Earlier this month, my new husband and I left DC for a blissful 10 days in Cancun, where we stayed at Secrets The Vine. Secrets The Vine is a AAA Four Diamond Unlimited-Luxury® Adults-Only all-inclusive resort, and they definitely went above and beyond to earn that reputation.
Check-In/Check-Out
Check-in at Secrets is at 3pm. We arrived at 11am, so of course our room wasn’t ready. Despite all that, I would describe our greeting as a positive experience. We were greeted at the door with cool towels and a glass of champagne. The lobby was beautiful, with high ceilings and marble floors. There was a big glass floor to ceiling wine cellar (it is, after all, “The Vine”), and a grand piano that they often had someone play in the evenings. Although our room wasn’t ready, we were shown to the changing rooms, where we were able to change into beach clothes and use all the resort facilities until check-in time.
Check-out was a breeze. Secrets allows you to use a “hospitality room” if you end up having time to spare after your check-out. This was a plus for me because I like to get in as much beach time as possible before leaving for the airport, but I don’t like to hop right on the plane without taking a shower first.
The Room
Our room was beautiful! Every room is non-smoking, with Italian porcelain floors and teak wood furnishings. All rooms and suites have super comfy beds with custom headboards, a sleek private terrace or balcony, luxury bathroom wrapped in white glass, and complimentary mini-bar. Because we were on our honeymoon, the turn-down service included rose petals, chocolates, and a bottle of red wine. The building is shaped in a way that all rooms and suites can see the ocean, but because we were also close to the beachfront, our view was amazing! Room service is included in the Unlimited-Luxury® package, so we enjoyed breakfast on our terrace almost every morning.
The only complaint I had about our room is that the AC units for the hotel were below us, and very loud. Any time we were outside on the terrace or just wanted to relax in the room with the door open, we had to deal with the loud noise. Minor complaint, I know, but something to keep in mind. Ask to be on the other side of the building if you decide to pay it a visit — you’ll still have an ocean view!
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- Super-comfy king sized bed
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- We had two matching vanities, so no one hogs the bathroom!
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- Glass wrapped bathroom (separate toilet and huge shower) with white design for privacy.
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- Our view from the terrace 🙂
The Food
The resort has 7 restaurants and 6 bars/lounges that cover a variety of local and international cuisines, so you’ll never have a lack of food or drink options. Room service is also available around the clock, and there are servers waiting on you at the pools and the beach. All the restaurants have delicious food, but our favorites were the steaks at Blue Water Grill, and the Peruvian style duck at Sea Salt Grill. Also worth a shout-out are the short-rib nachos on the beach menu.
Keep in mind, this is an all-inclusive resort, so you have 24 hour access to unlimited gourmet food and top shelf drinks. Heaven!
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- Pineapple Tequila Sorbet with Chilli powder
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- One of the many delicious steaks we had at Blue Water Steakhouse
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- My favorite item on the beach food menu were the Nachos Especiales
The Beach/Pool
The beaches in Cancun are amazing! The water is blue and warm, although the waves are pretty strong, so don’t expect to go out into the water for a relaxing swim. The beach/pool staff were always nearby to refill your drink or bring you some food, or adjust your umbrella and bring fresh towels. If you’re not a beach person, there are 3 beautiful infinity pools on the property, also equipped with plenty of servers to bring you food and drinks.
Activities
Housekeeping delivers an activity schedule for the following day along with their turn down service every night. Daily activities include yoga, water aerobics, afternoon DJ at the pool, wine tastings, cocktail mixology classes, and live nightly entertainment. There is never a dull moment!
Overall Thoughts
We loved it! Secrets definitely had amazing food, drinks and service. The staff was really attentive, and they went above and beyond to make our stay wonderful. The one downside is that they push really hard, especially for your first few days, to sell you extras. We were always being approached to buy a bottle of wine, romantic dinner on the beach (why pay an extra $200 to eat on the beach like we can’t just post up there with food whenever we want?), spa treatments, you name it.
The staff will also try to convince you to upgrade to the “Preferred Level”, which has its own infinity pool and “exclusive” access to the Steakhouse and Mediterranean restaurant and top shelf liquors. What they won’t tell you is that regular guests also have access to the pool and the restaurants, and all the bars provide the same liquor. If you stop by one of the bars and they don’t have the brand you’re looking for, they will gladly go get it from somewhere else.
Aside from the sales pitches and the loud AC units, I was really pleased with our stay. We will definitely be back for an anniversary or birthday in the future. What about you? Where is your favorite beach resort? Leave it in the comments!
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I haven’t been to Cancun yet, so I’ll have to check out this resort!
Great service, being able to use the facilities pre- and post-checkout before leaving for the airport. That infinity pool sounds dreamy… how much would the upgrade be? Did you get access to the pool like you said they were (all available to all guests). You room looks stunning – shame about the AC noise. Def a let down but suppose you never know. On my last hotel stay we got moved for street noise only to get noisy neighbours. You just never know 🙂
I didn’t ask how much the upgrade was when they were trying to get us to do it at the hotel, but I know when I booked the room on Expedia, the Preferred rooms were an additional $100 per night. I’m glad we didn’t bother, because we ended up on the top floor of the hotel, and our view of the ocean was beautiful. And yes, we had dinner and drinks on the “Preferred” level several times, and kicked back at the pool without any issues. I also didn’t bother to complain about the noise, because even though the room and the balcony were beautiful, we didn’t spend enough time in the room to bother going down to complain and risk getting a room that didn’t have as nice a view as ours. When we go back (and we definitely will), I will be sure to request a room on the other side of the hotel.
So glad you enjoyed your honeymoon. We just got back from ours a week and some ago and had a blast. We went to the Sandals resort in Jamaica so we had a similar experience 🙂
Omg how amazing! For our anniversary next year we were thinking to use Secrets!
Sounds like a fun Honeymoon which is great. I loved my Honeymoon. Even 12 years later it’s one of my favorite memories in my marriage. Hope yours will be as well.