Ventus at Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

4964 reviews

• 

  They’ve made a POOR first impression

  So far, I’m unimpressed. Sure, the pools are pretty and everything is clean and decently appointed, but there is surely nothing here to make me want to invest $150,000 in their vacation club!!! They brag about butlers and a personal concierge, blah, blah, blah, but I’d rather have enough storage space in my room to put my clothes away!!!!!! As it is, my clothes are in the closet in the bedroom, but I had to put my husband’s clothes in the closet in the living room!!!! They are both small and the closet in our room is made smaller by the iron hanging on one wall and the ironing board hanging on the other. Moreover, there are only three small drawers in our room, all of which went for my husband’s folded clothing, like underwear and socks and swim wear! My folded clothes had to go on a shelf (which I hope was properly dusted beforehand) in the closet that holds the safe and mini fridge. Second, despite being on the “premium” plan, they still want a whopping $60 per day PER DEVICE for WiFi!!!! Are you kidding me?!! My husband works remotely and has to work while we’re here. This cost is ridiculous!!! Your all inclusive plan includes everything except WiFi??? We can use a kayak but not the internet?!! That alone is enough to send us back to Vidanta-where there is also plenty of closet and drawer space! Third, don’t look at the resort’s pics of the beach. There’s no beach! Just the wall of the infinity pool where the surf crashes against it and a bunch of barricades out in the water to cut back on erosion. These barricades are pictured on google earth and have been there for at least two years!!!! Nevertheless, the images on the website show an expanse of impeded blue that runs freely on a sparkling white beach. Can you spell false advertising? I can. And…let me know ignore the incredible lack of outlets in the living area of the room. We had move the dining table up against the kitchen bar so that my husband could plug in his computer on the bar wall. It was that or the bathroom!!!! Because that tiny little table in our bedroom is certainly insufficient for use as a desk! How hard would it have been to put some outlets in the living room? Finally, so far…( these are my INITIAL impressions), this place needs some insulation between the walls!!!! If you’ve ever stayed at El Cid in Mazatlan, these rooms are pretty much the same footprint and every bit as loud!!! Boy I pity the people on the lower floors!!! Our first night here, there was a fight in the corridor either on our floor or one floor above, and because of the incredible echo, it sounded like it was in our living room! Then, this, our first morning here, we were awakened by a herd of bipeds running back and forth on our ceiling! All this to say, they have NOT made a good impression!!!! We got a good deal and will certainly remain for the duration of our stay, but I’ve not seen anything yet that would entice me to return on another visit. I will go back to Vidanta.

  Oct 11, 2026
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  Beyond an awesome resort. Number 1 in our book

  This is a lovely timeshare. We come with friends and family. Wonderful employees. Clean. 9 restaurants. Good food. If you are lucky enough to get Luis as a butler you will be well cared for.

  Sep 26, 2026
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  Great weather and beautiful views, but some amenities are lacking

  This was our 7th trip to Ventus. First trip was 2016. Positives: our room was nicely appointed and the views were incredible (their online photos are spot on). Weather was almost perfect for the week. Grounds were well-maintained, and the staff did a pretty good job keeping the smelly sargassum cleaned up on the beach. Wait staff were very friendly and accommodating. Breakfast buffet was really good. Lunch buffet was pretty good (especially the crepe station). Just a 25-minute trip from Cancun airport. Overall, relaxing and quiet. Negatives: pre-2020, all restaurants were open. Since 2020, only certain restaurants are open. It is increasingly difficult to get reservations. Most of the food (restaurant or buffet) isn't warm/hot. We found it difficult to find decent food for dinner. Biggest three complaints: (1) none of the hot tubs were heated. No signs. No explanation as to why. Just cold, jetted water (colder than the pool). We reported it several times, but nothing happened. (2) Staff/security needs to do a better job handling rowdy/drunk guests. We had a man in our pool that was visibly drunk (saw him later where he fell trying to navigate to his room) - but the staff didn't help manage it. (3) Guests brought their own boom-box to the adjacent pool. Their music was so loud we couldn't hear the music at our pool from the overhead facility speakers. And finally, the resort needs to spend some time on maintenance - the adult only pool has quite a few tiles missing, some of the stucco needs repaired... just wear and tear over the years.

  Sep 24, 2026
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  Amazing week

  My family and I returned to Ventus once again for another amazing week. There were 21 of us this time, and we enjoyed all the great restaurants, pools and of course accommodations. The grandkids loved the rock jump and the many species of wildlife throughout the resort. It’s always heartbreaking to leave, but knowing we will return again takes a bit of the pain away.

  Sep 01, 2026
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  Couples trip

  We had such a great time at Ventus at Marina El Cid! One of our favourite things about staying here was having access to all three resorts. It gave us so many options for pools, restaurants, bars, and just different areas to explore throughout our stay. We especially LOVED the Wave Bar and Marcos! We visited him almost every day we were there. He was amazing, so friendly, and definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Before coming, we saw quite a few reviews saying the food was bad, but honestly, we completely disagree. We really enjoyed the food and drinks and were more than content with the options available. Of course some flavours and dishes may be different from what you're used to—you’re in a different country, but we had no complaints and always found something we liked. The only real downside was the seaweed and the smell near the beach, but obviously that is completely out of the resort’s control. There were so many pools between the three resorts that we honestly didn’t feel like we were missing out too much because of the beach conditions. The one area I really think could be improved is the entertainment. I wish there was more going on throughout the day, especially around the pools. But the ABSOLUTE shocker for us was finding out there was basically no nighttime entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights?! Those are the nights you would expect the resort to be the most lively. The resort club was completely dead, and a lot of guests were clearly disappointed. We actually saw visitors getting upset with the staff about it, which was unfortunate because it obviously wasn’t the staff’s fault. The employees were doing their jobs. the entertainment schedule is something management should really reconsider. Overall, though, we had an amazing vacation and would definitely recommend Ventus at Marina El Cid. Between the three resorts, great pools, good food and drinks, and wonderful staff like Marcos at the Wave Bar, we had a really enjoyable stay. More daytime and weekend nighttime entertainment would honestly take this resort to another level!

  Sep 01, 2026