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girlinchicago
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Who's Been to Secrets Maroma? / Adults Only AIs in Mexico
in Travel
What did you think? Rooms, beach, service, food, drinks, etc.
I've only done one other AI in Mexico (The Royal Cancun) and we loved it. We've also been to Zoetry Agua in Punta Cana, which was not as good as we hoped.
I'm not totally sold on Secrets Maroma, but I feel like people generally have great things to say about it. Anywhere else I should look into?
Re: Who's Been to Secrets Maroma? / Adults Only AIs in Mexico
I went there for new years 2 years ago. The rooms were great, but I wouldn't splurge on the upgraded suite with the "jacuzzi" on the balcony. We were upgraded for free and all it is is a tiled tub with zero jets. The bathroom and jet tub were nice, and the grounds are kept clean. It has a very cement/stucco feel. The beach was beautiful and fairly large compared to other beaches in the riveria maya area. The pool area was nice, could be bigger, and there was a HUGE problem of guests reserving their lounge chairs at 6am and not showing up until well after breakfast. I'd get out there at 8am and there would be no sign of human life except for towels and hats on every single chair on the pool deck...super frustrating. The beach had chairs though. And great bar service and waiters. Food was good, but reserve restaurants like the Hibachi grill before you even arrive, b/c they will be booked. If you get a good deal, it's definitely worth it.
Oh, and book private transportation. It is way far south, and the bus to the airport had us picked up first, and we had to stop at tons of other hotels and wait on disrespectful people, almost missing our flight.
Recent Races:
Chicago Half Marathon 9/11/11: 1:58:11 (PR)
Race for the Cure 10k, Chicago 9/24/11: 51:52 (PR)
ING New York City Marathon 11/6/11: 4:13:16 (PR)
We stayed at Excellence Playa Mujeres and enjoyed it. We upgraded our room to the Excellence Club Two-Story Suite with the private plunge pool on the roof. The room was awesome but I wouldn't bother with the two-story suite again since the things we liked best were included in all rooms.
Every room has a bed for 2 on the balcony (the two-story suite has 3), sectional couch, and a jacuzzi tub with jets that you can open the window/doors to to open it up to the room and/or balcony. DH loved being able to lay out on the bed on the balcony and read...pretty much couldn't get him to leave it while we were there, LOL.
The food was good...not amazing or anything, but everything was tasty, meat wasn't fatty, etc. We were happy with it. I'd say it was more in line with the food you'd find at a normal large Marriott or Hyatt, not as good as the food at the Four Seasons or St. Regis or Hyatt Regency restaurants/room service. The staff was very nice.
We'd consider it again. We don't generally choose vacations like that but do like the occasional sit-around-and-relax trip.
We had a great time at Secrets Maroma. The beach is gorgeous and well-maintained; it looked quite a bit nicer than most other resort beaches we encountered. SMB staff service is wonderful, as well as the food. We did not have any troubles finding a place to sit by the pool, nor did we get out there early (quite the opposite, as I like to sleep as late as possible on vacation). If the pool area is too busy for you, the beach is just as clean and an excellent substitute - plus they serve food out there as well! We also did not encounter any problems with restaurants being booked up - the Hibachi is popular, but we made a reservation when we got there and that was just fine.
I would not recommend a swim-out room, but that is mostly because we had obnoxious neighbors and it wasn't pleasant to have them floating by our patio/room all the time. That was really the only negative I can think of about the experience. The previous advice to book private transportation is a good one due to the distance - we used USA Transfers and were pleased with the service.
I have a full review of our Oct '10 HM in my Ms. Bio under Honeymoon.
We really liked SMB and since our trip we had friends HM there Sep '11 and my SIL/BRO went Oct '11. I don't have any experience with Zoetry resorts, but my understanding is they're the next level up of luxury from Secrets and owned by the same parent company.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. I would recommend SMB for couples, although it is fairly quiet at night. H and I mostly kept to ourselves, but it did seems like a fair amount of other couples made friends and would go to dinner with them, etc.
Blog Sale
<a href="http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss262/hzswanson/?action=view
We went for our honeymoon in Sept '09. It was great! We splurged for the VIp package and we were happy we did, when we got there, there was a huge line to check in but we were picked up in a golf cart and were in our room in 20 minutes!
I also wouldn't reccomend the swim out suit, not much privacy and very buggy. The staff was great. The bars had top shelf liquor. The food was descent, but we aren't foodies. The beach was beautiful, We would go again in a heartbeat.
We also used a private transfer that was nice too.