I recently spent 4 nights at the original Secrets Resort, Secrets Capri in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Secrets is part of the AMResorts family. Secrets is one of their adult-only products. This compact resort is a perfect choice for a first time all-inclusive visit or a short visit. It’s about 30 minutes from Cancun Airport and nice and small with everything within a few minutes walk. This is an all preferred club resort. Since it’s all preferred, there is no lounge.

This was an anniversary trip with my husband and his first all-inclusive vacation and I chose it because I felt it fit our style.

We had a jr suite ocean view and we had a partial view of the ocean to the side and were right in front of the pool.

Secrets Resorts are in the AmResorts family as well as AMStar, their tour and transfer division. They and many other companies are owned by VIP Unlimited. It’s a vacation club of sorts so they are constantly trying to get you to go to a presentation. It started at the airport while waiting for our transfer and then at check-in. We decided to go to one to check it out. They gave us $250 for going which we were able to use towards our room charges so…but I would not do it again and don’t recommend it. It’s a hard sell and wasted 3 hours of our day. They sold us on being able to see neighboring Secrets Maroma Beach, but in reality, we only saw 1 room there and the walk from the breakfast to the room. Not much of the resort. The easy way to get them to leave you alone is to simply tell them you are a travel agent. They won’t bother you again.

They love to upsell wine here. The house wine is included of course. Our second night was my husband’s birthday and Thanksgiving day so we bought 2 bottles to have a front-row table for the Thanksgiving show by the pool. We were able to keep one bottle for another night. At the Thanksgiving show, we won a raffle for a romantic dinner on the beach so we had that the next night.  The 2 bottles of wine were worth it in the end with winning the beach dinner.

The service here is incredible. The manager of the seaside restaurant, Rodrigo, we ate at the first night came to find us every day, even in the pool to check on us and make sure everything was okay and we were happy. Every staff member we encountered was wonderful, they get to know you and are always checking up.

We tipped well and were taken care of well. Occupancy was high, but it never felt crowded. The buffet and any other restaurants really never were full, we never waited to be seated anywhere. The food was good. The grilled shrimp on the beach was incredible. The Italian restaurant, everything was superb there. The shrimp fajita at the Seaside for lunch was really good too. Drinks were weak, which is typical at an all-inclusive. Stick to wine and beer. I never really felt the alcohol even drinking all day except when I was drinking the wine.

We didn’t participate, but they had a great entertainment team out by the pool every afternoon doing things. It was fun to watch. Thanksgiving Day they had a giant screen showing football out by the pool above a stage where they had a live rock band all afternoon. That night was a special dinner show by the pool.

The beach is not as big as you’ll find further along in Playacar or even Cancun’s hotel zone beach. It’s not huge, but it was big enough and you could walk for quite a bit in one direction. There was almost no seaweed until the last day, this was at the end of November.

They give you coupons when you arrive, but we didn’t even really need to use them. The spa had better deals at the counter. There was a spa concierge out by the pool to book spa treatments and also rent the Bali beds on the beach or by the pool. The beds are about $30 a day. The coupons are broken up by category so you get discounts on spa, Bali bed rental, specialty dining, excursions. You cannot use the full amount on one thing though, there is a limit on each category. The spa concierge gave us the coupon price without the coupon. The spa had better deals without the coupons.

We indulged in a couples massage, my husband’s first. He was terrified and really unsure we wanted to do it, but I insisted. He still talks about Isabelle every time he asks for a back rub. The spa started with the hydrotherapy, saunas, pools, some chlorofil water. Then onto our massage by Isabelle and Wendy. Very relaxing and enjoyable.

We enjoyed the swim up bar at the pool and the lobby bar for an after-dinner drink.

The service, location, and compact size of this resort make it a great choice for a first time or short trip. I’m torn between wanting to try new resorts or going back here because we really loved it.