Live Aqua Beach Resort Cancun

This was our eleventh visit to our second home. Alfredo Santamaría and his staff treats my wife and I like family, we have become close to many on the staff and and consider them family as well. The attention to service and quality resonates through out this resort. If something is not quite up to expectations it is always quickly rectified and usually over the top! The pool hut staff are fun and and accommodating, it rained a couple times on our visit and they changed our pool bed everytime with dry bedding. Flavio, Eduard Alexandra et al. Food Another reason we love this resort, the Chefs all care about the quality and we were lucky enough to have a couple of special menus prepared especially Willam Canul amazing dinner at MB. Antonio chef at Varenna made chicken Parmesan (not on the menu) another amazing dinner. Jose at the grill, Marco for smoothies. Susana for making us feel special. Breakfast with David and Mauricio, I did miss my guy Oscar Puch who was on a well deserved vacation. Jonathon Chaire our dear friend making sure we were well taken care of everyday. We miss you everyday. Luis for letting me use one of his belts… I forgot to pack one and my pants were falling down! We cannot wait to return to our second home in Cancun Mexico….Live Aqua!!! Once you visit you will not want to go anywhere else!

Live Aqua Cancun is a nice resort, but it falls short in meeting the attention to detail I expect from a luxury resort at this price point in maintenance and cleanliness I have experienced in other luxury resorts as well as quality of food. STAFF Many of the staff were amazing, working very hard to give an excellent experience. Our butlers Arturo and Stephany were helpful and responsive. Marisol at the Club pool was an attentive server and a real delight. Guillermo in the Club Lounge was fantastic with warm greetings and remembering our pre and post dinner cocktail orders. Restaurant waiters were attentive and friendly, but service felt rote, rushed in and out at times. AQUA CLUB We had the Aqua Club access. It included butler service, complementary cabana each day, and access to the Club Lounge. I don’t know that it was worth it. We could have paid less to rent a cabana every day, and while the lounge is nice, I didn’t notice premium liquors. Non-Club bars had same liquor choices (e.g. Hendricks Gin, Johnny Walker Black, Grey Goose, etc.). All in all, I would suggest forgoing the Club surcharge ($160/day for us) and just pay $85/day for the cabana if that's important to you. ROOM Our room was nice. It’s average hotel size with plenty of space. The beds were comfortable, and I was pleased to see the whole bathroom was enclosed. I found the linens too big and heavy for my taste, but others may like that. The comforter on the bed was like a weighted blanket, and the bath towels were about 6’ by 4’ and almost too much to use easily. I loved that the room key is a bracelet. It’s a very attractive think silk band with a small wood emblem with the RFID chip inside. You can take it off and on. It was nice to not have to dig for a room key. The terraces are nice and private. If you have a balcony room, everyone can see you and you can see into other rooms if the curtains are open. All rooms have beautiful views of the ocean. I wouldn’t say there is much difference between “ocean front” and “ocean view” – they’re pretty much the same. POOL The pools were nice and spacious. The first few days the water was very cold, but it warmed up. We had a cabana every day which was super comfortable and came with a complimentary foot massage every day. We rented the cabana so we’d have shade, but it’s not necessary to ensure you get seating. There were plenty of free day beds and lounge chairs to go around. BEACH The sand is soft and doesn’t get hot, and it is kept groomed. The water was clear, no seaweed. I recommend bringing water shoes. Once you get to the water, there are a lot of shells on the bottom that are uncomfortable to walk on. The water temperature was perfect - refreshing and comfortable. FOOD (BIG NEGATIVE) The food was mediocre and bland (except for Hidden Garden). The meat dishes were average, and the vegetarian selections were very subpar. Most food came out warm/cold, not hot. On the vegetarian menus, there is no attempt to offer balanced main dishes with protein using beans, tofu, or other plant-based proteins. We were both amazed how little flavor there was in both meat and vegetarian dishes. I had a dish with beets and goat cheese that didn’t taste of beets or goat cheese. The vegetarian paella was just oily