Hotel Riu Dunamar — Hotel in Quintana Roo

We just spent a week here and had a very relaxing vacation with zero issues.|The resort is super easy to navigate, everything's super close, no need for restaurant reservations which is awesome, very accessible whether in a wheelchair or a stroller (apart from the beach) but there are no stairs anywhere. People are literally cleaning everywhere all the time - a big hats off to all the hard workers.||Tons of families but also a great party vibe for those who wish.||Beach - plenty of loungers, decent amount of shade, once the palms fill in a bit more in a few years it'll be even better, drinks handed out by hardworking folks on the beach were appreciated, the sargassum was not TOO bad however I do wish the hotel would clean it up more often. I know it's a neverending job but it would make the beach more pleasant. I can't complain tho after seeing pictures of what they're dealing with elsewhere. We were still able to enjoy the beach and jump in the waves.||Pools - kids pools - amazing. Super clean, slides for kids of all ages, tons of families but no real lounger reserving going on, you could always find a seat or wait for a bit and someone would leave. |It was nice to move from pool to pool and not worry about reserving a lounger at any of them. everyone was on the same page on this point and we were able to visit all the pools and always find a lounger. I really appreciate the overhead shade tarps. So much more convenient than individual umbrellas even though there were some of those as well. |Before our trip looking at pictures I wasn't a fan of the rectangular pools (this is all RIU resorts) and I am still not a fan after coming back. The pools seemed almost too small for the number of people there. It got crowded. And I did really miss the big winding pools of other resorts. If anything, I wish that all the 5 pools were connected. That would leave more space for swimming, throwing a ball around, getting a floaty and hanging out. All the pools were the same depth also - my 7 yr old is too old for floaties but isn't that strong of a swimmer and I had to constantly watch him or hold onto him or keep him near the side. I wish there was a variation in depths.|Not a fan of the pools closing at 5(kids pool) 7(all other pools) but it was fine. Never had issues with getting towels. Drinks were easy to get, no real lines anywhere.||Bathrooms around the resort - they could use another few but all in all you were never far from a bathroom and they were CLEAN - someone was cleaning them every half an hour seems like.||Rooms - really well sized. You get 2 beds and a pull out couch and the ceilings are tall, the room felt wider than average too. Super comfortable when you have kids with you. Very clean - we did have to call to get minibar restocked a few times but they put a lot in there. Love the drying rack on the balcony. Small touch but super helpful.|Bathrooms very large - shower huge with great smelling shampoo and conditioner. I wish there was lotion but other than that it was perfect.||Food - we ate mostly at the buffet and there was plenty of stuff everyone liked every day - I thought the food was very good quality for the amount there was. No one in our group got sick at all. If something was empty it was refilled very quickly. Great service as far as seating and getting coffee/drinks to the table and clean up after. Everyone there was working very hard. I tried to tip when I could but service was great regardless. Self serve coffee machines were appreciated and pro tip - the lobby bar has paper coffee cups so you can take coffee to go. Also they have soy milk available as well as almond - very appreciated.||Overall we had a great time at the resort - my kids loved the RIU parties and playing volleyball which the activity teams organized. None of us were ready to leave after our week... the resort is really far from anything so if you like to leave it (we normally do) it's pricey to catch cabs anywhere. But if you really want to relax and hang out at the resort it's great for that. The people there make sure you are having a nice time without being...

