Would you judge me if I admitted to being a little nervous about going to stay at the Hard Rock Riviera Maya?

As a seller of luxury travel, and a lover of the finer things in life, and (admittedly) a self-described hotel snob, as the day of our departure for this all inclusive resort grew closer, I did have a couple of moments of doubt.

However.

Pulling into the sprawling, tropical oasis marked in front by that most classic emblem of Rock and Roll – the Hard Rock logo – I immediately start to feel a sense of comfort and familiarity.  As we rolled up in front of the massive lobby doors, we were greeted by our butler Tony.  “Hey guys! We’ve been waiting for you!”

Being Rock Royalty, our check in occurred while we sat and sipped margaritas on a couch and the tunes bumped and pulsed around us.  Within ten minutes of arrival we were on the balcony of our room, having already ordered some quesadillas and drinks for happy hour and watching the band set up for the evening entertainment.

And what a show it was – what a week of shows!  We saw a Beatles tribute band, attended their “Magic Dinner” show, live band karaoke, Mayan fire dancers, and one pretty convincing Elvis impersonator (possible he hasn’t left the building and is in fact, living in Mexico?)…

The service throughout the resort was absolutely outstanding.  We used our ample resort credits to reserve a daily cabana, and our server went above and beyond to make sure we had our favorite drink orders waiting for us upon arrival every morning.  We randomly mentioned our anniversary to our housekeeping attendant, and came home to a room decorated in romance that night.  The waiters and waitresses, lobby attendants, custodial staff and bartenders were all engaging, cheerful and very eager to make sure our stay was going well.  Our butler, Tony, seemed to be everywhere we were, popping in on us multiple times a day to make sure we had everything we needed.

The most common question I get about all inclusive resorts is – how is the food?  We were duly impressed.  Room service breakfast (we tried waffles, pancakes, the bread basket and a variety of egg dishes) was delivered very quickly, served hot and was extremely tasty!  The lunches, standard pool fare, were really quality!  The burgers were, in fact, just like the burgers at the Hard Rock Cafes.  Restaurants for dinner offered a lot of variety, Italian, French, two Mexican options, a steak house, and a Brazilian rodizio; as well as three special dinners offered throughout our stay – the dinner show with magicians, a Mexican dinner with entertainment served under the stars, and a New Year’s Eve gala event.

The facilities are large, but not so big that you cannot easily walk from one side of the resort to the other.  At one end is Eden, their “adult” beach, followed by “Heaven” – the adults only side of the resort; which houses a really great bar and nightclub, several pools with swim up bars, and a beach area with cabanas.   It takes less than five minutes to walk from Eden to the family side of the resort, “Hacienda” which has multiple pools, the family friendly beach, the brand new waterpark (!!!) and Camp Woodward – the indoor skatepark/BMX/parkour/obstacle course center.

During the one cloudy day, we luxuriated at the Rock Spa, enjoying a full day of services (again, using our resort credits!) and

hydro-therapy.  The spa is immaculate and lovely.  Our son spent that day playing (what else) Fortnite at the tweens/teens Cavern Club.

We checked out with sadness at the end of our stay, and as Tony loaded us into our return airport transfer he told us, “don’t worry, I’ll be waiting for you when you come back next year.”  We can’t wait!