It looks like my fiancee and I are booking a trip to Riviera Maya in Mexico for our honeymoon this summer. We’ll be staying at a resort called Adventura Palace. Has anyone ever been there? I’m psyched about seeing the Mayan ruins, but what else is there to do? I’m all about relaxing on the beach, but I’d like other activities to participate in. Is there a night life? Do they offer scuba diving (I’m not trained)? Just wanted to get some opinions.
Thanks.
At yer service!
I spend 2.5 weeks on the Yucatan peninsula last year with my girlfriend. Although we didn’t exactly restrict ourself to beach resorts, we did see the entire Rivièra Maya, albeit mostly from the comfort of our cocho. 
Before I went, I posted a thread asking for some advice on the area. As always, the Dopers chimed in with lots of info!
It’s beautiful there. The Adventura Palace seems to be located on Cozumel. That is of course an island, so you’ll be isolated from the mainland somewhat. I haven’t been there, but I hear it’s REALLY touristy. The Yucatan east coast (say, from Cancun to Chetumal) has some Maya ruins, but certainly not the best ones. Chichen Itza is the most famous site, at about a 2 hour drive from Cancun. Tulum’s ruins are nearby for you, but the most special thing about them is their oceanside location: in terms of the ruins themselves, it’s not extraordinary. The most gorgeous ruins I saw were in Uxmal, about 3.5 hours from Cancun. There’s plenty more to see, but not stuff you can reach by car for a single day trip from the Riviera Maya.
Diving schools aplenty! I wholeheartedly recommend the little beach resort of Paamul, where a couple of retired Texan marines own a diving school (check out the ScubaMex website!). They do one-on-one dives for novices, taking you as deep as 52 feet!
We basically toured from Cancun, counterclockwise via Valladolid, Merida, San Cristobal de las Casas, Tuxtla Guttierez, Chetumal, Playa del Carmen, and back to Cancun. I’m missing a lot of cities along the way, but my connection is dodgy and I can’t seem to load a decent map to help me with the city names. I’ll check in later.
Whatever you do: it’s a beautiful area.
Been there twice now, most recently was one month ago. It really is very beautiful and there’s quite a bit to do… I suggest snokeling. I recall that most of the resorts offer packages for outings and there are several to choose from. I enjoyed the Tulum ruins but would rather have visited Chichen Itza. Some suggestions; find out when spring break is going on, and don’t plan your vacation during that time-too many drunken college kids with bad attitudes. It is quite warm, you may want to pack for 80-90 degree F. The Palace resorts are better than average and IMHO their all-inclusive package may save you some money.
Shopping could be much better-things are pretty commercial (i.e., overpriced) there compared to less ‘touristy’ areas of Mexico. I found that the beaches vary, some are really nice and others are not nice at all. The food is usually very good. Try not to get roped into any of the time-share promos… you’ll end up spending the better part of a day dealing with hard-sell.
Lots to do at night! You won’t have any trouble finding something to suit your fancy.
One last thing. I found that a week there goes much too fast and even faster if I try to do too much. Have a great time!