Reviewers Rating: 
Excellent
?AventuraSpa Palace May 16-23, 2002We first stayed at Aventura Palace (adults only resort) Nov. 2000 for four days and loved this
wonderful, beautiful resort....so we decided to return and stay for seven days. I am not going to bore
you with the travel to Mexico, customs and airport security.
During the time we were there in 2000, they had built another Palace resort directly next door to
Aventura, called the Spa Palace. During construction there were a lot of negative reports coming from
guest, but this did not change our plans of revisiting this wonderful resort. Prior to May these were two
separate Palace resorts, of which you still had full privileges to use the pool, facilities and
restaurants....we had learned that when you checked in at Aventura you were given (2) $50 coupons to
be used at the Spa Palace for the spa treatments, we were excited for this comp. Well let me explain
later about this.
After arrival to Cancun, found got our luggage, went thru customs and met our Royale Tours shuttle,
loaded up, paid a local $3 apiece for two Corona Beers while we waited on other folks to board the
shuttle. We had learned the on May 1st, they merged both resorts, it is now called AventuraSpa
Palace Resort. The shuttle pulls into the AventuraSpa Resort, which is the Spa Palace front entrance.
We disembark, and proceed to the front desk of the Spa Palace. Earlier in the month I had e-mailed
Alberto, stating we were returning guest of Aventura and requested a room in Building 0 or 1, on the
second or third floors, with a low room number (better view of the ocean). Well....when we checked in
the clerk gave us our room keys, #3331, I told him that I had requested thru Alberto, building 0 or 1.
He told me that they were full and this was the closest room. I was upset at first but really didn't care,
as it was 6 p.m. and we were tired. I knew that according to our room number, we were in building 3,
third floor and room 31......at least we were on Aventura side. Aventura Palace part consist of
buildings 0,1, 2 and 3. Spa Palace consist of buildings 4, 5, 6 and 7. At check in you are given two
room keys (plastic cards), a room safe key and lock, and two towel cards....what ever you do don't
loose any of these....they charge you for the loss. We were escorted via a golf cart to our room and our
luggage followed, I gave the bellboy a tip for carrying our luggage up three flights of stairs to our
room. The room had a average view, king size bed, refrigerator (stocked with Dos XX, Tecate (light
Mexican beer), water and soda, there was two person Jacuzzi next to the patio doors, also there was a
two person walk-in shower with glass doors, coffee pot and hair dryer. Next to the Jacuzzi were two
nice robes. In the closet is a safe for valuables, and camera space, along with ample closet and drawer
space. There is a TV with numerous channels, great Mexican Music Video Stations along with
American Stations, there is a phone, but no CD player. Some rooms have liquor dispensers on the
walls while others do not, ours did not have one. Room Service is available with an extensive menu
available. Maid service was very good each day. Upon check-in, they arranged a time to meet with
guest relations about a VIP tour, I will explain this later.....
Well the next day I meet with Royal Tours to set up return transportation to the airport and then
proceeded to guest relations for information concerning the VIP tour. The VIP tour was of the Spa
Palace, which would only take 90 minutes, and you would get the (2) $50 coupons for spa
treatments$100 in Palace money to be used at gift shops and some other stuff.......I realized it was a
time share or they refer to it as a RCI travel membership (which it will waste about 4 hours of your
time and high pressure time share selling). I had enough of this crap, two years ago, read my first trip
report concerning SHARKS... so I nicely declined the offer and but them off each day of our stay,
cause they hound you each day to take the VIP tour. So folks, you do not get two free $50 coupons for
spa treatments at check in, since they have merged both resorts as one. If I were you, decline this offer,
unless you want to waste valuable time of your vacation and get pressured with high pressure sales
techniques.
This resort includes several off site tours free. If you stay 3-4 nights you receive one tour, if you stay 5
+ nights you receive two tours which consist of Chichen Itza, Chichen Itza Light & Sound, Tulum, Isla
Mujeres, Coba, and Ek-Balam.
Something else has changed from when we where there before, there is a free shuttle that takes the
guest to Playa del Carmen, Moon Palace and Cancun daily now, compared to scheduled dates two
years ago. The shuttle leaves each morning at 7:50 a.m.
Let me describe the resort since it has been merged into one resort.
Everyone checks in at the Spa Palace side, regardless of which side you booked.
