Secrets The Vine Cancun — Hotel in Cancún

We traveled to Secrets the Vine in September to celebrate a joint birthday and anniversary trip. I have traveled to Cancun many times and have stayed at many hotels but wanted to try this location. It had some pros but the cons outweighed the pros to the point I will be heading to the new Secrets Mirabel opening on the strip instead. Long but please read.||||CONS- we arrived to the hotel and had to wait in a long VAN line for over 15 minutes on the side of the road because they were so far behind unloading people and checking them in. This has never happened to me in any of my arrivals to a Cancun hotel.||||When we finally could check in, the process was quite long, we received champagne which would have been nice if it was even half full. It was a small swig of champagne. To make it even worse, when we were finally done, as soon as we turned around from the desk, tired, hungry, annoyed, we get ambushed by the $200 resort credit which is a hidden for timeshare presentation. Even a simple no thank you was not enough the lady kept following us as we tried to politely walk away.||||We were told our rooms would be ready in an hour. Lunch options are very limited. After our rooms became available we immediately called for our luggage. We were told it would be 15 minutes. OVER AN HOUR goes by, multiple chats to the service desk that no one answered. Finally got a hold of someone and asked if we could come get our luggage ourselves, which we had to go do after waiting an hour. This is NOT five star service.||||Upon entering our room, we did get a bottle of champagne for our anniversary. It was sitting warm on the coffee table. No ice bucket. Our balcony had a table with one sitting chair. We asked multiple times to get a second chair as we have seen on many social media posts, these are the tables with TWO chairs that people often eat breakfast on their balcony’s.||||Dinner service is SO slow. The food at the steakhouse was the best but be prepared for over two hour dinners. ||||This is a WINE hotel. You get for free two house white options or two house red. That’s it. If you want anything else you have to buy an ENTIRE BOTTLE. There is no option to just buy a glass. They also try to upsell you constantly even at the restaurants for bottles of wine, better tables, buy a bottle of wine and get a table by the window, etc. ITS TACKY AND UNWANTED at a five star resort. You can’t even get Saki at the Dragon restaurant without buying a $50 bottle. Again, TACKY.||||We found glass in multiple places in our room, including at the foot of the bed, IN THE SHEETS! The room on the surface looked clean but a closer look revealed issues.||||The building is a high rise so be prepared to awake early as the sun starts to hit and warm up the building, it will have very loud popping noises every 30-60 seconds.||||There is no swim up bar but they say the staff around the pool is so attentive you won’t miss the swim up bar… this is FALSE. They are very understaffed. There was one guy working one pool. The other pool had a lady who was extremely rude. It took forever to get drinks. We spent most of the time going up to the bars ourselves. This is the first cancun hotel I have ever tried without a swim up bar and unfortunately I will be going back to only hotels with swim up bars for ease of access and service.||||As soon as you step on the beach, there are vendors selling and hassling you to buy crap or even drugs. Again, TACKY.||||We were strongly forced to participate in pool volleyball.. the large group of guys asked for a bucket of beers to keep their drinks cold during the game. They said this was not allowed. One of the players had a cabana that had a bucket for beers and offered to let the large ground use his bucket which the staff said he was not allowed to share even though it was for his drinks too! TACKY!||||There is something odd with their mixed drinks. Everytime I ordered a vodka Diet Coke, it would taste like fireball/strong cinnamon taste. However if you ordered vodka, and Diet Coke separately there was never an issue. I am a seasoned tequilla drinker and I have never eaten so many tums in my life. Their Don Julio is fake or something, again, something off with their drinks/liquour, poor quality,||||DO NOT DO PREFERRED!!!!!!!!!!! This is the first time I have not upgraded to preferred and I was nervous, however now very happy I didn’t waste the money. They serve any top shelf liquor to everyone. Just ask for it. They have no idea if you are preferred or not. I was told by many preferred that the rooftop pool is small, overcrowded and a terrible vibe. They didn’t spend any time up there. The restaurant is open to preferred for lunch but it is out of the way, very hot, and there are other options. They also do not include the hydrospa therapy circuit like other secrets do. We also requested the 20th/ a high non preferred floor and the view was stunning. ||||Entertainment- there is really none. They have great live music in the lobby until maybe ten. Then you can go sit in the sports bar which has zero windows and feels like a smelly old basement, OR you can go to the piano bar which is actually not a piano bar at all. It is an extremely small disco with a dance stage that the bachelorette and bachelor parties all group dance on.||||They did a “show” Saturday night and no disrespect to the performers but it was awful lol. One girl lip singing and the other backup dancers in thongs and really no clothes doing strip moves to a 25 seat audience. The whole thing was like home made, very low skill. Stick with the live singers and musicians in the lobby area. ||||The sports bar does have Sunday ticket if you are looking to watch football but they do not serve any food until 5 pm. This makes no sense when the place is packed Sundays at 12/1 pm for games.||||The room service is par at best. The guacamole literally comes with five chips. You apparently have to eat it with forks? The options are very limited. We ordered room service and it either came early when we weren’t there or didn’t come at all. You get a reservation time yet they don’t follow it or even show up.||||There was a couple the first evening we arrived that was basically having sex in the main pool… I was shocked that no workers approached them and asked them to stop as many people around the pool were witnessing this and they were clearly very intoxicated and the entire thing was awkward for every other guest in the area.||||Check out is NOT fast either so give yourself plenty of time there.||||They refused to serve my husband at 9 pm at the disco/piano bar which was comical because he had just had a glass of wine at dinner and hadn’t started drinking for the night yet…. However, they kept over serving this clearly drunk man who ended up trust falling off the lifted dance floor flat on his back, smashed his head under a bar stool and I honestly though he was passed or knocked out cold from how hard he fell. Thankfully some staff picked him up and carried him out but clearly the staff is in no talent or position to judge who they should and shouldn’t be serving.||||I was getting ready in the morning and look out the window and come face to face with a window washer. They should do this during lunch or when they are cleaning the room, etc. there has to be better timing than first thing in the morning. Thankfully I was clothed! How awkward.||||PROS-||||The hotel public spaces appear very clean, updated and modern.||||The steak house food was very good, but they really do need better late night food options especially if room service is going to pick and choose when they show up. Even a grab and go from the coffee bar area.||||You don’t have to rush in the morning to get pool chairs unless you really want to be in a specific spot or by the main pool. Those chairs go early.||||Alejandro at the lobby bar was fantastic. Manuel at the steakhouse was great. It is extremely hot in this restaurant so be prepared for that. Everyone else wasn’t consistently in the same spot for us to get to know other people. |||| You don’t need reservations which again, is different than other hotels, however; we really didn’t ever wait very long to get a table. ||||The beach water was calmer than other hotels on the strip I have stayed at. There is a lack of beds and chairs on the beach though which was disappointing.||||||The master ocean front suite has a beautiful view but not worth the lack of sleep we got from the cracking noises. We considered the penthouse or governor’s suite but they aren’t ocean front, they are on the sides. ||||As mentioned, this is a “nice” hotel, but they have a ton of shortcomings that will push people to the Mirabel, Secrets newest hotel opening in October 2025 just...

