Honeymooners

Matt and I knew that we wanted to go to an all-inclusive resort for our honeymoon, but we REALLY struggled with picking a location.  We discussed just about every resort south of Florida, but we were starting to get down to the wire on booking something, so I had no choice but to reach out to Facebook.  My friend Lindsay has absolutely raved about her honeymoon at Secrets Maroma Beach ever since she got back about 3 years ago! Not kidding, she talks about it all the time! ;) Lindsay and I have similar tastes, so I really value her opinion on a lot of things.  She gave me the number to her travel agent, and when I called he asked me what Matt and I like to do.  I said "Well, on the honeymoon we really don't want to anything, Just drink and eat." He said "Have you heard of Secrets Maroma Beach?" and I knew we were in good hands!

The flight was for 5:00a.m. Sunday morning, and since we planned to party well into the night Saturday, we knew that was not an option for us.  We decided to leave Monday morning, which was smart because Sunday was super busy with getting things unpacked and repacked, saying goodbye to family who were in town for the wedding, and just trying to figure out where all my stuff was! Also, Sunday night is Game of Thrones night, so we had to break to watch it.  We finished packing, opened our cards and gifts from the wedding, and the next thing we knew it was 3:00a.m.  We knew we had to be up at 5:30a.m., and against our better judgment we fell asleep.  Well, we woke up at 6:09 - our flight left at 7:00.  We jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and rushed to Yeager as fast as we possibly could.  Matt dropped me off at the door and I ran in to the American Airlines counter and asked if we could check in.  At this point it was 6:27.  She took her time typing around on the computer and then said "You had to be here at least 30 minutes prior to check a bag."  I looked at my phone and at this point it said 6:36.  I was devastated, and she was incredibly rude about the whole thing which made it even worse.  After going back and forth for awhile, she rebooked our flight out of Huntington for 10:00 that same morning.  We went home, brushed our teeth, got some Tudor's (which I hadn't eaten since December in preparation for the wedding! Ohhhh it was so good!), and took our time getting to the airport.  Much less stressful! Everything went smoothly from then on out!

When we arrived at Secrets Maroma around 4:00 that day, and were greeted with champagne, a cool towel, and tons of friendly people saying "welcome home!"  We were escorted to our room where we were met with more champagne! The room was gorgeous! Huge jacuzzi tub, huge shower, huge bed, and a balcony with an amazing view! It was fabulous! We immediately ordered room service.  One of my favorite things was the room service box.  It had a door to outside, and a door to our room, so when the food came we never had to open the suite door or talk to anyone, the food was just in the box waiting for us!

We couldn't wait to hit the beach! The water was crystal clear and a gorgeous blue, and the sand was white as snow.  One of the waiters on the beach mentioned that the Travel Channel rated it in the top 10 beaches in the world, and I can see why.  From the time we stepped foot on the sand they were asking where we wanted to sit, carrying our towels, setting up our chairs, and asking what we wanted to drink.  I love nothing more than being pampered! :)  (and I know there are about to be a lot of pictures of me, but that's only because Matt didn't want to have any pictures taken! lol)



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The resort was so beautiful!  There were tons of palm trees, pools, and cabanas all over the place.  The iguanas would sunbathe all day on the rocks, and we saw a few Coatis running around looking for some bites of food from the guests.

 

ANNNNDDDD the food.  First of all, there was a huge breakfast buffet every morning, so I literally ate like this every single day.  Matt is not a breakfast guy, but I LOVE breakfast, so I was there with bells on every morning! The first night we were too tired to get dressed up for dinner, so we just went to the World Café, which was casual dining (also where the breakfast buffet is located.) We lucked out because it was Brazilian Steakhouse night.  They came around to the tables with different meats, and carved them onto your plate.  DELISH. 

The second night we went to Bordeaux, which was the French restaurant.  I tried some of Matt's escargot, and although it wasn't bad in taste, I still can't get the fact that it's a snail out of my head.  The French onion soup was to die for though!

