Secrets Aura Cozumel

In a nutshell: - 1 hour check-in - no hangers, drawers or coffee in the room. When asked for these (coffee and hangers), waited 1 hour in front of reception before I got 10 hangers. Had to chase the cleaning staff the next day for coffee - next morning, no beach chairs or pool chairs (about a total of 50 for the resort - counted 14 around the pool) and no beach towels left at 6:30am. When I finally found 2 free chairs around 3pm, put my bag down on one and when I got back with a drink, someone had taken my husband's chair. Got a chair at the pool or the beach 3 days out of 7. - line ups for restaurants, buffet, drinks or anything else you want to do. - boat traffic starts at 8 am with dive boats, followed by booze cruises at 9am and jetskis from the cruise ships at 10am. So close to the bouées it's dangerous. Traffic dies down around 5pm. If you're a snorkeler, nothing to see this close to the beach inside the bouées. - no lights in corridors before sunrise. No coffee to be found before 7am and then it's the line up at the coffee shop - check out completely chaotic. Waiting for mini buses for over 1 hour before we could get into one - no help from staff unless you want to listen to a timeshare speech for coupons. - lingering sewer smell in the room and corridors. - no shade (trees or umbrellas) - 2 bathrooms on the resort beside your own in your room - located next to a beach club that caters to cruise ships. - took a private snorkel tour through Nexxus for $300US. Glad to do it, wonderful experience. They forgot to mention at the end of the tour that a 10% surcharge applies if you pay by credit card. - at check out, I was told I have no charges to my room, to find out a $28 CAD charge the next day. I'm assuming it's resort fees, but why not mention it. - we went there to dive and snorkel. No snorkeling unless you take a booze cruise or a private tour for $300 US, and when you dive, make sure you have your boat channel to find it when you surface (about 20 around) Here are some positive facts: - at the buffet, Kenia knew my name by the second day - the pelican on the pier is pretty awesome - the bartender at the Rendez Vous makes a really good mudslide - the Bordeaux is really good and the staff charming - the room is big, with a closed bedroom and living area

This review is not meant to vent about a bad experience, rather we are hoping to spare others from the same experience. This hotel is old and very tired and does not merit more than a 3 star rating. As others have mentioned, this Secrets is in serious disrepair. From broken towel racks to tiles missing in the shower to uneven pathways that are serious trip hazards, to unlit stairways if you are an early riser guest safety is certainly not a priority. Then there are the issues of a shortage of towels and beach chairs and umbrellas. If you would like these for the day, be prepared to be out early to reserve them. If you are a light sleeper keep in mind that you will hear everything going on in your building from slamming doors to moving furniture and people talking loudly. It would seem that the walls are paper thin. If you do manage to find a chair on the beach then be prepared for seafood racing by very close to the roped off area from 10 AM to 4 PM as this is the limit that the seadoos from the neighboring beach club can travel to. This also makes snorkeling outside the very small buoyed in area impossible for most of the day. Even something as simple as having coffee for your room , or having adequate hangers for the closet will require much diligence to obtain. We are frequent travelers to the Caribbean and Mexico as well as Central America and have stayed at many resorts. None have disappointed us as much as this Secrets and as such we will not return to a Secrets property again.

We originally booked our honeymoon to Montego Bay but after the cat 5 hurricane came through, we contacted Secrets in November to see about transferring to a different location. We spoke with multiple reps with the company who were far from helpful, refused to move the reservation and insisted that the resort was still operational, and one even had us cancel our reservation only to find that they would only credit us less than a third of what we paid leaving us out thousands of dollars. We finally spoke with rep Joshua who assisted us with empathy and kindness, getting us reinstated for the reservation in Montego Bay with the hopes that the resort would actually be fine. When we called for the final payment in February (six weeks before our wedding and honeymoon), Joshua found that the resort was in fact shut down until November 2026 and the company had failed to notify us of this at all. Joshua worked hard to make sure that we were transferred to Cozumel and given an upgraded room for our troubles. When we arrived in Cozumel, the check in process was long and drawn out, taking almost an hour for us to even get to our room. We were told there was a promotion for a couples massage (dropping the cost over $300) if we just sat through a presentation which we agreed to but wanted to do in the afternoon instead of the morning. For the next two mornings, they hounded us with phone calls before 9am to come to the presentation and when we finally agreed to the morning slot of the presentation, we found that it would be at least 90 minutes (all in all totaling over two hours of our time) where they were trying to sell us a membership which we repeatedly declined and they kept pushing. Dining options were very limited with what times you could go to which restaurant (if they were even open at all) and menus were lacking. After check out we realized we had left an item in our room and when we requested if we could get that back from the resort (after having to call four times and being hung up on), the concierge informed us that we would have to pay them $40 to get our item back. The only thing giving them one more star is Joshua in the customer service center, the bartender Leonel in the preferred lounge and Mauricio at the preferred swim up bar. The rest of the staff is lacking in any sort of communication/customer service skills and we will never book through Secrets again, regardless of the location.

Just returned from a week there. The resort is lush and beautiful. Lots of opportunities for great pictures. It's bigger than it seems at first. It has a lot of quirks, and I think the level of the room you are in will have a big impact on the quality of your stay. I would go with a Preferred room for sure. The bang for your buck cannot be ignored. The resort is older and showing its age, but the staff was awesome. The beach is very nice and clean. Boats are going by all the time and the water is many beautiful shades of blue! The entertainment in the evening can be loud, but it's all over by 10:00 to 11:00 pm. Some food options can be hit or miss, but overall we were happy with the food. The buffet is very small. The entertainment team was very active during the day and were one of the highlights of our trip. Thanks Luz and Wendy!! MOST of the waiters and staff were very friendly. There were a few that never smiled and didn't seem to want to be there, but that was the exception. For the price, I can't complain much, because we've spent twice as much for a week that wasn't really any more enjoyable than here.

The overall experience is great. Most of the staff are friendly and make us feel welcome. We love the variety of food, and we usually don’t pre-book restaurants—just walk in on a first-come, first-served basis The only downside was that we lost our scuba masks and snorkels from our balcony on the second-to-last day of our stay. We were a bit upset, especially since one of the masks was prescription, but the small consolation was that we had already finished our diving activities