Very disappointed

Definitely old, small rooms, old furnishings. No face cloths Did get some from the maid, but not replaced. Plumbing noise ! Leaked ! Even soap and towels not replaced without asking ! Asked to have day bed removed. Never happened. Telephone did not work Food selection at lunch and supper Buffets poor. One Buffet closed for supper. Other so crowded and run out of food, not enjoyable. Breakfast good. Beach well kept, and clean. Lots of lounges, and shelter .Wonderful ocean view and miles to walk [... read more]. A La Carte good. Had to book at 8 A.M for reservations. Could reserve 2 days only. Only 1 bottle of water for a day in room. If you want more have to purchase it. Would like quality drinks. Grounds well kept.

Excellent Resort

This was our first time at the Royal Decameron and we liked it very much. Very friendly staff,good food and very nice grounds. We likedthe beautiful beach which was perfect for long walks. Talking to other guest it seems lots of guest have been long time customers.

Impressive!

The hotel was a pleasant surprise because it was exactly as advertised. Upon our arrival, we quickly realized this was more than we expected. The staff were friendly and helpful. The grounds were well maintained and you didn't even notice the staff who worked professionally at their tasks. The food was appetizing with a large selection of salads, fruits and main courses. All of the restaurants maintained high health standards. We watched them with thermometers checking to ensure hot food  [... read more]remained hot. The hotel staff were friendly. If you love walking the beach, you can walk for hours. Definitely would return and recommend to friends and family.

Royal Decameron Complex

The hotel is great but the safes in the room are way over priced and have paid for themselves a thousand times over. Rooms are ok nothing fancy, pillows need to be replaced. Any maintenance issues are dealt with promptly. Nightly entertainment is good. Food is good. Staff is friendly. The package to go to the Royal Decameron is becoming too expensive to go there anymore. There has been no improvements to justify the increase in cost and long time customers don’t get any financial break or pr [... read more]eferences.

Great family resort

great family resort. lots of choices for food and entertainment. nice to have an adult section very clean. staff excellent. great location - walking distance to bucerias. well maintained - beautiful grounds

Friendly

The resort was very clean and safe. Staff were very helpful.no problem getting around as most people were able to communicate in English and understand my poor Spanish.my only dislike was the saving of beach chairs by using towels or floaties, and the chairs being unused for the majority of the day.

So-So

This hotel was much older than what I was expecting and could do with a few upgrades/improvements. I'd like to see a fridge in the rooms as well as some updates. There were 2 beds, one TV cabinet and a desk with two chairs. We lived out of our suitcases that were stored on the floor for 2 weeks, because there was no place to unpack and no place to put our suitcases off the floor. There needs to be a fan in the bathroom. I'd like to see a few small tables poolside. The food was typical of m [... read more]any AI's. The beach was lovely and the staff was all friendly and helpful. Oh.... the entertainment!!! Best part of the hotel. Those ladies and gents were fantastic. I would never say anything deliberately bad, but I likely would not return.

