Secrets Maroma Beach – A Long Weekend

Ah…..Mexico!  Heading down to Mexico for a long weekend is pretty easy for us since we’re in Texas.  Houston has many direct flights into Cancun that are not very expensive if you keep your eye on the flights.  While Cancun can be great if you’re heading down to get your groove on with young party-people (not that anything is wrong with that – we’ve all been there), we like the less commercialized parts of Mexico.  I just need a pretty beach, good service and I am a happy girl.

All-Inclusive Resort in Mexico

Secrets Maroma Beach meets my criteria, which is why I have been to this resort several times.  It is all-inclusive, which makes it easy to budget your money.  There are extras you can spend money on, like spa treatments and romantic dinners by the beach, but you can still have a wonderful vacation without doing those things.

This resort is huge, with the buildings being shaped in a ‘V’ and the pool in the middle of that ‘V’.  There are seven different restaurants on the property, as well as a buffet venue, so you will definitely find something to eat!  One thing to keep in mind – there is a dress code for some of the restaurants at night, so be sure gentlemen bring a pair of slacks and a few nice shirts for dinner.  You can find the dress code for each restaurant here when you look for more info at each venue.

The rooms are scattered among the property in different buildings.  Make sure to pay attention when booking your room; ocean view is not the same as ocean front.  You can also book a swim-out room, which is on a lower floor.  These rooms open up to a pool that is shared with two other rooms and are nicely covered by trees and other shrubs for privacy.  We have not stayed in one, but they look nice.

Don’t Forget Your AAA Card

When booking your room, make sure you look at their special offers before you book. They generally have some sort of special running.  You can also use your AAA card in this section for discounted rates.  I was able to save almost $500 on our last trip using my AAA card!  If you don’t have one, get one.  It’s roughly $100 a year and most hotels have AAA rates that are lower than the rack room rate.

Tips for Getting Through the Cancun, Mexico Airport

• Secrets Maroma Beach is about a 45-minute drive from the Cancun airport.
• As you get off the airplane, you will enter the immigration area, where you will show your passport.  There are usually quite a few border agents, so this is generally a quick process.
• After you get through immigration, you will go find your luggage.
• After you find your luggage, you will go through the customs area.  The customs officer will ask you to press a button; if the light turns green, you are good to go.  If it turns red, the customs agent will ask you to open up your luggage to be searched. This is not a big deal, I promise!
• After you clear customs and are still in the building, you will start to have people ask you if you need a ride or need to find your ride.  Nicely say no thank you and go outside to meet your transportation if you have set it up prior to your arrival, which I highly suggest.  This way, you and the driver have agreed on a price ahead of time and you won’t get ripped off.  I use Cancun Transfers each time I go and they are awesome to work with.

Service That Makes the Trip Worth It

One thing that sets Secrets Maroma Beach apart from other resorts is the service, which is a strong statement coming from me since I travel quite a bit.  The staff at the resort go overboard to making you feel welcome. There are some vacations I book where I just want to show up and not worry about anything, and this is that kind of place.  The resort can appeal to just about anyone; if you want to party and play pool games, the staff keeps the crowd entertained all day and the swim up bar is always busy.  If you are a beach person and just want a beautiful beach, Secrets Maroma Beach has a gorgeous beach that is constantly maintained to get rid of the seaweed that washes up.

Playa Del Carmen is about a 20-minute taxi ride into town.  The resort helped us set up a taxi driver who dropped us off and then set up a specific time and location to be picked up, along with his cell phone number in case we needed to change anything.  This made it easy to check out 5th street and do some shopping for the kids.

Let me know if you have any questions about our time at Secrets Maroma Beach.  If you travel to Mexico, where do you like to stay?