Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Royal Resorts helping protect the environment
At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is part of everything we do; at our resorts in Cancun and the Riviera Maya we are constantly looking for more ways to conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint. As June is World Environment Month, we thought we would give you a behind-the-scenes look at some of our green initiatives. They include beach cleaning, recycling, water and energy conservation using energy-efficient technology, switching to biodegradable products and spreading the conservation message to the workforce and in the community.
Recycling rules at Royal Resorts
At Royal Resorts we recycle plastics, glass, aluminum, cardboard, paper and other waste and we invite our guests to join our campaign. There are recycling trashcans throughout the resorts and special bins in the villas and suites so that guests can separate plastic, glass, aluminum and cardboard trash. All materials suitable for recycling are collected and sold as “trash for cash” to raise money for the Royal Resorts Foundation’s charitable causes: conservation, children’s education, cancer screening and treatment for women on a low income, physiotherapy for children with motor and neurological disorders and employee emergency relief. In 2016, 350 tons of waste were recycled, representing US$12,000 to help protect nature and transform lives.
Switching to biodegradable products
Where possible, cleaning products, polishes and varnishes used by the Housekeeping and Maintenance departments have been replaced by eco friendly options, another example of Royal Resorts helping protect the environment. Biodegradable garbage bags are used and the trash bins in public areas are made from recycled plastic. By switching to colored towels, the Laundry has also been able to reduce the use of bleach. Resort guests are invited to join the campaign to protect the planet and save water by not requesting a change of towels and beach towels on a daily basis. By reusing villa towels, guests helped save 186,252 liters of water in 2016.
The washing up liquid and dishwasher soaps in the villas are biodegradable, as are the bathroom amenities. Made from honey, they are produced in a Mayan community in the Yucatan as part of a sustainable development project. The coconut candies left in the villas as welcome gifts for Royal Resorts members are made by adults and children with Down Syndrome.
Rather than being thrown away, partially used bars of soap are collected and donated to Tierra de Animales, a Cancun animal welfare group. They are used to bath the stray dogs and cats at the home. The same goes for old towels, sheets and mats that no longer meet the quality standards of the resorts but are still usable. Some are donated to the Old Folks Home and Hospice in the Ciudad de la Alegría, local churches and women’s shelters. Others are given to Fauna Digna, a Cancun NGO that nurses injured wild animals and birds back to health before releasing them into the wild.
Royal Resorts restaurants and bars take up the green cause
Royal Resorts helping protect the environment encompasses the restaurants and bars, where staff have taken up the green cause. Polystyrene cups and take-out containers have been replaced in the resort pool and beach bars by reusable melamine plates and biodegradable glasses and bags. At The Royal Sands alone, this means 500 fewer polystyrene plates a day. The next stage is to eliminate all plastic cutlery in the pool and beach bars.
Another example of Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is its campaign to reduce the consumption of drinking straws, which when discarded on the beach, are both unsightly and a hazard to marine and bird life. Accordingly, straws are no longer put in drinks on the rocks unless the customer expressly asks for one. Straw consumption has been reduced by 40 percent but there’s still a long way to go.
Cloth napkins have replaced paper napkins in all the restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner, thus saving paper and reducing the amount of trash generated.
Bottled beers have been replaced by canned beers in all the bars and the aluminum is subsequently recycled.
In the resort kitchens, new eco friendly products are used for disinfection and cleaning instead of chlorine. Used cooking oil is collected and sold to a local company to be utilized in making bio fuel. All the proceeds from this sale go to the Royal Resorts Foundation. And to eliminate the grease that accumulates in deposits in the kitchen sinks and floors, Royal Resorts works with a biotechnology company to dispose of it safely and in an environmentally friendly way.
Food & Beverages employees attend regular training courses on sustainability and environmental protection. At The Royal Sands alone there are 200 staff in the restaurants, bars and kitchens, just imagine, that is 200 people spreading the green message to their families and communities, it’s a small village.
Royal Resorts helping protect the environment by using energy-efficient technology
When it comes to choosing technology for the resorts, the Corporate Engineering department always looks for the products with the best proven energy saving performances available in the market. Examples are the high efficiency boilers for the swimming pools and centrifuges for the air-conditioning system that are also heat exchangers pre-heating water from 20˚C to 35˚C, and saving energy by reducing consumption of diesel, LP gas or electricity.
Solar panels installed on the roof at The Royal Sands in Cancun heat 50 percent of the water used in the resort’s rooms and suites.
