Haven Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa

Just got back from a quick 4 night stay here and I’d say overall it was a great time. While it is not a perfect property my wife and I were very happy with our stay and would highly recommend it. Pretty long review, but wanted to answer a lot of the questions that I had before our trip in case others have the same ones.

Stay: June 23-27 Room Type: Serenity Club Romance Oceanfront Swim Out Room Stayed in: 5008 (Building 5)

Arrival – One of the reasons we picked it was how close to the airport it is. With a shorter trip we wanted to maximize our time on-site. We had pre-scheduled a transfer through USA Transfers, and the pickup from the airport went smoothly. Bit of a hiccup on the way, as the Federal Police were pulling over all transfers just outside of the airport to “check their papers”. A bit annoying as it added about 20 minutes to our trip, but that is not the driver’s fault (and certainly not the resort’s). Once we arrived at Haven we were warmly greeted and walked to the Serenity Club Lounge & Check-in area. We were offered a drink at the Serenity club bar inside the lounge and then went to check-in. Great shout-out to Charly, who checked us in and was our butler during our stay. He gave us his cell # and told us to reach out to him for anything we need. We’re fairly low-key when we travel so we did not need much, but the few things we needed him for he was quick to assist, even when he was off work.

Room – We picked the room type specifically to be in building 5 as it was the one farthest from the ocean, while still offering the ocean view/swim-up room that we wanted. To note if you want an oceanfront swim out room they are all Serenity Clubs rooms, but if you want one on the actual Serenity side of the resort you need to ask for a Romance room which will put you in building 5 or 8. Non-Romance rooms of this type will put you on either end of the big crescent building of rooms on the south side of the resort. Those are closer to the water and they didn’t seem to be clearing the sargassum as much on that side. The distance of building 5 kept the sargassum smell down, but still gave us a stunning view of the water. The view from this room type is great, as is the “vibe” from being able to wake up and look at the sun rise over you infinity pool and the ocean. The resort was only around 50% capacity, so we had no one in the rooms on either side of us until the last day, so the semi-private swim out pool was mostly a private pool during our stay. Even if all rooms were in use the width of each person’s portion would be plenty to not feel cramped or awkward. Some swim-outs at resorts are also fully public pools, with access on the other side, but these are private to just the attached rooms so the only access to them is if you have a room on the ground level of that building. Servers will come up to the edge of your pool if you want to order drinks, this was very nice. They’re not pushy, they’ll call out from a ways away and ask if you want anything and if you decline they go on their way. Inside of the room was nice, though a few signs of age are starting to show. Bit of rust on some of the metalwork, wall/door edges starting to chip, etc, but overall in good condition. Bathroom layout was one of the best I’ve seen in a resort with nice wide double sink, roomy shower, a solid (albeit sliding) door for the toilet, and a nice big walk-in closet with plenty of shelves. Sinks, drains, toilet all worked fine with no issues. Bed was comfortable, TV worked fine, mini-fridge kept things nice and cold and was re-stocked daily. If you run out of anything early, or just want extras of something you can either call for them to bring it or grab whatever you want from the Serenity Lounge when you’re going by. On the patio there were just the two lounge chairs and a small table and chairs. Wish the patio was a bit deeper and had a bali bed or couch in addition to these, as once you put the lounge chairs in the shallow water section you don’t really have a relaxing out-of-water option out there.

Pools – Four pools on site. One cool feature is that you can go in the pools 24h/day, while many resorts won’t let anyone go in after a certain time. The pools are: 1) The zero-entry pool inside the crescent building. This is an odd pool. The swim-up bar is pretty standard, nice place to hang out, the rest of the pool looks cool but not sure why they made it the way they did. To get to water even up to your torso you have to go all the way into the middle and then once you’re there you’re just…there. There is no edge to lean on, view to really enjoy, or ledge to set a drink down on. Was excited to check this pool out but once we got out there it was like “okay, we did that, let’s go” lol. Nice area around the pool to lounge, as you can bring your chair in at whatever depth you want to be sort of in the water or all the way in; so I suppose that’s more the point, just a lot of wasted space in the middle where they could have put a fountain, jets, or a few islands of some sort to better utilize it. 2) The main party pool. Right in the middle of the resort, great views of the resort and the ocean. Lively music but not obnoxiously so, several different levels of the pool, and plenty of seating in and around it. 3) Main Serenity Pool, nice pool in the Serenity-only area. Swim-up bar on one end, lounge areas on both sides, and a nice infinity view on the other end. There are nice beach areas beyond the end of this pool, but no one was using them that I noticed. 4) The “Side” Serenity Pool, this one is around the side of the building that the main Serenity pool is attached to. Smallest of the 4 pools, but also the most quiet. If you’re really looking to take a nap on a lounge chair or on a floaty, this is the spot. There are a few benches built into this pool too around the sides. This one is really aimed at quiet relaxation. Not much to do here, but I think that’s the point. Servers will still come around and ask if you need anything, you can order food or drinks that they’ll bring around from the bar.