I have been in law enforce for over 30 years and cannot express how disappointing the Mexican imigi/customs officers were when we arrived at the Cancun airport. When we got to the Cancún airport we were stopped by the screener and asked if we had cigars. We were then told to go to the secondary screening area, all 4 of us where we were embarrassed by 2 of the immig officers going through all our luggage, laughing at us. They were so unprofessional and kept speaking in Spanish or their own language while going through our items in front of other officers and passengers. I fully understand they have a job to do but they need to remember we are all humans and that Mexico relies heavily on tourism and if this is how they are going to treat people, we won’t be back. When you are there you are at their mercy and so vulnerable so you have to be very careful on what you say as they can distort anything so it forces you to be quiet and be taken advantage of.We stayed at the Riu Dunamar, we do have Riu Class because of the multiple trips to Riu various Riu resorts.This is our second time at this resort. My wife and I travelled with our 21-year-old daughter and her boyfriend. There was an additional resort fee upon check in which we weren’t aware of, cost us approximately $40 American for each room, additional $80 not good, so be aware……. We were upgraded for our rooms after consistent advocating that this was our second time back and that we have been at Riu’s multiple times in the past year and because of this fee. Resort is very nice overall, lots of seaweed in ocean which was disappointing. We are beach lovers and didn’t end up staying at the beach as much because of the poor water conditions. Also, they need umbrellas like other Riu resorts as they don’t have palapas and the palm trees don’t provide good coverage from the sun. room service issues multiple times because they didn’t restock the rooms. At the end of the stay this is where this trip went very sour. The resort says it welcomes all families which is great but a negative experience with security contradicts this. There are a few stray dogs and cats on the resort. The poor things are not aggressive at all in fact they are loving and enjoy being petted and love the attention. You can tell they are struggling and looking for food and water. On the second to last day my wife and I were giving some chicken and water to one of the dogs. I was approached by two security guards, they asked me “hi Sir is this your dog?” First of all, how do they know I am a male or that I identify as a male? They obviously have no training on EDI. I was on their resort, there is a very, very low chance that I would have my dog with me. This opening introduction from their security was very ignorant on both fronts and I took the question if the dog was mine to be sarcastic and pathetic as well. I replied that it was not my dog but again, if I was in Canada my response would have been much more different. They told me that I am not allowed to feed that dog. I let them know I felt sorry for the dog and that all I was doing was giving them some left over food and water from my plate. I then let them know I wouldn’t do it anymore even thought I saw others feeding the dogs during our staff. Very poor experience with security, I assume the direction on this is from the resort management. My family includes my kids and my pets. I wanted to say to the security guards how would they feel if they were homeless, starving and thirsty? But again, I was in a foreign country with heavy concerns in regards to potential trouble We noticed lots of very young kids that we not toilet trained (under 1 year old) swimming in the pools no bathing suits and no swimmer diapers. I guess this is ok? Security should be focused on this stuff as it’s an infection control concern instead of picking on people trying to care for the dogs. If this hotel says it’s about families, then the hotel should look at embracing the dogs we saw by building a controlled area for them to rest,...

Let me preface this post by saying this is the 10th different Mexico All inclusive we have stayed at. Of all of them, this is the worst, by a long shot. People that like this place have not stayed anywhere else.

First the good. There isn't much. The rooms are ok. The Bartenders are all decent, Filipe in the Sports Bar is the best.

Now the bad Rooms -The Rooms are small, so small in fact that the 2 double beds we got were right next to each other, literally touching. For a family of 3-4 this makes sleeping... Awkward at best.

Food - The food is terrible, when there is actually any available. If you don't go the second the restaurant opens, good luck actually finding what you want to eat. See pics - taken on multiple days at varying times. The other issues is that they rarely keep the buffet cleaned up, so even when there is food around everything is so messy that it's unappetizing. They don't seat you when you go into the buffet, so it's just a free for all. We had to spend the first 10 minutes of every meal at the buffet finding a dirty table and then trying to find someone to clean it for us. The a la carte restaurants are barely any better. The ones that have menus have like 4 items to choose from and the Asian restaurant is another buffet. We went there on night right when it opened and it was a decent experience. We went back the next night at about 8 and it was terrible. They don't clean the buffets, so everything appears as if hundreds of people have picked over it, as they have. By the end of the trip, I was eating only the pastries in the sports bar as everything else was terrible.

Pools - are ok although all small. The problem was that there are 5 small pools two of them have bars one is basically just a volleyball pool and then 2 pools for anyone. For some reason kids (under 18) are not allowed in the pools with the pool bars. Our son was sitting on the edge with literally his legs in the water just talking to us and got reprimanded and kicked out. Literally 3 minutes later there are 18-20 year olds playing football in the bar pool splashing everyone. It makes no sense what so ever. They also don't have enough people out to clean the pool areas. Or enough areas to discard plates. People get food and then the birds come. Seagulls by the dozens swarming any abandoned plate they can find, dropping wet brown bombs in the pools and anyone in their path. Nothing like getting pooped on while trying to relax near the pool.

Entertainment - My sons elementary school puts on better productions than this place. It was literally cringe every night. It's as if Michael Scott were in charge of the entertainment. Every night my wife and I looked at each other and said, how did they decide this was ready for the stage? The had a "Mexican Fair" night. It was literally 2 stands - a marble game and pin the tail on the donkey. No one (workers) was at one of the games. The speakers are so loud that when we did try to watch something we all had to plug our ears. It is at least twice as loud as it needs to be. Literally every show was if they just practiced it that afternoon and then management was like alright kid you're up. I felt bad for the people on stage. The other issue is that the music goes until like 2 am every night, and as mentioned before it's WAY TOO LOUD so you can hear it and sometimes feel it in your room. It's like they could decide whether to make it an adults only resort or kid friendly, and they said let's take all of the worst parts of each of those and combine them.

Beach - the beach is the beach. I will say that unlike all of the other resorts we have stayed at there are no cabanas umbrellas etc here. There are also not enough people cleaning the area, there are stacks of plastic cups everywhere by the end of the day. Again, worst of the places we've been.

Other notes - I think this fact epitomizes the philosophy and attitude of this resort. It's an all inclusive resort, yet they charge you 3 USD to play pool in the sports bar. It is just so...