My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

(Pictures are in my photo album)

What can I say?? We did not want to leave!!!

Our HM was not without a few mishaps, but it was amazing all in all and we would return in a heartbeat.

I will preface by saying we were both sick on our wedding day, and consequently on part of our HM. I was doing better than DH, but we were determined not to let it get in the way of us having a good time.

Here's some pointers I will give in case you don't want to read the entire thing.

1. The room where the toilet is for some reason, the door does not go all the way to the floor. Which means you can hear what's going on in there. It's not a bad thing if you already live together, but could be a strong adjustment to make if you don't!!!
2. If you have the breakfast in bed as part of your package, ask for an American breakfast instead of the Continental one. Just trust me on this.
3. The strongest drinks can be found at the Manatee bar, aka the swim-up bar.
4. The most popular lounges can be found around the main pool by the swim up bar. People will reserve lounges as early as 7am as insane as that sounds.
5. Floaties for the pool can be found at the AquaWorld booth and at the booth near the Excellence Club office. However, these are also taken early in the morning, so by 9am these suckers are usually gone.
6. You can make changes to your dinner on the beach menu. Just ask.
7. If you prefer more quiet time at the pool, the ones by Bldgs 3 & 4 are more quiet, as well as the one behind Bldgs 7 and 8.
8. From what we could tell from others and our own opinion, Himitsu & Bordeaux were the best restaurants. El Patio, which is behind the theatre, was not that impressive and the service was slow as sin.
9. Do not change your money at the airport. You will get better exchange rates using your credit card, or changing in town.
10. Do not talk to anyone at the airport who tries to talk to you. They're basically trying to sell you on tours or timeshares.
11. Be sure to bring more than 1 credit card. Your card may get declined because of theft protection. Be safe and let your credit card company know you will be traveling out of the country before you go so that there will be no problems.
12. Tipping goes a long way. The trip is paid for, but that's no excuse to be cheap. A few dollars here and there make a world of difference.
13. Try to limit your frozen drink intake. I'm pretty sure that's what did me in with the Montezuma's Revenge.
14. Occasionally there are restaurants closed on some nights due to the weddings there that use the rooms for receptions. Check with staff or your concierge if you want to know what's open and closed that day.
15. There is entertainment there at night, but it's cheesy at best. We found ourselves sleeping at 10pm which was early for us!! If you're a party person, take a cab for about $25 and head in to Cancun or Playa Del Carmen for the nightclubs & bars there at night.

Day 1: Weather in NY: 65 & Sunny, Weather in Cancun: 88 and sunny.
We flew American Airlines out of JFK. I'm a frequent flyer with American, and while I hate flying them out of LaGuardia, I never have problems out of JFK. This was no exception. We were lucky enough to have our fellow LIW bride, Theresa drop us off. (Thanks, woman!)

I ended up with a nosebleed while on the plane, about 35 minutes before landing. The flight attendants scrambled to help me out, getting me tissues and an ice pack. I had on my hoodie, and one even said to me 'Oh, Mrs. J, here you go' before she handed me the ice pack. Almost shocked me to hear that as I wasn't used to it yet.

The nosebleed finally stops and we land in Cancun to sunny 88 degree weather. I learned from my last trip to ignore all of the people who come up to you trying to get your attention. If you have a transportation voucher through your carrier, only deal with them. Everyone else will waste your time with a tour or timeshare pitch for hours.

We get to our Apple Vacations van, and wait for other passengers. About 15 minutes go by and we're full and off to Secrets Excellence. The trip took about 20 minutes from the airport.

We arrive at Secrets, and we're blown away. We're greeted as Mr. & Mrs. J and are handed cold wash cloths. Our guide, Cesar, takes our bags and proceeds to show us around. Fountains, marble and smiling faces are everywhere. We take a pit stop at the main bar in the lobby where he has the bartender make us some Banana Mamas. We both really liked this drink. Then we proceeded to where we were to check in at the Excellence Club.

