Will always return

I traveled to the Barcelo and stayed in the beach section in February and went back in March and stayed in the colonial section. My boyfriend has stayed there once in 2012 and once in 2015. He says it is the only resort he has been to he will return to. The coral and aquatic life you can see while snorkeling here is wide-ranging and impressive. Please be sure NOT to walk on coral or damage it. The Dressel Diving team at the resort is also phenomenal. I highly recommend checking them out.  [... read more]They make you feel like part of a special diving community. Christina O'Donnell introduced me to scuba diving in a 5 minute free pool trial. I then did the introduction to scuba course and my boyfriend renewed his PADI and we went on 2 dives, Ponderosa cenote and a reef 5 minutes out from the resort. The second trip in March (that this review is for) I did my PaADI open water training with Christina as my instructor. She is a great instructor. Very safety conscious, thorough, knowledgeable and fun to dive with. The Barcelo has a lot to offer as a resort especially having the snorkeling that is so important to us but the fact they have Dressell Divers puts them in a "definitely returning" category.

An amazing holiday in every way

From the great flight to the over the top service and accommodations at Barcelo, our trip was everything we hoped for and more. My boyfriend and I wanted a true change of pace with lots of activities that didn't all cost extra money. We found the perfect resort. Our days were filled with sailing, paddle boarding, wind surfing, beach volleyball, yoga and water aerobics and of course long walks on the beach. For a little extra, we learned to surf and took some great off resort trips. For the q [... read more]uieter times there was no lack of beach chairs and hammocks to relax in. The food was very good and since we love Mexican, we appreciated that it was always an option at the buffet. The beds were comfy and the terrace was perfect for the two of us to have a drink before dinner. Loved our trip. Thanks trip central!

Amazing Resort

I loved the Barcelo Maya Resort - I just came back from a week long stay and it was great. The resort has everything you need and you are a 20 minute drive from all the major attractions. I also suggest walking up to the highway and crossing the street there is a gorgeous Cenote called Kantuchi. I highly recommend it. The food was better than I expected but some of the restaurants were underwhelming. I highly recommend the Tokyo Restaurant as well as the Mexican one.

Paradise!

Super-clean and well run resort. Supervisors present in every area. Barcelo Maya Colonial is a well-oiled machine offering plenty of services and attractions for families. Cannot say enough about how beautiful this property is and the amazing beach. We will certainly be returning next year and would recommend this resort to anyone!

Great family resort

The resort was the best we've ever stayed at. The staff was the best I've ever encountered. Food and drinks were great. The beach was nice, the snorkelling was great, many different fish. Would definitely stay again.

Barcello Maya Colonial

The hotel and grounds are magnificent. One of the best resorts we've been to over the past 20 years and we've been to many. Staff is always smiling and busy ensuring guests were well taken care off. A great facility for both kids and adults. Buffet served great food and the housekeeping staff always looked after us. We were asked by a number of staff throughout the week if we had any concerns or questions and if we had any suggestions for them. That is a first for any resort we've been to [... read more]. I do have a couple of comments. We arrived at 8:00 pm, along with another bus load of guests. The front desk was obviously not prepared as it took more than an hour to check in. Staff were running around, back and forth to a back room doing something. After a long day of travel the last thing we needed was an hour +++ wait. Our group included 10 people with two smaller children. We weren't impressed with that. Also, following our Monday morning orientation we were advised to go to guest services and schedule our al' a carte dinners which we did. We were told that nothing was available before 10 pm any evening until Friday. Out of five al a carte opportunities but could only use two. That was disappointing as these restaurants looked very good. But we all agreed it was a fantastic family holiday.

Great trip to the Bacelo Maya Resort in Mexico!

There is something for everyone at the resort. Lots of activities included, the beach, many pools, the Maya Mall and Plaza Mexicana were all great! The resort is very clean, and easy to get around. Walking from one end to the other was easy. The service was generally very good. In particular, we had excellent service at the Rodizio restaurant. The Guest Service rep we dealt with was very accommodating. The only negative about the trip was how the resort credit was applied. Upon check in, [... read more] we were given the impression that each room had a 250 USD resort credit to be applied to various items at the resort (bottles of wine, spa, bowling, etc.). This is not actually how the credit worked. The 250 USD was the total amount of the discounts offered on items purchased at the resort. For instance, if a bottle of wine was 800 pesos, you were charged 600 pesos, as a 25% discount was applied. We were under the impression that the 600 pesos was what would be covered by the credit. It was a little shocking upon checkout to find out that there were more charges to the room than anticipated. Other than that, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip, as did my Mother and our children (14, 2 x 18, 20) - I would definitely return!

