Secrets Aura Cozumel

I'll start with our arrival which was great. Amstar brought us right to the resort, we were checked in quickly and brought to our room. We booked a swim up suite and that's what we had...sort of. Unbeknownst to us, there were 2 different types of swim up rooms, those on the ground level where you could literally walk into the pool, and those that were not. We had one of those that were not. The swim up part of the pool was about 3' deep with a slide, yes, a water slide to go into the actual pool. If one was not inclined to slide into the pool, we had to walk down to the actual pool and enter there. I'm sure for some that wouldn't be an issue, perhaps a teenager, but at almost 60 years old, this was not my preference so the extra expense for a "swim out" room, was wasted. Once in the pool, we noticed that the filters didn't seem to be doing a very good job of filtering out the debris. Staff could be seen trying to clean the pool with nets but the debris was constant. While talking to other guests, there were several couples that had no hot water, thankfully this was not the case with our room, and I will commend the water pressure which was phenomenal!! The specialty restaurants were great, both Bordeaux and Windows were outstanding and the service was top notch. The World Cafe, which was the buffet, was a buffet. It was good, but not great. There was a theme each night and we weren't disappointed in the flavor but we were disappointed in the temperature of the food. Unfortunately the sterno cans weren't able to keep the food hot so it was warm at best. We were very pleased with the room service. The selection wasn't vast but the dishes offered were good, arrived faster than expected, and were actually hot! If all of that wasn't enough to account for the 3 stars, this final part will make things clear. The "suite" wasn't very large and there was a chair in the middle of the room, next to the coffee table, that we kept bumping into. I moved the chair to the side of the desk to give our toes a rest from banging into the chair legs. Unfortunately none of the cupboards in the room had shelves, they were just open boxes and we only had 4 hangers in the closet. So we used the chair and draped some of the non-hangable items over the arms. Unfortunately, our air conditioner leaked and created a river in our room. Since it was on the side of the room and we weren't walking along the wall, I didn't notice until the puddle was beyond the chair and I stepped in it. The chair was soaked along with all the clothes that were on it and everything smelled musty. When we stopped at the concierge to let them know, the gentleman that was all smiles and helpful when checking us in, was very dismissive and rude when we had an issue. The only thing they offered to do was put the clothes in the dryer which wouldn't get the smell out and I accomplished the same thing by putting them on the patio outside our room! We asked if they were going to do something about the stream of water running down the wall and their solution was to put towels on the floor. Needless to say, both of their solutions were things that I'd already done and they did nothing about the problem. It wasn't all bad, Sergio and Carlos, the bartenders in our pool were wonderful. Irving, one of the activities staff, was very funny and we enjoyed his sense of humor and antics. We spent 10 days there, met a bunch of wonderful people and the company made the vacation good...sadly it could have been great.

I'll start by saying that I don't typically go to an all-inclusive resort. My travel is almost exclusively self-planned, on the move, and luxury-free. That being said, following are my thoughts on the specifics: - We did not received an orientation of any kind. We had to insist on a paper resort map; We were not advised where we could go without "Preferred status", what restaurants were open each day (at least one is closed on any given night), or what the entertainment plans were. (We did however, have to listen to 30 minutes of "up-sell" about Hyatt instead! We attended because we thought this was our orientation) - The facility is in need of maintenance, but noone bothers - for instance, of the two washrooms in the public areas, one of the Men's washrooms was unusable for the week my husband and I were there (no running taps & very smelly). In our own room, the patio door was a chore to open or close (really sticky), our electrical outlets were all loose, our coffee maker didn't work, and our safe didn't work. Several people we met complained they had no hot water for days even though they had complained. - Though we ordered a la carte, the food is generally tasteless. There were a few 'Mexican' options but they too, lacked flavour - we didn't eat Mexican food until we went to a cooking class in San Miguel. - The "entertainment" was really poor (lame ideas and amateurish performers). The pool exercise classes looked great, though. - Generally, the service staff were friendly and helpful. Others we met at this resort DO go to a lot of all-inclusive resorts, and they said the cost of this resort is typical, yet the experience is poor.

