TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

My friend had never visited this resort before, so I was pretty excited that I chose this property for our trip (my 3rd visit). Check-in was lacking from my other times.. I'm glad I knew the process as we were not told anything and sat at a table in the lobby. Eventually, we were brought glasses of bubbly with a cherry. The gentleman had a nice cart with food, but people were served before us despite us sitting there for 15 minutes before they arrived.. No biggy ..Pros: beautiful property, amazing staff, fantastic food, loved the lazy river. Shout out to CURI the golf cart driver..and a few others..I didn't get their names..( I feel bad for this). They were always so friendly and talkative..(We had fun with the gentleman that says: "buckle up"). Amelia was smiley at Don Miguel's and patient taking our order. It was our go to place every night as it was quieter than the sports bar or the Plaza España. The bartenders were very good at mixing our drinks but not welcoming or friendly. The Imperial Band was fun for our last night. Everyone was up dancing. Other nights we passed by the Plaza, the music was so loud that there was no way we could carry on a conversation. Kenya at L'Alsace restaurant was very accommodating. We enjoyed the Beet salad, escargot stuffed mushrooms, FRENCH ONION soup is a must as is their salmon with brussel sprouts. I didn't enjoy the Filet mingnon as it tasted wild to me. Room service was amazing every time.. Again, the salmon was fantastic, breakfast fruit plates, omelets, shrimp fettuccine, and if you like hot/spicy.. the wings. The young man that filled our fridge in building 6 was wonderful. They have glass water bottles in the room and one got accidentally knocked over and broke.. broken glass and slivers everywhere, not to mention the water. Plastic bottles are offered at the pool which I prefer. As mentioned we were in building 6, 2nd floor. The room is large, with lots of privacy, a huge tub, clothesline on the patio, but obstructive view of the pool due to the foliage. Next time, I will request building 7 again, superior suite ( 3rd floor). It sounds like I had many complaints but we had an amazing week because of the wonderful staff that they do employ, which reminds me..Jema at the lazy river was wonderful at remembering my 2 drinks (which I would switch up).. Belvedere w/ half orange half pineapple or Belvedere with Fresca. Remember to tip these amazing workers. They work 6 days a week with one day off.. My last complaint and probably the most important issue (which I advised when checking out) - I called the night before requesting a wake-up call for 8 am to get ready for departure.. No CALL. And the other is: I called asking for our luggage to be picked up and brought to the front for departure. I specifically said, " Do we have to be in the room for pick up?" The man said "No." So, we ran to the Mar Tierra (delicious breakfast and lunch items) to grab a very quick bite. Check out was quick as all we had to do was hand over our room keys. We went to the area to wait for Canada Transfers to pick us up and NO LUGGAGE.. The man told us to have a seat and he would send someone for it. Un-needed stress as our drive was on its way. There is a gift shop there at the entrance that we totally missed coming in, but the small gift shop by Don Miguel's had a gentleman working one night that was very bubbly and fun to talk to. They have very pretty items (sandals, coverups, jewelry, hats, etc). Top shelf liquor was offered at "All the bars," which is nice.. We did not book prive and we felt we didn't miss out on anything. Enjoy this amazing property - I was sad there were no cats as I had brought cat food/treats as I do on every trip.

