Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya

Truly a phenomenal location for a couple's trip. Highlights: - The rooms are phenomenally spacious and well appointed. - The staff were extraordinarily helpful and worked extremely hard to ensure that all guests were taken care of. - The restaurants were all excellent (we ate at Portofino twice, El Patio once, and Himitsu once). - Pools are immaculate and beautiful. - Bali bed experience was wonderful. - Plenty of all inclusive "side quests" - e.g., guacamole making, kayaking, etc. - Well appointed gym. - Incredible value - we booked early and were rewarded with an experience at a price that I would have paid 1.5x to 2x more for. Minor Issues: - The iPad in our room did not work. - Our room did not receive turndown service twice and a day cleaning once. - Sargassum smell and presence is not ideal (obviously not the resort's fault in the least). - Did not get to spend enough time there to enjoy all of the wonderful opportunities! Just a great experience. Wonderful staff.

My wife and I just returned from our first visit to Secrets Akumal over the July 4th weekend. We also celebrated my birthday during this trip. Overall, we had an amazing experience and would effeminately return. We booked as guests of friends who are UVC members and stayed in a 4th (top) floor ocean view preferred room in building 4. We appreciated the Preferred Club check in and were respected when we politely declined the "UVC presentation." We loved the location of our room and used the soaking tub on our balcony every night. Having the Preferred Club in our building was nice, but we primarily only used it for tea in the mornings and an occasional after dinner drink. Out Concierge, Karin, was helpful and efficient for the few requests that we had, and she even came to our palapa on the beach the day before our departure to confirm our late check-out. We are primarily beach people and spent most of our days at the preferred section of the beach where the service was amazing! Our beach concierges (Ruben and Luis) and waiter (Albierto) were very attentive and made sure we lacked for nothing. The sargasm was bad during our stay, but they did a good job of cleaning it quickly to prevent the water from becoming unswimmable. We booked a private 1-hour guided snorkel excursion with Fernando Cat. Our guide Marianna was amazing and took great pictures and videos that we purchased for $30. I also snorkeled on my own several days and saw lots of fish, a stingray, and several barracuda. We ate at both the Marker Cafe and Seaside for breakfast. We found the selection and quality better at the Marker Cafe, but the service by David was top notch a Seaside. For lunch, we either ordered food from our beach server or ate the offerings being grilled by the pool, We had the Marker Cafe the last day prior to leaving for our flight and found the selection very good. For dinner, we ate at the Mexican, Japanese, French, Italian, and Seaside. The food overall was very good. I have a gluten sensitivity. I had no reactions during our stay and found the wait staff very helpful and accommodating to modify most dishes if requested. there were nightly dinner shows around the pool that others states they enjoyed, but we preferred to eat at the indoor restaurants. The spirits were good quality, but the wine selections are very limited. My wife prefers sparking rose, but this was not available at any of the bars or restaurants. We spent one afternoon at the spa after booking a discounted 80 minute couples massage with he ladies who come around giving free 5 minute massages on the beach. The water circuit was novel, but not something I would pay extra for. My wife enjoyed her massage more than I did. The therapists suggested a scented massage oil for each of us, which we found out after the fact was an extra cost. This upsale left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths, but we felt uncomfortable confronting them about this when checking out of the spa. Overall, we had a very enjoyable experience and will likley return in the future when the sargasm is not quite as bad.