We returned from here yesterday, had 4 nights in a preferred club junior suite. Great view of both the lagoon and sea. Nice rooms, not new but good. Food was okay, best things were the steakhouse specifically the filet. Sides were decent. Dragons had the best desserts and the ice cream was to die for. Potstickers were good as well. The Italian place had good pasta, again just good not great. The buffets were pretty bad, not much selection and not prepared or refreshed. Skip them for breakfast and order it to the room on the balcony, better food and ambiance. The food by pool, sea salt grill was tasty for pool snacks. Spa was very nice, not the best I've been to but overall a nice time for the massage and the hydrotherapy circuit. Make reservations for the hydrotherapy the day before or u may not get in. The preferred club experience was half and half. 1.the bars alcohol offerings were substandard, watered down and not name brand. I'm not a heavy drinker, but I know my top liquors and they were not present. 2. The food in the lounge was lack luster, not changed out often and left to dry out. 3. The pool, it was a very nice infinity pool. Big enough and clean but very quiet 🤫 no swim up bar, but let me tell you the service at this pool was top notch!! Benjamin was always there ready to help us with anything and Esbeth kept the drinks cold and plentiful with a happy attitude 😀 The chairs do fill up at this pool by 9, if you want front row that will cost u getting up before 7 am to go put something on your chairs to mark them. We always got a chair in the 3rd row but still a nice view and plenty of 🌞. 4. The concierge service you receive in preferred club was awesome as well. They give u an app to download and they are on your becon call from 7am-11pm, did anything we asked within minutes 😁. The room. It was big enough, had a nice shower with good water pressure. Layout was very open with beautiful views. The bed was a little worn out, not a good mattress for sure but clean. Plenty of closet space and vanity space with one outlet. The lights were tricky. There were 3 keypads to control each room or the master as a whole, sometimes it took several tries to get them set as you wanted or even to turn off. Plug ins and ports were very very wore out and loose, wouldn't hold the blocks well and not many at that. Room was dated and older, for the price it could have been better. But, the one thing that will ruin your trip if you let it is the smell. The room stinks. The hall stinks. Every floor, everywhere except where you see the one air freshener in the main lobby. It's mildew and sour, I was not the only one who smelled this as I witnessed several people discussing changing rooms,/floors to escape the smell. Others spoke to me about it at the common areas. Oh, and when u unpack your bags, all of your clothes smell this way. We asked for extra incense and burned them when were in the room, that helped by day 3. Location was good only 10 minutes from 🛫. Beach. It was not private but we never had much trouble with people trying to sell stuff, just say no and they keep walking. It was nice white sand while small. Clean and of course the water was absolutely amazing 👏 🤩 some seaweed but not nearly like other places. Water was rough mostly but manageable, windy as well everyday. Overall nice place, price is too high for what u get. I wouldn't rule out trying other of Secrets locations, staff were fantastic and very helpful. A smaller resort when it comes to restaurants, only a couple open prior to dinner. And if you want to eat at 6 pm you need to be in line when your restaurant opens at 6, otherwise go by and put your name on the waiting list as soon as u can. If you wait until 7 to go eat dinner at the Bluewater grill, Dragons, or Neoboilla you won't get in for at least 1 1/2 hours. Be prepared for that.