The front desk of Spa Palace was beautiful, open aired, stained glass in the ceiling, Mexican tile all
around, palm trees and flowers every where. Around the corner from the front desk is the Main Lobby
Bar, looking out into the Patio Courtyard, with tables and chairs. Around the courtyard you will find
the gift shop, jewelry shop and two of the restaurants ( La Huerta - vegetarian dining with an up scale a
la carte service and Mo Mo No Hana- oriental style in a exquisite private setting), on this side of the
resort. Out side of this area, you will find an indoor pool with 3 hot tubs and a fully furnished exercise
room, next you will find the main pool for the Spa side, with swim-up bar. Behind the main pool is El
Greco Restaurant- Mediterranean cuisine in a casual atmosphere, which serves buffet breakfast, lunch
buffet and a la carte at night, facing the ocean. There is a man made lagoon and beach area on this side
too. Other things you will find on this side, is a cross current pool, walking trail, rock climbing wall,
and spa massage huts. The Spa side of the resort is for relaxing and calmness for those who wish to be
tranquil. The room buildings on this side consist of building 4, 5, 6 and 7.
If you are walking from the Spa side to the Aventura side, you will not know when you cross into the
next, every thing looks the same, building numbers will be the only identification and that will only be
recognized by returnees.
Aventura side has not changed since our last visit except that you do not check in on this side of the
resort. The former lobby is still open aired, with stained glass ceilings.
Refer to my other trip report for details. On this side, you have Aventura Main Lobby Bar, overlooking
into the open aired courtyard, around this area you will find a gift shop, Q-bar which consist of big
screen TV, pool tables along with hors d'oeuvre tables, and a night time bar. There are two restaurants:
Ventanas - exquisite Italian buffet for dinner and La Hacienda - very upscale Mexican restaurant- a la
carte for dinner only.
At night they have shows with local talent or staff performing, either in the open-aired courtyard or
upstairs in the convention room, depending on the weather.
All activities, such as shows, local bands, wandering Mexican Quartets...take place on Aventura side.
This is where all the action or entertainment is, not stating that is noisy or wild on this side.
The Spa side is especially for relaxation.
Outside of the main area of Aventura, you will find the huge magnificent pool, stretching from one
end of the resort to the other, with plenty of lounge chairs and walk-overs to get you from one side of
pool to next, shade huts, and a swim-up bar with grill, plus there is the Mundaca Restaurant which
serves international food, breakfast buffet, lunch buffet and dinner a la carte. Also you will find the
man made lagoons with man made beach, it has numerous shade huts, water is blue with plenty of fish
swimming around, nice snorkeling in calm waters. Plenty of lounge chairs were found around the pool
and lagoon areas.
Summary of Restaurants:
North Lobby (Spa side)
La Huerta: Fine Vegetarian Dining with an upscale a la carte service. Open from Sunday to Friday
from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Dress code: Elegant casual attire is required (long pants for men)
Mo Mo No Hana: Delicious Oriental Food in a exquisite and private setting. Open from
6 p.m. to 11 p.m. (Dress shorts)
El Greco: Mediterranean cuisine in a casual atmosphere. (Dress shorts)
Breakfast-buffet: 7 am till 11 am
Lunch buffet: International buffet from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Dinner: Mediterranean A la Carte from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
South Lobby ( Aventura side)
Ventanas: Exquisite Italian Buffet, open from 6 p.m. till 11 p.m. (Dress shorts)
Mundaca: International Food. (Dress shorts)
Breakfast-buffet: 7 a.m. till 10 a.m.
Lunch buffet: 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Dinner: A La Carte 6 p.m. till 11 p.m.
La Hacienda: Simply the best of Mexico for you, Open 6 p.m. till 11 p.m.
Dress code: Elegant casual attire is required ( long pants for men)
No restaurants require reservations, at La Hacienda you did have to put your name of a waiting list.
While you are waiting for your table, you can get a drink at the main bar, but just keep checking back
on your table.
COCKTAILS AND BARS:
Pool Bars: Located at both main pools, open from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m.
Lobby Bars: Located at each lobby on both sides, on Aventura side there is an additional
Bar set up in the Q-Bar section. Open from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m.
Snack Bar: Great snacks located behind the swim-up bars either side, and in Q-Bar of
Aventura and next to the main lobby bar of Spa side, open 11 a.m to 6 p.m..