Great resort!

Everything was great about that resort. Nice location, nice beach, nice food, nice weather. A lot of activities to do. We love the tennis, basketball court. We love to do snorkeling at the beach in front of the hotel.

Great resort

Beautiful ground. Very good food. Very nice pools. A lot of activities such as mini golf , tennis , kayaking , free catamaran lessons Wind surfing lessons water tricycle paddleboard and so on to keep you busy . I would definitely come back .

Mixed feelings

The maya colonial is an amazing property, very large with plenty of amenities. Unfortunately we did not enjoy our time there as much as we liked and considering the premium we paid for it we had high expectations. Our rooms ( another family came with us ) were unsatisfactory and their explanation was bizarre to say the least ( they cannot garantee the rooms at booking time??) When they finally found us a room with 2 beds they were double beds and we would have expected queens. They were unable t [... read more]o provide us with any ala cartes before 930 pm for the first 4 days, the 5th day was available but was not my prefered choice. We reached out to trip central on 2 occasions and they were unable to provide assistance, air transat was also unable to provide assistance. All staff at the hotel were friendly and professional at all times. Despite the amenities included they were constantly hitting us up for extra charges, in some cases more than what trip central had on file ( pirates island ) . The mini golf looked fun but was only complementary during the day, after 7 pm they wanted 10 dollars us per person to play, i found that tacky to say the least. The resort was full but it never loomed full which speaks to the overall size of the place. I suppose i would stay there again but i would need some better assurances on rooms and ala cartes in advance.

Amazing resort !

It was our first trip to Mexico and wanted it to be agood experience for my husband. So glad I booked at Barcelo Maya Colonial. It is a beautiful resort with everything inside. There are other Barcelo Resorts side by side to each other and we are allowed to see and use their facilities too. We went to use all their beaches, and went bar hopping. It's also a very family friendly resorts. So much to do for kids. They will never get board. Staff and services can't complain. They were all am [... read more]azing. The grounds beautifully landscaped. Loved being on the beach. Wonderful sea breeze. Lots of coconut trees and brand new looking lounge chairs. Beautiful view. Most importantly for me, being able to attend a Mass on a Sunday afternoon within the resort. They had everything we need. My husband was already thinking of going back 😊 Thank you Barcelo for a wonderful time !

An Amazing Resort

The grounds were very, very well maintained; staff were always cleaning the grounds. A few rocky areas on the beach, but for The most part, the beach was nice. The rooms were clean and all the staff were friendly; language barriers with some presented a few issues, but nothing serious. The buffets were awesome with plenty of variety and again, the waiters and waitresses were very friendly. The a la carte restaurants were also excellent. All in all, it was a beautiful resort.

Wonderful resort

Beautiful grounds with beautiful pools and beach. Very well kept facilities. Meals were all good to excellent as well. Evenings in the rooms were quiet so sleeping was great. Staff were all very pleasant and helpful. We will definitely be going back.

Excellent Resort

This hotel is excellent. It is a very large complex with lots to do. The grounds are beautiful and well maintained. The food is plentiful as are the drinks. The beach is breathtaking. Although, some areas are rocky.

Something To Do For Everyone

This hotel is amazing. It is very large and entails some walking but my husband, who walks with a cane, found that it was okay. There were several restaurants to dine in and the selection was amazing. We really liked the buffets. The staff was very helpful and went out of there way to assist us with anything we needed. Alfredo and Caesar were great waiters and anticipated anything you needed. The buffet had a different theme each day for dinner (ie. Italian, American, etc). They went  [... read more]out of their way to decorate with balloons, etc. On the American day they had cakes decorated like the American and Canadian flag. I was amazed at how well the children behaved. We hardly knew they were there. The parents were very "hands on" and really enjoyed their time with their children. The room was great. There was an elevator in each section. The bed was comfortable. Water pressure was superb. We had a great person looking after our room. There was a line to hang you wet bathing suits out on the balcony which was handy. There was a double decker bus that ran all the time to take the guests to various areas of the resort - Dolphin show, Mini Golf, Mayan Mall (they don't take cash or debit but take credit cards or if you arrange it, you can charge your purchases to your room) The prices at the mall were fair - much cheaper than the airport - and they didn't harass you to buy from them but let you look at your leisure. They also had a water park. The pool was beautiful. The beach was a bit rocky and when we were there it was fairly rough as it was so windy. We went on an excursion to Cozumel Island and that was enjoyable. Our tour guides were Monti, Nicole and Maria. They were great. Monti was really entertaining and certainly knew his history and information about the flora and fauna of the area. He made the trip very interesting and humorous. We saw a Sea Lion Show and visited Crocodiles. Also, had a tequila tasting visit which was enlightening. Part of the trip involved driving a jeep. A lot of fun! We also went to see the Matis Silver factory. Beautiful items and certainly worth visiting. We met people who had been at this resort several times. One man told me that this was his tenth visit. We would go back again, for sure.

