Letters to the Editor – January – March 2020 ISSUE
Dear Editor,
Where is Chedraui? Any insight on Xplore, Xcaret Xelha and Slavechia We have been to all except Xplore, but it has been 5 years since being there. We have 2 fairly adventurous 50 year old adults and 2 kids 22 and 21. Thanks!
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Soriana’s grocery store is on the second floor of Kukulcan Mall. If you go there, you can have them deliver your groceries to the Sands. They will call you and the bell boy will put the groceries in a cart and bring it to your room. Prices are reasonable. You can also shop online at Wall Mart or Chedraui and they also will deliver the items ordered online.
– O.M
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Dear Editor,
I would like to sell my Royal Sands week and my Royal Haciendas week. Has anyone sold their weeks? Or is this just an exercise in futility? Do you know the consequences if you stop paying annual maintenance fees?
John
ORO VALLEY, AZ
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Yes, people have sold their villas, but all were price sensitive. It is not uncommon to see asking prices for 50% of their residual value. High season and beachfront do have a better chance than low season of selling. Because you own a membership to use your villa for a set period of time and not real estate, if you stop paying your maintenance fees, the villa and the time left on the use of that villa will revert back to the developers with no additional penalties to you. A few owners, who did not want to use their villa anymore and rather than giving them back to the Developers, sold them to us.
-O.M.
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Dear Editor,
Hi, can you provide the contacts for other transportation from the airport to the Royal Haciendas now that Thomas Moore is out of business. Thank you in advance.
Mark
CANTON, MA
There is some confusion surrounding Thomas Moore Travel. Thomas Moore has not gone out of business. We recently spoke with a customer representative and they said there is allot of confusion with another company called Thomas Cook Travel out of Europe that had recently closed its doors.
However, you can use USA Transfers (usa-transfers.com or entertainment-plus.com) and Cancun Valet (cancunvalet.com) are two reputable transportation companies. You can find out the price and make reservations on their websites or call their 1-800 number.
-O.M.
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Dear Editor,
I am interested in feedback from anyone who has bought into Royal Privileges which was offered after sale of Royal Caribbean! We did buy a minimum package but are having difficulty redeeming our complimentary week and navigating the website! Any information will be appreciated!
Esther
WOODWAY, WA
Yes, we have had other members (see adjacent letter) who have had problems and they complained they couldn’t redeem their Royal Privileges to management and were refunded their money. Because it’s on a space availability only and during high season there is more demand to rent with less villas available, it probably will be hard to find available villas. There may be more availability at The Royal Caribbean once it reopens but there won’t be any kitchens in them, and the villas may not be what you’re expecting.
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Dear Editor,
I’ve owned a unit at the Caribbean since it was a hole in the wall, and I bought at the Sands during building as well. The Caribbean offered former owners villas at a good price last year after the trust expired so I rented week 14 and moved there from 13 at the Sands last April. While I was there, I agreed to listen to the latest program they were marketing to former RC to let friends know what was going on.
I was pitched a package where I would get 70 nights in a villa to be used within 10 years, but I could use it quicker if I wanted to. I could reserve any Royal Resort except the Residences and I would be charged a “usage fee” of no more than $150 per night with a price match if I found it lower online. There were a few other bells and whistles, but this was the biggest part and what I was most interested in. I turned them down first because they were still making me go through several sales pitches by different people and the last pitch was from the closer.
I thought about it overnight and decided the price was about what I got back from the sale of the RC so I would buy it so that I could still have two weeks I put 30% down on my Amex and they would bill me the balance monthly over the next two years with no interest. I have tried numerous times to book at the RS or RI for week 14 on their website they gave me, but none were included on that site. I have made phone calls three different times to reservations and Customer Service with the Royals and not one employee had heard of this program. I found out on one of the FB Royal Resorts pages that I am not the only one who got hoodwinked.
Sarah
MECOSTA, MI
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Thank you!
The letters to the editor had a question “Where is Chedraui”. You didn’t answer that. Instead you told about Soriana. There are two Chedraui Supermarkets, conveniently located on bus routes from Royal Resorts in the Hotel Zone. The newer one is located in the Hotel Zone, immediately southeast of the Caracol Shopping Mall (at the Punte—elbow of Cancun) between the two lanes of Kukulcan Boulevard. The older Chedraui is downtown Cancun, right on the corner of Tulum Avenue and Coba (Avenida Kabah), which is the continuation on Kukulcan Boulevard, after it crosses Tulum Avenue. Take bus #1 and it stops right at the exit from Chedraui. Walk around the corner of the building to the entrance. Once you do your shopping, go out the exit and walk around the corner of the building under their overhang. At the end of the building is the bus stop for route 2, which takes you right back to the Hotel Zone. You don’t even have to cross a street on foot. Note: the employees (especially downtown) speak very little English. There is also a third Chedraui, in the Mall of Americas, which is next to impossible to get to by bus.
We have a similar experience. For 3 years have been unable to use the “points” we purchased. It is very disappointing as we had 17 great years at the Caribbean. Do you know if we have any options to sell what we have? So far, we have banked all the points for 3 years ( 1 year had to be with RCI cause you can’t roll them all over). Since those “bonus” weeks can only be used if the owner is present we haven’t even been able to use those.
That’s a good question and I’ll have to talk with The Royal Resorts if you can sell them. My guess is then you will not be able to sell them to a non-owner since they are for your use but the question is can you sell them to another owner who is already in The Royal Resort system. I’m going out of town, be back next week but if you call Raul Rio at ISCO (manager of ISCO), he might be able to answer that for you.
Dear Editor,
Greetings from a Weather Advisory Minnesota blizzard! My family and I are counting down the four weeks until our next vacation, weeks 7 & 8, at the Royal Sands Resort. Between ownership weeks at the Royal Mayan, Royal Caribbean and now the Sands, this will be my 34th consecutive year of enjoying and appreciating all that the Royals offer! Thank you very much!
A few years ago, shortly after the Royal Caribbean closed, I bought into their Heritage Privileges program which offered 10 villa units over the course of ten years, based upon availability. Like a couple of the previous writers, I have found that it’s nearly impossible to secure a villa during a high season week. (For a number of years I have attempted to reserve another villa or two through the Heritage Privileges program for friends wishing to join us during our week 7 & 8 time frame.)
I believe there are about four years left on this program before its expiration. I suspect that I’ll have little or no chance of utilizing my Heritage Privileges weeks because of the usual lack of availability over the remaining four years.
I so love the Royals that I’ve resigned myself to the belief that I was hoodwinked into purchasing this Heritage Privileges program and that I’ll just have to grin and bear the lose.
Can you suggest any alternatives for getting my Heritage Privileges “investment” back (or a portion thereof) or any other type of resolve for utilizing these weeks in conjunction with my Royal Sands ownership during weeks 7 & 8? They’ve never told me how villa “inventory” gets deposited into the Heritage Privileges program.
I’ll always sing praises for the Royal Resorts, but this is one unfortunate black-eye in their history of sales. Any advice that you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Paul