We stayed at Secrets Aura from Feb 24 to May 1. To start off, my husband and I have vacationed extensively for close to 20 years. We have been to many resorts but this was our first time to Cozumel. We always go into a vacation with low expectations so that we can be pleasantly surprised when our stay is better than we expected.  The first thing we noticed immediately was how friendly and attentive the staff were. Never looking for a hand out, even though we tip when we think it's deserved. We were impressed with the service overall.  We upgraded to the preferred club. I have to echo what a lot of people are saying about there being absolutely no distinction between those of us who paid for the upgrade and those who have not. I would not have been opposed to wearing a bracelet.  Yes, the preferred lounge has the better drinks, coffee and food for anytime snack time, and being able to visit the sister resort next door (Dreams) to take advantage of dinning at their restaurants is nice, but aside from that, we were not able to get any of the comfortable loungers on the preferred beach because we suspected the people who occupied them may not have been with the preferred club. How could anyone ever know?  We only had one incident when checking in. Since we were preferred, we had a preferred check in. We waited just over an hour to be checked in. Not acceptable. There was on person at the check in desk, and when we arrived we had 4 couples ahead of us. It would have been faster at the front desk. We've been to many resorts where we had preferred check-in and we never waited more than 10 minutes. We are usually beach people and so we were disappointed when we found the beach coarse and water to be rocky. Unless you like snorkeling, it was not easy to get in. Even with water shoes. No seaweed though. So we made the best of it and became pool people for the week. We went to both the beach pool and the pool by the Bordeaux restaurant. Both were fine. The preferred pool does not have stairs leading into the pool, only ladders which my husband could not use so we never stayed there.  We never had issues finding a chair, (except for the preferred loungers) even later in the morning. It may have been because it's off-season.  The buffet was okay, we didn't go hungry but didn't eat there often because we didn't really find the selection to be that good. We tried all the restaurants except for the hibatchi rooftop restaurant. The sunsets are spectacular from there! We really enjoyed the Bordeaux and Gohan. Keep in mind that if you don't have long pants at the Bordeaux, you can't eat inside, only outside tables. The Oceana is where we had breakfast most mornings.  The entertainment at night was great, different bands on different nights and karaoke on a few nights.  Be aware that this is a non smoking resort meaning if you're a smoker, there is only one section on the resort which is deemed the smoking section. You cannot smoke on your balcony either. I, as a non smoker was in heaven, not having to worry about having a smoker in the lounger next to me at the pool. For my husband on the other hand, who is a smoker, he was not happy. But that being said, it didn't last long. He made many friends in the smoking section and ended up smoking less.  We were in room 1243, ocean view and the room was fine. Yes the room was a little dated, but it didn't stop us from having a good night's sleep. We've learned that the way a room looks is not going to stop us from enjoying our vacation. We also don't go around trying to find every little thing wrong with the room. We sleep and shower in our room. We don't live there all day. Overall we would not return, but that's mainly because of the beach. Otherwise, the resort is lovely with wonderful staff.

The resort is ideal for any adults seeking a quaint, comfortable, clean, and truly relaxing getaway. The beaches are stunning, with clear blue‑teal waters perfect for snorkeling. Having multiple pools to choose from feels like a real luxury. I want to give special recognition to the Concierges, Ivan and Gabriel, who went above and beyond to ensure every need and request was taken care of. I also want to highlight the wonderful servers in the Market Café, who treated us with such kindness and surprised us with delicious beverages we never would have discovered on our own. The other servers and bartenders across the resort also deserve appreciation for their hard work and dedication in providing food and drinks to everyone throughout the day.

Beach was very nice. Pool area was good-buildings themselves are run down looking old and tired. Buffet was of but the buffet at the dreams beside them was way better.