Great vacation

Stayed at the Barcelo Maya Colonial from March 2nd till the 9th. Loved the resort and all it had to offer The place was spotless everywhere and the pools were amazing. There is so much to see and do at the resort that there was no reason to leave, unless you wanted to explore the ruins and other things. This place with the five resorts in one is huge, but we managed to visit them all. We even spent time at the palace. Didn't even know we were there as we thought we were still at the Tropical. Th [... read more]ey just run into each other and no one said a word to us as we ate and drank like everyone else. The place was packed so we had a bit harder time finding chairs at the pool but the beach always had lots of chairs. They even had waitresses at the pools and the beach which, was a nice touch and you did not have to wait long for them appear at all. The staff was extremely hard working and very pleasant to deal with I would go back to this resort in a heart beat. It is far and away the best resort we have been to at this price, and we have been to a lot of them all over the Caribbean and Mexico. I cannot rate this 5 stars because the bathrooms are not any better than average and there were a couple of worms on the bathroom floor every morning. Also the pillows were hard as rocks. I rolled up a bath towel for use as a pillow.

Great resort- would go back again

The food was great. The resort was large and there were so many things to do such as bowling alley, water park, dolphin attraction. No complaints. Would go again. We didn't bring kids but looked like a great place for kids.

Thoroughly Enjoyable

Although not brand new this hotel is maintained to excellent standards. They are constantly doing repairs, painting, decorating etc. On the way to breakfast on our second morning there was a lady standing outside the buffet holding a clipboard. She asked us if our room was satisfactory or if we had any issues. We told her the bathroom vanity mirror was damaged and one of the door hinges was broken on the fridge/coffee maker cabinet. ( My wife was concerned we would get blamed for the damage.  [... read more]) When we returned to our room after eating our breakfast the mirror had already been replaced and the door hinge was fixed. I was impressed!! There was a great variety of food and it was delicious. Nice selection of a la cart restaurants.My favorite was the Seafood restaurant while my wife loved the Mexican one! Beach was beautiful and lots of lounge chairs. We never had to run out in the morning to put a towel on the chair for later. Pools were plentiful and kept very clean. We are already talking about returning next year, but for 2 weeks instead of one.

Great trip & Great Resort!

This was our first time booking an all inclusive trip and it did not disappoint. Mernie Shields talked me through it all on a late night last minute booking..once we noticed our #1 hotel drop to a price that worked for us. The Barcelo Maya in mexico that is. This hotel spoke to us as a family with all the family friendly amenities we read about online and in person it was even better! The resort is HUGE but you really don't have to leave your "section" to be missing out on much. We stayed i [... read more]n the colonial section, which was fairly central and very kid friendly. I would say its the oldest portion of the resort and you can tell that from the state of the rooms. But not terrible. The food was good and the a la carte options were even better. With the resort being so huge you really didn't feel crowded. Lots to see and do for the littles or the adults. Our 4 yr old could not get enough of the kids pools or the Barcy club. It was wonderful to see the same staff working in the kids club, the kids became familiar the ladies and comfortable going back. The resort itself is nestled not far from playa del carmen (we took both a taxi and the shuttle bus into town) which also made it close to many wonderful excursions. We would definitely return - i highly recommend to this with children. It was very family friendly and not swamped with "spring breakers"

Great Resort

This is our second time at this resort. I would highly recommend this beautiful clean and wonderfull resort to anyone. The staff are great and very helpful. The buffet is is very good with plenty of choices. I would definitely go again