By using energy saving bulbs in villa and walkway lighting at all the properties, Royal Resorts now consumes 59 percent less KWH than it would if it still used standard bulbs. The LCD flat screen energy saving TVs in the villas also use 40 percent less electricity than older models. The latest models of dishwashers and refrigerators are energy efficient appliances.
Water-saving faucets and devices have been fitted in villa bathrooms to reduce water consumption. Elsewhere in the resorts, ozone purification technology was installed to keep water in the swimming pools clean, reducing chlorine consumption by 40 percent.
Green shopping at Royal Resorts
Biodegradable bags are used in The Royal Market resort stores and shoppers are asked if they need a bag. Eco friendly cloth bags are also available for purchase. In addition, shoppers at The Royal Market can pick up a variety of regionally sourced organic coffees from Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz, honey, sauces and traditional candies made by communities in the Yucatan.
Going online to save paper
Resort magazines and villa stationery are printed on recycled paper and over the years, Royal Resorts helping protect the environment has taken steps to switch many of its transactions online to reduce the use of paper and printing costs.
Keeping our beaches clean
Royal Resorts employees take their turns in keeping the beautiful white sands of Cancun and the Riviera Maya pristine as part of an ongoing Beach Cleaning campaign at the resort. An example of this is the 40-strong Food & Beverages Beach brigade at The Royal Sands that meets every Wednesday to collect cigarette butts, plastic and polystyrene, bottles and cans left on the beach, seaweed and other waste that washes up.
Royal Resorts is also participating in the White Flag Beach Cleaning Initiative with City Hall Zofemat beach coordinators and other hotels along the stretch of shoreline between Playa Marlin and Playa Ballenas. This program includes beach cleaning, maintenance, turtle conservation and sustainability measures.
Royal Gardens
From planting native species of trees at the Royal Haciendas and Grand Residences to composting organic kitchen waste and the use of eco friendly garden products wherever possible, Royal Resorts garden staff are going back to the land.
There are herb gardens outside the restaurants at The Royal Caribbean and The Royal Sands and a larger Botanical Garden at The Royal Cancun. All the chives and basil used in the resort kitchens comes from the gardens, in addition to rosemary, coriander, mint, chilies, chaya and lemon grass. Apart from providing fresh produce for the restaurants, the flowering herbs also attract bees and butterflies.
In 2015, Royal Resorts participated in a palm planting program on Cancun’s beaches. Coconut palms were planted on the open ocean side of the island to anchor the sand and help reduce coastal erosion in the long term.
Royal Resorts and Grand Residences are participating in a Riviera Maya reforestation initiative spearheaded by Experiencias Xcaret to restore the highway between Cancun and Xcaret. Native species of tree such as cedar, ceiba, ciricote and akits are being planted in the central division and over time will beautify the area and provide food and shelter for a variety of birds.
Royal Resorts is a Cancun turtle conservation pioneer
Since 1985, Royal Resorts has been protecting the sea turtles that emerge from the sea during the summer to lay their eggs on the beaches of Cancun. It was among the first resort groups to sign up when municipal authorities subsequently launched a conservation campaign and now participates in the annual statewide turtle program coordinated by SEMARNAT, the Mexican Department of the Environment.
Record keeping began in 1998 and to date Royal Resorts has protected 6,932 nests and released 629,826 baby turtles. Tens of thousands more will be released this year.
Spreading the green message
At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment also means spreading the green message. The environmental education program has the goal of turning staff into conservation crusaders in the workplace, at home and in their community. A Sustainability Team drawn from departments across Royal Resorts gives workshops and seminars on conservation, sustainability and corporate and social responsibility and departments regularly meet to discuss additional eco-friendly policies that they can implement in their area to do their bit to protect the planet.
Employees now say that they separate their trash for recycling at home and spread the message in the community, encouraging their families and neighbors to do the same. They are more conscious of the need to save energy and water and some have gone even further, making compost and cultivating vegetables and fruit trees, installing solar panels or stoves and participating in urban park and reforestation projects. One bartender at The Royal Sands has even become involved in beekeeping in his home village and now has 60 beehives. Another is reforesting 40 hectares of land in his home village with native trees such as cedar, breadnut, guayacan, maculis or pink poui, ciricote and balche.
