I know a good many of the travelers here have been to or heard about Secrets Maroma Beach (SMB) but I did not see a review and thought I would complete one.

My wife and I made our first trip to Secrets Maroma Beach last week. We did a 8 night trip in the middle of August 2016. We have been traveling around the Caribbean for about 15 years now and have been to a good many All Inclusive Resorts so have a good bit to compare. We tend to like the All Inclusive packages.

We flew direct to Cancun from Atlanta which was roughly a 2 hour flight. We were picked up by AMSTAR and transported to SMB. We booked our trip through a friend who is a travel agent for Apple vacations. Apple Vacations either owns or is part of Secrets and they own Amstar so its a package deal.

We actually arrived at 9:30am and check in was at 3:00. We packed a bathing suit in our carry on and did not figure the room would be ready and had plans of just changing and heading to the beach till it was. Surprisingly, in 30 mins we had our room as were unpacking. No issues at check in and the staff was excellent about getting us going.

To keep this short, I will go through the main issues people are concerned about

Food : Food was very good. Excellent at times. This resort has mostly chicken and beef on the menu with little seafood. There were a few seafood items but for a Caribbean resort, it was not as much. As expected, they served a lot of Mexican cuisine which is our favorite so we were happy with that. Breakfast buffet was excellent with plenty of choices of standard breakfast food and local dishes. A huge assortment of fresh fruit was there which was a huge plus for us.

There are 5 different choices for dinner. A main buffet which is open almost every night along with some A la Cart choices. Mexican, Japanese hibachi, french and Italian restaurants. We tried them all and they were fantastic. I posted a few pictures below. Waiters were very friendly and the food was served in a timely manner.

Drinks: Mostly top shelf alcohol here. Of course tequila rules in Mexico but they served high end alcohol for a resort of all type of beverages. As for beer, they had local beer and some domestic stuff as well ( Corona, Bud light, etc). I dont drink much beer and cant comment on the IPA's they had but I did see a few.

Rooms : Rooms were excellent compared to most All Inclusive's we had visited. We had a swim out room and that was a bonus. Having our own small pool right out the back of the room came in very handy. The resort was at about 70% capacity since it is the off season and we had no one else in there with us at any time. Showers are big, also a Jacuzzi tub and dual sinks. Room had a safe and free wifi along with flat panel TV with a good many english speaking channels.

Nightlife/Bars : There are a good many more activities late night than other resorts we had traveled to. Shows of course (which was nicely done) and a few different options on late night bars. A inside lobby bar with live piano and guitar going along with a outside "Sports" bar with Pool tables, ping pong and TV's going till late at night. There is also a dance club called "Desires" which we did not make it to.

Night time shows were traditional Mexican show, fire show, rock show and one topless show.

Beach : One of the best things about this resort. If you like the beach, you will love SMB. Water is crystal clear, sand is perfect and the service on the beach is nice. We also walked down the beach about a half mile and found a perfect little private beach where we did not see a soul for two or three hours. Water was crystal clear and very nice. Drink service on the beach was very good as you may expect from a higher end All inclusive

Pool: They have two big pools with swim up bars and waiters everywhere. Typical pool stuff, volleyball, games, etc. They also have a "foam party" every Tuesday in the pool. A little cheesy but some nice advantages as well. LOL. I would say the pool crowd was a little younger crowd and the beach crowd was a tad older. Plenty of things for both crowds.

To shorten this up, SMB was one of the best All Inclusive resorts we had visited. There are tons of things to do there and the service was about as good as you can get. People were very friendly and helpful, drinks were great and the food was very good for a All Inclusive. My wife and I have a big anniversary next year and are planning a 2 week trip where we will have 6 or 8 other couples join us for one of the weeks and it will be hard to pass this place up.

Negatives: There are always a few. The mosquitos are pretty bad at night. If you go, make sure you take spray. The people that work at the resort also were complaining about them. Said it was the worst they had all year. Once we sprayed, we were OK and only had issues with them at night. Like all places in Mexico, the locals that pedal on the beach were a pain. Every 10 mins there was someone walking by you asking you to buy a hat, cigar, wrap, jewelry, etc. We dont see this in other places as much as Mexico. Thats about it for the complaints... Not many

Note: Upon arrival, you are going to be asked to attend a presentation. They push it pretty hard. The presentation is on a "opportunity" they offer. Do yourself a favor and search on "Unlimited Vacation Club" before you get there. It does not have favorable reviews. Once they ask you about attending the presentation, just tell them that you are not interested in the "Unlimited Vacation Club". Call it by name. Once they know you have done some research, they will back off and leave you alone about it. If not, they will push and push till you are irritated. Its mostly a scam.

Some pictures.

Swim up room

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Beach area

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They ran this rake up and down the beach about twice a day to "smooth" and fluff the sand. Took about 30 mins and was not a distraction..

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Cost: Our 8 night trip with air and transportation was about $4500. The Junior Suites that are not swim up are a good bit cheaper.

This post was edited on 8/6/17 at 6:24 am