bayla
Board Fanatic
Member since 7/05 352 total posts
Wedding Date:
6/24/2006 11:00 AM
Wed. Location:
Marina Del Rey
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MY HONEYMOON REVIEW-SECRETS EXCELLENCE-RIVIERA MAYA
Secrets Excellence-riviera maya
AMAZING…this was an incredible honeymoon. The place itself is unbelievably gorgeous, it looks exactly likes its pictures and is even nicer in person. The rooms are HUGE… big king sized beds, gigantic showers that can fit like 4-5 people, a Jacuzzi inside the room and out on the terrace, it’s beautiful. We were fortunate to have our 2nd floor room overlooking the “excellence” club pool and the ocean (it was an oceanfront room). The location was great b/c it was pretty much near everything. The only drawbacks to the rooms were occasional beetle/bugs/mosquitoes which would get into the room when you opened the door or sliding door, however when I called the concierge, they sent someone to spray, which helped a lot. If you eat at the 2 outdoor restaurants at night though put on LOTS of bug spray…our ankles and feet got bitten pretty badly. That happened the first night and from then on we put bug spray on every night before we left the room. Also it’s REALLY expensive down there (like $9:00 a bottle) so make sure you bring your own.
Restaurants:
The restaurants were all really good.
Breakfast- they have a buffet with lots of different kinds of foods both American and Mexican.
Lunch- One of the Italian restaurants had pizza which I though was really good, and one of the outside restaurants has a buffet that we never got to. However, on the beach they have hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, etc. so most afternoons we would grab that and eat by the pool (it’s all included).
Dinner- we especially liked the French and Japanese restaurants, the two Italian restaurants were OK, nothing special, and the outside restaurants were both pretty good especially the one which had steaks and ribs.
You could always order room service for any meals too; we did it for breakfast but not lunch or dinner.
Service/staff:
Everyone at the resort was so accommodating. We loved out pool waitress and we would give her a tip after most drinks so she was always coming up to us and asking us what we needed or just kept the drinks coming. All the waiters in the restaurant were great too, very friendly and funny. My husband and myself love poker and they actually had Texas hold em games by the pool twice a day and the activities guys who were in charge were awesome!! They have a ton of activities for you to choose to participate in, we weren’t in the mood to play water volleyball or any of the others sports (we just wanted to relax) but a lot of people choose to and they looked like they were having tons of fun.
The water/food
So the whole week my stomach was funny, I brought pepto, Tums, and Imodium and put all 3 to good use LOL. They tell you that the water is filtrated throughout the resort, EXCEPT in your room so you have to use bottles water to brush teeth, drink, take pills, etc. I did have the ice in the restaurant and in the drinks (I had tons of pina colada and other fruity drinks) since my stomach was already a little yucky I figured I might as well enjoy myself. Two nights I got really sick, bad indigestion/heartburn, stomach cramps and I think it was from the Japanese restaurant (we ate there the two nights I got that sick), which was unfortunate b/c it was our favorite place to eat. I think the spices in the food got to me because I didn’t drink any water or any ice in that restaurant. Now that I am home everything returned to normal though, so I guess it was just in general being in a different country, that made my stomach not so hot. My husband was fine pretty much other then some bathroom issues, but most of the couples we met down there all had the same problem and I even shared some Imodium with some of them LOL. Again bring your own stuff as it is really expensive!!
Excursions/trips
-We went horseback riding on the beach which was awesome (at a place called Loma Bonita). The ranch was soo nice and they have horses for all rising types (beginners, etc) you even get to go in the water with the horses at the end!
-We also went shopping at the Mexican market-the tour was through Olympus travel (they were affiliated with liberty travel-our travel agency). You take a bus to cancun, get to the market, and they take you to a store were the prices were already fixed so you didn’t have to haggle at all. After that they take you to the two malls in the area, which me and my husband choose not to do (we didn’t want to waste half a day walking around malls-we could do that at home) so we took a cab back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day by the pool. Speaking of cabs, it was pretty much a fixed price of $25 to go anywhere from our hotel (I think most of the hotels in general) to anything within the down town cancun area (where the party life is). It was like a 35-40 min trip from our hotel. We choose not to go to Cancun other then for the Mexican market as we are not into that party scene.
-We did a combined day trip to Tulum/Xe-ha –TULUM was a village by the water-but is now gorgeous ruins-it was amazing and worth the trip!! Once again put on lots of bug spray!! The other half of the day was at XE/HA which was a big natural lake you could snorkel in. It was OK some people loved it, some hated it, we found it to be dirty and smelly and just did not enjoy it.
We were part of the excelelnce club- and as part of the honeymoon package we got a couples massage and dinner on the beach (you also have access to the internet and some other cool extras). The package would have been $700 but was included because we were honeymooners, make sure to have your travel agency tell them ahead of time though, and if you dont have your marriage license bring a program or invitation.
The spa was amazing- after our free massage we also paid to have another couples massage the day before we left~it was so worth it, you get to do a hydro therapy for the hour before the massage (it has different stations with whirlpools, saunas, etc, its awesome)
Overall we had a fabulous honeymoon and I would recommend this place to all honeymooners or couples. I have pictures in my bio so feel free to check the out. Some of the pictures are out of order-sorry I am to lazy to re-do it LOL.
Message edited 7/12/2006 1:12:19 PM.
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