My partner and I decided to visit the new Rosewood Mayakoba in early March for my (ug, 40th) birthday. We did not use the airport transportation offered by the resort as we were coming from another hotel in Cancun, so just hopped in a cab. The resort is in the Mayakoba complex, which is about 45 minutes south of Cancun and currently contains the Fairmont, Rosewood and (the not yet completed) Viceroy. I think there is also supposed to be a Banyan Tree going up in the complex. Although the Mandarin is right next door, it is not in the same complex. When we arrived, the front desk staff seemed a little surprised to see us and there was a little confusion concerning getting us a buggy (or a boat) to our room, but it was quickly remedied. I was a little disappointed that I was not greeted with the expected cool towels and drink, but this is a minor point. We did arrive at 1pm and were told that the room was ready. I was happy to find out upon arrival in the room that the luggage was already there.

Room

We were in a Deluxe Lagoon View Suite, which is one step up from the base room. It was a well designed, very large (1000+ sqft) and classically elegant space with separate living, dining and sleeping areas (the bedroom and living room each had a 32� plasma TV), two full indoor bathrooms, and a private courtyard with an outdoor shower. The main bathroom is really well done, with a large circular tub located directly below a skylight and an open rain shower with glass doors that lead out to the courtyard. The whole back wall of the bathroom was glass and faced the courtyard. There is also a rooftop deck with a huge daybed and a large outdoor wooden deck in back with two chaises longues, a dining table and chairs and a smallish (but very nice) plunge pool. This room type backs up to the lagoon and has no ocean view at all. From the back deck, I could see several neighboring rooms because the plants had not grown in yet. Until this happens (probably six months to a year), privacy might be an issue with some of these rooms; however, it was not an issue for us as all of the rooms that we could see were vacant. At the front of the deck and down some stairs is a pier. The room can either be reached via land or the lagoon. The design of the room is very thoughtful and they have used limestone and wood liberally throughout. The room had complimentary (but slow) wifi, fresh fruit was replaced daily and there was always ample complimentary bottled water. We had a chance to view some of the other room types and the Beach Side Ocean View suites were really extraordinary with slightly larger plunge pools on the roof with ocean views. The Spa Suites were also really incredible with 2+ storey windows, views of the lagoon, a lofted bedroom, a separate spa treatment room and a plunge pool on the deck. The Spa Suites were very private and since they can only be booked by those without children, would be a great romantic escape.

Service

For the most part, service was excellent, if a little hesitant, with a few minor snafus. On our first night, we returned to the suite to find that housekeeping had left the room half serviced, and after a call to housekeeping it took them a while to get back and finish. All of the employees were friendly and genuinely warm, but you could tell that some were still learning. Each room has a shared butler, a concept I have never been very fond of. Our butler was a nice guy, but we really only saw or interacted with him when we arrived and when we left. But to be honest, we never really went out of our way to use his services either.

Dining

There are two restaurants and a tequila / ceviche bar which has a large enough menu that you could eat dinner there. The main restaurant is very well designed, with both outdoor and indoor spaces and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast, one can order the cold buffet, which includes one hot dish made to order. Both the buffet and the hot items ordered from the menu were very good. For dinner, this place served what they referred to �European Cuisine�, but we did not eat dinner there. The beachfront restaurant served lunch and dinner, the dinner consisting of a combined tapas/grill menu. The food here was excellent and we ate here twice. Again, a very will designed space, with an indoor, outdoor (beachfront) and interior garden space for dining.

Amenities

There are three pools, beachfront, main and spa. The main pool is very angular and architecturally interesting, has a view of the lagoon and is quiet and (while we were there) almost deserted. This is where we spent most of our pool time. The beach pool was busier, right on the beach and, in contrast to the main pool, freeform (and this is obviously the �scene� pool). Service at both pools was excellent, but you could tell that they were focusing more on the beach pool (which I understand, since it was much livelier). My one concern is that even while we were there and the resort was <50% full, the beach pool was already crowded. I could see this becoming irritatingly packed when the resort is closer to fully occupied (and the pool is not that big). The gym was small, but well chilled and contained top of the line Techno Gym equipment (cardio, weight machines and some free weights). The spa was excellent, with an outdoor relaxation area and separate men�s and women�s indoor relaxation areas in the respective lounges. Each lounge had a hot and cold plunge pool (both quite large), steam, sauna and some kind of huge rain/steam shower. My deep tissue massage was quite good. There is a �game room� that contains a large screen TV, pool table and other assorted rainy day items and also a library with a (small) collection of books and DVDs, and computers with internet access.

Overall

All in all, I loved the place and we had a wonderful, if brief, three day stay. Given that we were there at the beginning of March and the resort had been only open a short time, it was amazingly well run already, and I believe it will only get better. I have never considered Cancun (or the Riviera Maya) a place to visit if one is looking for true luxury, but with the opening of the Rosewood I believe this is beginning to change. I will definitely return to the resort. I would suggest booking via Virtuoso (DavidO helped me with the reservation) to get the breakfast and $100 spa credit amenities.