Juice Bar: Healthy choice, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
They do offer currency exchange at both lobby's of the resort, you can exchange U.S. money for Pecos,
but not really needed, cause most merchants accept U.S. money for purchases. You can not exchange
Pecos for U.S. money at the resort.
I have basically given you an quick over view of AventuraSpa Palace, you might want to compare a
more detailed layout of Aventura in my 2000 trip report. Ok, let's get to the actual report of our
opinions of the resort.
Yes we were in Room # 3331, not a great view but a very good location for walking between both
resorts. Just make sure you do not get placed on ground level, if it rains, you might have a river
flowing in front your door, drainage is not too good on ground level. Once I thought a great view of
the ocean was important, but if you think about it, you are in the room for a short period of time, you
get in late at night and get up early the next day and leave for the pool or an excursion. The room had a
decent view, king size bed, refrigerator (stocked with Dos XX, Tecate (light Mexican beer), water and
soda. There was two person Jacuzzi next to the patio doors, with two fluffy white terrycloth robes next
to Jacuzzi, also there was a two person walk-in shower with glass doors, coffee pot and hair dryer. In
the closet is a safe for valuables, and ample closet and drawer space. There is a TV with numerous
channels, great Mexican MTV station and a phone, but no CD player. On the second day, we returned
to our room, to find a bottle of red wine and cheese tray. Room Service is available with an extensive
menu available from 11 am till 6 a.m.. Maid service was very good each day.
We did not take any of the free off site excursions, this was a relaxation vacation. We did go to Playa
del Carmen and Cancun for a day of shopping. We ate at two local restaurants in Playa Del Carmen,
had very good food, included a seafood salad with lettuce , draft beer and a local Mexican
entree......we did not get sick and very tasteful. The merchants in Playa liked to barter on the prices, it
was fun for a few hours but later got boring, so we took a cab back to AventuraSpa for $12.00. We
also went to Cancun one day on the shuttle for a day, they dropped you off at Beach Palace around
9:30 a.m.,we had breakfast there (free), went shopping at KuKulCan Mall for gifts, very good prices.
In fact better prices than in Playa del Carmen. We laid around the pool at Beach Palace, had lunch
there, and plenty of beverages free while we waited for the shuttle to pick us up at 6 p.m. We went to
Puertos Aventuras, taxi was $6 each way, to watch the dolphin interaction shows, which was
entertaining and to shop..
All of the Restaurants at AventuraSpa were open aired, no air conditioning.
We ate all the restaurants except for La Huerta (vegetarian) and Ventanas ( Italian). We found service
to be great along with the food. The waiters were always asking if everything was ok and if you
needed another drink. It was remarkable. I will say order your steak, medium rare, cause they seem to
over cook meat, along with seafood. We ate at both El Greco and Mundaca for Breakfast....very good,
the buffet was good, scrambled eggs were not dried out but very moist, plus they offered made to order
omelets, fried eggs and pancakes. We found all breakfast buffets very well pre-pared, scramble eggs
on buffet was very moist, the omelet, fried egg, and pan cake stations very well done. Out off six
mornings we found service to be implacable, except for one morning the waiters seemed not to be
attentive, but that was ok, they finally recognized us.
Service at Mundaca at night was great. In fact we ate there 3 times for dinner during our stay.
Mundaca had a very extensive menu, a la carte, food was nicely displayed on your plates when served.
We had shrimp cocktails ( twelve very large peeled shrimp in a glass of lettuce and limes ), fresh
asparagus soup, very nice tasting rib-eye steaks ( request med-rare for steaks, they seem to over cook
the meats) and deserts. We got grilled seafood one night, a little bit over done, but with everything else
that we ordered we were full. The deserts looked very nice displayed, we got the chocolate volcano
and the cup-o-chino made out of chocolate . The volcano was a cone shaped chocolate pastry topped
with a cherry, cherry juice running down the sides, and liquid chocolate inside the cake......the
cup-o-chino was a chocolate made coffee cup, inside was a topping of mocha chocolate cream with
cake underneath. I will have to say these deserts looked great and tasted GREAT. We have had deserts
such as these at casinos in the U.S. and resorts in Jamaica, they looked good, but tasted like cardboard.
