For the convenience of members and guests, a new laundry valet service is now available at The Royal Sands and The Royal Haciendas and will be rolled out to The Royal Cancun and The Royal Islander in the next couple of months.

Members and guests call ext. 167 to request the service, fill in the order form and the Laundry Valet will collect the laundry, wash it and return it dried and folded the same day.

The laundry valet service fee is charged to the room account. There is a 10 percent discount for Royal Resorts members. This service is not included in the REFINE All-Inclusive package and there is no dry cleaning service.

We are ready for the 2018 turtle nesting season at Royal Resorts. From May to September, female green, loggerhead and hawksbill turtles will come ashore at night to lay their eggs on the beaches of the Mexican Caribbean.

Sightings of the first turtles of the season have already been reported in Akumal, Xcacel and Puerto Morelos, including one that dug its nest on the beach in front of Grand Residences. Thousands more will follow them this summer.

The security teams at The Royal Sands, The Royal Caribbean, The Royal Islander, Grand Residences and The Royal Haciendas are the Royal Resorts turtle guardians. Before the season starts they attend a refresher course on nesting season rules and procedures given by local biologists and then they are ready to start their nightly turtle patrols.

When they find a nesting turtle, they watch over her as she digs her nest in the sand and lays her eggs. They then collect the eggs and move them to a nursery further up the beach where they will be protected from the waves, predators and the passage of human feet. They dig another nest identical in shape and depth to the original and bury the eggs. The species, date and time of nesting and number of eggs are recorded and the long wait begins until they hatch 45 to 60 days later.

The guards release the baby turtles after dark when predatory seabirds such as gulls and frigate birds have gone to roost.

Follow the turtle season rules

If you are going to stay at Royal Resorts or Grand Residences this summer, please join us in protecting our turtle visitors. Follow the turtle rules:

• 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
• No flash photography
• No smoking
• Obey security staff when they give instructions
• Help us to keep our beaches and sea clean. Plastic straws, bags, packaging, fishing lines and nets 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 Mexican environmental agency SEMARNAT rules for turtle nesting season are designed to keep human contact with the creatures to a minimum. The rules stipulate that fragile baby turtles can only be released by trained 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.

A Cancun conservation pioneer, Royal Resorts has been watching over sea turtles since 1985. Official record keeping began in 1998 and since then we have protected 7,995 nests and released 741,042 baby turtles!

The 2017 turtle season broke records all over the Mexican Caribbean and at Royal Resorts. The tally of nests at The Royal Sands, The Royal Caribbean and The Royal Islander was 1,063 nests and 111,226 baby turtles were released. There were 228 nests and 20,000 hatchlings at Grand Residences Riviera Cancun and five nests at The Royal Haciendas.

Sea turtle nesting is cyclical and good years with lots of turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs are invariably followed by slow years. Last year was a record-breaking year. We hope that 2018 will also be a good year for the sea turtles.

On March 7, the US Embassy in Mexico City issued a travel alert mentioning that it had received information about a possible security threat in Playa del Carmen. It said that as of March 7, US Government employees are prohibited from traveling to Playa del Carmen.

The US consular agency office in Playa del Carmen was closed temporarily but reopened on March 12.

The Quintana Roo State Government issued a bulletin on March 7 declaring that tourism and economic activity continue as normal in Playa del Carmen and throughout the Mexican Caribbean. The current hotel occupancy rate is 80 percent.

The bulletin goes on to say that safety of visitors and residents is of the utmost importance and that security forces work day and night to guarantee this. It adds that it has no knowledge of the circumstances that prompted the US Embassy to issue an alert.

The Quintana Roo State Government also reiterated its commitment to work hand in hand to protect visitors from the United States and all international visitors to the state.

The State and Municipal police forces coordinate security with the Federal police force, the Mexican Army and Navy, which also patrol the area.

Quintana Roo is currently hosting the 2018 World Oceans Summit organized by The Economist. This high-level event in the Riviera Maya is being attended by government ministers, experts and conservationists from all over the world and was inaugurated by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

To read the Quintana Roo Government statement in English click here:
http://cgc.qroo.gob.mx/statement-of-the-government-of-the-state-of-quintana-roo-in-regards-to-the-prohibition-by-the-united-states-government-to-their-government-employees-from-traveling-to-playa-del-carmen/

Ferries from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel are operating normally

Ferries between Playa del Carmen and Cozumel are operating normally and thousands of visitors and Mexican citizens visit the island every day.

Security was reinforced at the Playa del Carmen terminal after an explosion on board a Barcos del Caribe ferry that had just arrived from Cozumel on February 21. More than eighteen passengers, including several international visitors, suffered

minor injuries. A criminal investigation continues into the incident and is being handled by the Federal Justice Department.

The authorities moved quickly to suspend Barcos del Caribe in the wake of the incident and halt its ferry operations. All its vessels were inspected, including boats that had been out of service for months. The authorities are following a number of leads concerning the explosion and the company’s activities.

It is safe to travel to the Mexican Caribbean
Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Cozumel, the Riviera Maya and the Yucatan Peninsula as a whole have always been, and remain, among the safest places in the world for visitors. There is no cause for increased concern or for cancelling a trip.