We just returned from a one week stay at Dreams Riviera Cancun resort from Jan 28 to Feb 4. We were there with a group for a wedding. The weather was fair at best (rained a few days) but we still had fun. It was very windy all week which made for rough surf and not many people in the water, although the water was quite warm for the time of year. The resort itself is very luxurious and kept very clean.
Rooms: equally luxurious and quite large, most have a partial ocean view with a balcony. Beds are very comfortable. Many people have complained about the glass doors to the shower and bathroom which they mention as a privacy concern if you’re there with more than your spouse/partner. What no one seems to mention is that the glass doors are frosted with only a 1 inch clear border around the edge. Someone would need to literally put their nose up against the glass to see inside. I suggest you bring ear plugs since the rooms have little to no sound proofing. You’ll hear all conversations in the hallway, neighboring rooms and we could hear the lobby music as if it was next door.
Restaurants: most people go to the a la carte restaurants (most are quite fancy), the buffet was not used by many for dinner and had limited choices. The food at the a la carte restaurants is very good but the portions are not very big. Emphasis is placed on presentation, quality and service which many expect from a 5 star resort. If you go there with a healthy appetite, I suggest ordering more than one entrée. They will gladly bring you all you want. Breakfast at the buffet was always excellent and most people have lunch by the pool/beach which was also good.
Pool/beach: water at the pool was quite warm the first few days but got colder as the week went on. There were plenty of chairs and shade at both the pool and the beach. The fact that the infinity pool is right at the beach is both good and bad. You have the nice view from everywhere but on windy days, which are the norm in Mexico, there is no shelter from the wind if it gets cool. This is probably not a problem unless you go from December to February.
Nightly entertainment: there is no separate theatre area for this. Entertainment is provided on the step platform (no more than 15’ x 20’) leading to the lobby bar with about 50 folding chairs set up at the bottom. Acts were ok but not as good as other resorts we’ve been to.
All in all, this is a very good resort and would recommend it but only if you don’t go during peak periods. This resort is very luxurious with excellent service but is not made to accommodate large crowds. Occupancy was probably under 50% while we were there and everything was fine for us. But with larger crowds, you will get long waits for restaurants at night (they don’t take reservations), have to get up early to reserve chairs at the pool/beach, be in a crowded pool with long waits at the swim up bar (the pool isn’t very big compared to other resorts) and will find it practically impossible to find chairs at the lobby bar at night (it’s the only place to go and has chairs for probably no more than 80-90 people). The music at the lobby bar is fairly loud at night, so having conversations while having a few drinks is challenging. We stayed the Iberostar Paraiso last year and found it to be better overall for about the same money. The pools were much bigger and nicer, the food at the buffet was better with lots more choices, the nightly entertainment was much better with a separate theatre to accommodate hundreds, even though it was almost full, you never felt crowded and you never heard a sound at night from your room. However, Iberostar while quite nice, is not as luxurious as the Dreams which I know is important for some people.