rice. Even the snack of onion rings by the pool didn’t have any onion flavor! The daytime taco and burger stations had absolutely no vegetarian options. The “potato steak” at MB was slices of a bland boiled potato with a salad topping. Even putting it on the grill for some char would have been a huge improvement. The most insulting (seriously, felt like a slap in the face) was a vegetarian tostada at Sea Corner that was an tostada chip with only plain, shredded raw lettuce and carrots. I left many dinners nearly untouched. I was never asked if I wanted something else or what was wrong. They just took the full plate away. The exception was the Hidden Garden restaurant. That was the only one that had good flavors (the spicy noodles were super flavorful), and the chef made rounds of all tables. Unfortunately, the breakfast buffet was good and expansive, but it did not label which items were vegetarian, and neither did the two big special events (Mexican night and Circus night) with buffets, and the staff don’t seem to know - at least not with any confidence. I think it would be hard to safely eat anything at the buffets if you had allergies. Gluten free is sometimes labeled, but there’s no monitoring of cross-contamination. FACILITIES MAINTENANCE & CLEANLINESS This is another big con for me. For the label (and price) of “luxury” I expect nearly pristine and have experienced that at other higher-end resorts. There was chipping paint, towels left on a lobby floor where something must have been leaking, and generally not kept up. We were told if it rains to put towels in front of our terrace doors because water might come in. When you used one sink in the bathroom, the other one gurgled. If this were a mid-level resort, I would have had different expectations and thought it was great, but again, not up to luxury standards. Cleanliness was an issue on the pool deck. Spilled nacho cheese and discarded lime wedges weren’t cleaned up for at least 2 days. They obviously don’t pick up or wash the decks every day. The other health/sanitation issue I noticed was that they didn’t change the linens on the tables at one of the restaurants between guests. Crumbs were scraped off and clean silverware was placed on the same tablecloth where there were previously dirty plates, silverware, and napkins. AIRPORT SHUTTLE Transportation to/from the airport was included with our rate. Beware: it is a shared ride, not private, like other luxury resorts offer. You will wait at the airport until there is a full van and will make several stops on the way to the hotel. It took us about an hour to find our transport company and leave the airport. For the return, the shuttle wanted to pick us up 5 hours before our flight. It’s only about a 25-minute ride. We paid fully out-of-pocket for a private car instead. Despite the negatives, we had a nice vacation. High praises to the guest-facing employees. They seemed to genuinely want to create a wonderful experience and deserve 5 stars. If this were labeled and priced as a mid-level property, I would have been generally happy. However, because of the bad food and lack of detailed attention to the facilities and cleanliness, I would not return.

While the service staff was great and did their best the food was poor quality and hotel is not well kept and in poor condition. Also didn’t appreciate the push of upsells prior to even assigned a room or experienced the hotel amenities. Would not recommend.

Perfect winter getaway. The resort was pristine and the service was amazing. Our reservation included butler service and our team Maggie and Eladio made the trip extra special. The part of the beach the resort is positioned upon has soft, white sand and crystal clear blue water. Our third time and definitely not our last.

We had a wonderful short get away to Live Aqua in Cancun. Pros: Our butlers Stephanie and Arturo were extremely helpful. They went above and beyond for everything we asked for. Clean property, with virtually no flies or annoying insects. Good food, especially breakfast buffet and juice bar. QB restaurant was great. Plenty of oceanfront and poolside lounging options. Bar with swings by the beach. Starbucks brand coffee bar with decent espresso. Cons: Apparent lack of steak options at the outside grill and buffet. This is likely intentional to promote the steakhouse which was not included in the all inclusive option. Steak at QB restaurant was excellent however. Lack of an actual bar at the Aqua club lounge. There is a small bar set up, but staff has to go into a closet to make the drink, and bring it back. Can do better.