Live Aqua Beach Resort Cancun

What a fun experience with Pablo and Mario with our sushi class. Very entertaining and informative. This was our first time making sushi and it was a lot of fun. My husband and I really enjoyed the class. It was a nice break also to get out of the sun for a little bit.

Such a fun experience! Pablo and Mario were so professional and fun! Great event! Definitely recommend!

Pablo and Mario were fantastic and were so fun!

I am writing this review for two reasons: first, to help the hotel management honestly evaluate and improve its services; and second, to help future guests know exactly what to expect before booking! I have also included photos to illustrate several of the points mentioned below. What is good about the hotel: 1)The room is comfortable, the bed is excellent, the shower is good (although the water pressure could be stronger), and the air conditioning works very well. 2)The beach is beautiful when there is no sargassum. During our stay in June, some days had a significant amount of sargassum while others were much better. The swimming pools are also very nice. What is disappointing: 1)Paid cabanas at an all-inclusive resort. The hotel offers several beach cabanas that are not included in the all-inclusive package. They cost hundreds of dollars per day. Why would an all-inclusive resort charge extra for this? It simply doesn’t make sense! Food and beverages: this is by far the biggest weakness of Live Aqua. I’ll go through each area. Breakfast; Breakfast is good. It offers everything you would normally expect from a large hotel. If this were not an all-inclusive resort, I would easily rate the breakfast five stars. The real problems: 1. No fresh fruit juices: None of the restaurants serve fresh fruit juices. They only know how to make frozen drinks with artificial syrups. 2. Beer is never truly cold: There is no properly cold beer anywhere, not at the pool bar, beach bar, or restaurants. The only option is draft beer, which they call “cold,” but it is actually served almost at room temperature while the outside temperature is around 30°C (86°F). 3. Poor cocktail service: The bars don’t even have cocktail menus.Most of them don’t have fresh fruit to prepare drinks with vodka or other spirits. Only one indoor bar had fruit available. At the pool bar, the only fresh fruit I ever received in a cocktail was blueberries 😮‍💨 Most drinks are prepared using artificial syrups or flavored mixes. Restaurant reviews Azur Restaurant: It is supposed to be a Mediterranean restaurant, yet many lunch dishes are actually Mexican, such as tacos and similar items.It’s acceptable, but nothing more. Italian Restaurant: The menu offers pasta, sauces and a few pizzas, but there is no gnocchi or cannelloni.The desserts are average, and the tiramisu is disappointing. Unfortunately, my experience there was terrible. We arrived at 4:30 p.m., and our waiter, decided to bring dessert before the pizza simply because the kitchen was about to close. It was clearly more convenient for him than for the guests. I have traveled to many countries and eaten in countless restaurants, and I have never experienced dessert being served before the main course because the kitchen was closing. When I complained, he showed no concern and simply told me that this was the hotel’s procedure. That level of service is unacceptable.😠 Seafood Restaurant: The menu is basically greasy fried fish and small shrimp. They simply don’t know how to prepare seafood well, and there are very few complete dishes with side items. On one occasion, they refused to let my son enter because he wasn’t wearing flip-flops, even though we were literally standing on the beach, just a few steps from the restaurant. They told him that wearing flip-flops was mandatory to enter, which made absolutely no sense given the location. After finally eating there, I realized the food wasn’t worth the effort anyway, and I regretted going back the following day.🤯 Hidden Garden (Asian Restaurant): The restaurant is beautiful and has a pleasant atmosphere. However, they have already started charging extra for certain dishes, such as coconut shrimp. The food was acceptable. The fish was dry, but at least it was served as a complete dish with side items. MB Restaurant: This is the only restaurant in the entire resort that I can honestly describe as excellent. We ended up having dinner there every night because the difference in quality was obvious. The service is professional, and the meal follows the proper sequence of appetizer, courses and dessert. Pool Bar: This deserves its own review. If I were rating only the pool bar, it would receive one star. Unlike many all-inclusive resorts, there are no snacks such as shrimp, lobster, seafood or other appetizers available to enjoy with drinks. Instead, guests have to walk to the barbecue station to get ribs or chicken, the exact same food every single day. There are no grilled shrimp, lobster, fish or similar options. Starting around 1:00 p.m., they bring a few leftovers from the seafood restaurant, which are basically ceviche and shrimp tacos.😡 For a resort in this price range, this was extremely disappointing. No ice cream: The hotel is located in a hot tropical destination, yet there is no ice cream available around the resort. Desserts are only available inside the restaurants, and even there, very few include ice cream. If you simply want something cold during the day because of the heat, you won’t find it.🥵 Entertainment: There are no real evening shows. Instead, there is just one person singing alone near one of the bars, with no band or proper entertainment. I have never seen this at a resort in this price range. At night, the hotel also allows vendors to set up booths along the walkway to the restaurants. It is unpleasant to have salespeople approaching guests inside the resort. Almost nobody buys anything, yet they continue trying to sell products and even make comments in Spanish as guests walk away, assuming nobody understands them. Final thoughts: We paid luxury-resort prices for six nights, and we expected a true luxury all-inclusive experience. Unfortunately, the restaurants do not offer food that matches what guests are paying, the beverage service is disappointing, and several aspects of the overall experience fall well below what a resort in this category should provide. I would not return, and I cannot recommend this hotel.

Live Aqua is not only a second home to me, but a place to heal. I originally went to Cancun, Mexico, to find healing at a cancer clinic for stage IV, inoperable cancer. I was blessed to stay at Live Aqua during my treatments. In the past 10 months, I have had the pleasure of staying at Live Aqua for 52 days. I can not express how much the staff at Live Aqua has impacted my life. The hotel is beautiful with relaxing vibes and a spa-like atmosphere. The food is incredible, comparable to 5-star restaurants in the US. The rooms are both spacious and clean. The room service staff goes above and beyond with organizing my room at the beginning of the day and preparing me for relaxation at the end of the day with turn-down service. The aromatherapy throughout the hotel is both uplifting and grounding. Every day starts with a healthy smoothie made with love from Marco. The servers are attentive and have gone above and beyond in meeting my dietary needs and remembering my preferences between visits. Everyone is truly amazing, but some go above and beyond. Riccardo at Siete, Ceasar at Hidden Garden, Rohibi at MB, David by the pools, and of course, Jonathan, who keeps everything running smoothly. The hotel as a whole has a spa feel, but also plenty of joy and laughter thanks to the entertainment staff. I can still remember my second day of cancer treatment, feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. I got to the resort just in time for Bingo with the one and only Ricky Ricardo. I can't recall the last time I laughed so much. It filled me with childlike joy and became the highlight of my day. Ricky (who is the heart and soul of Live Aqua) and the entertainment staff, Pablo, Alex, and Robin, do an amazing job of providing fun activities throughout the day. Activities like stretching, water aerobics, dancing, painting, karaoke, and tequila tasting. (I don't even drink alcohol, but Ricky does such an amazing job teaching the history of tequila, I found it both enjoyable and very interesting. Live Aqua is the perfect mix of relaxation and fun for adults of all ages, from young people in their 20s to middle-aged guests and the elderly. Thank you to the managers and staff who create such an unforgettable experience. I am counting down the days to future visits already booked in 2026.