Protecting the Mayan Jungle for the future
Royal Resorts helping protect the environment also means supporting local conservation causes. Royal Resorts has been a long-term supporter of Cancun conservation group Amigos de Sian Ka’an. In partnership with Amigos, the Royal Resorts Foundation is helping to fund initiatives to protect the Mayan Jungle, the rare species that inhabit it and the fragile network of underground rivers that flows deep in the limestone beneath our feet.
Through an environmental services payment program coordinated by Amigos de Sian Ka’an, 22 landowners in Ejido Juarez and four in the area of El Eden reserve in northern Quintana Roo are receiving grants in return for preserving the forest on their land for posterity instead of clearing it for agriculture, cattle ranching or urban development. To date, 400 hectares of forest have been saved using this system. Not only is the forest protected for wildlife, it represents the capture and storage of 30 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by water production, water treatment plants and pumping in the Benito Juarez municipal district where Cancun is located.
Participating landowners recognize that it is crucial to protect the jungle and their enthusiasm has spread to eight other ejidos where landowners are also interested in joining the program.
El Eden reserve is of vital ecological importance in the area. Straddling a natural fault line, it is a zone of jungle and marshland peppered with cenotes, underground rivers and lagoons where water is plentiful year-round, attracting wildlife. It is home to forest and wetland birds, whitetail deer, peccary, spider monkey, jaguar, puma, ocelot and anteater, among others.
Despite being endangered as a result of deforestation, uncontrolled growth, ranching and poaching, jaguars and pumas still inhabit the territory. El Eden Reserve has been identified as a breeding area for jaguars and it is thought that females seek it out as a refuge to give birth. Using camera traps attached to trees along jungle trails, biologists are studying the big cats’ movements through the forest and those of the animals they prey upon such as deer, peccary, agouti and ocellated turkey.
The goal is to expand the environmental services program in the north and center of the state, linking larger areas of forest to the Sian Ka’an biosphere reserve and creating natural wildlife corridors for threatened species like the jaguar. Quintana Roo has the largest population of jaguars in Mexico, estimated at around 800 of the estimated 4,000 that still roam the country. Protecting this emblem species, once held sacred by the Maya and the Aztecs, is a priority for Mexico’s environmental ministry and conservationists and the project to create a natural corridor in northern Quintana Roo was given an extra boost recently at the COP 13 biodiversity summit in Cancun in December.
The cenotes and underground rivers of the Yucatan Peninsula are breathtakingly beautiful and a hidden treasure for biologists, archaeologists and cave divers. The only source of fresh water in the area, they are also fragile and under threat from urban development and pollution. Amigos de Sian Ka’an is mapping the network of underground rivers, studying threats to the aquifer and cenotes and working with government authorities, universities and the private sector to develop a water management policy to protect them.
Royal Resorts are certified as green resorts
Royal Resorts helping protect the environment also includes participation in the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative or MARTI. Founded by Amigos de Sian Ka’an, Conservation International and the Coral Reef Alliance, MARTI seeks to protect the world’s second longest coral reef through the implementation of better environmental practices to reduce pollution and minimize the impact of tourism on area ecosystems. Over 100 resorts and other companies in Cancún, Riviera Maya and Cozumel have signed up to this initiative and are working for change. MARTI has already certified all of the Royal Resorts properties as being resorts with eco-friendly policies.
In 2013, The Royal Haciendas, The Royal Sands and The Royal Cancun also received the Distintivo S from the Mexican Tourism Board, a distinction awarded to resorts for their work towards sustainability.
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Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Royal Resorts welcomes the first turtle of the 2017 turtle nesting season
We have some great news to share with you about the 2017 turtle nesting season at Royal Resorts. The first sea turtle of the summer laid its eggs on the beach at The Royal Sands in Cancun on May 22. The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) or caguama came ashore at 9:25 at night and laid […]
Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home away from home for several generations of Royal Resorts members and it still looks as beautiful now as it did four decades ago.
Let building begin
In 1974, a group of businessmen fell in love with Cancun’s spectacular shoreline and saw its tremendous potential. Mexico’s first master-planned resort was in its infancy when they shared a dream of building a great place for families to vacation, with spacious villas, upscale services and activities and where members and guests could spend precious time with their loved ones, year after year. And so the Royal Resorts story began.