Very Relaxing Place to Stay

We stayed at the Royal Decameron Complex in Bucerias from Feb 3 to 14, 2018. We had been to the area once before but never stayed here. I must admit that the resort is much larger than I thought. I would rank this hotel as a solid 3.5 star. In my opinion, the positive things about this resort: The Staff: everyone is extremely pleasant, helpful, and works very hard. From the ladies who clean the rooms, to the bar tenders, to the front desk and guest relations, they are all very kind, [... read more] patient and go above and beyond. Most of the staff speak some English, and try very hard to make communication easy. The Layout and Grounds: The resort is spread out, yet easy to get around (once you get your bearings - much easier to do in the daylight). It appears that every room has a terrace or balcony, which looks onto lovely manicured grounds and each building has it's own pool, restaurant and bar. There are 2 towel stations, 2 main buffets and 6 a la carte restaurants. If you want quiet, the adult only pool in Block 5 is wonderful. The people respect the rules of quiet, no loud music or pool games allowed, just lounging, floating, reading, sipping a drink and visiting with neighbors. It was heaven. If you want the entertainment, games and kids pools, those are available as well. The areas that I think could use improvement: Rooms: They are in need of some updating, especially the air conditioning units, which tend to be quite loud. Although the rooms are very clean, there is no fridge/mini-bar, which was a disappointment for us. You get one warm bottle of water each day. This can be overcome by walking a couple of blocks to the Chedraui store and buy a cheap styrofoam cooler. The bar tenders are happy to provide you with ice for your cooler, just bring your own bag. There is also a shortage of hot water, especially in the later afternoons, and even at non-peak hours the pressure was low and the hot water was hit and miss. The beds are also very hard, again, only my opinion. The charge for an in-room safe is also an extra charge - for us it was over 400 pesos for 10 days. In my opinion, that should be an included charge, but I also acknowledge that this seems to be a Decameron policy across the board. Check-In Process: We have been at over 15 resorts in Mexico, Caribbean, Cuba and DR. I don't think I have ever been sent to find my own room, in the dark. I asked if someone could show us our room, and were told the bus boy would, and then we were told that he would just meet us there. Given that our block was across the street and about 2 blocks away, we were pretty frustrated, having to stop people on the street and in the bars to find our room. However, the check-out process was easy, quick and painless. The Food: We tried all but one of the a la carte's (did not try the Mexican) and there was not one that stood out as better than any of the others, but they were better than the buffet foods. I am commenting on the food at dinner only, as we found the breakfast and lunch buffets were quite good, especially in the Block 5 restaurant. We found the food at the dinner buffets to be lacking in flavour and choice. In fact, one night we went to the largest buffet because of a long line up at the smaller one. We found out why - there was so very little selection, and what was there was not good. We ended up eating bread and salad. The last night of our vacation we were at the buffet and I ended up with what I believe to be food poisoning, being up sick all night before having to fly home. The beach here is average, but colder than some of the more southern locations in Mexico. The waves were bigger than I like while we were there, so we kept to the pools, which is a first for us. We are beach people, but we found it to be less ideal for our liking. There are a lot of vendors on the beach, but they are not pushy, and very polite. The town and market at Bucerias are an easy walk down the beach or down the lateral, where you will find a ton of little shops and restaurants. I would recommend at least one stroll down the first street. If you are looking for tours off of the resort, I would recommend JD Tours, which is about 4 blocks from the resort, an easy stroll. If you are looking for a party resort with a lot of young single folks, this is not your place. It was great for us because we aren't into the loud party scene and late night entertainment. If you are not picky about food, but enjoy a quiet space with a lot of very friendly returning guests, you will enjoy this resort.

Enjoyable

I thought the place overall was a little worn. The room we had lacked the view of the ocean, a nice bathroom, and a few things that could of made our trip more enjoyable. ie: a fridge we requested and never received. The place had some nice el e carte restaurants, we especially enjoyed the Italian restaurant. Some of the entertainment, we took in was good.

Deteriorating.

Definitely this resort has seen better days. When we last stayed there, the food was really good with a lot of variety and quality. This last trip it as poor. The restaurants have also declined in offerings and quality. Surprisingly the worst we visited was the Mexican restaurant, probably the worst we have had anywhere. Our room was near a service road for once of the buffet restaurants and frequently we were awakened anytime between 3 and 6 am by trucks backing in, employees crashing and [... read more] banging, speaking loudly despite the hour and the annoying screech of full volumed security walkie-talkies. The location is quite nice and the rooms are clean but austere.

WORST VACATION

Transat - Upon return to Calgary, no one there to push wheelchair to baggage carousel. Club car baggage came LAST not first. On Plane, Pushing button for stewardess completely ignored. Decameron - Did not get requested room from 5301 to 5306. Had much trouble accessing pool steps.Was promised a room change - never happened. For the first time in 7 years, pool was not heated - very cold. People could not stay in for more than 5 minutes. Food buffet was excellent but reserve r [... read more]estaurant's food was terrible. Worst vacation ever. We bring 8 to 12 people every year. No more

Smoker’s Paradise!

