My boys
This past week, I was invited down to Aventura Cove Palace, an all-inclusive resort in the Riviera Maya. It had been years since I had been to Mexico. In fact, if you don’t count a quick over the border trip to Tijuana, my last trip to Mexico was to Cancun when I was in high school.
So I really didn’t know what to expect. Obviously what one wants out of a Mexico vacation in high school is a lot different than when you have two kids! Hubby didn’t know what to expect either and we scrambled to get passports and do a few things to get ready.
In short, we had a fabulous time. Before I go extolling the virtues of the all-inclusive, let me tell you why I was invited. Aventura Cove Palace and several other of the Palace Resorts in Mexico have partnered with Hard Rock Hotel and are in the process of rebranding. This particular resort will be rebranding and is in the process of undergoing a major overhaul as it changes over to the Hard Rock Hotel and what you would come to expect out of the Hard Rock name. There will be four Hard Rock Mexico & Dominican Republic resorts – Punta Cana, Cancun, Riviera Maya and Puerto Vallerta.
Hanging with my fam in the lobby
I attended several media events while I was there and I was really excited to hear about the changes. While we had a fabulous time, some of the very small things I would have changed about the resort are all being addressed and improved upon with the changes!
Like what?
Well for starters, they are adding the Little Big Club. I’ll post more pictures and add more about that in another post but in short Hard Rock has partnered with HIT Entertainment to bring some great activities and characters in for your little ones. (Namely Barney, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina and Thomas the Train!) Daily visits and shows from these characters in the Little Big Club (their day care) will be sure to entertain and enthrall the kids!
Then, of course Hard Rock will add the music flair. Random but cool – the back of your hotel key will have a number on it. You can write that number down and when you can get home from your vacation, you can log onto their website and download all the music they were playing while you were on vacation. Awesome, right? You’ll also be able to take an electric keyboard or guitar to your room and learn how to play! Just totally fun. Plus of course nightly music shows and entertainment as you’d expect.
Bottom line, it proves to be an awesome new resort in the Riviera Maya. Stay tuned for more reviews and pictures and in the meantime, if you want to visit Aventura Cove Palace – it will be open all throughout the renovations! They were already underway while we were there and it didn’t bother us at all. We had a fabulous time – from hanging poolside with poolside drink delivery (I mean does it get any better than that?) to snorkeling in their natural lagoon that opens to the ocean and holds a whole host of fish (ask my hubby about the 5 foot barracuda that sent him running for the hills) to staying up nightly to watch one of their evening shows (my kids are still talking about the circus performance!), it’s just an incredible family-friendly resort that is worth your time and money. (And ps – want kid free? Stay on the Aventura Spa Palace side, just right next door – no kids allowed!)
Hubby snorkels in the natural lagoon on property
Disclaimer: This was a media trip and my travel costs were comped. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have afew questions since you just got back.
Since you traveled with children do you know if you are in a standard room if the children get there own kid size robe and the special room service menu like they do if your in the family suite?
Do you know how much in room babysitting is?
Do you know the days that the tour to Chichen Itza is on?
Do they still provide transportation to the Moon Palace for free?
Did you have to pay a 11% service fee for spa treatments when you uded the resort credits?
Do they have the Kids Characters and new theme going yet? I was told by member services they were but the blogs dont sound like that is the case.
Last how much construction is going on and what type and where?
Sorry for all the questions, we are goin soon with a child and we usually go without her
Hey Jane! I will try and answer as much as I can, which is only a few of your questions… so we were in a family suite, which was two rooms. Not sure what you get with the single room but I’m sure you at least get a kids menu for room service when you are in a regular room as you would in the suite! Our regular room service menu was missing in English – we had the kids menu so we had to try and figure out what we wanted by reading the Spanish menu, kind of funny!
We didn’t use in-room babysitting so not sure on cost of that but the Little Big Club is included in your stay and seemed really awesome…
Yes, the Kids Characters were going… it started the day it launched when we were there! They have shows with the characters every day, or did when we were there…
There was some construction going on outside of one of the outdoor pools while we were there. A bit noisy the one day when we sat there to eat but not a huge deal…
Hope that helps, can’t answer your other questions but have a great trip and let me know what you think!
How did your trip go?
Loved your review. Resort sounds like a terrific , all inclusive place to have tons of fun. Sounds like a plan for a future trip!
We loved this article, thank you very much for your great review, and hope to see you all in our resort, let us know if you are coming. You cna get in touch with us via Facebook 😉 Look for us as Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.
If you are interested in going back to a Palace Resort or a Hard Rock, my parents have many weeks to sell (for much less than booking through the resort). Some even include free unlimited golf.
Hello. Do you know what age the kids club allows kids and can you leave the kids there for a few hours while the parent does a spa treatment or goes scuba diving? When I call they say 4-years-old (and that was the case when we went a few years ago); however, online it says as young as 18 months?
We just returned from a Thanksgiving week trip to Moon Palace. My 3 1/2 year old was welcomed at the Kids Club in Nizuc, I think, when a scheduling issue meant no adults were able to be with him. He is potty trained and fairly independent. There were not many kids at the time. He also went to the Kids Club at Playacar and there were a few kids near his age. I have never seen any where that they would take kids younger than 4, I assumed it was a.) a potty training issue and b.) don’t kids start getting bracelets at 4? I know younger kids are always welcome, but I think they are supposed to have an adult with them. There are babysitting services available, but we always travel with my parents so that has never been an issue for us.