Food – Read a lot of mixed reviews on the food, so wasn’t sure what to expect but everything we ate was delicious. We’re not super picky, so we have reasonable expectations for an all inclusive resort. Everything we ate was flavorful, well presented, and well-portioned. The buffet had a good amount of variety during breakfast and lunch; and we had no issues getting reservations same-day for any of the restaurants (all we had to do was text Charly where and when we wanted to go, and he handled it). The buffet was closed for dinner due to the slower season, but as we had done research we knew that ahead of time (ahem again to those that complained about this in reviews – do your research!). We had room service twice, once for lunch and once for dinner and both times it came within 30-40 minutes and while not as nice as the restaurant food, was perfectly fine for room service. Highly recommend going to the dinner/dance show at Tahini, complimentary for Serenity rooms, upcharge for non. Worth it even if you have to pay for it. The dance show was way cooler than expected, they really work hard on it. The food was a step above the rest of the restaurants, the Salmon there was one of the best dishes I’ve had in years, on or off a resort.

Spa – Great spa experience. We did the water circuit which was pretty cool, several different jets/stations which were fun. Was a great way to get prepped for the massage. We had a couples massage and mini facial, both of which were well done and comfortable. Everything in the spa was clean, smelled great, and was very relaxing.

Sargassum/Seaweed/Beach – Yes, the sargassum kinda smells bad, but honestly it smells like an ocean, just a little more than usual. Reviews that say it makes the area unbearable or that it’s vile/disgusting/etc are either being dramatic or just don’t know what an ocean ecosystem smells like. We were right along the water during the stay and while you can smell it, it’s not that bad. We never once felt like we could not be outside during the stay due to the smell. The water is murky and uninviting, only saw a few people venture into the water and it didn’t look like much fun, lol. We actually did research before we went so none of this surprised us, so no points away from the resort here, they can’t stop it. If you want a beach with little to no seaweed you should be looking elsewhere and/or at a different time of the year anyways. The variety of pools more than made up for this, just don’t go expecting a beach experience and you’ll have a blast.

Check-out – Easy breezy, just texted Charly what time we wanted our bags picked up, and it happened right on time. Headed over to the Serenity Lounge and were checked out in less than 5 minutes. They reviewed the final bill, asked if there was anything else they could get for us, and invited us to wait for our transfer in the lounge.

Serenity Club worth it? I’d say yes. It wasn’t all that much more for the room, and you get quite a bit for it. Premium liquor in your room and access to premium liquor at the Serenity Bars. A few room service dishes unique to Serenity rooms. The Serenity-only Tahini restaurant is the only a la carte breakfast option on-site, kind of nice to sit and order instead of going to the buffet. The two Serenity pools were a nice change of pace from the bigger pools, and I imagine during the busier season this would be worth even more as chairs would be harder to get at the two bigger pools. The Serenity Lounge in the main building was great, always had snacks and drinks available and it seems they installed the best A/C system in the whole resort there, lol. It was a nice central spot to cool off during the day. The Butler perk was great too, made it super easy to get things done with just a quick text (again, thank you Charly!). If you want any sort of oceanfront room, you’d have to get a Serenity Club room, so if that’s important to you that’s the only way to go.

All in all we had a great trip. No resort is perfect so I try to look at each one objectively and overall, rather than nitpick over things that are small, inconsequential, or out of the resorts hands. The few hiccups that occurred were quickly remedied. I judge places more on how they handled things when they go wrong than if things go wrong. Anyone that goes to a resort expecting 100% perfection should not be allowed to go to a resort, lol. Everyone here was super friendly, seemed happy to be there, and was very helpful.

Special shout-outs to: Charly of course, our Butler Diego at the Italian restaurant Arturo at Tahini (he showed us all the pastries that had no calories! Lol) Alma at the bars Mary our housekeeper was so sweet

I upgraded to the Serenity Club swim out ocean front room, and loved every bit of my stay... I highly recommend.. It was worth it.