Secrets the Vine

After a very early flight to Cancun, Ron and I arrived at Secrets the Vine at 10 in the morning. Fortunately, we’d planned ahead and packed bathing suits in our backpacks so we didn’t have to wait until our room was ready for vacation to start. Within half an hour, I was lounging by the pool with my first mojito, where I spent most of the next four days.

Secrets the Vine is an all-inclusive, high-rise hotel in Cancun’s Hotel Zone. Our room was on the 18th floor, which was actually the 11th floor. That was because the first floor of guest rooms, the 3rd floor, was called the 10th floor so that all the room numbers could be 4-digits. Confusing… Regardless of floor number, it was a nice room with two queen beds, a mini-bar, complimentary robes, and tons of storage. One thing we found weird about the room was that the wall separating the sleeping area from the shower was made out of glass, and so were the walls around the toilet. The glass had strategically-placed opaque areas, but it still wasn’t very private.

My favorite part of the room was the view. Our balcony faced south, with the Nichupte Lagoon on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other. The problem with the balcony was that the partitions between our neighbor’s balconies and ours were just metal strips. I guess they were designed that way so that they wouldn’t block the view of the water, but the neighbors on one side of us like to hang out on their balcony nekid! A couple of times I got a view I wasn’t expecting. Between the balconies and the glass bathroom walls, I decided the hotel should have been called “No Secrets”. :-)

The resort had eight restaurants and eight bars, including a 24-hour coffee bar in the lobby. Our favorite restaurant was Sea Salt Grill, the poolside restaurant that served fresh seafood. We ended up eating lunch there every day. I loved the seabass and the seafood soup. Ron loved the hot sauce, made in-house from roasted habanero peppers and olive oil. Next to Sea Salt Grill there was a tent where different foods were cooked each day – paella, pizza or tacos. Yum!

poolside paella

The food at dinner was just OK. Bluewater Grill, the steakhouse, seemed to be the most popular restaurant, but Ron and I weren’t that excited about it. I thought Nebbiolo, the Italian restaurant, and Dragons, the Asian fusion restaurant, were better. There was also Olio, a Mediterranean restaurant by the rooftop pool on the twelfth (5th?) floor, that we didn't try. None of the restaurants took reservations and I’d heard complaints about having to wait a long time to get a table, but we didn’t have any problems. We like to eat early, so we’d just show up when the restaurants opened at 6 and always got a seat. After dinner, we’d skip dessert and go to The Vine Lounge in the lobby for drinks. One of the bartenders, Rodolfo, made the most beautiful chocolate martinis.

Dragons

Nebbiolo

What I loved most about Secrets the Vine was the location. Cancun’s Hotel Zone is shaped like the number seven. The beaches along the top part of the seven are rocky, but the long side is an endless stretch of soft, white sand, big waves, and that amazing turquoise water. Secrets was about halfway down the long side of the seven. The first two days we were there, the red flags were out and the waves were HUGE! We had a lot of fun getting knocked around by the surf, but it was a real workout. :-)

When we got tired out from playing in the waves or taking walks on the beach, we hung out by the pools. There were 4 pools – the rooftop pool (which was reserved for Preferred Club guests), the long, narrow pool on the terrace used for pool volleyball, and two more pools overlooking the beach. Our favorite was the entertainment pool where there was usually some kind of game or live music taking place. We found a couple of lounge chairs that sat in the shallow end of the pool and spent the days splashing back and forth between our chairs, the pool bar and the beach.

horse race pool game

Nightly entertainment was what you’d expect for an all-inclusive. One night there was an excellent violinist playing by the terrace pool. Another night there was a Cirque de Soleil style show with an aerialist, juggler and gymnasts. On Casino Night, we played Blackjack in the lobby, with fake money, of course. Ron kept going all-in and winning. That would never happen with real money. :-)

karaoke night in the Red Vine Piano Bar

On our third day, we were ready to get off the resort and explore, so we spent the day at Isla Mujeres, a small island twelve miles east of Cancun. We took the ferry, then rented a golf cart and drove all over the island, from Punta Sur to Playa Norte. I loved riding around on our own and stopping wherever we felt like stopping without being on a schedule. I wrote a separate review about Isla Mujeres (click here for the review), so I won’t repeat all the details, but it was a great day. We got back to the hotel just in time to catch a beautiful sunset from our balcony, the sun sinking into the lagoon. After the long day, we didn’t feel like getting dressed up for dinner, so we ate chicken wings and quesadillas at the Half Time Sports Bar and watched the Bucs play the Eagles in the playoffs. Go Bucs!

Our last day was supposed to be rainy, so we thought we’d take the bus to La Isla Mall to pick up souvenirs for our family and friends. But then the sun came out and sand gravity took over. We didn’t want to leave our lounge chairs! Thank goodness there were shops at the airport so we still came home with a bag full of hot sauce and vanilla.