Blue Diamond Luxury Boutique Hotel: Not a 5 star

While the grounds, the staff and the food is good, I would not rate the Blue Diamond resort a five star, nor would I call it a Hidden Gem. There are serious maintenance issues here that need addressing before it could be restored to its former glory. Number one; the room air conditioning did not work for our entire trip. We called the concierge 4 times, and they sent maintenance people each time, pretending to fix it but the room was always sweltering! This was not unusual as we spoke to othe [... read more]r guests who also had various mechanical issues in their rooms too. Some had no air conditioning, some had no hot water. We also had a major leak in our bathroom sink which made the bathrooom floor very slippery and dangerous. That did not get resolved. Our patio room was very spacious and had loungers and a plunge pool, however you had to call to get the plunge pool filled with freezing cold water, only to have it drain out. This was because all that was holding in the water was a rag. The decking at the pool area and steps to the beach is full of decayed boards and rusty nails sticking up. While the food is good and the servers are good, neither restaurant is air conditioned. We were not happy to be charged $20USD for room service delivery after arriving 9 hours late thanks to Sunwing. There was also a “special menu” for each dinner. The prices were outrageous, but what “all inclusive” charges for steaks, seafood and wine?? All inclusive should be all inclusive. This resort is not. The beach was lovely and the staff worked tirelessly to clean up the seaweed, but there were only 9 beach umbrellas for the entire beach. Not nearly enough and no additional shade was to be found. The resort is nestled in nature and the grounds are well kept but don’t book this resort if you have mobility issues with very long walks or stairs. It’s probably over 1km from one end to the other on a rough cobblestone path. Golf carts are available but the wait can be long and tips are expected. Some tips are deserved by hard working friendly staff but some tips are expected for services that should be included. We enjoyed our visit but we would not return nor recommend. Would not recommend Sunwing at all.

Secrets Huatulco: Tired Resort

This resort is advertised as 5 star, unfortunately, it doesn't live up to that billing. The weather is Huatulco was great, 90 deg F every day. Therefore the pool and ocean are necessities. There was a black flag every day at the beach, apparently due to crocodiles being in the area, thus making the ocean a "swim at your own risk" deal. The beach sand is very coarse, making footwear necessary. That left the pool. Which I would describe as an embarrasment to the Secrets brand. There w [... read more]ere many tiles missing in the pool, that in itself, not really a big deal, there was mould every where around the pool. This is unacceptable. Tiles are a major fix, but mould is just lack of maimtenance. The Buffet was small, and had more of a caffeteria atmosphere than a resort Buffet. The food was adequate to get you to the next meal. Castaways was good for breakfast, however I went for supper one night, ordered the rib eye steak,medium rare, very hard to cut, even harder to eat. Not good enough. The ambience was good , as were the staff. The French, and Italian restaurant food was passable, however, unlike other Secrets Resorts that I have been to, no atmosphere/ decor , bright lights and again like caffeteria style. Unfortunate. The style and location of the resort is good. It is rumored to be getting renovated this spring ( 2025) that, and a management review would be welcomed. In closing, the weather made the trip for me. The small issues that kept showing up means that I would rate this resort no better than a 4 star. A fellow traveller rated it a 3 star. After renovations, this will be back to a 5 star in my opinion.

Barcelo Maya Colonial: Feb 2025 Wonderful!

Great location, excellent food, superb service, beautiful pools, nice beach… really nice! Ocean was warm and perfect temperature for swimming and snorkeling. Easy to get to Tulum and to Playa del Carmen.

Marival Emotions Resort and Suites Riviera Nayarit: Great place for families with little kids

Marival Emotions was ideal for families with young children. The food was plentiful and high quality with a lot of options. Very kid friendly! The ease of getting to the pools and beach was a highlight, the proximity to our room made outings stress free. Everything felt down to earth and we appreciated the easy breezy vibe. The service was excellent and the staff was friendly. The entertainment was plentiful and it was great to include our children in every aspect. The restaurant reservation sys [... read more]tem was a nightmare, the only way to get one was to wait in line for hours. Definitely an outdated system that we decided to avoid. Luckily we were very happy with the buffet options. Lots of variety and great quality!

Blue Bay Grand Esmeralda: Memorable family vacation

Fun family vacation with grandbabies (3 and 7 months). Surf was rough this week so we did not swim in the ocean but did play in the sand. The pools were great for the littles. We attended the kids club with older child, there were sufficient staff to children ratio. We did not leave our child there, but she enjoyed the other kids and facilities. The dining rooms offered good variety of quality foods, staff very attentive and friendly. We travelled with a vegan and gluten free and she always ate  [... read more]well (including specialty Mexican restaurant). We only attended one show this week due to littles, it was quite good. Our room was made up every day and fridge well stocked with beverages. We arrived late Tuesday, we had a beautiful welcome tray of fruits and a bottle of wine. On the downside adult male in our party and the toddler both got sick final day, best guess is Norovirus (vomiting and diarrhea). My recommendation to this is to go back to hand sani at entrances to dining areas (reduces but does not eliminate the viral load). I travel well stocked with gravol, immodium and gatorade powder, so mitigated gastro disaster

Barcelo Maya Palace: MUST Stay at Riviera Maya Adults Barcelo

I am happy to say Our experience over 20 years staying at the Barcelo Resorts in the Mayan ?? has always been fantastic because of the food, service, and ambience of expansive beachfront property It has a Chain of 6 in total. It’s established and operates efficiently, well maintained. Our recent trip this Feb.2025 is by far the most exquisite as we upgraded to the Riviera Maya Adults, their newest waterfront hotel built approximately 5 yrs ago, which we were curious to see. This hotel is absolut [... read more]ely stunning architecturally, and visually breathtaking by design. Its functional layout is seamless from the doorstep of your amazing rooms -we had the garden view facing the back, which was very quiet and private with a Jacuzzi which all rooms have on a huge deck. The massive infinity pools are so impressive, like I’ve never seen before. The Hydro spas available in the outdoor pools are more than enough plenty of space and loungers. The service is impeccable very professional, especially in the buffet. The food is absolutely divine, fresh fruit daily Mangos, Papayas, Chinese Pomegranate! Rabbit, Turkey, Lamb , Beef tenderloin - International cuisine, and gluten free offerings. A high level of quality, very clean and well presented. The a la carte Restaurants provide a variety of choices with authentically tasty dishes served in charming, and modern decor. The Bars are top shelf. The staff are excellent - professional! They go over and above to please you)and speak English even though my Spanish is decent). It is the best place for the value I’ve ever stayed at in Mexico and we will definitely return and, recommend it to my friends and family. (Next time will try to fly out of the new Tulum airport, as it is closer with less traffic) but still worth the drive to this oasis regardless. You don’t have to leave - relaxation is key here. It’s also a fabulous venue for corporate events as it has a huge convention center. There’s also easy access to all the other amenities in the neighboring older Hotels, offering entertainment and shopping, a true atmospheric 5+ Star ⭐️ Thank you

Dreams Bahia Mita Surf and Spa: Wouldn’t stay again

The staff was lovely, the food was great, the actual resort was not for me. The pools were small and random and most on the Dreams side didn’t have a view of the ocean so you could have been anywhere. Our room view was construction-not the resorts fault obviously. Beach was rocky and had great surf- not so great for swimming. Because of the odd design, there was so much walking (14,000 steps per day) to get to the pool, restaurants and our room). Our room had a horrible sewer smell, we complaine [... read more]d multiple times and staff tried to fix it, but they finally changed our room on night 5, which was a lovely room upgrade. I’ve been to much nicer Dreams locations, so I wouldn’t come back here.

Marival Emotions Resort and Suites Riviera Nayarit: Absolutely amazing and well worth the stay

From the location to our room, buffet and accommodations for adults and children, this resort has it all. This resort is well planned and laid out, especially the distance to the ocean or if you prefer just to sit at the pool everything is very accommodating. The performances and talent of the nightly shows in the theatre were the best that we’ve ever seen. My grandkids loved the variety. The only thing that I think we were not very happy with was the arrangements to try to get a dinner at on [... read more]e of the specialty restaurants. I was probably waiting for almost 2 hours in lineup to get into the Italian restaurant… When I finally got up to book it, it was sold out. The resort must have a better plan in place to book these restaurants… Perhaps at check-in time we could book something rather than get up at 6 AM to go wait for the 8 AM opening to reserve these spots. Aside from that this resort is amazing and I would definitely go back… The staff was also very friendly and helpful.

Bahia Principe Escape Sian Ka'an: Best all inclusive I've stayed at

Wow!! This place is awesome. We have zero complaints. If we had a problem it was fixed for us right away. The grounds are beautiful. Pools are a perfect temperature for February. It was hot 30 degrees everyday. The food.. let's just say the buffet is amazing. If you want it they have it. We ate at 4 Al a carte. 2 were on the Sian Kaan resort the others were at the other properties All food was 5 star. Best All inclusive food we have ever had. If you love the cruise food you will love the food [... read more] here. Transportation to the beach and other resorts was on a tram. It was very efficient. All 4 resorts are beautiful. We played golf at the pga riviera maya golf course 3 times. It's expensive but hey you are on vacation so oh well. Great course in great condition. Bring lots of balls it's tough. The course was 2 minutes from our room. We definately will be back. Don't pay attention to any bad reviews. This place is well worth the money.

Plaza Pelicanos Club: Plaza pelicanos club

The staff were wonderful - very helpful and pleasant. The buffet adequate with many choices. The rooms were clean. We requested a room change because of the distance to the lobby and pools. This was facilitated quickly and pleasantly. Unfortunately, our room had a musty smell and we had no hot water to shower with the whole time we were there.

Barcelo Maya Palace: 5 times a charm

This Was our 5th time at this resort . 10 out of 10 on everything . I can’t say 1 bad thing about the place. If you’re looking for perfection this is it!. We enjoy the beach and spent 10 days there, swimming with sea turtles

Secrets Riviera Cancun Resort and Spa: Secrets Huatulco Amazing views

Secrets Huatulco has ocean views from all of the rooms, unique designs, Reservations are not required for the alert restaurants, Food was very good, Drinks were mostly well made and the staff are very friendly.

