Almare, a Luxury Collection Resort, Isla Mujeres, Adult All-Inclusive — Hotel in Isla Mujeres

We just returned from a fantastic 4-night stay at Almare Isla Mujeres, a Luxury Collection Resort by Marriott. All-in-all, this is one of the best resort experiences we’ve had so far! For context, this is our 10th adults only all-inclusive resort. This was our second trip to Mexico and our first trip we split between Privilege Aluxes in Isla Mujeres and Secrets the Vine in Cancun. Almare blew both of those resorts out of the water. ||ARRIVAL: The trip to Almare was a great first impression. They partner with Renaissance Resort & Marina (another Marriott property) and the Almare maritime transfer picks you up from the dock there. Renaissance is a gorgeous, very luxe resort. The boat to Almare leaves every 2 hours and we were able to time the arrival of our flight perfectly so we weren’t waiting at Renaissance for very long. The boat ride is beautiful and is only about 20 minutes long so we arrived at the resort at about 9:00am. The views are gorgeous and we were on the boat with some of the employees so we were able to chat with them a bit. Upon arrival at the Almare dock, we were greeted with a delicious signature passion fruit drink and cold towels. Check-in was very easy and the young man working the front desk was just the sweetest! We were SO impressed when we were told our room was already ready for us! We went and freshened up quickly before getting a resort tour and heading off to breakfast. ||SERVICE: This is honestly where Almare shines the most. The service was absolutely exceptional. By far, the best service we’ve received at any resort. It is clear that the management has high standards for their employees and everyone was fantastic. The beach service was impeccable! We had two main beach servers during our stay: Karen and Alejandro and both of them were absolutely amazing. Checking in with us frequently, quickly learning our preferences and tastes, and providing speedy service. They are both so kind and friendly! We really enjoyed getting to know them. We had two restaurant servers who stood out to us, as well, Ivan and Edgar. Both were very helpful, courteous, and friendly. Service everywhere we went was speedy and efficient. Outside of our first dinner and one of the mornings at Boga for breakfast, it never took long to be served our meals. It was obvious that of our meals were served as soon as they were ready because everything was hot and fresh. Even room service was surprisingly quick! ||FOOD: Almare prides itself on having a focus on “gastronomy” which means the menu offerings are quite gourmet and a bit complicated. All restaurants are a la carte only and there are no buffets. Our meals were all delicious, well cooked, and high-quality. We especially loved the lunch menu for the pool/beach and oftentimes had a difficult time deciding what to order! Our favorites were: the rib eye tacos, ceviche, poke bowl, and hamburger. We both agreed that the burgers at Almare were easily the best burgers we’ve ever had at an AI resort and the fries were always fresh and crispy. The food truck offered some great lighter and healthier lunch/snack options. Even the room service food was outstanding! We ordered room service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and every time the food came in a timely fashion (usually around 30 minutes) and it was all fresh and delicious. We didn’t notice any difference in the quality or selection of food for the room service compared to the other restaurants. The coffee offered at the cafe is high-quality and the specialty coffees were delicious. As far as food goes, our only complaint is that due to the focus on having more of a “gourmet” menu, we had a difficult time finding dining options for dinner that offered what we were looking for. Much of the food was saucy, buttery, and heavy and we found ourselves looking for something a little lighter by the end of the day. Even the pizzas offered at Seasalt are very gourmet with lots of toppings and flavors. On our last night, we both wanted just a simple cut of meat with maybe some side vegetables so we ended up ordering salmon and New York steak for room service and really enjoyed our meal. The steak was perfectly cooked and tender, but it was covered in a thick sauce which was tasty but heavier than what I was wanting. My only other criticism is that I have a big sweet tooth it was hard to find something I wanted for dessert. The a la carte desserts didn’t really offer what I was looking for and even though there was ice cream on the online menu for the cafe, they didn’t have any. They had some pastries in the cafe but there were only a couple options I was interested in and they didn’t quite hit the spot. One day they had little cheesecakes in the cafe but they ran out of them early and I didn’t get a chance to try one… they did look delicious! They also had cheesecake on the room service menu but it wasn’t available when I tried to order it.