Live Aqua All-Inclusive Resort, Cancun, Mexico

It is my pleasure to give a review on Cancun, Mexico’s All-Inclusive Live Aqua Resort.  Live Aqua is located in the heart of the hotel zone of Cancun and is an adults-only resort.  I did a lot of research on TripAdvisor.com before deciding on this all-inclusive resort.  Live Aqua is rated #2 of 176 hotels in Cancun on TripAdvisor and recently premiered in Travel + Leisure Magazine as #5 in theworld’s best beach resorts.  We looked at RIU’s Palace Peninsula and came very close to booking there, but upon researching the beach and looking at YouTube videos of the resort, we decided against it mainly because the beach on that side of Cancun appears to be more rocky and not as sandy.  I use TripAdvisor as my most trusted friend when planning a trip but surprisingly found YouTube videos of resorts very helpful as well.

Our Stay: May 9 - 13^th 2013

Stats: 335 rooms, 8 pools, 7 restaurants

The Atmosphere: The vibe is very spa-like.  Each area of the hotel has different scents which I found to be pleasant.  The background music and décor is reminiscent of a spa.  This is not a ‘party’ hotel, meaning this hotel is great for relaxing but is not high energy or has any clubs.  It appeared that most guests were couples.  It never felt crowded, the resort is big enough but not too big that it doesn’t takes long to get anywhere within the resort.  It was very easy to navigate.

The Rooms: The rooms are very nice.  Modern, clean and roomy.   Our room was 3004, was a garden view but lucked out and got a decent view of the ocean.  We had a king size bed, a flat screen TV, DVD player, in-room safe, his and hers robes, complimentary flip flops (2 pairs), large walk-in showers, separate bath, complimentary beach bag (I don't think you can keep these but for use as a guest), balcony with chairs and table, central air with own thermostat, coffee pot, stocked all-inclusive mini fridge, aromatherapy burner (you choose your room scent each day by filling out a card for your maid).     

The Beach:  The beach is absolutely beautiful and what you dream of as a beach vacation.  The water is turquoise and clear.  The sand is powdery and soft.  The water is a little rough, which I prefer the sound of the rush of the waves versus calm waters.  My husband swam and there were other swimmers, swim with caution, the push and pull of the waves are strong.  There is drink service on the beach.  It’s a little slower service but if you bear in mind to order before you run out, it’s not a problem.  There were enough chairs on the beach, shaded ones were taken early.  We reserved our chairs before breakfast and had shade every day.  I read a lot of mixed reviews on chair availability on the beach, in my opinion it was not as difficult to find a spot as I was expecting.  We slept in each day and probably didn’t get down to the beach any earlier than 9 am to reserve. The sun is intense; you really need to secure a shaded spot.  If you can’t find one on the beach, there are ample amounts of loungers/umbrellas on the pool deck.  

The Food:  The food was great.  We each ordered appetizers, entrées and desserts at each meal.   The portions are smaller but when you order a full 3 course meal, you leave very full.  

Sea Corner, a very casual restaurant overlooking the beach.  Only serves seafood.  We ordered shrimp, calamari, fish toast, guacamole, chips, fish & shrimp tacos, all was very good.  Best place for a good view of the beach. 

Azur, casual for lunch/semi-dressy for evening.  This restaurant was our favorite.  Beautiful restaurant overlooking the beach with glass walls with amazing views.   We ordered for lunch: margarita pizza, fried calamari/shrimp, fajitas, chicken sandwich. Dinner: mussels, duck, salad, chicken linguini, vegetable lasagna, and steak/grilled shrimp and potato au gratin.  Best place for a good view of the ocean. 

Pool Bar, outside of Azur, pool casual.  This was delicious and quick.  Ordered caprese chicken sandwich, hot dog.  Best place to eat casually poolside. 

Sieste, breakfast buffet, casual.  The bread pudding was to die for!  Fresh fruit, all the common breakfast choices, omelet station, fresh fruit smoothie station, mimosa/bloody station.  Coffee was better than we were expecting.  They serve lunch and dinner as well by the menu, we took a look at the menu one night and it mimics room service menu so we went back to our room and opted for room service.  Best place to get breakfast. 