The Royal Resorts Developers purchased their first plot of land on Cancun Island and construction of The Royal Cancun, their first resort, began in 1976. The pace picked up in 1977 and the membership program was established. Architect Fernando Lopez, who was to oversee the construction of all the Royal Resorts in Cancun, once described the challenges of building in the early days. “Building at the site was very difficult for the simple reason that the land we know now simply didn’t exist back then. When we started we had to wade through knee-deep water, and there were crocodiles nearby. From what is now Kukulcan Boulevard, all you could see of the first plot of land was a small sand spit and three palm trees. We had to use a boat on the bay to do our survey and soil mechanics studies! Finally, we were able to build a track from the road to the island using gravel and other quarried material. We also used landfill to raise one quarter of the lot where the first seven two-bedroom villas, the machine house and a temporary office were built. Richard Sutton, one of the Developers moved down to Cancun with his wife Betty to supervise the project. Their first Cancun home was a 35-foot trailer home on the building site.” Fellow Developers John Olson and Norman Carpenter also moved to Cancun with their families during the first years of The Royal Cancun.
In the early days there were no phones, let alone electricity. Workers had to rig up a provisional power supply by passing a cable along a line of wooden posts in the water. The only access road through the Hotel Zone was a dirt track connected to the mainland by a wooden bridge across Canal Sigfrido at Playa Linda.
“We had to reclaim land from the sea by using rubble to create a platform and heavy machinery to flatten the surface. Furthermore, due to the weakness of the marine subsoil, we had to sink concrete piles capable of supporting the weight of several floors when we finally started work on the building foundations.” Lopez recalled, “Our construction standards always exceeded local building codes and only the highest quality materials were used. The structural design was immensely strong, I knew it had to be to withstand hurricanes and the resort weathered Hurricane Gilbert (1988) and Wilma (2005) with distinction.
The Royal Cancun was built in stages and took several years to complete. The first seven villas in Buildings 11 and 12 opened on July 4, 1978, and were followed by batches of 12, 14, 16 and then 30 additional units. By the time the first stage was complete, the resort had 100 villas, pools, a restaurant and a store. The remaining 100 villas were built on the adjacent lot and the entire project was finished in 1982.
Welcoming the first guests to The Royal Cancun
When the first resort guests arrived in 1978 they were welcomed by the Suttons and a staff of six: Pilar Quintal, the first housekeeper, Carlos Montejo, the porter and maintenance man, two maids, the administrator Raul Flores and Francois, a Frenchman who became the Manager. They were subsequently joined by the late Raul Esquiel who started as a receptionist in 1981 and worked his way up to become Royal Resorts General Manager, and by Mirna Pech who is now Royal Resorts Executive Housekeeper.
For 22 years, Doña Pilar was the Royal Resorts housekeeper, responsible for training staff and spreading the warm, welcoming family ambiance and philosophy of service that remains today. Interviewed several years after her retirement, Doña Pilar remembered what it was like at The Royal Cancun in the early days. “I can still picture our pioneer members arriving,” she says, “They were thrilled to see their villas and were interested in everything – the construction work; in watching Cancún take shape, the local people, the new town taking shape on the mainland, the beauty of the beaches… everything was new to them.
Pilar remembered, “In order to provide a service for our members and guests, I ran a provisional store stocked with staples such as eggs, coffee, sugar, soft drinks and groceries. People always laughed when I gave them their eggs in a plastic bag instead of a carton so you can imagine their surprise when they saw local people drinking coca cola or orange juice from similar bags! The resort convenience store finally opened in 1980, the restaurant in 1981 and the pool in 1981-2.
“In the early years, Cancún suffered from supply problems and freight was often delayed. We had to learn how to deal with shortages,” Pilar added “I remember searching for soap, detergent, trash bags and even milk. Carlos and I got to know every corner shop in town and when we found an item we were looking for, we sometimes bought the whole stock just to be on the safe side. You never knew from one day to the next what was going to become scarce.
“I wanted our new guests to feel at home and enjoy themselves. I treated them as though they were members of my own family. They knew I would look after them and they trusted me. That was a really great feeling. I used to pick flowers to put in their villas, leave them a bottle of wine on their anniversary, find birthday cakes for their children and even cook Mexican food for them.
“I was in charge of the gardens for several years, says Pilar, and I filled them with bougainvillea, hibiscus, ixora and other colorful flowering shrubs. Together with Betty Sutton, we created the rose garden, a beautiful courtyard that has been an oasis of tranquility for many years. I remember seeing crocodiles basking in the sun on the shores of the lagoon or even on the beach. We had hummingbirds, orioles and pelicans in residence at the resort, generations of cats and iguanas, and I’ll never forget the antics of four mischievous raccoons that could often be seen scampering around after dark.”
