t need water shoes, but if you don’t want to worry about stubbing your toes on said rocks you might want to bring them just in case.  I thought the ocean water temperature was warmer than the pool temps.  I did not see anyone taking out any water equipment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean one cannot at this resort.  It looked ready to go, but I didn’t specifically ask.  I was surprised at the aquamarine water color in this location; generally speaking, Puerto Morelos doesn’t have the greatest beaches in the Riviera Maya, so this was a great boon for this resort.

My travel companions and I did a private excursion while staying at this resort.  I did a separate blog about my cenote visits; if you want to read more about it, you can look for it using the search bar in my blog (“My Cenote Visits During COVID”), or you can click here to read the blog post.

Although I had a somewhat rough start to my stay here, I wound up really enjoying this resort and would definitely return.  I don’t know for sure whether the Governor Suite turned it around for me, but I do know that if I do return I wouldn’t book another room category.  You have to try it, it will ruin many other resort accommodations for you!

Take a moment or two (or five) to enjoy my usual obsessive compulsive picture gallery…I actually have a lot of fun taking these pics and think about what would be good camera angles, etc.  Hope you enjoy them as well!  (Just click on any of the thumbnail pictures and you will get a larger view of the picture itself).

The comments in this review are those of the author/reviewer.  The trip to this particular resort was paid for in its entirety by the author; at no time were any monies or services exchanged for this review.

Location:  25 min. south of the Cancun airport

Telephone:  1-866-237-3267 (toll-free number for Dreams resorts), 52-998-872-9200 (Mexico)

Email:  info.drerc@dreamsresorts.com