My husband and I went to Secrets Capri from Sept 30-Oct 8 to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We were at Secrets Excellence last November, shortly after it opened, so I will also post some comparisons. Any specific questions, feel free to email me at brendak61@aol.com

Flight--American Airlines direct from Chicago. Any flight that ends with the wheels on the ground and the plane facing forward is good with me. On the way back the video was broken, so no movie. No food served, box snacks available for purchase.

Transfer--Can't stress enough how great the information on this forum is about avoiding the timeshare sharks. They really do appear to be the "official" transportation and it's easy to see how people get caught by them. Avoid talking to ANYONE until you are outside the terminal!

Check-in--We were the only couple on the bus going to Capri. Met by the doorman/bellboy and escorted to individual desks for check-in. Champagne and cool towel are nice touches. I had booked a "tropical" view room and was hoping to get some sort of upgrade for our anniversary. I asked to see on the map where our room was located. It was on the outside of the "U" and I really wanted something on the inside. I love a good pool view! We were offered an upgrade for $60 per night. We chose to take it and were given room 533--directly above the lobby area, middle of the "U", awesome view of pool/ocean. This turned out to be an excellent decision since the weather was horrible the first 5 days and we spent a lot of time in the room. It would have driven me crazy to look out at mangroves all the time and not be able to see what was going on in the pool area.

Room--The rooms are very nice, ours was a regular oceanview, the deluxe have about 5 more feet and a bigger balcony. Rooms at SERC are all the deluxe size and therefore have an extra sitting area. Would have been nice to have more space with the weather we had. Room service set-up is tight. The bathroom is plenty big and well appointed. Showers at SERC are much bigger, but also darker and more closet like. Tub at Capri is smaller, barely fits one, while the one at SERC is definately 2 person and more of a focal point of the room. We have a 2 person jacuzzi tub at home that we rarely use so that wasn't important to me. I'd have to give the room edge to SERC, although our view at Capri was WAY better.

Restaurants--This is definately where Secrets excels! All the food is wonderful and the presentation is unbelievable. The no-reservations policy is great as we never really knew where we wanted to eat until dinner time. Be sure to try the sushi at Himitsu--they have a few stools right at the sushi bar and the chef is awesome. They have a habenero sauce for the spicy tuna that will make your lips blister!! Capri was okay, great tirimisu, portions are smallest here. Oceana and Seaside were good, great view but if you sit outside there is limited breeze and inside there is no a/c so it can get warm here. If you experience weather like we did it is difficult to get to/from these restaurants as there is no covered area and you will get wet!! Riviera is buffet for breakfast and lunch and changes specialities for dinner. It was a nice touch--the Brazilian Rodizio dinner on Wednesday night is great and very authentic. The candlelight/romantic dinner is on Friday nights and has a set menu. The other nights were supposed to be different themes by the pool but they were rained out and all were held in Riviera. We didn't attend any, learned from our stay at SERC that the a la carte restaurants are WAY better. I think the food was actually better at Capri than SERC, but it's great at both places. We did room service a few times, once for dinner (great flank steak with tortillas and guacamole
), twice for breakfast (once it never came, once it came quickly but was wrong) and a few times for snacks. They will set it up on the balcony or in the room. It was never dry enough for us to eat outside. Even when it wasn't raining the thick cushions on the outdoor chairs never dried. (Hint: take these in at night if rain is forecasted or you will not be able to sit on them!)

Activities--this wouldn't be a far comparison. All of the outdoor activites at Capri weren't able to be held due to the rain. (When your rain has a name, it's bad...ours was named Stan.) The staff tried very hard to entertain inside...pool tournaments, remote control cars, mini-golf, cards, bingo, etc. We even stooped so low as to play Jenga. Please don't tell anyone we did that. One thing, the games area at Capri is inside and dry (well, except for the leaks in the ceiling and the rain coming in under the doors). The games area at SERC is outside and just covered so it would have been diffficult to do any activities there in this situation. The theater at Capri is inside off the lobby and is dark and smelly. We were in there a lot, shows, watching the Packers choke, etc. They do set up a bar and have cocktail service. The theater at SERC is MUCH nicer and open air. Under regular circumstances I would definately say the entertainment areas at SERC are much better. As far as the shows go, they were fine...comedian, dancing, Bob Fosse show, Elvis, etc. They didn't have any of the "cheesy" entertainment that they had at SERC, "couples" contests, etc.

Bars--The lobby area at Capri is a nice place to mingle, especially when you are trapped inside. Be aware that after 6 p.m. they frown on shorts/swimsuit attire. Tea cart from 4-6 has good finger foods! At SERC no one seemed to use the upstairs large lobby area and the bar had very limited seating. There is a beach bar around the back side of Oceana/Seaside. It's easy to miss. The main pool bar has a dry side and a wet side. They were both wet this week, but we still managed to have a great time there. Juan is the best! Had to laugh at the people in the pool with floats over their heads to keep from getting wet in the rain!

Pool--Capri has one large pool with a quiet side and a wild side. It is plenty big and nice to float around in. Lots of area around with chairs. SERC has more pool areas but they are spread around and there is narrow areas for chairs. If you are looking for privacy you will like SERC better, if you like to socialize you will like Capri better. We actually preferred the pool area at Capri--seemed more user friendly to us. The chairs at Capri are teak and they have padded cushions. The only problem was that they don't put the cushions out when it's wet, so we spent a lot of time sitting on hard, uncomfortable loungers. It was a BANNER day on Thursday when we looked out at 8 a.m. and saw all the cushions out and towels placed on each chair!! SERC has chairs that don't require separate cushions.