The next night's restaurant was Portofino, which wass Italian.  Our waiter was incredibly sweet and fun, which made the evening especially nice. Also, that was the BEST Chicken Parmesan we have ever had!

The next night we went to El Patio for some Mexican food.  Oddly, it was one of the few restaurants there that didn't serve chips and salsa, just bread! BUT they had lots of Tequila! Ole! ;)  One really cool thing - Matt ordered seafood stone soup.  The waiter put a bowl of raw seafood on the table, poured in some broth, then added a stone.  The broth immediately began to boil, and the seafood was cooked in just a couple minutes! Very interesting!




 

 

 The next night I had to make the sacrifice for Matthew's love of seafood and go to Oceana.  I love seafood, but I'm allergic to shellfish, so it kind of puts a damper on what I can order.  BUT, it was no problem for the waiter to substitute things, and so everything was just right! We had dinner by the pool, and there was a violinist playing dinner music.  It was really a beautiful evening.  Had Matt and I not been so sunburnt that we could barely think straight, it would've been better!

 

 

 The last night was by far my favorite - Hibachi.   We were seated with a couple from Ireland, and a couple from Tijuana, so there was a ton of interesting conversation!  The sushi, soup, food, dessert - all absolutely amazing.  The hibachi chef was also just so good with the tricks and jokes. We had a blast!  I was going to steal the chopstick/fork & knife things because let's face it, they are super cool, but Matt thought that wouldn't be the best idea.  So, you just get a picture of them.

 

 

We got sunburnt REALLY bad on Friday.  After talking to Jon he gave us a few things we could do to help besides the aloe we already had.  One thing was a vinegar bath, so I called the front desk, but she informed me that vinegar doesn't help sunburns, and that I needed to purchase aloe in the gift shop.  I have a feeling that she has never had a sunburn, and wouldn't know what helps it, but just for fun, I looked at the aloe in the gift shop - $24 for 12oz.  (Lays were $12 a bag and a Snickers bar was $8). You had to be REALLY desperate to buy something in there!

So, rather than lay around and be miserable on our last day in Mexico, we decided to call a cab and do a little shopping on 5th Ave in Playa del Carmen. It was all good, but SUPER hot, especially with our burns.  We ducked in and out of shops, but we were on a mission to get some souvenirs.  When I went on a cruise to Mexico several years ago, I brought my mom back some vanilla for her cookies, and she swears by it now, so I had to get her some more! WE NEED THE COOKIES.  So in one shop this man tells me how this is the best vanilla in the world, and I'll never find another like it. So, I believed him and bought 2 bottles for $20.  This is the picture of me spotting the same vanilla "Buy 2 get 1 free" at $6 each. SO MAD.  I was tempted to go back and give him a piece of my mind, but I thought it was probably best to just accept that I was scammed and move on - for safety reasons.

I think our favorite thing of the whole trip was our 80 minute deep tissue couples massage! The spa was incredibly beautiful.  We did a "hyrdospa" session before (it was included) where we went into a sauna, then they dumped cold water on us.  Then we went into a steam room, and they dumped cold water on us.  Then we had to go into a freezing cold Jacuzzi, and then a hot one.  I was starting to think it was really "hypothermia-therapy" until they finally let us just swim around in a normal temperature pool! The massages were amazing, and by that night the soreness had really set in.  I didn't warn Matt about the "after" of a deep tissue massage.  I think next time he may just go for the Swedish! ;)

Since I ate and drank all day long, I'm sure I've gained about 20 pounds, but it was totally worth it.  Especially after depriving myself for the past year and a half! Overall our honeymoon was simply amazing.  Our trip home was a breeze, and while we were sad to leave paradise, we were thrilled to have Sir Oswald to welcome us home at the airport! He "booged and wooged" all over the baggage claim room when he saw mom and dad! :D