We booked our HM through Apple Vacations and loved loved loved Secrets Maroma (Riveria Maya, Mexico) and would definitely recommend it!
Here is a detailed review, but please feel free to ask any questions! (Hopefully you can read this okay since I typed it in Word and copied and pasted:O)
Landing at CUN/transfer to resort: A+, after passing through Customs, we went outside, immediately found an Apple Vacations rep and were in a shuttle on our way to the resort within 30 minutes of landing!
Check-in: B- We booked a Preferred Club room (will discuss later) and since we arrived around 11:45am, our room wasn’t ready yet. Luckily we had packed swimming gear in our carry-ons, we so wasted no time getting food, drinks, and hitting the beach. We were told to go back to check-in at 1pm, but we waited around until about 2:15pm for someone to actually take us to our room
Room: A, we have a first floor Preferred Club swim-out in building 25. It was in the middle of the resort, so we liked like the location relative to the beach and the main building. The king bed was so comfortable that we both agreed we slept better there than at home (the booze probably had something to do with it). We had been nervous from tripadvisor reviews about the bathroom being “open” to the room…but there were curtain dividers and the toilet and shower both had separate doors, so it was fine. We loved the his and her sinks as well. We used the tub once (sorry if this is TMI, but it was our HM) and we both fit in there comfortably. The TV even swiveled so you could watch it from the tub. The swim-out itself had 2 chairs, a lounge chair, table, and a cushioned love-seat area. The first few days the water was so cold we didn’t use it (it’s not heated) but by mid-week, we started using it. Although each room more or less has a section of the pool, we never saw anyone else using it, so we really had the space to ourselves.
Pools: A, the water was the perfect cool temperature and felt amazing after laying out a bit. There were community rafts that were usually fairly easy to track down. The lounge chairs were cushioned and so comfortable!! It may have been the time we were there (Oct 18-25), but we were always able to find 2 chairs on the poolside. However, there were 2 pools, one with the only swim-up bar and a second that looked out at the beach (the pools really are right next to each other though). The beach-view pool seemed to fill up quicker, but we deemed this our favorite spot. There were always cocktail waiters/waitresses walking around, so there wasn’t a need to go to the swim-up bar.
Beach: A, gorgeous! There were always chairs available and drink staff. There was also a grill set up during lunch and a bar with swings for seats. The waves were kind of small, but the water was beautiful.
Entertainment: B+, The staff was kind of cheesy, but really encouraged everyone to joined activities and did a good job of walking around announcing them. During the day there was beach volleyball & soccer, pool volleyball, Tequila tasting, Spanish lessons, poker, bingo, etc. The shows at night usually started btwn 8:30 and 9:30. We went to 3 – Fire Show, Circus, and a Game Show. They were all pretty entertaining but ended by 10:30. The only thing that seemed to be open later was Desires, the Night Club. We stopped in one night, but again, it was pretty much staff dancing and trying to get others to join in, so we didn’t stay long. The resort pretty much seemed empty by 11pm every night, although after a day of sun & drinking, we were usually ready for bed then.
Drinks: A, pretty much everything under the sun was available…although a lot of the daiquiri/margarita type drinks weren’t super strong. We ended up ordering exra rum/tequila in them a few times.
Food: B+, There was a main buffet for breakfast that was great, it had an omelet bar, crepe bar, eggs, waffles, Mexican cuisine, cereal, etc. For lunch there was either food off the grill (fish, chicken, burgers), fajitas, etc. or one sit-down menu restaurant. Lunch was good, but by the end of the week we were kind of sick of the same style things.
Dinner, overall: A-: We visited: Portofino’s (Italian) twice A. They had a menu in addition to create your own pasta. I loved their pesto sauce so much, I had it twice. We ate at El Patio (Mexican) once, and I’d give it a B-. I had the chicken fajitas and DH had the skirt steak. We ate at Himatsu (Habachi) twice, A+, and both times sat at the grill…which requires advanced reservations, but it was delicious! The fried ice cream there was our favorite dessert from the trip. Ocean (Seafood), gets an A. I had the tuna steak and it was amazing! Seaside Grill (Steakhouse), gets an A-. I ordered the Kobe steak and was really disappointed…but DH had the T-bone and it was not only huge, but so flavorful…it may tie with my favorite dinner there.
Overall, I would say that I’m giving dinner an A- instead of an A b/c all of the restaurants seemed to try to pressure you to buy a bottle of wine. There were 5 house wines available, but every night we were offered the wine list. DH really hated this.
We also did an excursion, Xplorer, which has rafting through a cave, swimming through a cave, ATV courses, and ziplining. We had fine, but since there were only 4 activities to do, we kind of got tired of everything at the end of the day. We set it up through our Apple rep at Secrets. We were glad we did it, but not sure we’d recommend it. For the two of us, with transportation, park passes and a lunch buffet, it was $258. On top of that, the park offered to sell us 30 pictures of us from throughout the activities for $75 (which is cheap compared to some others we talked to, but we didn’t buy them).
Lastly, the Preferred Club: We’re still kind of undecided on if this was worth it. It gave us access to a private bar which had a tv, 3 computers w/free interest, 3 games tables, snacks, and hot H’or deurves in the afternoon. I’m not sure if there really was a difference in the preferred hotel rooms or not.
In all though, I’d say if you’re considering Secrets Maroma, do it!! It was absolutely stunning and SO relaxing.
Sorry for the long review, but here are my pics: