We booked time at this resort after being very dissatisfied at a different resort. We spent an hour researching local resorts and found that this resort had the fewest 'bad' reviews. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised at how true the reviews were. You arrive at a gated resort which feels very safe and secure. The entrance to the resort is the most breathtaking I've ever seen with immediate views of the ocean. You are treated with great customer service from the moment you step foot on the property. There are 2 sides to the resort, Secrets (adults only) and Now Amber (family friendly). Both have their own pools, access to the beach and all ocean view rooms. The decor feels grand and modern. The rooms are beautiful, romantic and very comfortable with the best view I've ever had at a hotel. We sat on our balcony for many hours during this trip. The bathroom facilities are luxurious. The restaurants are delicious and truly reservation free, we only had a wait 1 time during our 6 day stay. There are a variety of options for enjoying the beautiful landscape and ocean view, hammocks, 3 pools, 2 hot tubs, restaurants, beach chairs with umbrellas, etc. The staff are very friendly and engaging. There is always something going on and plenty to keep you busy if you want. I can't say enough good things about this resort! We will definitely be back, this is something I've never said about a resort before. I wouldn't hesitate recommending this resort to anyone. In fact, we just returned yesterday and already recommended it to several people. We were very impressed to say the least.

I want to start by making a little comparison. During our recent stay at Secrets, we made a day-trip to have lunch and hang by the pool for an afternoon at Four Seasons, Punta Mita, with friends who were staying there. There, the $260 mediocre lunch for the six of us lunch (before tip - and with no drinks!) matched the aging and overrated Four Seasons resort's rooms and pool area. Though I truly love my friends, I couldn't stop wishing that we were back with the vibrance and aliveness that is Secrets.

This new resort (Secrets/Now Amber) exceeds expectations, on all fronts. All the staff members were young, fresh, happy, friendly, professional, efficient and eager to please - outstanding! The rooms (& hotel in general) were architectural, modern, clean and comfortable.

A couple of other reviews here slam the food, I don't know why, this is some of the best resort/hotel-food I've ever had (barring the little poolside kiosk, where I think sometimes the food sits out too long, by the end of the day?). We live in LA and our pallets are accustomed to all manor of food, high-end & low-end and anything in-between. Secrets food came in way better that I was expecting. We never went hungry or thirsty, for a moment. Very satisfied!

Others also mention that the beds were too firm. We didn't notice, this was no firmer than we like at home. There are several reviews that comment on the rooms' inadequate lighting. Granted, the lighting was "mood" but I like that. The only time I found it to be an itty-bitty issue, was when I needed to wet-shave (but I lived to tell the story - LOL).

We were there during the second week of Jan, 2013 and I'm not sure what was going on with the weather but it was gloomy & overcast for most of our stay, so we would probably go back a bit later in the year to minimize this likelihood. Before going, we changed up a few hundred bucks in singles for tipping, which I did at every opportunity (I work in an industry that also receives tips, so I get how this matters). In summary - we can hardly wait to go back to Secrets.

We requested a quiet, king room. This seemed to be difficult as they have limited king beds! We were given a room on the third floor, right next to the foyer...not quiet either! They would have moved us to an upgraded room, at our cost, which we refused since we didn't think our request was that difficult! After 4 nights(and one really big party night) we were finally moved to a higher floor and things were much better! We did feel a bit like we were being pressured to pay more for their "Elite" area rooms.
Food was good in restaurants, buffets not so much.
Beach was rocky. No catamaran, which was sad for me!
Drinks were pretty good.
It got very busy on our final couple of days and you could see where the service became lesser and sparcer. There was a large group that arrived and they wanted an evening beach bbq which meant that there was no place for everyone else along the shore. Also, they booked the restaurants completely so it was inconvenient for everyone else. The pool area got much busier as welll, although you could still find a chair if you didn't mind it being in a busy area. The cleanliness of the pool area definitely began to suffer as well, especially around the bathrooms and the swim up bar.
Hotel is LARGE but very nice and very new. If you want some quiet, I would suggest somewhere else if it is full. However, for a party, it would be wonderful.

New and beautiful resort with great food and great employees. My husband and I took a much needed getaway from January 14-17, 2013. I had received an email for 50% back in December and we jumped at the opportunity to get away by ourselves -- away our four kids -- dear ones that they are. We were very happy to have spent that time at Secrets Vallarta Bay in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

First, we stayed in a Preferred suite on the 5th floor. I would recommend the preferred tower as you have a cute little bar area on first floor just your own with a bartender and munchies all day. I would not recommend upgrading to the rooms with the pools. They are on ground floor so if you enjoy listening to the ocean at night, you cant open your windows, which we did each night. Also, everyone walks by and looks into your room.

The waiters and hotel staff were awesome. They loved that I could speak some Spanish and thought it was funny my husband could not. We worked on his Spanish too. He knew cerveza. :) The drinks were great and not at all watered down. Be careful though in the restaurants. You can have all of the glasses of whine that you want, but no bottles of wine or even after dinner drinks without paying. Also, the employees CANNOT take cash to pay for anything. So if you leave cash on the table, that is considered a TIP, not payment for a bill. We were not told this and we ended up paying twice for something we thought we had already paid for with cash and a tip.

We did the zip line through Olympus tours that has an office right in the hotel. Felipe was our contact. He was awesome. Loved, loved the zipline Canyon River.

Food was great. We ate at Market Cafe (buffet) for breakfast every morning and were alway happy. Lots of variety. Great coffee. Mimosas and bloody marys if you want. Bordeaux was really good. But our favorite was Oceana. It is right on the beach and the food was delicious. We went there two nights.

I have to say when we first arrived we had a pretty hard sell to upgrade to a master suite with a pool. Very much the full court press. Luckily it was not ready and would not be for a couple of hours. They let us go to the room assigned to us already to relax and we ended up just cancelling the upgrade when we saw how awesome the "regular" room was. It would have been almost as much as the whole vacation to upgrade. Glad we did not do it.

Poolside entertainment was hysterical. Those guys really worked hard to make sure everyone had a good time. I did not participated but watched and laughed. Jose was a poolside waiter and he was terrific. We tipped liberally, but only about 20 pesos each drink and we always got great service.

Going downtown is about a 15 minute walk. A taxi into town is 50 pesos. Don't tip as we were told the taxi drivers automatically get 30% of the fare as a tip.

We were on the side with the empty lot and abandoned resort. It really was not the eyesore people say. I never felt anything but safe. The security at the hotel is very comforting. I was approached by a couple of vendors but they easily took no gracias as a response and left me alone.

One bad thing was the first day we had NO room cleaning. We were gone all morning zip lining and did not get back until 3 p.m. Finally at 6:30 we went to dinner and asked that our room be cleaned. When we returned, we discovered that our bed had been straightened but nothing else. Trash on floor, ring around tub, sink a mess. We complained a next day and they said maybe we had do not disturb light on (check to make sure it is a button), but that does not explain the cruddy job done at night. The next day we did have great cleaning.
I would recommend this to friends and family.