Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya

My review from our first stay: Preferred Club swim up King suite, building 4, staying 5 nights in early August 2026.

It was awesome! This trip was booked entirely with points and to celebrate our 20th. We'd never tried a swim up suite and our only exposure to them was when we stayed at Hyatt Zilara in Cancun (we didn't stay in that room type, we just saw them and got us thinking ahead). So this review is somewhat a comparison to that Zilara resort (also an AI, Adult Only resort). As you all know, this resort is like a jungle! It's so well managed and perfectly groomed. The grounds are stunning. There's loads of privacy and thoughtful nooks and crannies all over for increasing feelings of intimacy. But what this also does is, well, take away the feeling you're at the beach. You really don't see the beach unless you purposefully go to the beach. And at that, there isn't much beach. What beach there is is filled with beach chairs or bali beds. The sand is lovely, white, soft. Zilara, on the other hand, has unobstructed views of the ocean and beach from nearly every inch of the resort.

But the beach is also the sad part, here - but I want to stress this didn't really impact our trip and I was very educated about the sargassum situation months in advance. We knew what we were going to find there. Each day there were different amounts washing ashore. I didn't go to see the beach daily, so maybe there was a day where there wasn't any accumulation? But the days I did walk to the shore, there were a few feet of it. They were raking it up and even using trucks, dump trucks to shuttle this stuff away. I was curious if I could smell it from the any of the pools? Nope! It was only a visual and tactile impact. It's floating everywhere and it tickles your legs. It makes the water murky. It totally took away any inspiration I had to snorkel on site. I'm a diver, too, and know pristine waters....this was not pristine. We did not choose this resort because of its advertised snorkeling; we went for many other reasons, too. Again, we knew what it'd be like and my expectations were met: no snorkeling or swimming for us.

The food was pretty darn good! Room service was not, but we feel that that is truly a hard ask anyway. No probs with that choice. AIs are hit or miss with food and this was a reason for this reservation. Food didn't disappoint! The main pools were very very warm. Plenty of chairs to choose from, but honestly, we found ourselves loving the peace and quiet of our swim up pool - which was also a cooler temp. I think we used a main pool for 30min total. We opted for our swim up suite and when we needed a refill, we'd walk 30s to the preferred bar and get another cocktail (insulated cups FTW!!!). Our neighbors were clearly more social than we were, as we only saw our neighbors once, for like 45 min. Other than that, the hours and hours we were in our pool, we were alone.

Jose, our concierge, was a lovely and wonderful human. He helped arrange a taxi to take us to the marina where I'd reserved a private catamaran on our anniversary (Tulum Charters - I highly recommend!). He helped coordinate some medical support we needed. He honored us with special touches for our anniversary. He was super responsive on WhatsApp. Having him on our team was a huge plus!

It was a great choice for our celebration! The food + private swim up suite + preferred club + personal service = we are a happy couple!

If you are looking for a destination resort that has a fantastic capacity to meet or exceed your expectations, the Akumal Riviera Maya is THE PLACE. The property location on the Gulf and the facility is a big plus as the hub for your getaway. The staff of the resort are "can do" personalities that want you to have the time of your life. Having travelled the world over for the past 40 years we can say that this resort is in the Top 3 of all of our destinations.