Maroma Resort & Spa: Heaven on a Beach

First impression of Maroma: Wow! About a half-hour’s drive south of Cancun, Mexico on the Riviera Maya coast, Maroma is everything I love in a resort: intimate, friendly, relaxed, easy going, private and very sexy. Stunning beach!

Warm turquoise Caribbean water and white velvet beach. Lovely breezes.

Three swimming pools if that’s your preference. Order a Paloma, and take a deep breath—you can relax now!

Service at Maroma could not have been better!

Friendly yet unobtrusive. Nightly special events, such as Cantina night (with mezcal tasting) or the beach barbecue, where guests can mingle and make friends. Or you can easily opt to keep to yourselves.

Rooms are to die for! Spacious, beautiful tile details, nice bathrooms, big showers and tubs. Beds so comfy you’re too busy dreaming to notice them. Splurge on an ocean-view or above.

And the suites defy description! Makeup mirrors on both his and her vanities!

Then there’s the turndown service: I returned to my room after dinner to find standing wrought iron candelabras with all votives lighted and rose petals artfully placed on the bed.

Warning: Don’t come here alone! This is one place where you’ll want to be a couple!

Food and cuisine here is amazing! Talented, charming (and handsome) young exec chef Juan Pablo Loza celebrates traditional Mex fresh seafood and garden ingredients with flair and his abuelitas’ updated recipes.

Don’t miss Chef McDreamy’s beachfront cooking class and tequila tasting! Maroma’s award-winning Spa offers treatments derived from local ingredients. There’s a couple’s treatment suite with Jacuzzi, and gifted massage therapists (try Candy). It’s all here. Plus a temazcal – the traditional Mayan steam lodge ceremony.

Watersports include snorkeling, kayaking, sailing and jet skiing. The swimming area is cordoned off. No vendors are allowed on Maroma’s private beach, just friendly waiters bearing snacks and libations. Compared to some Mexican resorts, that alone is worth the price of admission.

Family Factor: Yes, kids are invited (guideline: 10 max on property at a time) and are provided some facilities, but they are absolutely not the focus. So do your best to get grandma and grandpa to take them and go wake up your inner romantic!

Environs: Tours can easily be arranged to the famous Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza (inland, 3 or so hours each way, though a rail line may be built soon from Cancun), or Tulum (on the beach, within an hour).

There is the town of Playa del Carmen, fun for some shopping and nightlife and water parks for kids, within half an hour’s drive, and Xel Ha, further south.

Downsides: Light water pressure in my gorgeous indoor/outdoor shower. Phone not activated when I arrived, but it was promptly fixed. Makeup mirror light was not working. World-class mosquitoes–to be expected throughout the Caribbean region. (I know, these are problems?)

I consider it an upside that there are no TV’s in the rooms. There is comp WIFI throughout, though. So if you’re desperate, bring your tablet or laptop for streaming.

Otherwise, all vacation needs and desires were beautifully met and exceeded! The resort is popular with our clients, and a good choice for a honeymoon or destination wedding, too.

If you’re ready to go, Maroma is one of our Signature hotel properties, and I’ll include a 30-minute massage for two with your booking!

Karen Good Satzman