I guess Mexico proud's their selves in the looks and taste of their deserts, compared to Jamaica. They
had musician's that wandered from table to table, singing for the guest.
We ate at the Oriental restaurant several times, very extensive menu. I calculated that they has around
12 main entrees, sushi, and fried ice cream on menu. Service was prompt.
El Greco, we found the food good, very good seafood soup and fresh soups, steaks were cooked to our
taste, service was great.
One night, two other couples and us, decided to try La Hacienda Restaurant. We had to put our names
on a waiting list, so we decided to sit at the Aventura main bar, have a few drinks and talk. I checked a
couple times to see where we were on the list to get a table, finally got to our name around 10 p.m.
They did not have a table for 6 people, so we asked if we could push two tables together. The waitress
first said no, but the head Maitred' came over, we explained the situation, he accommodated us and
pushed the tables together for all 6 of us. He did this probably since it was late at night.
The food was good, and you could not ask for better service.
We found the service at all restaurants was very good by the wait staff. They do work hard and so
tipping is not necessary but if you feel service you received was good, leave the waiter a couple bucks.
We ordered room service one night, around 10 p.m.( left the pool around 5 p.m., figured to take a fast
nap and go to eat at a restaurant, but I guess too many Margarita's, we woke at 10 p.m. and ordered
room service). Room service menu was extensive ( compared to Grand Lido Braco in Jamaica), they
has listed several main entrees, not just snacks.
We ordered 2 shrimp cocktails, 2 orders of cream of asparagus soup, 2 fillet mignons, and 2 deserts. It
was delivered with-in 45 minutes, still hot and very good. I compliment this resort with room service,
very good menu and service. After 10:30 p.m., room service still offers hamburgers, and sandwiches
till 6 a.m.
The pool at Aventura side was lively, plenty of lounge chairs to accommodate guest. Certain areas of
the pool, you can pull your lounge chair into the pool. There are 3 or 4 Jacuzzi's located in the pool.
Most guest stayed around this pool due to everyone having fun vs the Spa pools where most
folksrelaxed and read books. The staff played volley ball and other games with the guest at the pool.
The waiters or waitresses continuously walked by taking drink orders and returning with your drinks,if
you were in a hurry, just swim up to the pool bar. The pool was only 4 foot deep at any point. The
lagoon area was very nice, sand and plenty of lounge chairs and shade huts.
The water in the lagoon was clear and calm, you could see fish swimming around. This is a good place
to snorkel. Also the waiters would take and bring drink orders to you at the lagoon. Behind the
swim-up bar, is a snack area for lunch. They had numerous items to eat, plus they had a grill where
you can order hamburgers, grilled chicken, or grilled steaks. If none of this was to your liking, put on a
cover up and wander over to Mundaca restaurant. Swimsuits ranged from women wearing one piece
suits, bikini's, string bikini's, rio cut bikini's and thongs. Men wore everything from the standard boxer
style suits, to speedo's and bikini's. We noticed that more and more people, men and women, had real
tattoos. By the way if you want a Henna tattoo, they do them at the pool for a small charge. Around the
pool and in the pool, numerous woman were topless and others had on thongs, this was also common
around the lagoon area. Toplessness was fine as long as it was contained around & in the pool or
lagoon area, walking to your room you have to have your top on.
The ages of the guest, ranged from twenties, and on up. A very good mix of guest.
To utilize all aspects of both resorts, there is a lot of walking involved. I did not go into details of the
Spa side but they did have walking & running trails, rock climbing wall, cross current pool, along with
the main pool, very nice gym and spa treatments..
Each night, on the Aventura side, there was a show, put on by the staff. The shows were average to
cheesy. The also had a local band play in the patio area after the show, for about an hour. This local
band was pretty good.
Prior to arriving at AventuraSpa, I had met several couples on the Playa message board. They were
from Texas, New Jersey and Connecticut ( and we were from Mississippi).We all had fun together, ate
several meals together and enjoyed each others company. So hi guys, we really enjoyed meeting yall.
I have pictures posted at http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bismith39056
To answer another question, YES we enjoyed the resort just like we did two years ago and YES we
will return, the ADULTS ONLY concept is wonderful, the service and food was very good, very little
complaints with either one. I compliment the staff of the resort.
Bill and Deborah Smith
bills52@bellsouth.net
Bill Smith
Books & Guides
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