Royal Resorts developer John Olson also remembers that in the early 1980s, the resort welcomed celebrity guests such as chess champion Bobby Fisher, astronaut Gerald Carr, pop stars and screen idol Robert Mitchum. “It was just after Mr. Mitchum completed filming the TV drama The Winds of War, based on the Hernan Wouk novels The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. His agents had told us that he wished to remain incognito, but being Robert Mitchum, he couldn’t resist talking to members and guests. He made friends very quickly and hustled up a party every night.”
A perfect family vacation spot
With its sheltered beach, calm, clear shallow waters and spacious, fully equipped villas The Royal Cancun fast became a family favorite. Lasting friendships were made on the beach, in the pools, sail boating out in the bay and on the tennis courts. Children who spent many a happy vacation at the resort have now become Royal Resorts members themselves so that their children may have the same experience. It is a place enjoyed by all generations from grandparents and great grandparents to parents, children and toddlers, an unforgettable spot where magical memories are created.
Longtime members and guests at The Royal Cancun love the low-rise Mexico-Mediterranean-style buildings set in tropical gardens, the views of the bay, the family ambiance and community spirit. They love the employees who greet them year after home with “welcome home.” And they have fond memories of Cancun in the early days, of teaching their children to swim or snorkel; riding the bus to their favorite restaurants or to Puerto Juarez. They remember shopping in the first supermarkets or the markets and crossing over to Isla Mujeres on the crowded wooden boats that were the first ferries. They explored Cancun and the Riviera Maya enjoying picnics on deserted beaches and parties under the stars. In the words of some of our members at The Royal Cancun:
“This place is very dear to us”
“The fun we have had here is priceless”
“Growing up with The Royal Cancun holds a special place in our hearts”
“The friendships and memories we have experienced at this resort will never be matched or forgotten.”
“We call Cancún our home.“
“ It is our home away from home. When they say, “welcome home,” it truly feels like it is. We count the months until our next visit. It is our place of tranquility, rejuvenation, relaxation, fun, and memories”
“ We are treated like family. When we arrive, we feel as though we are welcomed home! Everyone is wonderful and we love the Mexican people. They are friendly, hard working and always have a smile on their faces. We travel a lot and have never encountered the friendliness that we have found at Royal Resorts.”
Impeccably kept, with new amenities to enjoy
From 2009 to 2012, all the villas at The Royal Cancun were renovated with new furniture, drapes and art. Other features added in recent years include a second restaurant, La Trattoria, serving Italian cuisine, a sports bar, fitness center and mini spa, a beach bar, second pool bar and grill, room service, a gift shop and a supervised kids club. There’s even a botanical garden filled with native trees and shrubs, which supplies fresh herbs to the restaurants. Guests can still sign up for the perennial favorite sail boating on the bay, and there are bike trips and kayak trips on Nichupte Lagoon to give them a glimpse of the mangrove forest and the wildlife that inhabits it.
The Royal Resorts story continues
It’s been a remarkable 40-year journey that has seen this corner of the Caribbean transformed into one of the world’s most popular beach playgrounds and Royal Resorts into a leading vacation ownership company.
Royal Resorts now has six award-winning resorts in the Mexican Caribbean: The Royal Cancun, The Royal Caribbean, The Royal Islander and The Royal Sands in Cancun, The Royal Haciendas in Playa del Carmen and Grand Residences by Royal Resorts in Puerto Morelos, affiliated with Leading Hotels of the World®. There are 3,000 employees, many of whom have been with the company for more than 20, 30 and even 40 years, and more than 70,000 members. More than 3.5 million members and guests have enjoyed the Royal Resorts vacation experience to date and we look forward to welcoming many more in years to come.
WATCH OUR VIDEO
Share your Royal Resorts memories
During the year, we will be publishing stories and photos commemorating 40 Years of Royal Resorts on our blog, in this newsletter and on our Facebook page. If you would like to drop us a line and send us photos and stories about your treasured vacation memories with family and friends, staff you remember at your favorite resort, we would love to hear from you. You can send photos and vacation stories to memories@royalresorts.com
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Royal Resorts helping protect the environment
At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is part of everything we do; at our resorts in Cancun and the Riviera Maya we are constantly looking for more ways to conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint. As June is World Environment Month, we thought we would give you a behind-the-scenes look at some […]
Royal Resorts welcomes the first turtle of the 2017 turtle nesting season
We have some great news to share with you about the 2017 turtle nesting season at Royal Resorts. The first sea turtle of the summer laid its eggs on the beach at The Royal Sands in Cancun on May 22. The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) or caguama came ashore at 9:25 at night and laid […]
Royal Resorts welcomes the first turtle of the 2017 turtle nesting season
We have some great news to share with you about the 2017 turtle nesting season at Royal Resorts. The first sea turtle of the summer laid its eggs on the beach at The Royal Sands in Cancun on May 22.
