Secrets Aura Cozumel

After reading some reviews, we were a bit concerned. We opted for a Preferred room and I believe this made the difference in enjoying our stay. There was even a guy walking the preferred beach making sure everything was going well. We mentioned some missing towels and water bottles and they appeared when we returned to the room. Preferred guests get more options-beach, dining, bars and separate front desk area. Highly recommend. The Good: Great beach location, love the sunsets! Great snorkeling at the resort! The diving is great! By and large the staff was very friendly and helpful. Special mention to: Luis Maitre'd at many restaurants; Dolores at the Sushi restaurant; Ricardo at Market Cafe; Arixena at the coffee shop; Yelana at Ocena; and our favorite was Eugenia at the Preferred beach-friendly, efficient and attentive. I overheard another guest complementing her service and smile. The OK: The air conditioner broke, but was repaired promptly. We did not get the room type we requested, but happily took what was offered. None of the restaurants had great food, all just fine. They try hard with food presentation. The shower wand would not turn off, just wasted water, I never remembered to tell anyone about it. The Bad: No reservations at the restaurants for dinner, sometimes we waited well over and hour. They really need a restaurant reservation system. I heard many guests complain about this. No curtains on the bathroom window, they are frosted for privacy. Problem is a bright light outside that shines through the bathroom into the bed room. A quick unscrew of the bulb as we went in the for night solved the issue. In order for the dive boat to pick up or drop off at the pier, you needed to pay $10.00 daily for a wrist band, kind of petty. All in all, a nice week in the sun:)

The ocean views are stunning, the staff are kind and helpful, and the swim up bar pool was wonderful. As a vegetarian, if you do not upgrade to Premier status - meaning that you can eat at all the resort restaurants, instead of three - I would have had to survive on cheese quesadillas for nine days. For a resort in Mexico, the only truly good Mexican food we had was the day we went into San Miguel. If you're a meat-eater, you might feel differently. The food seems designed for a very bland Standard American Diet eater. No spice; no salt; no pepper....I'm sure the resort needs to cater to that. The room smelled POWERFULLY of mold. We were so tired when we got in, we just wanted to crash. I didn't think it would be a big deal. I tried to ignore it as the week went on (after all, I wanted to spend most days out at the ocean or pool), we left the doors (both) open as often as possible to air it out, but it just smelled profoundly and overpoweringly awful. It hit me in the face every time I walked into the room like a dead fish slapped me in the face. I'm now home, and everything I brought with me came back smelling like a corpse. I'm washing my first load of clothes for the third time ..now with vinegar now to try to get the dead-thing smell out. If I can't, I would be adding the cost of a week's worth of clothes I need to burn to the total cost of my fabulous Cozumel vacation. It was obvious that when the hotel was built, it was meant for luxury. I don't blame the housekeeping staff at all - the only thing that's going to get that kind of smell of death out is to rip out walls. Unfortunate.

We loved Arbey Aguilar as a promoter, The staff at Oceana were incredible. Victor, Yanely (best hostess ever), Omar, Daniel, Oscar, Gabriel and very special mention to Sergio, a true professional. He made our visits incredible. Housekeeping was excellent, room service was faster than expected as well! The staff here makes the vacation.

Very disappointing experience. Very sad, tired property in need of extensive renovation and maintenance. Our room did not even meet the quality of a Motel 6. Everything smelled of mold and was very dirty. Tons of mosquitoes and other flying bugs in our room. Toilet needed replacement, had to flush multiple times and made a horrible squealing noise. Never enough pool and beach towels, not enough pool & beach loungers for the number of guests. Food was below average, lack of quality & choices and the only Buffett for the whole resort was not in a good location. Nice beachfront and very good snorkeling, but would never return.

The food options were very limited and consistently below average quality, with many dishes being cold or poorly prepared. The pool area was constantly overcrowded, making it impossible to find a lounge chair or relax peacefully. The resort facilities were clearly outdated and in need of major repairs, with peeling paint and broken furniture. Our reservation was messed up upon arrival, and the front desk staff struggled to resolve the issue efficiently. Despite paying a premium price for our honeymoon, the overall experience at this resort was very disappointing and did not meet our expectations. We did not receive our turn down service that was booked for our Honeymoon package and the breakfast in our room was absolutely terrible. Our room was not cleaned until late in the day and we had to wait on the staff (leave the room) to wait for it to be refreshed. We were not given our choice for our arrival bottle of alcohol as it stated when we booked. They just set a bottle of cheap sparkling wine on our coffe table (not even chilled). There were guest complaining daily in the lobby to the staff. The staff was great aside fromt eh checkin lady. She was rude and short with us for asking questions. We will never go back!