The Excellence Club office has snacks all day, alcohol, free internet service and the concierge. We check in, schedule everything that came with our package (massage, dinner on beach, breakfast in bed) and get to our room, #7356. Cesar tells us this is a great room, because it's an ocean view and on the top floor.

The room is exactly like the pictures on the website. King size bed, 2 jacuzzis (one in the bathroom area, the other on the balcony) a seperate shower, and toilet, 2 sinks, living room area and just about everything you could need as far as toiletries are concerned.

We relax and take it easy on this day, as we were up since 6am. I get about 2 more nosebleeds before dinner, which was frustrating as sin. We go to dinner at Bordeaux, which is the French restaurant. Everything was really good here. Then we get back to the room to make use of the jacuzzi on the balcony. I don't think I will continue on the rest of the details here, will I?

Day 2: Weather: 91 & sunny.
We got up early and headed to Portofino for their buffet breakfast. They have everything you can possibly imagine including an omelet station. Breakfast was amazing, so we vowed to come back every day. We scheduled our massage for this day. It was part of our package, it was a couples reflexology massage I believe. Lasted about 50 minutes in their amazing spa area. DH and I almost fell asleep during the massage, it was that good. I get another nosebleed before dinner yet again. It's getting annoying at this point. We run into Cesar, and he asks if everything is alright, and lets us know they have a doctor in house. I am now also suffering from Montezuma's Revenge as a result of one too many frozen drinks the day before.

We have dinner at Portofino, which DH likes but I was not impressed with at all. Which was surprising considering how well the breakfast was. I ordered the 4 cheese lasagna, and the pasta is undercooked and the portion was so small, it looked like something my niece wouldn't get full on. But then again, this is an all inclusive, after all!! So after this night, I made sure to always get soup or an appetizer in addition to the entree.

Day 3: Weather: 91 and sunny again
We've been baking in the sun for 2 days now. DH realizes he has a sunburn despite having stayed under one of the palapas all day. (There are palapas, chairs, hammocks & beds all around the pool area, mainly by the main pool) I had a nosebleed again, and this time I was so frustrated, I went to find the doctor. He wasn't around, but his asst was, who could barely understand or speak english. Thank goodness I could remember some spanish. However, after figuring Lord knows how much we would be charged, we cancelled the doctor visit.

We day before we realized that they have BBQ food on the beach from 12 - 4pm. So we ate there the day before, but this time we wanted something other than hot dogs & burgers. (Let's face it, we could eat it at home, even though they were pretty good!) So we went to the Seaside Grill which had a buffet set up for lunch.

The food was okay, DH and I are somewhat picky eaters, and both of us had a hard time finding stuff we wanted to eat. If you eat anything, you're fine. If you're not crazy about peppers, onions or mushrooms, you might have some difficulty.

We did a little shopping at some of the stores on the resort, and then got ready for dinner. We went to Himitsu this night, everything was really good here, but once again the portions pretty small. Later that night we get a call, and it was the doctor!!! Apparently his assistant did not understand us when we said to cancel the appointment (even though I also told her in spanish!!!)

Day 4: Weather: 90 & sunny.
After filling up on the breakfast buffet again (how I did not get a gallbladder attack on our HM was beyond me) we ran to catch our 8:10am bus to go to our snorkeling trip that we booked through the AquaWorld booth at the resort. It was part of a package deal, snorkel, jet skiing and a jungle tour for $155. We went on a bus that picked up other people and got to Playa Del Carmen to get on the ferry to Cozumel. Once in Cozumel, we boarded the speed boat that would take us out to the snorkeling places. If you have not gone snorkeling, definitely go!! Even those who can't swim can do this, as I am not the best swimmer in the world!!! The fishes of all colors and the coral reefs made it worth the trip. The fish just come past you as if you're not there. I told DH next time we're trying scuba diving!!!

The trip included lunch at a place called the Mission, and then we had about an hour to walk around before meeting at the ferry back. Cozumel seemed okay, but it was a lot of the same shops, selling silver jewelry, t-shirts and cigars. Kind of reminded me of Key West in that respect. We were both beyond exhausted (who knew snorkeling and the sun took so much out of you?) so we took it easy. DH actually lied down in the central square on a bench while I looked around.