The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) or caguama came ashore at 9:25 at night and laid 91 eggs. Security guards took her measurements, 105 centimeters long and 95 centimeters across the widest part of the shell before she returned to the sea. The precious clutch of eggs was carefully carried to the turtle nursery and deposited in nest number 1 of the 2017 sea turtle nesting season.
A second, smaller loggerhead turtle came ashore to nest at The Royal Sands in the early hours of the morning on May 28 and laid 199 eggs. And on June 7, guards at The Royal Haciendas in the Riviera Maya found another loggerhead digging its nest. Biologists transported the 136 eggs to the turtle nursery at a neighboring resort further north along the beach.
Follow the 2017 turtle nesting season rules
If you are vacationing at Royal Resorts or Grand Residences this summer, please join us in protecting our turtle visitors.
• Alert the security staff when you see a turtle on the beach at night
• Be very quiet and keep still, noise, lights and the movement of people disturb nesting sea turtles and cause them to leave the beach without laying eggs
• Watch from a distance of ten (33 feet) meters
• Do not attempt to touch the turtle or crowd her
• Do not shine a torch or use the light on your mobile phone
• Please, no flash photography
• No smoking
• Follow the instructions given by security staff at all times
• Help us to keep our beaches and sea clean. Discarded straws, plastic bags, beer packaging, fishing lines and other garbage floating in the water are lethal to turtles and other marine life
• When snorkeling or diving watch turtles from a distance, do not swim towards them and do not attempt to touch them
• Wear a t-shirt when snorkeling as protection from the sun instead of applying sun block. Sun products pollute the water and are harmful to marine life
• Turtles are protected by Mexican law and it is illegal to disturb them, persecute or hunt them and consume their meat or eggs.
The Federal environmental agency rules for the 2017 turtle nesting season keep human contact with the fragile baby turtles to a minimum. They stipulate that hatchlings can only be released by trained security personnel and not by hotel guests. Failure to comply with these measures can lead to resorts losing the right to have turtle nurseries on site or to be part of the turtle protection campaign.
Stay posted for more turtle updates from Royal Resorts and the Mexican Caribbean during the 2017 turtle nesting season.
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Royal Resorts helping protect the environment
At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is part of everything we do; at our resorts in Cancun and the Riviera Maya we are constantly looking for more ways to conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint. As June is World Environment Month, we thought we would give you a behind-the-scenes look at some […]
Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
100 villas already have their new look at The Royal Sands
One hundred of the 340 villas at The Royal Sands in Cancun are now sporting their chic new look and the villa renovation project continues with a further 80 villas slated for renovation during 2017. The project will be completed by the end of 2019.
The sofas and chairs in all the villas at The Royal Islander have also been reupholstered with fabrics in a fresh color scheme. We thought you might like a look at the fresh new decor at both these Royal Resorts favorites.
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Royal Resorts helping protect the environment
At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is part of everything we do; at our resorts in Cancun and the Riviera Maya we are constantly looking for more ways to conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint. As June is World Environment Month, we thought we would give you a behind-the-scenes look at some […]
Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Royal Resorts community work, The Royal Haciendas visits Mayan villages
From helping those in need to children’s education, medical care and support for shelters and the elderly, Royal Resorts community work is varied. On this occasion, as part of a Riviera Maya Hotel Association community outreach program, volunteers from The Royal Haciendas visited the Mayan villages of San Antonio, San Hipolito, X-Hazil Norte, X-Hazil Primero, Sacabchen y Kankabzonot in the municipal district of Felipe Carrillo Puerto to help distribute food, clothing, kitchen utensils, towels and sheets to needy families.
The Mayan villages visited on this occasion are all located in the Mayan heartland of the state or Zona Maya, a rural area with high levels of poverty. On this occasion, 120 families received aid and more visits are planned during the year.