Coffee Shop, coffee, cold drinks, desserts, casual.  We ate some of the desserts here, I rate  them good, not the best desserts in the world but everything tasted good.  The chocolate chip biscottis were delicious.  You can order panini’s here, we never tried them though, wish we did!  Best place to get a frappacino and sweet bite mid day. 

MB, Inside, resort dressy.  We only ate here once.  Not because the food wasn’t good but because we didn’t see many options that were appealing to us.  Ordered: habanero soup (OMGosh best soup ever!), citrus chicken, ice cream,  steak, tuna and salmon.  Best place for a romantic meal. 

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Sushi Bar: ate it once, good and quick service.  Good variety of options.

Hidden Garden: we did not eat there.  It looked really cool though but we weren’t feeling like Asian food at all.

Inlaa’Kech Lobster & Grill:  We did not eat here.  We are not steak and lobster people and this is the only restaurant that is not included in the all-inclusive, it is $60/person.

Room Service: the room service was the BOMB!  It’s part of the all-inclusive.  We ordered it every evening.  Quick, food was hot and the menu has a great variety.  In one hour we called down 3 different good sized food orders, I thought they would be annoyed with us and they were very kind with each call.  My husband asked a special request for a meat and cheese platter (off menu item) and I was impressed with how they fulfilled this request, I asked for goat cheese and fresh mozzarella and to my surprise, it was on platter.  Ordered: chicken nachos, meat/cheese platter, chicken fettuccini (don’t order, didn’t like), chicken sandwich, chips/gauc, wine, tiramisu, cream brule, coffee.  Best for eating in the comforts of your own room. 

Eggos Bar, resort dressy.  Seemed uneventful.  Lounge atmosphere.  MB's bar seems more lively than this one.  It's not a party hotel so this bar seemed to be empty most of the time.  We spent very little time at Eggos. 

  

The Drinks:  Some are strong, some (most) are ‘watered’ down.  It didn’t bother me, you are drinking so much and all day long/every day that I welcomed weaker drinks.  The consistency is a little off from server to server.  We loved the tropical crush and jum bugs.  The wine was good, I had a variety of wines and champagnes, all which were of average quality, we enjoyed them all and met the expectation of what you would expect for an all-inclusive. 

Jum Bug

The Water:  You’ve heard don’t drink Mexico tap water or you will be sick.  I was paranoid with getting sick.  I brushed my teeth with bottled water.  We never got sick.   The resort uses filtered water.  I had ice in my drinks, took showers each day and never got sick.  Wheew!  Bottled water is everywhere, they bring it to you when you don’t even ask for it, not an issue to avoid Mexico’s water. 

The Pools:  The pools were amazing.  Beautiful and extremely clean.  Several infinity pools.  Pools were of different temps, each one was pleasant.  The hot tub wasn’t very hot but being how hot it was outside, it was a pleasant temperature.  The pools are never crowded.  On the pool deck is a shallow area to lay in the water, great spot for sunbathing.

The Spa:  We enjoyed the spa one afternoon.  The spa prices are not much more than any other spa.  We both found the spa menu overwhelming, so many choices and they all sounded heavenly.  I suggest you arrive an hour before your treatment so you can get full use of the spas amenities.  The  spa amenities are within the women’s and men’s locker rooms so do not assume you and your spouse will enjoy these together.  I was greeted in the locker room and was instructed to keep my bathing suit on and she escorted me to the sauna where I stayed for 10 minutes.  I was then escorted to the cool bath where I immersed into and then immediately was guided to the hot tub were I stayed for 10 minutes.  Then I was brought into the eucalyptus room for 12 minutes.  After this I was brought to a dimmed room to soak my feet for another 10 minutes.  Then I was brought back to the locker room were I was given a robe and was asked to undress for my treatment.  I was then brought to a room where I joined my husband and we were brought bottled water/tea and warm neck wraps while we awaited our therapists.  It was a little strange to be sitting in a room with other people knowing we were all naked under our robes but kinda relaxing in a strange way too!  The room is very dimmed so no worries my friends, no one is going to see any ‘slips’.  The room has a waterfall as well and by this point I was very relaxed.  My husband and I both had a 50 minute couple’s massage.  We both were happy with our services.  It highly recommend it!  

