Any thoughts/reviews of Secrets Cozumel

[fred3798]

I stayed at Secrets Maroma Beach in December. It was very nice. They said that a Secrets (or perhaps two) was/were opening on Coz on the east side. Has one or two opened? Has anyone stayed? Are the rooms up to snuff? How's the dive operation on the east side? Do you have to drive over to the west or north sides every day to access the best sites? I stayed at the Palace last March and it was very beautiful Food was mediocre. But Blue XT Sea picked us up at the hotel on the way to the dives. It was a great locale for diving as well as being very confortable. How do the Secrets Coz compare?

 

[vlkr]

i only know of one op which goes to the east side, aldora. they have a good website which may tell you how frequently they go over there. my guess is that it is just a backup when it is impossible to dive the west side due to el nortes

 

[ggunn]

I stayed at Secrets Maroma Beach in December. It was very nice. They said that a Secrets (or perhaps two) was/were opening on Coz on the east side.

I don't know how good that information is; there is no grid electricity over there. In fact, I hope your information is incorrect.

 

[kmurray719]

What used to be Sabor/Aura is now Secrets. I'm not sure exactly how it all works, as I have no interest in staying there, but there are 2 or 3 different sections of the resort. I think one of them is whatever the family friendly brand of the parent company is? They're on the South end of the island, not the East Side, so most dive ops would pick up there. Here's the recent tripadvisor reviews of the re-branded resort:
Secrets Aura Cozumel (Mexico) - Resort (All-Inclusive) Reviews - TripAdvisor

If you poke around the Cozumel forum on TA there's plenty of threads about the resort, both good and bad.

 

[divingpyrate]

stayed at maroma, capri and Aura before it was secrets. Best i can tell a once reasonable nice little spot just got over priced. No real changes, it is right on the beach and lovely. But it is no maroma. Nothing on the island is that nice. Not even the palace. i still prefer the island though

Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Mike]

Secrets? Sounds like a Hedonism type place. Are people running around nak'd?

 

[Mossman]

I stayed at Secrets Maroma Beach in December. It was very nice. They said that a Secrets (or perhaps two) was/were opening on Coz on the east side. Has one or two opened? Has anyone stayed? Are the rooms up to snuff? How's the dive operation on the east side? Do you have to drive over to the west or north sides every day to access the best sites? I stayed at the Palace last March and it was very beautiful Food was mediocre. But Blue XT Sea picked us up at the hotel on the way to the dives. It was a great locale for diving as well as being very confortable. How do the Secrets Coz compare?

I booked it for 4 nights in June, but it's cancellable with notice so I'm keeping my ears open. Reviews have been mixed, but the conversion from Aura is still very recent and it makes sense that there are still bugs to work out. It is my hope that the Secrets Cozumel will live up to the Secrets reputation as well as the Cozumel Palace keeps up the Palace rep.

When I booked, there was a 15% off special running. Pool view rooms were a bit cheaper than Cozumel Palace oceanview, while Secrets oceanview rooms are $5/night more than Cozumel Palace oceanview. To me, that means that the rooms and food/drink and amenties had better be as good or better than the Palace.

AFAIK, you can still use the Sabor facilities, bars, and restaurants, it's just not reciprocated so Secrets Aura retains its "exclusivity" and child-free atmosphere. The Palace is not child-free so, at least for those who aren't traveling with kids, that could a reason to pay as much as the Palace rooms. Its location in the south can be positive or negative depending on your POV. It's a much shorter ride to the dive sites, means you can sleep in an extra half-hour or so and have more afternoon time when you return, plus the beaches are more sand and less ironshore than with hotels in town. The negative is that you won't be doing any northern sites with a southern pickup and it's a long and pricey cab ride to town if you want to go out for dinner, shopping, etc.

Food is clearly objective. I've found the food to be very decent at the Palace over two stays there, nothing really bad, many dishes excellent, overall much better than mediocre in my opinion. Breakfast and lunch buffets are incredible, at least when compared to the cheaper all-inclusives that I've experienced. I'd expect (hope) Secrets to be as good. Better would be great. It's certainly different, which is why I'm planning on spending 4 nights at each property. I have no desire to repeat restaurants at the Palace since I've already tried them all several times and they don't change their menus much. One night at each is fine, since I'll be with someone who hasn't stayed there before. But variety is nice and Secrets Aura offers French and seafood restaurants versus the Palace's Mexican, Italian, and "Asian".

If you can wait until June I promise a detailed review and comparison of the two, unless continually negative TA reviews convince me to look elsewhere for those 4 nights.

---------- Post added February 10th, 2013 at 04:43 PM ----------

Secrets? Sounds like a Hedonism type place. Are people running around nak'd?

Actually one of the TA reviews did accuse other guests of having sex on the beach and I don't think they meant the cocktail. But another review said that was BS. Who knows?

Personally I wouldn't let people running around naked ruin my vacation, unless they really didn't take care of themselves.

When I stayed at the Presidente years ago, there was a topless woman on the beach. I don't remember too much else about the stay there, but I do remember the topless woman.

 

[Darol]

Mike said:

Secrets? Sounds like a Hedonism type place. Are people running around nak'd?

Mossman said:

Personally I wouldn't let people running around naked ruin my vacation, unless they really didn't take care of themselves.

Now that's funny.......
Must be a Canadian thing......

 

[Mike]

Personally I wouldn't let people running around naked ruin my vacation, unless they really didn't take care of themselves.

People running around naked enhances a vacation. I have selective vision, scenes like the one above are automatically blurred out, they just become a shimmery thing like in the movie Predator when the Predator has his cloaking device activated.

 

[Christi]

I stayed at Secrets Maroma Beach in December. It was very nice. They said that a Secrets (or perhaps two) was/were opening on Coz on the east side. Has one or two opened? Has anyone stayed? Are the rooms up to snuff? How's the dive operation on the east side? Do you have to drive over to the west or north sides every day to access the best sites? I stayed at the Palace last March and it was very beautiful Food was mediocre. But Blue XT Sea picked us up at the hotel on the way to the dives. It was a great locale for diving as well as being very confortable. How do the Secrets Coz compare?

Hi Fred,

It is not really on the East side - it is in hotel row on the southern end of the island. We pick up there as well. This property has changed hands more times than I have fingers - so there are very mixed reviews. I do know the new sales manager, she is a friend of mine - American - and she is great - really trying to improve the image but of course is limited to what she can do from her higher ups. If you thought the food at Palace was mediocre - you may be more disappointing in the food at Secrets from what I am hearing!