Royal Haciendas

When you were in a timeshare environment, you would be approached to buy even more timeshares. Tempted by the freebies, Chris signed us up for a “presentation” in exchange for a nice lunch, a tour of their newest timeshare resort, and enjoy the resort facilities. It was supposed to be good for snorkeling.

It was an hour long coach bus ride from the Royal Sands over to the Royal Haciendas. The Royal Haciendas is located in the Mayan Riviera. I guess I haven’t paid much attention to our neighbor south of the border. I only heard of Mexican Riviera, which is on the Pacific side. The Mayan Riviera was only recently renamed and is on the Caribbean side.

The sky started to cloud up when we arrived at the resort. Nevertheless we went to the beach. There was hardly anyone there. Surprisingly the water was not as clear and blue as in Cancun. It could be the weather, but I was a bit disappointed. The kids didn’t want to get into the water; they just wanted to play in the sand. I dipped myself in the salt water, it was a nice temperature.

After a short while, we moved to the jacuzzi and the kiddie pool. Then the rain storm came on all of a sudden; good thing we were mostly done with the water fun and ready to change. We had a late lunch with our sales rep at the resort buffet restaurant. I think he already knew we were not the buying kind, too many family members in tow…

The facility was nice; all kinds of upgrades included, but definitely came with a very high price tag. They told us most of the buyers are American. Not surprise with those numbers!

While waiting for our bus to go back to Cancun, the Chows wanted to take more pictures. They always do. Unfortunately, Brenda accidentally dropped my one-month old Canon SD90 IS. After that, the lens wouldn’t retract and it was the end of the camera! We all were very upset.

Yes, more stress on top of this supposedly stress free vacation. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Fortunately, I bought it with my Amex card and I was able to utilize the Purchase Protection Plan that came as part of the card membership benefit. A month later after my claim and submitting prove of the broken camera, Amex reimbursed me the full purchase price. One more time, Amex came through for me….