We just returned from a 3 night stay and wanted to tell you about our experience. Room: The resort and room were absolutely beautiful. Everything was in tip top shape. Nothing dilapidated or even in disrepair at all. Looked brand spanking new. We really appreciated the design style. Beautiful stone...
We just returned from a 3 night stay and wanted to tell you about our experience. Room: The resort and room were absolutely beautiful. Everything was in tip top shape. Nothing dilapidated or even in disrepair at all. Looked brand spanking new. We really appreciated the design style. Beautiful stone and water features. Not at all ostentatious or gaudy, but still very high end. We had a 3rd floor ocean view room (no plunge pool) and it was superb. The view was gorgeous and expansive. The entire width of the room was window, floor to ceiling. The shower (boo to the waterfall shower head) also had a side that was entirely glass out to the view (awesome until it fogged up). The bed faced the view. (Though the wall behind the bed had an huge mirror that showed you the mirror image of the view, so it was almost like you had it at the back of the room too!) Everything was supremely comfortable. The bed and then the room just had everything you wanted. Little table and couch and a few extra chairs and place to put your luggage etc. Wonderful touch that they provided a great beach bag and also sunscreen and aloe and bug spray (not needed; there were literally no bugs anywhere during our stay). Room service was A+. Don’t decline turn down service because there are delightful little touches that I won’t spoil here. Towels were plentiful (understatement). There were complimentary water bottles and a few fizzy drinks, and then wine and other items you could have at a cost. The balcony was large and had several seating areas, which was so nice. I usually don’t want to be on the balcony but this one was really, really great. I typically would opt out of getting an ocean view room but at the time I booked it was just a bit more expensive, so I tried it. Okay, get the ocean view room! It really is a wow. Or to us was. Pool: The pool area was beautiful. I don’t come to Mexico to sit at a pool, so we didn’t spend much time there. But it looked like a nice place to be. The adult pool is right below the family pool, so that could be an issue in terms of noise/ambience. Also, there did not seem to be a beach or water view from inside the adult pool or a seated position at the adult pool. But the higher family pool had it. So that wasn’t ideal. The family pool also had an infiniti edge and the adult did not, I don’t think. Even though the resort (with its 75 rooms and full occupancy while we were there) seemed not crowded at all, the pool was the only place that did seem somewhat crowded. The seats were mostly taken midday and the family pool, at least, seemed relatively full at times. It appeared to us that of the occupants of the resort, maybe 30% were families with kids. Just a guess and what it seemed. The pools were not huge and the family pool had anywhere from 2-8 kids in it when we passed by. But 8 kids plus some parents seemed plenty for that pool size. We only had pool service once and it was good. We loved the tuna tartare tostadas we ordered. Get those! Beach: The beach was where we spent just about all of our time. We only had 2 full days (and 2 half days) for our getaway sans our kids and we wanted to take full advantage. So we literally got down to the beach around 9am (or earlier) and stayed until 6pm (or later). We beat the service people setting up, in fact. The beach area is very quaint and small, and we thought it was idyllic. Very close to what we had day-dreamed about when thinking of a perfect relaxing (lounge at beach with a book) getaway. There are maybe 10 first-come-first-serve cabanas (2 lounge chairs and some tables under each) and then maybe 30 lounge chairs with smaller tables in between. If you got down there by 10, you could get a cabana if you wanted. Chairs only became tight by midday, if that. It often felt like “Where is everybody?” We think people must’ve more leisurely started their days, or had later breakfasts, or chose the pool, or did some excursion. Maybe people were in the gym or spa. It definitely did not feel crowded at the beach most of the time. Maybe between 1 and 3 it was a tad more populated. Other than that, no. There is drink and food service at the beach. They also provide complimentary waters. We enjoyed the fish tacos (3 small tacos but really good) and the burger was okay (fries were very good). We got a raw tuna dish that was just okay as well. Service down at the beach was good not great. There were usually anywhere from 3-8 kids at the beach area, ages ranging from baby to 4-7 year olds to 8-10 year olds. At times one or two could be loud but mostly not and any noise was easy to tune out. There also were several college aged kids who seemed to be on spring break with their parents. Several babymooning couples and maybe a few honeymooners, then a bunch of middle aged or older couples. Water: The beach and water is a sort of cove, created by a pier. It felt neat that it was just an area for our small resort. It’s pretty scenic overall, though we didn’t think the pier (and the bulbous thing under it) was. We chose to enjoy looking toward the right, away from the pier, which was a really beautiful view. But we think the pier/bulbous thing had a purpose and were there to create a nice cove of calm water and to fend off an ocean floor that was all seagrass. Part of the water floor was definitely seagrass, which made the water above it dark instead of the pretty blue and clear. You also couldn’t really walk or swim where the seagrass was. But there was plenty where it was a pretty aqua color and clear water and sand bottomed. The cove area water was mostly shin or knee deep and if you walked out to the pier/markers it was maybe waste deep. Not too good for swimming around or frolicking on a honeymoon. The resort had complimentary kayaks and SUPs and also some things for kids, like footballs and volleyballs. We actually used the kayaks on two days to go around the cove area and were able to see a few really cool, big, colorful starfish. We also saw some just walking out in the water toward the pier on our final day. It was enjoyable to have such easy access to kayaks/SUPs and a nice cove to go around. You could also pay to have them take you out on the motor boat or catamaran. We didn’t do that but each day maybe 3-5 families did. Which brings me to….