There are NO non-smoking areas around the pools!! And staff INSIST on placing ashtrays at every umbrella! (That’s at approximately every 2-3 loungers)! VERY unpleasant being forced to breathe secondhand smoke when lying by the pool. And even though there are “No smoking” signs at the bar areas, people light up inside, and the managers and staff won’t do anything about it, even though we complained- several times. Thankfully I didn’t notice anyone smoking where food was served. I doub [... read more]t we’ll go back unless they do something about the smoking, eg at the very least they could remove the ashtrays from one side of the pool area. We would not recommend this resort to non-smokers. Even though my overall rating was good, the secondhand smoke issue downgraded the overall rating to “poor”. The resort is in a great area, restaurant staff were great, rooms were very clean, some shows were awesome, but unfortunately the cigarette smoking was a really unpleasant distraction.

Royal Decameron

Likes: Overall cleanliness of grounds and unit was good, food was generally good, staff were first class, nice pools with lots of sun chairs, seeing lots of iguanas Areas for improvement: overall “hot” dishes were routinely not hot in most of the onsite restaurants, room furnishings in need of updating - very tired!

Always Terrific

The RDC is consistently terrific and an all round solid resort experience. From the rooms, food, drinks, entertainment, staff, pools, beach and village of Bucerias, there are few resorts in Mexico that do all of these things as well as the RDC.

Consistently great!

I have several reviews on this resort. This is our 4th time back and will not be the last. In fact most of the folks there have been there far more than we have. Which really speaks to this location and hotel. We booked with Air Transat. We were happy with the size of plane and their customer service. As far as our expectation on a trip, we look for a nice beach, quiet area for mature adults, variety of food, and a clean hotel. We are seniors so our needs are not grand. This trip seem [... read more]ed to have more of the senior crowd. Not many younger adults, might not be the party place for them. This trip we returned for two weeks and were not disappointed. The hotel continues to be consistent. Very clean, same staff as the last few years which are truly courteous and work hard to please. The location is ideal for the adventurous folk as it is a short bus ride to several smaller towns and an interesting bus ride into the PV. They just upgraded the A/C in the rooms as well. The grounds are well cared for, everyday you can see the garden people trimming and caring for the property. When walking around the pools watch for the hummingbirds they are usually feeding on the flowers on the hedges. Iguana’s are all around the grounds, some very large ones and if you look up you can see them in the trees. This year they were a bit more active, and several were spoted fighting and some even fell into the pool. Staff were quick to respond and lift them out. The hotel is on a beautiful beach where you can walk for miles. They have lots of pools to choose from. There is a party area with games and such. We did not check that out this trip. It is never necessary to get up early to save a spot on the beach or at the pool. They discourage it but don’t seem to enforce it. We never had an issue finding a place to hang out. You do get a beach towel on check in; if you lose it you will be charged a fee. We heard a few folks complain that someone stole their towel and they were stuck with having to pay for one. Bring your own drinking cup, insulated works well for morning coffee and through the day drinks. Coffee is not available in the rooms but easy to get some fresh coffee at the bars. If you want Baileys bring your own they don’t really have that flavour in Mexico. The Buffets have theme nights so best to check them all out, BBQ night was really good and 70’s night was cool too with wings, burgers and such. Two buffets to choose from with different themes at each of them. Best to pay everything in peso even the tips. It is good to tip to show your appreciation; it does go into the general pot and shared with all the staff. Even when your trip does say gratuities are included we still tipped from time to time. You can get money at a better rate than the hotel up the hill with your bank card. Any purchases you make you get a better deal if you pay in peso’s. Get outside the resort it is safe and interesting to experience the Mexican culture. Try some of the local food carts in town and some of restaurants. Popular places are Fat Boys, Drunken Duck, Karen’s which is really short walk on the beach from the resort. They offer happy hour on the beach and a lot of folks go there in the afternoon. Sit up high so you are not bothered by the vendors. Lots of other fun places to explore. Wednesday afternoon they have a market in Bucerias with higher end items. Or you can go to La Cruz on Sunday for the big market. Lots of samples of local fare. fun market. At the end of the main road is the tourist market. Those with mobility might find it challenging to walk on the cobblestone road. Take your time and enjoy or walk on the beach to the market. Just about anything you want will be offered. Beware you need to barter your best price, except at the local market on Sunday those are set prices and really only set up for the locals. Massages are offered everywhere and also the fish pedicure. We have has massages in town in town and on beach, we think that the beach ones are a bit better. Average price is about $20 cdn. or about 250 to 300 peso. The hotel does offer massages but not sure about what the cost is with them. Activities – they offer bikes to ride around town, which we did every day. They have tennis court, soccer field, and basketball. For water, they have kayaks and take the sailboat out from time to time depending on the weather. They do offer boggie boards for some surf time. This trip the water was ok to play in and did not toss you around as much as it had in past trips. You should bring water shoes as there lot of stingrays in the bay and a few folks were stung. On this trip we did not really deal with too many bugs, the hotel does spray each month which make the grounds and your room comfortable and you can sit outside in the evening comfortably. Things they can improve on: The beds are firm and could be better. The pillows are really hard and I will be bringing my own for my next trip. They could offer a few more options on water activities, such as stand up paddleboards. And would be nice if they added a mini golf. Easy activity in the hot sun. Wifi is only available in the common areas. For us once a day is fine with us as we are on vacation, we feel we should be disconnected. We heard that they are slowing adding to each building wifi access. Now for our big issue: The hotel safe is not included and you have to pay 50P a day. Expensive for two weeks, if we did not have peso they asked us for $65 cdn. Luckily we had peso so worked out less. In our opinion it is not worth the risk to leave your passport and money out, even with the good security in the resort. So you have to pay. The lounge chairs are uncomfortable if you plan to read or lounge around for a longer time period. Bring a floater from the dollar store or you can usually get one from someone that is leaving, or you can purchase up the road for a few dollars. Highly recommend to get one. It would be nice if they added some chips and salsa or some type of snack in the bars. We were not keen to attend the evening show as it is late and we have already seen them. We much prefer to hang at the beach bar. Having a few chips or nuts would much improve the bar experience. We really like the location of this hotel and we will be back next year.