Find out more about the Royal Resorts community work, its children’s education, healthcare, employee emergency relief and conservation causes by visiting the Royal Resorts Foundation page at www.royalresortsfoundation.org
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At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is part of everything we do; at our resorts in Cancun and the Riviera Maya we are constantly looking for more ways to conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint. As June is World Environment Month, we thought we would give you a behind-the-scenes look at some […]
Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Royal Resorts Spreading Happiness, gifts at a Children’s Day Party
As part of the Royal Resorts Spreading Happiness community work, the Royal Resorts Foundation brought a smile to the faces of children attending a Children’s Day Party in late April at the Cancun CRIT Rehabilitation Center. During the event, which was attended by 200 children and their families, Royal Resorts volunteers distributed toys donated by employees, members and guests. The children also enjoyed visits from some of their favorite Disney characters from movies such as Moana and Frozen and from superheroes. There was music, food and lots of other fun surprises.
The Royal Channel camera crew was on hand to record the event.
Watch the video
The Cancun CRIT Rehabilitation Center (Centro de Rehabilitacion e Inclusion Infantil Teleton) is run by a Mexican charity called Fundacion Teleton and provides therapy for children with physical and neurological challenges. Fundacion Teleton has 23 CRIT Centers all over the country and a Children’s Cancer Hospital, and attends 294,172 children, helping them to get therapy that will improve their mobility and transform their quality of life.
The Royal Resorts Foundation covers the costs of physiotherapy at the Cancun CRIT for six children with motor, bone and neuromuscular diseases.
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Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Royal Resorts Foundation rebuilding Maclovio’s home
On May 26, a donation of $214,000 pesos – the proceeds from the Second Royal Resorts Foundation Race in February – was made to Maclovio Tec, our 2017 race beneficiary, to rebuild the home that he shares with his wife and son. There was more good news for 74-year-old Maclovio as he received a letter informing him of another donation in kind of building materials from local company Bloques ABC.
Thanks to the generosity of all our runners and sponsors, Don Maclovio can now rebuild his house and make it a safe and comfortable home with ramps and other mobility aids for his wife Carmen who is confined to a wheelchair and his son Reyes who has cerebral palsy.
Maclovio works at Pro Niños Excepcionales, A.C., a Cancun-based center that provides help to 200 children with cerebral palsy, visual, hearing and speech disorders, Down Syndrome, autism, learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Staff at the Center first became aware of him 12 years ago when he brought his son Reyes on his tricycle to the clinic to request help for the boy. His appeal was granted, Reyes was admitted for therapy sessions and in return Maclovio helped out at the center cleaning the land and collecting fallen branches to sell as firewood. He was given a job looking after the horses used in equinotherapy sessions with the children. When his sight began to fail as a result of cataracts, he had to give this up. After a successful operation he now tends the gardens, grows vegetables and looks after the center’s chickens.
Maclovio sent this message to the Royal Resorts community, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. May God bless you for your kindness.”
Get involved, support the Royal Resorts Foundation
Visit www.royalresortsfoundation.org for more information about Royal Resorts community work and conservation causes, fundraising at the resorts, Spreading Happiness events during the year and to donate online.
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Royal Resorts helping protect the environment
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Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Royal Resorts community work, collecting bottle tops for a good cause
Sometimes plastic waste can be turned to good use to support a worthy cause and as part of the Royal Resorts community work plastic is sold for recycling. In a recent employee campaign at the Royal Resorts in Cancún, staff collected 97 kilos of water and soda plastic bottle tops, which were given to a local charity called Banco de Tapitas to sell for recycling. The proceeds from the sale of the bottle tops are being used to help children with cancer.
Bottle top collection is continuing in Cancun and employees at The Royal Haciendas in the Riviera Maya have joined the cause.
With the financial support provided by Banco de Tapitas, children from low-income families who have been diagnosed with cancer can get the medical studies and treatment they so desperately need.
Guests staying at Royal Resorts in Cancun and at The Royal Haciendas can join this campaign. Separate your plastics, aluminium and cardboard trash and put them in the special bin provided in the villa kitchen. Plastic bottle tops can be given to Housekeeping staff.
Learn more about the Royal Resorts Foundation
Visit www.royalresortsfoundation.org for more information about Royal Resorts community work and conservation causes and to donate online.
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Royal Resorts helping protect the environment
At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is part of everything we do; at our resorts in Cancun and the Riviera Maya we are constantly looking for more ways to conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint. As June is World Environment Month, we thought we would give you a behind-the-scenes look at some […]
Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Endless summer fun at Royal Resorts
Vacationing at Royal Resorts in Cancun or the Riviera Maya this season? There’s plenty of summer fun at Royal Resorts in store for you. Enjoy the beaches and pools and be sure to visit the Activity Center in your resort and check out the exciting program of daily activities for adults and teens and children at the Kids Club.