We get back to Secrets, and we're beat. Exhausted beyond belief. But this is Friday, and Cinco de Mayo to boot, so it's Mexican night at Secrets. They have tables and chairs set up in the main area with chair covers & bows in the Mexican flag colors. There is a buffet set up. DH & I had planned on room service. But I force myself to get downstairs and see what this is all about. They have a donkey and sombreros for pictures, along with some parrots. They have people who come in to sell their goods, kind of like a flea market. One guy is doing sketches of people's faces, another is making beautiful paintings with just his fingertips. (Yes, I bought one!) Others selling jewelry, clothing, and assorted handmade wooden and canvas goods.

Day 5: Weather: 92 and sunny.
This day we have our Jungle Tour scheduled, and thankfully, we don't have to catch the bus until 11:00am. So we get some breakfast and wait for the bus. This time we are taken to Cancun in the hotel zone. They seat us on these things that look like large jet skis, and set us up in groups of 8. We all follow each other through the jungle, which was not much more than just tall grass, and winding pathways on the water. But it was a lot of fun!!! We get to a sandbar, and we stop and they have us snorkeling again!!! A lot of people here, but this is a different area, and so we see different sea life than the day before. (And by this time we're pros, thankfully) We jet back on to return to the hotel about 4pm. Our dinner on the beach was scheduled for 7pm.

We wait in the Excellence office to be taken for our dinner on the beach. We are there with 4 other couples and 2 waiters. They set us up with about 4 courses, everything delicious. We altered our menu somewhat, since DH does not like seafood and almost every dish included shrimp. (So yes, you CAN change the menu). This was one of the best times we had on the trip, just a romantic dinner on the beach with tiki torches and cruise ships off in the distance.

We get back to the room from dinner to find the towel swans on the bed with rose petals everywhere, and a bubble bath drawn up. They must have gone bubble happy, because the minute we both got in the tub, the bubbles almost spilled over onto the floor!!! I'll leave the rest off here.....

Day 6: Weather: 90 and sunny
We had our jet skiing scheduled for this day since we didn't have ample enough time the day prior. We both get on our own jet skis and wander the area for about a half hour. A lot of fun, something we will definitely be doing again!!!

Later this night, DH gets sick as a dog. I came back to the room after picking up a few things, and DH is under the covers and shivering. Appparently he was not over being sick, and also being in the sun and then being in wet clothes (jet skiing he kept his t-shirt & shorts on trying not to get sunburned further) did not help at all. He gets cranky when he gets sick, so I left him be and wandered the premises and had a few drinks.

Day 7: Weather: 92 and sunny.
My first mistake this day: Not putting on sunscreen constantly. My second mistake: Not taking a break for shade every so often. I was out in the sun ALL DAY.

We decided as this was our last day, to completely take it easy. I headed out to the pool early, because I wanted DH to get some rest and kick whatever bug he had. I told him where I would be in case he felt better. While lying by the pool, I started talking to some people (although I had talked to various people at the resort throughout our trip) and find out that there was another pair of newlyweds there from 2 towns over. What were the odds? Me and the guy start talking about weddings and the insane costs on Long Island. Turns out they got married 2 days before us. Pretty funny stuff.

We decide to meet up with them for dinner, even though this was Monday, and it was Carribbean night, set up with the chairs, tables & buffet. We go back to Bordeaux, since 3 of the restaurants were closed that night. We have a great time laughing it up, and we vow to keep contact. (which reminds me, we need to give them a call.)

About 2:45am I was awakened by noise coming from the next room. Now the next room had made noise in the previous night or 2, but this was ridiculous. Music was blaring, people were talking loudly. It sounded as if a party of at least 10 people in their room. Normally I would not give a flying phuck about such things, but we had to get up to catch our flight the next day, and to me, this was just plain rude to do, especially at a place that prides itself on somewhere to go and relax.