Dreams Puerto Morelos Resort and Spa: beautiful resort

this location was amazing all the pools were clean and staff was so friendly. the food was generic not as authentic as expecting but still good . the room was cleaned 2 x a day fully stocked bar and very good service.

Grand Riviera Princess: Subpar resort

We found the grounds of the hotel to be very nice. We found the food to be bland and not alot of options to choose from. Cockroaches in our room and we had a Cotè that slept on our balcony each night, thus leaving behind it's fecal matter and urine. My husband and I came home covered in bites from head to toe. We r told this was from the beach, sand flies I guess. We have traveled to many resorts in Mexico and we found this one to be the worst. We have never had bug bites all over our bodies lik [... read more]e this from other resorts. We would not recommend this resort and will not be back.

Krystal Grand Nuevo Vallarta: Very nice resort

I hope next time we come to this resort we don’t have to ask every day for hand towels and wash cloths and I would like to see a sheet on the bottom off the blanket and on top our blanket had stains on it I complained and they fixed the issue but definitely to have sheets top and bottom. Thank you

Paradisus Cancun: Honest review!!!!!!

Feb 10-16 HONEST REVIEW!!!!!! Cannot recommend the PARADISUS CANCUN Reserve section more!!!!! We were so spoiled. We stayed reserve so didn’t have to worry about waking up early to leave towels for a sun chair (except one day we didn’t have the bali bed) The free bali bed perk at the reserve section is amazing, the pool side service is top notch. The resort itself is beautiful and well maintained (been reading about closing for maintenance soon, but we couldn’t tell) we were in pyra [... read more]mid 5. Servers, bartenders, staff is all absolutely amazing, so hardworking and they go the extra mile always to make your time there memorable. The personal concierge perk that comes with the Reserve is also pretty cool that allowed us to have all our dinner reservations taken care of without having to get in lines every morning to reserve tables. The Sunset cruise, Spa day, Sal Steak house are amongst a couple of other perks that come with the Reserve section reservation that we really really enjoyed. The overall food at all the restaurants is phenomenal, the seafood is fresh, menu is well thought of and caters to different palates. Sante (reserve only) restaurant was our favourite, views to die for! The extremely warm and hard working staff definitely deserve a shoutout: Oscar, Cesar, Julio, Victor, Valarei, Gemma, Cynthia!!

Dreams Sands Cancun Resort and Spa: Paradise

We loved every minute. The resort was so clean. Bars were 9 well stocked bars and staff was so courteous. Beach was white sand and was raked daily Restaurants were all good. Especially the Italian we liked. The buffet was always plenty. The deserts were so good.it really is a beautiful place.

Marquis Los Cabos: We will definitely be back!

Marquis is beautiful! Incredibly well maintained and the staff is wonderful (shout out to Jose who served us by the pool). Views are beautiful. Lots of whale sightings right on the beach in February! Food and drinks were plentiful and delicious. You won’t want to go anywhere else after staying at the Marquis. 10/10!

Catalonia Yucatan: Picture on website 10 years ago

We did not like the way air Canada representative. Talk to us. Key was out of line and was busy and he didn't represent air, Canada or any Canadians. He is an ignorant person. His name is Eric and I do have a picture which I would love to send to you with his badge ID he needs to retrieve. From doing this job, as he does not enjoy his work. The bars opened, we had to serve ourself. We were never asked for drinks. There was never any everything on the side where we are had to stay trying to book [... read more] an all inclusive, you need to do to wake up at 8 o'clock and download an app was more work. When I pay for a holiday, I pay to get spoilt and not being able to actually have them. You have to stand in line and wait for them to open and have a cocktail. There was no pot in the fridge, only bottled water. The deck couldn't sit outside as it was as dirty as it was with leaves and no chairs. That was exciting to sit there. You consider this a 4.7, the pictures you see on their site. Is when the sight opened over 8 or 10 years ago? You need to make yourself current and visit the site via fly on the wall. I have told people who work there and they've only started. I've been there a day 2 days. I'm not sure where it is. There was only salt and pepper shakers on lebries, which was the book buffet the other one? None, you have to ask and fight for salt pepper shakers. The food 6 go all the way to Mexico to eat burgers. French fries fried chicken. It's crepes things that we get in Canada and well made. I was going for authentic something special. Very limited will never return. Say hello?

Barcelo Maya Riviera: Can't wait to go back!

By far, one of the best all-inclusive resorts we've stayed at. The grounds were immaculate, room was well appointed with one of the biggest beds we've ever seen, pool was huge with good service, loved the beach and the food was at the buffet and a la cartes was so good. Lobby bar was a good place for a night cap. Staff were always kind and quick to help. The stay at 1, play at 6 concept is brilliant. If you get bored, you can easily visit the other resorts and use their facilities. The mini putt [... read more] and sports bar were so nice. Can't wait to go back!