We were there for 1 week in mid March & had a great time on our first visit to SA! We were celebrating my 50th birthday & had a group of 4. We have been to another Secrets & also Sandals so this wasn’t our first AI. Pros- - Beautiful resort, well maintained, clean. - Smells great throughout - Most staff very friendly & helpful - Good drinks. You’ll find your favorite or try them all! - Lots to do if you choose to or ok to just relax! - Easy check out in preferred club - Housekeeping does a great job - Snorkeling right off beach - If you ask for something, they will accommodate or at least try - Silent disco was fun - Delyria show was good - Lunch time buffets were really good especially the tacos (Tuesday), baked potatoes (Wednesday) & pasta (Sunday). - They went all out to celebrate my birthday. Singing & special desserts on two different days at different restaurants, banner on the door, balloons & notes on the bed making it extra special! - Food overall was very good. Some things better than others of course but that’s expected anywhere. - Preferred- We originally booked non preferred thru Costco but closer to departure ending up getting preferred for the same price thru Hyatt so rebooked! We were in building 4 so the preferred lounge was on the way to the room which means we always stopped after the pool before getting ready for dinner & usually after dinner. We did like breakfast at seaside but also did the buffet, both great! We did not try the Greek restaurant. Stand outs- Ismael (pool service) is absolutely top notch! Best service we had all week… by a mile!! Always had waters for us immediately upon starting his shift & remembered our drink orders. He is extremely quick & will get you whatever you need! He makes great recommendations too. We usually had him at the middle pool but he does move around. Tip him well, he works for it! Bordeaux was delicious although the service not as good as at other restaurants & took forever. Order the pork & duck for sure! Cheese selection & French onion soup were very good as were the brioche & onion rolls. (I have seen that they changed their menu after our visit so selection may be different) Portofino was delicious & Service was amazing! Oso buco & lasagna were two faves. Cons - longer than needed check in especially after a long travel day. - Difficult to find way around resort but it’s beautiful & not really a huge deal. Signage could be improved & would completely fix the issue. - Being approached by spa staff every single day got a bit bothersome. - Not able to see the beach/ocean from a lot of the resort. We loved the jungle like atmosphere but I’d also love to be able to see the ocean more. - Service at Bali beds needs improvement (or maybe it was just the day or server we had, as I’m sure they’ll have different staff daily) but was lacking for us especially for the added cost. - Dinners take a long time, usually 2 but up to 3 hours so keep that in mind. We always went before 7 & only had a wait once, at Bordeaux. We missed the silent disco one night because dinner took too long. We didn’t mind for the most part because we got to just enjoy each other & the food but is helpful to know you’ll want to plan on being there a couple hours. - Not sure what the hype is over the pool side pizza. It was closed for a few days so we were excited to try it once it opened but basically tasted like a microwave pizza. - Most Ocean view rooms should be called partial view because they are typically partially blocked by other buildings, vegetation, etc. We were in building 4 preferred. I believe only Ocean front rooms will give you full ocean views but I could be wrong. - The floors in rooms are extremely slippery when they get wet! The rooms easily got steamed up when balcony doors opened & floor would get damp. Use the slippers & put towels down on floor if using the tub on balcony. - Pool & beach chairs. Again, keep in mind we were there Mar 17-24 so likely a busier time. People are up at 6am (or earlier) getting chairs. All chairs were gone by 8:30am so we had to also get up early to get a chair. There were people getting up at 5am to mark their territory (really claiming that was their spot!). People would get moved from the main pool if not there for more than 45 minutes in the morning on occasion but that was not happening with everyone. There could & should be more chairs available at all of the pools. I have seen so many posts about not having to worry about getting a chair & I can tell you, at least in March, it was not an easy task! You can’t go to breakfast, gym, etc & come back & find a chair, at any pool or beach. This was by far the most frustrating part of the vacation. We did have 4 people so slightly harder but even when it was 2 of us, same issue. Entertainment- Some of it ok, my friends liked the Beatles show (I didn’t go) & Delyria was good! The poolside shows were not the best I’ve seen at a resort but they were ok. The buffets that accompanied them were hit & miss for what was good. Snorkeling- we did not go with a guide because the day we wanted to, we couldn’t find one as they were likely already out. We saw plenty of fish but no turtles snorkeling from beach in front of resort. From what I have heard, go first thing in the morning & you’ll see turtles! Airport - no wait at all for customs/immigration. Got right through! We arrived on a Monday at 3pm. Baggage claim took the longest, probably about an hour but overall easy process. Kalido - Amazing transport! We did a private van, we had 4 of us with luggage & golf clubs. Driver was there waiting & ready for us! He was super friendly, fun & got us to the resort safely. I would say it took just over an hour to get to SA from the airport. Transport back to airport was also easy & timely, although not as fun because we were going home! Took longer to get there due to an accident but they picked us up at 11:30 for a 4:15 flight. This gave us time to get there, get bags checked & have lunch. It was nice not feeling rushed & we didn’t have to wait long at the airport. Golf- PGA Riviera Maya. My husband & brother in law golfed one day. Was a 10 minute cab ride each way so easy to get there. Can’t recall exactly but think cab was $20 per person each way. Green fees were $198 each, includes cart. We booked tee times thru the hotel without issues. They liked the course but felt it was a little unorganized once they got there. Would we go back…yes! We have a lot of other places we want to go but would definitely consider Akumal again if it’s an option!

I highly recommend this resort - you will not be disappointed. The food, the Staff, the room, The Grounds and Yes, the preferred club and Swin out pool is a plus. It is not necessary to enjoy the resort. Everyone is treated wonderful.

Everything from the service/staff to the food to the activities was AMAZING, we will definitely be back to this resort!!