Aventura Spa Palace Trip Report

March 23rd-March 30th
We chose the Aventura Spa Palace because it's an adults only all inclusive resort. Previously we have stayed at 3 other adults only resorts - Crown Paradise in Puerto Vallarta, Beaches, and Secrets Excellence in Punta Cana. Aventura Spa Palace definately had the best facilities in comparison to the other resorts mentioned. Here's some of my thoughts/experiences about the resort.
ROOM:
Rooms were great. We originally were assigned to Room 2439 located on the 2nd floor in a quiet location facing the zen labyrinth. Later that evening we checked to see if a room was available closer to the ocean. You could see a bit of the ocean while in the hammock, but we were considerably far back from the ocean. Claudia, who checked us in, put us first on a list of those who were requesting room changes for the next day. The next morning we went to the front desk around 8:30 and were assigned to Room 3307. It appeared that there were a half dozen or so others requesting room changes, and it looked to me that rooms had already been assigned, probably according to place on the list. Our new location was great. Third floor, air conditioner could be set a little cooler than the previous room, and a great ocean view. Both rooms had the liquor dispensers on the wall - brandy, rum, scotch and tequilla. One room had Cuervo Gold and the other had Sauza Anejo for the tequilla.
LAGOON:
We thoroughly enjoyed the lagoon. I brought my snorkel gear but it really wasn't worthwhile to use at the resort. However, the breeze was fantastic at the lagoon. We had chamber of commerce weather the whole time (rained a little one night, a little more another night, and rained hard as we were leaving the airport). I never felt the heat of the sun with the breeze, so beware. There was much more of a breeze at the lagoon than the pools. On the spa side the restrooms are right in the massage huts so you never had to walk back to the room or very far to go to the bathroom. If you need a beach you can catch a shuttle bus to Playa or the Xpu-Ha for the day.
FOOD:
Well, I'm a bit picky about food. I'll eat just about anything, as long as it's prepared well. I found the steaks/beef tough and overcooked in general. As a contrast, the pork tenderloin was moist and tender. We did enjoy the sushi at the oriental restaurant, not as good as at home, but still enjoyable. The nice thing about all the restaurants is you can order whatever you want to go at anytime and take it back to your room or out to the pool. And NO reservations required at any of the restaurants. One afternoon we loaded up on sushi and went back to the room for happy hour. I enjoyed La Hacienda restauraunt. All the restaurants had strong flaming coffees prepared tableside for after dinner. Be careful - these are kick butt coffees but the presentation is fantastic. Overall, I've had much better guacamole, but never better ice cream. They even have self service cones and dishes at the 2 snack bars for the ice cream. Service couldn't have been better at any of the restaurants and pool/lagoon drink service was very good as well. We always tipped for all our meals/drinks. The buffets for breakfast and lunch were faultless. There were plenty of great things to choose from. Dinners were sometimes good, sometimes not so good. All in all, the food would not deter me from a return trip to this great resort.
TOURS:
We did our own. We booked the Coba/Pac Chen tour through alltournative.com - a full day which was great. We also took the free shopping shuttle from the resort up to Playa del Carmen, and then took the collectivo ($2 a person) about 60 kilometers to Tulum. Then we caught the collectivo back by standing by the highway to do some shopping in Playa del Carmen. What a cheap way to get around, and travel like the locals instead of like a herd of tourists. Would really like to come back to this area of Mexico and spend some more time sightseeing. The locals we met everywhere were extremely helpful.
SPA:
Wow, and wow. We used the free facilities, gym, indoor pool, whirlpools, suana and steam room. All were first class - especially compared to the small cramped facilities in most Caribbean resorts I've been to. I booked a Holistic Massage for one of the ocean front palapas (not free). Another one of those breezy sunny days, where the masseuse turned off the air, and opened the windows so I could hear the surf while getting a massage. This is paradise. Would loved to have participated in the half dozen or so exercise classes held throughout the day, but; well, this was vacation, and after a while inertia set in.
DRINKS:
I'm taking a break from drinking right now after this trip. You will never want for alcohol here. From the red wine in every room, the liquor on the wall, beer in the mini fridge. A few times for turndown service, the maid filled up the ice bucket as well. Please note, the mini fridge is not refilled daily, every other day, as long as you don't have the Do Not Disturb sign on the door. The maid does not fill up the mini fridge. At the swim up bars and the lobby bars, the drinks were as strong as you'd like. If you would like them some other way than prepared, just ask. The bartenders were great.

We felt like we had been away longer than one week. This resort really is first class. I know that some people have been disappointed staying here
and this I can't understand. This is an all-inclusive, and my experiences with all-inclusives is that the food sometimes is not on par to eating in a top notch restaurant at home. However, the people at this resort bend over backwards and are so gracious. Yes, the Guest Services people will hound you for a time share here. My recommendation, do NOT let them sign you up with the VIP (timeshare) meeting if you're not inclined to buy one. My boyfriend way very friendly, but very emphatic with his "no, gracias" right on the first day. If you don't, you will get a wake up call in the morning from Guest Services. Don't let them dictate how you spend your vacation time.
You will not be disappointed if you pick this resort.

[azulita]

Great trip report!

We are staying there from 4/27 - 5/4 on our Honeymoon!

