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I know people who have gone and said it was perfect (Riviera Maya not that specific hotel)
I didn't go to the Valentin but I went to Secrets Silversands, which is close by. The reason why we decided to go to Mexico was because it was SO affordable. We went for a week and it cost us about $2500. It was a great price considering how long we went for. We wanted to go to the carribean but it was more than I wanted to spend.
I'd say go for it. If trip advisor has great reviews, I'd go. My review of Silversands was pretty much spot on with trip advisors' reviews.
You can always go to the DR later.
ETA: I see that you are going to the Valentine for cheaper than I went to a 4 star resort. You are probably closer to mexico than I was. I had to pay extra since I left from Seattle. That is a great price, though. I would have booked already.
I LOVE the Riviera Maya. I like it better than Punta Cana, but is the cholera outbreak affecting tourists in the resorts? You don't really leave the resort in Punta Cana.... so if it is not, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I've also heard great things about the Valentin.
I've been to the Riviera Maya twice and loved it. The resorts there are usually very nice if they are 5 star. I don't know about this particular resort you've mentioned, but I always live by trip advisor so I think that's a good sign. The price sounds good as well. Make sure you don't book in rainy/hurricane season though because the weather gets terrible (as most places in the hurricane zones do). Also, be sure to decide what type of trip you want to make this. Although we loved our Mayan trip I've heard some people complain about the "compound" style resorts that are frequent in the Riviera.
EleanorRigby- Well..I'm a nurse, and knowing how the stuff travels, freaks me out...I don't think I want to be on pins and needles about the water...everytime I would brush my teeth I would think about it, taking a shower I would think about it, even swimming in the ocean I would think about it...just scares both of us...either way, once the fiance found out about it he immediately said, "Next!" haha
Are there any specific places you would say stay away from, or any you would definitly recommend???
There will be tour operators in your lobby offering excursions. There is so much to do in that area of Mexico, which is why I love it.
For some things, you can rent a car and it is much cheaper. We rented a car and went to the Tulum ruins and to a beach club in Tulum. Totally different vibe than Playa del Carmen and/or the all-inclusive resorts. This is less than an hour away and a straight shot.
Chichen Itza and Coba are the other ruins in the area, but I'd recommend taking a tour to those places.
There are several ecological parks that some people enjoy (I've never been) called Xcaret and Xel-Ha. There's also horseback riding, fishing charters, etc.
There is world renowned scuba diving and snorkeling in Cozumel. You could book these through your hotel, or take the ferry over to Cozumel and book there. You can also swim in cenotes- which are underground caves that the Mayans believed to be sacred.
The Valentin is maybe 20 mins. from downtown Playa del Carmen (I think). I would definitely take a cab over there for dinner and drinks at least once. There's a lot of restaurants and nightlife downtown. We saw the fire show at the Blue Parrot and were impressed.
Definetly go! We just got back last week and it was amazing! All our guests said it was the most amzing trip they have ever taken and that the resort was perfect. We stayed at the grand palladium resort since we wanted more of a nature feel than the european, lots of concrete feel. I would highly recommend staying in the royal section there.
As for how much money the rule of thumb for an all inclusive is $50 in 1 dollar bills for tipping ($1-2 is a good tip there). Then about $150 for other things like shopping. Most of our guests spent around $40 on souvoniers, etc.
If you have any questions totally let me know. We love the RM and are planning to go back for our first anniversary next year.
i have never been but we spent friday at the travel agent and they highly suggested Riviera Maya but we told them mexico was out. (we have both been a few times, cancun and cozumel) but they had great things to say about it :)
Is it a pretty safe area to visit?? My brother is a polica officer and he just told me the other day about the couple that went to mexico back in march and were decapitated due to the drug stuff that's going on over there....but i think that's more close to the mexico and texas border...do you guys have any advice?
i love the riviera maya! We stayed at barcelo maya beach resort and thought it was great. As far as it being safe, i think you're fine. I think the worst thing you'll have to worry about it cockroaches (there was one IN our rental car and being from the north and never seeing them, it FREAKED me out!). It is such a tourist heavy area that I think you'll be fine. As far as punta cana, every beach you walk to has a guard holding a huge machine gun. That kind of made me nervous. So you definitely made a great decision. And I liked RM 10x better than PC. Good luck!
