Originally Posted by downinit

Just spent 5 nights on a points booking. It is a visually impressive property, but the standard rooms are definitely not worth anything close to $1800/night. I was asked about my WOH status at check-in, and was upgraded one level to an ocean-view king after informing them that I am GLOB. However, they made me wait until after 3 PM to get my room (we arrived at 9 AM, and the resort appeared to be at least half-empty). They automatically granted me a 5 PM checkout time, but that was meaningless since our flight out was at 2 PM. We were allowed to eat breakfast and they offered a hospitality room to freshen up while waiting for the room, but all we wanted after the red-eye from LA was a nap. Honestly, the extra amenities on the Impressions side were of questionable value, aside from the comped Teodoro tasting meal for all stays of 5+ nights. I did enjoy getting some shrimp & lobster ceviche at the Impressions pool, but there are so many dining options on the Secrets side that we barely scratched the surface in 6 days.

The alcohol quality on the Secrets side was perfectly adequate mid-shelf stuff, especially if you are just getting cocktails, and it was not significantly better at the Impressions bars. The bars and restaurants do have at least a couple special cocktails on the menu, but you may need to ask. The Cove Bar at the front "beach" pool has the best selection of "tiki drinks," but one of the bartenders did not even know about the drink menu until I insisted that they did have one. I was disappointed that they did not have any kind of energy drink available at the Gypsy Nightclub, but the bartenders were lining up Negroni's for me after my second order (which made my trip to Chichen Itza quite painful).

The butler service was definitely a gimmick, and several of my questions and requests were either ignored or completely messed up. The worst part of the stay was the housekeeping, which was absolutely dreadful for a place so desperate to be "5 stars." After the 2nd day, they quit restocking the toiletries, including simple single-use items like bath salts and the incense (the bathroom and back half of the room had a very unpleasant odor from either the stone or the wood in the room, which is why I presume they provided an incense burner). I made several requests via the butler and the front desk just to get a replacement bag of bath salts and a single stick of incense one night, but I ended up walking down to the front desk to get a single packet of bath salt (I gave up on the incense).

The service from the bar & restaurant staff was almost always very good. The beach was only really good for sipping a drink and watching the waves, but there were plenty shaded chairs on the sand. The pools were a bit chilly, but not at all unpleasant as long as it was sunny/warm outside. I really wish they had at least one or two pools available for evening swims, but they did not appear to be kicking anyone out at 6 PM. I took a kakak out on a day when the waves/wind were not so bad, but I got admonished by the rental person for going too far away from the resort (I was never more than 100 feet offshore and still in view of the hotel at my furthest point). The location is fairly isolated, and the traffic returning to the airport from PDC was absolutely horrible (30 minutes to go 1.5 KM leading up to the CUN off-ramp). We had a rental car, but we only used it to/from the airport and to Chichen Itza. Given all the pools/bars/restaurants at the resort, it seemed like a waste to go anywhere else, which is ironically actually something I would consider to be a downside of staying at an AI resort, as I usually like to wander freely and explore on my vacations.

The food was typically quite enjoyable, but absolutely everything was terribly rich. On one day when I was recovering from too much muchness, all I wanted was a simple soup. I ordered the Thai coconut curry soup in Bamboo, and it ended up being a super-dense calorie bomb packed in a coconut, easily twice as rich as the variety you would find in most Thai restaurants. I also was not a big fan of the use of green tomatoes in lieu of green chilies for the green sauce on the Mexican dishes, as it was way too acidic and not at all spicy, but this is apparently a common thing in this region. By the time we got to the stellar multi-course meal at Teodoro, we were both sick of eating and barely able to finish it off. I would advise to book this earlier in the stay for this reason. We never even had a chance to try the Japanese, French, Mexican, or Ember grill restaurants. They also have a taco stand out by the front pool at night, in case you need to pack in a fourth meal. You really do need at least 7 nights to try most of the dining options unless you can honestly eat three whole meals a day. The breakfast options are a bit limited, but the large variety available in the breakfast buffet was quite unique and never got repetitive.

I am very grateful I got to experience this place, especially for the incredible bargain of 25k/night. That said, CUN and AI resorts are not really my thing and I have no plans on coming back, especially since they just doubled the price to 50k/night.