Tom Secrets The Vine is an all-inclusive, adults only resort located along the hotel zone in Cancun, Mexico. Given its access to the pristine beaches of Cancun, personalized service, amazing food, it is little wonder that Secrets The Vine is rated as the top 3 resorts in Cancun by Tripadvisor. It is also an adults-only resort, making it popular with honeymooners and anniversary celebrations. Having experienced all that the resort has to offer, we’re taking a step further…Secrets The Vine could possibly be the Best All-Inclusive Resort in Cancun. And here’s why…
Book with Agoda Here: Secrets The Vine Cancun
Book Here with Klook: Popular Activities in Cancun
Facilities at Secrets The Vine
At all-inclusive resorts, swimming pools are usually one of the deciding factors. Well, at Secrets The Vine, you will be spoilt for choice. There are not 1, Not 2, NOT 3 but 4 swimming pools! Not only that, each swimming pool is located next to a bar which makes access to drinks relatively easy (another important factor for all-inclusive resorts)…
Activities by the Pool
The Entertainment Team of Secrets The Vine engages guests by the pool throughout the day. We participated in the water aerobics and watched some dancers perform by the pool. Others played beach volleyball, water volleyball, jumbo jenga or enjoy the sun by the pool. Our favourite? Having cocktails while listening to the waves…ah…
Some of our favourite drinks includes the Mango Tango, Mojito, Dirty Banana and of course, the essential to a Mexican holiday – Tequila shots! 😛
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We also hit the Games Room next to the Entertainment booth and had a blast with the air hockey. Table soccer, ping pong, Kinect and Wii are also available here. At the 12th level, you’ll also be able to find a full gym with tread mills and spinning bikes facing the Caribbean Sea. A full service spa (known as Secrets Spa) can also be found on the same level. You’ll also be able to do some light shopping at the lobby (Signature Shop) next to Market Cafe.
Throughout the day, the Entertainment team would plan other programmes such as wine tasting session, massage therapy sharing as well as magic/comedy/dance performances. We enjoyed the magic of Fernando Keops who had previously performed in Vegas. You’ll be able to find all the day’s programme on the Sundial, delivered to your room daily. Our other favourite would be to wind down the evening at the Red Vine Piano Lounge and listen to some light tunes…
Book with Agoda Here: Secrets The Vine Cancun
Book with Klook Here: Popular Activities in Cancun
Dining at Secrets The Vine
At most all-inclusive resorts, food is provided to keep the guests full. Usually, not much emphasis is placed on the quality of the food. This is not so at Secrets The Vine. The chefs pride themselves in producing excellent tasting gourmet that puts a smile on the guests. In addition, Secrets The Vine is actually named as such because it specializes in wines and wine pairing. In fact, it has the largest collection of wines for a resort/hotel, in the Caribbean. This adds another dimension to the term “fine dining” at Secrets The Vine.
There are 6 dining venues, a buffet as well as a cafe at Secrets The Vine. They are …
The Cafe
This was where we get our daily espresso and latte fixes. The cool part is that the baristas are experts in latte art as well!
Barefoot Grill
Here you’ll be able to grab some light bites such as sandwiches and nachos to enjoy by the pool. The Sugar Reef pool bar is right beside where you’ll be able to grab some ice cold Corona as well.
Market Cafe
There are 2 restaurants where you can have breakfast in the morning. They are Market Cafe and Dragons Oriental Dining. They are both buffet-styled breakfasts that operate from 7am to 11am daily. Both restaurants serve champagnes and mimosa as well. But we prefer dining at the Market Cafe for breakfasts simply because they offer more options (and more Asian fare) due to its larger premise.
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Sea Salt Grill
For lunch, you’ll be able to dine at Olio (Preferred Club), Sea Salt Grill, Market Cafe and Barefoot Grill. We almost always dine at Sea Salt Grill because of the nachos. Kate loves, loooooves the guacamole that goes with the nachos. The guacomole was always freshly prepared which pairs well with the lightly crisp nachos. Tom’s favourite would be the ceviche. The seafood in the ceviche was always fresh. Whether it was the squid, scallop or fish, they were all sweet to the taste and well cured with fresh citrus juices that made the dish rather appetizing. Tom always finishes the ceviche. Always.
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Bluewater Grill
For dinner, all 6 restaurants open up from 6pm to 11pm. We heard that the Bluewater Grill had the best steak and we were not disappointed. The house wine paired well with the steak which was flavourful and charred from the flame of the grill. We added the grilled octopus on the side since we were a little undecided (they all sounded soooo good!). The braised short rib on the other hand was tender without any gamey hint. Definitely our top venue for dinners at Secrets The Vine Cancun.