Oh man. I may be back in the States, but my heart permanently settled in Riviera Maya. We stayed at El Dorado Royale Maroma, which was absolutely perfect. Prior to the honeymoon, I wanted to punch everyone that made some comment like, "MEXICO?!? Isn't that a little unsafe? Drugs and all?" I was just like, "It's a 5 star resort. I don't think I'm going to get killed by the drug lords there while I'm sipping on Pina Coladas on the beach." Anyway, we felt perfectly safe the whole time there. We spent a day shopping in Playa del Carmen... but we were on our way back to the resort by nightfall. We WERE offered drugs while shopping in Playa del Carmen from some store vendor... but we just politely declined and kept walking. We also went to Xel-ha (an ecological park- where you can snorkel, go down a lazy river... all sorts of stuff), and visited the Tulum ruins. We also did ATV-ing and speed boating. As a warning, Chichen Itza and Coba are about 3 hours away from Riviera Maya... which is why we chose to see Tulum instead... as that was only about 45 minutes away.
If you go to Valentin, please update on how it is. I'm hoping to head back to Riviera Maya for an anniversary!
Gabrielle123 yay!! this just made me soo happy to hear! But yeah, the guard thing is kinda creepy but hey, I guess it's good to have someone watching out for us :/ That's hilarious about the cochroach thing! I would have freaked out too!! The place we're looking at is the "Valentin Imperial Maya Resort" it's five star and all-inclusive!! Tons and tons of great reviews for it as well!! We're excited!! Haven't purchased it yet, but probably will soon because the clock is ticking!
kimmylyn I totally agree with you!! Everytime we've told someone where we're going, which originally was DR, then Jamaica, now RM, everyone had something to say about them! But now that the DR is deffinitly out due to cholera outbreak which i was very upset about, now my brother had something to say about RM and so we've decided to just not tell anybody anymore b/c I'm kind of sick of the comments back! I think we'll have a great time too!! Would you definitly recommend the ruins?? I've heard great things about them! How much does it cost to go, and since you've been there, how much extra money would you consider us to bring since our resort is all inclusive?
I also recommend Xel Ha. It is a BLAST! The ruins are pretty neat but IMO if you don't have time to go to them you can skip them.
As far as money it all depends on how much of a spender you are. If you want to buy everyone gifts then obviously you have to bring more money. I only brought cash because that is the easiest way to go - not everyone takes plastic. If you would like to go on many excursions you obvsiouly need to bring more money. If you are going to be away from the resort from sight seeing you have to bring more money. it all depends on what kind of trip you want it to be. Excursions can be pricey , I think the one I did was $100 a person. If you want it to be a chill vacation and you just want to hang at the resort (which is awesome) I would take maybe $200/$300 a person? But if you want to go on excursions, shop, etc. I would take a whole lot more.
We probably spent more than we should have... but I totally justified it by saying, "It's our honeymoon, and we are going to do whatever we want to do."
All of our excursions were booked through Lomas Travel... you'll probably see them all over when you go to RM. They had an agent's office right in our resort. We went to Xel-ha and Tulum the same day... and I think it was about $150/pp. But that included round trip travel, open bar and food at Xel-ha, and all admission costs. A little bit pricey... but it was a great day off of the resort. Tulum was really cool... and I am by no means a person who is interested in history stuff- so that's a lot coming from me. I think we brought about $150 in cash... and we put the excursion costs on a credit card.
Dumb question guys, but do we need "their money" or will U.S. money be okay to bring...We've NEVER been out of the country, not much out of NC and SC at that, so not sure how that works...wasn't sure if they could take our money or not...and I'm not up to date on how much their money is worth verses ours, should this be something I study because I don't want to pay a ton for something that isn't worth much just because I don't know the difference between their money and ours.
We went to Riviera Maya for my cousin's wedding almost a year ago. We stayed at the RIU Palace.
It's a beautiful place.
Here's a couple of things:
If you're a regular blood donor, you won't be able to donate blood for a year because of the Red Cross regulations about malaria in that area (we found out after we got back).
DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT go on the cheapest excursions you can find. We went on one that was the scariest zip lining experience I could've imagined. Who wants to climb a Habor Frieght ladder 160 feet in the air that is bungee corded to a tree and lands at a plywood platform?!? NOT ME! We paid $60 a person for that damn excursion and I seriously thought I might die. It was a 10 mile ATV ride, 3 zip lines, and cave diving (I can't remember the name of the company...sorry!!). My parents went to a place called Xplor--go there. Their zip lines are actually constructed with some sembalance of safety in mind.
Also, swimming with the dolphins is really awesome!!
Don't worry about having pesos--everywhere accepts the dollar. Riviera Maya is a gated community--you cannot get in without a pass or get out without a pass. Lots of tourists spend time there, so it's a very safe area. Just be careful when leaving the community--KEEP your bracelet from the resort on!!!
Have tons of fun!
I think Riviera Maya is beautiful and a perfect place for honeymoon. The only thing I would say in regard to DR and the cholera outbreak is that it hasn't affected any tourist resorts. And of course in Mexico there are the huge drug wars happening. When you're going to a third world country there is almost always some reason not to go. But as a traveller you have to just learn to outweigh the risks and benefits. I'm having a DW in Punta Cana and I'm not letting the cholera outbreak scare me yet.
