Overall, we had a nice time. We did not relax like we expected to though; Which was a major let-down. We did however, meet some *phenominal* people there during our trip & expect to keep in touch with them.

In the end, any place you go is what YOU make IT; At these rates though - you expect a whole lot more!

My review is very lengthy; Keep in mind lots happened that we felt consumers should be aware about prior to booking.
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My husband and I travel 2-3 times a year, once usually being an extended vacation to the Caribbean. In March 2006, we had a destination wedding in Jamaica (Wyndham Rose Hall) in addition to also remaining there for a Honeymoon at the Sandals Whitehouse - totaling 17days vacation. We absolutely love a relaxing All-Inclusive resort where we can do as much or as little as we want. Who doesn’t love to relax and get away from it all?!

Friends of ours honeymooned at Secrets Capri in February 2007. Upon their return home, they raved about everything! Specifically they were extremely pleased with the food, the grounds and the staff. All of which, according to them were “AMAZING”. With such a high recommendation, how could we resist? When it came to deciding where we would spend our 2nd Wedding Anniversary vacation this year, it was a simple decision – Secrets Capri, Mexico.

We booked our 10-day vacation to Secrets Capri in October 2007 thru Expedia, and looked forward to our vacation every day since. Every now and then, I would read the reviews on Tripadvisor.com to read what others were writing. All seemed to have perfect vacations! There were only a few minor complaints; however one with such excitement can simply overlook them.

Let me say that my Husband and I, we are not complainers. We both are in management and we work within the Telecom field within the maintenance group for a large worldwide telephone company. We certainly have our share of incoming complaints; so in order for us to complain – there must have been some valid issues that need to be addressed.

We were quite disappointed with our stay. Had we not met wonderful people – travelers and staff – our trip would have been so much worse. You should know that we, in addition to several others that we met within our ten day stay, all were ill from the food within this resort.

Our complaints fall into three main areas: Food and liquor, Customer care and the Accommodations.

Food and Liquor: Most importantly, you should be aware that during our stay, my husband and I were both violently ill with food poisoning from this resort. The illnesses were on two separate occasions, days apart and were also from different restaurants at Secrets Capri. It was NOT from the WATER or SEAFOOD.

On Friday March 28th, we ordered room service for a romantic breakfast; Within 20 minutes after finishing breakfast until 12midnight I was throwing up and defecating. I was so sick that we needed to call the front desk and request a doctor to the room. I was not able to eat or enjoy anything for 2 full days and nights because of this. I was extremely uncomfortable and took eating anything within the resort as a risk.
Several days later, on Tuesday April 1st, my husband ordered food poolside and immediately felt dizzy and tired. After a short, uneasy rest, he began throwing up and defecating. He was unable to leave the room and after the 1st experience, he refused medical help. He too was not able to eat or enjoy anything for 2 full days and nights because of this. All days were ruined, for the both of us, as we needed to be by each others’ sides and check on each other and nurse each other back to health. This was not at all relaxing for either of us. In total, there were 4 full days that were completely lost due to food poisoning.

These negative incidents only made us scared to eat within this 5-star resort, for which we were given such high expectations of. So that you know, we were not the only ones to encounter this issue; there were more than 6 other people, that we became friendly with who had the same experiences. There was also much negative talk about the food around the pools and bars as well, and as we walked through our halls we could hear people vomiting – mid-day and night.

The food was mediocre from the start, and to be very honest - extremely unappealing after getting food poisoning. We were reduced to eating plain English muffins and tea for breakfast; pasta with garlic & oil for lunch. Dinner was a roll of the dice, but we attempted to stay with choices that we felt could not be messed up. As time went on, we (and others) began to notice more and more inconsistencies with the food and liquor – size, quantity and quality. The food tasted, looked and was different every day. At times, it was served room temperature or the staff just gave you whatever they had ‘thought’ you said.

Additionally, the couple that recommended this hotel to us said that they had Johnny Walker Black and Kettle One vodka as their top shelf liquors. When we visited, they had Absolute vodka and Johnny Walker Red.

This is all unacceptable for a five star hotel charging as much as they do.



Customer Care: The doctor graciously provided us with a bill with a sum of over $300. Outlined was a charge for his services for several days $80, then for several prescriptions which he would order from the pharmacy – Furoxona Suspension (every 8hrs x 5days), Buscapina Compuesta (every 8hrs x 3 days), Oxal Tabletas (every 8hrs), also a charge for injections $40/each. He also advised that I should not drink too much water; though I was clearly dehydrated.

Not once did the doctor specifically state what he thought that I had; He did take my temperature and did feel my stomach – which he advised my insides were swollen. My husband and I felt like we were being taken advantage of in this time of need; We did not know what my true condition was, and we can only assume the doctor went on a whim – guessing, injecting me in my buttocks, then hitting us with an enormous bill. To top it off, he wanted us to pay cash right then and there!