||DRINKS: All of the drinks we had were high-quality and strong. The bars offered a great selection of alcohol, including some top shelf brands. They have a great menu and I was able to try quite a few drinks that were unlike anything I’ve ever had! I particularly liked the Red Sunset, Haunted Jungle, and Full Moon. ||ROOM: We stayed in a Deluxe Oceanfront room with a king bed and a double jacuzzi-style tub. The bed was the best we’ve ever had at a resort and was incredibly comfortable. The room was beautiful and the location was fantastic. Housekeeping was great and consistent. My only criticisms are these: |- The room never got below 20 degrees celsius which was just a bit too warm for our taste.||- The ceiling fan didn’t appear to have different speeds… Or if it did, the switch wasn’t working because it would only turn on/off. I checked with the front desk and they weren’t sure but we didn’t want to have to deal with maintenance so we just let it be. ||- There is very little storage in the room type we were in. The closet is small and there aren’t really any drawers. We ended up with our stuff sitting around on top of counters, benches, etc, which made the room feel messy. An extra set of drawers would be amazing! I toured other room categories which had more closet space and storage, but the smaller rooms need some additional storage for sure. ||- There are SO many light switches and none of them are labeled. It’s great because you can really customize the lighting in the room but it’s frustrating to have to try all of the switches to figure out what each one does. There were a couple of nights when my husband had fallen asleep and some lights were on but in my attempt to turn them off, I accidentally used the wrong switches and turned additional lights on which woke him up. |||BEACH: The beach is beautiful and the workers kept it clean. It is very small, but it never felt crowded and we had no issues getting shaded chairs every day. The water is beautiful, clear, and calm with no sargassum issues due to its location on the island. My only complaint with the beach is that there are a lot of rocks, especially at the waterline, and a decent amount of sea grass. I recommend bringing water shoes to make it more comfortable to enter/exit the water. During the afternoon, the beach is not particularly quiet. There are two beach clubs on either side of the resort and they do have music starting in the afternoon. There is also a very busy dock that has lots of boat traffic with people staying at the beach club. Sometimes the boats would be playing music as well. We didn't find any of this to be particularly bothersome and it didn't prevent us from enjoying the beach, but it is worth noting. ||POOL: There are two pools at this resort. One main pool with a swim-up bar and then a rooftop wading pool with gorgeous ocean views. The main pool is where most of the daily activities were hosted and that’s where the majority of the guests hung out throughout the day, but there were always chairs available. The rooftop pool was pretty quiet because the bar and lunch time menu weren’t running during our trip due to low occupancy. We enjoyed going up there to enjoy some quiet, more secluded time and the beautiful views. ||ACTIVITIES: This is a very quiet and laid back resort. There were usually a couple activities throughout the day, but they were all more low-key or fitness-focused. Things like yoga, stretching, trivia, Lotería, or guided walks. We went on the guided walk to the local cemetery with Julian and he was fantastic! So informative and the experience gave us a great taste of the local culture there. We also went on the guided walk to Punta Sur with Noe and loved him, as well! He was very friendly and shared a lot of interesting information about the Mayan culture on the island. The walk was gorgeous and we got some great pictures! |||SUMMARY: Almare is a fantastic resort and is only going to get better as it ages. It’s a great option for honeymooners looking for something relaxed and intimate, small groups of adult friends or families looking for a luxury group trip, destination weddings, etc. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone looking for something super lively or energetic. |||Recommendations for management to consider: Outside of the recommendations I already listed for the room… some other things to consider include: |Rotating menus for dinner since dining options are limited. |Having a lunch option for guests leaving on the 11:30 departing boat transfer to the airport since lunch doesn’t technically begin until 11:30/12:00. We were extremely grateful to Alejandro for putting in a to-go order for us to take with us on the boat. |More quick or simple dessert options...