This wasn't the best resort we've stayed at, but it wasn't the worst. Many of the other couples we spoke to LOVED it, and had gone several times. We don't regret going here, but don't see why to go here more than once. The highlights: The activities were the best part, in my opinion. I loved that they had yoga on the beach a few days a week (I wish it was there every day). And the rest of the week there was yoga on a covered patio outside of the gym. Zyanya was an amazing yoga instructor! She also taught pilates and dance classes, but I wasn't able to go. The beach was nice! The resort could have done a better job cleaning the seaweed, but it wasn't too bad for early May. It was also too windy to swim most days we were there, but that didn't bother us. The breeze felt great. There were downsides to the beach, listed below. The cafe was great! I won't go to another resort that doesn't have a cafe, I need my morning coffee.. which turned into two morning coffees, a pre-dinner coffee, and after-dinne ice cream. No notes! 10/10. The downsides: Every resort is this way, but I didn't love the room we had. The first two nights we were stuck on the bottom floor directly next to the elevator. We had lots of noise all night while the people above us partied in their room (why?? There were SO Many bars, and nightlife activities), and the following mornings they were moving furniture. We requested a room change after the first night and couldn't get it until the night after because the resort was over booked. Also, all of these resorts are built the same but WHY are the bathrooms just glass stalls?! No privacy, the opposite of romance, lol. More on that later.. We also tried to upgrade to the Prive, specifically to get the cabana on the beach. However, because the resort was overbooked, there wasn't one available until the day before we left, and it requires a minimum of three days. Not ideal. Also, we felt the upgrade was only worth it for the cabana, pretty much everything else was NOT worth it, especially at an all-inclusive resort. We wanted to upgrade to a cabana because, while we liked the beach, it was over packed. People can do what they want on the beach, but we were so close to other people that every day we had to listen to other people's music. Or even worse, we'd have large parties by us, literally encroaching in our little cover. I kid you not, one girl pulled her chair less than a foot away from mine, leaving me zero room to actually sunbathe. We wound up moving from that group (being forced out of our spot) and had to truck it to one of the very last chairs on the beach. We only used the pool once, so I don't really have anything negative to say about it, but I think you can tell by the fact that we didn't go back, that it didn't blow our socks off. And last, but certainly not least, we weren't impressed with the food. It was just mediocre, but there weren't many good options at any restaurant. There were hardly any fruit and vegetarian-friendly options (especially if you don't care for seafood). Which means if you're vegan, don't come here lol! I would have given higher marks for the Hibachi grill, however.. we tried two nights in a row to get a reservation, but the only times available were at 8:40 (they didn't seat us until 9 PM, we didn't eat until about 9:45). We decided to just take it on our second try, because you can ONLY make reservations starting at 10 AM, and even though I got to our concierge at 9:30 AM and was first in line, they had nothing available until then. (Why not just let people make their reservations when they check in?!) And if that wasn't enough to deter us, we're about 90% certain that it was the Hibachi grill that gave us food poisoning for our last day. That completely ruined our last beach day (and the over crowding of people didn't help either), and also the fact that the resort room's bathroom leaves little to the imagination. ;) the height of romance for our last day was my husband and I taking turns going for "walks" to use a public bathroom only to get back and immediately have to send the other out because we needed to go again in our all glass phone booth toilet. Not ideal, but I'm glad it was out last day. Tough to make it through our flight home. We are STILL trying to kick this bug on Saturday at home, when we had Hibachi on Wednesday night. Whew.