—> Kids: Not thinking I’d bring my kids here or choose this as a family vacation. We have two daughters (2nd and 4th graders) and I think they likely would have been bored or, to make it fun for themselves, I think they may have been too disruptive. They would be wanting to find other kids to carry on with and I think it just is not that kind of place. There weren’t really any features for kids. The family pool was just regular. There were swings clearly meant for adults and the kids used them like you would swings at a playground, trying to make something fun. The water level would be good for kids and of course there was sand, but we saw parents getting cups for kids just to be able to play in the sand like you would at the beach. The kids did use the kayaks and SUPs. They had kids’ food menus but not thinking my kids would be thrilled. They’d probably have the burger every day all day. Pancakes did look scrumptious. It just is a lot to pay for the resort and food, which I don’t think would be fully appreciated by kids. Probably parents take their kids so the parents have a chance to enjoy it. Though I wouldn’t enjoy it myself, I think kids would have a far better time at a larger resort with kid-focused features, like water slides or lazy rivers or swim up pool bars to get a soda. Or making friends with other kids there for a week. This just was not that type of place. The kids that were here did seem to be used to this type of not-particularly-kid-friendly vacation, though. Food/Restaurants: We had some delicious food (most often) and some misses. First day down at the beach shack we had fish-of-the-day tacos. Yummy but as mentioned 3 petite tacos. Then we went up to the pool and got those tuna tartare tostadas, which were amazing. We were like oh this is gonna be super duper food-wise here. Next we ordered room service tacos and they were good not great. Pretty good room service menu, which was nice. We then went to dinner at Che Che and were really disappointed in our meals. We really liked the sushi rolls (and came back another night to just have sushi at the bar) but the “fried” chicken and fish-of-the-day entrees were nopes. Do not recommend. We were surprised by how unappealing they looked visually/presentation and then just the choices were weird. The chicken dish had a cabbage side which was half the plate of large strips of cabbage. Not edible or tasty. We also didn’t like the fried rice dish we got to share. Maybe try Itzam for dinner. We wondered if we would have preferred that or would have had a similar experience. But then we had lunch next day at Che Che and got more yummy sushi and also fish tacos which were outstanding. What else? We had a steak quesadilla at the beach and it was relatively tasteless but good portion size. Oh, we had huevos rancheros at Itzam for breakfast and that was so good. We both thought A+. Alert: They charge you for still water at the restaurants but don’t tell you that upon asking if you’d like still or sparkling water. You think by choosing still you are in the clear, but nope. Even if they did tell you it was at a cost, that’s a crime. Come on. It was $8 too. Sheesh. They give complimentary water at the pool, beach and in your room, but not at the restaurants? We chose to fill up our water bottle and bring with us, after we figured this out. It felt so cheesy to do that but I was annoyed to pay $8 once or twice just for water with my meal. Food and drink prices were overall very expensive (overpriced) but not obscene. Actually the beer was reasonable ($8) but a margarita could be $27 plus they add 16% to everything. Note on tipping: We weren’t sure if the 16% was meant to cover tips but we didn’t want to take a chance so we tipped on top of that. Unsure if that was expected and usual or if we essentially double tipped. We actually noticed on the ride to the airport that our final checkout bill was about $40 more than expected, which we then realized was due to our noting on the bill a few times that we left a cash tip, and that was misunderstood to be a tip to be charged to our room tally. So we inadvertently tipped those amounts twice when leaving a cash tip, which we sometimes did. Guess we created that misunderstanding ourselves inadvertently. :/ What else? We had wished they left a more informal restaurant or shack open later (poolside and beachside and lunch menus ended at 5pm and dinner service started at 6pm) so that you could maybe just get something casual for dinner. I guess you could do that via room service, but it would be nice to be able to still be out. There’s not really a late-night bar scene (unless there is one at Itzam that we didn’t see, which maybe there was actually). Service: Very good not amazing, overall. We are fine just being left alone, so we didn’t want fawning over us, but just so you know this wasn’t the type of place where you’re like wow this service is just perfect or best we’ve ever experienced or storied Disney level. There were definitely nice touches that did make a difference. We did not use our guia/guide at all (because we just planned to plop ourselves at the beach and read books all day) but we mentioned during check in to her (after she asked why we were here) that it was our 10 year anniversary and one night we arrived at our room to find a personal note and bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. That was awesome. I think if they got a sense you wanted to be fawned over, they stepped up the fawning. I assume people were more engaged with their guia than us. We just didn’t want any reservations and had no plans for activities or special experiences, besides reading books on the beach. But everyone was friendly and very professional at all times. We did not have one ounce of worry about safety or anything of the sort. Oh, we asked for a 1pm checkout instead of 12pm but they said they could not accommodate that. Other options: We walked the beach and saw a bit of the adjacent St. Regis and Edition. Those were bigger places, especially the St. Regis. We liked the quaintness of our beach cove better (water situation was similar but again we liked our cove best) as well as the high end natural Mayan design of Etereo. Edition and St. Regis seemed way more modern and also had a different vibe with the music going in all spaces. St. Regis looked like an abomination from the road pulling up but from the beachside it looked way better. Go for St. Regis if you want more people and more going on, with a more happening vibe vs. the peaceful natural vibe of Etereo. When we walked in the other direction, we did not like at all the few places we saw. Clearly not up to the trio of Edition, St. Regis and Etereo. But I am sure they are priced to match the lesser offering. Those places were far less beautiful and they just had workers doing construction and some drills going (while one person was a few feet away getting a beach massage!). Just nowhere near the upscale relaxation and beauty that Etereo offered. Overall: We thought it was a wonderful place to spend several days (not sure about a whole week). They did a great job with Etereo and we are so happy we chose it. It was exactly what we were hoping for and needed. We both read an entire book and came away feeling relaxed and satisfied. it makes us want to try another similar Auberge Resorts (since we’d probably like to try somewhere else). Though with a direct flight to Cancun and this being just a 45 min drive from there, hard to beat a quick return getaway to Etereo!
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