ALMARE ANNIVERSARY TRIP-|TRAVELERS IN 2025- |REVIEW~||We enjoyed this resort but would recommend with caution. We went this last January and while although there were things that were excellent there were also things that were not excellent. We will give thorough context below.|||EXCELLENT:|The boat ride over was BEAUTIFUL and such a fun experience to start off and end the trip, The ocean was BEAUTIFUL, the water clear and warm, the food was fresh and different variety of food than any other all inclusive we had yet to travel too, the breakfast food was really good! and the rooms and architecture were aesthetically pleasing. We loved the intimacy of a small boutique resort but definitely saw the confusion and disappoint of other guest with their being little to do. We personally love to relax, read, eat and swim when on vacation so this resort was fitting for us. But if you like to mingle, make other couple friends etc this would not be the resort for you. ||NOT EXCELLENT: |This list will be longer and that’s not to say that the trip was not enjoyed but rather for the price point of the hotel it has MANY areas for room for improvement. We are a well traveled couple and know quality-but also are always grateful for the opportunity to travel and have reasonable expectations. So read this review with that understanding of us as reviewers when helping you decide how to apply this to you personally. We also want to preface a lot of the feedback would be for upper management and owners than it would be for the staff. But here we go- The food options are LIMITED. the food offered was good. but if you spend more than 3 days at this resort you will be feeling a little tired of the options. There were only 3 restaurants on the property total one of which is the pool bar. And they have very strict times of open and close. So for only having 3 options of restaurants and the strict hours you’re not necessarily getting the all you can eat experience that you typically would at an all inclusive. In addition the drinks were never consistent- you could order the same drink every day and have it taste like a completely different drink. So very little consistency in that regard. Next up they are SEVERELY understaffed. The staff that was there worked hard. But you would be getting your own towels, setting up your own station- essentially you would be having to seek people when you needed things when you needed something vs people coming to you to offer the help. Which is not typical for a resort of this price point yet alone an all inclusive. They would frequently have employees working multiple “stations” at once- the bartender would also be manning the “snack shop cafe” or the beach employees would be manning the luggage of the dock- and so the spaces of need would be empty and you’d have to again go and find someone to ask for help. If you have seen the movie Passengers (2016 film) it felt very similar to the bartender arthur who played every role on the ship because no one else was on it….. |I will say there was also heavy cell phone usage by the staff which I have never seen at a resort. I’m not sure if they don’t have walkie talkies provided or if it was personal communications. But something we have never personally seen while on site at these resorts. We will mention at the bottom of the review employees who did not fall under this category and deserve a raise for their above and BEYOND work ethic. |QUALITY OF THE ROOMS: we had our bathtub leak water and woke up with wet floors and had noise outside of our rooms for construction/ and we believe a generator for the neighboring resort? They honestly could still use a little help with this by providing higher palm tree coverage between the resorts because the neighboring properties are extremely run down. While these are all minor things that needed improvement on the resort. The largest category of NOT EXCELLENT would deal with security. The properties to the left and right of the resort are both pretty crowded and rundown. Which is fine. BUT at Almare they claim you are paying for privacy and exclusivity- YET they would let people from the other properties walk back and forth on Almare’s property which was already a very small amount of beach space. TYPICALLY at resorts of this caliber they would have security on both entrances of beach at the resort. This concerned us day 1 and We mentioned this 3x during our stay to the staff and front desk management and little was done to improve it. People from the other resorts would not only come and swim on the property, but they would come and utilize the seating such as chairs and the dock-which were limited in size, leave trash, and typically be heavily intoxicated. Which again wouldn’t be a problem but Almare is extremely small in size and space and the neighboring property is a day time property dropping off large groups of individuals for low cost to party and drink excessively. And the other neighboring property is a rundown water park for families. So what is supposed to be serene and exclusive and private all of a sudden has a lot happening with people wandering over onto the Almare property. The staff said it’s a public beach so there was nothing they could do about it. But any other resort we’ve been too has also been public YET has always had security and the security would have walkie talkies and go up to someone and communicate they could walk through the beach but could not be on the property of the resort and needed to walk from one end to the other and there was no “stopping on the premises” - rather Almare handled it by having a lifeguard who wears a swimsuit go up to people on occasion and let them know they could swim but couldn’t go into the resort. THIS DOES NOT HELP! The next thing you know large parties of people are coming into your very tiny part of the beach to take pictures, splash around, and cause noise. We would frequently have random people walking through the rows of our chairs with their children or groups that were extremely intoxicated. Which again for an ADULT only exclusive property this made no sense……This was our biggest issue with the property not because we mind other people but because you can’t charge exclusive pricing for a resort and then not uphold it and have it feel unsafe. In addition they sell daytime passes to Almare for we believe around $100 dollars -which again when you are charging $1200 for a nightly room fee- allows for some weird guest…If your going to have a day pass the rate should be higher and be more equivalent to the cost of the nightly room price. ||OVERALL Almare feels like it doesn’t know its target market. it wants to be exclusive yet isn’t willing to not make quick profit while its resort gains attention and guest to fill the occupancy.. which takes time and patience. ||The final thing we will say is the owners of the property were on the property during our stay and we mentioned it was our anniversary in conversation and that was our reason for travel and they asked what room we were staying in and said they wanted to do something special. Which was not expected. BUT they never did anything???When you have a 100 bedroom resort that is at 40% occupancy it is weird to say that and then not follow up on it? personally was turned off by this. |||Overall the trip was enjoyed by us because the ocean was beautiful and we enjoy the gift that it is to travel. sincerely we know th privilege this is in today’s world. BUT write this review to educate others because we don’t know if we would personally choose to spend our money here again… vs going to other more established resorts with higher customer service offered and safety. ||A FEW SHOUT OUTS TO STAFF MEMBERS THAT WERE DESERVING OF A GOLD STAR AND DOING MORE THAN THERE WELL SHARE OF WORK: |valerie|antonio|enrique|karen|angel|alejandro |lesther|jose|hector|reynaldo|edy|manuel|julien|sonya |dimitri ||THANK YOU TO ALL THE EMPLOYEES MENTIONED FOR YOUR SERVICE AND I HOPE THEY PAY YOU ALL MORE IN THE FUTURE BECAUSE YOU ALL WERE DOING ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD TO BE DOING...

