Royal Palm

Ok TTOLers, just booked a week in Royal Palm. We have never stayed there before. We know the area well as we used to own at Pelican. Just looking for opinions, likes/dislikes of Royal Palm.

I love that we can walk to Skipjacks, Yacht Club, Lee's and various other places. Hear some complaints about the pool. If it has water in it, what can be bad? Pool Bar? Beach? just in case we feel lazy for a day. More than likely we will end up at Friars, Mullet or in front of El Zafiro

Thank in advance for your thoughts

I love the location of Royal Palm. I like the layout of the beach, as there are a lot of shade palapas out there on the beach, so that you can have your own shade and chairs, a bit away from other people. The bad thing about the beach there is that there are a lot of sailboats that routinely sit out front of there. Because many or most of them don't use holding tanks, I personally do not go in the water there. The beach itself I think is manmade and the sand is pretty coarse.

The restaurant and the bar at the Upper View routinely provide abysmal service, so if you elect to use them, set your expectations very low. There is a little shop downstairs where you can buy [expensive] snacks, etc., as well as some bread, etc for the mornings.

The front desk staff seems to be much better than they were years ago, and now seem fairly responsive. I love that all units have full ocean view. Most units are two bedroom, with one bedroom having ocean view and the second bedroom, no view of anything. The décor is very vanilla, you could be anywhere, but there is a nice amount of room in the units, especially if it's just two people. Years ago, the elevators seemed to always be on the fritz, but they seem to be working pretty well now. The free wifi is generally pretty slow, unless there are not many people there. The best signal is in the lobby on the first floor and you may or may not get any signal in your room. There are some grills out front, but they are not convenient unless you are staying on the first floor. By the same token, if you stay on the first floor, you won't have much if any view, and you could have an issue with mosquitoes. The parking spaces are very tight from side to side, but unless the resort is totally full, you should not have a problem finding a place to park. The pool is ok, but not a lot of chairs in the vicinity of the pool. To me, the location for walking to everywhere more than trumps the other issues.

Depending on when your dates are, Lee's may or may not still be there.

Royal Palm is a great location. Only problem I can see with the pool is the constant "saving" of chairs. People stake their claim VERY early in the morning and then may or may not use them throughout the day. If a lounge has not been used for a couple of hours the attendants should remove the belongings. The pool is not huge.

After 21 visits and 11 different hotels/resorts we spent 4 nights at the Royal Palm this past late Fall. Our intention was to be in an area where we could walk to bars and restaurants w/o driving so the hotel itself was sort of secondary. We expected to have to go to Kim Sha most days for the beach but the beach in front of RP is more than adequate.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the hotel to be very nice. We were on the ground floor so our door opened up to a very nice beach area right in front of us. The "lagoon" area was very nice for swimming and sunning with an extremely short walk to the swim up bar and pool. I'm a sucker for a swim up bar. I recall happy hour started at 2p and I think went to 6. Two for one drinks and the bartenders were friendly and made the drinks very good.

The people we met at the RP were all friendly. Never had an issue with parking. We rented privately so did not use housekeeping so I can't comment on that although we did have a bellman who assists with the unit and he was available a few times for things like bug spray or to answer a question or two we had during our stay.

The only down side was the restaurant. Service was slow and food quality not very good. We tried to get dinner one night but gave up and just went across the street. Had appetizers at bar once that took forever and they were just meh! We overheard a couple not far from us questioning the length of time it was taking to get there order. Because there are so many bars and restaurants in the area it's not a deal breaker for us but the night we wanted to eat dinner was our first night and after an early rise to the airport it would have been nice just to eat on site.

We would return again and are hoping to be able to stay several nights on our next visit prior to checking into BSV.

The pool bar, the Upper View Lounge and the restaurant are all run by the same people. It is a potential goldmine if you could get some decent help, decent food and decent service. A while back there were reports of decent food but then I heard the cook/chef was fired so it is back to how they run things.

Louise--that's it, the restaurant stinks. Wish they could get out of the contract with the people who own the restaurant, but they tried once and got sued and lost. Diamond should just pay up the money and buy out the contract and get someone in there who can do a good job. But since there are so many places you can walk to from there, at least you're not locked into eating there.

We never noticed the upper deck on top of the overhang entrance to hotel until we were departing so can't comment whether that was open and what service was like there.

