Cancun is calling: Secrets or Breathless?

Contributed by Trish Gau, The Hive Overland Park

Secrets or Breathless? You may have wondered what’s the difference between these two World of Hyatt all-inclusive adults-only properties? Which one should you choose? I was recently lucky enough to stay at one of each on two different trips to Cancun last month (not the norm for me) and there is definitely a big difference!

The two properties I went to were Secrets Maroma Beach with my family and Breathless Soul Cancun with 23 other “middle stage” women. Both properties were beautiful in their own way and both had excellent service and friendly staff but the two vacations had different vibes for sure! I'll start with our spur of the moment trip to Secrets Maroma Beach. This trip was booked two days before we left in early January so there was not a ton to choose from. A well traveled friend said, "You can't go wrong with a Secrets property," so that's where we went!

The beach and the grounds at Secrets Maroma Beach were gorgeous and impeccably maintained. Even though our room was closer to the main hotel building than the beach, the view was still amazing and the beach was the nicest I've seen to date in Mexico. There were plenty of lounge chairs at the beach and pools and the staff was always ready to offer a cool refreshment. The food was delicious; we tried the French, the Italian, the Seafood and the Asian restaurants and all were enjoyable (Portofino was our favorite). The activities during the day were everything from biking through the grounds to macrame to Spanish lessons. The evening entertainment was usually a show in the theater or musicians in the lobby or pool area.

There was a mini golf course, jumbo chess game, ping pong, volleyball and a fabulous spa and gym to keep everyone occupied. However, my family did leave the resort a couple times to seek out more to do. They golfed at the nearby El Cameleon Mayakoba Golf Course and did some snorkeling and wave riding with Aquaworld Cancun. Secrets Maroma Beach had a calm, honeymooning vibe which was great for lounging pool/beachside while reading a book, but probably not the best for the college-aged set.

A few weeks later I made the same trip to Cancun with 23 of my middle-stage Hive friends and we had a blast. We chose Breathless Soul Cancun because we were looking for a hotel that wasn't far from the airport, had plenty of rooms with two beds, was budget friendly and was most importantly, fun! We hit the jackpot with Breathless Soul.

There are three pools on the property: the Energy pool where we spent most of our time, the rooftop Xcelerate party pool which was great for limited amounts of time, people watching and snacks, and the Xhale pool for the club level guests (we just took a peek). There were scheduled activities throughout the day and our group took advantage of the morning yoga, the aqua aerobics, pool bingo and more. Some of us went across the street one morning to Go Kayak Cancun and took a paddle through the mangroves and some took a short ferry ride over to Isla Mujeres for some sight-seeing.

The evening shows were a little more immersive than the theater style at the Secrets property. Our middle-stage women (who'd had a few margaritas) got the party started every night and made the many bachelorette parties feel like they certainly couldn't look worse;) I jest- we rocked it and they all wanted in our accepting circle! Next time we will be more prepared and coordinate our bathing suits by day and our dresses by night with the color of the day- who knew that is now a bachelorette party thing?!

All in all, both Secrets Maroma Beach and Breathless Soul Cancun were excellent resorts. If you want a more mellow, relaxed vacation with a beautiful beach and delicious food, choose Secrets. If you want a party and are traveling with those who are young at heart like The Hive Women, choose Breathless Soul! And, if you do choose Breathless Soul, hopefully our favorite Uncle Charlie is still working there because he made it all the more fun!