Almare is a resort that was recently absorbed by The Luxury Collection. We spent 11 nights here with the expectation of total rest and relaxation, especially as we were coming from a physically demanding multi-day trip in Peru. Honestly, our first impression upon arriving at Almare was that the experience we had hoped for was not going to materialise. Perhaps we didn’t research the property and its surroundings well enough… When you choose a resort like Almare – Adults Only, you mostly come seeking peace and relaxation. However, in reality, the property is surrounded by loud noise and blaring music from both sides. (For anyone spending the day at the beach, the minimum they’ll take away is a headache from all the overlapping noise.)|Upon arrival at the Renaissance Marina – the meeting point for guests heading to Almare – we were taken by private boat to the resort after a short wait. Contrary to what some others have reported here on TA, we were only offered one beer while waiting at the Renaissance and no alcoholic drinks on the boat – only soft drinks. Upon arrival at the resort, we were greeted by two staff members and escorted to the front desk. We were then taken to our room and given all necessary explanations.|The first room we were assigned (#316) overlooked the poorly maintained rooftops of the neighbouring beach club – not exactly an appealing view, despite a sliver of ocean visible in the distance. Naturally, we requested to change rooms. Should Bonvoy clients like us really have to fight for a decent upgrade? In a hotel with very low occupancy? Even worse, when we inquired about a better upgrade at the front desk, they mentioned an extra cost? We’re Lifetime Titanium members – we should have access to the best available room, including suites.|After spending the first night in room #316, we were moved to an Ocean Front room (#110). This room was spacious, with a balcony facing the sea (though partially blocked by palm trees), a large whirlpool bathtub, and a very comfortable king-size bed with Frette Egyptian cotton sheets and high-quality bath amenities, consistent with The Luxury Collection standards. In addition to the bathtub, there was a shower – but water pressure was low. Unlike the robes, the slippers were generic and not Frette branded. The AC worked quietly and kept the room at a comfortable temperature.Housekeeping was not impeccable. The indirect floor lighting revealed all the dust, hair, and other debris, clearly showing that the floor hadn’t been cleaned thoroughly or frequently. Furthermore, on the second-to-last day, we returned to our room at around 4:30 PM (having left around 9:00 AM) and found it hadn’t been serviced. On another day, although we explicitly requested turndown service, it was not done.|The dining options were monotonous, and by the end of our 11-night stay, we felt quite fed up… A buffet restaurant would have been welcome, both for breakfast and other meals. The menu also lacked more international dishes. However, after sharing our concerns with the F&B team, they addressed them by offering us more personalised meals tailored to our preferences. The à la carte meals were well-prepared and of good quality. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks met the expected standard.|The beach had few guests, yet the resort still charged an extra $50 to use the cabanas! Wouldn’t one expect guests to be paying enough already? The beach is not idyllic – the sea, although calm and warm, is definitely not among the most attractive in Mexico, and the seabed is rocky and full of seaweed, requiring caution to avoid injuries. The sargassum buildup should have been more thoroughly cleaned, as was done at the neighbouring beach club.|Lastly, we must praise the staff – they are the resort’s crown jewel. Across all areas, they go out of their way to please the guests. They treat each guest personally, and nearly all of them know the guests by name.|So, the staff gets a 5-star rating, as do the hotel structure, room comfort, and luxury. Unfortunately, the monotonous food offering and the fact that only one restaurant is open at dinner (alternating with another) earns a rating of 4. As for the beach – although maintained and with adequate support structures – it gets only a 3. We’ve experienced amazing beaches during our travels, but unfortunately this one doesn’t make our list, especially not for a long stay.|We should also mention that our check-out was 11 days ago, and our Marriott Bonvoy points have still not been credited to our account, despite having already contacted the hotel to request them…|For all the reasons mentioned above, our final...