Start the day with yoga, zumba or salsa classes, cool off in the pool with aqua fitness and join the team for bingo or pottery painting at midday. Beach volleyball and soccer draw a huge crowd every afternoon.
Sign out snorkeling gear from the Sports Desk at your resort or go for a bike ride. You can also reserve time on the tennis and basketball courts and you have free use of tennis rackets and balls, basketballs, volleyballs, board games and more.
If you are staying at The Royal Cancun try your hand at sail boating or paddle boarding on the bay or sign up for the weekly kayak tour through Nichupte Lagoon to learn more about the fascinating world of the mangrove forest. There are sail boats at The Royal Sands marina across the road from the resort, reservations at the Sports Desk. Sail boats and kayaks are available at The Royal Caribbean and The Royal Islander and there’s even a regatta on Fridays at 11:30 a.m. in Captain’s Cove Marina. Sail boat lessons are free to Royal Resorts members and theres a small charge for non-member guests.
At The Royal Haciendas in the Riviera Maya, there are kayak and snorkeling tours and bike rides.
Check Activity Center schedules to see what’s on and where. You can brush up your Spanish, learn some new Latin dance moves, have a table tennis match and play cards, there’s plenty of summer fun at Royal Resorts.
Kids Club fun
Bring your children to the Kids Club where they will have fun with beach and pool games, sand castle building, water balloon battles, treasure hunts and even mini Olympics. They’ll be transformed into pirates and superheroes with face painting and they’ll learn how to make bracelets, masks and even Mexican piñatas.
The supervised Kids Clubs are open to children aged between four and 12 years at The Royal Sands, The Royal Cancun, The Royal Caribbean (also open to guests at The Royal Islander) and The Royal Haciendas. Royal Resorts members may use the Kids Club at no additional charge (exception: except for evening events with food at The Royal Haciendas Kids Club (reservations required).
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Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]
Traditional Mexican cuisine at Hacienda Sisal, it’s Pozole Thursday
Savor traditional Mexican cuisine at Hacienda Sisal during your Cancun vacation. One dish to try is pozole, a Mexican soup packed full of pork or chicken and hominy, and at Hacienda Sisal it’s officially Pozole Day, jueves pozolero every Thursday.
Choose between pozole rojo, verde or blanco with pork or chicken. The rojo or red variety is flavored with dried guajillo or ancho chilies and comes from Jalisco. The state of Guerrero is famous for verde or green pozole, which includes jalapeño and poblano chilies, green tomatillos and coriander, and also for blanco or white pozole, which is the broth, meat and hominy. Everyone in Mexico has their own favorite and the tasty soup is a staple during fiestas.
The best thing about pozole is filling your bowl with the traditional accompaniments: shredded lettuce, onion, radishes, coriander, dried oregano, chili piquin and crispy tostadas.
Combine your pozole with an order of fresh guacamole prepared tableside and one of the Hacienda’s famous margaritas or premium tequilas and you have the makings of a very tasty lunch or dinner.
Why stop there? Tuck into more traditional Mexican cuisine at Hacienda Sisal on a return visit. Choices include classics such as enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos, carnitas and chicken in mole sauce, a subtle blend of chocolate, spices and mild chili. If you are in the mood for seafood, there’s fresh lobster, shrimp and tikinxic, Mayan-style grilled fish. Tender beef fillet in red wine sauce, grilled steaks and faijitas are also on the menu.
As they say here in Mexico, buen provecho!
Visit www.haciendasisal.com for more delicious menu suggestions. The restaurant is open from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily. next to The Royal Sands in Cancun Hotel Zone. Don’t miss Sunday Brunch from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and there’s live music on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
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Royal Resorts helping protect the environment
At Royal Resorts helping protect the environment is part of everything we do; at our resorts in Cancun and the Riviera Maya we are constantly looking for more ways to conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint. As June is World Environment Month, we thought we would give you a behind-the-scenes look at some […]
Celebrating 40 years at Royal Resorts
Cancun pioneer Royal Resorts is celebrating 40 years of welcoming guests to the Mexican Caribbean and creating magical vacation memories for them. In June 2017, the 40th anniversary celebrations of the founding of its first resort The Royal Cancun (1977 – 2017) get underway. Over the years, The Royal Cancun has become a beloved home […]