Beach--beach area at Capri is wonderful! Sand is white, fine, soft and never gets hot. No seagrass in the water like at SERC. You can walk a long way south of Capri and the water gets clearer, but there is a lot of trash on the beach. Hard to judge to water clarity since it was pretty much brown and churning the whole time. We liked the beach at Capri better. Good beach service also.

Extras--On our anniversary our room was decorated with streamers and balloons. We also had a cake, wine and chocolate covered strawberries. My husband arranged the strawberrries and there is an extra charge for that. Room was always well cleaned. Just a note for those of you that ask about gifts for the maids...all of our "maids" were male. Keep that in mind when you want to leave bottles of nail polish. Cash seemed to be fine!

Spa--We utilized this several times. (Did I mention the rain?) Treatments were nice, but the spa set-up and ambiance at SERC was definately much better.

This is getting out of control so I will stop. We will definately return to Secrets in the future. As far as which one...I can honestly say that I would pick based on which was a better bargain. If they were exactly the same price, I would pick Capri. (That's quite a compliment since we shared our trip there with Stan!) We just liked the closeness there and the pool area. We met some GREAT people to ride out the storm with, thanks to Rhonda and Mike, John and Hillary, and Dena and Larry.

Hola Brenda

We were also hanging with "Stan" but at SERC. We arrived on Thursday the 29th to wonderful hot sunny weather. Got up to a warm sunny Friday morning and went to Playa to get all of the shopping out of the way so we could sun and fun the rest of the week. Friday night went to dinner and bed and awoke in the night to STAN!!!! He stayed nonstop until Tuesday (where we got a slight break with some sunny weather until later in the day) and then he came back full force. We left on Wednesday and we were ready!

Loved your comparison of both. I had planned to do a comparison also but I haven't yet so I will jump on yours if you don't mind.

I pretty much agree with everything you said.

We also like the fact that Capri is much closer to Playa as we love to go in and out of there day and night - a $10 cab ride vs a $25!

We too like the Beach and pool better at Capri. We found the beach at SERC terrible and would not even bother to go in the ocean. We also like the smaller more intimate pool at Capri. SERC's pool (although we too didn't get much use) was very narrow and not great for meeting people. I also thought all the outside bars were too segrated from the pools - I like the Capri pool bar - one side in the water and one side out.

Like you, we really can't truly compare a lot because of the TERRIBLE weather - you can't really get a feel for a place when you are stuck in your room or inside. I won't tell anyone you played Jenga if you don't tell anyone we watched Judge Judy!!

With the rain, the theater at SERC had to have all the "shades" pulled down to keep from flooding - it was very humid, damp and dark in there too. At least they have a nice big bar with fresh popcorn!
I also preferred the pool tables being inside at Capri - at Serc they had "shades" pulled down to help keep the rain out though.

You are right about getting soaked at Capri to get to some restuarants - at least at SERC there is a covered walkway although for the people in a lot of buildings they would get soaked trying to get to the walkway!! I thought the restaurants were nicer at SERC and found the ones downstairs at Capri a little too small and dark. Also liked the Mexican at SERC - don't remember Capri having Mexican???

We were also rained out of any of the nighttime/outside activities.

My husband and I have decided that this trip really didn't count and want to plan another one in April. we are leaning towards Capri but if SERC has a better price we may sway. I think you should join us!!!!

Kathy

Since both of you have been to both - which would you reccomend for honeymooners? We are looking to book the honeymoon as a surprise for my sister. From what I've read sounds like Excellence might be the way to go - they would like the 2 person jacuzzi - they are young (25) - they like to dance at night - but my guess is they will keep to themselves most of the trip (they're so wrapped up in each other now it almost makes you nauseous ) - what do you think?

Hi Sorry,

I haven't checked this site and just saw your post. I think you can't go wrong with either of the Secrets properties. I do prefer Capri as it is smaller and more intimate. You are right, the hot tub at Capri only holds one (which we never used). We did use the on at Excellence which does hold two but honestly if the weather were better I doubt we would have bothered. Also at Capri there is a hot tub outside near the pool that you can see and hear the ocean from - we saw many couples taking bottles of champage out there at night and using it - very romantic especially when you are the only ones in it.

The beach at Capri is also much nicer -

Both resorts were loaded with honeymooners and those celebrating anniversarys - no kids or singles. I also lean towards preferring Capri as I like the smaller resort and we enjoy going to Playa to shop in the day and always spend a few evenings there as there are great places to party and people watch. If you have any specific questions let me know.

Thanks!!! I sent my sister the website and they decided to go to Excellence. If they like it I think we will try Capri in 2008 - I would love to go diving in Cozumel (I know its a bit of a trip from the Mayan Riviera) but hadn't liked the previous mexican resorts we had been to. Secrets sounds just wonderful!!!

Cozumel isnt really that far from SERC. We went snorkling thre and it was pretty cool...

We just got back from Secrets Capri last week. I'm not going to go into great details since Brenda and Kathy have covered everything in their reviews.

We booked way back in August so you can imagine how anxious to go we were when January finally came around. We have heard and read so many great things about SC that our expectations were sky high........and they were all met or exceeded. We had a blast!!! What a great resort, rooms, restaurants, staff, beach and pool. Paradise on Earth in our opinion.

Watching the Rose Bowl on a giant screen on the beach while lying down on a lounging chair beside a fast food buffet and a bar with the sound of waves in the background was an experience I'll never forget.