Haven Riviera Cancun, to be exact. We just stayed at this new-ish hotel about 20 minutes from the Cancun airport. There is something to be said for traveling from Texas to beachside by 11AM.
The hotel
Haven Riviera Cancun opened in 2018. It is only about 20 minutes south of the Cancun airport. It’s an adults only, all inclusive hotel. There are plans to expand and add a family resort next door.
There’s some construction that should be ending in the next week or so. They are adding a new building for Serenity rooms. Currently you can stay in a Serenity upgraded room around the existing hotel. The new building will be dedicated Serenity only and will have a pool and restaurant. The convention center being added will not be finished until late 2023.
Serenity upgraded rooms have a few extra amenities. We made use of the hydro therapy included and I was happy that they had Tito’s vodka as well! You can see the full list here.
You should know Haven is located in an area that can get more seaweed certain times of the year. There’s not much the hotel can do about it, other than build somewhere else. They run the tractors daily. The only reason I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to a client is if getting in the ocean is the deal breaker. The beach itself is beautiful. Lots of trees and cabana beds, it’s peaceful and quiet. Just seaweed in the water. One of the bartenders said there’s no seaweed in January and February though.
Our room
My favorite room upgrade is a swim out. We actually chose Haven this time specifically for the room. We booked a Serenity Club Swim Out Ocean Front room. Probably one of the best views we’ve had from our room.
The room was set up nice. I liked the separate closet in the bathroom with a full length mirror but I personally wish there were more drawers. Staying 6 nights means a lot of clothes and we just had them piled up on the shelves in the closet. I think Barcelo Maya Riviera had the best storage.
The vanity area in the bathroom was perfect though. The drawer for make up storage was a great idea!
Our patio had 2 lounge chairs and a table and chairs for dining. We were in building 5 which was right next to the construction. It didn’t bother us at all. The bartenders do come around to the swim up rooms with drinks. This was a plus. We usually head to the main pool until lunch then go back to our room for the afternoon.
This room location was shaded in the afternoon which I was ok with after being in the sun for the morning.
We spent our last full day in our pool, never left until dinner.
Main pool areas
Haven Riviera Cancun has two main pools, not counting the new Serenity section pool that will open soon. The big round pool is the quiet one, there’s a swim up bar and lots of chairs and cabana beds. There is a snack bar right by this pool and plenty of waiters bringing drinks. The towels are all on the chairs and set around at the towel stands. Yay for no towel cards!
This pool was where we spent most of our days, when we weren’t at our pool.
This pool is zero entry surrounded by partial ocean view, garden view rooms and swim up rooms. All the ground floor rooms here are swim up.
The second pool is more rectangle shape, it also has a swim up bar. There’s a lounge area in the pool with seating. This pool has music, pool volleyball, games, and the water exercise classes. I participated one morning in the surfboard yoga/stretching class. It’s a workout just trying to stay on the board.
Hotel spa
Our Serenity room included 30 minutes in the hydro-therapy pools, we added another 30 minutes for $19 more. That was a pretty good deal. The spa area also has the bridal suites, hair salon and nail salon. The bridal suite was beautiful!
Bars and entertainment
The nightly entertainment was really good! We went to several shows. The schedule mostly stays the same each week. My favorites were the Cabaret, Circus Show and Magic Show. The theater has two floors and it gets busy. They open the doors at 9PM and several of the shows are standing room only.
There are several bars open at night. Our favorite was Limes. It’s up on the top floor. There’s in inside and outside seating area. The outside has smoking areas. Inside there are TV’s and seating along the wall and at the bar. We had really good bar tenders there and probably some of the best drinks I’ve had at an all inclusive.
This is also the spot for sunset viewing!
The food
Dinner here was my favorite. They have several restaurants to choose from. Only one requires reservations and it also requires long pants for men. Otherwise, nice dress shorts and polo shorts are perfect. Our favorite was a toss up between Satsu, the Asian Fusion cuisine and Agua Bendita which is the Mexican Steakhouse. We ordered from the a la carte menu at Satsu (not hibachi). The hibachi table also requires reservations. It was so good!!
At Agua Bendita we had a semi-private romantic dinner. That food was amazing!
This drink is called a Watermelon Lolly. I also had a steak but apparently forgot to take a picture of it.
Olios is the Mediterranean restaurant. They require reservations. The food and service here was very good, it just takes a little longer to get through the meal. We also purchased a bottle of wine at this dinner.
I had salad, cream of artichoke soup and steak. I was surprised at how much I liked the soup.
We haven’t ordered room service at a hotel in a while but I’m glad we tried it. Several days for lunch we just went back to our room and ordered lunch and stayed at our pool.
They have buffet for breakfast and lunch. When the hotel is at 85% occupancy they open the buffet for dinner Thursday through Sunday as well. We arrived on Friday and the buffet was open so we opted that for the first night. We had been up since 3:15AM and were exhausted.
There is also a coffee shop in the lobby with snacks and ice cream. Open until midnight.
We really enjoyed our stay and I can definitely recommend this hotel!
If you are interested in traveling to Haven Riviera Cancun, or any other options, I’d love to earn your business. You can reach me at Lake Pointe Travel at sarah@lakepointetravel.net or 469-698-4071. This is my personal lifestyle blog but I’m a travel agent by day.
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