Secrets The Vine, Cancun, Mexico
Last week, I was blessed with yet another tropical vacation to one of my favorite places to relax: Mexico. From Dallas, it’s an easy two-hour flight, making it a simple travel day typically resulting in champagne by 2PM. This was probably the tenth all-inclusive resort I’ve stayed at, so I’m pretty much a pro at making the most of this kind of resort!
Secrets The Vine is an adults only resort that has 3 pools, a large beach and seven restaurants to choose from. There are daily events such as mixology classes, wine tasting, dancing, water aerobics, yoga, tabata, cooking classes & more.
The beach has several water sports you can take advantage of like parasailing or jet skiing. There are also plenty of chairs and umbrellas to lay on the beach if you prefer. I always stay by the pool but will make my way down to the beach a few times throughout the day to swim in the waves!
The wi-fi is FREE (hence my constant Insta updates) and the rooms include an iPad type device that you can order room service on, check out the daily events, and much more. This hotel is truly top-notch, boasts modern design and makes it very easy for incredibly busy people to relax with convenience and incredible service.
welcome champagne.
cancun sunrise from balcony.
poolside Cirque de Soleil show.
coconuts + coconut rum from the beach.
lobby bathroom.
pool + beach.
take me to the beach.
cancun waves.
pool with rain shower.
sea salt grill.
pool bar + lounge area.
main pool + cabanas.
boardwalk.
views from 12th floor pool.
turquoise waters.
pool water.
Rooms – Secrets The Vine, Cancun, Mexico
We stayed on the 23rd floor and were preferred guests. This means we had access to the pool on the 12th floor, the bar there, and a private bar on floor 21 for preferred guests. The bar on this floor had hors-d’oeuvres and premium liquor.
Our room was pretty big with three closets, a large master bath with two shower heads, an incredibly comfortable king bed and the most amazing views of both the ocean and the bay.
We enjoyed spending our time on the balcony taking in the views or watching the sunrise. We ordered room service almost every morning and enjoyed breakfast in our room.
My favorite part of all-inclusive resorts is the fact you can order room service, 24/7, for no additional charge. It’s amazing. You don’t have to go anywhere. Also, in Mexico, they stock your room with beer, wine, and liquor. It’s the perfect place for the lazy traveler. But what can I say – I live a busy life, so when I go away, I want to do nothing but r e l a x ! 😉 More on food in minute!
views of bay + ocean from room.
World-Class Spa – Secrets The Vine, Cancun, Mexico
We loved the spa so much, we went twice. What can I say?
Spanning over 12,500 square feet, the magnificent Secrets Spa by Pevonia treats you with dozens of pampering choices. We experienced pure indulgence through a combination of the latest hydrotherapy and indigenous treatments.
My favorite treatment was the 50-minute Swedish couples massage. I was greeted by a spa staff member and given a tour of the locker rooms, relaxation area, and hydrotherapy rooms. There was a cold pool, warm pool, hot pool, steam room, sauna, and a room where you can dump a bucket of cold water on your head. Yes, I’m that person who enjoys this kind of stuff. The mix of hot and cold water is shocking, but seriously feels good!
The second time I went to the spa, I had a full body scrub and did the fish spa therapy. The body scrub felt amazing as she exfoliated all the dead skin from my entire body. The fish spa was super weird, tickled, and definitely felt awkward. But I thought it was fun to do once!
The one downside of the spa is that they don’t serve champagne or alcohol here for safety purposes. So I recommend you do what we did and take shots of anejo at the pool before heading over 😉 don’t tell them I said that!
relaxation room.
fish spa.
lol.
hot spa.
cold water bucket.
relaxation sand.
warm pool.
hot sauna.
The Food – Secrets The Vine, Cancun, Mexico
I get asked all the time “but was the food good? Last time I went to an all-inclusive, the food was not that great!” I totally get it – there are several food items I avoid on purpose every time I go to an all-inclusive just because I know what to expect. Here’s my thoughts:
I find that I love the scrambled eggs, bacon, fruits, breads, salads, steaks, shrimp, chicken and sides at most all-inclusives. The foods I typically avoid are the deli meats, boiled eggs, hamburgers, hot dogs, and sometimes even the chicken if it looks funky. I was also told to be careful with tomatoes once, but I still eat the salsa and pico. Over the past 5 years it seems they’ve all also switched to bottled water only. So water is never really a concern.
My favorite restaurants at Secrets are the Sea Salt Grill at the pool and the Olio Mediterranean restaurant on the 12th floor. I also enjoyed the italian restuarant – Nebbilio.