I can't fault the bartending staff because they went above and beyond trying to get the food out of the kitchen on more than one occasion, but by doing so left the bar uncovered. On one occasion the bartender left to help out the kitchen and was gone for twenty minutes. She said the kitchen was backed up but there were only two tables in the restaurant area and aside from us another couple at the bar. Both of us had ordered the wings.

After new customers came to the bar and were getting frustrated with waiting, one of the housekeepers who was sitting at the bar waiting for her take away went into the kitchen to retrieve the bartender. She also started to help out with bringing the food from the kitchen to the bar as the bartender never came out with the wings???

On a separate occasion the bartender who left bar was back much quicker.

The same people who own the restaurant, own the deli in front strip of the Royal Palm. They seem to have an ironclad lease, and won't budge, legally or otherwise. It is a shame, as the restaurant would have a builtin customer following. I don't know how much longer we have to suffer with these incompetents. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

As I said, I think that Diamond just needs to make them an offer they can't refuse and get rid of them. They just need to pay them a stupid amount of money and get them out of there.

If I were an owner there, I would be livid over the situation. It is bad enough when renting to deal with it but it has to impact the bottom line of the resort itself. A restaurant at La Vista is a good comparison. They do a great job, have a built-in following and also draw from the outside. The same could happen with Royal Palm IF there was decent food and service.

We owners all agree! Surely the renters would also use and enjoy the restaurant. It's never been a shining light at the RP that I can remember.

They have had a couple of good bartenders in the Upper View since it was opened but they did not last long. I have been staying/renting there for close to 20 years and it has pretty much been a pathetic mess as long as I can remember.

Twenty Years? !
J.D. you are an old fart aren't you? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Long time no hear, Raspy! It must be getting close to time for Regatta! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Back to the original question though--anyone got anything else to say about Royal Palm except that the restaurant and bar stink?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

Almost as old as Carol! First trip was in 1991 on a cruise, then a stay-over in 1994 and the rest is history.

Back to Royal Palm, great location, great rooms, secure parking, just a really poorly managed restaurant, bar and lounge.

Now, now! Our first time was in 87, but I was a teenager then! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Rick and Grace--any other specific questions?

We also own there, but the problems with the on-site restaurant, don't affect us much as there are so many choices close by.

Our first time was 1993 for a Grace Birthday Surprise, but I'll not tell which birthday it was. RP was brand new then and we took a tour. Didn't buy.

My only other question is about the same thing being discussed. By bar service are we talking indoor bar in restaurant or pool bar? Or are they one and the same? There are too many restaurants around to be terribly upset, but I do understand owner frustration. Sometimes you just want to stay in.

To me, I enjoy a pool bar and maybe a burger if making a pool day. Does that suck as well?

All food/bar concessions are owned/managed by the same people. Personally, I think the service stinks at both the pool bar and the Upper View, when you can find it open.

I have found at the pool bar, unless you hang out there all day, it is a long process to get more than 2 drinks and especially during their happy hour.

I don't know if there is a separate bar in the restaurant or not but there is the Upper View Lounge. It is located on the 2nd floor above the lobby area. No frozen drinks and no food unless they send something up from the restaurant near the pool.

For the amount of space taken up by the restaurant and bars, it is basically mostly wasted as the return to the resort on that area could be drastically more.

ruralcarrier is right....only 2 bars...pool and upper view.

There is the main restaurant, which is located on the ocean. Beautiful view, by the way. Regardless, most any time you walk in, it will be basically empty. There is the pool bar, which serves food at lunch only (I think). And then there is the indoor bar on the second floor, above the entrance, with a view of the bridge. No food at the bar inside, other than sometimes free bar snacks, if you ask for them. They are all owned and operated by the same people. Service at all will generally suck. If you lower your expectations and expect that your burger will probably take 45 minutes to come at the pool bar, you'll be about correct.

Well that's comforting to know!! So if I order a burger for breakfast I can expect it for lunch! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Thank you all for the info.

I'm not at all certain that the pool bar is open for breakfast, but you get the drift! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Carol, there is a bar menu which is available in the evening but consider the length of time it took to get our wings and the quality I wouldn't be ordering food there any time soon. As far as cocktail service during happy hour we must have been lucky. We were there for 4 days and hit up the bar and drinks never took long to be served to us. We ordered, they were made and put on the bar. Most days there doing a brisk HH business when we sat at the swim up bar.

Huh, OK, I have never seen anyone eating in there in the Upper View. Even at Regatta, when they should have been busy, they rarely are, upstairs I mean.