My husband and I will be traveling to Secrets Excellence at the end of July for our 5 year anniversary. I have not been to either it or Aventura but did extensive research to make a decision between the two. We had already stayed at a palace resort and enjoyed it (Moon Palace). We decided on Secrets because:

1. the property looked newer

2. reviews for secrets claim that it is easier to get a lounge chair at any time of the day - when we went to moon palace we had to wake up in the morning and set out our towel to get a chair for the day - a friend to aventura and said you had to do the same thing

3. the price was a little less for us to stay at secrets (it is usually more)

4. it was closer to cancun (25 mintues instead of an hour from the airport)

5. my husband loves lazy rivers and secrets has one and aventura does not

6. secrets has a better beach aventura has a manmade lagoon

Things that aventura has that secrets does not:

1. more active nightlife at the resort (this is what we heard from reviews)

2. double jacuzzis in each room (our room at secrets has a jacuzzi bathtub)

3. the ability to visit other palace resorts

Hope this helps

kcjosz,

I'll give you my comparison of the two. Just a note, we've been to the Caribbean/Mexico 19 times (just got back 2 days ago from #19 !! ), so my critique of the resorts may not be the same as some people who may not travel 3 times a year (not bragging about it -- just that when we go to resorts now, we have alot of other resorts to compare to).

Just a note about the other person's comment -- SERC DOES have 2-person jacuzzis in every room (& some rooms also have a 2-person jacuzzi on the patio). Secrets Capri has the 1-person jacuzzi tub in the bathrooms (separate from the marble shower).

I have vacation pics if you're interested: http://photos.yahoo.com/jmrperotto

Jackie

OK, here's my mini-review:

Secrets Excellence Riviera Cancun vs. Aventura Spa Palace

My husband & I have been to both & enjoyed both. We were at ASP in May 2003 & SERC in Jan 2005. I guess I���ll give my opinions area by area���

FOOD: For us, ASP wins. The food at SERC was pretty good, but, of the two, we liked ASP���s food better. At SERC, no meal jumped out at us & made us say ���Wow��� after eating, and the menu selections & desserts didn���t impress us too much. We were at Secrets Capri in May 2004 & that was our favorite of any all-inclusive we���ve ever been to (we loved the desserts there, too). We were really expecting more out of SERC after we got spoiled at SC !! Also, there was 24 hour Room Service at both.

POOLS: I guess, for me, it���s a tie betw/ the two, w/ maybe a slight edge to ASP. Both had really nice pools & were spotless. The pools at SERC were freezing cold (& I���ve always been a pool person even w/ cold water), but that may be because we were there in January. One pool (by bldgs 7 & 8) was heated & that was very comfortable. We were at ASP in May, so that may be why the pools were comfortable. Both had waiter/waitress service by the pools & beach. When we were at ASP they had towel cards, so only one towel per person, but that may have changed since then. No towel cards at SERC���you can use as many as you want.

ROOMS: Definitely SERC wins here.

Our room at ASP (1337) was very nice: king bed (in our room), 2-person in-room Jacuzzi, mini-fridge, liquor dispenser, big shower, only one sink, toilet was in w/ shower. The room showed some age, however.

Our room at SERC (Room 6034, a Swim Out, non-Excellence Club room) was terrific: king bed, 2-person in-room Jacuzzi, 2-person Jacuzzi on the patio, mini-fridge, HUGE shower (probably 5���x 4���), dual sinks, separate shower/toilet areas, cheesy soft-porn channel that comes on approx 11pm-4am (SE Punta Cana had 24 hour Playboy). The resort is brand new so nothing has really aged yet.

SERVICE: Service was about equal at both ASP & SERC. I would give a slight edge to ASP, probably bec/ SERC is new & they are still learning. We really had no major complaints at either resort. We seem to find that we always get better overall service in Mexico (been 8x) than in Jamaica (6x) or St Lucia (2x) or Bahamas (1x). Secrets Excellence in Punta Cana had great service as well.

BEACH: Well, since ASP has no ���real��� beach, I guess SERC wins this one.

Since ASP has the man-made lagoons on each side, you can���t take long walks on the beach there, but we didn���t feel we lost out because of this. The lagoon area was kind of nice since you could always go in the water w/o worrying about it being too wavy.

SERC has a very nice natural beach. The water isn���t perfectly clear (like in the Playacar area), but, on calmer days, it was a nice blue. The sand was nice & soft. There was some sea grass that washes up on shore, but they frequently are raking it up (w/ a tractor). If you walk south from SERC, Puerto Morelos is about a 45-minute walk. We also walked north, past the Paradisus, quite a long way. Both directions were very nice walks & we didn���t notice much debris at all along the way.

OVERALL: We really did enjoy both resorts. ASP is huge, but we never felt crowded at all. We went to ASP w/ 6 other couples & everyone really liked it. SERC was very nice as well, but we felt that since they really hype up the romantic aspect, then they should not have conventions here. As I stated in my SERC vs. SC review: on our last day @ SERC, a group of a few hundred people were checking in for a convention & were extremely loud & obnoxious (i.e. they had a table set up in DeMario's for about 40 of them & they were shouting back & forth to each other & shaking their rattles). I don't really blame them so much as Secrets. They advertise peace, tranquility & romance, & a convention hotel cannot achieve that -- you can't have it both ways !! If I had to pick one to return to, I guess I would pick ASP over SERC.