The Service:  There are lot of employees on the resort, it’s not hard to find one if you need something.  They were all so friendly, warm, kind, and professional.  We did notice it was somewhat difficult to communicate since English is not their first language.  It never posed an issue though.  Cracks me up when I would be greeted with “Hello Lady.”  They definitely were locals, native to Mexico.  Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of employees and service they each brought.  Tips are included in the all-inclusive but we tipped the majority of the time.  When we didn’t tip, we really didn’t notice any difference in our service so I don’t think it’s necessary to tip other than to extend appreciation to your server.  I observed what other guests were doing and I would say 60% or more were not tipping.  The servers do not give you the impression that they are looking for a tip so it really is at your discretion.     

Perks: They have 5 minute free chair massages on the pool deck each day, don’t miss this!  In your room is a DVD player, you call down to the front desk and they will bring you up a library of movies, was wonderful to lay in the hotel’s bathrobes, watch movies and eat room service in bed!  This is part of the ‘your wish, my wish’ button on your hotel’s phone, don’t be afraid to use it!  One day while lounging in our chairs, they brought around fruit kabobs on a platter to each guest, didn’t even have budge out of my chair, it was a nice touch.  The resort has resident parrots that fly around the resort from 11 to noon each day, you can also meet the parrots during this time, that was pretty cool.  They have a small library of books next to the towels you can check out.  The hotel has 2 Rolls Royce’s, I have NO idea how much those costs if you want to ride in them; they were pretty sweet to look at though.

To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade:  When we arrived, we were asked if we wanted to upgrade to an oceanfront room for $25/night.  We declined.  Looking back, I go back and forth on this.  The perks were worth the cost in my opinion but aren’t necessary.  With the upgrade, you get (I think) a cabana, a 20 minute beach foot massage, access to the pool club on the upper floor with extra food, an oceanfront room.  The cabana would have been nice to have but there are plenty of great spots that it wasn’t a necessity.  We were in room 3004, we had a pretty good view of the ocean from our room.  I could lay in bed and see the ocean so for not paying for oceanfront, we got lucky.   To upgrade or not… it’s a toss-up in my opinion!

Tips: keep in mind Mexico’s currency is pesos, we used our credit cards and paid a small conversion rate.  We used Yellow Transit for our transportation, we paid for roundtrip transportation when we arrived, they were a little late picking us up but overall had a good experience.  We didn’t use the hotel’s gym but it looked very nice.   Cancun’s airport is crazy busy.  And very expensive to eat at, we ate fast food sandwiches and fries in the food court and it was $40 bucks, total rip off, be prepared for their inflated prices.

Overall: For as nice as a resort this is, it is affordable.  We generally keep our big vacation each year to $3,000 or less and this vacation fell into that spectrum (including everything, airfare, boarding our dog, airport parking, meals at airport, spa, etc so I'm not just talking for the cost of the room).   We are eaters and drinkers, we left feeling like we got our money's worth.  This was our first all-inclusive experience and we prefer it over the cruise we took last year, although both were great experiences.  The food was far better than on the cruise, that is the main thing I would say. You can find cheaper resorts in Cancun that did appear nice; we decided to go with Live Aqua and sacrificed excursions to spend a bit more to stay here and it was worth it in my opinion.  

Would we go back to Cancun?  Yes, it our dreamy beach vacation that met every expectation.  Would we stay at Live Aqua again?  Absolutely! This place might be one of the most amazing places I’ve ever stayed at!  I truly hope this review is helpful to anyone who is considering Live Aqua, I know from my own research how important a non-bias review is and my review is based on our experience as a couple who enjoy traveling and experiencing new places.