It was nice reading your post so that we can be more prepared for what's to come and what to expect. I see that one can take a bus right from the hotel? That's something I've been dying to know because we won't rent a car and want to visit Playa, may be going to Xel-Ha and Tulum. Did you go to Chichen Itza?

Once again, thanks for the great report! Do you have a favorite drink you would recommend? How are their Mojitos?

Thanks,

azulita :P

The resort has a free shuttle bus that leaves at 7:50AM from the Spa lobby. First stop is Playa del Carmen, then on to the other Palace resorts and Cancun. As an alternative, taxis are easy to catch from the Spa lobby ($12US or 120 pesos to PDC). We were there during the day, but looks like a lot of fun for an evening outside of the resort if you're so inclined. By the way, the locals seemed to confuse LTI Aventura with the Aventura Spa Palace, just using Spa Palace seemed to clear up the confusion.

We met a couple on their honeymoon at the resort that went to Xel-Ha. They said they were very glad they decided to make it a full day trip instead of splitting it with Tulum like others. Although we did Tulum on our own and it didn't take much time; I personally preferred Coba. Less people and a less excavated setting. We did not take the tour to Chichen Itza, others said it was a 3 hour bus ride from the resort one way.

I didn't try the Mojitas there, althought I did my best to get through the drink list. They're all good.

Congratulations, I'm sure you'll enjoy your honeymoon.

[azulita]

Javelin2,

Thanks a bunch for the good information and the good wishes! We have decided to skip going to Chichen Itza due to the looooong trip to and from the ruins. But we are thinking about the Altournative Copa Pac Chen tour so we may get to see Coba!

We are also deciding between Xcaret and Xel-Há. We'll try to visit Playa in the evening for some dinner or nightlife fun, are taxis there late in the evening? Other than that I think we'll take it easy and enjoy the resort.

How were the shows at the resort? Was the food as "so-so" as some have said?

Thanks!

[Javelin]

Azulita,
Taxis are available outside the Spa Palace lobby. If one isn't there, they will call one for you anytime.
Shows were just like at other all-inclusives, decent local talent shows, not broadway productions. Food for me was also the same as other all-inclusives. I could always find something I liked to eat. And if you don't like one restaurant, go to the next.
There is also room service. In the morning it's just continental breakfast. In the day and evening it's a variety (certainly not the variety at a hotel where you pay) that's pretty good - shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon, cream of asparagus soup, chicken soup, club sandwiches, steak, chicken, fish, chocolate cake and cheesecake. Overnight the menu is a variety of sandwiches and fries. By the way, the lunch buffet at Mundaca restaurant had a club sandwich that was a work of art; although the buffet menu can change a few times during the week. Breakfast buffet there was great as well. And early in the morning while waiting for the shuttle bus, you can make your own bloody mary/champagne cocktail to go at the Oriental restaurant in the Spa Lobby. The spring rolls at the Oriental restaurant were also great, but my Almond Chicken was diced chicken with a sauce that looked and tasted like breakfast gravy. Other dishes were much better. Of course, everyone has different taste with food. The snack bars by the pools have a very nice sandwich, pizza, chips buffet everyday. Better than the snack bars at any other all-inclusive I've been to.

[azulita]

Javelin,

Thank you so much for the great information. Did you went to the Xel-Ha Place for a day or visited any of the other Palace resorts? Thanks!

azulita

[therapy_guy]

We will be at Aventura Spa Palace from 13-19 May . . . our first "AI" vacation. We were skeptical at first, but after reading what everyone has said, I think we'll love it. Thanks again!!!

[azulita]

The same happened to us here. We are also first timers to AI and to Mexico and are also pretty happy with our decision of Aventura Spa Palace. All the reviews posted here are just add to the excitement of going!!

Have a great time therapy guy

azulita 8)

I agree with the previous comments about the Spa Palace. My wife and I were married there last Saturday and overall it was a great experience. If you're looking for a memorable, meaningful ceremony without much stress, I would recommend it. Of course there are the add on costs once you get there (flowers, photos/video, horse drawn carriage if you'd like, etc.) but it was fairly reasonable and the wedding services staff was very helpful.

The food overall was good, not great but good. The seafood I tried definitely was not fresh and some of the shellfish seemed processed. I thought the Japanese and Mexican resturants were the best, my wife loved the grilled tuna at la Hacienda which also had the best steak at the resort IMHO. Our only negative experience was at el Greco, we didn't find anything but the dinner rolls edible. Italian was pretty good and the Mundaca was decent at dinner and always good for breakfast with plenty buffet style food to choose from. The snack bar came in handy several times with good food while we were drinking by the pool or lagoon.

We spent most of our time drinking by the fabulous pool and tipped our waiter to get speedy service throughout the day. They have a drink list of about 10 or 15 tropical drinks to choose from that were a bit on the weak side of what I'm used to but that's not such a bad thing when you're out in the sun all day. Of course you can get beer (Dos Equis only) and any other mixed drinks as well.

Instead of taking the day trips our package offered, we decided to go to Playa one day for food and shopping. We had a great time in this neat little town. Another day we took a cab to XpuHa ($6 US) but it rained on us. We still had a great time sitting in the XpuHa lobby bar doing tequila shots in the middle of a rainy jungle.


The facilityand service is 2nd to none and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice relaxing vacation in the sun without the spring-breakers and without the sharky singles scene.