SE Spa is the spa located inside Grand Velas Riviera Maya, a luxury all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen. This spa was awarded five stars by Forbes Travel Guide in 2024: https://www.forbestravelguide.com/spas/riviera-maya-mexico/se-spa-at-grand-velas-riviera-maya
In terms of the spa facilities and overall resort property, I agree, it's five stars. You should expect a five-star experience. With that in mind, I'm giving this spa four Yelp stars for the following reasons:
1. Both my wife and I felt that the service was rigid and robotic, like we were numbers being churned through a system. That's the opposite of what you'd expect at a spa, where customers are supposed to be pampered. Also, the service was atypical to what we experienced at Grand Velas outside of the spa. Hence why we were especially taken aback.
For context, we both did the Water Ceremony (hydrotherapy). The Water Ceremony is done on separate sides of the spa. There's one side for each sex. More on the Water Ceremony below.
2. On my side of the spa (men's side), several of the "Sensation Pool" water jets / fixtures weren't working. They included all of the jets on the three lay-flat "Water Bubble Beds," at least one of the "Cervical Neck Jets" on the wall, and one of the smooth flat-stream "Waterfall" or "Cascade" jets by the loungers.
3. One of the sinks in the men's restroom, by the men's locker room, wasn't working. At a spa of this caliber, you expect everything to be working. I let one of the staff know.
4. The staff member who escorted me to and from the men's locker room wasn't the friendliest or most welcoming. He just didn't have a great attitude. Also, something I found odd was he suggested I not use the robe in my locker.
All that said, overall, we still had a good experience and enjoyed our time here. The above are somewhat nitpicky gripes.
SE Spa's Water Ceremony was part of a Grand Velas Riviera Maya package that we purchased from Costco Travel. The Water Ceremony is included with massages, facials, and any treatments of 50 minutes or more. Separately, it costs $80 (USD) per person per day. It's designed to last about an hour, but I believe you're free to use the pool, loungers, and hydrotherapy facilities as much as you want, in addition to enjoying the self-serve refreshments.
Depending on where you look, SE Spa advertises the Water Ceremony as consisting of seven or eight "unique water experiences." Here's the order I went I was directed to go in, which is different than what was listed on SE Spa's menu:
** Rooms **
1. Sauna - standard, dry, hot, lay-down sauna. I was given cucumbers to put over my eyes and a cold towel after.
2. Ice Room - has seating and bottles of aloe gel in a big bowl of replenishing ice. I rubbed the gel on my body, arms, and legs. It felt good.
3. Color Therapy Steam Room - fairly large room with seating on the perimeter. I was given a cold cucumber, mint, and ginger water to drink while relaxing in this room. The steam coming out from beneath the seating was very hot.
4. Sensation Shower - timed shower with water sprayed at you from various directions, above and sides. The streams of water are programmed and coordinated.
5. Scrub Room - I was given an orange body scrub to use in this room, which consisted of seating with individual hand showers. This is a steam room as well, with steam coming out from vents beneath the seats.
** Sensation Pool Area**
6. Sensory Pebble Walkway - I was told to walk three loops through this. It's long, bubbling pools of water with two sides, one hot and one cold. Hydrotherapy for your feet and ankles.
7. Sensation Pool - wade around the warm water pool and enjoy the Waterfalls/Cascades, Cervical Neck Jets, Bubble Volcano or Bubble Geyser (intended for lower body), and Water Bubble Beds (as mentioned above, these weren't working during my visit).
8. Hot Tub and Cold Plunge. I was told the temperature of the cold plunge was 17 degrees Celsius or 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
Appointments are required. I could tell there were appointments of men booked before and after me. Our appointment times were comfortably spaced apart so that each of us enjoyed each step of the Water Ceremony individually. That said, the rooms are designed to handle multiple people at a time.
My Water Ceremony attendant was Adrian. He was terrific. I know he was following a script and knew just enough English to communicate the steps of the Water Ceremony. After my wife and I reconvened, we agreed that our experiences were very similar, service-wise, in that we weren't given much direction about what to expect of the spa and the Water Ceremony. A brief, big-picture intro would have been very helpful so we could know what to expect and how to maximize our time and enjoyment inside the spa. Instead, we were simply led from room to room and given rough time estimates of when our attendants would come grab us for the next step. I think there's definitely room for improvement there. read more