It may be too expensive as far as airfare for this trip, but i'd actually recommend going to the Galapagos Islands or Costa Rica instead. THe whole all inclusive resort stuff really isn't my speed - controlled adventure where you get shuffled from tourist attraction to tourist attraction and you eat at resort restaurants isn't our speed. THe best beaches/wildlife experiences i've ever had were the Galapagos, Costa Rica, and Australia (well, and Namibia, but that's wayyyy too far for you ;-) ). Think about branching out beyond the expected for your honeymoon! SOuth America is cheaper than you think.
I think you get so much for your money in Mexico. Don't second guess yourself you will have a blast!! Go to Tulum it's insane how beautiful the view is.
Here is one of my photos (Tulum). How can you go wrong with this?
we went to El Dorado Seaside suites! I LOVED IT :) I am pretty sure I started a thread and I posted pics of you wanna take a look at my threads!
we spent about $300-400 extra on two trips and on gifts. We did a REALLY fun snorkel trip and also a lobster candle dinner cruise. SO MUCH FUN!!
missfireslayer holy moly!! your honeymoon looks amazing!!! Most likely out of our budget though..we're trying to keep it under $2500...
@nursein10: we paid under that I am pretty sure, $2000 tops. We stayed for 6 days.
missfireslayer...!!!what?! ahh!! thats how much the resort is that we're looking at now!! Do you mind sending me the site that you went to or where you purchased it at?? Thanks!! :D
@nursein10: we actually used a travel agent from All about Honeymoons in our town. But I am pretty sure they used funjet.com!
Book it! I've been to Riviera Maya once, but went to Cancun 4 times..absolutely LOVE that part of Mexico! (DOES NOT COMPARE TO PUNTA CANA..AT ALL). You can actually LEAVE your hotel in Riviera Maya and go into the town (BY FOOT and not worry about safety). If I didn't take FI there 2 years ago, we would probably be going there for our honeymoon. Enjoy!
missfireslayer....I looked it up on the site you gave me...when we would go in may it's a little over 2600...so a little out of budget :(
rats I wonder if it's cause we went during hurricane season :( I still highly reccomend Riviera Maya though!! :)
missfireslayer...yeah that's probably why! But I definitly envy your honeymoon! It looked amazing!!
Oh yes! I'm definitly feeling better about going to Riviera Maya! Now I just need to get the fiance to read all of this too! He really likes the resort Valentin Imperial that we looked at but it looks like there are a lot of resorts out there that are amazing as well! Only thing is the Valentin is a five star, $2000 altogether for flight and resort and food etc b/c its all inclusive and there are sooo many high reviews on it!!
Thanks sooo much ladies on helping me out here!! I'm still up for any other resorts in the Riviera Maya if yall know personally of any great ones!! :)
We stayed at the Valentin for our honeymoon and it definitely lived up to all of the great reviews! To me, the best part about the resort was that there were no children allowd- win! The rooms were very clean and we got a free upgrade, which was a nice little bonus. The food was amazing, we love the French restaurant so much that we went there twice. I cannot think of a single negative thing to say about the resort! We paid $2400 for 6 nights including nonstop air from Charlotte and transfers to/from the resort. It was worth every penny!
Also, we spent about $100 in tips. Brought all $1s and tipped the housekeeping, room service, waiters and bartenders. The service was outstanding!
Miss Sayrah....I'm from charlotte NC too!! haha yay!! I'm glad someone went there and could personally tell me something about it!! I looked at cheapcaribbean.com and for may 23-29 all inclusive straight flight from charlotte to there its right at $1000 per person!! Did yall go anywhere outside of the resort, like do you think we'll need extra money etc? OH! and how was the beach itself? Was the pool, swim up bars and bars and restaurants all great??
ps...how were yall able to get an upgrade? Is there a secret we should know?? haha and what did yall use to book your honeymoon...what website?
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So...we were looking sooo forward to going to the DR for our honeymoon....unfortunately we found out last night that there is a cholera outbreak going on due to haiti...15,000 are hospitalized and 2000 have died already...cholera was not the "beautiful surprise" I had intended on when arriving on my honeymoon...
So last night I got to researching and came across Riviera Maya. I had originally been sooo against doing a cancun honeymoon but this one specific resort caught my eye! The Valentin Imperial Maya!!! It's a 5 star resort!! All-inclusive PLUS flight included and it's $2100 altogether! I even went to Tripadvisor.com and there is NOTHING but great reviews about it!! AND...it's within our budget!!! (we're trying to stay under $2500)
Have any of you been here or know about this specific resort?!!? If so I would LOVE some input PLEASE!! :)