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Nebbiolo Ristorante
The other favourite among guests is the Nebbiolo Ristorante which serves Italian cuisine in the evenings. The oven-fired thin crust pizzas was a clear favourite for us. The risotto was not as good as anticipated as the rice was not infused with the flavours of the seafood. Nonetheless, the grilled prawns were fresh, succulent and delicious.
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Dragons Oriental Dining
As Asians, we were skeptical about the kind of food that an asian restaurant in Mexico serves up. Afterall, we’ve had several misses at asian restaurants during our journeys through South America and USA. However, we are delighted to report that the sushi was actually rather decent! Pad Thai on the other hand had the right tastes but the flat noodles were a little hard. There was also Korean fare such as bibimbap and bulgogi which are nice touches implemented by Secrets The Vine.
What We Really Love about Secrets The Vine
Having gone through the facilities, restaurants and activities at Secrets The Vine, here are some things that we really loved about the resort.
1. No wrist bands. Unlike most all-inclusive resorts, you DONT HAVE TO WEAR A WRIST BAND at Secrets The Vine Cancun! Hooray! We’ve been to all-inclusive resorts that made us wear those naggy wrist bands and they were a pain! Firstly, it made us feel “imprisoned” and that is like the antithesis of the idea of a holiday! Secondly and more practically, the wrist band scratches and irritates you while you sleep, bathe or hold hands with your loved ones. So the no wrist bands policy at STV is definitely a huge plus for us!
2. Impeccable Service. From the moment we arrived at the hotel, we were treated to first class service. Our bags were taken, champagnes were served and the smell of the hotel lobby was reminiscence of high end hotels such as the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. At the pool, water was always served promptly (so that they remain ice cold) and the staff would always be on hand to ask if you needed another bottle of water, cocktail or an extra towel. Valerie (from the Entertainment team) also remembered us by name and even asked us for beach volleyball and water aerobics the next day. A nice personal touch for us. The no reservation policy for dinner was also a plus. Lastly, guests were always greeted with, “Welcome Home, Mr Lim” upon arrival and “When will you be back Mr. Lim?” upon departure. Small gesture that will definitely go a long way.
3. Relaxed Atmosphere. We would strongly recommend coming straight after breakfast to “chope” those beach facing seats. Sitting here, enjoying a cocktail and listening to the sound of the waves was oh so relaxing! Several times, we would just doze off, wake up, take a dip in the pool and repeat the whole cycle. The seamless integration between the modern hotel and the beautiful beach (and turquoise waters) of Cancun, made our stay thoroughly enjoyable and rejuvenating.
These are reasons why Secrets The Vine Cancun is probably the best all-inclusive resort in Cancun. Kudos to the staff and team at Secrets The Vine Cancun!
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We’ll leave you now with a video of our stay at Secrets The Vine!
Remember to leave your comments for 2bearbear Singapore Travel Blog in our comments section below! Kindly contact Glenda Cheong (glendacheong@oleaconsultancy.asia) for more details or booking information.
Book with Agoda Here: Secrets The Vine Cancun
Book with Klook Here: Popular Activities in Cancun
**Special thanks to Marhu and Glenda for having us over for such a wonderful time at Secrets The Vine Cancun!
Did you go preferred club? And would you recommend it?
Hey Kirsty,
At STV, instead of many “tiers” of service (blue/green/gold etc.) as with some other all-inclusive resorts, they only offer 2 different levels. This helps to ensure “less bias” in terms of service rendered to guests. But if you’re looking for something more exclusive (preferred pool & lounge are only available to preferred club members), you should go with the preferred club. We did have access to the preferred pool area which was more exclusive (there was a guard near the entrance to ensure that only preferred club members were there) but we did not access the lounge as there are many bars all around the hotel. The other difference would be the preferred club members have rooms on the higher levels.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your time at Secrets The Vine!
Tom,
2bearbear.com
Hi
I have read some bad reviews about noisy and issues with people going into the Preferred pool area that have no access to that area and have not paid the extra to use this area, As there are no bands on the wrists, anyone just walks in, sometimes there is someone on the door but not always. This has put us off a little as what is the point in paying extra ,while others can come in and spoil and upset people who have tried to relax in this area. surely its about time to do as the other hotels and have some wrist bands. I can not see what else you can do to stop this problem.
Hey Christophe,
The no wristband policy is a really good idea. Hate wearing wrist bands and feeling restricted. Perhaps another option they can consider is to have it coded into the access card so that only those with “preferred coded” access cards can enter the preferred pool area. Much like how many hotels code room access cards for entry into their lounges.