We come here at least once a year, if not twice. The convenience of the air transfer arranged by the hotel, the short ride, and the overall environment make it an easy getaway! This was our first time bringing a group of friends and they all loved it here as well. We stayed in our usual ocean front emerald suite. If we stay for longer than 5 nights, I might do a split stay between the emerald and the diamond suite just to mix it up. We love the ocean view while sipping coffee or enjoying the enormous jacuzzi. The wind was pretty strong in the evenings on the beach, but every morning was beautiful. We always pay extra for the prive package because it’s worth it to have the private check in, all your dinner reservations made, and the lounge is very nice for a fancy beverage. The regular concierge desks told our friends they didn’t need to make dinner reservations, which is true. However it is just smart to do it ahead of time so you can be seated right away and not be hungry for an extra hour waiting for a table. Don’t ask, just tell them you want to make a dinner reservation! The prive package also includes 4 bottles of in room liquor, a Bali bed at the pool or beach (whichever is available), lobster at every dinner if you wish, in room goodies like flowers, beach bag, and treats, and access to the lounge that has snacks, and liquor options exclusive to the lounge. They used to have a couple room categories that included the prive package, but now it seems they only include it with the highest room tier. The beach was beautiful, with a bit of seaweed that they were constantly cleaning up. The ocean was a great temperature and the consistent breeze kept it from feeling too hot or still. The pool was really busy during peak hours of the day! We usually come during off season so this was a surprise for us. I really wasn’t too impressed with the drinks at the pool bar. Rodolfo at the beach bar took his time to make me a stellar margarita because the mix they have is not pleasant. I tried to ask the bartender at the pool to make the same thing and it did not go well. Don Miguel’s bar was a nightly stop for a drink before and after dinner! Emilia and Uriel were on top of everyone’s requests. The dry ice chocolate martini was my favorite. The shows seemed to be lacking this trip, but the burlesque show was still the best show of the week! The urban show is definitely not worth seeing- it felt a little silly. I received two massages while here, using our $200 resort spa credit. I’ll note that the 80 min massages used to be $189, so with the $100 credit per massage, your out of pocket was $89. They’ve recently increased the cost to $210, so now your out of pocket is $110 with your resort credit. Lucy was my first spa therapist and she was excellent! My shoulders were in knots from the day prior of traveling. She did an amazing job and was very relaxing. My second therapist was Raquel and she DESTROYED my legs, in the best way. My legs and feet were sore from walking around all week, and she absolutely murdered my legs. They feel great now, but she definitely put some work into breaking up the tension!! I always use our resort spa credit on deep tissue massages here, and I will continue to do so! The churros from Santiago each night were always a treat, but he seemed to close earlier each night so we made sure to grab them when we could! The Mexican vanilla ice cream from the coffee shop was AMAZING. The whole coffee/ice cream shop really adds a nice afternoon treat. One thing to mention is how food allergies are handled- we had one person in our group who is severely allergic to eggs and dairy. This would be mentioned at every meal- every host asked about allergies, every server asked. However NOTHING was done to accommodate. In the past, I’ve seen the chef come out and go over the menu and show what they can make allergy free (this was with my mother and her gluten allergy). I was really impressed and thought they would do the same for him. The only restaurant that fully accommodated his needs was the hibachi, and that’s because I had it written in their reservation system NO DAIRY NO EGGS. We had to relay this multiple times to every person we spoke to at the dinner, and thankfully the chef was fully prepared. Being hibachi’s, he was able to watch everything being made and was comfortable that his food did not have any contamination. I just felt really bad because it seemed like we were asked over and over about any food allergies, but then it was really a hassle to get any kind of accommodations. Also- you do not need to get to the airport four hours early. Go to the lobby and request to sign the waiver to ask for your transfer to be changed no more than 3 hours before your flight time. It takes like 30 minutes to get to the airport and once you are there, it’s super fast through check in and security. Plus if you have a delay (which is likely for CUN), you’ll just be sitting around, spending money. If it’s a busy travel day like Friday or Saturday, the airport will be packed but they facilitate everyone through very quickly. We loved our stay and we will be back over Christmas!!! I am going to try to book longer to stay over Christmas and NYE, but we cannot wait to come back!!

Everything was great the new additions of the Cafe Sisal and food trucks were fantastic. The pool bar Margarita and Sonia were the best. Edgar of course at the Martini bar was great. All the great food is beyond description. Best of all Dora Dora the Explorer best guess representative ever added 10 yrs. With her humor and laughter. We will definitely be back.

Amazing place!!! This is our second visit and we will return again Dora is amazing. She makes sure we are always happy guests. She makes us feel like family. She is a wonderful asset to the Valentin and the place would not be the same without her. She is the reason we will return again and again. There is no possible way Valentín can pay her enough. Give my Dora raise. We love Wilbert at the pool. He always makes sure we have a drink in hand and food when it’s lunchtime. We were so happy to see him again this visit. It made us feel like coming home. Thanks Valentín for a great visit!! See ya soon.