Beach clubs are having a moment big enough that cruise lines are building their own: Royal Caribbean’s CEO was asked directly this week when the company’s Royal Beach Club Cozumel will open, and while the date is still fluid, the concept is clearly the future of the beach day – a paid, curated stretch of sand with a dress code in all but name.
That name is the anxiety. Nobody wants to be the person who got it wrong. The good news: beach club etiquette is a short list, and none of it is about money.
The dress code is “resort,” not “runway”
Beach clubs run on a simple register: swimwear is for the water and the lounger; a cover-up, linen shirt, or sundress is for everywhere else – the bar, the restaurant, the walk through the lobby. You don’t need designer anything. You need one dry layer you like being seen in, sandals that aren’t shower slides, and a shirt for the men at lunch. That’s the whole code at 95% of clubs from Tulum to Mykonos.
The money rules nobody prints
- Minimum spend is not a suggestion. Many clubs charge a “bed fee” that’s credited against food and drink. Ask the number before you sit, decide if the math works for your day, and then don’t nurse one water for six hours on a 4,000-peso bed.
- Towel games are watched. Reserving a front-row bed at 7 a.m. and disappearing until noon is the one move that genuinely marks you as a rookie. Staff at good clubs will clear abandoned towels, and they’ll be right to.
- Tip like a beach club, not a beach. Service is full-service. If there’s a server bringing drinks to your lounger, tip as you would at a sit-down restaurant.
Read the room, literally
Every club has a volume setting, and it’s visible in the first thirty seconds: families with sand toys, couples reading, or a DJ building toward a 4 p.m. peak. Match it or move. The single most charming thing you can do at a beach club is correctly guess which kind it is before you order the first round.
The one thing that always works
When in doubt, ask the staff – about the minimum, the dress expectation at dinner, whether the beds are first-come or reserved. Nobody has ever looked out of place by asking a good question at check-in. They look out of place by guessing wrong loudly.
— Source: Royal Caribbean Blog, “Royal Caribbean’s CEO was asked when its new beach club in Mexico will actually open,” October 5, 2026.