One bummer about this trip is that I was sick the entire time with a sinus/cold thing that took literally a month to get rid of. This made it harder for me to have a normal appetite, but I ate at almost every restaurant.
My favorite meal was at the Sea Salt grill where we enjoyed the most amazing fried shrimp, a delicious apple salad, and an incredible steak + baked potato. It was SO delish!
sunset dinner.
moet.
appetizers at olio.
peppers at olio.
sunset dinner at olio.
sunrise breakfast from the balcony.
strawberry dacquiri on the beach.
the best salad + fried shrimp at sea salt grill.
The Service – Secrets The Vine, Cancun, Mexico
One of the main reasons we prefer Mexico is the level of service we receive each time we visit. The staff was super accommodating, professional, nice, willing to go above and beyond. We absolutely love being pampered in Mexico because they make us feel like they enjoy serving us.
After visiting 7 islands in the Caribbean, that are all beautiful, no one can beat the service you get in Mexico. They are really good at making you feel like they want your expectations to be exceeded.
One example of this is the preferred bar ran out of 1800 anejo on our last night. This is our favorite tequila to sip on and really what makes or breaks our evenings. You seriously can drink this all night and not wake up with a hangover.
We went to the lobby on the way to dinner to ask if there was any 1800 anejo in the resort we could get our hands on, and the manager delivered an entire bottle of a higher quality tequila to our table at Sea Salt Grill that night.
alonso our service expert.
1800 cristalino from the manager (story above).
Location – Secrets The Vine, Cancun, Mexico
Secrets The Vine is located just 20 minutes from the Cancun airport on the peninsula known for turquoise waters and gorgeous beaches. The beach was absolutely breathtaking and the Cancun area is nice, in my opinion, for Mexico. While I do like the “niceness” of Cabo better, I feel Cancun is fine so long as you stay at your resort.
Now there have been several news stories released on different media channels about a recent uptick in Cancun murders. Whenever I’ve read further into these stories, they were unable to verify whether it was locals killing locals or locals killing tourists.
In my opinion, no matter where you travel, you should never go off the beaten path and always walk around with a greater sense of awareness. I honestly don’t feel safe enough to go to the shopping centers and bars in Cancun located outside of the resorts ie Senor Frogs, Congo, Mandala, etc.. but I did feel completely safe inside of my resort.
Also – disclaimer – I have been to Cabo, Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, Cozumel and Playa Mujeres. Each time I visited Mexico, I have seen their police officers walking around with their big machine guns strapped around their chest. At first, it is very scary to see them just walking around like that. They walk down the beach and on the streets.
However, if I see them walking towards the beach at my resort, I typically go back to the pool for a bit just out of extra caution. I’m not saying this to scare anyone – I’m just hoping to be fully transparent in hopes to best paint the picture of what it’s like to visit this place.
Aside from the occasional police sightings (I only saw them once on this trip), which truly does not bother me, the sunrises and sunsets are stunning and so is the crystal blue water. The sand is white and if you go before June, the weather is perfect. We had highs of 77 and lows of 67. Perfect!
Catamaran Excursion to Isla Mujeres
Our favorite thing to do on a beach vacation is to get on a boat. We really tried to figure out a way to get a yacht this time, but didn’t work it out in time. So we did what we normally do, and got on a catamaran!
My favorite catamaran ride of all time was in St. Thomas, but the one we went on here was pretty good. We left out of Playa Mujeres and made our way to Isla Mujeres. We snorkeled in the beginnning of the trip. The water is crystal clear and the fish are gorgeous.
From there, we ate lunch and the bar opened on the boat! We sailed into the dock at Isla Mujeres and had 3 hours to explore the island. We ate some fish tacos, enjoyed a margarita and rode around the island on a golf cart.
The waters were beautiful and my favorite part of the entire day was just being on the boat. There’s nothing I love more than the wind in my hair, the smell of the ocean and watching the sun set from the water. I highly recommend doing a catamaran on your next beach vacay!
the catamaran.
lunch on the catamaran.
isla mujeres landmark.
beach at isla mujeres.
shots.
gorgeous waters from the boat.
views from the beachside restaurant.
fish tacos + margaritas on isla mujeres.
private yacht #goals.
honestly best marg the whole trip.
Beach Outfits – Spring Outfit Ideas 2018
TBD!
Last but not least, I did a lot of shopping before this trip. My next blog post will include all my favorite outfits & pieces from this trip!
Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend Secrets the Vine in Cancun. The service, food, rooms, views, entertainment, spa and everything was top notch. Please leave a comment below if you’ve been before and what your experience was! Or ask any questions about anything I might have forgotton. Wishing ya’ll amazing travels!!