We took our first trip to Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya from Sunday, June 5-Friday, June 9, 2023 after six trips to Excellence properties. We love Excellence and has always been phenomenal but on this trip, we took our 18 year-old son and his girlfriend to celebrate their high school graduation so we chose Valentin for its more lively vibe that is still not a huge “party resort”. We arrived in Cancun at about 11:45 a.m. Getting off the plane and through customs and immigration took about 15 minutes. We used the e-gates since we are all over 18 and hold US passports and it was super quick and efficient. They were not in existence the last time we went to Cancun but the lines with the agents did not seem too much longer on that particular day. By the time we got through that area, our luggage was already out and off the bag carrousel. We exited the airport to find our transportation with Kalido. If you have never been to Cancun, do not talk to anyone until you are among the transfer companies. People will try to sell you timeshares and get you in their taxis but if you ignore them, you’re fine. We found our driver, Rafael, with Kalido and off we went. If you need a transfer service, I very much recommend Kalido. They are organized, extremely professional, and very nice. The drive to Valentin took about 25 minutes and when we pulled up, it was clear Valentin was a nice resort. Even its entrance is stunning. Since we were pretty early, we checked in with Phoebe and she told us that we were able to get the room types we had requested (two beds in each, and next-door rooms) but our rooms were not ready so we had a drink at the martini bar and then we went to lunch at their buffet. The lunch buffet truly has something for everyone and if you like dessert, they probably have about 20 different things on it just for you. When our rooms were ready, we were taken by golf cart to them by Kevin, who gave us a lowdown of the resort. We had rooms 5111 and 5112, on the ground floor. The rooms were very nice and we were happy with the closed concept of the restrooms since I was stying with my son’s girlfriend and my son was staying with his dad. Our rooms overlooked the grounds and we could not really sit on the patios because of the mosquitoes. We had been to Cancun 5 times previously and have never used the insect repellent we brought but we were glad to have it this time. Three of the four of us were bitten all over but my husband did not have a single bite. The resort had a lot of vegetation and wildlife (coatis and iguanas are everywhere) and it is truly beautiful. After we checked in, we were off to the foam party that they have every Sunday at 3. It was a lot of fun and I am glad we arrived in time for it. The Go Team is truly great; they work really hard to get the guests involved and excited. They had a mechanical bull on Monday, chair basketball, pool volleyball, music trivia, a “magic carpet” race, aqua cycling, and many other activities. We spent our days at the main pool where we were very well taken care of by Miguel. He is a terrific employee for Valentin but he is also just a wonderful person. The drinks around the pool are outstanding and they did not seem watered down at all. If you want premium liquor, just ask. The pool has food available as well so you can order lunch or snacks. Everything we had off the menu was good. Just be careful when you are eating, as the coatis and iguanas are definitely drawn to the food. We did not feed them so they didn’t bother us too much. If you like to have shade, plan to arrive at the pool early. That was not a problem for me at all this trip since I naturally get up early. I did not want to wake my son’s girlfriend and since I could not sit on the patio due to the mosquitos, I would order room service coffee and head to the pool area to read and then I would head to the beach for a little while to watch the sunrise. I was able to get under the palapas at the pool every day but they were all occupied by probably 7:30 or so. If you are OK with chairs in the sun, you could wait longer but those were mostly claimed by about 9. I can’t comment about the beach during the day because we only did pool. The main pool is lively but if you want more tranquility, there is the golden pool as well as a silver pool. The silver pool in particular looked to have spots available any time, if you don’t want to play the towel game in the morning. The food at Valentin was really good and we had no complaints with any of it. We did the buffet most mornings but did try the huevos rancheros and divorced eggs at Mar y Tierra. Both were delicious but the buffet was best for us since we have different types of eaters and everyone could find something they liked. For lunch, we again went to the buffet most of the time and were happy with that. The buffet also has snacks later in the day and we went one day for some nachos and they were terrific. The servers at the buffet are extremely kind and hardworking. Jorge remembered our names from the first day and we would request him but we also really liked Yair and Isaac. For dinner, we had l’Alsace twice (the filet, onion soup, and crème brûlée were our favorites). Luis was our server and he is awesome. We went to la Hacienda once. The chips and guacamole/pico there are good and I loved the mushroom crêpes as well as the enmoladas. My husband had the ribeye and he liked it. We had Martin as a server and he was excellent. L’Olivo and being served by José was terrific. The mushroom risotto was my favorite and my son and his girlfriend really liked the fettuccini Alfredo. Mar y Tierra was probably our least favorite but it was still good. I really liked the vegetable cream soup there. Each night, we visited Don Miguel where the drinks are not only delicious, many are a show in their presentation. I really liked the Imperial martini and the blackberry martini. The flaming coffee was really neat to watch them to prepare but it took several minutes and I could not help but wonder how much the employees hate making that. They have live music and on our last night, they had a trio of men singing who were incredible to watch. The shows at Valentin that we watched were entertaining. We watched the Micheal Jackson show but did not love it. The performers were good but a lot of the music was remixed and it just didn’t draw us in too much. The burlesque show and fire show were more fun to watch but the best one we saw was the magic show by far. After the show, we would hit the churro cart for me and the rest of the group would get ice cream at Café Sisal. The man working the churro cart is really nice and the churros are yummy. The housekeeping was good during the day but the turndown service for us was sporadic. Normally, that would not be a problem, but at Valentin, they do not have towel huts around the pool so you only get the ones in your room and they exchange them during turndown but a couple of nights, no one came. Not a huge deal; I just asked housekeeping or the concierge the next day for fresh ones but it would have been easier if they has the huts so we would grab them as we needed them. It was also hard to have dry towels throughout the day with how they do it. At Valentin, you can upgrade to their privé package for about $75 a person per day for perks like liquor in room, a reserved Bali bed, dinner reservations, and lobster. We did not do it and I can’t see ever doing it. If you want a drink in your room, you can ask a bartender to make your drink in your cup (we always travel with insulated tumblers). They do have beer in your mini fridge as well. For dinner, we did have to wait a couple times so we went to Don Miguel while we waited so we were OK not having reservations and like I said, I get up early so I was always able to get the spot I wanted around the pool. On departure day, they arrived with a golf cart promptly at the time we requested and took us to reception. Kalido was on time to take us back and this time, Rene was our driver. He was extremely funny and a great guy to chat with, Our trip to VIM was absolute perfection and I cannot wait to come back. If you are thinking of going, do yourself a favor and book. You will not regret it!…
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