Secrets Aura Cozumel

We have been to Cozumel 10 times and always stay 7 to 10 days at a local resort. This time we tried Secrets and we were serisouly disappointed. From the very first moment I was hounded to do a time share talk and I could not shake the lady off of me for 3 days. The restaurants were a HUGE problem. No exaggeration here...they were not ever open! When the buffet happened to be open, it had the most awful choices and was cold. I tried EVERY single day to make a reservation at ANY of the restaurants and they were always booked. We ended up spending way more money than we had anticipated eating in town, because we simply could not find options at our All Inclusive Hotel. That is infuriating to me, because we spent good money to be there. I would NOT recommend this hotel to anyone who wants a nice easy going all inclusive experience. We tried to give Secrets a chance, but they failed miserably. We will be returning to Iberostar where we have always had a good stay.

First time to Secrets Aura. We paid to become Preferred guests with Unlimited Vacations Club after visiting a different resort last year so our expectations were elevated by the marketing. Check-in was speedy and there were snacks and drinks available during this short process. Yunnell took our luggage and escorted us to our room like a gentleman. The room we stayed in was comfortable and large with a great balcony and sea view. Isabel from housekeeping did a wonderful and efficient job. Sergio was our concierge and he was fantastic: prompt responses to all questions and concerns. At the front desk we were able to exchange some larger Mexican peso notes for smaller denominations for tips which the staff deserved daily. The food was very good at the buffet restaurant called Market Cafe. The staff there were tremendous: Kenja, Rene, Cetani, Miguel, Alberto and others. Get there closer to opening time to enjoy the dishes at their best. This place was on the beach with a direct view of the ocean. Another great place to eat was Oceana which is also faces the sea. Sergio and Miguel there were gentlemen with sharp senses of humour. The beach area was very pleasant. There is quite a bit of dead coral and rocks so look for the sandy areas to get into the water. Vicki looked after us most days we were there. She was amazing! There were some underwater structures (toppled concrete cylinders) further down the beach towards Dreams, about 150 m, that provided some good opportunity to snorkel and see fish. The entertainment was mostly live music which felt very authentic and we really enjoyed all the acts they had, especially Trio Jazz. They were fantastic! The vocalist and musicians were tremendous and delivered Bossa Nova rhythms that I could have listened to all day. Another act worth mention was Showtime. These guys went all out and their 80s covers were very enjoyable. The saxophone player was especially outstanding. Downsides: the resort suffers from the plague of overly entitled guests "reserving" beach chairs that were subsequently left unoccupied. Staff did tidy up unused chairs in the afternoon which was appreciated. The wine selection is limited to 2 white and 2 red house wines with Vivino ratings of 3.1 to 3.5. Guests could order from a wine menu but the 600 to 1000% markup was off-putting. Preferred guests have access to only house wines. This is inconsistent with how UVC marketed their membership to us and was disappointing. Additionally there was no Sambuca or Amaretto available even in the Preferred areas. They could not even make an Old Fashioned. Again, although we are not big drinkers, we were on vacation and would have liked to enjoy what we paid for.

Resort was beautiful. Room view (swim up pool room) and pool great. Inside of the room was bad. Lengthly list of broken items and not clean. General mold smell and visable mold. I liked the resort, but would not stay there again based on the room condition. Beach was amazing along with the view. Many parts of resort are reserved for upgraded memberships, which is very high pressure to buy into when you arrive. Not what I wanted to experience when we arrived. Employees are friendly. Lots of restuarants but not all are open on any given lunch/dinner. Limited options depending on the day and time. Snorkling right off the beach was perfect.

The rooms look NOTHING like the pictures! If you don't do the preferred club (which we did not) the rooms are dated, the "mini bar" is just a small dorm fridge in the corner, there was no couch, chair/etc on the room. The shower design is so bad that it gets water ALL OVER the bathroom floor! House keeping/fresh towels were hit or miss. Even the resort staff made comments about how the accommodations are crappy unless you are in the preferred club! The food is "meh", nothing special and limited variety, but edible and have good hours! You do not need reservations for supper (except for the hibachi table), which we like, but it did mean waiting for maybe 45 minutes one night for a table (but we didn't mind, we just around, not like we had anywhere else to be!). Plus sides are that the beach and pool areas were nice, there is a nice log dock going out over the water, and you can do some snorkeling off shore. We went for the sun and warmth, so we were fine with the "imperfections", but definitely was not "luxurious"! Also, DO NOT let them twist your arm into doing their sales presentation unless you have a spare $30000 sitting around--they are very pushy and the whole thing takes like 3 hours (they say it's only 90 minutes).

Best place to stay to relax and definitely enjoy the snorkeling/diving. The reef is AMAZING and you can get picked up right at the resort dock by scuba/excursion services. Some parts of the resort are being updated so if you don't mind some work happening, it's really the best beach access. Love this place.