DH tells me to turn up the AC to drown out the noise. It only works semi-successfully. So now I am awake and annoyed. I am one of those that once I'm awake it's hard to fall back asleep. I go in the bathroom and call the front desk and complain. Something must have been done or said, because finally at 3:45am, the party is over.

The following morning we had our breakfast in bed delivered, and everything was great.
As we were leaving our room to check out, I noticed the noisemakers in the next room had a Do Not Disturb sign on their door. It was all I could do to keep myself from kicking in their door. I knew DH would have killed me, so instead I relegated myself to talking really loudly outside their door. Hey if they can disturb my sleep, I will disturb theirs!!!

We were scheduled to catch our van at 11:50 even though the airport is 20 minutes away and our flight was not until 3pm. THANK GOD we got to the airport this early. The lines to check in was INSANE. And this was on a Tuesday. I can't even imagine what the hell the lines look like on the weekends. After waiting in line for about an hour and 15, we are checked in and ready to go. I try not to kill the 8 drunken young idiots seated near us who keep banging into us without so much as an 'excuse me'.

We land after a slightly bumpy ride where were picked up by yet another LIW bride, Jaime. (Thanks, chica!!!)

All in all, it was an amazing trip, and we are talking about returning on our 1st anniversary!!! Hope this helps!!!!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

More Janna more....sounds wonderful so far!!!!!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

thanks for the review. I will be going in two weeks

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

OMG!!! I'm so happy for the two of you! Oh, and the jacuzzi with bubbles? Glad to see you both had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing the pics & review.

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

Thanks for the review and the pictures. That's where we are going for our hm. I can't wait.

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

we're going there in sept! i can't wait!!! i'm so sorry you were sick but happy you had a wonderful time despite it!!

ETA: I just saw your pics! What a great trip! Thanks for posting them!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

We want to read more Janna!!! Sounds like it was your dream come true!!!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

Great pics

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! (to be continued...)

Great HM review!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

Aww Janna, sorry to hear you and Andrew were so sick on your HM!!!! But I'm glad the 2 of you didn't let it spoil your special time together as DH & DW!!!!!!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

You know I actually read the whole thing...and Wow.....sounds Great....the View and snorkeling and the bed in breakfast ....hmmmmm..i Am jealous

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

I just reread this and wanted to say thanks for the tips, I will definately use them. I loved your review, many thanks for posting it!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

I finally read the rest of it Janna!! Sounds like you had a blast and that you made the most of your time!!! I can't wait to see pictures of this place - it sounds incredible!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

Sounds like you and Mr. J had a fabulous time! See any snowglobes in Mexico?

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

We went there on our honeymoon and it was paradise. Glad you had a great time

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

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Posted by craigshunny

Sounds like you and Mr. J had a fabulous time! See any snowglobes in Mexico?

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Actually we did, so I have to give it to you on Sunday!!!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

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Posted by ewickens

I finally read the rest of it Janna!! Sounds like you had a blast and that you made the most of your time!!! I can't wait to see pictures of this place - it sounds incredible!

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The pictures are in my photo album, woman!!

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

MY FH AND I WERE SUPPOSED TO GO THERE ON 11/05... BUT BECAUSE OF HURRICANE WILMA WE WERE DETOUR TO PUNTA CANA SECRETS.. WE LOVE IT SO MUCH WE WENT THERE AGAIN FOR MY B-DAY 2/06.. AND THAT;S WHERE WE GOT ENGAGED... I LOVED IT IT WAS BEAUTIFULL.. THE ONE AT THE RIVIERA MAYA IS NEWER.. WAS THERE ANY DAMAGE?

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

There was some damage, but you couldn't tell at all, and everything seems to have been repaired. The only thing I noticed was some palm trees that were being cut down.

The hotel zone in Cancun, however, there was construction going on in a lot places. There it's very apparent the damage that Wilma left behind.

Re: My Secrets Excellence Riviera Maya HM review!!! Completed!!

OMG, I just saw this now - this is so incredibly detailed! Sorry about the illnesses that you both put up with, but everything looks like it was beautiful. And you got so tan (I'm jealous!)