Royal decameron

The entire resort was kept very clean and neat Loved the setting Good food Would definitely stay there again The shows were very good the staff were friendly and helpful The rooms were kept very clean and were comfortable

Great resort

We just returned from a great vacation at Royal Decameron. We stayed in block 1 with beach front fantastic view. There was not one thing to complain about, great friendly staff, good food and lots of choice. Hotel was a little old but well kept and clean every where. The beach was clean with all kinds of lounges every where ,never had to wait for a free lounge. The bar keeps were all very nice and always made what ever you like with a smile. The kids pool and the adult pool were far away from ea [... read more]ch other, which for us older folks was great,nice quiet pool also with lots of lounges chairs and tables. All in all a great resort Tom Falkland B.C.

Our vacation home

We have stayed at The Royal Decameron Complex 11 times, and every time, our experience has always been pleasureable. The staff are always friendly, rooms are clean, good variety of food and excellent entertainment, Picturesque's, we will be going back.

Love this place

The Royal Decameron is warm friendly and clean. The food is delicious and the staff responsive. We have been going there since 2003 and absolutely love it. The colours, staff, food and grounds are beautiful I always felt completely safe on the resort and in and around Bucerias

Nice family vacation.

We stayed at the Royal DeCameron in Puerto Vallarta and were very happy with the accommodations, food and service. There were so many different things for the kids to choose from to do (boogie boards, pools, beach, tennis, ping pong, life size chess, shuffleboard, etc.) - and the environment was extremely relaxing and stress free. One of the biggest differences we notices is the lack of really pushy sales (of any type), which was very welcome. If we were looking for something to purchase, loc [... read more]als were ready to help, but not chase us down the street to get the sale :) Very nice time was had by our family.