The doctor agreed to hold off on providing me extended care per our request and also on ordering these lengthy prescriptions. Upon submitting to our requests, he began writing on a second paper; He took the original away from us. He did not seem pleased with our decision. We were handed back a revised bill, this time for $130. Outlined again, his services, which for this one visit still remained $80, for pepto-bismol $10, and for the injection $40. Once more, he asked us if we would pay then; as if he had given us a better deal or that we were refusing due to money. Clearly, he did not understand why we did not submit to his ‘recommendations’. My husband advised that he would come to the front desk, or have it charged to the room as we had given our credit card when we arrived.

The following day, several times throughout the day, the front desk rang the room to ask if we were to come and sign the bill for the doctor. My husband also saw the doctor twice by the gym, and he was asked by him as well. It was borderline harassing. My husband went to the front desk on Sunday, bringing with him the Expedia Travel Protection plan which covers all illnesses out of country. When the front desk was provided the plan, they spoke to the doctor who then decided not to pursue obtaining payment. The doctor said to just give them the copy of the bill and consider it paid.



Accommodations: The resort is beautiful. However, our tropical view was that of an empty lot next door. We requested to move to another room, which we were told the request would be entered; but this was not granted. Truly not that big of a deal, except that prior to the end of our vacation, we had been told by other guests that there were guests staying within our high-priced hotel that had been booked at Sunscape; however due to renovations at that hotel they were moved to Secrets Capri. They were given a deluxe water front room at a Sunscape price. Quite an upgrade for them!

There are some upgrades that should be considered – such as the Ballroom and the Business Center. Both smell of mold. The business center, during our visit, was soaked in one area which only increased the smell as the days went on.





There were other negatives as well, and there were plenty of positives of course.
However, these two incidents truly took away 5 days of our 10day vacation, and this is something that you just do not expect! The resort appeal as a 5-star resort, in our opinion, was all “fluff” compared to what truly took place and what we experienced. Secrets Capri was not up to five-star standard. At a five-star resort there are special touches that make that resort stand out from other resorts - that is why you book it! As mentioned - for our honeymoon, we stayed at Sandals Whitehouse in Jamaica. We were told that this resort chain would match, if not exceed the Sandals resort chain. We found this to be just the opposite. At this point we would not recommend this Secrets resort to any of our friends, colleagues or family.

On our last day, just by chance, the General Manager – Alex, came to us while we were waiting for our lunch of pasta with garlic and oil. He joked with us regarding another topic then asked us how our stay was. We had to inform him of the experiences that we had, that our new friends also had. Alex was very polite, apologetic and personable. He took our names down, in addition to others names or room numbers that we knew of. He offered a stay back at Secrets Capri, however, we immediately stated that we did not want to return to this resort again. We thanked him for his apology, he did advise he would be sending us something.

As we informed the GM: We TRULY felt safer eating in Playa del Carmen 2 nights. We were skeptical the first time, because we had gotten sick, but once we found that we were okay and that we did not get sick – we went back a 2nd time.

Like I said, we are not complainers. I often make final decisions on a vacation based on real reviews from real people on Tripadvisor.com. We are planning to send portions of this letter to Preferred Hotel & Resorts corporate headquarters, to the Secrets Resorts management team, and to Expedia. We feel people should be warned prior to booking a vacation of this price of what they may be in for. Most importantly, we would like to have our faith restored as we foresee this becoming an issue when researching for future vacations; we hope that the Secrets chain / Preferred Hotel group would want to restore faith within their consumers.

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Positives:
 The hotel lobby and some surrounding areas are beautifully decorated
 The room is spacious and clean. Room service cleaned the rooms constantly.
 Staff is very friendly – Bar tenders, waiters, entertainment.
 Showers were awesome
 Beach was large
 There were plenty of pool and beach chairs available (if you got there early enough)
 There were plenty of umbrellas available and they could be moved if requested.
 Zoo Photo, which may have been added to the hotel several days after we checked in, was a nice touch. I purchased 3 photos.
 Close proximity to Playa Del Carmen. Wonderful town.

Negatives:
 Obviously, our illnesses!
 The ballroom & business center def. need upgrading.
 Bars closed early.
 The liquor was not top-shelf. We were told premium liquors, our friends stated that there was Kettle One vodka and Johnny Walker Black when they were there. There was Absolut, Stoli and Johnny Walker Blue. All of which are not premium.
 Food was mediocre. There was only one restaurant that we actually felt safe eating at and that was the Buffet– which we had for breakfast each day and for lunch several days. The safest lunch we found was the pasta with garlic and oil.
 There were extra charges for certain wines and special liquors. Cigars were high priced as well at $35 for a cigar.
 Prior to going it says there are shuttles to Playa Del Carmen. The shuttles are either at 6pm or 7pm, and they pick up to return at 9pm and 10pm. 3 hours.
 Spa - Not worth the money. We booked a couple 80m, with the %15 off for the anniv. special and a $50 coupon we won - it was still nearly $300.They stopped SO MANY TIMES, it must have only been a 65min massage! My husbands back hurt AFTER....Do yourself a favor - get in a cab, go to Playa, go to Spa Itzu and you will get the BEST massage of your LIFE from there.