Food 3/5 Location: (10 min to airport) 4/5. Entertainment: 4/5 Staff: 5/5. Simply terrific. Spa: 3.5/5 Beach: 4/5 Bars: 2.5/5 Pools: 3.5/5 Preferred Club...

We stayed at Secrets The Vine for 6 nights in mid-March 2025. This was out first visit to this property. I'd ultimately give it 3.5 stars or a grade of 70%.

For context, we booked through AAdvantage Travel and paid $6,345 for a Preferred Club Master Suite Ocean View and $5,320 for a Preferred Club King Junior Suite Ocean View.

First off, the positives. The resort is very secure with guard-gated entrances. We felt completely safe here. The more expensive room was on the top floor of the hotel which was nice because the ceilings are higher on the top two floors. The room felt very spacious and light. It was on the corner of the hotel facing the lagoon, but we still had a nice north-facing ocean view from the expansive balcony. In general, the resort was clean. There are multiple options for entertainment during the day and into the evening. We only left the resort one night, but stayed on property all other nights for entertainment. Housekeeping and turn-down services were provided daily. They kept us stocked with plenty of bottled water in our room. The small lounge in the Preferred Club lobby offered a private bar and snacks throughout the day. The beach is small but clean. It seems they remove seaweed regularly. The water here is beautiful. The resort is 18+ so we weren't bothered by children running around the pool or resort spaces.

We did experience a couple of safety issues that were reported to management but not addressed. At all. On the first day, we discovered a rusty utility knife hidden in the cushion of the patio furniture. I missed sitting on it by about an inch. (Could have been a rather severe injury had I sat on it!) Secondly, the room doors don't always close completely on their own. On two different days, we returned to our room to find that the housekeeper or perhaps minibar attendant had left the door to our room ajar. Nothing was missing, but the staff should be more thorough when checking to see that they've closed doors.

With rooms on the Preferred Club floors, we had a number of benefits. One being able to check in at the Preferred Club desk. We initially proceeded to the main desk which had no guests checking in. They directed us to the Preferred Club where we waiting nearly a half-hour to check in as there was just one agent and other guests waiting. We'd have checked in at the main desk had we known the wait would be so long. Another benefit was a dedicated concierge for our floor. We were able to text them with anything we needed, but the response time was very slow, on most occasions more than an hour. After day 2, we stopped interacting with the concierge due to the lack of a timely response. Aside from being on the top floors of the hotel, we didn't necessarily see the value in paying extra for Preferred Club rooms. At other resorts we've stayed at, there have been special beach areas for Preferred Club members, or status members. That wasn't the case here.

In general, the nearly-13 year old hotel is due for some updates. It's beginning to feel dated. Much of the grout in the pool tiles was missing or badly cracked making the tiles rough, especially on the steps and ledges.

The restaurants weren't anything terribly special. Nothing was bad, but nothing stood out at all. Typical all-inclusive concepts like Italian, Steakhouse, Mediterranean, and Asian. It would be fantastic to see some fresh, updated concepts. The Steakhouse was the most disappointing...just a very average steakhouse. The restaurants don't take reservations, so the wait was often an hour.

Interaction with staff was a mixed bag. We had a couple friendly servers, but others were mediocre, sometimes bordering on rude.

Like many resorts, it's often difficult to find pool/beach chairs, especially four together. Some type of a reservation system would be a huge improvement.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay, but wouldn't return. In my opinion as a frequent traveler, there are other resorts that offer a better value for the same...