My wife and I spent our honeymoon in the Casitas (section 31) end of the resort the week of June 22. From the time we walked in, greeted with a glass of champagne, to the time we left, it was absolutely amazing!! I read a lot of the reviews on this web-site and can't imagine how anyone could not have an amazing time here. Maybe it was because we were staying in the newest of the Casitas sections or because the level of service is higher there, but the rooms were perfect, the staff was delightful and the food was outstanding.
We arrived rather early (about 11 am I think) so our room was not yet ready. They took our bags before taking us to our concierge who gave us an overview of the resort, the restaurants, the specials offered that week, etc. before leaving us at a bar by the beach until our room was ready. We waited for a couple hours but there is no better way to wait than with drink in hand, sitting by the beach and overlooking the most amazing emerald green ocean.
Once our room was ready, our concierge took us to the room to give us a tour. WOW! As I said, we were in the Casitas section 31. It is the newest section (although there was construction going on for another section just past ours) at the far end of the resort. Our room was an Infinity Pool Casita Suite. I chose this over the Swim-up Infinity Pool Casita and am glad that I did for a couple reasons. First, it offered a bit more privacy as it was on the second floor. Second, because it was on the second floor, it offered a spectacular ocean view that the first floor rooms didn't have. The room was complete with a huge indoor shower, even bigger outdoor shower ("The Shower of Love" as the staff called it!), a granite countertop sink, king-sized canopy bed, mini-fridge, private covered balcony with palapa bed and an infinity pool (maybe 3 feet deep and 6' by 10') off the balcony. I think one could stay the entire week in the room without regret!!
Each Casita section has it's own pool with swim-up bar, some also have a large outdoor jacuzzi, as section 31 did but we never took advantage of it. One thing that made section 31 a bit nicer was it also offered food service from a small kitchen with a limited, but good, menu.
I'm not a picky eater and enjoy trying new foods so maybe I'm different, but I don't see how anyone could ever complain about the food here. Every meal we had was outstanding whether it was the candle-light lobster dinner on the beach, sushi at Kampai, the 5 course meal at D'Italia, the breakfast buffet at Cocotal or just a snack of tortilla chips with fresh guacamole -- all fabulous!! Not all restaurants were open every day and sometimes the regular schedules were changed last minute. So to make sure we ate everywhere we wanted, we made reservations early in the week -- I highly recommend this but be prepared for the schedule to change. My wife really wanted to eat at La Fondue so we planned accordingly only to have to change the reservation twice as they kept changing the restaurant schedule. But no worries, they were opening up La Fondue on Saturday (our last night :-( ) so we were (seemingly) set. However, on Friday afternoon we got a call saying La Fondue was going to be closed. So my wife called to tell them that this was the place we had really wanted to eat all week, how we had reschedule it already and to express her general disappointment. Anna, the concierge, told us to give her 30 minutes to see what she could work out. She called back and told us to pick whichever restaurant at which we'd like to eat and they would bring our order from La Fondue to us! We picked Kampai as it was the most convenient. They put us in the middle of the restaurant we thought so everyone could very obviously see we were having a special fondue meal, not the standard Japanese fair served there. While there, we were served by the head waiter Carlos who really seemed to go above and beyond to make sure we were happy. All the portions seemed significantly larger than normal (all dinners at each restaurant are a la carte with appropriately sized portions) and they even added a few extras that were definitely not part of our order but still delicious. The desserts, which were various fruits and pastries dipped in chocolate or caramel fondue, were easily double the normal size! To perfect the desserts, Carlos brought us each a glass of champagne. We were really impressed by the level of effort they put into making sure we were happy.
The grounds of the resort were immaculate. Gardeners were constantly cutting/watering grass, pruning trees and bushes, raking the beach or whatever was necessary to keep everything perfect. On our way to breakfast early one morning, we saw a smashed crab that had seemingly lost a duel with a golf cart. When we passed that spot again a couple ours later, the crab was gone and the path had been scrubbed.
We only ventured off the resort twice (why leave paradise?!?!), once to go to Playa del Carmen one evening and another time to go snorkeling. We walked along 5th Ave. in Playa which had lots of nice little shops and what looked like nice restaurants (we ate beforehand). We took the shuttle from the resort, which gave us about 3-4 hours to walk around. If you plan to eat and shop, this may not be enough time but we only shopped so it was perfect. We took a snorkeling trip which we arranged through American Express travel (who also provided us with shuttle service to and from the airport) rather than through the resort. We used Juan Carlos at their booth which is outside the bell-boy stand in front of the resort (around to the right you'll see a door over which I think it said "Tour Reps"). I don't remember the name of the outfit but our snorkeling expedition left from Puerto Morelos and included lunch for an extra $20 (I recommend the lunch -- outstanding Mexican food!). It was a bit chaotic and nerve racking when we first got there but the captain and guide (Filipe) was terrific and made sure we saw a lot of marine life. There were several other snorkeling guides available in Puerto Morelos but I'm sure if you use American Express to book it, you'll get the same one we had.
Two warnings -- First, not waste your time with the time-share presentation disguised as a "tour of the presidential suites". What was supposed to take 90 minutes took 3 hours. Second, do not try to take home wine, tequila or other bottled spirits from the resort. We had $200 vouchure that could be used for wine or liquor while at the resort. They told us that we could each take 2 bottles in our carry-on luggage without any trouble. That may be true but only if you buy them in the duty-free shop on the other side of the security check point (which you will have to then put in your checked bag before going through security once you get back into the U.S.). Even though we didn't have to pay for them, it sure was disappointing to have to "throw away" (the check-point security guard gingerly placed them in a bin) 3 great bottles of wine and 1 great bottle of tequila.
All-in-all, it was an absolutely perfect trip. Never have I been so relaxed, eaten such such consistently great food and been served by a resort staff who so sincerely wanted us to have the best vaction ever. Whether it was a gardener, a plumber, a waiter, a bartender, or concierge we were alway greeted with a warm, genuine smile and "hola!".
