My husband and I planned a romantic weekend escape to The Aventura Spa Palace to celebrate our anniversary. We were there from 6/28 through 7/1 2002. We picked this resort because it is secluded, and located an hour away from the hustle-bustle of Cancun. Plus it is all-inclusive, which means all costs were covered, including flight, hotel, food, drinks, tips, transfers, and activities at the hotel.

After lenghty flight delays, we finally arrived in Cancun at 1:00 pm. We got on our tour bus (Royale Tours) after clearing customs and had an hour drive to our resort. They had Corona beer available on the bus, but hubby and I decided to wait until later to drink. Arrived at Aventura Spa Palace at 2:00, and checked in.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL HOTEL!! There were hand painted tiles everywhere and the ceiling in the lobby was made of stained glass. They gave us each a glass of champagne, then we went to our room. Again, WOW!! Huge king sized bed, a giant jacuzzi, view overlooking the ocean. They had left us a plate of cheese and fruit, a fruit basket and a bottle of bubbly in our room! They also had flowers and fluffy bathrobes and the bath towels were twisted into the shape of swans!

After we checked in, we walked around the grounds. There are actually two hotels on the same property. We were on the Spa side, which is more queit and laid back. The Aventura side is a little wilder, which I'll get to in a minute. Everyone was so nice! The major language, of course, is Spanish, but almost everyone spoke English too. Hubby and I tried to remember our Spanish classes from high school, and we did pretty well. After our walk, we went back to our room and showered. The bathroom had a giant 2-person shower, which was heavenly. Went to dinner at La Hacienda, a Mexican restaraunt. Since the hotel is all-inclusive there were 6 restaraunts and 4 bars/snack bars on the property. Our waiter at La Hacienda was named Noel, and he was teriffic. He kept bringing me these huge mixed drinks, I have no idea what they were, but they were good! I am not a big drinker, but I had about 5 drinks that night!

After dinner, we went to the Spa Labryinth, which is a huge winding path. It was dark by this time, and the whole property was lit up with white lights. We walked down to the lagoon, and sat in a gazebo overlooking the ocean. By this time we were pretty tired, so we went back to our room, even though it was only about 9:30. We climbed into the jacuzzi, filled it with bubble bath, and relaxed. Our balcony had a hammock in it, and after the jacuzzi I laid in the hammock for a bit. We were on the third floor, room 3538. We watched HBO ("Miss Congeniaity" was on") then went to sleep.

SATURDAY: I woke up at 7:15 am and peeked out the window. The day was gorgeous, so I put on my workout clothes and slipped out the door for a walk. I then headed over to the gym and took a hi-lo aerobics class and used the freeweights, then went back to the room. Hubby was up by then, and wanted to eat. I never eat breakfast, so I sent him over to a restaraunt called El Greco for breakfast while I showered. I scheduled a facial for myself at 10:00 am. and went over to the Spa for that while Hubby went down to the pool. The pool is huge and winding and wraps around the entire property! The facial was fantastic. They wrapped me in a bathrobe, gave me an aromatherapy pillow, and I was sooooooo relaxed! After the facial, I joined hubby at the pool. We went down and swam in the lagoon. The lagoon winds around the property, and there are huts available to sit under, along with chairs.

Then we went to lunch at a place called Mundaca. After lunch, we headed over to the Aventura property. Here is the wild part: almost half of the women at that side of the pool and lagoon were topless! This is not really a big deal, but Hubby and I were a little nervous about it. We did not know where to look! Silly Americans that we are! People on that side were really whooping it up, drinking heavily and acting crazy. Thank God it's an adults only resort! Hubby and I decided to do something a little quieter, so went back to the Spa side and played ping-pong. WE ARE PARTY ANIMALS!! By this time, it was evening, so we deceid to get dinner. The place we chose, Mo Mo No Hana, was an oriental restaraunt, and the food was pretty bad. We left and went to a snack bar and I ate nachos. They were kick-butt nachos! Then we decided to drink in earnest. Jay had Dos Equis beer, and I drank Toasted Almonds. I got a little drunk! Hubby decided to join me in the Toasted Almonds, and he now has a new favorite mixed drink! At 9:30 pm we went to the theatre and watched the dance show. It was International Night and they gave dance revues from all around the world. It was Las-Veags style, and the dancers were half-naked which cracked me up in my drunken state! After the show we went back to our room and laid in the hammock again, then went to sleep.

SUNDAY (Our anniversary!): I woke up again at 7:15 am. Internal alarm clock! Went to the gym again. Another gorgeous day, sunny and hot. After the workout, I joined hubby at El Greco and watched him eat. There was tons of food at the resort! As much as you could eat and drink. I gave him a card for our anniversary. We went over to the military obstacle course and walked through it. We saw some gigantic lizards in the woods! Hubby started singing "Here Llzard, lizard, lizard" in this terrible Spanish accent, and I laughed so hard I fell over an obstacle! We decided to take it easy until 12:00, when we took a taxi over to the resort town Puerto Aventura, about 5 minutes away. At PA, we walked around the shops and restaraunts and looked at the Marina. Hubby had signed me up for the Dolphin Discovery as my anniversary present! That was the coolest thing ever! I got to touch the dolphins and play with them. Hubby took a ton of pictures. I had always wanted to do this! The dolphins were named Venus and Athena, and they were so friendly. They constantly wanted attention! The trainer told us dolphins can live up to 55 years in captivity! After Dolphin Discovery, we taxied back to the hotel for lunch. This was about 2:30. I had nachos again at El Greco! Then we went to the pool and lagoon again. We had a few drinks, joked about the topless people, and played some water sports. We attempted to snorkle, but I had trouble with my gear and decided to forget about it. Played ping-pong and Fooze ball in the arcade, then went back to our room for the jacuzzi again. Ahhhhhhhh!! For dinner we went to La Huerta, a vegetarian restaraunt. AWESOME!! I am semi-vegetarian, and I had been dying to try this place. It was so good! I had veggie burritos and puff pastry salad. For desset we went over to Mundaca and had drinks and listened to a jazz band. Went back to our room about 10:00 and watched "Say It Isn't So" on HBO. Went to sleep.


MONDAY: Last day. Up at 7:00 am. We packed, showered, and went down to the lobby to buy souviniers for the kids and postcards. Hubby and I had been given t-shirts as part of our hotel package, so we did not need to buy anything as a souvinier for ourselves. We got on our tour bus at 11:00 am and drove to the airport. So now I am home, tired but happy! It was a fantastic time! So romantic. They really take good care of you at that place, and I highly recommend it to anyone! The only problems I had were the lack of good snorkle gear (they always seemed to be out of it)the food (really good at La Hacienda and La Huerta, not so good at the other places) and the constant time-share pressure. You wear wristbands while at the hotel, and the staff is able to identify people by the color of their bands. Honeymooners are pink, old married couple like me and hubby are yellow. The always want you to buy time share, and they try and trick you into taking the time share tour by offering you spa vouchers. I don't think it's worth it, but it's a matter of opinion. All in all, i would give this hotel a 4 out of 5 stars for service, beautiful grounds, and relaxation!


Recommended: Yes